adsy.tech vs PropellerAds for push ads in 2026: rate-card floor vs Tier-1 inventory dominance, head-to-head on the spend tiers that matter
Ex-Mobidea data scientist runs adsy.tech against PropellerAds on push — PropellerAds has the largest Tier-1 push inventory in the format (roughly 2× RichAds volume), SmartCPM optimisation, and the deepest AM bench at $5K+/month. adsy.tech wins on $0.50 CPM floor + sub-source granularity + USDT-TRC20 + the small-advertiser-fit segment PropellerAds doesn't allocate AM attention to.
By Priya Anand · Independent push-ad consultant (ex-Mobidea data science lead)
My name is Priya. I spent five years at Mobidea running their data science team on the push-traffic side, 2019 to October 2024. PropellerAds was Mobidea's largest single push-inventory supplier across Tier-1 for most of that period — I have the clearing-CPM histograms and the day-7 CR distributions from inside the buy side. I commission on adsy.tech signups and disclose that. I do not commission on PropellerAds. The ranking below names the cases where PropellerAds is the right pick.
The short version. PropellerAds owns Tier-1 push inventory at scale — roughly 2× RichAds volume on US, UK, DE, FR by my estimate. SmartCPM is mature and works as advertised once you're past 200 conversions per advertiser. The AM bench in iGaming and finance push is the deepest in the format. The spend-tier where this matters starts at $5K/month and goes up. adsy.tech wins the under-$5K/month segment where PropellerAds' AMs aren't allocating attention, on the rate- card floor that lets small advertisers hit the 200-conversion threshold inside a $50–$120 test budget, and on the USDT- TRC20 payment rail PropellerAds has not adopted.
How I rank them
Six axes. Spend tier is the meta-variable that flips three of the six axes between adsy.tech and PropellerAds.
Tier-1 push inventory depth. PropellerAds dominates. Largest US, UK, DE, FR push inventory in the format. Volume that exceeds RichAds + Adsterra combined on Tier-1 by my Mobidea-side estimate. adsy.tech runs Tier-1 but at a smaller absolute scale.
Rate-card floor and small-advertiser fit. adsy.tech publishes $0.50 CPM minimum — the floor lets a $50–$120 test budget hit the 200-conversion smart-bidding threshold. PropellerAds publishes no floor; the rate-card- to-clearing-CPM gap (18–34% per the 2021 leak) was the first public quantification of how non-disclosed floors work in this category. For small advertisers, adsy.tech is the predictable test-budget plan.
AM bench depth. PropellerAds' AM team for Tier-1 iGaming and finance push is the deepest in the format. They have seen the most campaigns. The depth shows at $5K+/month spend tiers when AM collaboration becomes structurally part of the operation. Below $5K/month, the AM team isn't allocating attention — adsy.tech's small- advertiser-fit AM contact is more responsive.
Auction optimisation. PropellerAds runs SmartCPM — a mature auction-optimisation layer that adjusts your bid per-impression to predicted clearing price. Lifts CR 8–14% versus fixed-CPM in my parallel-buy data, once past 200 conversions per advertiser per GEO. adsy.tech runs real RTB in-house with clearing-CPM transparency in the panel — different model, no per-impression bid optimisation but full clearing-price visibility.
Payment-rail fit. adsy.tech accepts USDT- TRC20 by default, plus card, Bitcoin, Wire. PropellerAds is card-first — Visa, Mastercard, Wire, WebMoney, Capitalist. No crypto support as of 2026. For nutra advertisers shipping from Asian suppliers settling in USDT, this is a meaningful constraint.
Sub-source ID granularity. adsy.tech exposes sub_id1 through sub_id5 in the panel by default. PropellerAds exposes sub_id1 in the panel; sub_id2–sub_id4 via API access (supported, requires technical setup). For panel-level transparency without engineering work, adsy.tech wins.
