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AdSense alternative for selling your own ads

Nishant · Updated 10 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

Short answer

Choose AdSense if you want Google's auction to find advertisers and earnings to follow traffic. Choose a monthly sponsor spot if you want to set the price and find brands that fit your readers. You can run both in separate placements. Sponsor payments go to your own Stripe or Dodo account, but an unbooked month earns nothing.

On this page
Pick AdSense if

you want every slot filled automatically, starting from your first visitor, with no contact with advertisers.

Pick AdSense if

your pages cover many unrelated topics, so no single brand fits your audience.

Pick Sponsor.st if

you'd rather show one sponsor you chose than auction ads you don't control.

Pick Sponsor.st if

your readers share a niche that brands pay to reach, even if there are few of them.

Your sponsor spots $80asked / month Median asked by 5 similar sites, for all their spots
Google AdSense $90–153

At 50,000 pageviews a month: Your sponsor spots $80 asked, Google AdSense $90–153.

Networks pay every month they fill. A spot pays for the months someone books.

Estimates from each network’s published rates and sites’ own advertise pages. More on prices

Compare at your monthly pageviews. The sponsor figure is an asking price for all spots on similar sites, not guaranteed income; AdSense's estimate varies with topic, region and demand.

How AdSense works

  • Who can join. Any site that passes Google's review and follows its policies. There is no published traffic minimum.
  • How you earn. Per view and per click, set by an auction. Google says publishers "receive 80% of the revenue, after the advertiser platform takes its fee".
  • What it pays. The rates behind Google's own AdSense calculator depend on topic and readers' region. For readers in the Americas, the middle half of its topics pays $1.80 to $3.05 per 1,000 pageviews.
  • Payouts. Monthly, between the 21st and the 26th, once your balance reaches $100.
  • Who picks the ads. Google's auction, within the categories you allow. You can block advertisers and categories, but not choose them one by one.

How Sponsor.st works

Paste one script tag, click where a spot goes and set a monthly price. Sponsors book calendar months and pay into your own Stripe or Dodo account; the ad goes live and comes down on its dates.

Side by side

Google AdSense Sponsor.st
Who can join Any site that passes review Anyone with a website
How you earn Per view and click, by auction A monthly price you set per spot
Who finds advertisers Google You
Revenue split 80% after the advertiser platform's fee Paid to your own Stripe or Dodo account, minus that provider's processing fee
Payouts Monthly, from $100 When the sponsor pays
Who picks the ads Google's auction; you can block categories You; approving each ad first is optional
Empty slots Rare: the auction fills them Possible if nobody books
Tracking Personalised ads use cookies No cookies
Cost to you Google's share Free, or Pro at $19/month

What you trade

With AdSense you

earn from traffic without finding advertisers; withdrawals still depend on the payout threshold.

With AdSense you

give up the choice of who appears: you can block categories, not pick brands.

With Sponsor.st you

choose each sponsor and set the price, so a small niche audience can earn more than its pageviews.

With Sponsor.st you

find the sponsor yourself, and a spot nobody books earns nothing that month.

Finding a sponsor

A network brings the advertiser. Here you do:

  • Your booking page. Each spot gets its own page with its price and open months. Link it as “Advertise” in your footer or newsletter, and send it to brands that ask.
  • A media kit. Make a one-page PDF with your audience and spots, for the brands you email.
  • Who to ask. How to sell sponsorships covers finding brands that already sponsor sites like yours.
  • The directory. Brands browse the Sponsor.st directory for sites to sponsor.

Common mistakes

  • Comparing a monthly price to a per-view rate without doing the maths. Multiply monthly pageviews by the rate and divide by 1,000.
  • Putting both in the same place. A sponsor paying for a month expects not to share the spot with auction ads.
  • Pricing a sponsor spot like AdSense. A sponsor buys your audience, not a count of views. Start from what similar sites ask.

Keep AdSense while you try

AdSense has no exclusivity rule, so you can keep it and test one sponsor spot in a separate placement. Compare actual paid bookings with actual ad earnings before deciding what to remove. An asking price alone is not evidence that sponsors will book.

  1. Paste one script tagIn your site’s head, once.
  2. Click where a spot goesOn your own page, where readers look.
  3. Set a monthly priceSponsors book months and pay your Stripe or Dodo account.

Start free Free for 1 site and 3 spots · no card

Sources (checked 10 October 2026)

Guide AdSense alternatives: ad networks vs sponsors AdSense alternatives compared with sources: Ezoic, Mediavine, Raptive, Carbon Ads, EthicalAds, BuySellAds and direct sponsors, with entry rules and pay. Comparison EthicalAds alternative for developer sites EthicalAds pays developer sites 70% of privacy-first, contextual ad revenue. Sponsor.st lets you sell your own monthly spots, paid to you directly. Guide Banner ad pricing: what websites charge Published sponsor asking prices by format, niche and traffic, from the currently published directory.

Your first sponsor spot is one line away.

Keep AdSense where it suits your traffic; Sponsor.st handles booking, payment and dates for a separate monthly sponsor spot. Free for 1 site and 3 spots. Pro is $19/month.

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Sponsor spot · Banner

Sponsor this spot · $370/month

What an empty spot shows.