TrustRadius

AppLovin Exchange (ALX) vs. ironSource

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
AppLovin Exchange (ALX)
Score 6.9 out of 10
N/A
AppLovin is a mobile advertising optimization platform from the company of the same name headquartered in California.N/A
ironSource
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
ironSource (or Supersonic before ironSource and Supersonic merged under the ironSource brand) is a mobile app monetization and mobile advertising application. ironSource (the company) is headquartered in Tel Aviv.N/A
Pricing
AppLovin Exchange (ALX)ironSource
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AppLovin Exchange (ALX)ironSource
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AppLovin Exchange (ALX)ironSource
Considered Both Products
AppLovin Exchange (ALX)
Verified User
Anonymous
Chose AppLovin Exchange (ALX)
Of all of the competitors above, AppLovin is the one that is more focused on gaming and that has a better pool of users in terms of conversion rate. While Pubmatic and Magnate offer better solutions for CTV, AppLovin is better than Inmobi and MoPub regarding in-app formats and …
Verified User
Anonymous
Chose AppLovin Exchange (ALX)
I think AppLovin is much better than these three apps combined because it provides a better opportunity for a business to scale up on its mobile site and it helps new businesses grow their ROI. The company has been around since 2012 and it boasts 300 million subscribers so it …
Gabriela Band | TrustRadius Reviewer
Gabriela Band
Sales Specialist
Chose AppLovin Exchange (ALX)
AppLovin has focused and put resources into the gaming vertical. They have found a niche space where they can dominate the marken and they have been investing in it to become the market leaders. Contrary to other ad tech players that want to be in every market, they have …
Verified User
Anonymous
Chose AppLovin Exchange (ALX)
AppLovin is more focused on high impact formats instead of other exchanges that are more focused on banners and standard sizes. Also, their fraud controls are much more strict, which is a great advantage.
ironSource
Verified User
Anonymous
Chose ironSource
We were wanting to expand our channels, and IS stood out from the others because of their presence in other verticals that suited our target audience. We would not propose utilizing IS to replace any of your existing DSPs, but rather to supplement the DSPs you are already using.
Verified User
Anonymous
Chose ironSource
Very good service. Self serve platform in compared with the other apps. Would recommend it to try new channels.
Kimberly Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Kimberly Smith
Director digital
Chose ironSource
ironSource has more reach in the USA than other players that are focused on smaller geos. I would also say that Google is a big competitor with its DV360 and we use them as well, but ironSource is more focused on branding and Google provides more options for campaigns that have …
Gabriela Band | TrustRadius Reviewer
Gabriela Band
Sales Specialist
Chose ironSource
ironSource is more oriented toward gaming than MoPub and Smaato, which are focused on other verticals, but it is in direct competition with AppLovin. I selected ironSource because their support team and customer service is faster and has a deeper understanding of the product …
Best Alternatives
AppLovin Exchange (ALX)ironSource
Small Businesses
Google AdMob
Google AdMob
Score 3.1 out of 10
Google AdMob
Google AdMob
Score 3.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Yahoo Native
Yahoo Native
Score 6.6 out of 10
Yahoo Native
Yahoo Native
Score 6.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Marin Software
Marin Software
Score 9.1 out of 10
Marin Software
Marin Software
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AppLovin Exchange (ALX)ironSource
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.8
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AppLovin Exchange (ALX)ironSource
Likelihood to Recommend
AppLovin is a great app if you are trying to grow your business and want to expand into mobile gaming or the mobile industry in general. It is less appropriate for a business that wants to set up a traditional store and not grow into the mobile gaming industry. This app is very popular in the gaming industry as it boasts over 300 million users as of June 2022.
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
Although IS is mostly utilized for apps in the gaming vertical, and the bulk of their publishers are also in the gaming vertical, we have had some success using its DSP. As a non-gaming app, we occasionally struggle to find a reliable source of constant inventory and growth. However, with IS, we've found a few good pockets (publishers) that appear to back out extremely well for us.
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
Pros
  • Very good quality. Their CTRs are above average.
  • Great support team, very personable and helpful
  • Exclusive publishers, mostly on the gaming category
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
  • Great reporting
  • Dedicated AM to help get the best use of the product
  • Exclusive deals with big publishers
Kimberly Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Kimberly Smith
Director digital
Read full review
Cons
  • Support team takes a lot of time to answer
  • Not a lot banner inventory
  • Really high CPM prices on the platform
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
  • Very small inventory for iOS in Latin.
  • Sometimes does not deliver at the set targets.
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
Usability
AppLovin has been a great partner for us. We have used them through our DSP and gotten great results with them. Their focus is on monetizing publishers' inventory and they could put more resources into their standalone service as an SSP to make sure DSPs can consider them strategic partners for the long term.
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
AppLovin's support team is their weakest point. They are not very responsive and they tend to provide solutions that do not fix the problem. It seems like they will only be proactive if you are a very big client and by doing that they are preventing the rest of the client base from increasing spend on their platform and growing their accounts
Gabriela Band | TrustRadius Reviewer
Gabriela Band
Sales Specialist
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Of all of the competitors above, AppLovin is the one that is more focused on gaming and that has a better pool of users in terms of conversion rate. While PubMatic and Magnate offer better solutions for CTV, AppLovin is better than InMobi and MoPub regarding in-app formats and inventory.
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
Very good service. Self serve platform in compared with the other apps. Would recommend it to try new channels.
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • We have seen good CPAs, increasing budgets and improving ROI.
  • We have bid aggressively in most cases reducing our margin.
  • Overall positive impact by allowing us to reach more users.
Gabriela Band | TrustRadius Reviewer
Gabriela Band
Sales Specialist
Read full review
  • Helps us deliver on our campagins, improving ROI
  • Inventory quite expensive, decreasing ROI
  • Not transparent on margins, which is not good for the business
Gabriela Band | TrustRadius Reviewer
Gabriela Band
Sales Specialist
Read full review
ScreenShots