AdSense alternatives in 2024

What is Google AdSense?

AdSense is a monetization platform created by Google. Technologically speaking, it is an ad network serving website owners whose main focus is displaying targeted ads. By using it, you can monetize blogs, forums, specialized websites (such as the ones with online tools like file format converters), and many other types of internet sites. It’s a great tool, tested out by many digital publishers, offering various ad formats, even for those without much technical knowledge. To receive payment from your account, your earnings should reach a minimum threshold of 100$. If your current balance falls below this limit, your earnings will be carried over to the next month.

AdSense requirements

There are a few requirements that you and your digital content have to meet before joining the program. You should be over 18 years old, and your content should comply with Google Publisher Policies and Restrictions and AdSense Program policies.

Banned AdSense account

If Google finds out that you have violated any AdSense Program policies, including technical issues like bad ad placements, invalid clicks, or misleading navigation, it will notify you. Importantly, you can’t break those rules after you start to monetize your website – if such a deviation is detected, you will get a warning and be obliged to fix your mistake as fast as possible!

How much AdSense pay

The question of how much Google AdSense pays for displaying ads on publishers’ websites is basically a question of how high the revenue share for showing ads is. Generally, if advertisers use Google Ads, you get around 68% of the effective Cost Per Mille (eCPM). It’s vital to remember that revenue share isn’t publicly known for every AdSense product, however, if you monetize with the platform, you can check what the situation is like for you. Here’s how:

1. Sign in to your AdSense account;
2. Go to “Account”, then “Settings” and later “Account information”;
3. There, you can find revenue share for AdSense products that you use – look next to the “Active products” section.

If you don’t have an AdSense account, you can use a dedicated calculator to check probable ad earnings based on your region and content category. Please remember that these are only estimated earnings, and actual revenue depends on many factors, such as seasonality, market trends, or current global economic conditions.

Google AdSense pros and cons

An advantage of AdSense is, for sure, an option to integrate your account with Google Analytics and the fact that it’s a very popular solution. Users also praise that to start your monetization journey, you only have to paste a single code into your website’s HTML. Moreover, implementation time is short, so you can benefit from the platform quickly.

However, the biggest cons include limited support – as AdSense advises to first check articles in the AdSense Help Center and only later contact the helping team; as a publisher, you won’t have an assigned specialist to help you through the process or explain important facts. Additionally, your account may be temporarily suspended if you severely and repeatedly violate the program’s policies.

When to look for alternative

Using Google AdSense is a great idea for many digital content creators, especially at the beginning of their monetization journey, due to the accessibility of this method. However, there might be some reasons for which to look for an alternative:

• When you want to increase your earnings. For instance, AI-powered solutions can enhance the efficiency of advertising networks, thereby potentially increasing your earnings;
• When you want to optimize and improve your ad sales process;
• If you are looking for solutions that are more tailored to your needs and you also want to have more control over the monetization process. Most of the other ad networks will provide just that;
• When you want to try bypassing the minimum payout threshold (in AdSense, it is 100$ a month).

Best Google AdSense alternatives

If you are now searching for quality AdSense alternatives, there are a few things you need to consider. First, verify if the companies you are considering provide solutions that match your needs and, on the other hand, if you meet their criteria. Additionally, assess whether their payment methods are suitable for you and if there are additional perks of the collaboration, like whether they are a Google Certified Publishing Partner – it’s a great indication of their trustworthiness. A broad range of high-quality ad formats is also vital, see how wide is the range of ads they offer (like if they can provide video ads or native ads).

optAd360

optAd360 is a Google Certified Publishing Partner Premier (GCPP Premier) and IAB member whose main goal is to help publishers with their digital content monetization through innovative solutions. The company grants access to a wide-ranging network of premium demand partners and ad exchanges (including Google’s AdX). When compared to AdSense, we could notice some similarities; however, besides advantages like benefiting from programmatic technology, simple single code implementation, a broad range of ad formats, and a user-friendly dashboard with valuable insights about the monetization process, optAd360 offers other features and benefits! Let’s take a closer look at some of them:

