Can GHAN suspend my app without telling me?

No. Every automated action - flag, hold clearing, throttle, suspend - is visible through get_stats with the rule that triggered it. There is no silent throttle, because a network that quietly reduces your volume while continuing to report normally would be indistinguishable from one that is failing.

What happens to my balance if I am suspended?

Cleared earnings remain payable and can be withdrawn once the account's status permits, subject to any clawback for chains later found fraudulent. Escrow held against unresolved chains is frozen until those chains resolve or expire. Suspension is reversible by an administrator.

Can the rate card change?

Yes, as a versioned change announced in the changelog and its RSS feed before it takes effect. Campaigns running at the time of a change continue at the rate in effect when they were created until the end of the billing period.

GHAN terms of service

Membership requires passing and continuing to pass the vetting gate. Advertisers are billed only for cleared installs. Fraud enforcement is automated, laddered and reversible, and every action taken against an account is visible to that account.

By Daniel Matalon, founder of GHAN · Published 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-09-22

Effective 22 September 2026. By registering an application you agree to these terms.

1. Eligibility

You must be able to enter a binding contract, and the application you register must be a desktop application for macOS or Windows that you are authorised to distribute. You must pass the vetting gate and continue to pass it at each weekly re-run.

2. The gate is a continuing condition

Gate checks are re-run weekly. An application that loses its code-signing validity, begins triggering malware detections, or ceases to serve the bundle identifier it declared stops trading until it passes again. This is not a penalty; it is the condition of membership.

3. Placements

The GHAN SDK renders only templated cards. You may not modify, wrap or reimplement the rendering.
You may not place GHAN content inside an installer, and the SDK provides no mechanism to do so.
You choose which lifecycle slots are enabled and your own frequency cap.
GHAN may disable your placements instantly via the kill switch where a security or integrity issue requires it.

4. Billing and clearing

Advertisers are billed per cleared install at the published rate card.
Credits are held in escrow from install claim and released only at clearing.
Chains that do not clear are refunded automatically. No dispute process is required, because none should be.
GHAN retains 30 percent of each cleared install. Serving apps earn 70 percent, or 84 percent of CPI in value taken as credits.

5. Fraud and enforcement

Automated rules may flag, hold clearing, throttle, or suspend an account and freeze escrow. Every action is logged with the rule that triggered it and is visible to the affected account through get_stats. Every action is reversible by an administrator.

Clawbacks for chains later found fraudulent are recorded as new ledger lines. Nothing is ever edited or deleted.

6. Payouts

Through Stripe Connect Express, monthly, minimum EUR 50. Identity verification is required where the volume or the jurisdiction demands it. Zero-history accounts buying above a threshold post a refundable EUR 250 deposit, returned after 1000 cleared installs with clean retention.

7. Prohibited conduct

Forging, replaying, harvesting or reselling attribution tokens
Claiming installs from virtual machines, emulators or datacenter infrastructure
Colluding with another member to generate installs whose purpose is payout extraction
Misrepresenting placement inventory, including failing to answer canary probes while claiming to serve
Modifying the SDK's rendering or attribution behaviour
Distributing malware, adware, or software that misrepresents what it does

8. Suspension and termination

You may leave at any time: disable placements, request a payout of any balance above EUR 50, and ship your next release without the SDK. GHAN may suspend an account for a breach of section 7 or a sustained gate failure, and may terminate for a repeated or severe breach. Cleared earnings remain payable subject to clawback.

9. Liability

GHAN provides the network as described. GHAN is not liable for the conduct of member applications beyond the vetting and enforcement described here, nor for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing here excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

10. Changes

Material changes are announced in the changelog and RSS feed before they take effect. Campaigns running at the time of a rate-card change continue at the prior rate until the end of the billing period.