virtual cards for advertising

Any interruption in an advertising campaign costs money. One declined payment — and algorithms reset, ads stop showing, and the audience shifts to competitors. This is especially sensitive for media buyers who work with multiple advertising platforms and manage dozens of campaigns simultaneously.

Bank cards are inconvenient for such tasks. Blockages, limits, and extra checks make the process unpredictable. Virtual cards for ad payments allow you to control expenses and minimize the risk of declined payments.

There are dozens of services on the market, but not all are equally reliable. We have highlighted five virtual card platforms that help launch ads without issues and keep the budget under control thanks to built-in analytics tools.

Criteria for Evaluating Services

For an objective comparison of the services, let’s examine them based on the following parameters:

  • Payment stability and transaction approval
  • Support for advertising platforms
  • Issuance and top-up fees
  • Top-up options
  • Limits and expense control
  • Budget management tools
  • Technical support

Read on for reviews of the services: Spend, LinkPay, Capitalist, EPN, Flexcards.

  1. Spend

The financial platform Spend.net specializes in virtual cards. There are separate cards for media buying and for online purchases and other payments. All the platform’s cards are free.

In addition, Spendnet guarantees an automatic 2% cashback on advertising expenses.

Card features:

  • Payment stability and transaction approval: 20 BINs, 6 of them unique
  • Support for advertising platforms: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, and other popular platforms that accept Visa and Mastercard for payments
  • Issuance and top-up fees: Card issuance is free. There are no fees for transactions, declines, exchange operations, withdrawals, and refunds. Fees are charged only for top-ups and are set by the user: the amount depends on the selected percentage when topping up. The average fee is 2%.
  • Top-up: The platform supports top-ups with cryptocurrencies — USDT and BTC
  • Limits and expense control: The number of cards is unlimited. You can create as many cards as needed for different ad campaigns and track expenses for each one separately
  • Budget management tools: You can create teams, assign roles, and manage tasks. Financial reports are available in CSV or XSL format, and cashback is displayed in real time
  • Technical support: Customer support operates 24/7 and is available through live chat in the personal account
  1. LinkPay

LinkPay is a universal financial platform. It allows you to issue cards for advertising payments, digital applications, and shopping. All the platform’s cards are credit cards based on the Visa payment system.

The main advantage of the cards is 3% cashback on advertising expenses.

Card features:

  • Payment stability and transaction approval: 5 BINs from European banks
  • Support for advertising platforms: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, and other popular platforms that accept Visa cards for payment
  • Issuance and top-up fees: No fees for top-ups, withdrawals, or declined payments. There is a fee for card issuance, which depends on the user’s tariff plan
  • Top-up: The platform supports top-ups with cryptocurrencies—USDT, BTC, and 5 other coins
  • Limits and expense control: Limits depend on user tariff plans
  • Budget management tools: You can create teams, assign roles, and manage tasks. Financial reports are available in the personal account
  • Technical support: Customer support operates 24/7 and is available through live chat and Telegram
  1. Brocard

MyBrocard issues virtual Visa/Mastercard cards exclusively for advertising payments. It should be noted that the service operates with a limited number of countries. The first 50 cards are free, which is quite advantageous. However, to issue cards, the account balance must be topped up with at least $500.

Card features:

  • Payment stability and transaction approval: 20 BINs from U.S., European, and UK banks
  • Support for advertising platforms: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, and other popular platforms (the full list can be clarified with the service manager)
  • Issuance and top-up fees: Fees for declined transactions depend on their size and the overall percentage of declined payments. If the decline rate exceeds 25%, the cards are blocked. Card issuance costs $2. Almost all operations with the service involve fees, which do not exceed 4.5%
  • Top-up: The platform supports top-ups with USDT (TRC20 and ERC20) cryptocurrency and partner services
  • Limits and expense control: You can issue cards in unlimited quantities, with no spending limits
  • Budget management tools: You can create teams, assign roles, and manage tasks. Financial reports are available in the personal account, as well as for download
  • Technical support: Customer support operates 24/7 and is available via live chat
  1. EPN

EPN specializes in cards for advertising payments and related services. All cards are based on Visa and Mastercard payment systems, issued by U.S. banks. For users with Gold-level accounts, 3D Secure cards are available.

The service’s advantages include a convenient pricing system. Users only pay for what they need.

Card features:

  • Payment stability and transaction approval: 9 BINs, 14 BINs for Gold-level users
  • Support for advertising platforms: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, and other popular platforms
  • Issuance and top-up fees: Card issuance costs $4, there are no fees for transactions, but fees for all other operations range from 1% to 5%
  • Top-up: The platform supports top-ups with USDT (TRC20 and ERC20) cryptocurrency, bank transfers, and transfers from other cards
  • Limits and expense control: You can issue cards in unlimited quantities, and limits depend on the tariff plan
  • Budget management tools: You can create teams and assign roles. Financial reports are available in the personal account and can be requested in a convenient format from the service manager
  • Technical support: Customer support operates 24/7 and is available via Telegram.
  1. Flexcard

Flexcard is a platform for issuing Visa and Mastercard virtual cards. They are suitable only for advertising payments. The platform’s advantages include a minimalist, user-friendly interface.

Card features:

  • Payment stability and transaction approval: 10 BINs, updated every three months
  • Support for advertising platforms: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, and other popular platforms
  • Issuance and top-up fees: Card issuance costs from $2, there are no fees for transactions. Top-up fees do not exceed 4%, with a fee for declined and exchange operations of no more than 1%.
  • Top-up: The platform supports top-ups with USDT (TRC20 and ERC20) cryptocurrency
  • Limits and expense control: You can issue cards in unlimited quantities
  • Budget management tools: You can create teams and assign roles, set limits for cards. Financial reports are available in the personal account as a transaction history
  • Technical support: Available from 10:00 to 22:00 (GMT+3) in Telegram chat and on the service website

The digital marketing market will continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13,6% until 2033, reaching $1,3 trillion by 2033, according to Hostinger. Digital marketing trends need testing and fast launches. Therefore, the importance of virtual cards for advertising payments will also increase.

The key criterion for choosing a virtual card for advertising payments is payment approval and the absence of technical difficulties when launching ads. These parameters directly affect the final cost of acquiring a customer and the success of the campaign. Don’t choose services based only on fees.

In this review, we examined five platforms offering a variety of solutions for media buyers. Spend.net and LinkPay stand out for offering cashback, while Flexcard and EPN offer convenient tools for expense control and various top-up options. Brocard attracts with favorable conditions at the initial stage of use.