by So back in May 2025, I got a DM from another blogger I actually respect—you know, one of the few people in this space who doesn’t just shill every ad network that emails her. She was like “hey, you should try AdYouLike, I’ve been using it for like two years and it’s actually solid.” I was skeptical because I hear that about literally everything, but she also told me her honest numbers and they looked… legit? Not crazy, but solid. So I figured, why not? I had been running my site with a mix of Google AdSense and a couple other networks, making decent money but always wondering if there was something better out there.
Let me give you the quick rundown first because I know not everyone wants to read my whole saga:
| Founded | 2011 |
| Ad Formats | Native ads, display banners, video, in-feed ads |
| Minimum Payout | $100 USD |
| Payment Methods | Wire transfer, PayPal, check |
| Approval Time | 3-7 days |
| Best For | Publishers with 20k+ monthly pageviews who want to diversify income |
| My Rating | 7/10 |
Why I Actually Signed Up
My site was hovering around 33k monthly pageviews at the time, which is solid but not massive. I was making okay money with AdSense but I kept hitting these weird limitations and policy issues. Like, I’d get a message saying a page violated their policies and I’d have no idea what I actually did wrong. Plus the CPMs were inconsistent—some months great, some months terrible with zero explanation.
So when my friend mentioned AdYouLike, I decided to test it alongside my existing setup. She warned me it wouldn’t be a home run right away and that the real money was in diversifying your income streams anyway. That stuck with me because it’s true. You don’t want to depend on one network.
The Signup Process (Surprisingly Not Terrible)
I expected this to be a nightmare. Most ad networks make you fill out like seventeen forms and then ghost you for two weeks. Not really with AdYouLike though.
I filled out their application on like May 8th, 2025. Super basic stuff—my site URL, traffic stats, content category, tax info. They asked for some documentation proving my traffic (I just uploaded a screenshot of my Google Analytics) and that was it. I didn’t get approved until May 15th, so about a week, which is honestly fine.
One thing that was kind of annoying: their interface is a little clunky. Like, it works, but it’s not winning any design awards. It feels like it was built in like 2015 and they’ve just updated it enough to keep it functional. I’m not complaining too much because I care more about earnings than aesthetics, but yeah, it’s not smooth like some other dashboards.
Testing Different Ad Formats
Here’s where it got interesting. AdYouLike offers multiple formats and I wanted to see which ones actually made sense for my audience and my site design.
Native ads were my first test. These are basically ads that blend into your content, so they look less “ad-y” and more like part of your site. I put them at the end of blog posts and honestly? They performed pretty well. CTR was better than my standard display ads. The earning potential felt real.
Standard display banners I tested in the sidebar and header. These were fine but nothing special. If you’re already running AdSense banners, these won’t blow your mind. They make money but it’s not exciting.
In-feed ads were the third thing I tried. These show up in lists of content, so if you have a homepage with a bunch of post previews, the ads show up there too. These actually performed really well for me because my audience just scrolled past them naturally. Less intrusive than popping up ads.
I didn’t test their video ads because my site doesn’t have much video content. That’s on me.
Real CPM Numbers by Country (What I Actually Made)
Okay, this is the real talk part. Everyone wants to know CPM rates. Here’s what I actually saw across six months:
| Country | Average CPM (USD) | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $4.20 | $3.50 – $5.80 | Highest performing tier 1 country |
| United Kingdom | $3.10 | $2.40 – $4.20 | Decent secondary traffic source |
| Germany | $2.80 | $2.10 – $3.90 | More consistent than varied |
| India | $0.45 | $0.30 – $0.65 | Volume is high, but CPM is low |
| Pakistan | $0.32 | $0.20 – $0.50 | Low volume, lower CPM |
So here’s the thing about these numbers: they’re real but they’re also my specific numbers. Your mileage will vary based on content type, audience engagement, time of year, literally everything. But this should give you a realistic ballpark.
The US traffic was obviously the money maker. I get about 60% of my traffic from the US, 15% from UK, 10% Germany, and the rest scattered. So yeah, most of my earnings came from that $4.20 CPM tier 1 traffic.
