CPA Advertising

Updated: July 31, 2023

CPA (Cost-Per-Action) is the most advanced mobile advertising payment model. With this model, advertisers pay publishers for specific actions (like sales or registrations) that people make inside mobile apps after being engaged with ads.

To calculate cost-per-action for a specific action one needs to divide a total ad campaign spending on several specific actions that this particular campaign generated.

Pricing for various kinds of actions such as app installs, registers, purchases can vary from $4 to $75 per action. The CPA advertising model is the roots of digital affiliate marketing. We’ve analyzed the best CPA Advertising Networks in this directory.

CPA example

Source: BigCommerce

CPA Advertising Benefits

CPA advertising allows advertisers to control their costs and achieve specific objectives. The key advantage is that there is no cost to them until an action is taken, which maximises their return on investment.

This model of advertising is also a good choice because advertisers can track multiple channels with ease. Effectively this makes CPA advertising risk-free, and it is the job of the publisher to create compelling content that inspires customers to take action.

Of course, there is a downside to CPA: the cost. Advertisers will pay more for this form of advertising, although that comes with the safety of knowing that they will most likely achieve their advertising aims.

CPA formula

Source: The Online Advertising Guide

Other benefits include:

  • It’s a good form of advertising for those who have a well-developed market
  • Advertisers don’t have to rely on clicks to generate revenue
  • It allows advertisers to generate site engagement with a specific action

Below we’ve listed the best CPA networks and platforms so you can get up and running without hassle.

List of the top CPA ad networks

Zucks

No.1 Ad network in Japan

10
(1 vote)
(1) REVIEWS
...offer a large number of campaigns supporting iOS and Android, driving app downloads as well as CPI,CPA and CPC.

Zoomd

Know More, Do More

(0) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployees
201251-200

 

Zoomd is dedicated to helping advertisers and publishers achieve their key performance indicators (KPIs) through a patented, performance-based advertising platform. The Company’s User Acquisition platform unifies more than 600 media sources under one dashboard including Google, TikTok, Samsung premium inventory and much more.

  • Business Models – Choose your preferred business model CPC/CPI/CPO/CPE/CPA
  • Fraud – Detection as part of the platform, adding you an extra layer of safety
  • Measurement – integrated to all major 3rd party mobile measurement solutions
  • Cost-efficiency – Save countless resources by managing all campaigns under one screen
  • Data Play – Enjoy machine decisions based on more than 500Million data points a day
Learn more about Zoomd

YouTube Ads

Be seen where everyone is watching

10
(1 vote)
(1) REVIEWS

Youmi

Global Mobile Affiliate Network

8
(2 votes)
(2) REVIEWS
....

 

Youmi is a mobile advertising and marketing platform, founded in China in 2010. It powers 10,000 advertisers ad campaigns with 600,000 publishers mobile inventory to reach out mobile audience in 200+ countries on 2.2 billion mobile devices.

  • Mobile platforms: Android, IOS, Mobile Web
  • Campaign types: CPA, CPC, CPM
  • Ad formats supported: Banners, Rich Media, Text
  • Targeting: Device, Local, OS, Time
  • Key Markets: China
Learn more about Youmi

Yeahmobi

Monetize your advertising inventory

(0) REVIEWS

VEVE

CONNECTING BRANDS TO OEMs

(0) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployees
2006101-200

VEVE is a performance marketing platform from Affinity Global Inc. that offers unique advertising experiences across OEMs, browsers and telcos. With native, high-performing ad formats – Tiles , Notifications, Universal, unique media placements and customization opportunities, the platform is empowering brands to achieve their advertising KPIs such as sales, app downloads, website visits and user engagement. Additionally, it provides creative and operational support across different languages and locations including the US, UK, EU, IN, ID and CN. VEVE also has its proprietary reporting dashboard to access deep data insights to optimize conversions and user engagement. VEVE also unlocks newer monetization avenues for OEMs and browsers while enhancing users’ online journey.

Key Features

• Boost new user acquisition – Reach 500+ MN captive audience beyond search and social media network

• Achieve your advertising KPIs – All inventory bought is on performance KPIs such as CPI, CPA, CPC, CPV, etc.

