Ezoic vs Monumetric vs Snigel (Highest CPM, Cost, and More)

Ezoic, Monumetric, and Snigel all let you monetize your website traffic through header bidding, so it can be difficult to differentiate between them. In this guide, we dig into some of the key differences that may make one solution better for your website than the others.

In short, if you’re looking for a highly customized ad strategy and are already bringing in $300 USD per day, Snigel may be the best fit. However, if you have a smaller blog-style website, earning less than $300 per day, Ezoic or Monumetric may be a better option.

In this guide, we compare Snigel vs. Ezoic vs. Monumetric in the following areas:

• What’s included in the ad stack
• How customized your ad strategy can be
• Ease of use
• How their ad tech will affect your site
• Who can use it
• Cost and payouts
• Customer reviews

Snigel is a Google Certified Publishing Partner that provides website owners with AI ad optimization technology and dedicated ad management experts who create, implement, and manage a fully customized ad stack and strategy for you. In addition to maximizing revenue, Snigel helps you deliver fast page load speed and positive user experiences. To see how we can help grow your ad revenue, get in touch. 

What’s Included in the Ad Stack

All three header bidding partners offer an ad stack for optimizing the placement of ads on your site, connecting to multiple demand partners, and more. However, each one will have variations as to what’s included. 

For example, Monumetric offers a client-side header bidding wrapper, whereas, Snigel provides AI bidder optimization that switches bidders between server-side and client-side header bidding (depending on their performance). Utilizing both client- and server-side header bidding lets you connect to more demand sources while minimizing page load times and the amount of processing that takes place on the user’s browser.

In this section, we review each company’s ad stack.

Snigel

Snigel's AdEngine is our data-driven header bidding solution and the backbone of our AI-powered ad stack. To help ensure your ad inventory is available to the highest bidders with the highest quality ads, AdEngine is connected to all major advertising demand sources, including:

• Google AdX
• OpenX
• Amazon Publisher Services
• Index Exchange
• ConnectAd
• Magnite
• District M
• And many more

AdEngine also gives you access to next generation ad format technology including:

• Adaptive ads: Most ad inventory is simply sold according to a set size. Whoever is willing to offer the most for that size ad space, wins the bid. Adaptive ads use automation to fill ad space with whatever combination of ads will return the highest revenue. For example, the highest bid for one large ad might be $2, whereas, if you split the ad space into two spots, you might get $1.25 per spot. Although each smaller ad is less than the one large ad, combined, the smaller ads will return more revenue.

• Super adhesive ads: One way to increase the CPM for an ad space is to display large ads in a small space. Super adhesive ads let you do this by having the visible part of the ad move down as the user scrolls.

• Interactive ad units: Another way to increase the CPM of your ad space is to increase the amount of time a user spends viewing the ad. Interactive ad units engage the user by inviting them to fill out a poll, take a short quiz, or click through the ad to learn facts, tips, etc., which increases the amount of time they spend looking at the ad.

Plus, AdEngine comes with additional optimization features, such as:

• AI bidder optimization: This allows you to decrease page load times and increase the number of competitive demand sources you can access by ensuring bidders are allocated to client- or server-side header bidding solutions, based on where they perform best.

• Dynamic floor pricing: Bid shading is technology that allows advertisers to pay the lowest possible price for ad inventory — at the expense of publishers. To combat bid shading, dynamic floor pricing uses AI to automatically adjust floor prices every hour so that bid shading algorithms can’t predict the floor price. This increases your CPM and prevents unfilled ad space.

• Smart refresh: To increase the number of impressions per pageview, Smart Refresh allows you to display multiple ads, one after the other, within one ad space. How often the ad changes will depend on a variety of event-based, time-based, or action-based triggers (e.g., switching tabs, scrolling, time lapse).

• Adblock revenue recovery: Publishers often miss out on revenue when users turn on ad blockers. To combat this issue, Adblock recovery switches between the typical highest paying ad formats and ads that comply with adblock regulations depending on the user’s settings. This allows you to gather some revenue even when ad blockers are being used.

