Built-in Ad and Tracker Blocker

We aren’t part of the Big Tech oligarchy, and our business doesn’t depend on knowing all about you to predict when you are ready to buy a new toothbrush. While most browser companies turn your browsing into data for harvesting, and profiles to sell, Vivaldi gives you a European alternative that respects your privacy.

Vivaldi's Ad and Tracker Blocker blocks intrusive ads, protects your devices from malicious trackers and helps web pages load faster.

Just keep browsing as usual, we'll get rid of those pesky ads for you.

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Keep the Ad and Tracker Blocker enabled to browse faster

When your browser is busy downloading advertisements (banners, pop-ups, animations, autoplaying videos) your browsing slows down.

Vivaldi's Ad and Tracker Blocker uses different lists of URLs known to distribute ads, and stops request to those URLs before they are even sent. This way, you never download the ads, and you browse faster.

Built-in ad blocker, better than extensions

With our Ad and Tracker blocker, you don't need to install external extensions such as Adblock or Adblock Plus.

Extensions can be helpful, but they can create compatibility issues and you'll have to spend time researching your options to decide what's best and whether to trust the extension developer. Out of the box, Vivaldi is already packed with features designed to work well with each other. Our philosophy is to rely less on third-parties, for better control and safer browsing.

And if that's what you would like, extensions are always an option.

Stay safe with Vivaldi's built-in ad blocker

With our built-in Ad and Tracker Blocker, you'll stay away from advertising trackers that can compromise your privacy.

Many online ads use the same technology as trackers. They follow you around the web collecting sensitive information about you, to profile you and monetize your data. Don't let them!

Prevent your device from showing malicious ads

Without an ad blocker, you might see online ads that distribute viruses and malware, compromising your data and computer. “Malvertising” prompts you to go to scam websites and download malicious files, or click on links that turn out to be something else.

Use our built-in Ad and Tracker Blocker to avoid malicious extensions

Third-party extensions run in the browser and can snoop on you. Keep your data and devices safe with our built-in solution.

Your choices matter

Apps, including ad blockers, have different sources of income.

Ironically enough, some ad blockers monitor their users, create profiles of them and sell their data to generate revenue.

Vivaldi is different. We are in the business of protecting your data. We integrated an ad blocker to safeguard you from the worst kind of ads.

We don’t track you.
We don’t profile you.
We don’t sell your data (we have none).

Before you make a choice, ask this: what is the ad blocker’s business model? This is ours.

Stay mindful

Not all ads are the same. At Vivaldi, we oppose surveillance capitalism and targeted advertising based on tracking users' behavior. But many sites you visit on a daily basis rely on contextual ads as their main source of revenue, and will struggle financially with aggressive ad blocking.

We aren’t against respectful advertising. A contextual ad that matches the page you’re reading, and doesn’t follow you around afterwards, is a fair way for a site to pay its writers. The ads we object to are the ones that track and profile you. They follow you from site to site and remember things about you that you never chose to share. The built-in Ad and Tracker Blocker was created to make those bad ads sad. Rad!

As proponents of the free internet, we want websites to keep generating revenue. That's why we have set “light” as the default. It blocks most known trackers and some ads, but it’s unlikely it will cause any sites to break.

But as with everything else in Vivaldi, you are in control: you decide how you want sites to display and the content you want to block. You can set your default level of blocking from settings or when onboarding to Vivaldi. The level you select from here will be applied to all sites, but in Vivaldi we always give you more. Ad blocking shouldn’t be all or nothing. In Vivaldi, you can decide how much of the web gets through, one site at a time, on every device you use. That’s the kind of control a browser should give the people who use it.

Enjoy our free ad blocker, and start exploring

Vivaldi's Ad and Tracker Blocker is free to use all the way, no premium features or functionality behind a paywall.

Our focus is on building a powerful, personal and private browser that allows you to explore the web on your own terms. So sit back, forget about the ads, and start exploring.

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FAQ

  • What is an ad blocker?

    Ad blockers are software that filters out online ads. They make sure ads don’t show up on websites. The filtering usually happens in a browser – through built-in functionality, or via browser extensions such as AdBlock or AdBlock Plus. Most ad blockers and YouTube ad blockers remove ads before they are loaded or displayed on a website.

  • How ad block works

    Most ad blockers rely on two techniques.

    First, they intercept requests made from your browser and compare the requested URL to a list of domains and URLs that are known sources of ads. If the requested URL is on that list, the request is cancelled and the page never gets to load the ad.

    Then, ad blockers look for elements on the page where ads are known to be shown and hide those. This blocks pop-ups that may not have been blocked in the first step, and also hides blank spaces left behind by ads.

  • Are all ads blocked with ad block?

    Since ad blocking relies on lists of URLs known to point to ads, it’s not technically possible to block 100% of ads. The authors of those lists cannot possibly know of every ad source out there at any given time. In addition, the ad landscape of the Internet is constantly changing with new sources showing up and old ones disappearing.

  • Do ad blockers collect your data?

    Each application approaches data collection differently. We advise that you check the Terms of use before downloading an ad blocker. Vivaldi browser’s Ad blocker does not track its users. In addition, we campaign against tracking and data collection.

  • How to enable ad block in Vivaldi browser?

    Vivaldi's Ad and Tracker blocker is enabled by default.

    When you download and install the browser, we will ask you what level of blocking you would like to have. You will see that the default is set on “Light”, but there's three other options: “Off”, “Strong” or “Agressive”. You can change this preference on the shield icon located at the beginning of the Address Bar or in the settings at any time.

    By default, Vivaldi’s Ad Blocker allows ads to be shown on our partner search engines pages. You can choose to block those ads by disabling the “Allow ads from our partners” list in the Privacy and Security settings, but keep in mind that this impacts our revenue.

  • How to turn off the ad blocker?

    You can disable the Ad and Tracker Blocker at any time. Go to the shield icon on the Address Field or to the Privacy and Security section on the Vivaldi Settings, and select “Off”. You can change this preference at any time.

  • How does Vivaldi browser block ads?

    We block ads by relying on a list of URLs known to distribute ads, and by stopping requests to those URLs before they are sent.

    In its general design, our Ad blocker is similar to most content blockers. It features a content-blocking engine that determines what should be blocked.

  • Which block lists does Vivaldi browser use?

    Vivaldi comes preconfigured with a selection of well-known blocking lists, like the EasyList, EasyPrivacy, some of Fanboy's lists and Peter-Lowe's list. The set of enabled lists depends on your selected blocking level. Additionally, you may customize the lists offered on each level by editing any of the ad blocking levels, or create a completely custom level. You'll be able to enable or disable lists, and also import any other sources that we don't provide by default.

  • How to customize the ad blocker for specific sites?

    Once on the website, click on the shield button shown on the Address Field, and tweak the blocking level to “Off”, “Light”, “Strong”, or “Agressive”.

  • How to check the number of blocked ads?

    With Vivaldi browser’s ad blocker you can check the number of blocked advertisements by clicking on the shield button on the left of the Address field. Make sure you’ve enabled at least some level of blocking, then click on the shield button to see exactly how many have been blocked.