OpenX vs. Skai

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
OpenX
Score 1.0 out of 10
N/A
OpenX is an ad serving platform. It is sold option as a hosted solution for can be purchased as an installed application. It allows for easy inventory management , geo-targeting of ads by country, and provides statistics for each ad placement.N/A
Skai
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Skai (formerly Kenshoo) is a cross-channel advertising solution for search marketing, social media and online advertising. The product aims to give advertisers and agencies the control and automation needed to make better investment decisions across search marketing and online advertising.
$10,000
Starting Price
Pricing
OpenXSkai
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Kenshoo
$10,000
Starting Price
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
OpenXSkai
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeRequired
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
OpenXSkai
Considered Both Products
OpenX
Chose OpenX
OpenX is less focused than Mopub and it has a bigger reach as it is not limited to the mobile app. Unlike Mopub that focuses on performance, OpenX comes from the branding world and is pushing into CTV and other areas of the industry more catered to traditional media agencies …
Chose OpenX
We have used Basis as a DSP but found better results in integrating OpenX with our own bidder. As for Smaato, they are focused only on in-app traffic so they are a niche player. OpenX is a bigger player for agencies that have different campaigns with multiple objectives and …
Chose OpenX
OpenX provides the same inventory you can get on any other SSPs but at lower price points (generally). However, other exchanges have put more resources on curating their inventory and customer support and in OpenX, you may find some nasty surprises in terms of ad quality and …
Chose OpenX
I use OpenX along with Sailthru because the two combined give me the full amount of reporting statistics I need to give to clients. I would say they are equal but different, and both are necessary but it would be great if all of these statistics could be contained within one …
Chose OpenX
We selected OpenX because most of the team had previous experience; it was free and we were able to self-host it.
Chose OpenX
While DART is my perferred ad server, openx is a more cost efficient product and would be my next choice.
Chose OpenX
OpenX probably falls in the middle. I've used MediaPlex, APN & Sitescout. OpenX is probably the second easiest to use.
Chose OpenX
I do not use OpenX as much as I do other tools that are out there in the market these days. It is a solid system which is definitely better than some that are out there, but it needs to become a bit more competitive in my opinion to keep up with the other leaders that are out …
Chose OpenX
Double Click, Adbrite before it became sitescout. We chose Open X because it was easy to integrate into the back end of our site and we liked the reports it provided and the ease of use. Double Click is a Google company, and frankly, while they are good at some technology, …
Chose OpenX
We've used Double Click and both products perform equally well.
Chose OpenX
If OpenX wants to be used or adopted by more desks or RTB partners than it needs to provide the transparency and premium inventory that a AppNexus, ADX and Rubicon provide. This goes for the open exchange and private marketplaces.
Chose OpenX
The ad sales and ad operations team had been utilizing DoubleClick/DART previous to the migration to OpenX. One of the driving factors for the migration to OpenX was to lower costs associated with utilizing a third party such as the DoubleClick/DART system. The ease of use for …
Chose OpenX
I was not responsible for the selection decision, that was done before I joined the company. However, it was the low cost and adaptability that custom integration allowed that made it really the only solution that we knew of.
Skai
Chose Skai
I think Skai beats the competitors with its advanced bidding management system, this is a unique feature of them that if you implement properly, your accounts will surely benefit from this, especially if you have tons of data that the algo can learn from and optimize …
Chose Skai
I personally like Kenshoo better than Marin for a few reasons. When it comes to Ecomm Search, Kenshoo is far better in terms of available features, algorithmic bidding which is more focused on ROAS, and reporting especially for eCommerce. Marin is a good platform, especially …
Chose Skai
Google marketing suite - Good for Google but nothing else
Marin - Was very problematic and lacked easy of use & features
Chose Skai
We selected Kenshoo in 2017 due to its market presence and its notoriety. We learned about Kenshoo's integrations with internal data warehouses, and the bid management aspects were touted as first class. In practice, our unique marketing needs did not align with the limitations …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo's integration with sales and social platforms as well as search made it the only choice when it came to managing campaigns. Other interfaces may be simpler and quicker but Kenshoo's range of external integrations makes it more flexible for certain campaigns and the …
Chose Skai
I definitely prefer Marin for paid search only accounts. I select Kenshoo when my client also purchases Google shopping media, since their proprietary tools there are best in class.
