Incentive traffic means the user gets something for completing the action: points, coins, cash back or an in-game reward for installing an app or filling a form. Non-incentive traffic means the user acts because they actually want the product. The first converts easily and pays little; the second converts less and is what most advertisers really want.
Incentive (or incentivised) traffic is traffic whose users are rewarded for completing the advertiser’s conversion event. The reward comes from the traffic source, not from the advertiser: an offerwall inside a mobile game grants coins for installing another app, a cash-back site pays a share of the commission back to the shopper, a survey or rewards app credits points for a registration. Non-incentive traffic is everything else, users who reach the offer without being paid to complete it, from search, content, social, native, push or email.
Offers state which kind they accept, and on Profit Ninja’s campaign pages that is the “Incentive” or “Non Incentive” tag. The distinction matters because the reward changes who converts. An incentivised user is motivated by the reward, so conversion rates are high, completion of the paid step is fast, and engagement after it is low: the app is opened once, the trial is cancelled, the account is never used again. Advertisers who price their offers on downstream value either refuse incentive traffic or accept it at a much lower payout with a tighter definition of the paid event.
Platforms draw their own lines. Apple’s App Review Guidelines (3.2.2) say apps should not require users to download other apps, tap ads or take similar actions to receive monetary or other compensation, while still allowing apps to reward actions inside themselves. Google announced in June 2017 that Google Play would act against apps that manipulate their placement with incentivised ratings, reviews and installs, and its developer policy defines an action as incentivised when money, goods or an equivalent is offered in exchange for it. Both stores filter incentivised installs out of their rankings, which is why advertisers who buy them for ranking purposes are disappointed and why legitimate incentive offers are built around in-app events rather than the install alone.
Incentive traffic is not a lower-quality version of the same thing; it is a different product. For offers designed for it, such as rewarded app installs that pay on a reached level, cash-back on retail, or survey panels that expect points-based recruitment, it is efficient and compliant. For offers that are not, it is the fastest route to scrubbed conversions and a closed account, because advertisers compare retention by source and incentivised users stand out within days.
In June 2017 Google published a policy update on the Android Developers Blog stating that Google Play would take action against apps that try to manipulate their placement through incentivised ratings, reviews and installs. The policy defines an action as incentivised when the user is offered money, goods or the equivalent in exchange for it, and Google said it would filter such installs out of its systems, including the top charts. At the same time it acknowledged that incentivised installs can be a legitimate acquisition channel for some developers.
Apple’s App Review Guidelines take a similar position from the other side: apps should not require users to download other apps or perform similar actions to earn money or gift cards, while rewarding actions inside the app itself is allowed. The combined effect shaped modern incentive offers. Paying a user simply to install no longer moves rankings and invites store enforcement, so advertisers now pay incentive sources on deeper events (finish the tutorial, reach level 10, make a first purchase), and offerwalls present those tasks rather than bare installs. For an affiliate, the practical rule is that an “Incentive allowed” offer still defines exactly which event is rewarded and paid, and sending incentivised users to an offer tagged non-incentive is a terms breach, not a gray area.
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Incentive traffic rewards the user for completing the action (points, coins, cash back); non-incentive traffic reaches the offer without a reward for converting. Incentive converts more and retains less, so most advertisers either refuse it or pay less for it.
That the advertiser does not accept users who were rewarded for completing the conversion. Offerwalls, cash-back and points-for-actions sources are excluded; conversions from them are declined.
Rewarding users inside your own app is allowed; requiring users to install other apps for compensation is restricted by Apple, and Google filters incentivised installs from its rankings. Legitimate incentive offers pay on in-app events rather than bare installs.
Offers built for it: rewarded installs paying on a reached level or event, cash-back on retail purchases, survey and panel recruitment, and some sweepstakes leads. The offer page states whether incentive traffic is accepted.
References are listed as plain text on purpose; look them up by title and publisher. Updated: 2026-10-06.
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