Ghostery vs uBlock Origin Lite

Ghostery is a free, open-source browser extension combining ad blocking, tracker protection, cookie-consent handling, and tracker information tools. It blocks banners, video ads, pop-ups, and sponsored content. The Tracker Panel displays trackers it identifies and neutralizes, while WhoTracks.Me provides information about tracking activity and companies. Ghostery says its protection replaces personal identifiers with random values. Never-Consent rejects tracking cookies and sends opt-out signals on supported sites. Supported browsers include Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Safari, and Brave, and users can install the extension on as many devices as they like. On iOS and iPadOS, it offers Safari protection; on Android, it supports Edge and Firefox. Chrome on Android is unavailable because Chrome does not allow extensions there. Ghostery says extension telemetry is non-personal, with additional telemetry sent if users opt in. For phishing and malware protection, it says it sends a partial URL checksum to its backend rather than the full URL. Private Search is in closed beta.

uBlock Origin Lite is a free, open-source content-blocking extension built on the Manifest V3 API. It blocks ads, trackers, miners, and other content after installation. Its default rules include uBlock Origin lists, EasyList, EasyPrivacy, and Peter Lowe’s ad and tracking server list. Users can add rulesets, custom filters, and filter lists, and use an element picker and cookie-popup blocking. Filtering is declarative, so no permanent process is required; the project says the browser performs CSS and JavaScript injection and the extension itself uses no CPU or memory while blocking. The project says it collects no data, has no analytics or telemetry hooks, and makes no remote requests except for filter lists users explicitly subscribe to. Users can allow all-site filtering or reduce host permissions. It warns Lite is not an automatic uBlock Origin replacement and may be less effective against anti-blocker sites or breakage.