Compare / EthicalAds alternatives
EthicalAds alternatives
If you need more reach than EthicalAds or a different kind of targeting, here are the alternatives. It's written by the Carbon team, so we've named our sources and tried to be fair.
If you need more reach than EthicalAds or a different kind of targeting, here are the alternatives. It's written by the Carbon team, so we've named our sources and tried to be fair.
EthicalAds places one contextual ad on developer sites, starting with Read the Docs and open source documentation. It loads no third-party pixels and publishes its pricing.
The closest alternative is Carbon Ads. It works the same way, one ad per page matched to the page, across about 350 active, hand-picked sites read by developers and the builders around them (designers, founders, people building with AI tools). It serves 250M+ impressions a month, with no reader profiles, and it's Acceptable Ads approved (shown to AdBlock Plus users who keep Acceptable Ads on).
EthicalAds' about page says it "was built to sustain development of Read the Docs, an open source documentation platform." Its homepage says "EthicalAds never loads third-party scripts or pixels," and its advertiser FAQ says "we don't use conversion pixels due to privacy concerns."
| Option | What it is | Targeting | Pricing | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EthicalAds | A contextual network built to sustain Read the Docs | Page topic and region | $3.10 to $8.00 CPM (cost per thousand ad views). $1,000 minimum buy | Read the Docs audiences |
| Carbon Ads | One native ad on ~350 active, curated developer and design sites, matched to the page with no reader profiles | Page context and site category, plus country, OS and browser. No personal data needed | $6 CPM developer, $5 CPM creator, in the media kit. Baseline rate. Final quote depends on timing, targeting and volume. Pay per thousand views (CPM) across the network. A native pay-per-click option is also available. | Always-on awareness across many trusted sites, with a client services team that runs it with you |
| daily.dev Ads | A monthly plan inside daily.dev, a news feed for developers | Tech stack, seniority, geography and interests | Quoted per company. No public rate card | Tech stack and seniority targeting inside one platform |
| Developer newsletters | Sponsored slots in newsletters readers chose to get, planned and run by BuySellAds | The newsletter's list | Priced per send, varies by list | Launches and announcements |
| Stack Overflow | Ads on Stack Overflow | Skills, tags and interests | $15,000 minimum for one month or $10,000 for three months | Placements on Stack Overflow Q&A pages |
| Ads on LinkedIn | Job title, company name or industry | See LinkedIn's ad pages | Reaching managers by job title |
Prices change. Check each vendor's site before you budget.
Full comparison: Carbon vs EthicalAds
Carbon and EthicalAds share a lot. Both place one ad per page, matched to the page and not to a profile of the reader. Both are Acceptable Ads approved (shown to AdBlock Plus users who keep Acceptable Ads on).
Where Carbon differs:
daily.dev's pricing page says "daily.dev Ads is one monthly plan in three sizes: Starter, Growth and Scale." Ads run inside daily.dev: the feed, the Digest newsletter and other placements. Targeting covers tech stack, seniority, geography, and the topics and tags developers follow, per daily.dev's llms.txt. "Prices are quoted per company." Pick it for targeting by tech stack and seniority. Full comparison: Carbon vs daily.dev
Sponsored slots in newsletters readers chose to get. BuySellAds plans and runs newsletter campaigns across many developer titles, so you can run Carbon and newsletters through one team. It's fully white glove: the team picks the right developer newsletters for your launch, works with the publishers, handles creative and reports across all of them.
Stack Overflow reaches developers while they solve problems. A fit for teams that want to be on one well-known site.
LinkedIn's ad targeting page says you can target "based on traits like their job title, company name or industry." Use it to reach managers and budget holders by title.
You don't have to choose. Both networks place one contextual ad per page, so they fit together well.
For more options, see the best ad networks to reach developers.
Carbon Ads is the closest. It uses the same contextual model, one ad per page, across about 350 active developer and design sites with 250M+ impressions a month.
Not always. EthicalAds lists CPMs from $3.10 to $8.00 by topic and region. Carbon lists $6 CPM for developers. Depending on the topic and region, either can cost less per impression. EthicalAds lists a $1,000 minimum buy. Carbon's minimum is $5,000 a month.
Both target the page, not the person. EthicalAds runs no conversion pixels. On Carbon, pixels are optional and most advertisers run without one, and publishers can choose a no-tracking zone that only serves campaigns without pixels.
Yes. They use similar formats and reach developers on different sets of sites.
Last updated
Prices checked against each vendor's site on 21 Oct 2026.
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