• Highly engaging native ad experiences – Get high conversion rate with non-intrusive, user-friendly ad formats (Tiles, Notifications, Universal) and unique media placement

100% Brand safe environment – Custom reporting dashboards for complete transparency, real-time insights, and optimization opportunities

• End-to-end campaign management – Creative and operational support across different geographies (US, UK, EU, IN, ID, CN) and in multiple languages

Learn more about VEVE

Taptica

Engage valuable users on mobile

(0) REVIEWS
...Banners Advertisers can maximise their engagement and revenue through mobile re-targeting on a CPA basis.

 

Taptica is a mobile user acquisition platform, offering ML algorithms powered advertising solutions to brands and app developers. With a big network of approved publishers, Taptica is capable to reach more than 200 million mobile users worldwide. On the advertising side of things, the platform focuses on generating relevant and loyal audiences for apps and games and also offers a high volume of media, including RTB exchanges.

  • Mobile platforms: Android, IOS
  • Campaign types: CPA, CPC
  • Ad formats supported: Banners, Interstitial, Text, Video
  • Targeting: Custom
  • Key Markets: Latin America, USA
Learn more about Taptica

Stack

What Drives Winning Apps

10
(1 vote)
(1) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployeesSocial
2015100-12512k+

Stack is an end-to-end SaaS-based solution (by the team behind Appodeal’s award winning ad monetization platform) that scales mobile app business growth and drive profit by synthesizing User Acquisition, Ad Monetization and Business Intelligence.

Stack is an independent ad tech market player that strives to clear the way for publishers and advertisers to collaborate directly. In an industry known for being opaque, Stack aims to increase transparency and empower mobile app businesses with the technology and data they need to thrive in a highly competitive landscape.

Learn more about Stack

SPOTAD

The lead DSP in Mobile UA

10
(1 vote)
(1) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployeesSocial
201211-502k+

Spotad is a performance-based Demand-Side-Marketing-Platform, helping mobile app developers acquire and engage with their target audiences.

Key Features

  • Performance driven
  • Mobile experts
  • Utilize data for better targeting and optimization
  • Using self-developed ML model
  • Full control of the creative assets for a better user engagement. From the Ad Design to the Ad Serving
Learn more about SPOTAD

Smadex

Transparent DSP Engineered for Growth

10
(2 votes)
(2) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployeesRevenuesSocialTraffic
2011500-1000+100M$1.5k+2.5m+

Sizmek

Impressions that inspire

(0) REVIEWS

Sizmek is the world’s largest independent ad server company founded in 1999. Its AI-powered platform helps advertisers to gain insights within their data across the 5 key dimensions of predictive marketing—campaigns, consumers, context, creative, and cost. Sizmek provides resources at a global scale and allow advertisers to combine dynamic creative, coupled with predictive AI – to deliver impressions that deliver high ROI.

Artificial Intelligence algorithms are also applied by Sizmek to help advertisers to plan, buy, execute, and measure campaigns with laser-precision. The company was acquired by Amazon, Inc. in March, 2019.

  • Key features include omnichannel marketing – mobile, display, rich media, video, social and AI.
  • Powered by Amazon’s AWS platform
  • Liquid domain-level intelligence tech (Adhesion, Billboard, Deluxe Banner, Deluxe Expandable, Expandable Banner and more) to pair domains with specific ad formats
Learn more about Sizmek

RevX

Made for Growth, Built for App Marketers

10
(3 votes)
(3) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployees
201451 - 100

Made for growth, built for app marketers. At RevX, we help app businesses acquire and re-engage users via programmatic advertising to retain and accelerate revenue. We\'re all about taking your app business to the next growth level! We help you build sound mobile strategies, combining programmatic UA, app re-engagement, and performance branding to drive the results you need to scale your business: with real users, high retention, and incremental revenue.

Learn more about RevX

Reddit Ads is an advertising platform from Reddit. It allows advertisers to reach specific audiences on the platform, either as self-service or via managed service. With Reddit Ads brands can tap into one of the biggest online communities that has extremely diverse set of interests.

  • Mobile platforms: iOS, Android
  • Campaign types: CPA
  • Ad formats supported: Social
  • Targeting: Custom
  • Key markets: UK, USA
Learn more about Reddit Ads

PubMatic

The Future of Programmatic. Delivered.

(0) REVIEWS

PubMatic delivers superior revenue to publishers by being an SSP of choice for agencies and advertisers. With our leading programmatic mobile advertising platform, publishers and app developers can leverage the open exchange as well as advanced deal models to maximize their monetization and gain access to brand budgets.