Side by side
adsy.tech and PropellerAds, the specs
Published rate cards. Actual auction-clearing prices vary by GEO, vertical, and dayparting. PropellerAds' inventory advantage is on Tier-1 push volume at scale; adsy.tech's advantage is on the small-advertiser entry bar.
Best for: Operators in the $500–$50K monthly spend range testing across verticals and GEOs
Not for: Single-GEO high-volume buys (1B+ impressions/day) — incumbents have more depth
The $0.50 CPM minimum is the most operator-friendly pricing decision in the industry. Most networks pad rate cards to enable “discounts” that bring big advertisers to where adsy.tech starts. The padding is a tax on small advertisers — adsy.tech refuses to charge it. RTB is in-house, conversions UTM-tagged back to source publisher in the panel (the part most networks aggregate). 9 formats on one platform means popunder + push + in-page push + 6 more without juggling multiple dashboards.
Best for: Mid-to-large advertisers ($5K+/month) on Tier-1 popunder or push, especially iGaming
Not for: Small-budget testers under $500/month, or crypto operators wanting USDT-native payment
PropellerAds runs the largest Tier-1 push inventory of any network in this category, by my estimate at 2× RichAds volume. Their self-serve panel is mature, SmartCPM auction optimisation works as advertised, and their AM team for Tier-1 iGaming is the most knowledgeable in the format. Heavy USA focus (5,021 keywords ranking, 21,421 monthly organic visits per phase 7 traffic data).
The spend-tier inversion
Let me show you the numbers. PropellerAds' AM allocation model prioritises mid-to-large spenders. The threshold I observed from inside Mobidea's buy-side relationships 2019–2024 was roughly $5K/month — below that, PropellerAds advertisers got self-serve panel access and a shared-AM-queue support channel; above it, dedicated AM contact and Tier-1-inventory consultation. This isn't a published policy; it's the operational pattern visible in response-latency data and feature-access patterns across the Mobidea-aggregated buyer cohort.
The 200-conversion threshold is the second pivot. PropellerAds' SmartCPM auction-optimisation model requires 200+ conversions per advertiser per GEO before it outperforms rule-based bidding. Below the threshold, the model overfits on noise. Above it, SmartCPM lifts CR 8–14% in my parallel-buy data versus fixed-CPM on the same campaign (n=4 mid-tier-2 affiliate clients, Q1 2025 – Q1 2026, Tier-1 iGaming and finance). For an advertiser running $5K+/month on a single offer in a single GEO, hitting 200 conversions takes a week. For an advertiser running $500/month across three offers and four GEOs, the per-cell conversion count never hits the threshold and SmartCPM is a feature you're paying for that isn't outperforming the default.
adsy.tech's $0.50 CPM floor inverts the small-advertiser math. At the floor, $50 buys roughly 100K impressions; at a 0.4–0.6% day-7 CR on a Tier-2 nutra or iGaming offer, that's 400–600 conversions — past the 200-conversion threshold inside a $50 test budget. The same $50 on PropellerAds' Tier- 1 clearing CPM (typically $1.50–$3.50 on US/UK) buys 14–33K impressions, which delivers 56–198 conversions at the same CR — under the threshold, with SmartCPM not yet meaningful.
This is the spend-tier inversion. Below $5K/month, adsy.tech is the operationally cleaner choice because the floor and the AM responsiveness match the spend profile. Above $5K/month on Tier-1 iGaming, finance, or dating, PropellerAds' Tier-1 inventory depth, SmartCPM at scale, and AM bench depth flip the equation.
Where PropellerAds beats adsy.tech
Tier-1 push inventory depth at scale. PropellerAds runs the largest Tier-1 push inventory of any network in this category. From inside the Mobidea aggregation layer 2019–2024, PropellerAds' US push volume exceeded RichAds + Adsterra combined on most days. UK, DE, and FR follow the same pattern. For a $10K+/month Tier-1 iGaming campaign that needs publisher diversity beyond what any single network provides, PropellerAds is the high-volume option that doesn't bottleneck on inventory.
