Outbrain vs MGID: Which Native Ad Network to Use in 2026

Outbrain and MGID both sell clicks from recommendation boxes on publisher sites, but they suit different jobs. Outbrain, now part of Teads, is strong on premium news publishers, especially in Europe, and reviews ads almost as strictly as Taboola. MGID has a much wider network with a long tail of smaller sites, cheaper clicks, a $100 minimum deposit and a more flexible policy. We are an official partner of both and run campaigns on both every week, in Italy and abroad. This comparison is based on what moves CPA in our accounts.

Outbrain vs MGID at a glance

Sources: Teads investor release (June 2025), MGID's company page and pricing guide, checked October 2026. Budgets and rules are ours.

The short answer: when to choose each

• Choose Outbrain if you sell in Europe (Italy, France, Germany, the UK), your offer and landing page can pass a strict review, and you want traffic from recognisable news sites, ideally on a country allowlist.
• Choose MGID if you need to find a winning angle on a small budget, you run affiliate or lead gen offers, or your main markets are Italy, Brazil or other emerging markets.
• Use both if you can. Test angles on MGID, rebuild the winner for Outbrain in a compliant version, and keep MGID live as extra volume.

Reach and inventory

Outbrain's value is where its ads appear. It works with large news publishers and offers allowlists: pre-built lists of approved sections, for example brand-safe lists by country, that you can run a campaign on instead of the open network. Since June 2025 the company trades as Teads, which is known for premium video. For performance advertisers little has changed day to day: you still log into the Outbrain platform, pay per click and optimize towards conversions.

MGID goes for breadth: more than 32,000 publishers in over 200 countries, with a long tail of smaller sites and strong coverage in markets the bigger networks treat as secondary. That breadth is useful for testing and for volume, and it is also why placement management matters more on MGID than anywhere else.

Cost: CPC, minimums and test budget

Both platforms run a CPC auction, so there is no price list: CPC depends on country, device, vertical and competition. As a rule, MGID clicks cost less than Outbrain clicks. A cheap click that never converts is not cheap, so judge both on CPA.

• Outbrain: we give each campaign a daily budget of at least 7x the CPA goal so the algorithm has enough data to learn. With a €10 CPA goal, that is at least €70 a day. On new campaigns we also set a maximum average CPC, so the algorithm cannot overpay while it learns.
• MGID: the platform asks for a $100 minimum deposit and a $50 minimum campaign budget. We test at $100–200 a day per campaign and pause a teaser after $20–30 spent without a conversion.

The entry ticket is lower on MGID, but a fair test costs about the same on both. To estimate your own numbers, use our native ads budget calculator or read how much native ads cost.

Bidding and optimization

The logic is the same on both platforms; the names change.

• Start on automated conversion bidding. On MGID that is MaxConversions; on Outbrain, one of the Conversion Bid Strategy options. On MGID, CPA Tune stops spending if the target is below your real CPA, so set it close to reality and lower it step by step.
• Manage placements. On Outbrain you analyze and block sections; on MGID you analyze and exclude widgets. Our rule on both: block a placement once it has spent 1.5x the target CPA with zero conversions. On Outbrain, keep automated blocking moderate: an early rule of ours that blocked sections after 400 clicks without a lead killed good sections before they could convert.
• Watch the block limit on Outbrain. There is a limit of about 1,500 blocked sections per campaign. When you get close, move the blocklist to account or publisher level.
• Scale step by step. On Outbrain we raise a profitable campaign by up to 30% at a time, or duplicate the mobile campaign on a different allowlist to reach new sections. On MGID we raise budgets gradually and rebuild campaigns after 7–14 days, as MGID itself recommends.

Ad policy and approvals

Outbrain reviews ads strictly, close to Taboola, especially in health: no medical claims, disclaimers on before-and-after images, no headlines that look like real news. Two practical rules from our accounts: Outbrain rejected an absolute claim ("the best pillow, with no more neck pain") and accepts "TODAY" in a headline but not "TODAY ONLY". Never change the landing URL of an approved campaign: create a new campaign with the new page and let it go through review.

MGID is more flexible, which makes it a good place to test advertorial angles. Flexible does not mean anything goes: keep medical claims out, add disclaimers to before-and-after visuals and never imitate a real news outlet. If an angle wins on MGID, build a compliant version before moving it to Outbrain, and expect it to convert differently. More on what gets rejected in why Taboola rejects ads; most of it applies to Outbrain too.

Traffic quality

Outbrain's average audience is more premium, especially on allowlists, so CPCs are higher but so is the average value of a visitor. MGID says 96% of the traffic it delivers is real and human, and it has run its own fraud prevention since 2013. In practice the spread is wider on MGID: some widgets convert well, others send clicks that never engage. On lead gen campaigns, on either platform, we block any placement with a form-start rate below 5%, even before it hits the spend threshold. If many clicks never convert, read our guide to bot and low-quality traffic.

Which verticals work where

This table reflects our accounts, not a rule. The only reliable test is the same funnel on both platforms, compared on CPA. For a real example of lead gen on native, see our Italian finance lead gen case study.

Tracking

Both platforms accept a pixel and server-to-server conversions. On affiliate offers we send conversions server-to-server from our tracker, including soft events such as form start or initiate checkout, so the algorithm learns even with few sales. Whatever you choose, check platform conversions against your shop or CRM every week.

How we use Outbrain and MGID together

1. Set up tracking once for both, with the same conversion events.
2. Test angles on MGID: 10+ teasers per campaign, mobile and desktop separated, images first with the same headline, then headlines on the winning images.
3. Rebuild the winner for Outbrain: same angle, compliant headline and image, landing page checked against the policy.
4. Launch on Outbrain with mobile and desktop separated, on a country allowlist when brand safety matters, then open to the wider network.
5. Keep MGID live as a second source of volume, refreshing creatives every 3–5 days.

For the other pairings, read Taboola vs Outbrain and Taboola vs MGID, or the guides to Outbrain and MGID.

Frequently asked questions

Is MGID cheaper than Outbrain?

Clicks usually are, and the minimum deposit is only $100. What matters is cost per acquisition: compare the two with the same funnel on CPA and ROAS.

Is Outbrain better than MGID?

Not in general. Outbrain is better for premium, brand-safe traffic in Europe; MGID is better for cheap testing, affiliate offers and markets like Italy and Brazil.

Does Outbrain still exist after the Teads deal?

Yes. The company is now called Teads, but the Outbrain platform for performance advertisers still runs.

Can I run the same ads on Outbrain and MGID?

Often, but not always. MGID accepts angles Outbrain rejects, so build a compliant version of any MGID winner before launching it on Outbrain.

Which one is better for Italy?

Both work in Italy. In our accounts Outbrain is the stronger channel for cash-on-delivery e-commerce and health offers, and MGID for lead generation and low-cost testing.

Want Outbrain and MGID run by one team?

We are a media team of two brothers and an official partner of Taboola, Outbrain and MGID. See how we work as an Outbrain agency and as an MGID agency, or book a free strategy call. Prefer to start alone? Open an MGID advertiser account through our partner link.