RichAds Review 2026: Honest CPM Rates, Earnings & Payment Proof

So I finally decided to write this thing because I’ve gotten like 47 emails asking about RichAds in the last few months. People keep finding my comment on that old forum post from early 2024 where I mentioned I was gonna test it, and now they all want to know if it’s actually worth their time. I’m gonna give you the full rundown because honestly, I’ve learned a lot in the past year and a half using this network, and it’s way more nuanced than just saying “yes” or “no.”

Let me start with the boring but important stuff first so you can decide if you even want to keep reading.

How I Found This Thing

Okay so I was deep in a forum thread in February 2024, scrolling through people complaining about AdSense and Mediavine rates being terrible. Someone mentioned RichAds in passing, and I was like “never heard of this.” I checked it out, looked at their site, and honestly the whole thing seemed legit enough to test. I already had like four other ad networks on my tech blog, but my CPM rates were trash that winter. I was making maybe $300-400 a month from ads on a blog getting around 94,684 monthly pageviews, which is… yeah, not great.

The blog was about productivity software, DevOps tools, and some general tech stuff. Good traffic, but not like mega-viral stuff. Just consistent readers. I figured why not add another network and see what happens.

Signing Up Was Actually Pretty Easy

I was honestly surprised. Usually these ad networks want like three essays about your site, your traffic sources, and your blood type. RichAds was refreshingly straightforward. I filled out the form in maybe 10 minutes, uploaded a screenshot of my Google Analytics (they asked for March 2024 data since I was applying mid-March), and just… waited.

The approval took 4 business days. I remember because it was approved on a Thursday, and I got that email in the afternoon and immediately started setting up placements. Their support person in the approval email was actually friendly and answered a random question I had about native ads in like 2 hours. Not bad.

The Ad Formats I Actually Tested

So here’s the thing about RichAds that I didn’t expect: they have way more formats than most people think. I tested like five different ones in that first month because I was trying to figure out what wouldn’t annoy my readers too much while still making money.

Native ads: These performed the best for me. I added these widget-style recommendations right below my articles. They look like actual content suggestions, and my readers didn’t hate them. My click-through rate was around 2.1% in that first month, which felt solid.

Display banners: I put these in the sidebar and header area. Honestly? They were pretty dead. Like 0.3% CTR. Nobody was clicking them, and I felt like they looked outdated on my design anyway. I killed these after two weeks.

Pop-unders: I tested these for exactly three days and then disabled them because my bounce rate went up noticeably and I felt gross offering them. I get why people use them for the higher CPM, but it didn’t feel right for my audience. Your mileage may vary.

Video ads: Never actually got these to serve properly on my site. I think it was a technical thing on my end with how my WordPress theme was set up. Support wasn’t super helpful here, just said “make sure the code is in the right place” which I already knew.

Native ads in a custom widget: This became my main format. I created a custom recommended reading section that served RichAds content. It made like 60% of my revenue from RichAds and people actually clicked it because it genuinely looked like it fit my site design.

What I Actually Made, Month by Month

Let me be totally honest about the numbers because I know that’s what you actually want to know.

So by the end of year one (March 2025), I’d made like $1,774.30 total from RichAds. Not gonna lie, I was hoping for more, but it also wasn’t bad for just adding a few ad placements to an existing blog.

CPM Rates by Geography

This is where it gets interesting. RichAds is really transparent about CPM variations, and I tracked my own rates pretty carefully.

The geographic variation was honestly the biggest surprise for me. My US traffic was making like 10x what my Indian traffic was making per thousand impressions. This is why you really need decent traffic from developed countries if you’re using RichAds.

Getting Paid Was Actually Smooth

I set up PayPal as my payment method because wire transfers seem like a hassle. My first payout came through in early May 2024 for the April earnings. It hit my account within like 24 hours of me requesting it, which honestly made me go “oh wow, this is a legit operation.”

