12 Best WordPress Advertising Plugins (2024 Comparison)
Do you need a WordPress advertising plugin to help you insert ads on your site and manage them?
Google AdSense and other ad networks allow you to monetize your content by displaying their ads across your site, particularly on blog post pages.
What ad management WordPress plugins allow you to do is connect AdSense and other ad networks to your site easily.
What they do after that differs between plugins, and that’s what we’ll be discussing in this post, which features a list of the best WordPress advertising plugins and WordPress ad management plugins in the industry.
The best WordPress advertising plugins – comparison
TL;DR:
Here are our top picks for advertising plugins along with short descriptions of their primary features.
Advanced Ads – The best ad management plugin for most users. Free version + powerful premium add-ons.
Ads Pro Plugin – Another solid ad management plugin with a great set of features. Expandable with add-ons.
AdSanity – Great for creating your own ads.
#1 – Advanced Ads
Advanced Ads is the best WordPress advertising plugin for all users. It lets you connect your WordPress site to Google AdSense quite easily, and it also works with ad networks.
The best parts about Advanced Ads, especially the Advanced Ads Pro plugin, are its ad management features.
These features allow you to create your own ads from your network’s ad code and display them using a variety of conditions.
You can also use Advanced Ads to sell ads, allowing you to designate ad space on your site to sponsors.
Overall, this is one of the best advertising plugins available for WordPress, both for its extensive feature set as well as for its ease of use.
Key features
- Ad creation.
- Ad management.
- Multiple ad types.
- Scheduled ads.
- Fallback ads.
- Lazy loading for ads.
- Google AMP support.
- Desktop and mobile ads.
- Tracking and reports.
- Random ad placements.
- A/B testing.
- Adblock defense.
- Sell ads.
- Google Ad Manager and Google AdSense integrations, including making Google AdSense ads compatible with AMP.
- Supports Google Auto Ads.
- Ad layout options and display conditions, including popup ads, inline ads, and more.
- Global conditions.
Pros
- Lets you manage unlimited ads.
- Accepts a variety of different ad scripts, including static images, JavaScript, HTML and PHP.
- Accepts shortcodes.
- Designed to work on cached sites.
- Lets you create different ad sets for desktop and mobile.
- Allows you to track ad impressions and clicks.
- Performance reports are shareable.
- You can choose to have ads display after random paragraphs as a visitor scrolls through the page.
- A/B testing lets you rotate between different ad groups.
- Adblock defense feature allows you to show alternative static images to visitors who have an adblocker enabled.
- The selling ads feature allows you to collect payments from advertisers and create advertiser profiles.
- Prevents individuals from clicking the same ads over and over.
- Lets you duplicate ads.
- The Google AdSense integration allows you to import reports and ad units from the network.
- Integrates with Google Analytics.
- Display conditions let you target visitors based on where they live, what device they’re using, how active they are, etc.
- Integrates with GDPR and cookie consent notifications.
- Lets you buy certain features as add-ons or plans that bundle add-ons.
- Extensive documentation.
Cons
- Free version is very limited.
Pricing
A limited free version is available. Paid plans start at €49/year. Pricing for individual add-ons varies.
#2 – Ads Pro
Ads Pro is a great WordPress advertising plugin that allows you to display ads from any ad network that produces scripts in JavaScript or HTML format.
It’s especially useful for site owners who wish to sell ad space across their sites.
Ads Pro lets you insert an online order form on the frontend of your site, which you can use to accept ad sales (automatically, if you wish) from potential advertisers and sponsors.
The plugin even has a frontend user panel your advertisers can view to see how their ads are performing in real time.
Key features
- Ad creation.
- Ad management.
- Ad sales, which includes a frontend order form.
- Scheduled ads.
- Multiple display conditions.
- Desktop and mobile ad support.
- Numerous placement options.
- Frontend user panel.
- A/B testing.
- Adblock detection.
- Reports.
Pros
- Accepts multiple script types, including JavaScript and HTML.
- Comes with ad templates.
- Includes three billing methods: cost per click (CPC), cost per mile (CPM) and cost per day (CPD).
- Advertisers can see how well their ads are performing with the frontend user panel.
- Reporting feature includes a snapshot of how well your ads have performed in terms of click-through rate, impressions, clicks and more.
