Adobe Audience Manager vs. Google Ad Manager

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Audience Manager
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Audience Manager is a data management platform (DMP) that is integrated into the Adobe Marketing Cloud.N/A
Google Ad Manager
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Google Ad Manager is a platform for publishers that combines the former DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange products.N/A
Pricing
Adobe Audience ManagerGoogle Ad Manager
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe Audience ManagerGoogle Ad Manager
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
Adobe Audience ManagerGoogle Ad Manager
Considered Both Products
Adobe Audience Manager
Chose Adobe Audience Manager
Adobe Audience Manager is more sophisticated than Google Ad Manager, and it is mainly for enterprise-level audience management. Also, it is integrating well with Adobe Analytics, which we use for digital analytics. Google Ad Manager is more for small and mid-size companies, so …
Chose Adobe Audience Manager
I personally like the Adobe Audience Manager interface and it's easier to use for beginners. It also has some features that Google does not, nor do its other competitors. It is worth the money and time spent, overall. I feel like it gives a bigger and more in-depth picture to …
Google Ad Manager

No answer on this topic

Features
Adobe Audience ManagerGoogle Ad Manager
Data Collection
Comparison of Data Collection features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Audience Manager
8.6
16 Ratings
5% above category average
Google Ad Manager
-
Ratings
Collection of first-party data8.116 Ratings00 Ratings
Collection of third-party data8.116 Ratings00 Ratings
Access to Third-party Data Providers9.616 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Classification
Comparison of Data Classification features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Audience Manager
7.3
16 Ratings
12% below category average
Google Ad Manager
-
Ratings
Audience taxonomy7.916 Ratings00 Ratings
Tag Management6.215 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Analysis Dashboard7.816 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Network Integration
Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Audience Manager
8.9
16 Ratings
11% above category average
Google Ad Manager
7.8
28 Ratings
6% above category average
Data Transfer8.916 Ratings7.528 Ratings
DSP integration8.815 Ratings8.022 Ratings
DMP Analytics
Comparison of DMP Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Audience Manager
6.8
16 Ratings
14% below category average
Google Ad Manager
-
Ratings
Campaign Analytics5.516 Ratings00 Ratings
Audience Analytics8.116 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Audience Manager
-
Ratings
Google Ad Manager
7.4
40 Ratings
6% below category average
Ad campaign creation00 Ratings7.840 Ratings
Ad deployment00 Ratings7.140 Ratings
Display advertising00 Ratings7.639 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation00 Ratings7.238 Ratings
Sequence targeting00 Ratings7.328 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Audience Manager
-
Ratings
Google Ad Manager
6.7
39 Ratings
15% below category average
Ad dashboards00 Ratings6.437 Ratings
Ad performance reports00 Ratings7.439 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking00 Ratings6.638 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting00 Ratings6.834 Ratings
Cross-channel ad management00 Ratings7.029 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization00 Ratings5.934 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe Audience ManagerGoogle Ad Manager
Small Businesses
MediaMath
MediaMath
Score 7.4 out of 10
Criteo Commerce Growth
Criteo Commerce Growth
Score 8.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Adobe Real-Time CDP
Adobe Real-Time CDP
Score 8.3 out of 10
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Real-Time CDP
Adobe Real-Time CDP
Score 8.3 out of 10
Criteo Commerce Growth
Criteo Commerce Growth
Score 8.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe Audience ManagerGoogle Ad Manager
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(16 ratings)
8.6
(36 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(10 ratings)
8.4
(4 ratings)
Support Rating
7.8
(10 ratings)
7.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe Audience ManagerGoogle Ad Manager
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
If you are already using multiple other pieces of the Adobe Experience Cloud stack, adobe audience manager is an easy choice. It allows for quick and easy data activation for your first and potentially brokered 2nd party data. However this product will likely be absorbed into the adobe experience platform (AEP) soon. In the end I would wait to see where adobe is truly headed with this product before investing heavily without additional heavy adobe investments.
Read full review
Google
