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Browser Extensions · head to head

AdBlock Plus vs Freshpaint

AdBlock Plus logo

AdBlock Plus

Browser Extensions

The world's most popular ad blocker

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Freshpaint logo

Freshpaint

Marketing

Privacy layer that lets healthcare organisations run marketing analytics without sending PHI

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only AdBlock Plus has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: AdBlock Plus acceptable Ads allowlist model generates controversy over ad filtering conflicts of interest; Freshpaint filtering necessarily degrades what advertising platforms receive, so campaign optimisation and lookalike modelling perform worse than an unfiltered pixel would, and the marketing team must accept measurably weaker targeting as the price of compliance.
  • They diverge on capability: AdBlock Plus covers Ad blocking, Freshpaint covers PHI detection and redaction.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which AdBlock Plus and Freshpaint actually diverge.

Attributes where AdBlock Plus and Freshpaint differ
AttributeAdBlock PlusFreshpaint
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsChrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Yandex BrowserWeb
CategoryBrowser ExtensionsMarketing
Founded2006Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in AdBlock Plus

  • Ad blocking
  • Acceptable Ads
  • Custom filters
  • Social media blocking
  • Chrome support
  • Firefox support
  • Edge support
  • Safari support

Only in Freshpaint

  • PHI detection and redaction
  • Business associate agreement
  • Event verification
  • Pixel replacement
  • Consent governance
  • Advertising destinations
  • Analytics and session tools
  • Audience activation

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

AdBlock Plus

  • Ad blocking for display ads, video advertisements including YouTube pre-roll/mid-roll/post-roll, pop-ups, flashing banners, and overlay adsnot Freshpaint
  • Performance enhancement by eliminating ad content to accelerate page load times and reduce data and battery consumption on mobile devicesnot Freshpaint
  • Security and privacy protection by blocking malware-infected ads (malvertising), preventing tracking by companies monitoring user behavior, and stopping access to malware-distributing sitesnot Freshpaint
  • Supports web browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Safari, as well as iOS Safari and Android devicesnot Freshpaint

Freshpaint

  • A health system told by legal to remove its Meta and Google pixels that still needs to report cost per acquisition on service line campaignsnot AdBlock Plus
  • A provider running paid search for elective procedures that must send conversion signals without disclosing which condition page a visitor viewednot AdBlock Plus
  • A compliance officer who needs a field level record of exactly what patient related data leaves the website, for a privacy committeenot AdBlock Plus
  • A multi-site provider group standardising tracking governance across marketing agencies that would otherwise each add their own tagsnot AdBlock Plus

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

AdBlock Plus

  • Acceptable Ads allowlist model generates controversy over ad filtering conflicts of interest
  • Smaller feature set compared to open-source alternatives like uBlock Origin
  • Less customization and dynamic filtering compared to uBlock Origin
  • Mobile version less comprehensive than desktop extension
  • Chrome version increasingly limited due to Manifest V3 migration

Freshpaint

  • Filtering necessarily degrades what advertising platforms receive, so campaign optimisation and lookalike modelling perform worse than an unfiltered pixel would, and the marketing team must accept measurably weaker targeting as the price of compliance.
  • Pricing is not published on the vendor site despite three named tiers, and third party reports of entry around 599 US dollars a month cover only the lowest tier, with audiences and advertising activation sitting above it.
  • It addresses web and marketing tracking rather than the whole protected health information estate, so it solves one exposure while patient data in the CRM, call centre and email tooling remains a separate problem.
  • The commercial case rests on a specific regulatory interpretation of online tracking technologies, and litigation and future guidance could narrow or widen it, which makes the size of the problem it solves less stable than a compliance purchase usually is.
  • It is built for healthcare and priced accordingly, so an organisation wanting a general customer data platform pays for a regulatory specialism it does not need and gets narrower general purpose functionality than Segment or RudderStack.

