The old advice on Ezoic requirements was short: no minimum, start whenever. A generation of small publishers took that route, used Ezoic as their first display network and planned to move up later. If you are launching a site now, that plan no longer works as written. The ladder of display networks has been rearranged, and Ezoic has moved from the bottom rung to near the top.
The current Ezoic requirements
Ezoic’s help centre article, “Getting started: Ezoic’s requirements”, sets out the rules. As checked on 3 October 2026:
- Size: sites are generally required to have 250,000 or more monthly active users.
- Policy: sites must comply with Google AdSense policies.
- Content: original, constructive content, in a language AdSense supports.
- Technical: the site must support JavaScript.
- Below the bar: sites that do not qualify may be offered the Ezoic Incubator programme instead.
Note the unit. Ezoic counts monthly active users, not pageviews or sessions. A user who reads five pages counts once, so the figure is harder to reach than a pageview number of the same size would be.
Grandfathering and the 7-day rule
Existing publishers are protected, with a condition attached. Those monetising with Ezoic before 19 February 2026 stay eligible regardless of size, provided they keep using Ezoic continuously.
“Continuously” is defined tightly. If you remove the Ezoic integration for more than seven days, grandfathered status is void. To come back, the site then has to meet the 250,000-user bar like any new applicant.
That has practical consequences that are easy to miss. A theme migration that strips the integration, a hosting move that drags on, a test of another network that runs a week too long: any of these can end a status that cannot be recovered. If you are a grandfathered publisher with a small site, treat the integration as infrastructure. Test alternatives on a staging copy, not by switching Ezoic off.
A grandfathered small site that switches Ezoic off for eight days cannot switch it back on.
The new ladder of display networks
The received wisdom ranks the networks Ezoic, then Mediavine or Raptive, in ascending order of difficulty. On their own published terms, that order has flipped. Here is how the entry points compare, each from the network’s own documentation or announcement:
| Network | Stated entry threshold | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Journey by Mediavine | 1,000 sessions from Tier 1 countries in 30 days | Sessions |
| Raptive | 25,000 monthly pageviews | Pageviews |
| Mediavine (full program) | $5,000 annual ad revenue | Revenue |
| Ezoic (new sites) | 250,000 monthly active users | Users |
The units differ, so the rows are not directly comparable, and each network adds quality and geography conditions not shown here. But the direction is clear. A new site with a few thousand Tier 1 sessions now has a route to display revenue through Journey, and a site in the tens of thousands of pageviews may be eligible for Raptive, long before it could reach Ezoic’s new bar. Our ad network comparison goes through the trade-offs in more detail.
What the Incubator means for small sites
Ezoic has not shut small sites out entirely. Those below the bar may be offered the Ezoic Incubator programme. The word “may” is doing work there: it is an offer, not an entitlement, and the help centre does not promise every small site a place.
If you are offered it, judge it against the alternatives rather than against nothing. The question is whether the Incubator earns you more, with less friction, than Journey or AdSense would at your current size. Run the numbers on your own traffic before you commit the integration to your templates.
Two of the general requirements are worth checking early because they are binary. If your content is in a language AdSense does not support, or your site is built in a way that does not run JavaScript, no amount of traffic changes the answer.
Ezoic traffic requirements and niche choice
A 250,000-user bar changes which niches it makes sense to build for Ezoic specifically. It favours broad informational niches with very large audiences over narrow, high-value ones, because the threshold counts people rather than revenue.
To see how a niche monetises today, open the database explorer, set monetization to display ads and ad network to Ezoic, add the niche, and sort by estimated traffic. Then repeat with the network set to Mediavine and Raptive. You are comparing which networks the niche’s sites run and at what estimated scale, not looking for a single answer. The monetization hub brings those views together.
The limitation: estimated traffic is not monthly active users, and no third-party dataset can tell you whether a site on Ezoic is grandfathered or joined under the new terms. Treat what you see as evidence that a model works in a niche, not as a forecast for your site.
If display income is not going to clear any of these bars soon, it may not be the right first model. Our piece on how websites make money sets out the alternatives.
What to do now
If you are already on Ezoic from before 19 February 2026, protect your status: keep the integration running, and plan every migration so it is never off for more than a week. If you are a new site under 250,000 monthly active users, plan around Journey or Raptive and treat the Incubator as an option to evaluate if it is offered. If you are above the bar, Ezoic is one choice among several and should be judged on revenue, not on ease of entry.
For grandfathered publishers, it is worth writing the 7-day rule into whatever process governs site changes. Anyone with access to the theme, the plugins or the DNS can remove the integration by accident, and the person doing a redesign is rarely the person who knows the status depends on it. A one-line note in the handover document costs nothing.
For sites being bought and sold, the rule adds a due-diligence question. A buyer acquiring a small site on Ezoic should confirm whether it is grandfathered and plan the transfer so the integration never lapses. A listing that quotes display revenue from Ezoic on a site well under 250,000 monthly active users is quoting revenue that a migration gone wrong could end, so price that risk in.
And for everyone, confirm the terms on Ezoic’s help centre before acting. Requirements like these change, and the article linked above is the authority, not this summary.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Ezoic minimum requirements in 2026?
Ezoic’s help centre says sites are generally required to have 250,000 or more monthly active users, comply with AdSense policies, publish original content in an AdSense-supported language and support JavaScript.
Can small sites still use Ezoic?
Publishers monetising with Ezoic before 19 February 2026 remain eligible regardless of size if they keep using it continuously. New sites below the bar may be offered the Ezoic Incubator programme.
What is the Ezoic 7-day rule?
Removing the Ezoic integration for more than seven days voids grandfathered status. To return, the site must then meet the 250,000-user requirement.
The takeaway Ezoic is no longer the no-minimum network for new sites. The bar is 250,000 monthly active users, existing publishers keep their place only by never removing the integration for more than seven days, and Journey and Raptive now sit below it on the ladder.