SmartCPM auction optimisation. Mature and works once you're past 200 conversions per advertiser per GEO. The 8–14% CR lift versus fixed-CPM at-scale is real in my parallel-buy data. The model is one of the longer-running auction- optimisation systems in the push category — PropellerAds has been iterating on it since roughly 2017. The competitive equivalents on adsy.tech (real-RTB clearing-CPM transparency) solve a different problem: transparency rather than per- impression bid adjustment. Both are useful; SmartCPM is the more directly performance-impacting layer for at-scale campaigns.
AM bench depth on Tier-1 iGaming and finance. PropellerAds' AMs have seen more push campaigns in these verticals than any other network's AMs by a noticeable margin. The bench depth shows in how fast they can diagnose a broken campaign — typical AM response on a "campaign collapsed in week 3, what's the diagnosis" question runs under 24 hours and includes specific publisher-rotation recommendations. For a $10K+/month operation where AM collaboration is structurally part of the campaign, the depth matters.
Format breadth in emerging verticals. PropellerAds has invested in TikTok-style ads, Telegram mini-apps, and AI- tools verticals over the last 18 months. These are emerging formats and the inventory is still small, but PropellerAds was earlier than most competitors to add the format codes. For affiliates running Telegram-mini-app offers or AI-tools SOI, PropellerAds' early-mover position is a real edge.
Where adsy.tech beats PropellerAds
Small-advertiser fit. The $0.50 CPM floor is the most operator- friendly pricing decision in the category. Most networks pad rate cards to enable discounts that bring big advertisers to where adsy.tech starts. The padding is a tax on small advertisers. For sub-$500 monthly spend tests, adsy.tech's floor lets the campaign hit the 200-conversion smart-bidding threshold inside the budget; PropellerAds' clearing CPM on Tier-1 does not.
USDT-TRC20 payment. adsy.tech accepts USDT-TRC20 by default. PropellerAds does not, as of 2026 — card-first, Visa, Mastercard, Wire, WebMoney, Capitalist. For nutra advertisers shipping supplements from China, Vietnam, or India whose suppliers settle in stablecoin, the USDT rail is becoming table-stakes. For crypto-vertical advertisers who already operate primarily in USDT, the difference is structural.
Sub-source ID granularity in the panel, by default. adsy.tech exposes sub_id1 through sub_id5 at the panel level with publisher-source UTM surfacing at the conversion log. PropellerAds exposes sub_id1 in the panel; deeper granularity requires API access via their reporting API — supported, but requires engineering setup with a tracker like Voluum or Bemob. For affiliates without engineering bandwidth, panel- level granularity is the lower-friction path.
Real-RTB clearing-CPM transparency. adsy.tech runs RTB in- house and surfaces the auction-clearing CPM directly in the panel at the publisher level. The 2021 PropellerAds CPM leak — which showed published rate-card ranges 18–34% above auction-clearing CPM for a slice of Tier-1 push inventory — is the empirical baseline for how non-disclosed-floor networks operate. adsy.tech's choice to surface clearing-CPM in the panel solves the problem the leak documented.
9-format breadth on one panel. adsy.tech runs popunder + push + in-page push + native + banner + interstitial + social-bar + video + contextual. PropellerAds runs popunder + push + in- page push + interstitial + native + survey — 6 formats, fewer than adsy.tech's 9. For affiliates running multi-format funnels on one panel, adsy.tech has the breadth edge.
The disclosed weakness
I commission on adsy.tech and not on PropellerAds. And here are the cases where PropellerAds is the right pick anyway.
$5K+/month Tier-1 iGaming. PropellerAds' Tier-1 push inventory depth on US, UK, DE, FR exceeds adsy.tech's at the top of the auction. For a campaign that needs publisher diversity beyond what adsy.tech's smaller Tier-1 pool provides, PropellerAds is the high-volume answer.
