For anyone spending a lot of time within the live streaming platform of Twitch, bouncing from various streamers and games, ads will inevitably show its head. They are seemingly unescapable, and Twitch developers are spending a sizeable chunk of time and money to ensure that those ads appear to as many users as possible. This has turned into a cat & mouse game over the years, as Twitch and ad block developers are locked in a user experience battle. If you’re looking to dodge these obnoxious adverts, it’s easier than it seems: here are the best Twitch ad blockers available.
Related: How to block hot tub streamers on Twitch
Using Twitch Turbo to block ads
It may seem silly, but the absolute best option for Twitch users is to purchase a subscription to Twitch Turbo. This costs $10 a month, but no advertisements are sent to the logged-in user. Other ad blockers can block the video playing and mute the page, but you’ll still miss the post-plant 1v3 clutch thanks to the entire screen being blocked out — with Turbo, the ad never arrives in the first place. If you watch more than one streamer, this is simply the easiest and most efficient method, and the streamers will still get paid for you receiving the advertisement.
Since this method is developed by Twitch, the odds of ever receiving an advertisement on this subscription plan is next to zero. Over the past five years, we’ve seen two advertisements, likely because of a bug rather than a nefarious plot from Twitch or Amazon. A subscription to a single streamer could also offer the same benefit for half the cost, but alleged reports of increased advertisements to subscribers have risen. Simply put, if you’re looking for the absolute best option, Twitch Turbo cannot be beaten. All other options will harm the viewing experience, but it’s still possible.
Third-party Twitch ad blockers
Here be dragons: third-party Twitch ad blockers are locked into the cat & mouse game of user experience and paying bills, meaning these may work until Twitch updates how they send advertisements, then the ad block developers update their side to block the new methodology, then Twitch updates, and this cycle continues until the end of time. If you’re adamant, however, it’s feasible.
TwiBlocker — Video AdBlocker
The simple Chrome extension TwiBlocker has a high success rate of blocking Twitch advertisements, typically without showing a blank purple screen that entirely covers the stream — the bane of Twitch adblocking enthusiasts. It should be noted that reviews of this extension vary heavily on a day-to-day basis: one day, it works perfectly, and the next day is, reports of users being barraged by ads.
Twitch Adblock by cleanlock
For Firefox users, the aptly named extension Twitch Adblock is made to be used with uBlock Origin — uBlock Origin cannot block the advertisements itself. It’s an open-source project, meaning it can be easier for Twitch developers to circumnavigate the protections, but it’s the highest-rated Twitch adblocker available for Firefox.