  • Mobile platforms: Android, IOS
  • Campaign types: CPA, CPC, CPI, CPL, CPM
  • Ad formats supported: Banners, In-App, Interstitial, Native, Rewarded Video, Rich Media, Video
  • Targeting: Publisher, Geo, Audience Segment, Ad Format, Platform, Domain / App, Viewability
  • Key markets: Global
Learn more about PubMatic

PropellerAds

PropellerAds is a multisource advertising platform that covers 195+ GEOs with 12 billion advertising impressions per day

9
(19 votes)
(19) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployees
2011500
This includes advanced Demographic and Interests Targeting to find matching audiences, CPA Goal pricing model for automatic bidding and optimization, efficient ad formats (Push, In-Page Push,....

 

Propeller Ads is an online advertising company, founded in 2011. It maintains one of the biggest ad networks on the market, with over 1B daily advertising impressions across the globe. PropellerAds has more than 150,000 premium publishers’ sites registered in the network. In addition, PropellerAds offers such solutions as: performance based marketing for agencies & CPA networks, mobile app monetization with SDK integration, buying traffic via Real-Time Bidding model and more.

  • Mobile platforms: iOS, Android
  • Campaign types: CPM, CPA, CPL, CPC
  • Ad formats supported: Push Notifications, Interstitials, Popunder, Native Ads
  • Targeting: Language, OS, GEO, 3g/WiFi, Device type, Browser, Mobile Carrier, Day & time, User Activity (new)
  • Key Markets: Global
Learn more about PropellerAds

Pinterest Ads

Visual discovery, collection, and storage tool

10
(3 votes)
(3) REVIEWS

Promoted App Pins is a mobile app advertising platform from Pinterest. It allows app marketers to generate installs via pins. Pins associated with iOS or Android apps have an app icon and install button attached to them for mobile users to tap on and download an app. Among Pinterest mobile measuring partners are Adjust, AppsFlyer, Kochava, TUNE and Apsalar.

  • Mobile platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone
  • Campaign types: CPA
  • Ad formats supported: App Icon
  • Targeting: Custom
  • Key markets: Global
Learn more about Pinterest Ads

Olavivo

Boutique Affiliate Network & Agency

(0) REVIEWS

Mobupps

A One Stop Shop For All Your Mobile Marketing Needs

10
(1 vote)
(1) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployeesRevenuesSocialTraffic
200811-50-5k-

MediaMath

Strength in Numbers

(0) REVIEWS

MAF

All-in-one solution to grow and monetize your apps

(0) REVIEWS
Founded
2013

MAF (formerly myAppFree) is a leading performance-based mobile ad network offering an all-in-one solution for app growth and monetization. Designed to provide a non-intrusive user experience and transform advertising into discovery.

Learn more about MAF

Zucks

No.1 Ad network in Japan

10
(1 vote)
(1) REVIEWS
...offer a large number of campaigns supporting iOS and Android, driving app downloads as well as CPI,CPA and CPC.

Zoomd

Know More, Do More

(0) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployees
201251-200

 

Zoomd is dedicated to helping advertisers and publishers achieve their key performance indicators (KPIs) through a patented, performance-based advertising platform. The Company’s User Acquisition platform unifies more than 600 media sources under one dashboard including Google, TikTok, Samsung premium inventory and much more.

  • Business Models – Choose your preferred business model CPC/CPI/CPO/CPE/CPA
  • Fraud – Detection as part of the platform, adding you an extra layer of safety
  • Measurement – integrated to all major 3rd party mobile measurement solutions
  • Cost-efficiency – Save countless resources by managing all campaigns under one screen
  • Data Play – Enjoy machine decisions based on more than 500Million data points a day
Learn more about Zoomd

YouTube Ads

Be seen where everyone is watching

10
(1 vote)
(1) REVIEWS

Youmi

Global Mobile Affiliate Network

8
(2 votes)
(2) REVIEWS
....

 

Youmi is a mobile advertising and marketing platform, founded in China in 2010. It powers 10,000 advertisers ad campaigns with 600,000 publishers mobile inventory to reach out mobile audience in 200+ countries on 2.2 billion mobile devices.

