Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover monetization & payments. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| EthicalAds | Paddle | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | Free |
| Pricing model | Free | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | 30% of what you earn | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Ad Networks, Monetization & Payments | Monetization & Payments, Digital Products & Storefronts |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Ads without tracking, for developer sites
EthicalAds targets on page content rather than on the reader, so a site running it needs no cookie banner and shows one ad instead of six. That is a smaller advertiser pool and a lower ceiling than a general network, and the trade is deliberate. Getting in is the hard part: the network is invite-only and aimed at sites a developer audience reads.
Our note
The published revenue share is the reason to read this one. Every other network in this category treats its split as confidential, so a stated 70 percent is a number you can hold them to.
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Merchant of record for digital products
Paddle acts as the merchant of record, meaning it sells your product to the customer and then pays you, taking sales tax registration and remittance off your desk entirely. That is the whole difference between it and a plain card processor, and it is why software sellers outside the United States end up here. One rate covers payments, billing and tax. Products under ten dollars are quoted separately.
Our note
The extra two points over Stripe buys you out of tax registration, which is worth it the moment you sell across borders. Lemon Squeezy is the same company at the same headline rate with a lighter setup, so pick that one unless you need Paddle's billing depth.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.
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