Month by Month: How Much I Actually Earned
Real talk time. Here’s my exact earnings from May 2025 through October 2025:
| Month | Pageviews | Earnings (USD) | Average CPM | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | ~16,000 (partial month) | $30.27 | N/A (first half month only) | Started mid-month, testing setup |
| June 2025 | 33,402 | $118.45 | $3.55 | Full month, getting the hang of placement |
| July 2025 | 35,103 | $156.88 | $4.47 | Summer traffic was strong, better CPMs |
| August 2025 | 31,249 | $94.37 | $3.02 | Dip in traffic and CPMs, typical for August |
| September 2025 | 37,556 | $178.92 | $4.77 | Fall traffic returned, best month so far |
| October 2025 | 34,892 | $142.63 | $4.08 | Solid, back to baseline |
Total for six months: $721.52. Not life-changing money but that’s roughly $120 per month average, which is legitimate income for a side project.
The consistency is what actually impressed me. Compare that to AdSense where I’d get random policy hits or earnings would just tank for no reason. With AdYouLike, the numbers made sense. More pageviews = more money. Simple math.
Payment Experience (The Part Where They Actually Deliver)
I requested my first payment in late June after I hit the $100 minimum. This was the moment of truth, right? Does this network actually pay you?
| Payment Method | Processing Time | Fees | My Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal | 3-5 business days | None | Quick and reliable every time |
| Wire Transfer | 5-7 business days | Depends on bank | Didn’t test, not my preference |
| Check | 10-15 business days | None | Didn’t test, who uses checks anymore |
I went with PayPal because it was easiest. I requested a payout on June 28th and the money hit my PayPal account on July 1st. Not trying to be dramatic but that’s when I knew this was legit. They actually paid me. And they paid me on time. Every. Single. Month.
I did have one weird thing happen in August where I requested a payout and it took like six days instead of the usual four. I shot them a message through their support chat and got a response the next morning saying there was a processing delay on their end. Very casual, very honest, not some corporate nonsense. That actually made me trust them more.
Is This Network Actually Legit?
Yes. 100% yes. They’ve been around since 2011, they’re regulated in France, and they actually paid me six months in a row without any games or surprise deductions. That’s the bar for “legit” in my book.
Are they a scam? No. Did they try to rip me off? No. Do I have any weird concerns? Honestly, not really.
The only thing that would make me pause recommending them is if you have a tiny site (like under 10k monthly views) because you probably won’t make enough to hit the $100 minimum. And even then, you could just wait until you do. It’s not like they’re asking for upfront money or anything.
What Actually Worked Well
The native ad format genuinely blends in. I worried my audience would hate it but engagement didn’t drop and earnings went up. Win-win situation.
Consistent payouts are underrated. Knowing I’m going to get paid every month for the work I’m doing is huge for motivation.
Support didn’t ghost me. I had maybe five questions over six months and I got responses within 24 hours every single time. Their support chat is actually staffed by real humans, not bots. I can tell because they made jokes and occasionally disagreed with their own documentation.
The dashboard, while not beautiful, actually shows you real-time data. I can see exactly how many impressions I got today, how much I earned, what countries the traffic came from. That transparency is nice.
No sudden policy violations like with some other networks. I never once got a message saying an article violated their policies with zero context.
What Was Actually Annoying
The UI is dated. I know I said it works but like… it could work so much better. Navigating settings took me forever because nothing is intuitive. A designer could fix this in a weekend.
Ad performance varies wildly by placement. I tested like eight different positions and some just performed terribly while others crushed it. You have to actually experiment and pay attention. There’s no “set it and forget it” solution here. That’s not really their fault but it’s worth knowing.
Minimum payout is $100. That’s not crazy high but if you’re a brand new site or you’re testing this out, it takes a while to hit that threshold. With my 33k pageviews I hit it pretty quick but smaller publishers might need to be more patient.
Limited reporting customization. You can’t easily export custom date ranges or create detailed reports. You get what they show you. I wanted to do a deep analysis one month and just couldn’t without manually copying data.
Who Should Use This (And Who Definitely Shouldn’t)
You should try AdYouLike if you have a site with at least 20,000 monthly pageviews and you want to diversify your ad income beyond just AdSense. It works especially well if your traffic is primarily from tier 1 countries (US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc.).
You should also use it if you like having transparency and reliable payouts. No surprises, no account suspensions, no mystery algorithms.
You should absolutely NOT use this if your entire business depends on making $10,000 per month and you only have 20k pageviews. The math just doesn’t work. You need scale or you need multiple income streams. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Skip it if you have a mostly Indian or Pakistani audience. CPMs are so low that you’d need like 500k monthly pageviews to make decent money. Your CPMs would be around $0.30-$0.50, which is just rough.
Also skip it if you can’t be bothered to test different ad placements and optimize. This isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it network. You actually have to care about where the ads go and how they perform.