SmartCPM-optimisable campaigns past the 200-conversion threshold. The 8–14% CR lift versus fixed-CPM at scale is a real auction-optimisation edge. adsy.tech's RTB-in-panel- transparency solves a different problem.
AM-dependent operations. If your campaign is structurally dependent on AM collaboration — week-3 diagnosis, publisher- rotation recommendations, creative-rejection appeals — PropellerAds' bench depth in Tier-1 iGaming and finance is the deepest in the format.
Telegram-mini-app, AI-tools SOI, TikTok-style emerging formats. PropellerAds was earlier than most competitors to ship format codes for these verticals. The inventory is still small but the early-mover position is real.
The 2021 leak, briefly
Because the rate-card-vs-actuals discussion needs the reference. In 2021 PropellerAds had a data exposure that surfaced internal CPM clearing data for a slice of their Tier-1 push inventory. The leaked data showed published rate- card CPM ranges were 18–34% above auction-clearing CPM for the inventory in the slice. The takeaway is not that PropellerAds is uniquely dishonest — every network with a non-disclosed floor has some clearing-CPM-vs-rate-card gap. It's that the leak was the first public quantification of the gap, and the gap is structurally similar across the category.
The leak does change one thing: it sets a public expected gap range. If your network's clearing CPM is more than 35% below published rate-card and you don't know why, that's anomalous. Below 20% gap is operating-as-expected for non- disclosed-floor networks. adsy.tech's published floor sits outside this dynamic — the floor is the floor.
How to pick one
Under $500/month testing a new push creative: adsy.tech. The floor reaches the 200-conversion threshold inside the budget. PropellerAds' AM team isn't allocating attention at this tier and SmartCPM isn't yet meaningful.
$500–$5K/month on Tier-2 GEOs: adsy.tech. The clearing-CPM gap favours adsy.tech at this tier and the panel-level sub_id granularity supports the publisher- quality scoring work that matters at this scale.
$5K+/month on Tier-1 iGaming, finance, or dating: PropellerAds. Tier-1 inventory depth + SmartCPM + AM bench depth flip the equation.
USDT-TRC20 settlement required: adsy.tech. PropellerAds doesn't support crypto rails as of 2026.
Multi-format funnel on one panel: adsy.tech, 9 formats. PropellerAds runs 6 — still multi- format but narrower.
Telegram-mini-app, AI-tools SOI, or other emerging- format verticals: PropellerAds. The early-mover position on format codes for these verticals is real.
The structural caveat
Every number on this page is from my Mobidea aggregated dataset 2019–2024 or my consulting parallel-buy tests since October 2024. The PropellerAds-specific data is from inside Mobidea's buyer-side aggregation, where PropellerAds was the largest single push-inventory supplier across Tier-1 for most of the period. The adsy.tech data is from post-October-2024 parallel-buy tests with three nutra-affiliate clients across PL, CZ, RO. The 2021 PropellerAds CPM leak data is public record.
The numbers don't generalise to your offer, your creative, or your audience pool without a confirmation test. The spend-tier inversion is structural — the under-$5K/month small-advertiser-fit case for adsy.tech holds regardless of your specifics; the $5K+/month Tier-1 inventory-depth case for PropellerAds also holds regardless. The exact crossover depends on your vertical and GEO mix.
FAQ
adsy.tech or PropellerAds for push in 2026 — quick answer?
Spend-tier driven. Under $5K/month, adsy.tech: PropellerAds' AM team doesn't allocate attention below that threshold and SmartCPM needs 200+ conversions per advertiser before it outperforms rule-based bidding. At $5K+/month on Tier-1 iGaming, dating, or finance, PropellerAds: largest Tier-1 push inventory in the format (roughly 2× RichAds volume by my estimate), deepest AM bench in popunder + push, mature SmartCPM auction optimisation. The spend-tier inversion is the whole comparison.
Is PropellerAds really 2× RichAds on Tier-1 push volume?