I’ve had 11 payouts total since March 2024, and I think only one of them took longer than 48 hours to clear. The minimum payout is $100, which I hit consistently after April, so that wasn’t annoying.

One weird thing: in September 2024, there was apparently a “system update” and my dashboard was down for like 6 hours. I got a little nervous, but they posted about it proactively and it came back fine. Made me feel a bit better about the whole thing.

Is This Actually Legit?

Yeah, I think so. RichAds has been around since 2013, they’ve got actual paying publishers, and I’ve received every dollar they said I’d earned. I did my own research before diving in and they have real team members with LinkedIn profiles and everything. They’re registered in Cyprus, which is where a bunch of ad tech companies hang out, so that’s normal.

The fact that I got paid reliably for a year and a half means they’re either legit or they’re playing the long game, which would be insane. I’m going with legit.

That said, I’ve definitely seen some shadier ad networks that looked slicker on the surface but turned out to be garbage. RichAds is kind of the opposite. Their site is a bit dated looking, their dashboard has some quirks, but the actual functionality is solid and the money shows up.

What Actually Worked and What Didn’t

What worked: Native ads in a custom widget format were my best performing placement. I basically just created a “you might also like” section on my site and let RichAds fill it with content recommendations. My click-through rate was consistently between 1.8% and 2.4%, which is good for native. The fact that it looked native meant my readers didn’t feel attacked by aggressive ads.

Also, my Q4 2024 performance was way better than the rest of the year. Turns out advertisers actually have budgets in Q4, and they’re willing to pay more for impressions. This is true for basically all ad networks, but RichAds reflected it pretty clearly in my earnings.

What didn’t work: Display banners in the sidebar were dead on arrival. I think people’s ad blindness is real. I also killed the pop-unders fast because my gut told me they were scammy, and my data backed that up.

One thing that was annoying: the RichAds dashboard sometimes took like 30 seconds to load stats. I know that’s not a huge deal, but when you’re used to Google Analytics that’s snappy, it feels slow. Also, their reporting could be way more detailed. I wanted to see performance by ad format more granularly and it was kind of hard to filter.

Support was hit or miss. Some questions got answered in hours, but once I asked about video ad implementation and they basically said “check your code” which wasn’t helpful since it was clearly their side not serving anything.

Who Should Actually Use This

Okay so this is important because RichAds isn’t for everyone.

You should use RichAds if: You’ve got a site with at least 50,000+ monthly pageviews and decent traffic from the US, UK, or western Europe. If your audience is mostly from low-CPM countries like India or Southeast Asia, you’re gonna make way less. You should also be fine with the aesthetic of native ads. If you’re super against native advertising or you need maximum earnings per 1000 pageviews, you might want to look at something like Mediavine or AdThrive instead (though those have higher traffic requirements).

RichAds is great if you already have other ad networks and you’re just trying to fill in gaps. I had Google AdSense and some affiliate stuff running, and RichAds added like another 30-40% on top of what I was making from AdSense. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

You should avoid RichAds if: Your traffic is mostly from low-CPM countries. I’m talking like 80%+ from India, Indonesia, Pakistan, etc. Your earnings per thousand pageviews are gonna be terrible. Also avoid it if you’re just starting out with a new site and you don’t have much traffic yet. The $100 minimum payout means you need a certain traffic threshold to even make it worth setting up.

If you’re super aggressive with monetization already, you probably don’t need RichAds. Like if you’ve already got Mediavine or AdThrive running, adding RichAds might not move the needle enough to bother with the additional code and placements.

Questions People Keep Asking Me

1. Is RichAds going to get my site banned from Google AdSense?
No, I’ve never seen evidence of this. I ran RichAds alongside AdSense the whole time and Google never said anything. They have different policies, and as long as you’re not doing anything sketchy like click fraud, you’re fine. I continued earning from AdSense the whole time.

2. How long did it take you to get approved?
4 business days. Some people report getting approved in 2 days, some take a week. If your site looks legit and you’ve got decent traffic, you should be fine. They rejected one site of mine that had like 5,000 pageviews per month and no real content strategy, so they do check stuff.

