Assembly Line

PiBar

PiBar for Pi-hole - Manage your Pi-hole(s) from your macOS menu bar!

PiBar is an open-source network ad blocking project on GitHub under the MPL-2.0 license (weak copyleft), with 344 stars. It is built with Swift. Its last push was 42 days ago.

Stars
344
License
MPL-2.0
Activity
Active
Latest release
macOS-1.2.1

Code on GitHub

Judgement

What it is
Complete system
What it does
A macOS menu bar app that shows Pi-hole stats and lets you disable blocking on one or several Pi-holes for a set time.
Adopt it when
You use a Mac and often need to pause Pi-hole briefly to get a blocked site working.
Watch out
Mac only and a small single-maintainer app, so Pi-hole API changes may lag.
Ready for
Usable
Runs as
Desktop app
Built with
Swift
How established
Established: started 6 years ago, latest release macOS-1.2.1.
What the license allows
You can use it inside a product you sell; changes you make to its own files must be shared.

Judged on 2026-11-03 from the project's README and GitHub data. The license and age lines are worked out directly.

Built from

Follow it down: PiBar → Swift → LLVM project → runs on a microchip

How compilers were built, back to punched paper tape

Open-source alternatives to PiBar

  1. 1
    AdGuardHome AdguardTeam

    Network-wide ads & trackers blocking DNS server

    Complete system Production-ready You want Pi-hole-style blocking with built-in DoH, DoT and DoQ in a single binary.

    ★ 38k GPL-3.0 TypeScript Active, pushed today
  2. 2
    DnsServer TechnitiumSoftware

    Technitium DNS Server

    Complete system Production-ready You want a full DNS server for your home or office, including authoritative zones, not just a blocker.

    ★ 10k GPL-3.0 C# Active, pushed 9 days ago
  3. 3
    Blocky 0xERR0R

    Fast and lightweight DNS proxy as ad-blocker for local network with many features

    Complete system Production-ready You want Pi-hole-style network ad blocking as a single stateless binary configured in code, without a built-in web UI.

    ★ 7.1k Apache-2.0 Go Active, pushed yesterday
  4. 4
    Esp32-c3-adblock M-Abozaid

    Pi-hole-class DNS ad-blocker on a $2 ESP32-C3 (no PSRAM): 537k domains as 40-bit FNV-1a hashes in flash, binary-searched. UDP DNS sinkhole + web dashboard. https://youtube.com/shorts/RaxszOUMi8E?feature=share

    Complete system Experimental You want network ad blocking on a tiny, very low-cost device and enjoy flashing microcontrollers.

    ★ 3.5k MIT C++ Active, pushed 27 days ago
  5. 5
    Blockads-android pass-with-high-score

    Block ads system-wide on Android using local VPN-based DNS filtering. No root needed. No data collection.

    Complete system Usable You want system-wide ad and tracker blocking on an unrooted Android phone from a free open-source app.

    ★ 2.6k GPL-3.0 Kotlin Active, pushed today
  6. 6
    A-dove-is-dumb ignaciocastro

    Easily block Adobe telemetry checking domains. Continuously Updated. Useful for HostsMan / SwitchHosts / Pi-hole users ✨

    List, course or other material Usable You want to stop Adobe apps calling home from a machine or network you control.

    ★ 1.9k BSD-2-Clause Active, pushed 5 days ago
  7. 7
    Pihole-updatelists jacklul

    Update Pi-hole's lists from remote sources easily

    Developer tool Usable You manage Pi-hole lists from curated remote collections such as Firebog and want them kept in step automatically.

    ★ 1.7k MIT PHP Active, pushed 11 days ago
  8. 8
    Nebula-sync lovelaze

    Synchronize configuration of multiple Pi-hole v6.x instances.

    Developer tool Usable You run two or more Pi-hole v6 servers for redundancy and want their settings kept identical.

    ★ 1.7k MIT Go Active, pushed 2 days ago

Commercial network ad blockers and DNS filters

  1. 1
    Cisco Umbrella Cisco

    Cisco's enterprise network security provides advanced protection on a unified, cloud-delivered solution designed for the modern workplace.

    Complete system Production-ready A business or school wants a simple first layer of web filtering and threat blocking across all sites and devices.

    Commercial
  2. 2
    NextDNS NextDNS

    NextDNS protects you from all kinds of security threats, blocks ads and trackers on websites and in apps and provides a safe and supervised Internet for kids — on all devices and on all networks.

    Complete system Production-ready You want network-wide blocking on phones and laptops wherever they go without running a Pi-hole.

    Commercial

Stars, license and activity come from GitHub and refresh on a rolling hourly schedule. The project's own description is quoted as written.