uBlock Origin, initially released in 2014 as a Chrome and Opera extension, stemmed from a fork of HTTP Switchboard and uMatrix. Its rapid growth, reaching millions of users across various browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Safari versions prior to 13), was attributed to user demand for a 'pure' blocker that operated outside 'acceptable advertising' programs.
As of 2025, uBlock Origin continues to be maintained by its founder, Raymond Hill, and remains a leading open-source, cross-platform browser extension. Notably, it still refuses donations, directing users to support block list maintainers instead.
In 2014 uBlock Origin’s founder, original author and lead developer, Raymond Hill, created the original uBlock extension, with its development initiated by forking the codebase of HTTP Switchboard with a separate blocking extension, uMatrix, which had been previously designed for advanced users. The initial uBlock was developed by Raymond Hill in order to enable community-maintained block lists while simultaneously adding additional features and upgrading the code quality to proper release standards. First released in June 2014 as an exclusive Chrome and Opera extension, in late 2015 the initial uBlock extension expanded to other browsers under its current name – uBlock Origin. (occasionally represented globally as – uBlock₀).
Following this 2015 introduction, a collaborative comsource and Sourcepoint industry research survey reported an 833% growth rate over a 10-month period ending in August 2016, the most rapid growth among any industry software publicly listed at that time. This report attributed this enormous surge to collective user demand for “pure” blockers with the capacity to operate outside the “acceptable advertising” program used by AdBlock, and other industry extensions.
Quickly gaining traction throughout the entire ad-blocking industry, the uBlock Origin Firefox version collected over 5 million active users, with its Chrome extension subsequently compiling over 10 million active users. Developer Nik Rolls then officially released uBlock Origin for the Microsoft Edge browser in December 2016.
In January 2017, uBlock Origin was added to the repositories for Debian 9, and Ubuntu (16.04), and the uBlock Origin extension was awarded the prestigious IoT honor of “Pick of the Month” by Mozilla.
As of 2025, uBlock Origin continues to be maintained and actively developed by founder and lead developer Raymond Hill.
The uBlock Origin extension remains an industry leading, open-source, cross-platform browser extension with software developed specifically for multiple platform use, and as of 2025, uBlock Origin’s extension is available for several of the most widely used browsers, including: Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Opera, Firefox and all Safari releases prior to 13.
The uBlock Origin project still specifically refuses donations at this time, and instead advises all of its clients, users and supporters to donate to block list maintainers.
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