Adult Websites Blocklist: A Category Domain List for Networks and Apps
An adult content blocklist is the list most networks switch on right after security. Schools, libraries, workplaces, ISPs and family apps all need it, and they all need it to stay current.
This page explains what our adult category covers, how it is kept up to date, the formats it ships in and how to deploy it without blocking health or education sites.
What is in the adult content domain list
A domain lands in the Adult category when explicit sexual content is its main purpose. The list includes the obvious sites and the supporting domains that make them work.
Main sites
Explicit video, image and story sites, including the large tube-style platforms and small niche sites.
Mirrors and clones
Alternate domains that serve the same content, often registered in batches with small spelling changes.
Media hosts
Image and video delivery domains used mainly by explicit sites, so pages do not half load after a block.
Live and paid services
Webcam, subscription and escort-style services whose main content is explicit.
Link directories
Sites that exist mainly to list and rank explicit sites, which act as a map around a partial block.
Explicit forums
Communities whose main purpose is sharing explicit material, as distinct from general forums.
Adult shops
Stores selling explicit products where the store itself presents explicit imagery.
Multi-category sites
Sites with explicit sections next to other content carry Adult as one of several ranked categories.
Why no examples here? We never print explicit domain names on public pages. They would make this page unsafe for the school and family audiences who read it. Licensed customers receive the full list as files.
Choose your strictness: three adult blocklist tiers
Because a domain can carry several ranked categories, the same data supports several levels of strictness. Pick the tier that fits the people on the network.
Adult as main category
Blocks domains where Adult is the first-ranked category. The lowest false-positive rate.
- Offices and guest Wi-Fi
- ISP family tiers with an opt-in
- Adult users on managed devices
Adult in any rank
Also blocks mixed sites that carry Adult as a secondary category. Catches more, with more exceptions to manage.
- K-12 schools and libraries for minors
- Kids' devices and family apps
- Faith-based organisations
Adult and neighbours
Adds Lingerie/Swimsuits/Intimate Apparel and Dating. Useful where any suggestive content is out of place.
- Primary schools
- Children's tablets
- Highly regulated workplaces
Related categories have their own pages: adult content, lingerie and swimwear, dating sites and nudity.
Patterns an adult blocklist has to cover
Explicit sites use a handful of tactics to stay reachable. A good list covers each one; a weak list only covers the brand names people already know.
| Pattern | What it looks like | Why it matters | How a category list handles it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult-themed extensions | Names under .xxx, .adult, .porn and .sex | Easy wins, but only a small share of explicit sites use them | Block the extensions outright, then rely on the category for the rest |
| Ordinary extensions | Explicit sites on .com, .net and country codes | The majority of the category lives here | Each domain is categorized from its content, not its extension |
| Mirror batches | Many near-identical names launched together | Blocking one name sends users to the next | New domains are labelled daily, so the batch shows up in the deltas |
| Keyword lookalikes | Explicit words joined with numbers or hyphens | Keyword rules overblock innocent names that contain the same letters | Content decides the category, so innocent names stay open |
| Media subdomains | Separate hosts for images, video and thumbnails | A page may load content even when the main name is blocked | Media hosts used mainly by explicit sites are in the list too |
| Late content | A domain launches blank, then turns explicit | A single check at launch misses it | New domains are checked again after a week and after a month |
| Search and image results | Explicit thumbnails inside search engines | No explicit domain is visited at all | Handled by SafeSearch enforcement, covered below |
Keyword blocking is tempting but unreliable. Our content filtering categories guide explains why category data scales better than word lists.
How big is an adult websites blocklist?
Adult is one of the largest content categories in any web filtering database. It is also one of the most volatile, because explicit sites open and close faster than most.
Full category
Large enough that small routers cannot hold it. Resolvers, cloud services and products load it in full.
Popular subset
The share of the category inside the 20 million most visited domains. Covers almost all real visits.
Daily growth
New explicit domains arrive in the daily delta files alongside every other category.
