Mobile ad networks
For app marketers: what each bills for, what a first test costs and a third option that charges only for the in-app events you price.
Choose AppLovin if
you want to sign up yourself with a card and show full-screen video and playables to mobile gamers, or you also sell on a website.
Choose Moloco if
you can put at least $300 a day into a new campaign and want a Moloco team, monthly invoices and a view of which apps your ads ran on.
Choose if
you want to pay only when a user reaches a step you price and start from a $50 balance, and rewarded users suit your app.
Test events are free. Verify each required event before you go live.
01Side by side
| For advertisers | AppLovin | Moloco | this is us |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're billed for | Each install, or each impression, set by the bidding strategy.1 | Every 1,000 impressions. Optimized CPM is its only pricing model.2 | Each event you priced, when it arrives tied to one of our clicks. How advertisers pay |
| Pricing an in-app event | Yes, as a cost-per-event goal. Billing stays per install or impression.1 | Yes, as a goal: in-app event or ROAS.3 | Yes, and that price is the charge. |
| Minimum to start | No minimum listed publicly. It suggests a budget for 15 to 20 conversions a day.4 | $300 a day for a new campaign.5 | A $50 balance before you submit a campaign. Deposits are non‑refundable. |
| Sign‑up | Self-serve, open to all since 22 June 2026. Apps are reviewed first.67 | Through a Moloco representative.8 | Self-serve. Our team reviews each campaign before it goes live. |
| How you fund it | A card, charged daily at 0:00 UTC for the next day's budget.9 | A monthly invoice through your representative. Card billing on request.1011 | A prepaid balance. Deposits are non‑refundable. |
| Measurement | An attribution partner, six named.7 | An attribution partner, with full postbacks including organic installs for most campaigns.8 | Events from your server, or forwarded from your attribution tool. No SDK needed. Setup without an SDK |
| Testing before spend | Not listed publicly (as of 29 Oct 2026) | Not listed publicly (as of 29 Oct 2026) | Free test events. Each required event must show Verified before you submit. |
| Where ads run | Full-screen video and playables, up to 60 seconds, in mobile games.7 | Interstitial, video and native ads in independent apps.12 | A task in a rewarded app or offerwall. No video or playable ads. |
| Reach | 1B+ daily active users across 10,000+ apps, by its own count.7 | More than 2 billion people a day across 2.9 million+ apps, Moloco's estimate.5 | Rewarded apps, offerwalls and sites we approve. Smaller than either. |
Accurate as of 29 October 2026. Facts about AppLovin and Moloco come from their own public pages, numbered in the sources. Terms change, so check each source before you decide.
02The two you searched
AppLovin opened its self-serve platform, AppLovin Ads, to every advertiser on 22 June 2026; Axon is the name of the model behind it.6 Gaming apps, consumer brands and agencies buy full-screen video and playable ads there, aimed at goals from installs to return on ad spend.7 Billing is per install or per impression.1 New accounts prepay by card, charged each day for the next day's budget.9
Their site, applovin.com (opens in a new tab)Self-serve opened to all advertisers.6
Moloco Ads is a programmatic platform that buys interstitial, video and native ads across independent apps for app marketers, aimed at installs, in-app events or return on ad spend.312 It bills per 1,000 impressions, and a new campaign starts at $300 a day.25 You open an account through a Moloco representative, then run campaigns yourself.8 Moloco says teams run it alongside Google and Meta.5
Their site, moloco.com (opens in a new tab)Launched Performance CTV for app marketers.13
03Head to head
AppLovin charges per install or per impression.1 Moloco charges per 1,000 impressions and offers no other model.2 Both let you aim at an in-app event; neither bills on it.
AffiliateOS charges the price you set for an event when the event arrives, tied to one of our clicks.
Bottom line
AppLovin and Moloco bill installs or impressions whether or not the event follows. We bill only the event.
AppLovin: sign up yourself and add a card, with no published minimum.469 Moloco: talk to its team, and a new campaign starts at $300 a day.58
AffiliateOS: sign up yourself, test each event free and submit once your prepaid balance holds $50. Deposits are non‑refundable.