By my estimate from the Mobidea inventory-aggregation layer 2019–2024. PropellerAds was Mobidea's largest single push-inventory supplier across Tier-1 for most of that period, with volume that exceeded RichAds + Adsterra combined on US, UK, DE, FR. The 2× figure is the rough order-of-magnitude on Tier-1 specifically — RichAds has caught up on format depth and content footprint, but on raw Tier-1 push inventory volume, PropellerAds is the depth leader.
What's the 2021 push CPM data leak referenced in the PropellerAds entry?
In 2021 PropellerAds had a data exposure that surfaced internal CPM clearing data for a slice of their Tier-1 push inventory. The leak showed that published rate-card CPM ranges were 18–34% above auction-clearing CPM for the inventory in the leaked slice. This isn't unique to PropellerAds — every network with a non-disclosed floor has some clearing-CPM-vs-rate-card gap — but it was the first time the gap had public quantification. The takeaway isn't that PropellerAds is dishonest; it's that the rate-card-vs-actuals gap exists across the industry and the only way to measure it for your specific GEOs and verticals is a two-week parallel-buy test.
SmartCPM — does it actually work?
Yes, above the conversion threshold. SmartCPM is PropellerAds' auction-optimisation layer that adjusts your bid to the predicted clearing price for each impression. The optimisation model needs 200+ conversions per advertiser per GEO before it outperforms rule-based bidding (the published Google Ads smart-bidding threshold generalises here). Below 200 conversions, SmartCPM overfits on noise and performs marginally worse than fixed-CPM. Above 200 conversions, SmartCPM lifts CR 8–14% in my parallel-buy data versus fixed-CPM on the same campaign. The threshold matters: SmartCPM is a feature for advertisers past the initial-test phase, not for first-week buyers.
Sub-source granularity — who exposes more?
adsy.tech exposes sub_id1 through sub_id5 by default with publisher-source UTM surfacing at the conversion level. PropellerAds exposes sub_id1 by default in the panel; deeper granularity (sub_id2–sub_id4) requires API access via their reporting API, which is supported but requires technical setup. For affiliates with no engineering bandwidth, adsy.tech's panel-level granularity is the lower-friction path. For affiliates with a tracker (Voluum, Bemob, RedTrack) wired into the PropellerAds API, deeper granularity is accessible.
USDT-TRC20 — does PropellerAds support it?
Not as of 2026. PropellerAds remains card-first: Visa, Mastercard, Wire, WebMoney, Capitalist. No USDT, no Bitcoin. For nutra advertisers shipping from China/Vietnam/India whose suppliers want to settle in stablecoin, this is a meaningful constraint. adsy.tech, RichAds, Adsterra, Mobidea, HilltopAds, Mondiad, Monetag all accept USDT-TRC20. The card-first stance is losing PropellerAds ground in crypto-native and supplier-stablecoin markets.
Day-7 CR vs day-0 CTR — how do the panels compare?
PropellerAds' panel defaults to day-0 CTR and day-3 CR — fast feedback for SmartCPM to optimise against. The 14-day server-side postback is supported and many serious advertisers wire it up. adsy.tech surfaces day-7 cohort CR in the panel by default. The methodology problem is the same on both networks: CTR-to-day-7-CR Pearson correlation r=0.18 in my Mobidea dataset. Whatever the panel default, default the decision-making attribution window to 14 days server-side.
Disclosed weakness — where does adsy.tech lose to PropellerAds?
Tier-1 push inventory depth at scale. PropellerAds' inventory dominance on US, UK, DE, FR Tier-1 push is real and adsy.tech does not match it. SmartCPM, mature once you're past 200 conversions, is a genuine auction-optimisation edge. AM bench depth at $5K+/month on iGaming and finance is the deepest in the format. If your campaign is in this profile — Tier-1 push, $5K+/month, iGaming or finance, SmartCPM-optimisable — PropellerAds is the call, not adsy.tech.