Hey everyone, Eyad here. For years the forecast was that Manifest V3 ad blocking would be a disaster: Google would rewrite the rules for Chrome extensions, and uBlock Origin would die with them. In my privacy browser roundup I said Brave’s blocking sits outside that mess. This is the follow-up: what broke, what survived, and whether Brave really dodged it.
Short version: the famous extension is gone from Chrome, but the blocking mostly isn’t. The obvious framing here is “fallout.” The evidence points to a much smaller crater than the panic promised, so I’m going with the evidence.
What Manifest V3 changed, in plain English
A “manifest” is the rulebook a browser extension has to follow: what it can see and what it can touch. Manifest V2 (MV2) was the old rulebook. Manifest V3 (MV3) is Google’s replacement for Chromium, the open-source engine under Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Opera.
For ad blockers, one swap matters. Under MV2, a blocker could inspect every network request your browser made and decide on the spot whether to allow it. Picture a bouncer checking each guest at the door.
Under MV3, the blocker hands the browser a list of rules in advance, and the browser does the checking. The bouncer now works for Chrome, and the extension only writes the guest list.
Google’s argument is security and performance: an extension that reads all your traffic is a juicy target for malware. Critics point out that the company writing the rulebook also sells the ads. Both can be true.
How Chrome shut the door
It happened slowly, then all at once:
- 2024: Chrome starts warning about MV2 extensions, then disabling them.
- 2025: MV2 extensions are switched off for everyone by default. Only workarounds keep them alive.
- Summer 2026: Chrome 150 and 151 remove those workarounds.
- August 31, 2026: Google removes every remaining MV2 extension from the Chrome Web Store, full uBlock Origin included.
Edge is next. Microsoft announced in August that it’s retiring MV2 for consumers, aiming to finish by the end of 2026.
How uBlock Origin adapted (it didn’t, on purpose)
Raymond Hill, the developer of uBlock Origin (uBO), never ported it to MV3. He built a separate extension, uBlock Origin Lite, and his FAQ for Lite is blunt about it: the full version does not turn into Lite automatically, because he considers the two too different. You have to go and pick it yourself.
Lite goes all in on the new model. Everything is “declarative,” meaning the rules are compiled ahead of time and shipped inside the extension. That design has consequences:
- Filter lists update only when the extension updates. Lite never fetches fresh rules on its own, and sites that fight ad blockers can move faster than that.
- The rule limit turned out to be a non-issue. Lite’s default set is around 17,000 rules. Browsers guarantee room for 30,000, and Chromium’s overall ceiling is 330,000.
- The power tools are gone. Dynamic filtering, uBO’s per-site firewall grid, isn’t there, and some filter types can’t be translated at all. Hill says Lite is generally weaker on sites that actively detect blockers.
- Custom filters came back. Since June 2026, Lite accepts your own filters and external list subscriptions.
- One thing got better. Lite blocks reliably from the moment the browser launches, which MV2 blockers on Chromium couldn’t promise.
Pro Tip: Lite’s default mode skips generic cosmetic filtering, the part that hides ad containers left on the page. If sites look gappy, open Lite’s settings and raise the filtering mode to “Complete.”
What I’d do
For the record, I don’t use Chrome. I run Brave with its built-in Shields and Firefox with full uBlock Origin, and through this whole saga I haven’t noticed any change in performance or in how many ads and trackers get blocked.
If you’re still deciding:
Did Manifest V3 ad blocking get worse?
Here’s where the angle of this post changes. A peer-reviewed study published in PoPETs, a privacy research journal, compared the MV3 versions of popular blockers with their MV2 counterparts, including Adblock Plus, AdGuard, and uBlock Origin. It found no statistically significant drop in blocking ads or trackers. In some cases the MV3 versions blocked slightly more trackers.
So if you install a blocker and never open its settings, the catastrophe didn’t happen.
Two caveats. The authors treat the result as a snapshot, and Google can change MV3 later. Also, the study counts ads and trackers blocked. Losing dynamic filtering doesn’t show up in a number like that.
Power users lost real tools. Everyone else lost almost nothing.
Did Brave mitigate the damage?
Brave was never hit. Brave Shields, its ad and tracker blocker, isn’t an extension. It’s built into the browser, so Brave says it doesn’t rely on MV2 or MV3. A rulebook for extensions can’t restrict something that isn’t one.
Brave also threw a rope to extension fans. It hosts four MV2 extensions on its own servers: uBlock Origin, AdGuard, NoScript, and uMatrix. You switch them on at brave://settings/extensions/v2, and recent versions swap a Chrome Web Store copy for the Brave-hosted one automatically.
Read the fine print, though. Brave describes this support as “best-effort” and commits to it only for as long as it’s able. Every other MV2 extension stops working in Brave too once it leaves the Chrome Web Store. And with MV2 being stripped out of Chromium itself, Brave has to carry that code on its own.
My take: Shields is install-and-forget blocking done right, and that part is solid. The hosted extensions are a lifeline with no end date promised. Shields also isn’t a clone of uBO’s dashboard, so if you live in dynamic filtering, Brave buys you time and Firefox buys you certainty.
Where each browser stands in October 2026
| Browser | Full uBlock Origin? | What you rely on instead |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome | No | uBlock Origin Lite or another MV3 blocker |
| Edge | Ending for consumers by late 2026 | uBlock Origin Lite |
| Brave | Yes, Brave-hosted and best-effort | Built-in Shields, unaffected by MV3 |
| Opera | For now, with a move to MV3 planned | Built-in ad blocker |
| Firefox | Yes | Not Chromium, and it kept the old blocking ability |
What I’d do
- Staying on Chrome and never touching settings? Install uBlock Origin Lite, set it to Complete, and get on with your life.
- Want Chromium without depending on an extension? Use Brave and let Shields do the work.
- Want full uBlock Origin for the long run? Switch to Firefox. It’s the only major browser where that isn’t on borrowed time.
- Want a safety net under any browser? Add a DNS filter on a home server. It’s a nice weekend project if you’re already self-hosting at home.
Ad blocking survived Manifest V3. What didn’t survive on Chrome is your right to decide how the blocking works, and I think that’s the loss worth being annoyed about.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is uBlock Origin dead on Chrome?
The full version, yes. Current versions of Chrome can no longer run MV2 extensions, and Google removed the remaining ones from the Chrome Web Store on August 31, 2026. uBlock Origin Lite, from the same developer, is the MV3 alternative.
Is uBlock Origin Lite good enough?
For most people, yes. Independent research found no significant drop in ads or trackers blocked by MV3 blockers. If you relied on dynamic filtering, it will feel like a downgrade.
Does Brave still support uBlock Origin?
Yes. Brave hosts uBlock Origin and three other MV2 extensions itself. It calls that support best-effort, so don’t treat it as permanent.
Do I need an ad blocker extension in Brave?
No. Brave Shields blocks ads and trackers by default without any extension, and Manifest V3 doesn’t affect it.
Is Manifest V3 ad blocking weaker than before?
Measured by ads and trackers blocked, no meaningful difference so far. Measured by user control and how fast filters can react to anti-adblock tricks, yes.
