Compare AdBlocker Ultimate and Weava: Which Extension is the Best?

AdBlocker Ultimate is a powerful tool designed to block ads across various platforms. With millions of users and a high rating, it offers a seamless, ad-free browsing experience.
Weava Highlighter was once a popular choice, but now it’s filled with ads and has a poor user experience. Better options like Web Highlights do the job better without the hassle.
Key Features
  • Comprehensive Ad Blocking: Blocks ads on websites, YouTube, and social media platforms.
  • Additional Blocking: blocking all irritating in-page popups, cookie notices, and third-party widgets
  • Privacy Protection: Prevents tracking and enhances online privacy.
  • Customizable Filters: Allows users to customize their ad-blocking preferences.
  • User-Friendly Interface: Easy to navigate and set up.
  • Regular Updates: Keeps up with new ad technologies to ensure effective blocking.
  • Web & PDF Highlighting: Easily highlight text on web pages and PDFs using various colors.
  • Annotations: Add detailed notes to your highlights for better reference and organization.
  • Cloud Syncing: Seamlessly access your highlights and notes across multiple devices.
  • Organize with Folders: Structure your highlights with folders and sub-folders for easy retrieval.
  • Citation Creation: Automatically generate citations for your highlighted text, simplifying your research process.
Our Rating
8.9
7.0
Total users
3,105,395
200,000
Total ratings
90,243
2,728
Average rating
4.8 ⭐
4.1 ⭐
Entry Level PriceFreeFree
Chrome
Chrome Web Store logo
4.8
4.40
60.3K+ ratings
1.0M+Users
Chrome Web Store logo
4.1
3.01
2.7K+ ratings
200.0K+Users
Edge
Microsoft Edge Store logo
4.7
4.51
3.2K+ ratings
719.6K+Users
-
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox Add-ons Store logo
4.8
4.85
26.7K+ ratings
1.4M+Users
-
Safari
-
-
Features
9.3

AdBlocker Ultimate offers a wide range of features that effectively block ads on websites, YouTube and social media platforms.

Ad Blocking:
Ads are prevented on various platforms, both on the website and as pop-ups. There are other additional functions here, such as blocking all irritating in-page popups, cookie notices and third-party widgets, which substantially decrease page loading times.

Settings

The settings can also be used to remove only country-specific advertising and a whitelist can be added.

Privacy Filter
Blocks an extensive list of various online trackers, counters and web analytics tools. Based on the EasyList Privacy list and upgraded by our team. Additionally you can use the Fanboy's Social Blocking List which Removes social media integration.

privacy

Security:
The Security Filter automatically blocks all malicious domains.

The listed filters can all be switched on and off separately and individually.

8.5

Weava offers basic but functional features like web and PDF highlighting, annotations, and folder organization.

The basic functionalities work great but the lack of innovative or advanced functionalities, especially compared to competitors, limits its appeal.

Top 3 Features of Weava Highlighter

1. Highlight Websites and PDFs

Highlighting text with Weava

Similar to our favorite highlighter Web Highlights, you can highlight text on any website or PDF. Choose different colors to customize your highlights and make important information stand out.

2. Organize Research into Folders

Organize in folders

Weava lets you save your highlights and organize them into folders, making it simple to keep your research organized and find what you need fast.

3. Collaborate with Your Team

Share folders with your co-workers

Weava allows you to share folders with your team, making collaboration on research projects easy. Everyone can add and view highlights and notes all in one place.

Performance
9.0

During our test, AdBlocker Ultimate did not experience any performance issues. Ad blocking worked flawlessly on all platforms tested, so there were no disruptions to websites caused by advertising.

7.0

Weava performs adequately when it comes to basic highlighting and syncing. However, the overall performance is marred by the intrusive ads and occasional bugs that make the experience less smooth than it should be.