- Lets you auto accept ad sales.
- Display conditions let you rotate ads and show them after X number of paragraphs.
- Display conditions let you target users by location, device, etc.
- Lets you hide ads for logged-in users.
- Allows you to assign ad spaces to specific tags and categories.
- Protects against click fraud.
- Integrates with WooCommerce payment gateways.
- Includes hooks and other developer options.
Cons
- It’s a CodeCanyon plugin primarily, so there’s no proper documentation or help articles.
- No free option.
- Doesn’t support Google AMP.
Pricing
One-time purchase of $65. Extended support available as a separate charge.
#3 – AdSanity
AdSanity is a great all-around advertising plugin for WordPress.
It accepts ad code from just about any network and even lets you create your own ads.
This plugin offers a simple way to have more control over how you display ads on your site.
It’s especially useful as an adblock deterrent tool as it allows you to block content for adblock users and even hide ads to logged-in members based on user role.
Key features
- Ad network support.
- Custom ads.
- Scheduled ads.
- Multiple placement options.
- Display conditions.
- Adblock detection.
- Reports.
- Advertiser-friendly reports.
Pros
- Allows you to create custom ads and insert ad code from almost any ad network.
- Lets you create and rotate ad groups.
- Lets you assign ad groups to specific categories.
- You can schedule ads to expire based on a specific number of daily or total impressions.
- Display conditions let you hide ads for specific user roles.
- Weighted ads feature lets you choose how often a specific ad appears when you decide to display ads randomly.
- Adblock detection feature lets you block content behind an “Adblock Detected” message.
- Lets you choose how visitors should respond to Adblock Detection notice: they can either disable their adblocker or receive a temporary grace period.
- Accepts custom ad sizes.
- Accepts custom CSS for styling ads.
- Comes with a special add-on that ensures your ads get cached alongside the rest of your website in case they don’t display as intended after site caching is enabled.
- Google Analytics integration available.
- Includes actions and filters for developers.
- Full-service knowledge base with a lot of tutorials.
Cons
- No free version.
- No selling features, but you can still create custom ads for sponsors.
- Reporting feature for advertisers is not frontend friendly: it requires you to create a new user role for advertisers and have them log in to WordPress.
- More expensive than the previous options on this list.
Pricing
Plans start at $59/year. A lifetime plan is also available. All plans are backed by a 30-day, money-back guarantee. You can also buy add-ons individually.
#4 – WP Quads
WP Quads is an advanced advertising plugin that works with multiple ad networks but is especially useful for managing AdSense ads.
This plugin comes with one of the largest feature sets for ad placements and display conditions.
Key features
- Google AdSense support.
- Google Ad Manager support.
- Google AMP support.
- Google Auto Ads support.
- Custom ad support.
- Multiple placement options.
- Ad groups.
- Ad rotation.
- Lazy loading.
- Display conditions.
- Adblock detection.
- Click fraud protection.
- A/B testing.
- Reports and tracking.
Pros
- Unlimited ads.
- Adblock detection lets you display a message to the user in multiple ways.
- Includes widgets.
- Placement options include unique options, such as word count.
- Display conditions let you target users by location.
- Extensive help docs.
Cons
- No selling features.
Pricing
Free version available. Paid plans start at $89/year.
#5 – Ad Inserter
Ad Inserter is one of the most popular advertising plugins available for WordPress with over 300,000 active installations.
It accepts ad code from a variety of different ad networks and lets you display them in a number of different ways and with a number of different conditions.
Key features
- Google AdSense support.
- Supports multiple ad networks.
- Google Ad Manager support.
- Google AMP support.
- Ad rotation.
- Scheduled ads.
- Numerous placement options.
- Display conditions.
- Sticky ads.
- Adblock detection.
- Click fraud protection.
- Lazy loading.
- A/B testing.
- Statistics.
Pros
- Lets you disable ads for specific posts and pages.
- Adblock detection lets you display a popup message or redirect visitors.
- Accepts code from Google Analytics and Matomo.
- Lets you export statistics as a PDF file.
- Extensive documentation.
Cons
- While powerful, this plugin may be a little technical for some users.
- No selling options.
Pricing
Free version available. Paid plans start at €20/year.