• And more…

In addition to AdEngine, Snigel clients can also take advantage of:

• AdStream: Native video ads can be a great way to boost ad revenue and AdStream lets you display high-quality video on your website in a variety of formats.

• AdConsent: Our Google certified and IAB-registered consent platform allows the user to decide what level of ad targeting they’re comfortable with. Not only does this let you easily comply with GDPR and CCPA regulations, but it also makes your ad inventory more attractive to SSPs and advertisers.

You’ll always have the option to turn any of these features on or off and adapt them to the needs of your site. (More on this later.)

Ezoic

Ezoic’s ad monetization solution, EzoicAds, includes:

• Ad Tester which gives you access to Google Ad Exchange and header bidding. It also lets you link and mediate ad networks, such as AdSense.

• Layout Tester which provides you with a list of preset layouts and lets you select which ones to test. Then, Ezoic’s AI handles the A/B testing for you. This tool also lets you convert your mobile site to a more mobile-friendly version of the layout.

• Google Ad Manager Extension which lets you connect Ezoic to your Google ad manager account.

• Direct Ad Orders which lets you manage direct ad deals through Ezoic.

Ezoic also offers several other products, including:

• Humix: a video management tool
• Flickify: to convert written text into video content
• NicheIQ: a suite of SEO tools to help you improve site health
• Leap: optimization and diagnostic features for achieving good Core Web Vitals
• Gatekeeper: a single script solution for handling all consent management standards

Monumetric

Monumetric’s ad stack includes:

• Client-side header bidding wrapper, which creates an ad auction within the user’s browser.

• Direct, private marketplace to generate relevant, high quality ads by working directly with advertisers.

• Content dynamic mobile ads so you can monetize traffic from mobile devices.

• In-image and in-line ads to make use of margins and in-text ad space.

• Pre-bid enabled video ads to get the most out of every impression.

Monumetric shares very few details on their website about the specifics of their ad stack. For more detailed information about Monumetrics ad stack, you’ll need to reach out to their team.

How Customized Your Ad Strategy Can Be

Choosing the right ad stack is a good place to start to maximize ad revenue, but how you’re able to implement and customize that ad stack will make or break your ad strategy. 

Almost every ad partner will give you some control over how many ads appear on each page, where those ads appear, what types of ads you use, etc. However, there are other more complicated considerations that need to be addressed in order to truly maximize ad revenue.

For example:

• How can you increase CPM without adding more ads to each page?

• Do you need a different ad layout and strategy for mobile vs desktop users?

• Do you need a different ad strategy for users in different countries?

• What portion of your traffic is from Tier 1 vs Tier 2 or 3 GEOs?

• Can you make your ad inventory more attractive to advertisers so they pay more?

• Will ads placed above or below the fold produce better results?

• And many more…

Finding solutions to these questions requires more than simply turning popup ads on or off. It requires being able to customize the setup and implementation of the ad stack, hours of A/B testing, in-depth data analysis, and years of experience discovering what works in different situations. Plus, these considerations need to be re-addressed on a regular basis as new regulations, standards, and opportunities emerge (e.g., updated consumer privacy regulations or the deprecation of third party cookies).

Very few publishers have the time or resources to handle this level of customization on their own, which is why we recommend (and offer) a full-service ad partnership rather than a self-serve platform.

In this section, we compare the tools and resources Snigel, Ezoic, and Monumetric offer to help you customize your ad strategy.

Snigel

With Snigel, you’ll have a dedicated ad management expert who creates, implements, and manages your ad strategy for you. 

And, we take a customized approach to every website. While we have recommended formats and layouts that are based on years of experience optimizing ad inventory to produce the highest revenue, Snigel’s AI ad stack can be fully customized to fit your requirements. For example, we can set up different ad formats and behaviors for the same page on mobile vs desktop.

You can be as involved with making decisions about your ad strategy as you desire. If you want to be notified and have a say in every decision before it happens, your ad management expert will work closely with you to make that happen. Or, if you prefer to let our ad experts handle it for you and only be updated on a quarterly basis, we can handle that, too.