Design
8.5

The user interface is clearly laid out and should be easy to use for every user. The settings page is also very clearly laid out. Only the constant reference in the extension pop-up to the paid Windows desktop version detracts somewhat from the design.

6.0

The design is where Weava really struggles. The interface is cluttered with ads, making it not only visually unappealing but also frustrating to use.

Here's a screenshot showing one of their ads taking up nearly half the height of their sidebar:

Ads are covering half of the sidebar

The overall design feels outdated and lacks the intuitive flow found in other tools. This poor design significantly hampers the user experience.

Value for Money
9.5

The Web Extension is free of charge. Compared to other free providers, it offers a very high number of functions and options for customizable functions. We would therefore rate the price-performance ratio as very good.

6.8

The free version of Weava offers basic features, and their premium plan at $3.99/month is priced similarly to competitors.

However, given the ads in the free version and the overall user experience, you can find better value in alternatives that provide more features and a cleaner interface for the same or even lower cost.

Ease of Use
9.0

AdBlocker Ultimate is easy to install and can be used immediately afterwards. Even beginners should find the extra functions easy to use, as they are described in detail. Great importance has been attached to the individual settings for each user.

6.5

Weava’s basic highlighting functionality is straightforward, but the poor design and mandatory account creation add unnecessary friction. The ads make navigation cumbersome, and while it’s not difficult to learn, using the tool effectively can be a challenge due to these barriers.

Security & Privacy
8.2

The tool offers the function of extra privacy protection by preventing tracking and thus increasing online security.
However, it is not entirely transparent in the policies whether the data collected by the extension is passed on to third parties.

7.0

Weava does take steps to protect user data, and their privacy policy is clear about not selling personal information. However, the requirement to create an account and the potential for data collection through ads could be a concern for privacy-conscious users.

Conclusion

AdBlocker Ultimate is a great extension for blocking ads. Ads on various platforms are removed without the user noticing. Particularly noteworthy are the various options for customizing the settings. The user can control whether the extensions should only be responsible for blocking ads or whether they should also offer support in the areas of data protection and security. Compared to other ad blockers, the additional function of blocking cookie banners stood out, which we no longer want to do without.

Overall, we consider AdBlocker Ultimate with its wide range of additional functions to be a reliable option for anyone who wants to remove advertising from their online experience.

Weava Highlighter may still be a popular choice, but its current state leaves much to be desired. The overwhelming presence of ads and a clunky design significantly detract from the user experience, making it hard to justify its use when other tools offer a more polished and ad-free environment.

If you’re serious about your productivity, it’s worth exploring alternatives like Web Highlights, which delivers all the benefits of Weava without the downsides.

Our Recommendation

In our comparison between AdBlocker Ultimate and Weava, AdBlocker Ultimate came out on top, scoring 8.9.

AdBlocker Ultimate is the most widely used, with over 3 million users and 90k+ reviews—and it also delivered the strongest performance in our tests. User reviews for AdBlocker Ultimate reflect our findings, while we rate Weava lower than users do.

Notably, AdBlocker Ultimate has the highest user rating in the Chrome Web Store at 4.76, which supports its strong performance in our review.

There are big differences between these extensions, so it's important to look at the details below to find the best fit for your needs.


  • Looking for the richest feature set? AdBlocker Ultimate stands out with a rating of 9.3. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 8.5.
  • Need top performance? AdBlocker Ultimate stands out with a rating of 9. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 7.
  • Design lovers, take note: AdBlocker Ultimate stands out with a rating of 8.5. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 6.
  • Want to get the most for your money? AdBlocker Ultimate stands out with a rating of 9.5. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 6.8.
  • If you hate complicated tools, AdBlocker Ultimate stands out with a rating of 9. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 6.5.
  • With privacy and security becoming ever more important, AdBlocker Ultimate stands out with a rating of 8.2. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 7.

If you want a quick recommendation, AdBlocker Ultimate is our top pick. But as always, the best choice depends on what matters most to you.