Google AdMob
Google AdMob is a free platform for earning revenue from mobile app advertising.
What Google AdMob is
Google AdMob is a free platform for earning revenue from mobile app advertising. It matches ads to apps using criteria set by publishers and handles billing between advertisers and ad networks. Publishers can use mediation to work with multiple networks; participating sources bid on each impression in real time, and the highest-paying bid wins. Available formats include native, rewarded, banner, video, and interstitial ads. AdMob connects with Google Analytics for Firebase to provide ad revenue and user engagement insights. Publishers can review individual ads and block them by advertiser URL, category, network, or sensitive topic. Google provides Mobile Ads SDK integration guides for Android and iOS, and the listed supported platforms also include Unity and Flutter. Signing up requires a Google account and phone number, and monetization setup requires payment details. Before an app can fully serve ads, it must be published, linked to a supported store, and pass an app readiness review. For USD accounts, the payment threshold is $100, with identity and address verification required to receive payment.
Good
- Supports native, rewarded, banner, video, and interstitial ads.
- Mediation works with multiple ad networks.
- Integrates with Google Analytics for Firebase.
- Publishers can block ads by several criteria.
Watch out
- Monetization setup requires payment details.
- Apps must pass an app readiness review before fully serving ads.
- USD accounts have a $100 payment threshold.
- Identity and address verification are required for payment.
Who it suits
AdMob is aimed at mobile app developers, including game developers using ad-funded or hybrid monetization. It suits publishers who want ad formats, mediation, and controls over which ads appear.
Verdict
AdMob provides app ad serving, mediation, and ad controls without a listed platform fee. Before choosing it, account for app review, payment setup, verification, and the USD payment threshold.
Plans and prices
From Google AdMob's own pricing page, checked 15 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| AdMob | Free | In-app advertising platform; earnings vary with clicks, impressions and advertiser demand |
| AdMob API | Free | API usage currently free of charge |
The facts
Each one read from Google AdMob's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Account requirements
- Signing up requires a Google account and phone number, and monetization setup requires payment details.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Acquisition value
- TechCrunch reported Google's November 2009 agreement to acquire AdMob for $750 million in stock.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Ad controls
- Publishers can review individual ads and block advertisers, categories, networks, sensitive topics or app-install ads.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Ad formats
- Supported formats include native, rewarded, banner, video and interstitial ads.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Analytics
- The dashboard reports ad performance and user-engagement information for optimization.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Analytics integration
- AdMob integrates with Google Analytics for Firebase to provide ad revenue and user engagement insights.checked 30 Sep 2026
- API
- The public AdMob API offers guides, reference material, client libraries and samples.checked 15 Oct 2026
- API pricing
- Google currently charges no fee for AdMob API usage.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Audience
- Google describes AdMob as a monetization platform for mobile app developers, including game developers using hybrid or ad-funded models.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Brand safety
- Google states that built-in controls and policy enforcement are intended to maintain a brand-safe marketplace.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Developer SDKs
- Mobile Ads SDK implementation guidance is provided for Android, iOS, Unity and Flutter.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation depth
- The help center covers onboarding, app setup, ad units, reports, mediation, payments, privacy, policies and troubleshooting.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Feature availability
- Google notes that some AdMob features are in beta and are not available to all publishers.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Firebase integration
- Google Analytics for Firebase can receive impression-level revenue data and support audience segmentation and lifetime-value reporting.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Game monetization
- For games, AdMob supports hybrid in-app-purchase and advertising strategies, including rewarded ads.checked 15 Oct 2026
- HTTPS serving
- Google supports HTTPS ad serving for eligible Android and iOS Mobile Ads SDK versions.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Licence
- The mobile developer terms grant a limited, revocable, non-exclusive license and prohibit copying, modification, redistribution and reverse engineering.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: invalid-traffic enforcement
- Trustpilot complaints frequently describe account rejection or suspension, ad-serving limits, withheld funds and little human assistance.checked 15 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Android requirement
- The Firebase Android quickstart requires adding an AdMob application ID to AndroidManifest.xml and the Google Mobile Ads SDK dependency.checked 15 Oct 2026
- App ownership
- Google says apps created after January 2025 that are not verified with app-ads.txt face limited ad serving.checked 30 Sep 2026
- App review
- Before fully serving ads, a published app must be linked to a supported store and pass an app readiness review.checked 30 Sep 2026
- App-store readiness
- New apps undergo an app-readiness review before they can fully serve ads, and store linking is part of setup.checked 15 Oct 2026
The company
- Company history
- Sequoia records AdMob as founded in 2006 and acquired by Google in 2010.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Headquarters
- Mountain View, Californiachecked 28 Sep 2026
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