Bottom line
Moloco publishes a $300 a day minimum. AppLovin publishes none. We ask for $50 and a free test of each required event.
Moloco reports which publishers, placements and creatives drive results.12
AffiliateOS shows cost and results per channel under a code, not the publisher's name, so publishers keep supplying you. You can report a channel and our team reviews it.
Bottom line
Moloco shows you more names. We show the cost of each channel and review what you report.
Moloco needs an attribution partner with full postbacks, organic installs included, for most campaigns.8 AppLovin lists six attribution partners in its setup.7
AffiliateOS needs only the events you priced, from your server or forwarded from your attribution tool. We don't need your organic data.
Bottom line
The events you pay for are all we need.
AppLovin says it reaches 1B+ daily active users across 10,000+ apps.7 Moloco estimates more than 2 billion people a day.5
AffiliateOS reaches people in rewarded apps and offerwalls. That is far smaller than either.
Bottom line
Both reach far more people than we do. Ours are rewarded users, and you pay only for the events you price.
04Worked example
One Harbor Blocks player, from the ad to level 40. Each lane marks where that company charges you. Pick the step you'd pay for.
You pay AffiliateOS for
AppLovin
Billed per install or per impression, set by the bidding strategy. An event is a goal it optimizes for.1
Moloco
Optimized CPM, its only pricing model. The goal steers bidding, not the bill.2
Charged at the step you priced, when it arrives tied to one of our clicks. Steps you don't price are never charged.
AffiliateOS charges at Level 10.
Example: a one-week test
Billing units and minimums from each company's own documentation, checked 29 October 2026. Neither AppLovin nor Moloco publishes its prices.
Test events are free. Verify each required event before you go live.
05The honest part
AffiliateOS fits if
AppLovin or Moloco fits better if
06Running both
Your existing postbacks stay live. Nothing you run today changes.
Your AppLovin or Moloco campaigns, attribution tool and postbacks stay as they are.
Create a campaign, price one event and send a free test until it shows Verified.
Run both and compare what each event cost you, in your own reports.
07Questions
Your budget and how you want to buy decide this one.
Choose AppLovin if you want to sign up yourself with a card and show full-screen video and playables to mobile gamers, or you also sell on a website. Choose Moloco if you can put at least $300 a day into a new campaign and want a Moloco team, monthly invoices and a view of which apps your ads ran on.
Its API lists cost per event as a goal it optimizes for. You're charged per install or per impression.
Per 1,000 impressions, optimized toward your goal. Moloco says it is the only pricing model it offers.
$300 a day for a new campaign, per its FAQ on 29 October 2026.
Moloco's quick start guide says a Moloco representative sets up your workplace and ad account. After that you run campaigns yourself.
Channel codes keep publishers supplying you. You still see the cost and results of each channel, and you can report one for our team to review.
No. Events come from your server. If you run an attribution tool, you can forward its events instead.
Each read on 29 October 2026. Numbers match the markers in the table and the text.
Moloco Help Center
Choose the right campaign goal (opens in a new tab)Checked 29 Oct 2026 Page updated 14 Oct 2026
AppLovin blog
AppLovin Ads is now open to all advertisers (opens in a new tab)Checked 29 Oct 2026 Page dated 22 Jun 2026
Moloco Help Center
Quick start guide (opens in a new tab)Checked 29 Oct 2026 Page updated 11 Jun 2026
Moloco Help Center
Billing and payment (opens in a new tab)Checked 29 Oct 2026 Page updated 11 Jun 2026
We read each company's own public pages on 29 October 2026: pricing pages, docs, help centers and terms, plus SEC filings where a company files them. We compared what each offers the same kind of buyer at list terms. We didn't use custom quotes, review sites or anything told to us privately. Facts about AffiliateOS come from our product as it runs today, explained in our developer docs.
AppLovin and Moloco are trademarks of their owners. AffiliateOS is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by either company. If something here is wrong or out of date, email hello@affiliateos.ai and we'll correct the page and its date.
Send a free test, then submit once your prepaid balance holds $50. We review each campaign before it goes live.