Why CrashMods shows ads
CrashMods is free to use. Hosting files, scanning every upload with VirusTotal and keeping the site running costs money, and advertising is how we cover that cost while keeping downloads free for everyone.
This page sets out, in plain terms, every way the site earns money, what that money does and does not buy, and how you can turn advertising off if you would rather support us directly.
Where our money actually comes from
There are four revenue streams, and none of them is hidden:
- Display advertising. Ad slots served through Google AdSense and comparable third-party networks. This is the largest share and the reason downloads can stay free.
- Memberships. A free tier plus two paid tiers, billed monthly or yearly. Membership fees go to CrashMods and pay for storage, bandwidth and development.
- Paid mods sold by creators. Some creators sell their own work through the site. That money goes to the creator’s own payment account — CrashMods takes no commission from it. We provide the storefront, the file mirror and the buyer protection around it; we are not the merchant of record for those sales.
- External file hosting. A number of free mods are stored with an external host, ModsFire, whose own download programme can generate a small amount of revenue per completed download. This is why some download buttons lead to a host outside crashmods.com — the link is checked against our host allowlist first, and you always see where you are going before you leave.
Creators can also receive direct tips from users. Tips go to the creator, not to us.
How ads are served
We display advertising through Google AdSense and similar third-party networks. These networks may use cookies and similar technologies to show relevant ads and measure performance. You can read exactly what data is involved, and manage your choices, in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Ad slots are part of the page layout and are kept visually separate from our editorial content.
We do not currently sell ad space directly to individual advertisers, so we have no commercial relationship with any of them and no way to favour one. The creatives you see are selected by the ad network, not by us. If an ad on CrashMods is broken, deceptive or offensive, send us the page URL and a screenshot through the contact form — we can block categories and individual advertisers at the network level, but only if we know what you saw.
What advertising money does not buy
Advertising and editorial are kept independent. Advertisers cannot pay for a better mod description, a higher position, a featured slot or a more favourable security badge. What you read about a mod is not for sale. See our Editorial Standards.
The same firewall applies to our own paid products. A paid membership buys tools — more upload capacity, scheduling, detailed download statistics, a profile badge, an ad-free experience — and it can affect how prominently a creator’s own mods are surfaced in listings, which is a stated feature of the plan. It never changes the editorial text on a page, the security verdict of a scan, the outcome of a copyright complaint, or whether a user report gets acted on. Buying a plan does not protect anyone from moderation.
Sponsored or affiliate content
If we ever publish sponsored content or use affiliate links, it will be clearly labelled as such on the page. We do not disguise paid placements as ordinary editorial.
At the time of writing we run no sponsored articles and no affiliate programmes. Should that change, sponsored pages will carry a visible label at the top, before the body text, and will never be mixed into ordinary mod pages, guides or news items.
Your consent and your data
Visitors in the EU and EEA are asked for consent before non-essential cookies are set, using the consent banner shown on your first visit. Declining does not restrict the mod library in any way — the whole site works without personalised advertising, you simply see less relevant ads. You can reopen the banner and change your decision at any time from the cookie settings link in the footer, and you can withdraw consent as easily as you gave it.
We never pass your account details, e-mail address, download history or messages to an advertising network. Ad networks receive only what any website sends them: the page being viewed and the technical data your browser supplies.
If you use an ad blocker
We do not block visitors who run an ad blocker, and no feature of the site is withheld because of one. We do measure — anonymously and in aggregate — how many visits arrive with ads blocked, because that number tells us how sustainable the free model is. That measurement does not identify you.
Prefer no ads?
Readers who would rather browse without advertising can support the site directly — our ELITE membership removes ads across the whole site. Either way, the full mod library stays free to download.
Removing ads is a real removal: on an ad-free account the advertising scripts are not loaded at all, so no advertising cookies are set and nothing is sent to the ad networks. Subscriptions are managed through your profile and can be cancelled at any time; cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for.
Questions
If anything on this page is unclear, or you believe an ad or a paid feature has influenced something it should not have, write to us through the contact form. We would rather explain how something works than have you guess.
