News publisher
Kosovo · on Epom since 2015
2.1B
Impressions a year
Sells direct deals to more than 200 advertisers, in a language Google’s ad server doesn’t support.
Ad server comparison Equativ
vs. Epom Ad Server
While Equativ expanded into curation and CTV, Epom kept building for publishers and networks: header bidding, an SSP you can run under your own brand, and logins for every partner.
Your situation
Epom
Equativ
Running your own SSP under your brand
SSP module with your own sellers.json identity
Its SSP sells your inventory
Logins for your advertisers and publishers
Every plan, 450+ permissions
Not listed
Starting without a contract
Self-serve trial that becomes your account
Contract first, even for Prebid Server
CTV with its own ad insertion
SSAI-ready tags for third-party stitchers
Serverside.ai, live and on demand
95% renewal rate 
99.95% uptime 
13ms average response time 
Published pricing from $250/mo Publishers Running Their
Own Inventory
on Epom
Two Epom clients that manage their own ad business: a national news publisher and a games company with its own engineers.
Wargaming
Games publisher
50+
Custom ad templates
Runs ads for its 160M in-game audience on Epom, with ad ops fully in-house.
Equativ vs. Epom Pricing: One
Flat Platform Fee
Equativ takes a negotiated share of each sale. Epom charges one flat platform fee, published on its pricing page.
Epom Ad Server
Equativ
Entry plan
$250 — 8.5M impressions
Not published
Share of each sale
None
SSP fee negotiated, capped at 15%
Curated deals
No curation layer
Curator commission, about 35% on average
How you get a price
The pricing page
A customized enterprise agreement
Trial
14 days, self-serve
Not listed
Equativ and Epom pricing as published, August 2026. Vendors change plans and add-on structures — confirm current rates on each provider’s pricing page.
Evaluating more than two? Download the full ad server comparison.
Equativ vs. Epom Features, Side by Side
Equativ is now an end-to-end media platform for advertisers, publishers and retailers. It sells your inventory through its own exchange and curation layer, with its fees on top. Epom gives you the tools to run your own.
Area
Epom
Equativ
What you run
Ad server plus SSP module under your own brand, with your own sellers.json identity
Monetization platform: ad server and SSP in one
Running a network
Advertiser and publisher logins, 450+ permissions
Publisher sites under one network; advertiser logins not listed
Yield optimization
One priority stack where direct deals and OpenRTB compete within each tier
Holistic Yield: an algorithm weighing programmatic bids against guaranteed delivery
Header bidding
Hosted Prebid.js tag per site, with your other bidders next to Epom; in-app via Prebid Mobile
Managed Prebid with third-party SSPs, set up in its UI; Prebid Server under contract
Programmatic
OpenRTB to any DSP; PMP deals with deal IDs and floors
Its own SSP, plus curation through Maestro
Demand control
Floors, minimum margin, auction type and timeouts per DSP
Floors and header bidding partners per site, page and format
Fees on programmatic
DSP requests $0.001 per 1,000
SSP fee capped at 15%; Maestro curators about 35% on average
Ad formats
Display, native, video, CTV, in-app, rich media, email
Display, native, video, in-app and CTV, plus retail media
AI assistant
MCP assistant for publisher ad ops, under your permissions
Maestro’s MCP server, built for buy-side deals and campaigns
CTV
VAST 2.0–4.3, VMAP, ad pods, Open Measurement; SSAI-ready for Google DAI, MediaTailor, SpringServe and Brightcove
Serverside.ai SSAI for live and on-demand streams
From Smart AdServer IDs
to Epom Placements
Smart AdServer identifies each placement by site, page and format ID under your network ID. Those map onto Epom’s Site, Zone and Placement, so the move is mostly a mapping job.
Map and rebuild
~1–2 weeks
Step 1 A few days
Export your network setup
Sites, pages and formats under your network ID, with live campaigns and creatives.
Step 2 About a week
Map IDs to Epom
Site, page and format IDs become Sites, Zones and Placements. Script it, or use the MCP assistant.
Run both
~2–4 weeks
Step 3 A few days
Reconnect demand
Connect DSPs over OpenRTB or add Epom as a Prebid bidder.
Step 4 2–4 weeks
Run both on one site
Swap the tag on one site and compare daily counts and revenue.
Switch
Per site
Step 5 With each site
Update ads.txt
Remove smartadserver.com lines for inventory Equativ no longer sells.
Step 6 Per site
Switch site by site
Move the rest once the numbers agree, keeping old tags ready to restore.
What your engineer needs to scope first Tags, the Prebid adapter and CTV stitching
- Tags
- Smart AdServer tags load from ced.sascdn.com, scoped to your network ID, and call each placement by site, page and format ID. Epom tags replace them placement by placement.
- Prebid
- If you run Prebid, Epom joins as the epom_as bidder; until it is merged upstream, it needs a build that carries the adapter.
- CTV stitching
- CTV streams stitched by Equativ’s SSAI need a stitcher that accepts Epom’s VAST tags.
The Questions That Come Up on Every Call
01 Is Epom a good Equativ alternative?
Yes, if you want to run your own platform: an ad server and SSP module under your brand and sellers.json identity, logins for your advertisers and publishers, and one flat platform fee. Broadcasters who need Serverside.ai or curation through Maestro fit Equativ better.
03 Which verticals does Epom accept?
Adult, gambling, crypto, dating and nutra all run. The platform sets no vertical restrictions; creative moderation is yours to switch on.
05 Can I move without losing programmatic revenue?
Run one site through Epom for two to four weeks with your DSPs connected, compare revenue against Smart AdServer, and switch only when it holds.
02 Is Equativ the same as Smart AdServer?
Yes. Smart AdServer renamed itself Equativ in 2022. Its publisher platform, now called Monetization, still runs the original ad server alongside its SSP.
04 What does Equativ do that Epom doesn’t?
Its own SSAI for live and on-demand CTV, a curation marketplace for buyers through Maestro, and retail media tools.
06 Can I keep header bidding?
Yes. Epom joins Prebid as a bidder and connects to DSPs over OpenRTB, with floors and minimum margin.
Turn Your Inventory Into Your Own Platform
Start a 14-day trial with one site: your ad server, your SSP and your demand partners, under your brand.
