Would you like to have a better online experience without misleading ads or tracking codes monitoring your activities and invading your privacy? This is precisely what the best raspberry Pi for Pihole can do for you.
The CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 8GB Extreme Kit is our top pick as it comes with the Raspberry Pi 4 computer board as well as all the essential accessories to get started with your Pihole project quickly.
Pihole is an open-source project that helps block advertisements for all appliances on a home network by directing all ad servers to nowhere. Best of all, the setup only takes a few minutes. Setting up a Pihole on the Raspberry Pi is an easy way to get started with home ad blocking.
Table of Contents
- Best Raspberry Pi For Pihole – Comparison Table
- What is Pihole?
- What Does a PiHole do?
- What Should I Run Alongside Pihole?
- How Do You Make a Raspberry Pi-Hole?
- Does Pihole Slow Internet?
- Can Raspberry Pi Run Multiple Programs?
- Should I Use Pihole as a DHCP Server?
- Does PI-hole Block all ads?
- What to Look For?
- Best Raspberry Pi for Pihole Reviewed
- 1. CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 8GB Extreme Kit Review
- 2. V-Kits Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ (Plus. Basic Starter Kit Review
- 3. Vilros Raspberry Pi 4 Basic Starter Kit Review
- 4. CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Kit Review
- 5. Seeed Studio Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 8 GB Single Board Computer Review
- 6. ELECROW Crowpi Raspberry Pi 4 3B 3B+ 4B+ Kit Review
- Key References
Best Raspberry Pi For Pihole – Comparison Table
What is Pihole?
Pihole is an ad blocker for the entire network. In a conventional home setting, this can cut out virtually any ad on all the appliances on a home network without installing an ad blocker on each device.
- Pihole blocks more than 100, 000 ad-serving domains, blocks ads on all devices (including PCs, tablets, and phones).
- Because it totally blocks ads instead of hiding them, this enhances overall network performance.
- You can track statistics and performance in a web interface, and you can even use an API.
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What Does a PiHole do?
Simply put, a DNS server is an Internet address record that is used to locate the server with the domain name.
- When you visit a site, a request is made to the DNS server to locate the server’s IP address (location) to establish a connection.
- The PiHole goes between an upstream DNS server and your device and blocks all requests to available tracking and advertising servers.
- The PiHole can accept DNS queries but relies on the upstream server to resolve the queries.
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What Should I Run Alongside Pihole?
Some examples of programs you can run alongside Pihole include:
- unbound
- OpenVPN
- PiVPN
- Plex, samba, pyload, and Nginx.
- Syncthing, Dokuwiki, NTP, Seafile, and Node-Red.
- Kodi
- OSMC
- Retropie
- Graphite and Samba
- LAMP stack
- Ubiquiti UniFi Controller
- Home Assistant
- Google Air Print and Apple AirDrop print server.
- FreeRADIUS
How Do You Make a Raspberry Pi-Hole?
Setting up the Pi-hole on the Raspberry Pi is an easy way to block ads throughout your home network.
- With a Raspberry Pi, the Pi-Hole functions as an independent unit. Hence, you don’t have to mess around with web servers on a Linux system.
- PiHole needs, among other things, ports 53, 80.So if other services are running on the same system, conflicts can arise.
- Therefore, having a separate Raspberry Pi for this purpose is more hassle-free and efficient.
- Plus, it only costs $2 – $5 of electricity year-round to keep the Pi running all the time.
Purchasing a Raspberry Pi Kit from a reputable brand (such as CanaKit or Vilros) usually saves you a few dollars.
- Step One: What You Need to Run a Pi-Hole Server?
- Here’s what you’ll need to complete this Pi-Hole tutorial:
- Raspberry Pi – The 2 GB version is more than sufficient. Any version of the Raspberry Pi should work well enough for Pi Hole’s needs.
- SD card
- Raspberry Pi power supply.
- Ethernet Cable
- Step Two: Install the base operating system – Raspbian Stretch Lite.
- Step Three: Configure the Raspbian Lite operating system.
- Step Four: Install Pi-Hole.
To configure Pi-Hole at the command prompt (remotely or locally via SSH), use the following commands in the order presented:
wget -O basic-install.sh https://install.pi-hole.net
sudo bash basic-install.sh
Then follow the instructions of the PiHole installer. Read the introduction and select ‘Enter’ to continue.
Next, you need to choose the Raspberry Pi interface you want to use. Newer Raspberry Pi models have WLAN and wired (Ethernet) interfaces.
Finally, confirm the network details and the static IP address. The IP address of the gateway shown here is the router’s IP address, which the PiHole installer should obtain automatically.
A web server must be available through the web browser for the PiHole web interface. PiHole typically comes with a web server option that uses Lighttpd. For PiHole on Raspberry Pi, we recommend enabling the Lighttpd web server option.
The final installation screen should show your web interface password. Write it down.
