How to Install Pi-hole at Home

Published on August 29, 2025

Pi-hole is a powerful network-wide ad blocker that can greatly improve your browsing experience by filtering out unwanted advertising and tracking domains. By running on a low-powered device like a Raspberry Pi, Pi-hole can protect all devices on your home network with minimal cost and effort.

1. Requirements

Before starting, make sure you have the following:

  • A Raspberry Pi (any model with network access will do).
  • MicroSD card (at least 4 GB), plus card reader.
  • Power supply for your Pi.
  • Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi (wired is recommended for reliability).
  • A computer to flash the SD card and SSH into the Pi.

2. Set Up Raspberry Pi OS

If you haven’t already, flash a Raspberry Pi OS onto your microSD card. Raspberry Pi Imager or balenaEtcher are great for this. Once flashed, insert the card into your Pi and power it on. 


1. Download Raspberry Pi Imager from: https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/
2. Select Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit) as your OS.
3. Choose the correct SD card.
4. Click "Write" to flash.

Once the Pi is up and running, connect via HDMI or SSH. If using SSH: 

ssh pi@

The default username is pi and the password is raspberry, unless you changed it during imaging.

3. Install Pi-hole

Pi-hole provides a one-step automated installation script. Simply run: 

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

The installer will prompt you through a series of questions about your network configuration, upstream DNS provider, and whether or not you want a static IP. We recommend using a static IP for reliability.

Firewall / Router Considerations

If you have a home router with firewall settings, ensure the Pi can receive incoming DNS requests from your local network on port 53.

4. Configure Your Network to Use Pi-hole

Once Pi-hole is installed, you need to direct your devices or router’s DHCP server to use Pi-hole as the DNS server. You can do this by:

  • Method A: Changing DNS settings manually on each device to point to your Pi’s IP address as the DNS server.
  • Method B: In your router’s DHCP settings, replace the default DNS server with your Pi’s IP.

5. Access the Pi-hole Admin Portal

Pi-hole comes with a handy web interface for monitoring and configuration. Point your browser to: 

http:///admin

Enter the password created during the setup. You can always reset it with: 

pihole -a -p

Here, you can monitor DNS queries, block/unblock domains, update blacklists, and more.

6. Maintenance and Tips

  • Whitelist Legit Sites: If you notice essential features breaking, whitelist the domain in Pi-hole.
  • Stay Updated: Update Pi-hole regularly. pihole -up keeps you on the latest version.
  • Performance: Even an older Pi can handle Pi-hole for a home network without issues.

Common Commands

# Update Pi-hole
pihole -up

# Restart Pi-hole services
pihole restartdns

# View Pi-hole logs
pihole -t

That’s it! In just a few steps, you have a dedicated DNS sinkhole guarding your network against ads and trackers. Pi-hole’s lightweight footprint and powerful filtering make it a must-have for anyone wanting a cleaner, faster browsing experience for every device at home.

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