• optAd360 AI Engine is at the center of all operations – a machine-learning technology that manages the selling of ad inventory and enables other company products to do their job. On average, publishers experience a 35% increase in earnings after the implementation of this technology! Notably, optAd360 AI Engine does the most important job of automating the selection of technological solutions providers (Supply Side Platforms – SSPs) and choosing the right programmatic auction. Furthermore, it contributes positively to Google Core Web Vitals metrics, which enhances the User Experience and SEO of your website;
• Revenue Booster is yet another feature you need to know about. It will make your life easier by optimizing your website’s ad space by incorporating new ad formats in areas experiencing heightened user engagement. This product offers a personalized approach, which is considered a best practice in the field of website monetization. Moreover, a publisher already using AdSense doesn’t have to give it up! Our product allows for enriching the already applied solutions by benefiting from additional revenue generated by our advertising formats (which are not offered in AdSense) without any risk – you don’t resign from what you’re already doing, so in this scenario, you can only gain;
• While Revenue Booster helps to optimize the already existing ad layout, Ad Mapper creates it from scratch. Various ad formats and sizes are strategically composed within your content, considering factors such as user engagement, audience demographics, and specific website characteristics. Importantly, your website layout is constructed in real-time, so it can even adjust to the device type of the user;
• Another solution worth mentioning is the Recovery Tool, which focuses on minimizing the impact of unloaded ad units. Ads might sometimes fail to load properly due to various factors, such as website connection timeout, the user losing an internet connection, or even the influence of viruses and malware. Regardless of the reason, the tool identifies each ad unit with unsold ad impressions and prevents revenue loss by trying to resell them. With its use, you can boost your ad income by at least 15%;
• optAd360 CMP (Consent Management Platform) helps you to stay in line with privacy laws and manage the consent of website visitors regarding the usage of their data for personalized advertising. optAd360 CMP is GDPR-compliant, available in 30 languages, and it’s possible to customize the tool so it aligns with your website’s design;
• Customer service in 17 languages: Arabic, English, Filipino, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese helps publishers express their monetization-related needs way more seamlessly. Each publisher is assigned a dedicated Publisher Services Manager who takes care of their website or application and communicates directly with them on all monetization-related matters for a more personalized touch;
• Our specialists are at your disposal seven days a week, even on weekends and holidays;
• The optAd360 website is available in 8 languages: English, Spanish, Indonesian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Thai and Vietnamese. It’s vital, as technical issues can be already challenging to comprehend – the offer is more transparent in the publishers’ native languages;
• Furthermore, collaborating with optAd360 means timely payments within 30 days (while the standard in the industry remains 60 days) and a variety of payout methods (including PayPal, Payoneer, or bank transfer);
• In the optAd360 offer, there’s also a possibility to implement an offerwall, which can be a great additional income source. It’s a perfect way for website owners to allow visitors interested in the content contribute to the site’s income. Offerwall appears in the form of a window that includes a message that encourages to watch an ad in exchange for the ability to access content for free;
• Lastly, optAd360 provides a large variety of ad formats, including Sticky Video Ads, In-feed Native Ads, Static Ads, and more! Incorporating various advertising formats into your strategy diversifies the ad layout, mitigates the risk of ad fatigue, and potentially boosts ad revenue. Importantly, AdSense does not support video ads in the same way optAd360 does. For instance, if you haven’t previously used the AdSense for Video (AFV) feature, which enabled publishers to monetize their video content, you can no longer do so since this feature was discontinued in 2022 for new users. On the contrary, optAd360 offers a diverse range of in-stream and out-stream video ads that can generate over 50% more revenue than display ads. What’s more, unlike AdSense, which has only one Sticky Ad format that does not generate additional impressions, optAd360 can sell 3 to 4 impressions during one session, resulting in significantly higher profits. Another distinction between Google’s solution and ours is that for Interstitial ads, we do not use fixed frequency capping, and we can manage the minimum price to prevent your ad space from being undervalued.

In order to start collaborating with optAd360, you have to:

• generate at least 50,000 or 500,000 page views per month – depending on the country of origin,
• run your website for at least 3 months,
• comply with content requirements, such as adhering to legal standards, avoiding copyright infringement, and steering clear of risky topics such as explicit sexual, vulgar, hateful, terrorist, or violence-related content. It should also refrain from promoting or enabling illegal, dangerous, or harmful activities.

Snigel

Snigel is an advertising network, founded in 2012. It has a GCPP badge and IAB membership and enables access to Google Ad Exchange thanks to the Multiple Customer Management (MCM) program. The company utilizes AI technology that helps to create a tailored ad setup, but also each customer is taken care of by an ad operations specialist. Publishers can decide to have their revenue paid in both EUR and USD, however, only via bank transfer on Net-30 terms.