Does Pihole Slow Internet?
Pihole does not affect your internet speed. None of a client’s traffic goes through Pihole; this data traffic takes place exclusively between the router and the client. Only very low bandwidth DNS traffic is routed to the Pi-hole. Also, Pihole does not influence the Wi-Fi stability of your network.
Can Raspberry Pi Run Multiple Programs?
Yes, you certainly can. The Raspberry Pi 3 board has 4 USB ports, 1 Ethernet port, 40 GPIO, WLAN, and Bluetooth. Provided that you don’t use all the RAM and CPU, you can add as many projects to your board as you like. You can consider the Raspberry PI as a real computer that is a little less powerful.
For instance, you could:
- Connect a camera and receive data from USB and stream videos to a connected display.
- Run a local webserver.
- Use UART, I2C, or SPI GPIO to connect many motors, actuators, sensors, etc.
- Start a little video game.
Should I Use Pihole as a DHCP Server?
Yes, you can use Pi-hole as a DHCP server. Using Pi-hole’s DHCP server is very beneficial. You can achieve automatic network-wide ad blocking even if you cannot make the necessary changes to existing hardware.
Does PI-hole Block all ads?
Simply put, Pi-hole serves as a mini-DNS server preventing your devices from getting internet addresses from ad servers so that they cannot serve the ads. This way, ads will be blocked not only in your browsers but also on smart TVs and mobile apps, and your network will get faster.
What to Look For?
Model A or B?
Until recently, there was only one Raspberry Pi model. There are currently two models: Model A and B. Both Raspberry Pi models have the following features in common:
- HDMI and RCA video-out.
- 700 MHz ARM processor.
- SD card slot
- 3.5 mm audio jack.
- Micro USB power input.
Weight and dimensions
These two models work exactly the same, but there are some differences in hardware.
- For Raspberry Pi on Pihole, Model B is always the best option. It has an ethernet port and more RAM.
- Model A is best for projects with strict power consumption needs. Raspberry Pi fans will be more familiar with the Model A for additional projects that do not need a network connection.
Cases
Your new Raspberry Pi can be damaged in several ways, be it by physical means or electrostatic discharge.
- Although the Raspberry Pi kit is relatively inexpensive, you will still want to find a way to protect it.
- Raspberry Pi cases have been around for a while. Not only are they an affordable way to protect the kit, but many of them are also very stylish.
- Most cases are designed with Model B in mind. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use it with Model A because the board has similar dimensions.
- The choice of case is mostly an aesthetic one, and you spend most of your time deciding which color to choose if necessary.
Power
Absolute power, they say, corrupts. ..but insufficient power, and you will never get the Raspberry Pi running.
- The Raspberry Pi for Pihole comes with a micro-USB port that is used for the power supply. Because the power consumption is so low, it can be easily powered using a micro-USB cable from many USB hubs or your computer’s USB port.
- It’s beneficial at first, but once you’ve made good use of your Raspberry Pi and need to use it outside of your computer, you’ll need to give it an alternative power source.
- Micro USB power supplies are widespread. They come with most tablets and smartphones, so you may already have a replacement.
- Use a 5V power supply with a 1A current to ensure that the Raspberry Pi is getting enough power (and to prevent damaging it).
Best Raspberry Pi for Pihole Reviewed
Here are the top 6 best Raspberry Pi for Pihole on the market today:
1. CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 8GB Extreme Kit Review
An exclusive kit for Raspberry Pi 4 from CanaKit, this unit contains the popular Raspberry Pi 4 and components at the highest level.
- The components are so high they named it Extreme. This unit comes with a high-speed Samsung EVO Plus 128GB microSD card that allows you to install the OS quickly.
- This Pi-hole kit has a beautiful self-cooling silver casing with a unique soft-touch black cover that feels exceptional.
- The kit contains the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B and everything you need to be up and running with your Pihole configuration. Simply connect a mouse/keyboard to the Pihole and connect it to a monitor or HDMI TV.
- The Raspberry Pi 4 offers revolutionary improvements in multimedia performance, processor speed, storage, and connectivity over previous generation boards while maintaining similar power consumption and backward compatibility.
- The case is automatically cooled. The supplied thermal pad transfers heat from the Raspberry Pi 4 processor to the case, so the whole case acts as a passive heat sink.
- 8GB RAM
- Sturdy case
- Supports up to 4k 60p.
- Auto-cooled heat sink
- Fan noise
2. V-Kits Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ (Plus. Basic Starter Kit Review
The Vilros Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Kit contains everything you need to get started with your Pihole project.
- This best Raspberry Pi for Pihole includes a 16GB microSD card with NOOBS already loaded. This unit comes with two (2) clear case covers.
- One case cover allows users to connect ports while the Pi microcomputer is in the case.
- The other entirely covers the Pi microcomputer, so all ports are closed. It contains heat sinks that ensure that the Pi board does not overheat.