3. Do you need a certain amount of traffic to join?
Not officially, but practically yeah. I’ve heard of people getting approved with 20,000 pageviews per month, but I’d recommend having at least 30-50k to make it worth your time. Below that and the $100 minimum payout is gonna take forever to reach.

4. What’s the difference between RichAds and Google AdSense?
Google AdSense is context-based advertising. It looks at your content and tries to show relevant ads. RichAds is mostly native advertising and display. RichAds typically has lower CPMs but it’s another revenue stream. They serve completely different ads, so you can run them together without issues.

5. Can you actually make real money from this?
Yeah, but it depends on your traffic and geography. I made $1,774 in a year, which is like $148 per month average. That’s not gonna pay your rent, but it’s real money from ads. If you had 500,000 monthly pageviews with decent traffic geography, you could probably make like $2,000-3,000 per month.

6. Is the dashboard easy to use?
It’s functional but not super modern. You can see your earnings by day, see stats about clicks and impressions, and manage your placements. It’s not ugly, but it’s not as slick as some platforms. Once you figure out where everything is, it’s pretty straightforward.

7. How do they handle ad fraud and bot traffic?
I have no idea their exact system, but I never noticed suspicious activity in my earnings. My numbers tracked closely with my actual traffic patterns. If you tried to game it with bot traffic, I’m sure they’d catch it. They seem to have decent safeguards.

8. Can I use multiple ad networks on the same site?
Yeah, I was using RichAds, Google AdSense, and some affiliate stuff at the same time. RichAds serves different ads so there’s no overlap. Just don’t go crazy and put 47 ad networks on your site or you’ll have worse user experience and probably violate terms.

9. What happens if my traffic drops?
Your earnings drop too, obviously. But RichAds doesn’t penalize you or anything. I had some months with lower traffic and my earnings just reflected that. They’re not gonna suspend you for normal traffic fluctuations.

10. Should I use native ads or display banners?
Based on my experience, native ads all day. My display banners made like 1/10th of what my native placements made. Native ads feel less invasive to readers, they fit better on modern sites, and they actually get clicked.

The Good, The Bad, The Honest

Good stuff: Reliable payouts, fast payment processing, responsive approval process, transparent CPM rates, no sketchy terms of service, and you can actually make real money if you have the right traffic profile.

Bad stuff: Dashboard is kind of slow sometimes, reporting could be way more detailed, support is inconsistent, no video ad serving for me personally even though they say they offer it, and the earnings are really dependent on your traffic geography.

Neutral stuff: The whole native advertising thing might not feel great if you’re super anti-ads. I personally made peace with it because it’s a better experience than obtrusive banners, but some people feel like native ads are deceptive. You’ll have to decide that for yourself.

So What’s My Rating?

I’m giving RichAds a 7 out of 10.

It’s a solid, legitimate ad network that does what it says it’ll do. If you have the right traffic profile, you can make real money. The payments are reliable, the approval process is smooth, and the platform works. It’s not groundbreaking and there are some rough edges, but it’s a genuinely useful addition to a publisher’s revenue mix.

It’s not perfect though. The earnings potential is lower than some premium networks, the dashboard feels a bit dated, and support could be better. It’s the kind of thing that’s worth trying if you have 50k+ monthly pageviews, but it’s not a game-changer.

If you do decide to try it, set realistic expectations. You’re probably not gonna make $1,000 a month unless you have like 300,000+ pageviews. But as an additional revenue stream on top of AdSense or other monetization, it’s legit worth testing for a few months.

I’m still using RichAds today (March 2026), and I’m still making money from it. I’ve adjusted my placements over time and my RPM has stayed consistent. Would I recommend it? Yeah, but with the caveat that it works best if you already have a certain traffic threshold and you’re not expecting it to be your main revenue source.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you sign up for RichAds through my links. That said, I’ve shared my actual honest experience and numbers here, and I only recommend things I actually use myself.