Browser add-ons play a huge role in shaping the user experience, letting people customize their browsers by adding (or removing) features to fit their needs. Firefox, one of the most popular (open-source) browsers, provides public statistics on various aspects of its usage, including which add-ons are the most popular.
One particularly interesting trend is the overwhelming preference for ad blockers. In fact, the top 10 most-used Firefox add-ons are almost entirely dominated by them—which might be surprising to some but totally expected to many. This is how things look at the moment.
As the stats show, uBlock Origin, primarily used to block ads, trackers, and malicious websites, is the most popular add-on, making up 8% of all Firefox add-on usage. In the top 10, we also see two other familiar names—AdBlocker Ultimate and Adblock Plus—both offering similar features.
Privacy Badger, as the name suggest – a privacy-focused add-on that automatically detects and blocks third-party trackers, is also among the top preferred and installed Firefox add-ons. The only exception in this category is Video DownloadHelper, currently ranked third, which lets users easily download videos from the web to their computers.
It’s pretty obvious—users want to browse the web without annoying, intrusive ads getting in the way. But, like most things, there’s another side to the story.
For many publishers, ads aren’t just an extra feature; they’re the primary (and sometimes only) way to make money from their content. Those ads help cover website maintenance costs and, in many cases, put food on the table. It’s a delicate, multi-layered topic—but that’s a conversation for another time.
Now, back to the point. Firefox, being an open-source browser, naturally attracts users who care deeply about data privacy and internet freedom (though Mozilla’s recent moves have cast some doubt on this). So, it’s no surprise that privacy-focused add-ons are among the most popular. That said, you could also argue with a good deal of confidence that the same trend holds true for other major browsers.
In conclusion, it looks like the ongoing battle between advertisers—who are always looking for ways to profit from promoting products and services—and users, who just want clean, distraction-free content, isn’t going away anytime soon. As long as this struggle continues, quite expectedly, ad blockers will likely remain among the most popular browser add-ons.
On that pagehttps://data.firefox.com in section Hardware and at id=operating-system (url fragment), we can also see (you must navigate the mouse cursor inside the graph) how many Firefox users are using Linux 6.x on March 2nd 2025: 3.123%
On that pagehttps://data.firefox.comin section Hardware and at id=operating-system (url fragment), we can also see (you must move the mouse cursor inside the colored curves of the graph, in its right-end part) how many Firefox users are using Linux 5.x on March 2nd 2025: 1.511%
statcounter is a little higher but not much. As of March 2025, the market share for Linux on desktop operating systems is 3.82% according to Statcounter
I'm okay with a few ads. I'm not okay if ads track me behind the scenes.
I don't use an ad blocker, but I always keep Enhanced Tracking Protection on. Sometimes publishers stop me saying I'm using an ad blocker when all I have on is tracking protection. That says a lot, I think.
I agree, I don't want to pay for content so I allow ads that are not intrusive. I also sometime even click on the obvious BS ads just so the site can make some money. Ads drive revenue. Renue keeps site you enjoy going. So help the person out. Otherwise pay for content. I do block anything intrusive.
I have been using ublock origin forever with firefox and i would not use it without it. I also use brave with its ad blocker based on ublock origin written in rust plus I also use the ad blocker that is included with my vpn. i also like using controld dns when not using a vpn.