Axon Ads Manager is now AppLovin Ads

Is Axon the same as AppLovin?

Axon is part of AppLovin, the company behind the ad platform. It started as the name of AppLovin’s recommendation engine, the software that decides which ad to show to whom. In October 2025 the whole ad platform took the name and launched a self-serve manager on a referral-only basis.

The June 2026 post reversed the branding. Its words are “Going forward, our ad platform is simply called AppLovin Ads”, and “Axon remains the name of our AI recommendation system”.

Do you still need an Axon referral code?

You do not need a referral code. AppLovin’s launch post says: “For the past eight months, it required a referral code. Starting today, it requires neither.” Creatify’s Axon page agrees, with “no referral code required since June 2026”.

Partner links still exist, and one detail is worth a look before you click one. AppLovin’s FAQ offers eligible new advertisers $5,000 in ad credit after $5,000 of spend within 60 days. It adds: “Some advertisers are onboarded through a marketing partner and receive a different credit structure.”

Creatify’s sign-up link carries a partner code, and an AppLovin partner page uses the same code. Neither page says what the code changes. Ask AppLovin which credit applies to your sign-up path before you enter a card.

How do you open an account and launch a first campaign?

You open an account at ads.applovin.com, connect your site, then build one campaign around one creative set. AppLovin’s consumer page says “Go live in under an hour”. These steps follow its launch checklist and campaign guide:

1. Create your account on ads.applovin.com and add your business and payment details.
2. Install the pixel, the snippet that tells AppLovin who bought what. The next section covers it.
3. Fill in Brand assets: logo, name, description and call-to-action text.
4. Click Create and name the campaign. Add your landing page URL and tracking tags, known as UTMs.
5. Pick a goal. ROAS (return on ad spend) suits shops with many products, cost per purchase suits one product or a subscription, and cost per lead suits lead generation.
6. Pick an audience strategy: Universal, Prospecting or Discovery. The last two need the Shopify app or uploaded purchase history.
7. Pick your regions. Group every country you ship to in one campaign and leave out Western Europe, which AppLovin does not support.
8. Pick Day 0 for quick decisions, or Day 7 for dearer products that take longer to buy.
9. Set a target and a daily budget, as covered below.
10. Build a creative set with at least one video and one image or interactive page, then launch.

App owners follow a different path. AppLovin’s app guide swaps the pixel for a measurement partner such as Adjust or AppsFlyer, and your app must already be live in a store.

What does the AppLovin pixel need?

The AppLovin Pixel needs to report each step of a sale, and on Shopify an app does that for you. The AppLovin app is free to install. It sets up the pixel, syncs your catalogue and tracks purchases. Ad spend bills through AppLovin, separately from your Shopify invoice.

Every other platform goes through Google Tag Manager. There you send the events yourself, and AppLovin’s event list warns that a required event left out causes pixel failure:

• Purchase sites send page_view, view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout and purchase.
• Lead generation sites send page_view and generate_lead.

Confirm it before you spend. AppLovin’s Pixel Helper, a Chrome extension, shows whether the pixel fires, and Events Manager should show no errors. The model learns from these events, so a broken one costs you its main signal.

What are the AppLovin creative specs?

AppLovin ads pair a 9:16 video with a second screen, the AppLovin Interactive Page, which other networks call an end card. Each creative set holds up to 10 videos and 10 pages, with at least one of each. Video must be portrait: the spec lists no other shape.

AppLovin recommends a good number of videos at 30 seconds or longer. The HTML rules come from its app specs page, and MRAID is the standard that lets an ad open a link on a phone. An image is the simple start, and the dashboard’s Creative Studio can build pages for you.

How much should a first campaign spend?

A first campaign should spend enough for several purchases a day, and the published minimum falls far short of that. AppLovin gives two floors: $10 a day on its brands page and $15 a day in its FAQ.

The same FAQ asks for a budget that brings at least 10 purchases a day, and the campaign guide says “at least a handful”. So multiply your cost per purchase by 10. At $30, that is $300 a day.

If that is out of reach, multiply by 3 for a smaller first read. AppLovin vs Meta ads has the monthly sums and the spend at which a test makes sense.

