How to Monetize an HTML5 Web Game in 2026

How to monetize an HTML5 web game

You monetize an HTML5 web game in one of five ways: publish it on a portal such as CrazyGames, Poki or GameDistribution and take a share of the ad revenue their SDK earns; sell it or ask for pay what you want on itch.io; host it on your own site with Google’s H5 Games Ads, a store and an optional offerwall; license or sponsor it for a flat fee; or wrap it as a desktop game for Steam. Most portals forbid your own ads, offerwalls and outside links inside the build you send them, so the route you pick decides what your code may contain.

Below are the rules each platform publishes, a comparison table, and a plan for combining them. Platform terms checked on October 22, 2026. They change, so read the live pages and your own agreement before you upload.

Web game portals: CrazyGames, Poki and GameDistribution

Portals bring the players and run the ads. You integrate their SDK, call it at natural breaks (and for rewarded ads, when the player opts in), and they pay you part of what those ads earn. The three biggest work differently.

CrazyGames

CrazyGames publishes games in two stages. In Basic Launch, its developer documentation says “Monetization (video ads, banners, in-game purchases) is disabled.” At Full Launch, monetization is enabled and you start receiving a revenue share. In-game purchases are for selected games only and run through CrazyGames’ Xsolla account.

• Revenue share. CrazyGames does not publish a percentage on its developer pages. Its FAQ says earnings depend on how the game performs, including engagement, retention and advertiser demand.
• Exclusivity. None required. The CrazyGames FAQ says publishing on other platforms “doesn’t affect your eligibility for revenue share” and calls CrazyGames “a complementary channel, not a conflicting one.”
• Your own ads. Not allowed. The FAQ lists “Not contain external advertisements” as a condition for revenue share, and the ads requirements say “Only Ads requested through the CrazyGames SDK are allowed.”
• Links. The gameplay requirements ban cross-promotion of other games or platforms. Community links such as Discord are allowed on the menu if they do not lead to a playable web version, and Steam or Epic links only on the main menu or at the end of a demo. App store links are never allowed in the game.
• Payouts. The payouts page sets a €100 minimum before payment, paid through Tipalti.

Poki

Poki’s developer guide splits revenue by where the player came from. If a player arrives “through bookmarks, search, social media or through your own community,” you get 100% of the revenue for that user. If the player comes through Poki.com or Poki marketing, “Poki splits the revenue 50/50 with you.” Poki’s deal page adds that these specifics are indicative and the terms in your agreement apply.

• Exclusivity. The revenue and deal types page says the preferred deal is web exclusive and “By default, exclusive deals run for 5 years.” It covers the open web, and Poki counts Discord and YouTube Playables as web. Steam, mobile app stores and consoles stay yours.
• Non-exclusive option. For games already live on other web platforms, Poki offers “a one-time flat license fee instead, with no revenue share.”
• Your own ads and purchases. Poki’s monetization page says “There are no in-app purchases and no third-party ad systems to integrate.” Ads are midrolls, rewarded videos and a mobile Gamebar display ad, all from the Poki SDK.
• External requests. Poki’s external resources policy says it “blocks all external requests by default,” so fonts, images and libraries must be bundled into the build, and analytics tools are approved case by case.

GameDistribution

GameDistribution puts your game on the websites in its publisher network. Its Developer Game License Agreement (last updated June 19, 2025) is the most explicit of the three:

• Revenue share. Section 3.1 gives you 33% (“thirty three percent”) of Net Revenue, defined as in-game ads revenue and in-game purchase revenue after the deductions the agreement lists.
• Exclusivity. You grant a worldwide, non-exclusive license.
• Your own ads. Section 2.6.8 says you may not include “any third-party Ads, In-Game Purchases or data tracking software.”
• Links. Section 2.6.7 bars links to any domain outside the distribution platform without prior consent.
• Payouts. Payment within 60 days after the monthly report once your share reaches €100.

itch.io: sales, pay what you want and donations

itch.io works like a store, not an ad portal. The itch.io creator FAQ says you can set a minimum price “which can be 0,” so players can pay what they think your game is worth, and that “Advertisements will never be placed on any of your pages.”

Its payments guide explains open revenue sharing: you choose the share of each sale that goes to itch.io, “from 0% to 100%,” with 10% as the default. On a $10 sale at the default rate, the guide works out $8.41 for you after itch.io’s share and a typical processor fee of $0.30 plus 2.9%. You can take payments directly through your own PayPal or Stripe account, or let itch.io collect them and pay you later, in which case itch.io is the merchant of record.

