Adsterra

Adsterra is a self-serve ad network that sells traffic from its own publisher sites. You fund an account, create a campaign, choose a format, country, device and bid, and Adsterra shows your ad on publisher pages. The advertisers page lists seven formats as of October 2026: Popunder, In-Page Push, Interstitial, Banner, Native, Social Bar and Smartlink. Social Bar is Adsterra's own format, a notification-style or in-page widget.

Its main draw for affiliates is pop traffic: cheap, high-volume popunder impressions that send the visitor straight to your landing page. The network sells by CPM, CPC and CPA, per its pricing models page, with tools such as CPA Goal that adjust CPM or CPC bidding towards a target cost per action.

The same page names the operator as AD MARKET LIMITED, Limassol, Cyprus. The vendor says it works with "45K+ direct publishers" and serves "36B+ impressions monthly" across "248 geos", per the advertisers page.

Adsterra suits media buyers who run paid traffic to offers and want cheap volume to test: pop and Social Bar campaigns in many countries, small budgets, quick moderation. In iGaming, the vendor lists iGaming among trending verticals on its advertisers page and says CPM start is "usually applied in E-commerce and iGaming campaigns". That makes it relevant to affiliates promoting licensed operators in markets where such advertising is legal.

It is not for SEO affiliates, who need SEO tools, not ad inventory. It is a poor fit for anyone promoting gambling where it is not licensed or where the target market's rules restrict such ads: Adsterra's own terms prohibit "illegal gambling services". It also suits poorly a buyer who cannot run a tracker, because pop traffic quality varies a lot by placement.

You sign up as an advertiser, deposit funds, and create a campaign: format, buying model, countries, devices, OS, browsers and a bid. The pricing models page says there are 20+ targeting settings and up to 15 creatives per test. Campaigns pass moderation before going live, and the advertisers page says you can upload landing previews.

On CPM, the SmartCPM option uses a second-price auction, per the same page. CPA campaigns are not bought blind: "Every CPA campaign starts with a CPM test", and the page says a US test needs at least $100. CPA Goal adjusts CPM or CPC bids towards your target cost per action.

Tracking runs through your own tracker: the popunder page mentions integration with Voluum, Binom and Bemob, and the pricing models page lists an API. You then cut placements that do not convert, the same loop described in tracking and attribution.

Account setup is quick, but funding has rules. The advertiser terms (last updated 29.06.2026) require funds to come from an account in your own name, and say Adsterra may request KYC documents. For gambling campaigns you should have your licensing paperwork and the operator's licence details ready, since the terms make you warrant that you hold the permissions needed to promote the content. Then expect moderation, a tracker setup and a CPM test before CPA becomes available.

Adsterra does not publish moderation times for gambling campaigns, so build a buffer into the launch plan, upload landing previews early, and keep a copy of everything you submit so any request for changes can be answered quickly.

Low entry for testing. As of October 2026 the self-serve platform page states a $25 minimum campaign budget, and the advertisers page says "Usually, $100 is enough to test a CPA campaign".

All three buying models. CPM, CPC and CPA are available, per the pricing models page, and that page lists iGaming under CPM and CPC verticals ("iGaming - all flows").

Format range beyond pop. Popunder, Social Bar, In-Page Push, Interstitial, Native and Banner in one account let you test the same offer across formats without opening new accounts.

Tracker friendly. Integrations with common trackers and an API are listed on the vendor's own pages.

Stated fraud controls. The vendor says it uses "3-level security: anti-fraud and anti-malware", and the Social Bar page mentions "in-house anti-fraud solutions along with manual traffic checking". These are vendor claims; verify with your own tracker data.

Traffic quality varies. Pop and Social Bar inventory is cheap because it comes from many publishers of varying quality. Bot traffic and accidental clicks are a known risk of pop traffic; without a tracker and placement blacklists, a campaign can spend its budget on worthless impressions.

CPA is not available for iGaming on the vendor's list. The pricing models page lists iGaming among CPM and CPC verticals, but not among CPA verticals, as of October 2026. Plan to buy on CPM or CPC and optimize yourself, unless your manager offers a CPA deal for your flow.

Compliance is your burden. The advertiser terms prohibit "illegal gambling services" and adult content, and require the advertiser to hold "all necessary permissions, authorizations, consents, licenses" under applicable law. Adsterra does not check for you whether an operator is licensed in each country you target. Showing reviewers one page and users another (cloaking) is a banned practice on every serious network and is not an option.

Refunds are slow and conditional. The terms say unused balances can be refunded on request within 12 months of the last invoice, processed within 30 business days, and not at all if the terms were breached.

What it does not do. Adsterra does not track conversions for you beyond its own CPA goal, does not supply gambling offers, and is not an affiliate network.

Adsterra has no subscription: you pay for traffic. As of October 2026, the advertiser terms (last updated 29.06.2026) say accounts must initially be funded with at least $100 to activate campaigns, and campaigns pause when the balance reaches zero. The advertisers page shows Wire Transfer, Visa and Mastercard, UnionPay and Paxum as payment methods, with "deposits start from $100" for Paxum, and says CPM and CPC campaigns need a minimum total and daily budget of $25.

Prices are bids, set by country, format and competition. The pricing models page gives a minimum CPC example of $0.001 for Social Bar on desktop in India. An illustrative first test is the $100 deposit spread across two or three countries on popunder CPM, with a tracker to see which placements convert before raising budgets.

PropellerAds is the closest substitute: a self-serve network strong in pop and push, often tested on the same offer. RichAds covers push and pop with a similar self-serve model. For native placements, MGID is a different kind of inventory. Buyers commonly run the same gambling offer on two of these networks and compare cost per first deposit in their tracker, subject to each network's own gambling rules.

Adsterra is a practical network for iGaming media buyers who promote licensed operators in markets where that advertising is legal, and who want cheap pop, Social Bar or in-page push volume to test offers on a small budget. Its strengths are a low $100 entry, CPM and CPC buying that the vendor explicitly opens to iGaming, and easy tracker integration.

Its risks are the usual ones for pop inventory: uneven placement quality, the need for strict tracking, and compliance that rests entirely on you. Go in with licence details ready, a tracker in place and a plan to blacklist placements aggressively.

Because PropellerAds sells similar inventory, the comparison that matters is your own: the same offer, country and format on both networks, judged on cost per qualified first deposit in your tracker rather than on click prices.