Mobile ad networks
For app marketers: how each bills, what a test takes and a third option that charges for the steps you price.
Choose Moloco if
you want published terms (optimized CPM, $300 a day), ROAS or CPA bidding across a very large independent-app audience, re‑engagement or CTV.
Choose Liftoff Mobile if
you want a managed account team and in-house creative, buying through its own exchange, at a price per unit agreed in your contract.
Choose if
you want to pay only when a specific event happens, test it free first and start from a $50 balance.
Test events are free. Verify each required event before you go live.
01Side by side
| For advertisers | Moloco | Liftoff Mobile | this is us |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you buy | Ad impressions in independent apps, aimed at your goal.12 | Programmatic ads through its own buying platform and exchange.3 | Completed events from users our publishers send. |
| What you pay for | Every 1,000 impressions. Optimized CPM is its only pricing model.2 | A contract price per agreed unit, such as installs or impressions.4 | Each event you priced, when it arrives tied to one of our clicks. How advertisers pay |
| Minimum to start | $300 a day for a new campaign.1 | Not listed publicly (as of 29 Oct 2026) | A $50 balance before you submit a campaign. Deposits are non‑refundable. |
| Getting an account | Through a Moloco representative, then self-managed in Ads Manager.5 | A lead form, then an account executive and account team.67 | Self-serve. Our team reviews each campaign before it goes live. |
| Goals you can set | Install, in-app event or ROAS; re‑engagement too.8 | CPC, CPI, CPA, ROAS and predicted lifetime value.9 | The events you define, each with its own price. No ROAS bidding. |
| Measurement | Attribution partners, six named, and SKAdNetwork.1 | Not listed publicly (as of 29 Oct 2026) | 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. |
| Invalid traffic | Data, automation and human review. Rejections from your attribution partner are honored.10 | Not listed publicly (as of 29 Oct 2026) | Events without one of our clicks, and repeats, are never charged. |
| Reach | More than 2 billion people a day across 2.9 million+ apps, Moloco's footnoted estimate.11 | 150,000+ apps in its Monetize supply, by its own count.12 | Rewarded apps, offerwalls and sites we approve. Smaller than either. |
Accurate as of 29 October 2026. Facts about Moloco and Liftoff Mobile come from their own public pages, numbered in the sources. Terms change, so check each source before you decide.
02The two you searched
Moloco Ads is a programmatic platform for performance marketers that buys in-app ads across independent apps.1 It charges per 1,000 impressions, its only pricing model, and sets $300 a day as the minimum for a new campaign.12 Accounts open through a Moloco representative and bill by monthly invoice.513 It reports which publishers, placements and creatives drive results.11
Their site, moloco.com (opens in a new tab)Launched Performance CTV for app marketers.14
Liftoff Mobile runs both a demand-side platform (DSP) and an ad exchange, built from the 2021 combination of Liftoff and Vungle.3 Advertisers buy through Accelerate, with goals from cost per click to predicted lifetime value,9 and pay a contract price per agreed unit, such as installs or impressions.4 Onboarding starts with a lead form and an account team.67
Their site, liftoff.ai (opens in a new tab)Priced its Nasdaq listing, ticker LFTO.3
03Head to head
Moloco bills per 1,000 impressions.2 Liftoff's filings say it bills a contract price per agreed unit, such as installs or impressions, and which unit applies to you isn't public.4
AffiliateOS bills the price you set for an event, when your server reports it and we can tie it to one of our clicks.
Bottom line
To pay for an outcome rather than an impression or a contract unit, set an event price with us.
Moloco publishes $300 a day for a new campaign and sets you up through a representative.15 Liftoff publishes no minimum and sells through an account team.67
AffiliateOS needs $50 in a prepaid balance, a free test of each required event and our approval of the campaign. Deposits are non‑refundable.
Bottom line
Moloco's minimum is $300 a day. Liftoff doesn't publish one. Ours is a $50 balance.
Both networks run machine-learning bidding toward goals such as ROAS or cost per action.89
AffiliateOS doesn't bid. You set a price for each event, and publishers show your offer with its steps to their users.
Bottom line
Both bid toward a ROAS or cost-per-action goal with machine learning. We don't bid: the price you set is the charge.
Moloco estimates more than 2 billion people a day across 2.9 million+ apps, with its method footnoted.11 Liftoff counts 150,000+ apps in its Monetize supply.12
AffiliateOS is far smaller, and its users are rewarded for reaching your steps.
Bottom line
For volume and users who weren't rewarded, they win.
Moloco documents its process: data, automation and human review, and it honors rejections from your attribution partner.10 Liftoff doesn't describe an advertiser fraud policy on its public pages, as of 29 October 2026.
AffiliateOS never charges an event it can't tie to one of our clicks, or a repeat of one already charged. Deposits aren't refundable.
Bottom line
We don't charge for events we can't tie to a click. We don't refund deposits.
04Worked example
One Harbor Blocks player, from the ad to level 40. Moloco bills the impressions; Liftoff bills whatever unit your contract names. Pick the step you'd pay for.
You pay AffiliateOS for
Moloco
Optimized CPM, its only pricing model.2
Liftoff Mobile
A contract price per agreed unit, such as installs or impressions. The unit is set in your contract.4
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.
Billing units from Moloco's help center and Liftoff Mobile's SEC filings, checked 29 October 2026.
Test events are free. Verify each required event before you go live.
05The honest part
AffiliateOS fits if
Moloco or Liftoff Mobile fits better if
06Running both
Your existing postbacks stay live. Nothing you run today changes.
Your Moloco or Liftoff 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
Whether you want published terms or a price set in a contract decides this one.
Choose Moloco if you want published terms (optimized CPM, $300 a day), ROAS or CPA bidding across a very large independent-app audience, re‑engagement or CTV. Choose Liftoff Mobile if you want a managed account team and in-house creative, buying through its own exchange, at a price per unit agreed in your contract.
They're one company now. Blackstone combined Liftoff and Vungle in 2021, and the business has run under the Liftoff name since 2022, per its prospectus. The Vungle name lives on in its publisher SDK and the Vungle Exchange.
Per 1,000 impressions, optimized toward your goal. Moloco says it is the only pricing model it offers.
Its filings say it charges a contract price per agreed unit, such as installs or impressions. Which unit applies to you is set in your contract.
Moloco's minimum for a new campaign is $300 a day. Liftoff doesn't list one publicly, as of 29 October 2026. AffiliateOS needs a $50 balance before you submit a campaign.
Moloco's guide says a representative sets up your workplace and ad account. Liftoff's advertiser sign‑up is a lead form. AffiliateOS is self-serve, with a review of each campaign.
No. Events come from your server. If you run an attribution tool, you can forward its events instead.
Yes. Our clicks carry our own click ID and events go to a separate endpoint, so neither setup changes.
Each read on 29 October 2026. Numbers match the markers in the table and the text.
Liftoff Mobile, SEC filing
Final prospectus (424B4) (opens in a new tab)Checked 29 Oct 2026 Page dated 3 Jun 2026
Liftoff Mobile, SEC filing
Quarterly report (10-Q) to 30 June 2026, revenue recognition (opens in a new tab)Checked 29 Oct 2026
Moloco Help Center
Quick start guide (opens in a new tab)Checked 29 Oct 2026 Page updated 11 Jun 2026
Moloco Help Center
Choose the right campaign goal (opens in a new tab)Checked 29 Oct 2026 Page updated 14 Oct 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.
Moloco and Liftoff Mobile 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.