AppNexus vs. The Trade Desk

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
AppNexus
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
AppNexus AppNexus offers online auction infrastructure and technology for data management, optimization, financial clearing and support for directly negotiated advertising campaigns. It integrates with advertising sources including Google's DoubleClick, Microsoft's AdECN, and aggregators.[3]N/A
The Trade Desk
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
The Trade Desk is the eponymous flagship product from the company headquartered in Ventura California, a demand-side / data management hybrid platform (DSP / DMP).N/A
Pricing
AppNexusThe Trade Desk
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AppNexusThe Trade Desk
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
AppNexusThe Trade Desk
Considered Both Products
AppNexus
Chose AppNexus
Appnexus is less retargeting-focused than Criteo. Their solutions are more focused on building awareness and not so much on the bottom of the funnel and on conversions. Regarding Mopub, their focus is on mobile, and Appnexus, even though it has a very strong mobile set of …
Chose AppNexus
The TTD platform seems to have better CTV/OLV inventory, so that is typically preferred over AppNexus (APN). Usually, if clients have an internal desk, they will use TTD, which can often lead to us bidding against them, which is also another benefit of running campaigns within …
Chose AppNexus
We use AppNexus as a part of a full advertising stack which includes the other platforms listed below. AppNexus is similar in it's offering and also offers unique header bidding options which help it stand out slightly against the other options in the demand side platform …
Chose AppNexus
AppNexus is a different kind of DSP. They put a lot of focus on taking care of their ecosystem, they are very restrictive in which kind of ads you can serve there. They audit all of the creatives, and that's why they never have issues with fraud and are good for branding …
Chose AppNexus
AppNexus has more advanced targeting options as well as better publishers than The Trade Desk. Even if the system is harder to use and less intuitive they have a lot of CTV inventory and are at the forefront of the industry. They should expand on other markets to improve their …
Chose AppNexus
Qlikview's dashboard is hard to configure. Also, it is unable to report on metrics by section or DMA. It does not update data that have been corrected. There is no visualization with Qlikview.
Chose AppNexus
Appnexus reporting was significantly more granular than Rubicon. It's reporting also was better organized and felt more trustworthy when pulling historical data.
Chose AppNexus
Before using AppNexus we have used Ad Juggler and compared to Ad Juggler, AppNexus is sophisticated ad server and the UI is awesome.
Chose AppNexus
n/a
Chose AppNexus
N/A
Chose AppNexus
Appnexus is the only one that i have used but I don't see why I would use anything else. It fits all of my needs, has extra things that I never got a chance to use and I look forward to learning and playing more with the data tools. I also like knowing that our user data is …
Chose AppNexus
Adobe Photoshop,Basecamp,DoubleClick,GoToMeeting,McAfee,Synthesio,WebEx Meetings
Chose AppNexus
AppNexus stacks up very well and works to mend across similar products, and to our proprietary technologies. They've created a platform that's close to a one-stop shop that spawns across a number of technologies and services, which is great from an advertising or publishing …
Chose AppNexus
Google Marketing Platform is the platform we used prior to AppNexus, while Google Marketing works innately with so many other platforms and does a wonderful job of streamlining everything we thought the vast features that AppNexus brings to the table would assist us better. …
The Trade Desk
Chose The Trade Desk
compared to these three, stack adapt is a bit easier to get going plus it's less expensive. I still love Google ads and meta ads for the ability to own the moment in terms of dashboard. Feels like you have more "control" with google ads and meta ads, even if that isn't the case.
Chose The Trade Desk
We compared The Trade Desk against a number of competing programmatic media buying platforms including Google's DV360, Centro's Basis platform, Adobe Advertising Cloud, and the Simpli.fi platform. In the end, we felt that The Trade Desk provides the most tools, options, …
Chose The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk is a much better product than AppNexus. Even though both products showed promise awhile back, AppNexus stopped innovating and The Trade Desk became specialists on data, cross site tracking and CTV inventory thus having a better and more unique product that …
Chose The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk provides the best overall value of all features in one. We didn't evaluate other competitors because The Trade Desk came highly recommended to us by our Board of Directors. Perhaps for other companies' evaluations, we would recommend having example campaigns and …
Chose The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk allows you to manage multiple display platforms from one interface. Google Ads only allows you to advertise on their platform and their network. This limits your ability to find new niche opportunities with Display Advertising. Although Google Ads claims to be on …
Chose The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk is more universal and widely known than their competition. They will be able to provide you with a lot of inventory, but the competition is more oriented towards specific objectives. Vungle specializes in video, Mopub on in app traffic and AppLovin on high impact …
Chose The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk is not as focused on connected TV as Appnexus. Also, they are more open as Appnexus is mostly focused on building a walled garden, while The Trade Desk is focusing on making the internet more open. However, they lack the exclusive publishers that Appnexus have. …
Chose The Trade Desk
TradeDesk is more extensive like DBM compared to DX. Offers an easier building process with templates and being able to duplicate and share libraries at the partner level.