Snigel is open to monetizing websites that:

• generate the minimum of around 50$ per day, but the company is also willing to evaluate websites below this benchmark if they display significant potential for growth,
• have original, top-notch content and receive traffic from credible sources.

MonetizeMore

MonetizeMore was established in 2010 and is another substitute for AdSense. It focuses on optimizing revenue generation through various tools, such as AI header bidding automation and dynamic floor pricing options. Most payments are in USD or CAD, but it’s possible to receive money without exchange fees in other currencies through eCheck. You will be able to receive your revenue after you exceed the 100$ threshold on Net-30 or Net-45 terms. The company offers ad optimization services at different levels of revenue generated monthly:

• Starter plan is for publishers who generate over 1,000$ a month. Every content creator, among others, gets integration with Google Ad Manager, around-the-clock support, access to Ad Exchange, optimization features, and access to reporting,
• Professional plan, available for those who have more than 5,000$ revenue monthly, includes all the benefits listed above plus extras, like AdSense optimization and access to PubGuru® Header Bidding (which is an ad management platform),
• Premium plan that requires more than 20,000$ monthly incorporates all perks from Starter and Professional plans but additionally offers improvements, such as a dedicated ad optimization team or even ad tech engineering team support,
• Enterprise plan is dedicated to bigger publishers with a minimum revenue of 100,000$ a month. The most premium package is a full-service option with advanced features like ad API access or custom ad tech development.

AdPushup

AdPushup is an alternative to AdSense and GCPP Premier badge holder that focuses on maintaining a balance between ad monetization and User Experience. It automates the optimization process, reducing publishers’ need for manual intervention. What’s more, the company provides access to a vast network of premium demand partners and ad exchanges. However, their main requirement is that a website generate at least 5,000$ a month. AdPushup states that its solution is ideal for publishers with no or little technical knowledge. Publishers receive a payment system based on Net-45 terms (it means that an invoice must be paid within 45 days after receiving it), with the ability to use PayPal or bank transfer.

Mediavine

Mediavine offers a comprehensive ad management solution that caters to publishers’ individual needs and adequate ad placement. They state that they value User Experience, SEO, and revenue equally. Mediavine also focuses on site speed and prevents “lazy ads loading” with the help of Trellis – a WordPress theme framework. Their other solution is called Grow and it was developed so the task of enhancing performance metrics might be simplified. The company was established in 2004, is part of the GCPP Premier program, and is a member of IAB.

Mediavine requires from the content creators:

• 50,000 sessions within the last 30 days,
• a positive status with Google AdSense,
• unique content, but lifestyle publishers are most welcome,
• engaging and long-form content.

Your application will be evaluated by the Mediavine Publisher Support team and third-party advertising partners. If you are already collaborating with this company, you can check at any time your current earnings at Mediavine Dashboard. Payments are scheduled for the 5th of every month, but they operate on a Net-65 payment policy.

Raptive / AdThrive

Raptive (formerly AdThrive) provides various solutions for digital content creators besides ad monetization process management – including a comprehensive SEO system and customizable A/B testing. They have a GCPP Premier badge but are mostly concentrated on publishers from the USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Generally, they use Tipalti for payments, but publishers in the USA can choose between these payment options: direct deposit, PayPal, checks, or bank transfer. The payment threshold is 25$ or 100$, depending on the payment method of your choice. Raptive operates on Net-45 terms.

In order to be able to collaborate with Raptive, you have to adhere to the following criteria:

• your website has to get 100,000 monthly pageviews minimum, as per Google Analytics,
• at least 40% of your traffic must originate from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, or Australia,
• your content must be top-notch and original.

Google AdSense alternatives

To simplify the choice-making process, we have prepared a summary of the most important information about each above-described AdSense alternative:

It is worth mentioning that an important thing that should have a large impact on the final choice of a monetization partner is the level of technological support offered. In optAd360, the publisher doesn’t have to be technologically proficient for monetization to run smoothly and without any problems.

Wind of change

It is worth treating AdSense as a warm-up for monetization processes, but if you really want to spread your wings and get tailored solutions that will quickly take your ad earning to the next level – consider joining our network! With the right crew and equipment, you’ll safely sail through the storms of the monetization seas. There’s no time to waste – familiarize yourself with the requirements to join the optAd360 network and come aboard to start earning more!