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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Ad Manager

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Ad Manager is a platform for publishers that combines the former DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange products.N/A

    Kevel

    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
    Kevel's (formerly Adzerk) APIs is designed to make it easy for engineers and PMs to build their own server-side, fully-customized ad server. E-retailers and user communities can use Kevel to build ad servers to promote anything from native ads to internal content to sponsored listings (where vendors and sellers pay for their organic listing to be promoted in search and browsing results). According to the vendor, engineers reliably see a significant reduction in dev time using Kevel’s APIs…N/A
    Pricing
    Google Ad ManagerKevel
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google Ad ManagerKevel
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Pricing is customized based on feature needs, support needs, and monthly request volume.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google Ad ManagerKevel
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    Chose Google Ad Manager
    Google Ad Manager is one of the only free to use ad management services out there. While there are several alternatives such as OpenX and Adzerk, Google Ad Manager provides the best bang for your buck (considering you don't spend any money on the actual product itself). …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Ad Manager
    We've used a few other way less robust ad servers, and Google Ad Manager is definitely the top tier ad server you can have as a publisher. There isn't much competition in this space for a large publisher that would make us feel comfortable switching to another ad server. We've …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Ad Manager
    In my current position at this company, we've only ever used Ad Manager due to management's comfort with Google's application suite. I've used other software such as Adzerk, AOL's One, and OpenX in previous roles. I like Ad Manager because it's incredibly intuitive if you've …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Ad Manager
    As I've said in prior comments, I like how the Google Ad Manager makes better use of the Google data and results compared to the others. Yes, I've tried them - I used to evaluate software for a former company. They will all do the job I didn't like their usage as much as I …
    Incentivized
    Kevel
    Chose Kevel
    Kevel was an easier initial implementation for header bidding with prebid. The team worked alongside us to make sure everything was operating as intended. We ultimately switched to Ads Manager to access AdX demand and other features that were not possible with Kevel (for …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Google Ad ManagerKevel
    Ad Network Integration
    Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Google Ad Manager and Kevel
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    7.6
    24 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Kevel
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    30% above category average
    Data Transfer7.524 Ratings00 Ratings
    DSP integration7.719 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Ad Campaigns
    Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Google Ad Manager and Kevel
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    7.4
    35 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Kevel
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    25% above category average
    Ad campaign creation9.235 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Ad deployment8.135 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Display advertising7.234 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Ad display and retargeting segmentation7.233 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Sequence targeting5.025 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Google Ad Manager and Kevel
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    6.9
    34 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Kevel
    9.2
    1 Ratings
    18% above category average
    Ad dashboards5.032 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Ad performance reports7.034 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Ad conversion tracking7.033 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Ad attribution reporting7.030 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Cross-channel ad management8.126 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Ad forecasting and optimization7.030 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google Ad ManagerKevel
    Small Businesses
    AdRoll
    Score3.7 out of 10
    AdRoll
    Score3.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    Score9 out of 10
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Adobe Advertising Cloud
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Adobe Advertising Cloud
    Score8.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google Ad ManagerKevel
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (35 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google Ad ManagerKevel
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Google Ads Manager is great if you need major visibility on a large ad network rather than targeting one specific website, app or platform. Let's be real here if you have any business that is done online (sell products, generate leads, etc) you pretty much have to be on Google. I've tried other advertising solutions including competitor search engines, sponsored content solutions, social media advertising, and none really compare to the traffic you can get that is keyword-driven, meaning a user is actually demonstrating interest in whatever you sell or offer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kevel
    For ad serving, implementing client-side header bidding with prebid was actually easier with Kevel than it is with Google Ad Manager in most cases, particularly for display advertising. I found though that with more complex integrations (like video), there were more solutions and code snippets available with other larger ad servers (Google).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Interface. You can understand how to build the ads very easily. When you first begin, and throughout the process, there are little help icons which explain what you need to understand.
    • Pricing. By this, I mean the ability to change it at any time. You can select a variable rate, or you can preset it. Either way, you can change how much you spend every second if you'd like. This makes it easier to control your budget if you need to make emergency purchases and don't have much space in your budget.
    • Always growing. They are always announcing something new. Always growing and always trying to update.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kevel
    • More personable team that can address customizations needed to the product.
    • Easy to use interface.
    • Frequent product updates with notifications via email.
    • Well documented API.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • Bumper Machine - While this is still in beta, there is a lot of room for improvement for the machine to pick proper clips. I'm sure that will come in time though.
    • Inclusion of a Home Page Button - This is a simple request, truly, but one that bothers me everyday. I have a campaign home button, but it's not accessible unless you go back to the beginning of the platform. If the 'home' button was static, I'd be able to go to my preferred view with one click instead of having to loop around, as there isn't a trustworthy 'back button' option either.
    • Display - This is a big one. I have a love/hate relationship with display campaigns and algorithms. I have seen where they can perform [strongly] but also be massive budget bleeds with little ROI. It's not very industry specific either so I'm hoping to gain more consistency and trust with the future of the display algorithm.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kevel
    • User interface could be faster to load.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    I think it's useful for our team and we rely on it to improve our business. It is within our budget also. Although we still will need an approval from the upper-level management team, I don't see any problem with that
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kevel
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Google
    As I have said, if you want all the Google functionality and can use all of the features that Google offers on a dashboard, it's a great choice. But, I'm not a fan because I think the interface could be redesigned to be more user-friendly - make it color-coded with different options - it just feels now like you can get all, but make it easier for the end designer to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kevel
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Google
    I could say a lot about this topic. As an agency, we get a new [representative] to talk to almost every quarter to go over select accounts and the campaigns within. Most of the time, these [educated representatives], don't provide any new feedback, or I just simply [disagree] with their approach. This is not all the time however. I have learned a lot from a rare few, [individuals] that have given me new strategies and access to betas early on. The other side of support, is the [overseas support platform]. [It] is usually not very helpful, but you can [emphasize] issues and they can research [them]. The Google Tag Implementation team is pristine though. When you need them, you need to set an appointment, which is usually 2 weeks out; they are so over-my-head intelligent, I've never had a bad experience with them and whenever I needed them for a fix, they solved it [within] the first call.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kevel
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    I personally liked it because of the complex features available. Knowing that this comes from Google, I did not have second thoughts - Comes from an Top tier brand. There were other products in the market, however, I chose to stick to this due to the following reasons, Customer support Self help articles
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kevel
    Kevel was an easier initial implementation for header bidding with prebid. The team worked alongside us to make sure everything was operating as intended. We ultimately switched to Ads Manager to access AdX demand and other features that were not possible with Kevel (for instance, EBDA). There are benefits to both but I appreciated the attention we got from Kevel support when we were first working through the implementation. We are still using Kevel for many things, just not as our primary display advertising ad server.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • It had a massively positive impact for us, allowing us to generate revenue from ad space on our website.
    • Being able to custom quote ad space on our site, instead of relying on AdSense allowed us to increase our monthly ad revenue as well.
    • Providing reliable data to advertisers regarding impressions and CTRs helped create repeat-customers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kevel
    • Kevel enabled us to get up and running with client side header bidding when our team was still small and the technology was still new. This improved our ability to monetize our inventory.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Kevel Screenshots

    Screenshot of Adzerk homepageScreenshot of Decision API JSON exampleScreenshot of Management API example