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The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
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A free, open-source ad blocker that's feature-rich and easy to use
User-friendly interface with clean statistics dashboard that shows ads, trackers, adware, and pop-ups blocked
Compatible with most major browsers and offers advanced customization features
All About Cookies is an independent, advertising-supported website. Some of the offers that appear on this site are from third-party advertisers from which All About Cookies receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear).
All About Cookies does not include all financial or credit offers that might be available to consumers nor do we include all companies or all available products. Information is accurate as of the publishing date and has not been provided or endorsed by the advertiser.
The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
Demand for a reliable ad blocker has increased in recent years as online advertising has become more prevalent. Stands Free AdBlocker is a viable option for those who want to browse the internet without facing annoying ads.
We had a seamless experience with the Stands Free AdBlocker extension, which has a simple and intuitive user interface. In addition to blocking ads and trackers, you can whitelist websites, allow popups depending on the site, allow "fair ads" to support creators, and easily see the different types of ads you've blocked. Plus, Stands offers built-in phishing and malware protection at no extra cost.
| Ads blocked on Forbes | 15 |
| AdBlock Tester score | 100/100 |
| Cover Your Tracks score | 2/3 |
| Can You Block it score | 3/3 |
| Does it block YouTube ads? | Yes |
| Whitelisting available | Yes |
| Blacklisting available | Yes |
| Compatibility | Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Edge, Vivaldi, Brave, Android |
| Price | Free (donations accepted) |
| Learn more | Get Stands Free Adblocker |
Each ad blocker we review goes through a standardized test designed to push the limits of what the software is capable of. This includes vigorous third-party testing using websites like adblock-tester.com, coveryourtracks.eff.org, and canyoublockit.com. We also visit popular websites to test the ad blocker’s day-to-day capabilities, including watching YouTube videos and browsing Forbes.
Once we’ve completed the testing, we calculate our editorial rating by taking into account key features you’d expect from a good product. We score each ad blocker in the following categories and use a weighted average to calculate the final rating out of 5 stars:
To learn more about how we test, read our full ad blocker methodology here.
Stands Free AdBlocker (formerly known as Stands Fair Adblocker or Fair Adblocker) was easy to install and set up. Installation was quick and hassle-free, and the browser extension’s icon was conveniently added to the browser toolbar. To get started, we checked out Yahoo Sports. Using this ad blocker significantly reduced the number of banner ads we experienced while browsing the homepage.
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With the built-in counter, it was easy to observe the number of ads blocked in real-time. The most significant improvement was the browsing speed of ad-heavy websites, which we noticed to be significantly faster than usual due to the ad blocker's optimization. We also experienced very little lag compared to our regular browsing.
It was also easy to adjust the settings. By simply clicking the icon in your browser toolbar and manually turning the pop-up blocker on, you can block pop-ups on the site you’re on or whitelist it to allow ads. By selecting Blocking Settings, you can fine-tune what types of ads you want to be blocked, whether it be basic ads like pop-ups or advanced ads like Facebook ads.
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Stands AdBlocker doesn’t offer a paid plan — it's a completely free ad blocker! It only asks for voluntary donations to continue free access for all users. The money, whether a one-off, monthly, or yearly donation, will be used to improve the product.
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Stands Free AdBlocker is packed with various features that are designed to provide you with a seamless browsing experience. It blocks ads of all types so you can have a faster and cleaner web session. These include pop-up ads, banners, autoplay video ads, and more. It has a built-in counter that allows you to observe real-time information on the specific number of ads that have been blocked per page and in total.
Arguably the best feature of Stands Adblocker is its built-in customization. As a free service, Stands understands the importance of allowing select ads and pop-ups to help support websites that rely on advertising. You can easily toggle on/off which types of standard blocking services you want enabled, including Advertisement, Tracking, Adware, and Popups.
But Stands Adblocker goes a step further to offer us advanced customization options that cover Facebook ads, Search ads, Sponsored links, and Web mail ads.
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Stands Free Adblocker basic and advanced blocking settings
The Stands AdBlocker browser extension also offers whitelisting, so you can compile a list of approved websites that will bypass the blocker. In contrast, there’s also a block element (blacklisting) that can ensure specific websites don’t throw ads at you.
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Plus, you can choose to allow pop-ups on select sites, which is especially nice if you want to support websites or content creators that rely on advertising.
In addition to ad blocking and tracker blocking, Stands AdBlocker protects you against phishing websites and viruses, such as dangerous forms of online trackers, adware, and malware. It also prevents websites and companies from profiling and selling your information without your permission.
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To test this ad blocker, we used three industry-standard tools: AdBlock Tester, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF) Cover Your Tracks, and Can You Block It.
AdBlock Tester tests the extension's overall ad-blocking capabilities by creating various scenarios that deploy different types of ads. These mimic real-world advertising techniques like pop-ups, banners, video ads, and more. During our testing, Stands AdBlocker got a perfect AdBlock Tester score.