Exact counts
Counts move every day, so we give current figures to licence holders rather than print a number that ages.
For a router or a small firewall, start with the popular subset. It holds the domains your users will actually try, at a size the device can load and reload quickly.
How the adult category is kept current
An adult domain list that is updated monthly falls behind within days. The category follows the same rhythm as the whole database.
Day of registration
About 300,000 newly registered domains are categorized every day.
One week later
Each new domain is checked again, catching sites that launched blank.
One month later
A second recheck catches sites that changed purpose after launch.
Every month
All other domains are refreshed, and manual validations measure accuracy.
Categories are assigned from site content, then reviewed and validated. Licence holders can receive validation reports with measured accuracy.
Formats for the adult content blocklist
Licensed customers receive the source files and can receive exports shaped for each enforcement point. The blocklist formats guide shows each one in detail.
The examples use the reserved .test suffix and a documentation address. Replace 192.0.2.10 with your own block page server.
How to deploy an adult blocklist
The list itself is half the job. These steps close the common gaps that let explicit content through a filtered network.
Pick the tier per user group
Standard for staff, strict for students or children. One network can serve both if the enforcement point knows who is asking.
Load the list where every device can see it
A resolver covers phones, tablets and consoles as well as laptops. Add device-level filtering for laptops that leave the network.
Force DNS through your resolver
Block outbound DNS to other servers, and signal browsers to keep encrypted DNS off. Firefox checks the canary domain use-application-dns.net for this.
Enforce SafeSearch
Map search hostnames to their safe variants: forcesafesearch.google.com for Google, strict.bing.com for Bing, and restrict.youtube.com for YouTube restricted mode.
Block the bypass tools
Pair this list with the VPN and proxy domains list, or users will tunnel around it.
Show a block page
A clear page with the category name and a request link reduces confusion and gives you a review queue.
Automate updates
Fetch the daily delta on a schedule and alert if a file is late or unusually small.
For router, firewall and device steps, follow how to block adult websites on your network. Schools should also read K-12 school web filtering.
False positives: keeping health and education open
The most damaging adult blocklist errors are not missed sites. They are blocked health clinics, sex education resources and art collections that people needed.
Kept out of the Adult category
- Sexual health and medical information, in Health & Medicine
- Sex education aimed at teens and parents, in Education/Reference
- Museums and art history, in Arts & Entertainment
- LGBTQ community and support sites, in their own topic categories
- Mainstream fashion retail, in Shopping
- News coverage of the adult industry, in News/Media
What you can do on your side
- Keep an allow list for sites your users need, checked before the block list
- Use the standard tier where a few misses are better than blocked clinics
- Review block page requests weekly and look for patterns
- Check a disputed domain with the domain lookup tool
- Report a disputed category to us with the domain and the reason
Reported domains go back into review. Your allow list keeps the site open for your users while that happens, so nobody waits on a ticket.
Domain blocklist, keyword filter or image scanning?
Three tools are often sold for the same job. They work at different layers, and most networks get the best result from a domain list first, with the others as extras.
| Approach | Where it runs | Strength | Weakness | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category domain blocklist | Resolver, firewall, proxy, app | Covers every device and app that looks up names, with low overhead | Cannot see a single page inside a mixed site | The base layer on every network |
| Keyword filter | Proxy or browser extension | Reacts to words in names or pages | Blocks innocent pages and misses sites without the words | A narrow extra for known terms |
| Image scanning | Device, browser or inspecting proxy | Judges what is actually on screen | Needs inspection or software on each device, and costs processing | Children's devices and high-risk groups |
| SafeSearch enforcement | Resolver | Cleans search and video results without blocking the engines | Only works for the engines that support it | Every filtered network, alongside the list |
Testing your adult content filter
After rollout, test from the devices users actually hold. Most failures show up on phones and on networks where DNS is not forced.