Ads in your own game are allowed with conditions. The quality guidelines say itch.io prefers projects without ads, asks that ads not be “obtrusive or misleading,” and tells you to avoid “ads that prevent someone from playing the game without performing some action.” Adware is banned outright.

Google’s H5 Games Ads on your own site

If you host the game yourself, Google’s H5 Games Ads let you show interstitial and rewarded ads inside the game through the Ad Placement API, in addition to normal display ads around it. It is not open to everyone: Google’s sign-up page calls it “a by-application product,” says “Account approval is not guaranteed,” and requires an approved AdSense account. That page was last updated in June 2026.

Google’s H5 Games Ads guidance limits where full-screen ads may appear. You may not show them where they could be confused with normal page operation, right after another full-screen ad closes, or when they “interrupt the user during periods of continuous game play.” Transitions between screens, and between your catalog and a game, are fine. Rewarded ads are ads players choose to interact with in exchange for in-game rewards.

One rule matters if you also reward players in other ways. The AdSense program policies say that, except for rewarded inventory, publishers may not “Compensate users for viewing ads.” So never give coins for viewing or clicking ordinary AdSense display units. Rewards must come only from approved rewarded ad units or from a separate rewards system, such as an offerwall.

If you are not approved, AdSense alternatives compares other ad networks.

Your own site: ads, a store and an offerwall

Your own domain is the one place where no portal sets the rules. That is also where you can combine several income streams, as mobile games do with hybrid monetization:

• Display and in-game ads. AdSense H5 Games Ads if approved, or another web ad network.
• A store. Sell coins, cosmetics, a supporter pack or an ad-free upgrade through a payment provider. A login is needed so purchases follow the player.
• An offerwall. Players who will not pay can earn your game currency by completing offers from advertisers, such as trying an app or answering a survey, and you earn per completed offer. What is an offerwall? explains the model, and offerwall vs rewarded video compares it with rewarded ads.

An offerwall needs three things a portal build does not have: player accounts on your server, a currency balance stored on your server, and an endpoint that receives a signed postback for each credit and reversal. Never credit coins from the browser; a player can fake anything that happens in client-side JavaScript.

Age matters more on the web than on most platforms, because browser games draw many children. If a large part of your audience is under 16, keep the offerwall out of the game entirely; offerwall rules for kids’ apps covers the US COPPA side.

Sponsorship and licensing

Fixed payments still exist in two forms:

• Flat-fee licensing. A portal or site pays once for the right to host your game. Poki’s non-exclusive option is a one-time license fee with no revenue share.
• Sponsorship or white label. A company pays for its branding in the game, or for a reskinned version. Check portal rules first: the CrazyGames FAQ says revenue share requires that your game “Not include branding from another game portal.”

Licensing gives you money up front with no traffic risk, but you give up upside if the game takes off. Ask for a written license that states the term, the territories, whether it is exclusive, and who may change the build.

Steam and desktop wrappers

An HTML5 game can ship on Steam by wrapping it in a desktop runtime such as Electron or NW.js. Poki’s exclusivity does not cover Steam, and CrazyGames allows a Steam link on the main menu of desktop games, so a web version can work as a demo for a paid Steam release.

The Steam build follows Valve’s rules, not the web’s. Valve does not support ads as a business model and bans rewards for watching or engaging with ads, so every ad SDK and any offerwall must come out of the Steam build, and in-game purchases must use the Steam Wallet. Can you put ads in a Steam game? walks through the Steamworks pages. For an Electron build you sell outside Steam, see how to add an offerwall to an Electron app.

The same thinking applies to engines that export to the web. How to monetize a Godot game covers Godot’s web, desktop and mobile exports, and monetize a mobile game with an offerwall covers an app store port.

HTML5 game monetization routes compared

A plan that combines the routes

1. Decide on Poki first. Its web exclusivity rules out CrazyGames, GameDistribution, itch.io browser builds and your own web version for the term. If you want to keep the open web, go non-exclusive.
2. Make two builds from one codebase. A portal build with only the portal’s SDK and no outside links, and an own-site build with your login, store, ads and optional earn screen.
3. Use portals for reach and your site for depth. Point your Discord, socials and devlog to your own site, where a returning player is worth more. How to promote a mobile game on a small budget has low-cost ideas that work for web games too.
4. Add Steam later. If the game holds players, wrap it, remove the web monetization, and sell it.
5. Measure per channel. Track revenue per player on each route, not just total plays; the eCPM calculator helps compare ad income.

Frequently asked questions