Pricing, plan by plan

AdBlock Plus

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Ad blocking
    • Acceptable Ads option
    • Custom filters

Freshpaint

On request
  • Comply$undefined/month
    • Governance and consent foundation
    • PHI detection and redaction
    • Web analytics, funnels and surveys
  • Perform$undefined/month
    • Everything in Comply
    • Audiences and demand side platform activation
    • Attribution, journeys and recommendations
  • Scale$undefined/month
    • Everything in Perform
    • Ad performance reporting
    • Full AI feature access

Which should you pick?

Choose AdBlock Plus if

  • You need ad blocking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Yandex Browser.
  • You also want acceptable ads.
AdBlock Plus review

Choose Freshpaint if

  • You need phi detection and redaction.
  • You also want business associate agreement.
Freshpaint review

Questions people ask

Is AdBlock Plus or Freshpaint better?
Neither clearly leads. AdBlock Plus starts at Free and Freshpaint at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, AdBlock Plus or Freshpaint?
AdBlock Plus has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for AdBlock Plus and On request for Freshpaint.
Does AdBlock Plus or Freshpaint run on more platforms?
AdBlock Plus runs on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Yandex Browser. Freshpaint runs on Web.
Can I use AdBlock Plus for free?
Yes. AdBlock Plus has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Freshpaint starts at On request.
What is AdBlock Plus best used for?
AdBlock Plus is most often used for ad blocking for display ads, video advertisements including youtube pre-roll/mid-roll/post-roll, pop-ups, flashing banners, and overlay ads, performance enhancement by eliminating ad content to accelerate page load times and reduce data and battery consumption on mobile devices, security and privacy protection by blocking malware-infected ads (malvertising), preventing tracking by companies monitoring user behavior, and stopping access to malware-distributing sites, supports web browsers including chrome, firefox, edge, opera, and safari, as well as ios safari and android devices. Of those, ad blocking for display ads, video advertisements including youtube pre-roll/mid-roll/post-roll, pop-ups, flashing banners, and overlay ads and performance enhancement by eliminating ad content to accelerate page load times and reduce data and battery consumption on mobile devices are not what Freshpaint is typically brought in for.
What can AdBlock Plus do that Freshpaint cannot?
AdBlock Plus covers Ad blocking, Acceptable Ads, Custom filters, Social media blocking. Freshpaint covers PHI detection and redaction, Business associate agreement, Event verification, Pixel replacement.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

AdBlock Plus: What does Adblock Plus block?

Adblock Plus blocks banner ads, pre-roll and mid-roll video ads on YouTube, pop-ups, sidebar ads, and most standard display formats. With Acceptable Ads disabled and EasyPrivacy enabled, it achieved a 100/100 score on AdBlock Tester in April 2026.

Source
Freshpaint: Why can a hospital not just use Google Analytics?

US Department of Health and Human Services guidance treats IP addresses and health related page URLs as protected health information in this context, and advertising and analytics platforms will not sign a business associate agreement, so the disclosure is unlawful without an intermediary that filters.

AdBlock Plus: What browsers does Adblock Plus support?

Adblock Plus is available for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Yandex Browser.

Source
Freshpaint: Does Freshpaint sign a BAA?

Yes, and it holds SOC 2 Type II. That is the central reason it exists, because the destination platforms will not.

AdBlock Plus: Is there a premium version of Adblock Plus?

Yes. Adblock Plus Premium costs $40 annually or $4 per month and allows users to block cookie consent pop-ups, while the free version includes core ad blocking.

Source
Freshpaint: What does it cost?

Freshpaint does not publish prices. Three tiers, Comply, Perform and Scale, are all sales led, and third party sources report entry around 599 US dollars a month for the lowest.

AdBlock Plus: What is Acceptable Ads?

Acceptable Ads is an opt-in setting that allows advertising Adblock Plus deems unobtrusive to display on websites; it is disabled by default but can be toggled in Settings.

Freshpaint: Will my ad performance suffer?

Somewhat. Stripping identifiers reduces what platforms can optimise against. The trade is weaker targeting in exchange for measurement that a compliance committee will approve.

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