Adblock recovery methods compared
Every method starts after the same step: knowing that a page is being viewed with a blocker. These are the five choices, side by side.
| Method | What the reader sees | Which blocked readers it reaches | What comes back | Who gets paid | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our pick Ask readers to allow ads | A message or a wall asking to allow ads | Any reader whose blocker you detect, once they agree | Your usual ads, from your own network | You; the tool is free, flat-price or a share | The reader has to act |
| Show Acceptable Ads | Lighter ads, nothing asked | Readers whose blocker lets Acceptable Ads through | Ads that meet the Standard, not your full stack | The provider keeps a share | No pop-ups, interstitials or autoplay video |
| Reinsert or restore ads without asking | Ads, with no message | The traffic the provider manages to get ads to | Your own ads or the provider's | The provider keeps a share | It delivers ads the reader's blocker was set to stop |
| Replace ads with a payment | An offer: subscription, ad-free pass or donation | Readers willing to pay | Subscription or donation revenue, not ad impressions | You, minus the platform's cut | You need something readers will pay for |
| Measure only, or do nothing | Your page, with empty ad slots | Nobody | Nothing; measuring sizes the gap | Nobody | Nothing in your analytics flags the loss |
Ad slots by each method: filled (your full stack), one lighter (a subset), hatched (delivered without asking), empty (no ads), struck in red (nothing comes back). Provider facts from our provider comparisons, checked . Acceptable Ads formats from the Acceptable Ads Standard.
Asking readers to allow ads: full-stack recovery
The most direct method: detect the blocker, explain that ads pay for the site, and ask the reader to allow ads on it. A reader who agrees sees the same ads as everyone else, served by the network you already use, and they show up in that network's reports like any other ad.
- Blocked page view Your ad slots stay empty.
- The wall It covers the page, with the steps for that blocker.
- The reader allows your site Following the steps on the wall.
- Your usual ads load From the network you already use.
Display Video Native
Asking brings back your whole ad stack, not a subset.
What “full-stack adblock recovery” means
Full-stack recovery is Admiral's name for this method: the visitor allowlists the site and the publisher's whole ad stack loads again, instead of a lighter subset. Any tool that asks readers to allow ads works this way.
How you ask matters. A message the reader can close leaves the page readable with the blocker still on; a wall keeps the page covered until the site is allowed, with the steps for the reader's blocker on screen. Google's ad blocking recovery, Freestar Recovered, Publir, BlockAdblock and the allowlist side of Admiral and Blockthrough all ask; AntiAdBlock Core asks with a wall. Readers who block at network level, with Pi-hole or a DNS filter, often cannot switch it off in one click, so for them alone you can make the notice closable, a per-site setting that is off by default.
Acceptable Ads: lighter ads, only where the blocker allows them
Acceptable Ads is a standard set by the Acceptable Ads Committee. Ads that meet it reach readers whose blocker carries the Acceptable Ads list, with nothing asked.
Two limits decide what it recovers. The first is reach: uBlock Origin and uBlock Origin Lite leave the list off by default; see which ad blockers Acceptable Ads reaches. The second is format: the Standard excludes pop-ups, interstitials, overlays, expanding and animated ads, autoplay and pre-roll video, and caps how much of the screen ads can take.
Within the Standard
- Ads inside its size and placement limits
- Ads marked as ads
- Ads that do not interrupt reading
Left out
- Pop-ups, pop-unders, interstitials and overlays
- Autoplay and pre-roll video
- Expanding, most animated and rich-media ads
What the Acceptable Ads Standard lets through. Source: the Standard, read on .
Providers that recover this way, for a share of the revenue or inside a managed network, include Blockthrough, AdRecover, Publisher Collective, Newor Media and Mediavine.
Ad reinsertion: ads delivered without asking
Reinsertion, also called restoration or circumvention, gets ads to readers whose blocker would stop them, without asking the reader to change anything. Ad-Shield restores the publisher's own ads, Admiral offers proxy-based reinsertion and server-side protection, and AdDefend serves ads through its own alternative ad server. Ad-Shield and Admiral charge a share of what comes back.
It delivers ads the reader's blocker was set to stop, so it recovers impressions the reader never agreed to. In June 2016 a GroupM executive wrote that its agencies were beginning to advise clients to keep reinserted inventory out of their buys (IAB, June 2016).
Ask
- Blocker detected
- Reader decides
- Your ads
Reinsert
- Blocker detected
- Provider decides
- Ads delivered anyway
With reinsertion, the provider decides instead of the reader.
For the long version, read ad reinsertion explained.
Revenue without ads: subscriptions, passes and donations
Some publishers offer blocked readers something else: an ad-free subscription, a pass or a donation. Admiral sells this as “alternative value exchange”; Publir and UniSignIn put an ad-free subscription beside their allow-ads message. It earns from readers who would rather pay than see ads, if you have something they will pay for.