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The Cover Your Tracks tool focuses on privacy protection by checking how well the ad blocker prevents third-party websites from tracking your online activities. This test looks at online fingerprints such as HTTP headers, IP addresses, and cookies.
The Cover Your Tracks test revealed that Stands AdBlocker effectively blocks tracking ads and invisible trackers. However, our fingerprint is still considered unique, which means we're still identifiable while browsing the web. Even still, most ad blockers aren't able to conceal our fingerprint, so scoring only 2/3 isn't a strike against Stands.
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Can You Block It tests for several different types of ads, including ad blocker warnings, banner ads, and interstitial ads (or annoying ads that pop up while the webpage loads). Because we didn't see any of these common ads, Stands Adblocker passed the test 3/3.
| AdBlock Tester | Cover Your Tracks | Can You Block It | |
| Stands Free AdBlocker score | 100/100 | 2/3 | 3/3 |
Stands Free AdBlocker is effective at blocking YouTube ads. During our testing, it blocked all of YouTube’s ads, including autoplay video ads, and allowed us an uninterrupted viewing experience.
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Remember that by blocking ads on YouTube, you are also preventing your favorite YouTubers from earning money for their hard work. If you enjoy watching their videos regularly, it is best to turn off your ad blocker or whitelist the channel so they can earn the income they need to continue making content for their channels. In addition to helping out your favorite creators, turning off the ad blockers may also improve your YouTube viewing experience by reducing buffering and loading times.
Most ad blockers, free or paid, typically can't bypass hard paywalls like the ones you'd see on national news sites. Paywalled content means that the user is required to subscribe in order to access the "premium" content. But some of the most powerful ad blockers can bypass soft paywalls like the ones you'd see on local news sites. Unfortunately, Stands Adblocker isn't able to bypass hard or soft paywalls.
Stands Free AdBlocker was originally supported on only three browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge), but you can now download the extension on several browsers, including:
It's rated close to five stars on all three web stores with overwhelmingly positive user reviews.
A particularly unique feature Stands Free Adblocker offers is the ability to block page elements. Here's how.
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For this example, we opted to block the busy YouTube sidebar that promotes related content. This way, we can exclusively focus on Babish.
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Blocking the YouTube sidebar with Stands Free Adblocker
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 Threat Protection |
 CleanWeb |
|
| Best for | Best for blocking YouTube ads | Best overall | Best for blocking streaming ads |
| Price | Starts at $1.59/mo (billed annually) | Starts at $3.99/mo (billed every two years) | Starts at $2.19/mo (billed biennially) |
| Free version? | |||
| Adblock Tester score | 100/100 | 93/100 | 96/100 |
| Cover Your Tracks score | 2/3 | 2/3 | 0.5/3 |
| Can You Block It score | 3/3 | 2/3 | 3/3 |
| Blocks YouTube ads? | |||
| Compatibility | Windows, Mac, Chrome, Edge, Opera, Amazon Fire, Safari, Android, iOS | Threat Protection: Windows, macOS
Threat Protection Lite: |
Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, FireTV |
| Learn more | Get Total Adblock | Get NordVPN Threat Protection | Get Surfshark CleanWeb |
Yes, Stands Free Adblocker (formerly Fair AdBlocker) is considered safe. The extension is offered by Stands, a reputable company in the ad-blocking industry. It is available directly from major web stores. The ad blocker doesn't collect any personal data to sell to advertisers, aligning with its commitment to protecting user privacy.
Yes, Stands Free AdBlocker (formerly Fair Adblocker) can effectively block YouTube ads, providing a smoother and ad-free viewing experience. However, keep in mind that YouTube ads provide revenue to content creators, so consider whitelisting the channels you wish to support.
As of this review, there is no standalone app for Stands Free AdBlocker (formerly Fair Adblocker) available for mobile devices. However, you can use Stands AdBlocker on mobile browsers that support browser extensions, such as Firefox for Android.
Removing Stands AdBlocker (formerly Fair Adblocker) is as simple as uninstalling any other browser extension. On Chrome, for example, you just need to right-click on the extension icon in the browser toolbar and select Remove from Chrome. Similar options exist for the other compatible browsers, including Safari, Firefox, Opera, Edge, Vivaldi, Brave, and Android.
Stands Free AdBlocker is a robust and reliable ad-blocking extension that offers an array of features and, from our experience, a reliable performance. Its strengths certainly lie in its customizable setting options, compatibility with major browsers, and its ability to strike a balance between user experience and the option to support websites dependent on ad revenue.
If you’re seeking an ad blocker with more premium bells and whistles, like a built-in VPN service or antivirus protection, check out our list of the best ad blockers we've researched and tested.
A free, open-source ad blocker that's feature-rich and easy to use
User-friendly interface with clean statistics dashboard that shows ads, trackers, adware, and pop-ups blocked
Compatible with most major browsers and offers advanced customization features
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