Why Test HTML Ads Before Publishing?
Before running paid campaigns, marketers and developers need to preview how banner ads will look across different placements. Testing ensures that ads display correctly in standard formats like 728×90 (leaderboard), 300×250 (medium rectangle), or 160×600 (skyscraper) without breaking layouts or appearing distorted.
1. Ad Preview Tester (Free & Open Source)
Ad Preview Tester is a lightweight web-based tool where you can instantly preview HTML5 banners in the most common ad sizes. It also tracks impressions and clicks so you can measure CTR like in a real ad server environment.
- ✅ Free and open source
- ✅ Supports multiple banner sizes
- ✅ Tracks impressions and clicks
- ✅ Easy to integrate into layouts
2. Revive Adserver
Revive Adserver is a full-featured open-source ad server. It allows publishers to run campaigns, manage advertisers, and rotate creatives. While powerful, it’s more complex to set up and may be overkill for developers who just need quick previews.
- ✅ Full campaign management
- ✅ Free and open source
- ❌ Complex setup process
- ❌ Requires hosting and configuration
3. Google Web Designer
Google Web Designer is a design tool for creating HTML5 banner ads with animations and interactivity. It’s useful for building creatives but less convenient for simply previewing them in standard ad slots.
- ✅ Powerful design features
- ✅ Backed by Google
- ❌ Requires installation
- ❌ Steeper learning curve
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to test HTML ads online, Ad Preview Tester is the simplest free solution available in 2025. For advanced use cases, Revive Adserver and Google Web Designer are great alternatives, but for rapid previews and layout checks, nothing beats the speed of a one-click demo tool.