diff --git a/provider/pihole/pihole.go b/provider/pihole/pihole.go
index 76e295fffd..e5557093a6 100644
--- a/provider/pihole/pihole.go
+++ b/provider/pihole/pihole.go
@@ -120,59 +120,84 @@ func (p *PiholeProvider) Records(ctx context.Context) ([]*endpoint.Endpoint, err
 
 // ApplyChanges implements Provider, syncing desired state with the Pi-hole server Local DNS.
 func (p *PiholeProvider) ApplyChanges(ctx context.Context, changes *plan.Changes) error {
-	// Handle pure deletes first.
-	for _, ep := range changes.Delete {
+	if err := p.applyDeletes(ctx, changes.Delete); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	updateNew := p.buildUpdateMap(changes.UpdateNew)
+
+	if err := p.applyUpdateOld(ctx, changes.UpdateOld, updateNew); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return p.applyCreates(ctx, changes.Create, updateNew)
+}
+
+// applyDeletes performs pure deletes from the plan.
+func (p *PiholeProvider) applyDeletes(ctx context.Context, deletes []*endpoint.Endpoint) error {
+	for _, ep := range deletes {
 		if err := p.api.deleteRecord(ctx, ep); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
+	return nil
+}
 
-	// Handle updated state - there are no endpoints for updating in place.
-	updateNew := make(map[piholeEntryKey]*endpoint.Endpoint)
-	for _, ep := range changes.UpdateNew {
+// buildUpdateMap collapses UpdateNew endpoints by (DNSName, RecordType). For
+// the v6 API, endpoints that share a key have their Targets merged and
+// deduplicated so a single createRecord call carries all desired targets.
+func (p *PiholeProvider) buildUpdateMap(updateNew []*endpoint.Endpoint) map[piholeEntryKey]*endpoint.Endpoint {
+	m := make(map[piholeEntryKey]*endpoint.Endpoint, len(updateNew))
+	for _, ep := range updateNew {
 		key := piholeEntryKey{ep.DNSName, ep.RecordType}
-
-		// If the API version is 6, we need to handle multiple targets for the same DNS name.
 		if p.apiVersion == "6" {
-			if existing, ok := updateNew[key]; ok {
+			if existing, ok := m[key]; ok {
 				existing.Targets = append(existing.Targets, ep.Targets...)
-
-				// Deduplicate targets
 				slices.Sort(existing.Targets)
 				existing.Targets = slices.Compact(existing.Targets)
-
 				ep = existing
 			}
 		}
-		updateNew[key] = ep
+		m[key] = ep
 	}
+	return m
+}
 
-	for _, ep := range changes.UpdateOld {
-		// Check if this existing entry has an exact match for an updated entry and skip it if so.
+// applyUpdateOld walks the old side of in-place updates. For each old entry
+// whose paired new entry is unchanged, the update is dropped from updateNew
+// (nothing to do). Otherwise the old record is deleted so the new record can
+// be created in the subsequent phase.
+func (p *PiholeProvider) applyUpdateOld(ctx context.Context, updateOld []*endpoint.Endpoint, updateNew map[piholeEntryKey]*endpoint.Endpoint) error {
+	for _, ep := range updateOld {
 		key := piholeEntryKey{ep.DNSName, ep.RecordType}
-		if newRecord := updateNew[key]; newRecord != nil {
-			// If the API version is 6, we need to handle multiple targets for the same DNS name.
-			if p.apiVersion == "6" {
-				if cmp.Diff(ep.Targets, newRecord.Targets) == "" {
-					delete(updateNew, key)
-					continue
-				}
-			} else {
-				// For API version <= 5, we only check the first target.
-				if newRecord.Targets[0] == ep.Targets[0] {
-					delete(updateNew, key)
-					continue
-				}
-			}
-
-			if err := p.api.deleteRecord(ctx, ep); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
+		newRecord := updateNew[key]
+		if newRecord == nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		if p.updateIsNoOp(ep, newRecord) {
+			delete(updateNew, key)
+			continue
+		}
+		if err := p.api.deleteRecord(ctx, ep); err != nil {
+			return err
 		}
 	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// updateIsNoOp reports whether an update is actually a change. For v6 all
+// targets must match; for older APIs only the first target is compared, which
+// matches the historical single-target semantics of the v5 local-DNS endpoint.
+func (p *PiholeProvider) updateIsNoOp(oldEP, newEP *endpoint.Endpoint) bool {
+	if p.apiVersion == "6" {
+		return cmp.Diff(oldEP.Targets, newEP.Targets) == ""
+	}
+	return newEP.Targets[0] == oldEP.Targets[0]
+}
 
-	// Handle pure creates before applying new updated state.
-	for _, ep := range changes.Create {
+// applyCreates runs pure creates followed by the (possibly pruned) updates.
+func (p *PiholeProvider) applyCreates(ctx context.Context, creates []*endpoint.Endpoint, updateNew map[piholeEntryKey]*endpoint.Endpoint) error {
+	for _, ep := range creates {
 		if err := p.api.createRecord(ctx, ep); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -182,6 +207,5 @@ func (p *PiholeProvider) ApplyChanges(ctx context.Context, changes *plan.Changes
 			return err
 		}
 	}
-
 	return nil
 }