AppLovin MAX vs Unity LevelPlay vs Google AdMob: Choosing Mediation in 2026
The three platforms dominate mobile game mediation, and each is tied to a UA and demand ecosystem. Choose on delivery quality for your placements, not on a dashboard eCPM.
Disclosure: I spent 15 years at Games2win, where I rebuilt mediation on AppLovin MAX and ironSource LevelPlay. No company named here paid for inclusion or sponsored this article. I also advise publishers and ad-tech companies, so a company named here may be, or may become, a client or contact.
Which mediation platforms do mobile games use?
Three platforms carry most mobile game mediation: AppLovin MAX, Unity LevelPlay (built on ironSource’s mediation after Unity’s 2022 merger with ironSource) and Google AdMob. All three are bidding-first, support the major demand sources through adapters, and offer A/B testing and reporting. They differ less in basic features than in the ecosystems behind them.
I have rebuilt mediation on both AppLovin MAX and ironSource LevelPlay, and the lesson from both is the same: the platform matters less than how carefully you read delivery.
How do they differ?
AppLovin MAX sits alongside AppLovin’s own demand and its AppDiscovery / Axon advertising engine. Many studios choose it for auction strength and tooling, and because their ad revenue and UA can run through the same ecosystem. The trade-off is dependence on one company for both sides of the loop.
Unity LevelPlay pairs mediation with Unity Ads and ironSource Ads demand and sits inside Unity’s wider Grow tooling. It appeals to studios already deep in the Unity stack and to those who want a strong alternative auction to keep pricing honest.
Google AdMob brings Google’s demand (including AdMob and Ad Manager demand) with mediation of third-party networks. It is common in apps and in games early in their monetization life, and for teams already standardised on Google’s tooling and Firebase.
Is there a single best mediation platform?
No. Performance varies widely by game, genre, geo and placement design; some games do better on one platform, others on another. Industry commentary in 2025–26 describes MAX as the largest by share among top games, with LevelPlay and AdMob as the main alternatives — but share is not your result.
How should you compare them?
- Test on your traffic. Split by geo or platform, or run a controlled migration on a subset of placements.
- Measure delivery, not dashboard eCPM. Bid rate, win rate, render/show rate, revenue per eligible opportunity, load failures, latency — by geo, platform, app version and placement.
- Count stability. SDK size, crash and ANR impact, and cold-start time.
- Count the ecosystem. Which UA channels you rely on, what data each platform needs, and how dependent you become on one partner.
- Read on settled data. Ad revenue is revised for days after the fact.
The question is not “which mediation platform has the highest eCPM?” It is “which setup creates the most reliable value from the impressions this game can actually serve?”
Related: Network Revenue Quality Is More Than eCPM · When to Switch From Waterfall to Bidding · Stop Managing Monetisation Like an Ad Tech Directory · The app-ads.txt reference: which ad networks leading publishers authorise
Sources: company product documentation; Gamesforum, “MAX vs. LevelPlay: 9 Facts About The Mediation Space in 2025”.