  • Mobile platforms: Android, IOS, Mobile Web
  • Campaign types: CPA, CPC, CPM
  • Ad formats supported: Banners, Rich Media, Text
  • Targeting: Device, Local, OS, Time
  • Key Markets: China
Learn more about Youmi

Yeahmobi

Monetize your advertising inventory

(0) REVIEWS

VEVE

CONNECTING BRANDS TO OEMs

(0) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployees
2006101-200

VEVE is a performance marketing platform from Affinity Global Inc. that offers unique advertising experiences across OEMs, browsers and telcos. With native, high-performing ad formats – Tiles , Notifications, Universal, unique media placements and customization opportunities, the platform is empowering brands to achieve their advertising KPIs such as sales, app downloads, website visits and user engagement. Additionally, it provides creative and operational support across different languages and locations including the US, UK, EU, IN, ID and CN. VEVE also has its proprietary reporting dashboard to access deep data insights to optimize conversions and user engagement. VEVE also unlocks newer monetization avenues for OEMs and browsers while enhancing users’ online journey.

Key Features

• Boost new user acquisition – Reach 500+ MN captive audience beyond search and social media network

• Achieve your advertising KPIs – All inventory bought is on performance KPIs such as CPI, CPA, CPC, CPV, etc.

• Highly engaging native ad experiences – Get high conversion rate with non-intrusive, user-friendly ad formats (Tiles, Notifications, Universal) and unique media placement

100% Brand safe environment – Custom reporting dashboards for complete transparency, real-time insights, and optimization opportunities

• End-to-end campaign management – Creative and operational support across different geographies (US, UK, EU, IN, ID, CN) and in multiple languages

Learn more about VEVE

Taptica

Engage valuable users on mobile

(0) REVIEWS
...Banners Advertisers can maximise their engagement and revenue through mobile re-targeting on a CPA basis.

 

Taptica is a mobile user acquisition platform, offering ML algorithms powered advertising solutions to brands and app developers. With a big network of approved publishers, Taptica is capable to reach more than 200 million mobile users worldwide. On the advertising side of things, the platform focuses on generating relevant and loyal audiences for apps and games and also offers a high volume of media, including RTB exchanges.

  • Mobile platforms: Android, IOS
  • Campaign types: CPA, CPC
  • Ad formats supported: Banners, Interstitial, Text, Video
  • Targeting: Custom
  • Key Markets: Latin America, USA
Learn more about Taptica

Stack

What Drives Winning Apps

10
(1 vote)
(1) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployeesSocial
2015100-12512k+

Stack is an end-to-end SaaS-based solution (by the team behind Appodeal’s award winning ad monetization platform) that scales mobile app business growth and drive profit by synthesizing User Acquisition, Ad Monetization and Business Intelligence.

Stack is an independent ad tech market player that strives to clear the way for publishers and advertisers to collaborate directly. In an industry known for being opaque, Stack aims to increase transparency and empower mobile app businesses with the technology and data they need to thrive in a highly competitive landscape.

Learn more about Stack

SPOTAD

The lead DSP in Mobile UA

10
(1 vote)
(1) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployeesSocial
201211-502k+

Spotad is a performance-based Demand-Side-Marketing-Platform, helping mobile app developers acquire and engage with their target audiences.

Key Features

  • Performance driven
  • Mobile experts
  • Utilize data for better targeting and optimization
  • Using self-developed ML model
  • Full control of the creative assets for a better user engagement. From the Ad Design to the Ad Serving
Learn more about SPOTAD

Smadex

Transparent DSP Engineered for Growth

10
(2 votes)
(2) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployeesRevenuesSocialTraffic
2011500-1000+100M$1.5k+2.5m+

Sizmek

Impressions that inspire

(0) REVIEWS

Sizmek is the world’s largest independent ad server company founded in 1999. Its AI-powered platform helps advertisers to gain insights within their data across the 5 key dimensions of predictive marketing—campaigns, consumers, context, creative, and cost. Sizmek provides resources at a global scale and allow advertisers to combine dynamic creative, coupled with predictive AI – to deliver impressions that deliver high ROI.

Artificial Intelligence algorithms are also applied by Sizmek to help advertisers to plan, buy, execute, and measure campaigns with laser-precision. The company was acquired by Amazon, Inc. in March, 2019.