- The updated PSU has a built-in power switch, which is an excellent addition. One thing we love about this kit is that the instructions are so easy to follow.
- You don’t have to know anything about Raspberry Pi or Linux beforehand. The build quality of each kit’s components is nice, making it a serious competitor in price.
- Easy to assemble
- Aluminum alloy case cover.
- Silent operation
- The case gets warm when running processor-intensive tasks.
3. Vilros Raspberry Pi 4 Basic Starter Kit Review
The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is the new product in the famous Raspberry Pi line of computers.
- The Vilros Raspberry Pi 4 Basic Starter Kit is powered by the Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core CPU.
- This Raspberry Pi for Pihole offers revolutionary improvements in multimedia performance, processor speed, storage, and connectivity over the previous generation Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.
- Comprehensive connectivity provides the ability to create a full-fledged Pihole, including two micro-HDMI ports, 2.4/5, 0 GHz dual-band Wi-Fi, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 5.0, and Gigabit Ethernet.
- The Bluetooth and dual-band Wi-Fi have modular compliance certification that allows the board to be developed into end products with considerably reduced compliance testing.
- Sturdy case with built-in fan.
- 4GB of RAM
- Convenient on/off switch
- Quiet fan
- The case is a bit too thick close to the micro-HDMI and USB-C ports, so all the cables will not seat properly.
4. CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Kit Review
The CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Kit comes with everything you need to configure your Pihole.
- It includes the Pi 3 computer board, a pre-installed microSD card with NOOBS, a power supply unit, a case, and cables for connecting all components.
- As stated by customers, this unit is much faster than previous B generations. This is not a minor change in performance.
- The performance has increased dramatically as the CPU increased from 1.2 GHz to 1.4 GHz.
- It’s safe to say that this little machine works a lot better than you can possibly imagine.
- It has built-in dual-band AC Wi-Fi that further boosts performance and makes it great. This is noteworthy because it would have worked fine even with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, but the company decided to further take it.
- Setting up the operating system on a separately purchased microSD card is a breeze.
- High-quality clear case
- Easy to set up.
- Noise-free operation
- Two heat sinks ensure maximum cooling.
- Does not comes with a Micro SD card.
5. Seeed Studio Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 8 GB Single Board Computer Review
The Seeed Studio Raspberry Pi 4 Model B offers a revolutionary increase in multimedia performance, processor speed, connectivity, and memory while maintaining backward compatibility.
- The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B gives desktop performance similar to entry-level x86 computers.
- This product’s main features include a powerful 64-bit quad-core CPU, support for two displays at resolutions up to 4 KB through two micro-HDMI ports, hardware video decoding up to 4 KBit60, 4GB RAM, 2.4/5.0 GHz dual-band WLAN, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 5.0, USB 3.0.
- The Raspberry Pi 4 has different versions depending on the RAM size. So, you can choose an option to suit your needs.
- 64-bit quad-core CPU
- Dual display support
- Up to 8GB DDR.
- Easy to use
- Lacks NOOBS card
6. ELECROW Crowpi Raspberry Pi 4 3B 3B+ 4B+ Kit Review
The ELECROW Crowpi is a pre-made, portable, all-in-one Raspberry Pi for Pihole. The supplied PSU can be connected to the CrowPi through a barrel connector.
- The micro-USB power supply unit is also available as an option. With a sufficiently robust portable power supply, you can power the entire board on the go.
- A portable clamshell kit is useless if it is too fragile to travel with. We found the ABS case to be solid without much bending, and the iron hinges are sturdy enough to hold open the top half that houses the screen.
- The circuit board is clean and well made, showing the components you are using and the SMC components required to function correctly.
- Since everything is pre-assembled, the hardware side of this kit is straightforward to use.
- If you’re looking for a pre-built Raspberry Pi for Pihole, the ELECROW Crowpi Raspberry is a top choice.
- Beginner-friendly
- Solid ABS shell
- Integrated hardware/software
- Excellent touch monitor
- Pricey
Our top pick for the best Raspberry Pi for Pihole is the CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 8GB Extreme Kit.
- The kit contains the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B and everything you need to be up and running with your Pihole configuration.
- The Raspberry Pi 4 offers revolutionary improvements in multimedia performance, processor speed, storage, and connectivity over previous generation boards while maintaining similar power consumption and backward compatibility.
With the best Raspberry Pi for Pihole, you are guaranteed a better online experience free from sneaky tracking codes and advertisements that intrude on your privacy. Hopefully, you can find a Raspberry Pi kit that suits your Pihole projects on this guide.
Key References
- “Getting Started with Pi-hole – Your Network-wide ad blocker – StakeBox”. Accessed April 12, 2021. Link.
- “Complete Pi Hole setup guide: Ad-free better internet in 15 minutes”. Accessed April 12, 2021. Link.