I find TradeDesk clears at higher CPMs than the other platforms. Also tends to perform well for in-view …
Features
AppNexusThe Trade Desk
Ad Network Integration
Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Product A and Product B
AppNexus
8.5
Ratings
14% above category average
The Trade Desk
-
Ratings
Data Transfer8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
DSP integration9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
AppNexus
8.0
Ratings
3% above category average
The Trade Desk
-
Ratings
Ad campaign creation8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad deployment9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Display advertising7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Sequence targeting8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
AppNexus
8.2
Ratings
6% above category average
The Trade Desk
-
Ratings
Ad dashboards9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad performance reports7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Cross-channel ad management9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AppNexusThe Trade Desk
Small Businesses
Google Ad Manager
Google Ad Manager
Score 8.5 out of 10
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 9.0 out of 10
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10
Enterprises
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Score 9.0 out of 10
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AppNexusThe Trade Desk
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
4.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
5.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
2.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
4.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AppNexusThe Trade Desk
Likelihood to Recommend
AppNexus is well suited to use for programmatic campaigns that we have to launch for clients. Everything from standard display, native, high-impact, and video can run within the platform. Our trading team is well experienced within AppNexus (APN), and it's typically the first DSP they learn when starting.
Read full review
We are a large company, but The Trade Desk seems like it would also work well for small companies. In our limited deployment, we focused on the USA market and Digital Marketing, but we see this platform working for global markets, multi-language, and across all paid search engines. They provide great user engagement and dashboard reporting to help us manage each campaign in real-time. The Trade Desk seems to do all of these things well and would work for most companies. I have yet to see a campaign and/or executive initiative that The Trade Desk can't handle. We have had a favorable experience and believe it has met every objective we have.
Read full review
Pros
  • As per my experience they have strong support personnel. Solving the issues as and when required.
  • We can solve certain issues like campaign performance, inventory optimization and more with the help of AppNexus wiki. We get all the required information in the Wiki itself.
  • They have given the right platform to both buyers and sellers to workout and meet their digital marketing needs and goals.
Read full review
  • Manage multiple client accounts for Display Advertising
  • Manage multiple clients' Display Advertising across an array of Display Platforms
  • We were also able to manage clients' Video and Native Advertising Campaigns
Read full review
Cons
  • Better visualization and dashboard will make it a perfect product.
  • The product concept is hard to master. More video training in addition to the interactive training may help.
  • More report templates will make my life easier since it takes time to build one.
Read full review
  • They are not very transparent in terms of margins and fees.
  • They need to get more video inventory, there is not enough.
  • The reporting they provide is a bit limited.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
I love almost everything about AppNexus because I feel like the user data is easy to track because of the identifiers, you can see which adverts got clicked and which were ignored. We can track the location of the ad on the page fold and this makes it so much easier for future campaigns. The only thing I don't like is that the data is only kept for a year, and I'd like it for a longer period of time
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
Because I think the interface is kind of confusing at the beginning and it confuses you a lot.
Read full review
easy to understand dashboards and the self started ability to get going on your own terms. It's great to target niche groups across the world while still being able to report at a high level to C-suite. Wish it drove more conversions, but display can be a struggle there. Overall, would use it again.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
I've never had any problems with appnexus - the software is always available
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Performance
Yes, everything works great in that sense
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Because the support team does give you support, they take 24hrs to get back to you but once they open a ticket they focus on resolving the issue for you. My only problem is that you don't have a specific account representative assigned to you.
Read full review
We noted no issues with our limited interaction with support. The software operated just as expected and we found that we were able to navigate needs on our own. We understand that The Trade Desk offers excellent support, so we believe it will be a good resource to us in the future.
Read full review
Online Training
Online training are not user friendly and not easy to understand
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Appnexus is less retargeting-focused than Criteo. Their solutions are more focused on building awareness and not so much on the bottom of the funnel and on conversions. Regarding MoPub, their focus is on mobile, and Appnexus, even though it has a very strong mobile set of solutions, is specialized on CTV and other media channels.
Read full review
We compared The Trade Desk against a number of competing programmatic media buying platforms including Google's DV360, Centro's Basis platform, Adobe Advertising Cloud, and the Simpli.fi platform. In the end, we felt that The Trade Desk provides the most tools, options, advanced technology, and access to third-party solutions than anything other DSP/DMP on the market. TTD has leaned into forming a long-term relationship with our agency, and they continue to provide great strategic service.
Read full review
Scalability
Because it's a great DSP but not the best
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • After using AppNexus for our banner ads, which used to be a simple task became a complex one and we lost time building it out.
  • After realizing there is no dedicated way to contact AppNexus for troubleshooting and exchanging many emails going into long threads we lost even more time.
  • Our return on investment was poor with AppNexus due to the vastness of the platform and poor support experience limiting what we could do and losing time.
Read full review
  • Positively impacting ability to delivery in-view KPI campaigns across ad types (display, high impact, preroll).
  • Slightly higher pricing structure requires a bit more conservative bidding in this platform compared to others.
  • The customer service has been top notch. Adding to the confidence in building a lasting partnership. Access to product betas and offering product feedback are of interest to our organization.
Read full review
ScreenShots