Post #2458441

2026-05-05 12:45 UTC

Has anyone used this and Pihole and have some thoughts on which they would use and why? Currently using Pihole myself. For adblocking, and a local DNS server. I also have Unbound configured and installed which my Pihole uses. Anyone have any insight on this before I work on spinning something like this up?

Replies (7)

@Konraddo@lemmy.world 2026-05-06 01:34

I'm just barely okay at self hosting applications, so using Unbound together with Pi-hole poses a great challenge. Technitum DNS is a whole package and the GUI is user-friendly to me. But, after using Netbird on VPS (for the reverse proxy mostly), because of a different sub-domain being used, I think I don't need Technitium anymore though it continues to work so I have no reason to change.

Open ##2458444
@Toribor@corndog.social 2026-05-06 16:07

I migrated from pihole to technitium a few weeks ago and it was so smooth. Native support for clustering is huge. I didn't even realize how complex managing the pihole had gotten trying to get it to sync to multiple instances.

Open ##2458445
@non_burglar@lemmy.world 2026-05-05 13:27

I've used both. Pihole is fine for a standard replacement of DNS for record lookups with the ad blocking most ppl want. But pihole is just fancy dnsmasq, you can't manage much more DNS than A records. (That was 4 years ago, though, things might have changed). Technitium is a real DNS server with all the things DNS I supposed to he able to do. I use it for the zone transfers. Performance is better than pihole, too, but that may also have changed.

Open ##2458446
@stratself@lemdro.id 2026-05-05 18:58

Hi, the other comments have said it pretty well, but you can also check out my previous [post](https://lemdro.id/post/lemdro.id/31569064) for some of the other comparisons. I went from Pihole > Adguard Home > Technitium, and stuck with the last one because it supports clustering (syncing data between nodes) and recursion (so no need for external Unbound). The interface is a bit complex and there is no dedicated documentation, but should be intuitive enough as you learn. If you want something simpler, I think Adguard Home is a better choice than Pihole as it natively supports encrypted DNS protocol, and has a sleeker UI. But other than that Technitium is nice as you expand your homelab eventually.

Open ##2458447
@irmadlad@lemmy.world 2026-05-05 13:26

I have used Pi-Hole but not Technitium. As I understand it, Technitium has some more options than that of Pi-Hole + Unbound that power users may appreciate.

Open ##2458448
@ikidd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-05-05 13:26

I never could get Technitium working correctly, it's like there's some switch you need to throw to actually get it to accept requests. I posted that and had a couple of other say the same thing. I didn't spend a lot of time with it, IMO a DNS server should serve requests out of the box. Went back to Unbound on my OPNsense router.

Open ##2458449
@rollerbang@lemmy.world 2026-05-05 13:49

I've used PiHole and have switched to Technitium. Basically there's vastly more options available. A lot of DNS records and zones that simply isn't available with PiHole. Also much better support for more advanced protocols (DoH, DoT, ...). But to get the best out of it you do need to use the "Advanced Blocking app", which is a sort of a plugin. And it doesn't always play nice with defaults in terms of blockint. It's best if one uses one or another, also because of how temporary disabling works.

Open ##2770205