1
The free ad server for publishers who sell direct deals and run their own header bidding alongside AdSense demand.
#1 web rank · Free (Ad Manager 360 for enterprise) · accepts Health & Supplements
8.5/10
Google Ad Manager is a free ad server that lets a publisher traffic direct-sold campaigns, house ads and programmatic demand (AdSense and, through partners, Ad Exchange) with priorities and reporting. It is the foundation of any self-managed ad stack and of header bidding with Prebid. Expect a learning curve. Read more →
Pros
- Serve direct-sold campaigns, house ads and programmatic from one place
- Required for Prebid and most SSP integrations
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Ad Exchange access needs a partner or scale
Pricing: Free · Payout: Monthly via AdSense/AdX payments · ad server gam direct sales prebid
2
The open-source header bidding wrapper: run your own auction across SSPs without a managed partner's cut.
#30k web rank · ▼ 306 this week · ★ 1.6k · Apache-2.0 · Free (open source) · accepts Health & Supplements
8.0/10
Prebid.js is the open-source header bidding library used by most managed partners under the hood. Publishers with ad-ops capacity run it themselves with Google Ad Manager and direct contracts with SSPs (Magnite, PubMatic, Index Exchange, OpenX and others), keeping the managed partner's 10-25%. Worth it from a few hundred thousand pageviews if you have the skills. Read more →
Pros
- Keep 100% of the auction; full control over bidders and floors
- Industry standard with 300+ bidder adapters
Cons
- Needs ad-ops skill, Google Ad Manager and direct SSP contracts
- SSPs each have their own minimums
Pricing: Open source · Payout: Each SSP pays you directly · header bidding open source ssp
3
Ad server built for direct-sold local and niche advertising, with sponsor reporting and invoicing.
#33k web rank · ▼ 299 this week · From $199/mo · accepts Health & Supplements
7.7/10
Broadstreet is an ad server for publishers who sell their own ads: local news sites, niche magazines and community sites. It manages sponsor campaigns, creative formats, reporting and invoicing, from $199 a month, and plays well with a programmatic backfill. Read more →
Pros
- Designed for selling and managing direct sponsors, with rich formats and reports advertisers understand
- Popular with local news and niche publishers
Cons
- Monthly cost is significant for small sites
- Not a programmatic demand source
Pricing: Paid from $199/mo · Payout: n/a · direct ad sales local news sponsors
4
Adblock recovery, consent management and visitor relationship tools for publishers.
#55k web rank · ▲ 941 this week · Revenue share on recovered revenue · accepts Health & Supplements
7.4/10
Admiral helps publishers recover revenue from ad-blocking visitors (typically 20-40% of tech audiences) through messaging, whitelisting requests and alternatives like subscriptions and email sign-up, alongside a CMP. It charges a share of the revenue it recovers. Read more →
Pros
- Recovers ad revenue from adblock users through polite walls and consent flows
- Adds newsletter, subscription and donation prompts
Cons
- Adblock walls annoy a share of readers
- Revenue-share model
Pricing: Free · Payout: Monthly · adblock recovery cmp visitor relationship
5
Ad server for direct sales, self-serve advertiser portals and email newsletter ads, from $149 a month.
#666k web rank · ▼ 21k this week · From $149/mo · accepts Health & Supplements
7.3/10
AdButler serves direct-sold ads on websites, in apps and inside email newsletters, with an optional self-serve portal where advertisers book and pay for placements, from $149 a month. Suits publishers scaling direct sales without a large sales team. Read more →
Pros
- Self-serve portal lets advertisers buy placements themselves
- Serves ads into newsletters as well as web
Cons
- Monthly cost
- Interface is dated
Pricing: Paid from $149/mo · Payout: n/a · ad server self-serve newsletter ads
6
Page-speed and Core Web Vitals tooling for ad-heavy sites, included with Ezoic and available standalone.
#16k web rank · ▼ 217 this week · Included with Ezoic; standalone plans available · accepts Health & Supplements
6.9/10
Leap is Ezoic's performance suite: caching, critical CSS, script delaying and image optimisation aimed at keeping Core Web Vitals green on sites that run ads. Useful to Ezoic publishers; comparable results come from WP Rocket or Cloudflare on other stacks. Read more →
Pros
- Caching, script delay and image optimisation tuned for sites running ads
- Diagnoses which scripts hurt vitals
Cons
- Tied to the Ezoic ecosystem
- Aggressive settings can break scripts
Pricing: Free plan available · Payout: n/a · page speed core web vitals caching