Making the work
Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover ad networks. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Ad management for sites past 25,000 pageviews
Get paid for recommending other newsletters
Raptive | SparkLoop | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | Not listed |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Not stated | Web |
| Covers | Ad Networks, Brand Deals & Sponsorships | Ad Networks, Giveaways & Referrals, Newsletter & Email |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
Ad management for sites past 25,000 pageviews
Raptive, which was AdThrive until 2024, sells ads on behalf of sites that have enough traffic to be worth a salesperson. Rates per thousand views run well above what a self-serve network pays, and the company handles layout, video units and direct deals. The catch is the door: a site under the pageview floor cannot apply.
Our note
The reason to move here from AdSense is the rate per thousand views, not the features. Ask for the revenue split in writing before switching, because it is the one number the site will not tell you.
Only on this side
Get paid for recommending other newsletters
SparkLoop turns a newsletter's own audience into revenue by paying it to recommend other newsletters, either inside the email or on the page somebody lands on after subscribing. The same network runs the other way, so a publisher can buy subscribers from it as well as sell them. Both sides sit on the free plan. It works with the mainstream sending platforms rather than replacing one.
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.
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Substack |
|---|
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
|---|
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
|---|
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
|---|
Our note
Treat the free tier as the whole product and the $2,000 add-on as a separate decision for a newsletter already growing fast enough to reward referrers. Read the per-subscriber rates before planning revenue around this, because they are the number the pricing page leaves out.
Only on this side