I like that I can see several clients in one place, which can be convenient. However, the UX could be a lot better as outlined previously. In other words, the benefits of combining clients into the Ad Manager don't seem to be much more beneficial than logging into each client's ad account separately
Read full review
Pros
Adobe
  • We are able to generate reports that provide valuable insights into potential customer behavior, allowing us to better focus our marketing efforts.
  • By allowing us to understand who are key audiences are and how they overlap with other brands and products, AAM allows us to get a fuller picture of how we should target our audience.
  • Reporting in AAM is wonderful in that it is easy to understand and exportable. The use of graphics and updates make it easier to share insights with various team members--even those with minimum experience in marketing and analytics.
Read full review
Google
  • The obvious is the data - Google Ads Manager gives me essential and even critical data about which jobs and industries are hot right now and what is driving the most response.
  • Google Ad Manager gives us more control over the search engine results page as we get more visibility and real estate on our branded search terms and job/industry-specific search terms.
  • Google Ad Manager gives us the chance to compete with major national players in job recruitment, Monster, Indeed, LinkedIn, etc.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • Biggest challenge we faced is teaching the use of it to our employees how to use it. The UI Should be easy and to understand for all fields.
  • The AdWords integration is not easy to do.
  • UI is sometimes slow and doesn't load Analyticals for more than 24 hours.
Read full review
Google
  • Support. Not that they don't call or offer help, it's that our account people are bullies. I tell them I don't have time, so I am insulted and told that I need to get in front of the laptop otherwise I have "failed the company." I have never had a situation where I wasn't bullied by our Ad reps. They don't respect or value our time, which can make their calls frustrating.
  • Too quick on support. They don't take the time to understand the product. We are a preschool which shares a name with a popular motorcycle. An Ad rep insisted he knew the company so well that he could help me within five minutes. After being interrupted frequently, I just let him continue to tell me how I "could increase awareness of our aerodynamic seat design by creating ads with those keywords..."
  • Better management of trademark keywords and program awareness. We switched over to a new site, the domain changed for about ten seconds. All of our ads were unapproved and put on pause. The email stated it would be fixed very quickly, but I had to go in for the last 3 days to reactivate each one individually.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
No answers on this topic
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
Read full review
Usability
Adobe
Overall usability is great, as are most of Adobe's software. Maybe a UI refresh could make it a bit easier to do advanced functions or reporting but, overall, it works very well. This is something you take for granted with Adobe solutions because when you try another vendor you realize how bad it can be.
Read full review
Google
While most of Google Ad Manager is user-friendly, certain parts of the ad creation process could use some improvements. Specifically, the way you insert keywords can be clunky and time-consuming, and I would like to see better and more keyword suggestions when designing a campaign.
Read full review
Support Rating
Adobe
AAM has good support, but the support is not as available, due to waiting time and queue. The instructions presented are available, but it navigation is not easy between pages. However, instructions are usually direct and straightforward, but any underlying thoughts or questions won’t be easily answered without support from their service.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
I personally like the Adobe Audience Manager interface and it's easier to use for beginners. It also has some features that Google does not, nor do its other competitors. It is worth the money and time spent, overall. I feel like it gives a bigger and more in-depth picture to our company's audience than other programs.
Read full review
Google
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 preferred the Google information - and I said even that had flaws - so you have to realize that nothing is completely perfect so far.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Overall a Positive Return for Business who go All in on the Adobe Stack
  • Solid work for brokering and anonymously sharing data between first and second parties
  • The death of TRUE 3rd party data has lessened the effectiveness of all DMPs
Read full review
Google
  • I was able to work well with my budgets - mainly because of the reports.
  • I saw a great spike in the way my ad traffic increased.
  • It was a very easy way to work with Google Ad Manager than connecting other platforms with less compatibility - Less investment.
Read full review
ScreenShots