Checks to run
- Look up a known category entry from a laptop, a phone and a tablet
- Repeat the test on mobile data and on the guest network
- Try a search for an explicit term and confirm SafeSearch holds
- Point a device at a public resolver and confirm the query is blocked
- Check that a sexual health site and a museum site still open
- Confirm the block page loads and the request link works
Signs something is wrong
- Pages half load with broken images, meaning media hosts are missing
- Phones get through while laptops are blocked, pointing to encrypted DNS
- Block counts drop suddenly after an update, pointing to a failed download
- Many requests to unblock the same health site, pointing to a wrong tier
- Traffic to VPN services rises after rollout, pointing to bypass attempts
Use the URL checker to confirm how a disputed address is categorized before you change a rule.
Who uses an adult websites blocklist
The same category data powers very different products. These are the buyers we hear from most often.
DNS filtering services
Ship Adult as a ready-made toggle for every customer, with the strict tier for family plans.
Parental control apps
Need wide coverage on mobile and quick updates, since children find new sites fast. See the parental control app database guide.
MSPs
Apply Adult in every client baseline and document it in acceptable use policies.
ISPs
Offer opt-in family filtering on the network resolver. See ISP web filtering.
Libraries
Filter computers used by minors while keeping adult patrons' research access in line with local policy.
Hotels and venues
Keep public Wi-Fi free of explicit content to protect families and the venue's reputation.
Browser makers
Build a kids' mode or a safe profile on top of the category, with no list to curate in-house.
Security gateways
Add Adult as a policy object next to security categories, so one rule set covers both jobs, with one report showing blocks from both.
Licences allow internal use, OEM use inside a product, and group-wide use across several products. Resale or publication of the raw list is not part of any licence, which keeps the data out of the hands of people trying to evade it.
Adult websites blocklist FAQ
What does an adult websites blocklist include?
It includes domains whose main purpose is explicit sexual content, together with their mirror domains, media and video hosts, and companion sites such as cam and escort services. Strict lists can add the Lingerie/Swimsuits/Intimate Apparel and Dating categories.
Why does this page not list any adult domains?
Printing explicit domain names would make the page itself unsafe for the schools and families who read it. Licensed customers receive the full list as files; this page describes the coverage, patterns and handling instead.
Is blocking the .xxx and .porn extensions enough?
No. Adult-themed extensions such as .xxx, .adult, .porn and .sex are worth blocking, but most explicit sites use ordinary extensions such as .com. A categorized list is needed to catch them.
Does an adult blocklist block sex education and health sites?
It should not. Sexual health, medical and education sites belong to Health & Medicine or Education/Reference. Keeping the Adult category tight is what lets schools and clinics block explicit content without losing health resources.
How do I stop users getting explicit images from search engines?
Enforce SafeSearch at the DNS level by mapping the search hostnames to their safe variants, for example forcesafesearch.google.com for Google and strict.bing.com for Bing, and set YouTube to restricted mode. Combine this with the blocklist.
Does an adult blocklist work on phones and tablets?
Yes, when the phone uses your network's DNS or a filtering app. Phones often switch to mobile data or encrypted DNS, so force DNS through your resolver on Wi-Fi and use device-level filtering or MDM for phones that leave the network.
Will an adult blocklist block social media accounts that post explicit content?
A domain list works per domain, so it cannot block single accounts on a large platform. Platforms whose main purpose is explicit content are in the list; for mixed platforms, use the platform's own safety settings or the social media list.
Can I license the adult category on its own?
Licences cover the categorized database, and you choose which categories to export as lists. Starter database tiers start from $999; enterprise and OEM licences are quoted per deployment.
License an adult blocklist that stays current
Get the Adult category and 58 others across 120 million domains, with daily new-domain deltas and exports for your resolvers, firewalls and apps.
Google, SafeSearch and YouTube are trademarks of Google LLC. Bing is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Firefox is a trademark of the Mozilla Foundation.
These names are used here only to identify the products discussed. Web Filtering Database is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by these companies.