[TheCapn]

I run pi-hole in conjunction with browser blockers and still find it a net benefit overall. Anyone who uses my wifi gets an adblocker, any device, for any browser, and any configuration gets the benefit of having it. It's not just myself, a technically literate person, but my mother, sister, girlfriend and friends... Ideally if it stops just one malicious ad from landing itself upon my home's network then I say the benefit is there.

If you have an excuse to run a Raspberry Pi at home for any other purpose then use Pi-hole to piggy back off it and the cost you cite becomes a writeoff. I had a Rpi running OpenVPN for myself, throwing PiHole on it was a no brainer.

[joshschreuder]

Not just that but it also can block all sorts of telemetry for devices on your network beyond PCs.

For example, mine blocks Samsung telemetry from my TV, so I can still use the TV apps without having my info sent to Samsung.

[intrasight]

Interesting. I assume that it could do generate IoT telemetry blocking. That's reason enough to investigate moving forward. With smart appliances and IoT there is no opportunity to install stuff on the device.

The big hole in this model is for devices that have their own cellular radios.