Chose Skai
Some features of Kenshoo outshine other solutions we've evaluated. Kenshoo Infinity Suite is a great product for multi-channel management but overall is less favorable especially from a pricing perspective. We've transitioned several client accounts from Kenshoo to DoubleClick …
Chose Skai
An advantage that Nanigans has over Kenshoo is that their version of 'portfolios' didn't have any budget or flight length requirements and was extremely easy to use. They also offered 'affinity' segments. These are studies they would run on certain audiences that would result …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo is the best in class. With "time" being the most precious resource we have, Kenshoo allows us to get more done in the same amount of time as comparable products.
Chose Skai
I have not explored other platforms.
Chose Skai
While DoubleClick does not fully budget pace accounts I think it overall provides more accurate changes than Kenshoo. When our company selected Kenshoo we were told it would be able to manage hundreds of small accounts with small budgets. It is more designed for accounts that …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo Search offers keyword bid policies based off of sophisticated algorithms rather than simple bid rules. Also, the Kenshoo Desktop Editor allows for extremely easy bulk optimizations. Marin Software doesn't have bid algorithms or an easy-to-use desktop tool. These are …
Chose Skai
Very different tool that Hootsuite - which is a good tool for monitoring, but not for ad management. Kenshoo social was easily implemented since we use Kenshoo Search for paid program. When comparing tools, this one seemed to be the most robust and solved many issues we had - …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo is a more effective and user friendly platform than most competitors. Their tool is more expensive and like I said before, tailored to larger marketing budgets. They set them self apart with the ease of use, the Kenshoo editor, and cross channel functionality. However, …
Features
OpenXSkai
Ad Network Integration
Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Product A and Product B
OpenX
6.6
Ratings
11% below category average
Skai
7.1
Ratings
4% below category average
Data Transfer6.50 Ratings8.50 Ratings
DSP integration6.80 Ratings5.70 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
OpenX
7.0
Ratings
10% below category average
Skai
6.1
Ratings
24% below category average
Ad campaign creation6.80 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Ad deployment6.60 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Display advertising7.30 Ratings4.30 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation6.50 Ratings4.80 Ratings
Sequence targeting7.50 Ratings6.30 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
OpenX
6.6
Ratings
16% below category average
Skai
7.3
Ratings
6% below category average
Ad dashboards5.90 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Ad performance reports6.00 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking6.10 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting7.00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Cross-channel ad management7.20 Ratings5.90 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization7.60 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Best Alternatives
OpenXSkai
Small Businesses
Google Ad Manager
Google Ad Manager
Score 8.5 out of 10
Google Ad Manager
Google Ad Manager
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 9.0 out of 10
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Score 9.0 out of 10
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
OpenXSkai
Likelihood to Recommend
7.3
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
3.6
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
OpenXSkai
Likelihood to Recommend
This is a wonderful product that is well supported and fully backed by OpenX. If you have green staff that require some training to get their foot in the door for basic ad management, this is a great tool. We've never utilized the OpenX ad market so I can't speak to the quality of the ads in that open market, but for in-house ads in complex networks with its targeting tools, this software would be more than suitable to fulfill your needs.
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Kenshoo Search may not be appropriate if you don't spend much on search engine marketing. It also may not be appropriate if you don't care about tracking conversions and are only concerned with increasing awareness. Or, if you care about tracking conversions but don't expect to capture many, Kenshoo Search may not be necessary.
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Pros
  • When it comes to RTB and spending on the open exchange market, the number one reason why we spend in one exchange over another is simple performance
  • When Open X doesn't perform which it tends not to, we have to shut that exchange off. This exchange tends to not perform at a CPA or CPC KPI and tends to not have the safest sites either.