  • Key features include omnichannel marketing – mobile, display, rich media, video, social and AI.
  • Powered by Amazon’s AWS platform
  • Liquid domain-level intelligence tech (Adhesion, Billboard, Deluxe Banner, Deluxe Expandable, Expandable Banner and more) to pair domains with specific ad formats
Learn more about Sizmek

RevX

Made for Growth, Built for App Marketers

10
(3 votes)
(3) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployees
201451 - 100

Made for growth, built for app marketers. At RevX, we help app businesses acquire and re-engage users via programmatic advertising to retain and accelerate revenue. We\'re all about taking your app business to the next growth level! We help you build sound mobile strategies, combining programmatic UA, app re-engagement, and performance branding to drive the results you need to scale your business: with real users, high retention, and incremental revenue.

Learn more about RevX

Reddit Ads is an advertising platform from Reddit. It allows advertisers to reach specific audiences on the platform, either as self-service or via managed service. With Reddit Ads brands can tap into one of the biggest online communities that has extremely diverse set of interests.

  • Mobile platforms: iOS, Android
  • Campaign types: CPA
  • Ad formats supported: Social
  • Targeting: Custom
  • Key markets: UK, USA
Learn more about Reddit Ads

PubMatic

The Future of Programmatic. Delivered.

(0) REVIEWS

PubMatic delivers superior revenue to publishers by being an SSP of choice for agencies and advertisers. With our leading programmatic mobile advertising platform, publishers and app developers can leverage the open exchange as well as advanced deal models to maximize their monetization and gain access to brand budgets.

  • Mobile platforms: Android, IOS
  • Campaign types: CPA, CPC, CPI, CPL, CPM
  • Ad formats supported: Banners, In-App, Interstitial, Native, Rewarded Video, Rich Media, Video
  • Targeting: Publisher, Geo, Audience Segment, Ad Format, Platform, Domain / App, Viewability
  • Key markets: Global
Learn more about PubMatic

PropellerAds

PropellerAds is a multisource advertising platform that covers 195+ GEOs with 12 billion advertising impressions per day

9
(19 votes)
(19) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployees
2011500
This includes advanced Demographic and Interests Targeting to find matching audiences, CPA Goal pricing model for automatic bidding and optimization, efficient ad formats (Push, In-Page Push,....

 

Propeller Ads is an online advertising company, founded in 2011. It maintains one of the biggest ad networks on the market, with over 1B daily advertising impressions across the globe. PropellerAds has more than 150,000 premium publishers’ sites registered in the network. In addition, PropellerAds offers such solutions as: performance based marketing for agencies & CPA networks, mobile app monetization with SDK integration, buying traffic via Real-Time Bidding model and more.

  • Mobile platforms: iOS, Android
  • Campaign types: CPM, CPA, CPL, CPC
  • Ad formats supported: Push Notifications, Interstitials, Popunder, Native Ads
  • Targeting: Language, OS, GEO, 3g/WiFi, Device type, Browser, Mobile Carrier, Day & time, User Activity (new)
  • Key Markets: Global
Learn more about PropellerAds

Pinterest Ads

Visual discovery, collection, and storage tool

10
(3 votes)
(3) REVIEWS

Promoted App Pins is a mobile app advertising platform from Pinterest. It allows app marketers to generate installs via pins. Pins associated with iOS or Android apps have an app icon and install button attached to them for mobile users to tap on and download an app. Among Pinterest mobile measuring partners are Adjust, AppsFlyer, Kochava, TUNE and Apsalar.

  • Mobile platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone
  • Campaign types: CPA
  • Ad formats supported: App Icon
  • Targeting: Custom
  • Key markets: Global
Learn more about Pinterest Ads

Olavivo

Boutique Affiliate Network & Agency

(0) REVIEWS

Mobupps

A One Stop Shop For All Your Mobile Marketing Needs

10
(1 vote)
(1) REVIEWS
FoundedEmployeesRevenuesSocialTraffic
200811-50-5k-

MediaMath

Strength in Numbers

(0) REVIEWS

MAF

All-in-one solution to grow and monetize your apps

(0) REVIEWS
Founded
2013

MAF (formerly myAppFree) is a leading performance-based mobile ad network offering an all-in-one solution for app growth and monetization. Designed to provide a non-intrusive user experience and transform advertising into discovery.

Learn more about MAF

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