Whatever your level of involvement, you’ll always have full insight into the results of your ad strategy via Snigel’s user-friendly reporting dashboard, AdVantage. You can view net revenue, ad impressions, CPM, clicks, CTR, and more.

If you have any questions, our team is quick to respond. While we guarantee a response within 24 business hours, we typically respond much quicker.

Ezoic

Ezoic is a self-serve platform with varying amounts of customer support depending on the package you choose and various factors of your website.

For example, Access Now (the entry level package for any size company) provides automated setup with access to Ezoic community support. On the other hand, Premium account members with a large website may receive a dedicated customer support person. However, the only support that’s guaranteed is access to support docs, tutorials, and an online chat.

This leaves publishers with the responsibility of setting up and managing their own ad strategy. 

While Ezoic advertises that their AI-powered ad optimization tool will build a customized page layout for you, it only lets you choose which preset layouts you want to test. If there’s a slight variation of a layout that you want to test, you’ll have to figure out how to make those adjustments yourself (which can be quite difficult, even if you have programming skills).

Monumetric

Monumetric is also a self-serve platform with varying levels of support depending on the package you choose.

Monumetric’s team is happy to help you with the initial setup, however, you can also handle it yourself, if you prefer. After the initial setup, you’ll have varying levels of support. With the entry level tier, Propel, their team will help you implement advertising space and header bidding integrations if you ask for help. The second tier, Ascend, includes a shared AdOps team. And, the highest two tiers, Stratos and Apollo, come with a dedicated AdOps team.

The ad stack that’s available to you will also change depending on the package you choose. For example, the lowest tier (Propel) only offers a few basic ad type options, whereas the other three tiers give you access to all ad types that Monumetric offers.

For all members, they perform regular audits of your site and make suggestions for improvements without you having to ask, but you’ll be responsible for implementing those changes.

How Their Ad Tech Will Affect Your Site

Google prefers to send traffic to sites with a good user experience, i.e., strong Core Web Vitals. If your ad strategy affects the user experience (e.g., slow load times, ads loading before content, shift content, too many ads, intrusive ads that block content), you could see a decline in traffic over time, and therefore, a decline in revenue.

So, maintaining and improving Core Web Vitals will increase traffic to your site and will make your ad inventory more attractive to advertisers — all of which increases your revenue.

In this section, we compare how each company handles Core Web Vitals and overall site performance.

Snigel

At Snigel, maintaining strong Core Web Vitals is built into our AI-powered ad stack. Your dedicated ad operations expert will continuously monitor web vitals and look for ways to improve website performance.

While we have AI powered technology to help us monitor your Core Web Vitals, optimizing web vitals often requires human intervention. For example, if there’s an issue with load times, our ad tech experts can dig deeper into whether that’s caused by an issue with your server, the web hosting platform, or our ad tech.

If the issue is on our end, we fix it for you. If the issue is on your end, our ad tech experts will assist you through any necessary changes.

Ezoic

Ezoic offers a Core Web Vital optimization platform called Leap. However, once again, this is a self-serve platform, so you are responsible for all aspects of maintaining strong Core Web Vitals.

While there is no minimum number of ads that have to be displayed with Ezoic, their layout optimization technology tool often pushes lots of ads in order to increase revenue. Many users report that this slows down their site and overwhelms the user.

This issue can be somewhat mitigated by changing whether Ezoic’s AI prioritizes user experience or revenue. (However, we believe one supports the other, so you shouldn’t have to sacrifice revenue for a good user experience.)

Monumetric

Like we mentioned earlier, Monumetric performs regular site audits for every website. This audit includes recommendations improving both your ad strategy and web vitals. However, you’ll be the one implementing the changes.

Who Can Use It

All three header bidding partners require your site to have only original content without fraudulent or bot-driven traffic. 

When considering whether or not you're able to work with a specific header bidding partner, it’s helpful to note that companies who specialize in specific verticals will be able to get you better results in those verticals. Different ad tech, ad strategies, and demand sources will provide different results depending on the type of website you run.