  • Because I only use Open X as an exchange which I tap into from a DSP I can't speak to it's other capabilities.
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  • Customized reporting. There are many features that users can't report out on in power editor. Kenshoo makes it incredibly easy to get everything you need for a raw data dump.
  • Automation. Whether it's automated rules, portfolios or refreshing CRM uploads, Kenshoo helps cut some of the manual tasks out of the process making me more efficient.
  • Staying up to date with Facebook product updates. I can appreciate that Kenshoo does an exceptional job and ensuring new capabilities in Facebook are ready for use in the Kenshoo platform as well.
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Cons
  • Propagation could be improved; ad units that need to go live immediately could take up to 45 minutes to propagate.
  • Over-complexity can be confusing. There are multiple tiers before assigning ad units per order and it seems unnecessary.
  • Real-time reporting or a status dashboard would be great.
Read full review
  • Syncing - I have had many issues where syncs would time out, or not show that changes were posted to Facebook.
  • Library - if there was a library for targeting settings that could be saved and easily accessed and input into new campaigns, that would be very helpful.
  • Updates - seemingly basic tools that a social management platform should have often taken a long time to be released.
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Likelihood to Renew
I would renew use of OpenX as it is a solid ad serving platform that is easy to use, install, and maintain with some great advanced features that give more control to publishers ad ops teams large or small while reducing the costs associated with managing, serving, and delivering ads from third party vendors.
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It's great to have a product like Kenshoo Social. It has a lot of data and is a great tool to use. Honestly, I think we would have looked somewhere else if we didn't have some much data and time invested into the platform. We had used it across search and social, so we invested a lot of time to get it running smoothly. It is very expensive and we think we could have gone elsewhere to get the same results over time. Once they have your data and the system is running smoothly, it's very difficult to go elsewhere
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Usability
I was given the system to use as part of setting up a whole new site from scratch in less than 2 months, with a large number of specialty hub pages to run ads on and lots of content I needed to run disease specific ads on. The system was easy for me to learn on the fly in a very compressed time frame. I would have loved more chance to really dig in under the hood to see all that it could do, but given how fast I had to work, I got everything up and running and looking great. And I did it ahead of my launch deadline too. My only reservation might be for people who are not as patient as I am in picking things up, or as hands on. Customer service was great if I needed them, and a quick start guide with the essentials would be ideal for those people.
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Set-up like other marketing platforms. If you know Google Ads, you know Kenshoo
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Support Rating
They went above and beyond without ever asking for additional money and we met our launch date and immediately started to meet and even surpass our business goals. Nothing was too much trouble, which really stood out compared to other companies I had and was at that time also working with. Customer service can really make or break any business; if i expect my staff to give good customer service, I expect to get it too, and Open X gave it.
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Very responsive and bring fast answers for problems
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Alternatives Considered
Double Click, Adbrite before it became sitescout. We chose Open X because it was easy to integrate into the back end of our site and we liked the reports it provided and the ease of use. Double Click is a Google company, and frankly, while they are good at some technology, their products can be clunky failures AND we are not so sure we want to give them so much data about the inner workings of our business and keyword universe
Read full review
While DoubleClick does not fully budget pace accounts I think it overall provides more accurate changes than Kenshoo. When our company selected Kenshoo we were told it would be able to manage hundreds of small accounts with small budgets. It is more designed for accounts that would be spending minimally thousands of dollars a month. We had extreme issues with Kenshoo budget pacing and increasing our bids. Overall it did not meet our needs, and we will be switching vendors at end of contract
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Return on Investment
  • OpenX made it easy to manage online advertising. At the time I used the product I was the lead developer in charge of implementing the solution but quickly was put into the role of managing the traffic and training other users. It was really easy for a technical user to become a traffic manager. Getting other users trained and up to speed was very efficient.
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  • ROI is harder to track due to reporting/column & time frame default tech in my humble opinion but generally better results when compared to other products
  • Since the interface is difficult to navigate and paid search is a reactive medium, can produce barriers to change.
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ScreenShots