Best cross-promotion networks for apps (2026)

If you've built an app and have more users than marketing budget, a cross-promotion network lets you trade a little space in your product for space in other people's. There are only a handful of networks doing this in a way a small team can join, and they differ a lot: some swap for free, some charge, one is only for newsletters and one is only for open source.

Disclosure: we make Swapply, one of the networks below. We've tried to describe every product the way its own makers do, link to their pages, and say plainly where another option is the better pick. Where a fact isn't published, we say so instead of guessing.

The short answer

• You run a newsletter: SparkLoop. Nothing else here is built for email.
• Your project is non-commercial open source: EthicalAds Community Ads. Free, and in front of developers.
• You have a side project or personal site and want the least setup: Ad Swap. No account, no money.
• You have budget and want placement inside bigger SaaS tools: Remora.
• You run an app with active users and want an even, free swap with control over who appears: Swapply or CrossLynk.

Side by side

How we compared them

We looked at the same five things for each one, because they decide whether a network is worth the space in your product:

1. What it promotes. A network for newsletters is no use to a browser extension.
2. Where you appear. Inside an app, on a website, in an email flow. The audience's mood differs in each.
3. How you pay. Credits, cash, or nothing. And whether the network takes a cut.
4. Who decides what's shown. You, the network, an algorithm, or the host. This is what keeps competitors and junk off your screens.
5. What it publishes. Rules you can read beat rules you have to trust.

Swapply

Swapply is a cross-promotion network for apps. You paste one script tag where your users already look (a settings page, an empty state, a docs footer) and it shows a small card with 2 other members' apps from your categories. Your app appears in their cards in return.

How it works

• A person reviews every app before it's shown anywhere.
• A credit ledger keeps it even. A view of your app costs 1 credit and a click costs 10. The member who showed it gets 0.9 per view and 9 per click; the other 10% is Swapply's fee.
• Matching is limited to the categories you pick, weighted by credit balance. There's no bidding and no engagement scoring. You can block any app, and blocking works both ways.
• The widget sets no cookies and loads no third-party scripts. It stores a daily hash to count one view per visitor per day.
• Optional credit packs: 2,000 for $9, 10,000 for $29, 50,000 for $99.

Good fit if

You have an app with active users, want reach without an ad budget, and care about what appears in front of your users.

Not a fit if

• You have no users yet. You'll be shown on your starter credits, but you can't earn more until people see your card.
• You want cash for your traffic. Swapply pays in credits, not money. Remora or SparkLoop's paid recommendations do pay.
• Your audience lives in email, not in a product. SparkLoop is built for that.
• You need to be live today. The human review takes time.

CrossLynk

CrossLynk describes itself as a cross-promotion network for SaaS and tech startups. You add a lightweight JavaScript widget to your web app; it shows banners from non-competing partner products. Every impression you show earns credits, which you spend to promote your own product across the network. Partners are matched automatically.

Good fit if

You run a bootstrapped SaaS, want the same give-to-get model as Swapply, and prefer a banner format.

Worth checking first

We couldn't find published credit rates, a fee, or rules for how partners are matched or kept out. Ask before you install it, so you know what your users will see. Its public listing is on Product Hunt.

Compared with Swapply

Closest model to ours. The difference, as far as we can see from what's published, is in how much of the machinery is written down: Swapply publishes its rates, fee, matching rule and data collection; CrossLynk publishes the idea.

Ad Swap

Ad Swap is a free, no-money exchange for small websites: show one ad, get shown on someone else's site. You add an iframe or a script tag, and once it's confirmed live your ad appears on other members' sites. Ads come in a card or a compact pill and follow the visitor's light or dark theme. There's no auction and no account, just a form. Its maker describes it as an unfunded one-person project.

Good fit if

You have a side project, personal site, blog or small game and want the lowest-effort swap there is.

Worth knowing

With no account, there's no dashboard of who you're shown next to, and a one-person project is only as durable as its maker's time. Neither is a reason to skip it for a hobby site. Listing on Product Hunt.

Remora

Remora is a paid distribution layer for SaaS, not a swap. Larger SaaS products ("sharks") embed a widget in their onboarding, checkout or dashboard. Smaller products ("remoras") are recommended in it by Remora's AI, and the shark approves which ones appear. Remoras pay the shark either a flat monthly fee or a per-action rate.

Good fit if

• You're an early SaaS with some budget and want placement inside a specific, bigger tool your users already use.
• You run a high-traffic SaaS and want to earn money from that traffic, with approval over who appears.

Worth knowing

It launched in 2026 and rates aren't published, so expect to negotiate. If you have no budget, a swap is the better match. Listing on Product Hunt.

EthicalAds Community Ads

EthicalAds is a privacy-focused ad network for developer sites (it grew out of Read the Docs). Its Community Ads programme runs campaigns at no cost for open source projects, open source conferences and similar community causes. You apply with a short text (up to 100 characters), an image and a link, and can pick a region and a topic.

Good fit if

You maintain an open source project with an OSI-approved licence, or run a not-for-profit open source conference. Few channels reach developers this directly, and it's free.

Not a fit if

You sell something. The rules exclude organisations trying to sell a product or service, and anyone tied to a paid EthicalAds advertiser. It's a programme you apply to, not a swap: you don't host anything in return.

SparkLoop

SparkLoop is the established network for newsletters. When someone subscribes to yours, you can recommend other newsletters, and they recommend yours.

• Free: the Partner Network, the signup flow, and free mutual recommendations with other newsletters.
• Earning: paid recommendations pay roughly $2–$7 per confirmed subscriber you send, and brand offers $2–$200+ per conversion.
• Growing: paid Partner Programs start at a $100/month minimum and only charge for subscribers still subscribed after 14 days.

Good fit if

Your main channel is a newsletter. It's the most mature option on this list, with real money behind its paid side.

Not a fit if

You want to promote an app inside an app. SparkLoop works at the moment someone signs up to a newsletter, not inside a product.

How to choose

1. Where is your audience? In email: SparkLoop. On a website or blog: Ad Swap. Inside an app: Swapply or CrossLynk.
2. Do you sell anything? If not, and it's open source, apply to EthicalAds Community Ads first. It costs nothing.
3. Money or space? With budget, Remora or SparkLoop's paid programmes buy reach. Without it, you pay with space, so pick a swap.
4. What will your users see? Before you install anything, find out who decides which products appear next to yours and whether you can block one. That's the question that matters most once it's live.

If you go with a swap, placement matters as much as the network: see where to place a cross-promotion widget. And if you're weighing a swap against buying ads, this comparison helps.