Creatify’s Axon page shows a middle path in a sample plan from its agent. A store with $38 orders and a 65 per cent margin breaks even at $24.70 a purchase. The plan sets a $20 target and spends $150 a day for about 7.5 purchases, then makes its first call on day 5.

Two settings need care. Enter a ROAS target as a percentage, so 2x return is 200%. And set the target from your margin: WKND Agency warns that an aggressive target at launch can restrict spend before the model has enough data.

WKND also says it makes larger budget changes at the start of the UTC day, because AppLovin charges the next day’s budget at 0:00 UTC.

Which videos should you make first?

Make a mix of lengths with most at 30 seconds or longer, in the talk-to-camera style that AppLovin says dominates its top ads. Its video guide counts what top-spending ads share:

• About 95 per cent carry prominent captions, and AppLovin says most mobile gamers have sound off by default.
• About 85 per cent use voiceover.
• About 40 per cent feature a promotion, often in the hook.
• About 30 per cent name a specific audience in the opening line.

AppLovin’s checklist says viewers cannot skip a video for at least 5 seconds, so your offer goes first. Test one change per video: a different audience in the first line, a different offer, a different person. AppLovin says a user sees around eight creatives before converting, which is why one video rarely gets a fair read.

Start with your best existing ads. The FAQ says top assets from other platforms often transfer well, as long as the file is 9:16.

If you run short, Creatify bills avatar video at 5 credits per 15 seconds, rounded up. Four 30-second videos and one 45-second video use 55 credits, exactly one month of Standard at $15 a month (read 7 November 2026).

A weekly refresh, which WKND recommends, outruns that. A weekly set of four 45-second videos uses 60 credits, or about 260 a month, and Pro at $55 a month gives 280. Users name credits running out faster than the pricing suggests (15 of 61 sources: Trustpilot, r/FacebookAds), so leave room for retries.

How does Creatify’s AppLovin route work?

Creatify’s route lets you make the creative set, launch it and read results from one dashboard. This order comes from Creatify’s AppLovin page:

1. Sign up through its partner link, with purchases or leads as your goal.
2. Install the pixel and add payment details, as above.
3. Build a creative set in Creatify: 9:16 videos, end cards and HTML playables from a product page.
4. Launch in AppLovin yourself, or connect your account to Creatify.

The connection takes more than a login. You give Creatify your account ID and reporting key to read results. Launching from Creatify also takes a management key, which Creatify requests for you and says is usually ready within a day.

The limit is that the agent cannot change a live campaign. Creatify says it reads AppLovin data such as spend, ROAS and cost per purchase and recommends what to keep, refresh or cut, and any change happens in AppLovin. Its pricing page ticks the Ad Launcher and Ad Agent for AppLovin from Standard up.

When is Creatify the wrong pick for AppLovin?

Creatify is the wrong pick if you already hold enough 9:16 video. AppLovin needs a 9:16 file, and its dashboard’s Creative Studio builds the page after it. A brand with creator footage can launch on the platform alone.

It also fits apps and games less well, since Creatify’s page centres on websites and purchases. AI UGC for apps covers tools for that job. And if you sell only into Western Europe, no creative tool helps, because AppLovin’s web campaigns leave that region out.

Questions about Axon Ads Manager

Is Axon by AppLovin free to join?

AppLovin lists no sign-up fee, and the Shopify app is free to install. You pay for your ads. AppLovin’s billing page describes a daily charge at 0:00 UTC for the next day’s budget, held as a deposit. Unused funds move to your balance.

Is there still an Axon waitlist?

No. AppLovin’s post says any business can sign up. Older guides that mention a waitlist describe the period before 22 June 2026.

Where do I log in to Axon Ads Manager?

Log in at ads.applovin.com, the address in AppLovin’s launch checklist. The old ads.axon.ai address still loads a page titled AppLovin Ads.

Can I advertise on AppLovin from Europe?

AppLovin’s web campaign guide says Western Europe is “not supported at this time” as a target, and it lists no countries. That rule covers where your ads show, and the guide says nothing on where your company is based. Check your target countries in the campaign’s region list before you build creative.

More pages for Creatify users, sorted by job, in the Creatify hub →