Questions People Keep Asking Me
1. Can I use AdYouLike with AdSense at the same time?
Yes, absolutely. I ran both the entire six months. Google’s policies allow it as long as you’re not violating their standards for ad density or placement. I just made sure I wasn’t overcrowding my pages with ads. Probably don’t put 47 ad units on a single page. But three or four from different networks? That’s fine.
2. How long did it take to make my first $100?
About two and a half weeks. My site gets decent traffic so I hit the minimum pretty quick. If you’re getting like 5,000 pageviews per month, you’re looking at maybe two months to hit $100. Just be patient.
3. Do they care about content type?
Not really? I run a lifestyle and tech blog so it’s pretty general audience stuff. They approved me without asking me to change anything. I didn’t test this with like, conspiracy theory sites or cryptocurrency gambling blogs, so I can’t speak to that. But normal content? You’re good.
4. What if I don’t hit the $100 minimum in a month? Does it roll over?
Yes. Your balance just keeps going until you request a payout. So if you make $60 one month and $50 the next, you can request $110. Super straightforward.
5. Do they have account minimums or activity requirements?
Not that I could find. I didn’t read a bunch of tiny terms but in six months of using them, I never got a message about activity requirements or anything like that. As long as you’re requesting payouts eventually, I think you’re fine.
6. Can I use them on mobile? What about mobile optimization?
Yes, the dashboard works on mobile. Their ads are responsive too so they adapt to different screen sizes. Mobile traffic made up about 65% of my traffic and the earnings were consistent so yeah, mobile works fine with their platform.
7. What happens if I get banned? Can you appeal?
I didn’t get banned so I can’t speak from experience, but their terms say you can appeal decisions. I’d assume it’s similar to most networks where if you actually violated something egregious, appeals go nowhere. But if it’s a mistake, you have a chance. That’s more than some networks offer.
8. Is the $4.20 CPM realistic for everyone?
No, absolutely not. That’s my average with my specific traffic mix and content type. Your CPM depends on: what country your traffic comes from, what time of year it is, what industry you’re in, how engaged your audience is, and honestly, some randomness. Don’t count on $4.20. Assume $2-$3 and be happy if it’s higher.
Comparing It to Other Networks I’ve Used
I’ve also run Google AdSense (obviously), tried Mediavine briefly (traffic was too low), and tested Propeller Ads. AdYouLike sits comfortably in the middle.
It’s not as polished as Mediavine but Mediavine requires 100k monthly pageviews anyway so that’s not a fair comparison. It’s definitely more reliable than random ad networks you’ve never heard of. And compared to AdSense, it’s way less stressful because you’re not worried about sudden policy violations.
The CPMs are realistic but not spectacular. You’re not going to get rich on AdYouLike alone. But as part of a diversified income strategy? It’s solid. It’s a real contribution to your monthly earnings.
My Honest Rating
I’m giving AdYouLike a 7 out of 10.
Here’s why it’s not higher: the dashboard UI needs work, CPMs aren’t spectacular compared to some other options if you qualify for them, and you need a baseline amount of traffic for it to be worth your time.
Here’s why it’s not lower: they actually pay you on time, their support is real, and for a publisher with 20-100k monthly pageviews, this is genuinely useful income.
Seven is a “yes, do this” rating. It’s not a “game changer” but it’s a solid, honest recommendation. If someone asked me would I rather have AdYouLike or nothing? AdYouLike, no question. Would I rather have AdYouLike or Mediavine? Mediavine, but I can’t get Mediavine so that’s not the right question.
What I’m Doing Going Forward
I’m keeping AdYouLike running. The earnings are steady enough that removing it would cost me money and for like five minutes of setup and occasional optimization, that’s dumb to turn down.
I’m also continuing to use AdSense, trying to grow my traffic to eventually hit Mediavine requirements, and testing one more network that someone recommended to me. The whole point is diversification anyway.
My goal for 2026 is to get to 100k monthly pageviews, which would probably double my earnings across the board. If I hit that, I might try some higher-tier networks. But even if I don’t, I know AdYouLike will still be here paying me consistently, and that’s worth something.
If you’ve got a site with real traffic and you want a straightforward way to make some extra money, test AdYouLike. Worst case scenario you make $30 in your first month and you decide it’s not for you. But honestly? I think you’ll keep it.
Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission if you sign up through them, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products and services I actually use and believe in. My opinions are based on my genuine six-month experience with this platform.
