Ad Fraud Cost Calculator
Move the slider, pick your channel, and see how much of your ad budget is exposed to invalid traffic — using benchmark rates from 2 billion analysed clicks.
Your campaign
Estimated invalid spend
per month, at a 2.18% invalid-traffic rate
That's per year
Budget exposed to bots, scrapers, and other invalid traffic — spend that could be protected and reallocated to real users.
See How to Cut ThisAt a glance
How much does ad fraud cost?
It depends on your channel. According to the Opticks Ad Fraud Report 2025, invalid traffic averages 2.18% of SEM spend, 9.09% of affiliate, 10.61% of social, 15.43% of programmatic and 15.9% of native. So an advertiser spending $20,000 a month on native ads loses about $3,180 a month — roughly $38,160 a year to invalid traffic. Use the calculator above to estimate your own.
How it works
How the estimate is calculated
The calculator multiplies your monthly ad spend by the benchmark invalid-traffic rate for your channel. Those rates come from the Opticks Ad Fraud Report 2025 — over 2 billion clicks analysed across 500+ advertisers and 243 territories, with data through Q1 2026.
Invalid traffic is spend that reaches bots, scrapers, and other non-human or non-genuine sources — clicks that can never convert. Your real exposure depends on your specific traffic mix, geographies, and partners; this is a benchmark estimate, not an audit.
| Channel | Invalid traffic rate |
|---|---|
| Native advertising | 15.9% |
| Programmatic | 15.43% |
| Social | 10.61% |
| Affiliate | 9.09% |
| SEM / Search | 2.18% |
Want your real number, not a benchmark?
Opticks scans your actual traffic and shows your true invalid-traffic rate by channel. Or start with the full Ad Fraud Report 2025.
Frequently asked questions