I know that the Pi-Hole does not require that many resources and people often joke about it being able to run on a potato, but, jokes aside, can it truly handle a 10+ clients network? The Raspberry Pi Zero is equipped with a Broadcom BCM2835 processor (1GHz ARM11), 512 MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM, a mini-HDMI port for 1080p video output (60fps), some microUSB ports and an unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header (you will have to solder a male GIPO header if you want to add any accessories, such as a fan), so it does meet the needed requirements and it should be powerful enough to handle Pi-Hole even with a large number of clients. I did see some interesting functions implemented within the pcWRT‘s OpenWRT-based software, but, most consumer routers do not have in place any sort of ad-blocking abilities – those that do, it’s usually done via third-party software which will ask for a monthly pay and I know that the package is usually beefier, as it most likely also includes Parental Controls (which a lot of the WiFi systems shamelessly stripped in the first place) but, if there would be a welcomed addition, it would be Intrusion Prevention and the Intrusion Detection Systems, which, unfortunately do not run properly on less powerful routers in the first place. When I say affordable, I mean only $5 which is a ridiculous sum for the type of applications that it can run and, considering that I’ve been trying to find a reliable and cheap hardware-based alternative to the extension-based ad blockers, the Raspberry Pi Zero is probably the best way to run Pi-Hole on your network.

The Raspberry Pi Zero is currently the most affordable device from the Pi series and it was designed for both lighter projects where a Pi 3 B+ or Pi 4 would be severely underused and to help people in disadvantaged communities to build low-cost robots or to simply run a very basic OS.

Raspberry pi zero install raspbian