Revive Adserver vs Swapstack Comparison 2026
Both cover ad networks. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Ad server you download and run yourself
Newsletter sponsorships with a published fee
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Revive Adserver | Swapstack | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | 10% of what you earn |
| Runs on (they differ) | Web, Linux | Web |
| Covers | Ad Networks | Ad Networks, 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.
Revive Adserver
Ad server you download and run yourself
Revive Adserver is software you install on your own hosting, so it does the counting rather than the selling. Campaigns, zones, targeting and delivery reports all live on a server you control, which means nothing sits between you and the advertiser and nothing takes a share of what you invoice. Setting it up is a PHP application and a database, and that is a real afternoon of work. Publishers who have already sold the slot are who this is for.
Our note
Budget for the maintenance rather than the licence. The software is free and the ongoing work is not, so this pays off for a site running ads continuously and rarely for one selling a sponsorship a quarter. If the server side is the objection, AdButler and Broadstreet do the same job as a subscription.
Swapstack
Newsletter sponsorships with a published fee
Swapstack introduces newsletter writers to the brands that want to advertise in them, and it is unusually direct about what it takes for doing so. A publisher joins for nothing and keeps everything on a deal they source themselves; the fee applies to campaigns Swapstack brought. Advertisers pay a share of spend instead. For a writer with a few thousand subscribers and no interest in cold email, that is the whole pitch.
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.