Blocky vs DnsServer
Blocky and DnsServer are both network ad blocking software. Blocky is open source under Apache-2.0, with 7.1k GitHub stars. DnsServer is open source under GPL-3.0, with 10k GitHub stars.
Which to pick
- Pick Blocky when
- You want Pi-hole-style network ad blocking as a single stateless binary configured in code, without a built-in web UI.
- Pick DnsServer when
- You want a full DNS server for your home or office, including authoritative zones, not just a blocker.
Side by side
A DNS proxy and ad blocker for a local network that applies blocklists per client group and supports DoH, DoT and DoQ, caching and conditional forwarding, all from one YAML file.
A cross-platform authoritative and recursive DNS server with ad blocking, DHCP, encrypted DNS, clustering and a web console.
No admin interface out of the box; query logs and dashboards mean adding a database and Grafana or a third-party UI.
Essentially one developer behind it.
Production-ready (both)
Self-hosted server (both)
Go
C# and .NET
Open source, Apache-2.0 (permissive)
Open source, GPL-3.0 (strong copyleft)
You can build it into a product you sell, as long as you keep its copyright notice.
Use inside your business is unrestricted, but anything you distribute that includes it must be released under the same license.
7.1k GitHub stars
10k GitHub stars
Established: started 7 years ago, latest release v0.35.0.
Established: started 9 years ago, latest release v15.6.2.
Other comparisons
More network ad blockers and DNS filters
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from each project's README and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.