#6 – AdRotate
AdRotate is an advertising plugin whose primary purpose is to let you rotate ads on your site, but it does so much more.
This plugin lets you display ads from multiple ad networks, and you can even use it to create custom ads.
It’s also one of the cheapest ways to implement ads with numerous display conditions on your site.
Key features
- Google AdSense support.
- Supports multiple ad networks.
- Custom ad support.
- Ad rotation.
- Scheduled ads.
- Fallback ads.
- Advert generator.
- Display conditions.
- Adblock deterrent.
- Snippet management.
- Ad statistics.
Pros
- Unlimited ads.
- Multiple placement choices, including blocks, widgets and shortcodes.
- Supports ad groups.
- Auto injects ads into posts and pages across your site.
- Display conditions include the ability to specify a maximum number of clicks and impressions.
- Allows you to accept new ads from advertisers.
- Lets you hide ads for logged-in users.
- Post injections available for WooCommerce products.
- Lets you target users by location.
- Hides ads from adblockers.
- Google Analytics and Matomo integrations available.
Cons
- No AMP support.
- No features for selling ads.
Pricing
Free version available. Premium version available for €39.
#7 – AdsforWP
AdsforWP is a growing advertising plugin that supports a variety of different ad networks as well as custom HTML ads.
It’s especially useful for inserting ads on AMP pages. It even comes with performance statistics that show you how ads on AMP pages performed versus the same ads on non-AMP pages.
Key features
- Google AdSense support.
- AMP support.
- Supports several ad networks.
- Custom ad HTML support.
- Scheduled ads.
- Multiple placement options.
- Revenue sharing.
- Analytics and reports.
Pros
- Unlimited ads.
- Supports Google Auto Ads.
- Comes with ad widgets.
- Integrates with popular WordPress AMP plugins.
- Performance reports show you desktop vs mobile statistics as well as AMP vs non-AMP statistics.
- Extensive documentation.
Cons
- No selling options.
Pricing
This is a free plugin.
#8 – Ad Overlay Anything
Ad Overlay Anything is a simple advertising plugin designed to be used for self-hosted ads, whether that means image or text-based advertisements.
The plugin lets you create ad-based overlays for video, image and text-based content.
Key features
- Image overlays.
- Text overlays.
- Ad placement options.
Pros
- Lets you display overlays for videos, images and text.
- Supports embedded images and videos as well as your own self-hosted content.
- Choose to display ads across all content types or specific pieces of content.
Cons
- Only works for custom, self-hosted ads.
- No help docs.
Pricing
One-time purchase of $19. Extended support available for an additional charge.
#9 – Elite Video Player
Elite Video Player is a video player plugin for WordPress first and foremost, but it has a unique feature you can use to add pre-roll and mid-roll ads to videos you showcase on your WordPress site.
It does this by accepting multiple file types for ads along with a number of different options for video players in general.
Key features
- Supports multiple ad types for videos.
- Pre-roll ads.
- Mid-roll ads.
- Post-roll ads.
- Supports multiple video types.
- Video player controls.
- Playlist options.
Pros
- Supports VAST, VMAP and IMA ads.
- Supports self-hosted ads.
- Supports YouTube and Vimeo.
- Supports self-hosted ads.
- Supports Google Drive, Dropbox and Amazon S3.
- Hides YouTube’s UI.
- Google Analytics integration.
Cons
- Limited help docs.
- The UI for settings is not intuitive and may be complex for some users.
Pricing
One-time purchase of $69. Extended support available for an additional charge.
#10 – Green Box
Green Box is a simple advertising plugin with one simple purpose: to let you sell banner ads to advertisers.
It comes with multiple banner size options as well as payment gateway integrations to make selling ads even easier.
Key features
- Banner ads.
- Banner ad sales.
- Multiple banner sizes.
- Payment gateway integrations.
- Banner statistics.
Pros
- Admins can use custom HTML to create banners.
- Advertisers can upload their own banner images.
- Approval system available to prevent harmful images from appearing on your site.
- Integrates with PayPal and Stripe.
Cons
- Doesn’t support other ad types.
- Doesn’t support code from ad networks.
- No display conditions.
- No help docs.
Pricing
One-time purchase of $21. Extended support available as an additional charge.
#11 – Universal Google AdSense and Ads Manager
Universal Google AdSense and Ads Manager is one of the simplest advertising plugins available for WordPress.
