New check

Comparison

Adsterra vs Monetag

Adsterra and Monetag both land on Depends.

Adsterra

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Only risk-tolerant affiliate marketers chasing cheap, high-volume traffic should use it; some users do profit.

Read the full report

Monetag

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Workable for publishers with high-volume, brand-insensitive traffic who accept aggressive ad formats and will test payouts carefully.

Read the full report

Adsterra versus Monetag
Compare	Adsterra	Monetag
Verdict	Depends	Depends
Best for	Affiliate media buyers testing cheap traffic	High-volume social or download traffic
Who it's not for	Brand-safe publishers . malvertising can hijack your site	Brand-sensitive media or news sites
Privacy	No CVEs found, but recurring malvertising and site-hijack reports; Adsterra publishes anti-fraud policies.^⁷	Two CVEs in its WordPress plugin; domains flagged as riskware by some tools; named in malvertising research coverage.¹⁵
Support quality	Payout disputes reportedly go unresolved	Trustpilot ~4/5 but payment complaints exist
Public sentiment	Polarized: some publishers earn well, while many report scam allegations, hijacked sites, and payout problems.^¹	Reviews are sharply split: some publishers report steady earnings, while others accuse it of scam behavior and question whether it pays at all.¹¹
Biggest gotcha	Multiple users report flags or CPM slashes right before payout thresholds	WordPress plugin needed security fixes (CVE-2024-52500, CVE-2026-24551); unpatched installs are exposed.¹⁴

Pick Adsterra when

Affiliate media buyers testing cheap traffic
High-risk verticals: iGaming, sweeps, APK
Publishers rejected by AdSense
Non-brand-safe traffic monetization

When Adsterra is not a fit

Brand-safe publishers . malvertising can hijack your site
Advertisers needing verified, fraud-free traffic
Anyone who cannot risk disputed or withheld payouts
Mainstream SaaS or e-commerce ad campaigns

Pick Monetag when

High-volume social or download traffic
Publishers rejected or dropped by AdSense
In-app and APK site owners
Low-brand-risk content sites

When Monetag is not a fit

Brand-sensitive media or news sites
Small blogs with little traffic
Anyone needing guaranteed, dispute-free payouts
WordPress admins who won't patch plugins fast

Sources

Trustpilot reviews of adsterra.comtrustpilot.com
review
Is Adsterra a Scam Ad Network? (Reddit r/PPC)reddit.com
review
Adsterra ads hijacked our site and we had payout issues (Reddit r/adops)reddit.com
review
Adsterra Network Reviews . G2g2.com
review
Adsterra is a Fraud (BlackHatWorld)blackhatworld.com
review
Adsterra Ad Network Review . Software Advicesoftwareadvice.com
review
Digital ad networks tied to malvertising threats . TechTargettechtarget.com
security
Adsterra product security pageadsterra.com
official
Adsterra Minimum Deposit 2026adsterra.com
official
Website portfolio $33K in 6 months case studyssmapps.com
review
Trustpilot reviews of monetag.comtrustpilot.com
review
Does anyone actually get paid by Monetag? (Reddit)reddit.com
review
Monetag Review (Way2earning)way2earning.com
review
Monetag Official plugin missing authorization (Wordfence)wordfence.com
security
CVE-2024-52500: Monetag plugin auth bypass (SentinelOne)sentinelone.com
security
DeceptionAds fake-CAPTCHA Lumma infostealer coverageinfostealers.com
security