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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Ad Manager

    Score8.3 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

    Score7.9 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
    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
    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
    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
    93%
    Would buy again
    14 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    14 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    14 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    83%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    75%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 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
    7.8
    28 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Kevel
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    31% above category average
    Data Transfer7.628 Ratings00 Ratings
    DSP integration8.122 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Ad Campaigns
    Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Google Ad Manager and Kevel
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    7.4
    40 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Kevel
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    24% above category average
    Ad campaign creation7.640 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Ad deployment7.040 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Display advertising7.639 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Ad display and retargeting segmentation7.238 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Sequence targeting7.528 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Google Ad Manager and Kevel
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    6.7
    39 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Kevel
    9.2
    1 Ratings
    17% above category average
    Ad dashboards6.537 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Ad performance reports7.439 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Ad conversion tracking6.738 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Ad attribution reporting6.834 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Cross-channel ad management7.029 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Ad forecasting and optimization5.734 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google Ad ManagerKevel
    Small Businesses
    AdRoll
    Score3.7 out of 10
    AdRoll
    Score3.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Criteo Commerce Growth
    Score8 out of 10
    Criteo Commerce Growth
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Criteo Commerce Growth
    Score8 out of 10
    Criteo Commerce Growth
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google Ad ManagerKevel
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.2
    (40 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    6.8
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google Ad ManagerKevel
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    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
    • 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.
    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
    • 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.
    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
    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.
    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
    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.
    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
    • 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.
    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