What VPN to use with Pihole?

VPN
1

First of all, I would like to mention that I am looking for a VPN to hide my IP and not to access my network from outside.

I have 2 Piholes set up with DNS over HTTPS (one on my Unraid server and one on Ubuntu). I tried everything with NordVPN and it simply does not work with Pihole. Even when I fill in a custom DNS in NordVPN, it won’t work. I either lose internet connection or won’t get ad blocking.

I think it’s because NordVPN doesn’t support local DNS? So, are there any VPN’s that do work well with Pihole?

Thanks in advance!

Edit: thanks for all the answers! I’ve decided to just ditch NordVPN and only use Pihole

2

Not free, but Tailscale with Mullvad VPN works well - Mullvad exit nodes · Tailscale Docs

3

Here’s how I’ve done it. Pihole and pivpn on a raspberry pi. Make raspbian a client of mullvad. Ad blocking, obfuscation and access to home network OTG. I create a config file for all of our laptops, computers, iPhones, androids, tablets. I even have my parents on it. No “5 device” limit as the RPI is the only connected device.

4

As far as I know, the only way to use pihole on a VPN is to use something like pivpn (basically an installer for WireGuard or openvpn but it detects existing pihole installations).

Edit: I actually set up a vpn locally on the same system as my pihole. I downloaded pivpn and used WireGuard as the server. Now I have WireGuard installed on my phone for on the go as blocking.

5

It’s not an issue of “working well with pinhole” but instead can you use a vpn service that lets you use a local dns resolver and not the vpn providers dns? Since hiding your IP is your main concern, why even bother using PH? Just install an ad blocker on your browser and be done with it.

6

NordVPN has DNS ad blocking built into the app with threat protection. You can also probably add Mullvads DNS server on there. I’ve been using Mullvads on my Android and it works great.

7

AFAIK there is no way to use pihole together with a vpn. you’ll have to choose one or the other

edit: downvoting instead of correcting me isn’t useful to anyone, please if you know how to make it work enlighten me. i’m in the same boat as OP i’d love to be able to use pihole and pia simultaneously

8

Anecdotally and maybe not helpful but I saw where someone said they successfully used Adguard Home with Proton vpn

9

I have gotten this to work with Argo VPN, which is a bit of a different thing, but it’s a Wireguard config.

10

I would like to mention that I am looking for a VPN to hide my IP

The default for almost all commercial VPN products is to move your DNS traffic inside the VPN tunnel (to avoid a DNS leak).

I think it’s because NordVPN doesn’t support local DNS?

NordVPN configures the DNS to be in the tunnel. I don’t know that there is a setting where you can move your DNS traffic outside the VPN tunnel with Nord, but you can check their support pages.

11

Use these guides

12

Starting disclaimer, I have not tried this myself so I don’t know if it would work.

My idea: Setup a cloud instance (using Linode, AWS, etc.) of your Ubuntu to run PiHole and Wireguard. From there, configure PiHole to run the DoH as you currently do. When routing through Wireguard, you should accomplish your goal of hiding your IP from ISP at all times. You can also keep your DNS as DoH. Alternatively, I would run unbound on the cloud PiHole since your traffic is already routed to a large provider and is getting to the wider internet there.

13

can you use meshnet on the pi and use the meshnet ip in nord? that’s what this guide says. lmk if it works How to set up your own DNS server | Meshnet docs

14

Wireguard works flawlessly for me. Just make sure you set the dns server on client config to PiHole ip

15

I’ve got very similar setup, using OpenVPN with Pi-hole as per below:
https://cloudtechtips.com/linux/ubuntu/installing-openvpn-with-pivpn-on-ubuntu-running-pi-hole/394/

16

I always use it in combination with OpenVPN: GitHub - simonwep/openvpn-pihole: 🕵️ A truly delicious combination of two wonderful pieces of software to setup a pi.hole-backed VPN as quick and easy as possible.

17

I use Tailscale because I want into my network when at work and away but I’m doing it differently than the rest.

18

I use Tailscale, but only because I do want to access my Piholes from the outside for ad blocking when I’m on mobile data, and because I’m behind a CGNat so normal VPN’s won’t work for me.

19

How do you connect to the VPN on the Pi? It never worked for me as I couldnt connect from it outside my home network, despite having the vpn port forwarded on my router.

20

This is what I also use. Works very well.