Initially we have many options, especially with all the forks of popular projects. However, this list narrows down significantly after introducing three obvious requirements:

1. Open-source (in case of 3rd party tools)
   Transparency. Being able to react and contribute to changes is a must. This also helps to eliminate (or at least to highlight) shady practices like secret deals with advertisers.

2. Traceable product owners
   Your browser and content filter know everything. Trusting an anonymous developer isn’t the best idea. Real people and companies have much more on a line when it comes to accountability, as their careers and reputations are directly affected.
   I’m always surprised when people use things without knowing who’s behind them, especially for critical stuff.

3. Decent performance
   It should obviously do the job well.

Safari + Ghostery⌗

Safari⌗

Safari is likely the fastest and certainly the most well-integrated thing available for macOS. Apple keeps its web browser simple and uncluttered, without any fuss around, which is kinda rare nowadays. It also blocks common trackers on its own.

Filtering API
Safari offers a native content blocking API that is quite fast and efficient (amazing for battery life). However, it has many limitations, mostly for security reasons. Extensions need to jump through a lot of hoops to be able to filter complex content like a YouTube page.

Ghostery⌗

The story of Ghostery is quite a rollercoaster. It started in 2009 as a promising anti-tracking project, doing very well. However, things went downhill when it was acquired by a marketing-oriented company (twice). During those dark days, they shared data with advertisers, tried to remove negative reviews, and leaked some email addresses of their users.
Currently, Ghostery has new owners who seem to be doing their best to turn things around. The project has moved to an open-source model and trying to be engaged with its small community. Performance-wise, Ghostery is quite impressive when compared to what is available for Safari.

Brave⌗

Simply put, Brave aims to deliver privacy oriented “Chromium experience”. The company behind it was founded by a guy who started JavaScript and also co-founded Mozilla back in the day. They did a pretty good job at stripping out the creepy stuff from Google and hardening. However, they also add Web3 and crypto features, though you can easily opt out of those. Brave also includes a built-in Tor implementation, though early versions had some nasty bugs in it.

In Brave you also can get a rewards (in their own crypto) by allowing some ads… yep.

Filtering API
Brave is quite unique; it has a built-in content blocker written in Rust which is very close to a performance of FF+uBo (which is fantastic), but can be very power-hungry as well. The fact that it’s not affected by Google’s Manifest V3 rollout plays a significant role here.

Firefox + UBlock Origin⌗

Firefox⌗

The current state of Firefox and its future is quite controversial. Mozilla’s focus shifted from open standards towards advertising and AI, and they are constantly surrounded by drama and scandals in recent years. They also love to collect user data. To an extent where Firefox now has telemetry that can be disabled only during compilation. And things got only worse after Mozilla stated in 2025 to have a right to use almost everything that a user puts in a browser window, which expectedly sparked a massive backlash. Despite attempts to backtrack, the damage to their reputation was done.

To add insult to injury, Mozilla’s primary source of income is Google, which recently lost an antitrust case alleging Google’s illegal advertising monopoly. 🙈

Filtering API
Firefox offers the most powerful API; extensions can do almost anything with any type of requests. Which means top performance. On the other hand, you are going to be totally screwed if such extension gets compromised.

UBlock Origin⌗

UBlock Origin is universally considered a top performer when it comes to ads and tracker blocking; there is no controversial stuff (so far). The only thing that sparks concern is that it’s heavily relying on just one person.

Final thoughts⌗

Things are complex and uncertain. The current state of the web leaves a lot to be desired. “Privacy first” solutions often do pretty weird stuff, and most likely there are a lot of things that stay under the radar.

The possibility of an alternative approach⌗

Avoid places with intrusive tracking and ads, cold turkey. Find better alternatives that treat their users better. Also, it’s always a good idea to periodically reevaluate things you spend your time on and just cut the crap. Always try to have a clear understanding of WHY you need something. And if you absolutely love to have things like YouTube in your life, maybe buying a “pro” subscription is the way to go.
The bottom line is: You can do quite well without any special tools just by avoiding bad places.