AdSense vs Ezoic: Which One Actually Pays More (And Why I Almost Switched Back)

Alright, I’m not sugarcoating anything here.

Table of Contents

If you’ve got a blog and you’re finally seeing some traffic trickle in, I already know what’s in your head:

“Is it worth switching from AdSense to Ezoic?”

“Should I just stay put and not mess up what’s kinda working?”

Been there. Switched. Regretted. Then un-regretted. Then wanted to scream.

So this ain’t one of those nice polished affiliate pieces trying to sell you a dream. This is a messy, brutally honest breakdown of what actually happens when you compare AdSense vs Ezoic — from someone who’s made real money, broken their site multiple times, and lived to blog about it.

Let’s go.

AdSense – The Lazy Easy Setup That Pays Like Trash

Here’s the deal.

You install AdSense.
Paste the code.
Wait for approval.
Boom — ads start showing.
And then… not much else.

It’s easy. Zero brainpower needed.

And it feels good at first. Like “yay I’m finally monetized” kinda vibes.

But then you open your earnings report and see:
$0.87. For a whole day. On 3,000 pageviews. Bruh what??

Let’s just say AdSense is the entry-level intern of ad monetization. They show up. Do the bare minimum. Collect the paycheck. That’s it.

It doesn’t scale. It doesn’t optimize. It doesn’t care.

My RPM was stuck at like $2.15. I could scream into the void and probably make more money doing voiceovers for AI.

Ezoic – The Smart Nerd That Breaks Your Brain (and Your Site… kinda)

Now here comes Ezoic.

And this thing ain’t just an ad network.
It’s like… Frankenstein built a robot that went to Harvard and now wants to take over your entire blog.

First time I saw the dashboard, I literally closed the tab and walked away.

I’m talking:

DNS changes
Placeholder builders
EPMV charts
Site speed tool called “Leap”
900 toggles
AI testing everything you do

It’s overwhelming. Feels like you need a PhD in “WTF is this?”

But then…

You start seeing the money.

My RPM (ok, EPMV in Ezoic terms) jumped to $9+. I was like wait… is this real?? That’s quadruple what AdSense was giving me. Same site. Same traffic.

And that’s when I knew. This chaos? Might actually be worth it.

Setup Comparison (aka Where Most People Rage Quit)

AdSense:

Add code
Wait
Done

Ezoic:

Connect to Cloudflare or change DNS (scary af)
Set up placeholders (confusing af)
Watch your site break once or twice
Email support (they’re actually helpful sometimes)
Wait for ad tester to start “learning”

I’m not exaggerating — it took me 3 tries before I got Ezoic running smoothly.

But now it’s stable. It works. And my blog is finally paying actual bills instead of covering coffee once a month.

Real Talk: How Much More Does Ezoic Pay?

Here’s some cold hard numbers. No fluff.

AdSense earnings:
15K sessions / RPM: $2.10 → Total: $31.50/month

Ezoic earnings:
Same blog. Same niche.
EPMV: $8.60 → Total: $129/month

That’s not a joke.

And no, it didn’t happen overnight.
Ezoic takes a week or two to “learn” your traffic and optimize stuff.
But when it does… damn.

I’m not saying you’ll see those exact numbers. Some niches suck. Some sites don’t play well with Ezoic.

But 9 times outta 10?

👉 Ezoic wins. Hard.

The Speed Drama (And Why I Almost Uninstalled Everything)

Let’s not pretend Ezoic is perfect.

The moment I turned on ads, my site got slow.
Like 2007 dial-up vibes slow.

PageSpeed scores went red.
Mobile users bailed.
I started panicking.

But then I found Leap (Ezoic’s built-in speed thing).
It’s okay. Not amazing. But it helps.

Still — be warned:
If you don’t tweak things, your site can end up looking like a bloated mess.

I had to:

Limit ad placeholders
Disable automatic layout testers
Stack it with FlyingPress
Strip out junk plugins

Eventually, it got better. Not lightning fast, but stable.

AdSense, on the other hand? Never slowed anything down.
Probably because it wasn’t doing anything exciting to begin with 😅

Ad Density – How Many Ads Before Readers Start Screaming?

Ezoic gives you full control over how many ads show up.
Too much control, honestly.

You can go full nuclear:

Header ads
Sticky ads
In-content ads every 2 paragraphs
Sidebar chaos
Auto-playing stuff (ew)

Or you can dial it down to a few strategic placements.

Here’s what worked for me:

6 to 8 placeholders per page
No sticky bottom ads
No video ads unless I really need that $$

Too many ads = your bounce rate goes 🚀
Balance that revenue greed with reader sanity.
I learned that the hard way.

Support and Help When You Wanna Smash Your Laptop

AdSense support? What support?

It’s like sending a support ticket into the void and praying to Larry Page himself.

Ezoic?
Bit of a mixed bag.

You’ll find:

A dedicated support team (once you’re in a “level”)
Chat option (sometimes slow but works)
Actual humans who email you back
A Discord/Slack-style community that’s surprisingly helpful

If you’re stuck, their YouTube channel saves lives. Seriously.

I still curse their interface sometimes, but I’ll give ‘em this — they don’t leave you hanging forever like Google does.

So… Who Should Use What?

Let’s just call it like it is.

Use AdSense if:

You have under 10K sessions/month
You hate dashboards
You just wanna monetize fast and simple
You don’t care about maximizing profit yet
You’re a total beginner and value ease over earnings

Use Ezoic if:

You’re at 10K+ sessions
You want to test and optimize everything
You care about earning every cent possible
You’re willing to put up with a learning curve
You can handle some tech chaos and not rage quit

Honestly? I’d start on AdSense. Then switch to Ezoic the moment you hit that 10K mark.

If you switch too early, you’re gonna hate it.

If you wait too long, you’re leaving money behind. Period.

Would I Switch Back to AdSense? Hell No.

I thought about it once.

Late at night. Site broke. Leap was acting up. Ads weren’t showing right.

I almost re-enabled AdSense just for “peace.”

But then I remembered…

$2 RPM vs $9 EPMV.

And I shut that thought down immediately.

Once you taste real blog income, it’s hard to go back to breadcrumbs.

Final Verdict: AdSense vs Ezoic in 2025

Let’s wrap this up in raw bullet style:

✅ AdSense is chill, but underwhelming
✅ Ezoic is chaotic, but pays way more
✅ Site speed will take a hit — fixable with Leap + plugins
✅ AdSense = good for beginners
✅ Ezoic = good for bloggers ready to go full throttle

If I had to start over?

AdSense until 10K sessions
Then Ezoic until I can get into Mediavine or Raptive (if ever)
Meanwhile, I’d just keep optimizing placements, speed, and content like a maniac

So yeah.

That’s the no-fluff, cracked-open comparison of AdSense vs Ezoic from someone who’s lived through both.

Hope it helps you skip a few headaches I had to suffer through.

Now go monetize your blog like you actually mean it.
And if Ezoic breaks something again… just scream into a pillow and keep going 😅

3 thoughts on “AdSense vs Ezoic: Which One Actually Pays More (And Why I Almost Switched Back)”

Leave a Comment Cancel reply