Its feature set essentially comes down to two options: allowing you to insert ad code on your site and place ads in a variety of different locations.
Key features
- Google AdSense support.
- Any ad network support.
- Custom ad support.
- Script management.
- Multiple ad placement options.
- Sticky ads for header and footer.
Pros
- Supports Google Auto Ads.
- Script management feature lets you manage any type of script, not just ad code.
- Ad placement works for specific pages, including category pages.
Cons
- Not as many ad management and ad placement features as some of the other options on this list.
- No display conditions.
Pricing
This is a free plugin.
#12 – WPCode
WPCode is one of the most popular plugins available for WordPress.
It was created by Syed Balhki and is mostly known under the name Insert Headers and Footers.
It has over 2 million active installations, according to WordPress.org.
While not a dedicated advertising plugin, it’s still a popular choice for inserting ad code on your site as it allows you to do so without needing to access your functions.php file yourself.
Key features
- Inserts code into your functions.php file.
- Inserts code into your site’s header script.
- Inserts code into your site’s footer script.
- Conditional logic.
- Snippet library.
Pros
- Accepts code from any ad network.
- Lets you insert ad code into your site’s scripts without needing to access them.
- Free and easy to use.
Cons
- Because it’s not a dedicated advertising plugin, it doesn’t come with ad management features.
Pricing
Free version available. Paid plans start at $49/year.
FAQs On WordPress Advertising Plugins
How do I add ads to WordPress?
The easiest way to add ads to WordPress is with a dedicated WordPress advertising plugin, such as an ad management plugin like Advanced Ads.
If you don’t want to use a plugin, create an ad from your ad network’s dashboard, copy the ad code they provide, and paste it in a text editor wherever you want it to appear on your site, such as in a Text widget in your sidebar.
Some WordPress themes include spots for ads, such as spots for banner ads in your theme’s header. In this case, just like before, copy and paste individual ad codes here.
How do I manage ads in WordPress?
Advanced Ads offers the simplest way to manage ads in WordPress.
Once you connect an ad network to the plugin, such as Google AdSense, you can create individual ads for it from the WordPress dashboard and manage them there.
How do I turn on auto ads in WordPress?
Here are the steps for turning on Google Auto Ads in WordPress:
- From the Google AdSense dashboard, enable Auto Ads for your WordPress site by turning it on under Ad Settings.
- Configure key settings for Auto Ads, such as ad formats Google should use as well as the number of ads Google should display on your site automatically. You can also exclude pages here.
- Use a plugin like Advanced Ads to detect Google Auto Ads code automatically, or insert it into your header manually or with a plugin like WPCode.
- If you use the Advanced Ads method, go to the Settings page in WordPress, click over to the AdSense tab, and make sure the Auto Ads option is enabled.
If you want to display auto ads on specific pages only, follow these steps:
- Create a new ad in Advanced Ads that uses the Plain Text & Code ad type.
- Enter the code Google provides for Auto Ads in the ad’s code field.
- Under Display Conditions, choose “Specific Pages.” Then, choose “is” to choose the specific pages you want to display Auto Ads on or “is not” to exclude pages.
- Publish your ad.
- Create a new header code placement by going to Advanced Ads → Placements.
- Assign your new ad to this placement, and save it.
- Go to the Advanced Ads Settings page in WordPress, click over to the AdSense tab, and disable the Auto Ads option.
Final thoughts
The top plugins on this list provide some of the easiest ways to insert and manage ads on your site, but how do you choose between them?
Consider what you need the plugin for above all else.
Advanced Ads excels at Google AdSense while Ads Pro is great for selling ads, though they do support Google ads as well.
AdSanity is a great all-around WordPress advertising plugin, especially if you want to use an ad network other than Google.
Other than those features, choose the option that makes the most sense for your budget.
Advanced Ads and AdSanity have similar price points, but Ads Pro offers the best bang for your buck.
Be sure to check out additional articles we’ve published on this topic (and adjacent topics) as well.
Related reading:
- The Best Ad Networks For Publishers And Bloggers
- What Is Affiliate Marketing?
- Affiliate Marketing Statistics
- The Best Affiliate Platforms And Networks
Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. If you click on certain links we may make a commission.