How to block ads and trackers in Chrome without granting site access
Ads and analytics load before the page does, and most blockers want access to every site you visit in exchange for stopping them.
25,499 rules across five lists on by default, compiled from EasyList and EasyPrivacy at build time. Five more optional lists, including four regional ones.
Why the usual fixes do not stick
Manifest V3 removed the blocking webRequest API, so an extension can no longer inspect every request as it happens - and that API was what required reading your data on every site. The replacement, declarativeNetRequest, hands the rules to the browser and lets IT do the matching, which means the extension never sees your browsing at all and needs no host permission to block. The trade is a hard rule budget, and the honest consequence is that we ship fewer filters than a full engine does.
How to do it with BowerBird
- Blocking is on from the moment you install.
- Open Settings to see which lists are active and when they were compiled.
- Turn optional lists on if you want more coverage.
Worth knowing: We do not out-block uBlock Origin Lite and do not claim to. Chrome's MV3 rule budget is 30,000, and roughly 87,000 filters were dropped to stay inside it. If maximum blocking coverage is what you want, use uBOL - BowerBird runs happily alongside it.
Without granting access to every site you visit
BowerBird installs without asking to read or change your data on any website. Its ad and tracker blocking runs on rules the browser applies itself, which needs no site access at all. When you hide your first element on a site, it asks for that one site, from your click, and you can revoke it later in settings.
Hide your first annoyance free - no account, no subscription.
Get it free for Edge Get it free for FirefoxFree includes unlimited manual rules. Pro is $12 one-time, no subscription.
Get the release notes
One email when the Firefox build lands, and when new features ship. Nothing else, and you can leave any time.