For example, long, lifestyle blogs have more content to fill with ads so placing ads in the body of the content rather than the header and implementing a variety of ad types within one page will be the most effective. On the other hand, shorter pieces of content (e.g., online dictionaries) will see better results by placing ads at the top of the page and focusing on lightning fast load times.

If your header bidding partner has experience in your vertical, they’ll be able to help you know the right strategies to implement, already have the appropriate technology in place, and will be able to connect you with the most relevant demand sources for your target audience.

On the other hand, if a company has too broad of a focus, it’s likely that they simply implement the same cookie cutter approach for all websites. 

In this section, we cover requirements for joining and the industries each one serves.

Snigel

Snigel works with large publishers making a minimum of $300 USD per day.

We support websites across all niches including technology, education, music, travel, forum, gaming, reference-style websites (e.g., dictionaries, weather reporting), and many more.

Ezoic

Ezoic has different requirements for each of their packages:

• Access now: There are no minimum pageview requirements, but you’ll need to be in good standing with Google. (An AdSense account is not required.)

• Standard: Websites must have 10,000+ pageviews per month to join.

• Premium: Websites must have 10,000+ pageviews per month and be a current Level 2+ member of Ezoic to join.

Ezoic provides a free trial for all levels and products. They also serve any vertical or type of website that meets the above requirements.

Monumetric

Monumetric also offers multiple packages that each have their own requirements.

Propel

• 10,000+ pageviews per month
• Must be a WordPress or blogger site
• Sidebar must be 300px wide
• 6 ad slots minimum
• 50% of traffic must come from US, UK, CAN, or AUS

Ascend

• 80,000+ pageviews per month.

Stratos

• 500,000+ pageviews per month.

Apollo

• 10+ million pageviews per month.

Monumetric works with all types of publishers from lifestyle bloggers to video networks to index websites.

Cost and Payouts

Snigel, Ezoic, and Monumetric all operate on a revenue-share model, however, there are other aspects to consider when comparing the cost:

• Registration fees
• The cost of services or features not included in the revenue share
• Lock-in clauses (and fees for leaving early)

Then, you’ll also want to consider how you’ll get paid:

• Methods of payment
• When you get paid

In this section, we compare these details for each solution.

But first, it’s important to note that these companies generate different levels of revenue. So, even if you choose the company with the lowest revenue share, you may end up with a smaller paycheck than if you had gone with another company who brought in more revenue but required a higher revenue share.

On average, Snigel delivers 23% more ad revenue than competitors after all revenue shares and fees are accounted for.

Snigel

With Snigel, you keep 80% of your ad revenue. There are no registration/setup fees, customer service fees, or lock-in clauses.

This makes it really easy to get started. You can test out Snigel risk-free on just 10% of your traffic.

You’ll be paid on a NET 30 basis (i.e., 30 days after the end of the pay period).

Ezoic

Ezoic’s Standard plan operates on a 10% revenue cost share model, however, reviews suggest that there may be additional fees for some services and features. The cost for the Access Now and Premium plans aren’t readily available on Ezoic’s website, so you’ll have to reach out to their team.

All Ezoic plans can be started for free, however, the Premium plan locks you into a year long contract.

Ezoic pays publishers on a NET 30 basis via Payoneer, PayPal, wire transfer, or Wise transfer.

Monumetric

Monumetric takes a 15-30% commission depending on the ad-technology used on your site. The Propel plan requires a $99 registration fee, however, the others are free to join. Monumetric requires a 30 day notice to end services without penalties.

Publishers get paid on a NET 60 basis via Payoneer or PayPal.

Conclusion

Ezoic and Monumetric are both a good option for small websites in any vertical. Ezoic likely has more advanced ad technology than Monumetric, but Monumetric has the better customer support.

If you’re already making $300/day, Snigel can provide you with advanced ad technology and a fully customized ad strategy. Together, these elements provide maximum ad revenue, fast page load, and a great user experience. 

Snigel has 4+ stars across the board on Trustpilot. Here are a few of those reviews:

To see how Snigel can help you squeeze every dollar out of your ad inventory, get in touch with our team.