AntiAdBlock Core does not sell subscriptions; its wall only asks readers to allow ads. If you sell one, AntiAdBlock Core's Detection API (Max and Business plans) detects without showing our wall and hands the result to your own code, so your own notice can offer the reader both choices.
- Blocker detected
- Your code decides
- Allow ads Your offer
Our wall stays off; your own notice shows the two choices.
Measuring first, or doing nothing
Doing nothing costs the ads that blockers stop, and nothing flags it: page views look normal while your network reports fewer impressions than you would expect from them. Measuring first tells you your adblock rate, the share of your page views that arrive with a blocker, before you choose a method. Put a dollar figure on it with the adblock recovery calculator.
Market averages are in the ad-blocking statistics; the rate that counts is your own.
Monthly loss = page views × adblock rate × page RPM ÷ 1,000
Which adblock recovery method recovers the most?
There is no neutral benchmark: most published comparisons come from providers, each favoring its own method. Admiral, for one, says full-stack recovery earns five to nine times the RPM of reinsertion in its own head-to-head comparisons. On your own site, three questions decide it.
- Which blocked readers can it reach? Asking reaches anyone whose blocker is detected. Acceptable Ads reaches readers whose blocker allows it. Reinsertion reaches what the provider can get past the filters.
- Which ads come back? Asking brings your full stack. Acceptable Ads brings a lighter subset. A payment brings no ads at all.
- How will you know? In your ad network: more impressions on the same traffic is the proof. AntiAdBlock Core's dashboard adds recoveries and their estimated revenue at the CPM you set per site (use your page RPM); AdSense, Ad Manager or Mediavine show the impressions.
For a site that runs ads and wants to keep its ad network, those three questions usually point to asking.
Our pick for most ad‑funded sites: ask, with a wall, at a flat price
This section is ours: we make AntiAdBlock Core, so weigh it as a vendor's view. It uses the first method only: a wall that asks readers who block ads to allow your site, from the first blocked page, with the steps for their blocker. Readers who allow it see your usual ads from AdSense, Google Ad Manager, Mediavine, Ezoic or any other network. It does not reinsert ads, serve ads or use Acceptable Ads, and takes no share of your revenue.
Method 1 // ask, with a wall
- Method
- Asks with a wall, from the first blocked page, with the steps for each blocker
- Reach
- AdBlock, Adblock Plus, uBlock Origin, uBlock Origin Lite, AdGuard, Ghostery and Brave Shields, desktop and mobile
- What comes back
- Your usual ads, from your own network
- Proof
- Recoveries and estimated recovered revenue in your dashboard on every plan; impressions in your network's reports
- Price
- Flat, chosen by detections (page views with a blocker): Free with 5,000 a month, paid plans from $5 a month
No payment method. Upgrade or cancel from your dashboard. Every plan on pricing.
Next: set it up with how to block adblock on your website, see what it is worth in dollars in adblock revenue recovery and, after you install, read your adblock rate and recovered revenue.
Comparing tools rather than methods? Start with adblock recovery software, explained or adblock recovery providers compared.
Questions about adblock recovery methods
What is full-stack adblock recovery?
It is Admiral's name for asking visitors to allow ads on the site, so the publisher's whole ad stack loads again, not only the lighter ads Acceptable Ads permits. AntiAdBlock Core recovers this way: readers who agree see ads paid by the publisher's own network.
Is ad reinsertion safe for my site?
It works against the reader's choice, so it carries a risk asking does not: in 2016 GroupM said its agencies were beginning to advise clients to exclude reinserted inventory from their buys. Check your ad network's terms and ask the provider how it handles both. Asking readers to allow ads avoids the question: the reader decides.
Is Acceptable Ads better than an adblock wall?
It depends on what you want back. Acceptable Ads earns on lighter formats only, with no video pre-roll, pop-ups or autoplay, and needs no action from the reader. A wall brings back every format you sell, served by your usual network, to the readers who agree. With Acceptable Ads the provider usually keeps a share; with a flat-priced wall you keep what your network pays.
Which adblock recovery method suits a small site?
Usually asking readers to allow ads, because it needs no change of ad network and no minimum traffic. Most Acceptable Ads and reinsertion providers start with a contact form or a demo, and AdRecover asks for at least $5,000 a month in ad revenue (our AdRecover comparison, checked in October 2026). AntiAdBlock Core's Free plan covers 5,000 detections a month for one site, with no payment method. Measure your adblock rate first, then decide.
Can I combine adblock recovery methods?
Yes, and some providers already pair them: Freestar runs its own allow-ads message on top of Acceptable Ads from Blockthrough, and Admiral sells several recovery routes in one place. If you already run Google's message, read what to do with it in how to block adblock on your website before you add a wall. Judge each method by the impressions in your ad network's reports.
Keep your ad network, and ask
Ask readers who block ads to allow your site, and see what comes back in your dashboard and your ad network. One tag in your <head>, about 60 seconds to paste, or the WordPress plugin.
Free plan: 5,000 detections a month, one site, no payment method.