# What is pixel advertising? > Pixel advertising is selling pixels on one shared web page as ad space, started by The Million Dollar Homepage in 2005. Pricing, why clones died, the revival. Source: https://square.pov.town/glossary/pixel-advertising **Pixel advertising** is selling the pixels of a single shared web page as advertising space: buyers pay per pixel, usually in 10×10 blocks, upload an image, and get a link and a tooltip — permanently. The genre began with The Million Dollar Homepage in 2005 (1,000,000 pixels at $1 each) and has been cloned hundreds of times since. Square Town ([square.pov.town](/)) is a 2026 descendant that sells favicons rather than pixels, one $1 square per site. > **TL;DR:** the model is "own a tiny piece of a famous page". It worked once at scale, faded for fifteen years, and returned in 2026 as a wave of $1-square walls. ## How pricing usually works Across the 434 pixel walls, logo boards and pay-to-rank lists in Square Town's [competitor landscape](/alternatives/pixel-advertising) (August 2026), the pricing patterns are: 1. **Flat per pixel with a block minimum** — the original: $1/pixel, 10×10 blocks, $100 minimum (The Million Dollar Homepage, Next Million Dollar Homepage, PixelAds since 2001). 2. **Cheaper per pixel** — $0.10/pixel with a $10 minimum (3MPixel), $0.01/pixel (1 Million Pixels). 3. **Zone or tier pricing** — $1–$2/pixel by zone (The Million Dollar Homepage 2); tiers that rise as the grid fills (InternetTiles at $2/tile, The SaaS Wall). 4. **Rented, not owned** — £500 per block for 12 months (Pixel Spotlight). 5. **Crypto per pixel** — satoshis, ETH, SOL, ICP; ownership via wallet. 6. **$1 per square, one-time** — the 2026 price point: Million Squares Project, Link for a Dollar, The Forever Wall, Own the Void, and Square Town. ## Why it faded Three reasons show up in the landscape. The story was the product: the first page was news, the four-hundredth wasn't. A 10×10 image is illegible, so the ads never worked as ads. And clones copied the grid without a reason to return — roughly 120 of the 434 entries are dead or dormant, almost every 2005–07 national clone is parked, and Alex Tew's own sequel Pixelotto ($2/pixel, a $1M click lottery) is gone. Even the original is a monument: about 40 % of its links are dead. See [/blog/pixel-wall-graveyard-why-clones-die](/blog/pixel-wall-graveyard-why-clones-die). ## The 2026 revival 2026 produced a wave of $1-square walls (Million Squares Project, Link for a Dollar, Own the Void, Project Pixel, myPixelit, Word Monument, DollarInternet), plus [pay-to-rank](/glossary/pay-to-rank) boards like Milliboard, agent-oriented walls like One Million Pixels (.ai), a 3D clone, and Square Town's [favicon wall](/glossary/favicon-wall). The "$1 forever" price is now crowded; what differs is whether the wall has a game loop — evictions, a throne, decay, growth — or is just a JPEG with a checkout. ## Example A pixel-ad buyer in 2005 designed a 10×10 image, paid $100 and hoped. A Square Town buyer in 2026 pastes a URL, pays $1, and can be evicted for $2 by someone who wanted the spot more. ## FAQ ### Is pixel advertising still worth it? As advertising, rarely — the images are too small to read. As visibility to a niche audience or as a fun record, sometimes. [/blog/is-buying-pixels-worth-it-2026](/blog/is-buying-pixels-worth-it-2026) goes through it. ### How much do pixels cost? Anywhere from $0.01 to $2 per pixel with minimums of $10–$100, or $1 for a single square on the 2026 walls. Prices as of August 2026. ### Does pixel advertising help SEO? No. Some walls advertise dofollow links; Square Town does not, and clicks there are counted redirects. ### What replaced pixel advertising? Nothing replaced it; it went quiet. The 2026 revival adds mechanics — pay-to-rank, eviction, decay, favicons instead of pixels.