Skai vs. WordStream

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Skai
Score 9.0 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
WordStream
Score 6.9 out of 10
N/A
Wordstream, the eponymous offering from the company in Boston, MA, provides a free tool for analyzing performance "grading" an Adwords campaign, beyond which, Wordstream Advisor provides (for a fee, though a free trial is available) recommendations to optimize a paid advertising campaign on Google, Bing, and Yahoo! search engines, and place ads. Beyond the platform, Wordstream also offers full account management services, for outsourcing one's campaign, and white labeling for…N/A
Pricing
SkaiWordStream
Editions & Modules
Kenshoo
$10,000
Starting Price
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SkaiWordStream
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
SkaiWordStream
Considered Both Products
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, …
WordStream
Chose WordStream
I've never used a system to help with my Google AdWords. This was the first system I had used. WordStream definitely takes the cake though, I have a hard time believing there could be a better system out there. I wouldn't even consider going to look for a new system. I am …
Chose WordStream
WordStream provides descriptions and offers help when you're uncertain about how to fix issues within an account. Its streamlined approach allows you to get twice the work done in the same amount of time. Google Ads is a beast in itself to tackle with having to click in …
Chose WordStream
I prefer WordStream because it leaves the important decisions us. I've heard horror stories of companies that use fully-automated platforms that created HUGE messes for them. WordStream is also much easier to use than other similar platforms that I've used.
Chose WordStream
None. We hadn't really considered a software like WordStream to assist with our pay-per-click advertising campaigns until we were introduced to WordStream. Now, we have no reason to look anywhere else. It's been one of the best software investments that we've made over the last …
Chose WordStream
WordStream is a great supplement to Google Ads. You're basically paying for the user interface and WordStream's AI that helps you uncover efficiencies and opportunities the more you use the product and its 20 Minute Work Week. We used WordStream because we didn't have a Google …
Chose WordStream
None of the tools researched seem to match all that WordStream had to offer. Plus we got a great recommendation from peers!
Chose WordStream
For our needs, WordStream was the most cost-effective AdWords management solution (as compared to Marin). Our real alternative was to continue using AdWords only; we felt that the added benefit of time-saving tools and personal consulting made the added management cost …
Chose WordStream
WordStream is a little different from the competition. There are much more expensive solutions that manage the account for you with more features (Kenshoo, Marin, etc) and there are cheaper solutions out there that offer some of the features that WordStream provides; however, …
Chose WordStream
There is no magic solution; you either want to save the management fees which means you need to learn and spend many hours of managing your AdWords or just hire the right people to do it for you. If we had spent a few dollars more to hire a professional I think we would have …
Chose WordStream
I haven't used any other products like Wordstream in the past.
Chose WordStream
Both Hubspot and Salesforce are not exactly related to what WordSteam does - but very useful for our business.
Chose WordStream
Unfortunately the agency I am with used other products like this for social media management. I have little perspective or insights to provide in regards to this.
Chose WordStream
Affordable, Great Information Resource, Excellent Customer Service, easy, good design, nice reports, multi-dimensional/multi-platform
Chose WordStream
None - WordStream is pretty much an uncontested leader in the AdWords tool department, since we didn't want to go full digital agency.
Chose WordStream
Not as detailed.
Features
SkaiWordStream
Ad Network Integration
Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Product A and Product B
Skai
7.1
Ratings
3% below category average
WordStream
-
Ratings
Data Transfer8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
DSP integration5.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
Skai
6.1
Ratings
25% below category average
WordStream
-
Ratings
Ad campaign creation7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad deployment7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Display advertising4.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation4.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Sequence targeting6.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Skai
7.3
Ratings
6% below category average
WordStream
-
Ratings
Ad dashboards7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad performance reports9.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking6.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Cross-channel ad management5.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization6.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
SkaiWordStream
Small Businesses
Criteo Commerce Growth
Criteo Commerce Growth
Score 8.0 out of 10
SE Ranking
SE Ranking
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 9.0 out of 10
LocaliQ
LocaliQ
Score 8.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Criteo Commerce Growth
Criteo Commerce Growth
Score 8.0 out of 10
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
SkaiWordStream
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.8
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
3.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.6
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
SkaiWordStream
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
Read full review
WordStream is so beneficial to a green digital marketing team. If your team is new to paid ads, this will help immensely. It might not be as beneficial for a company that does not use AdWords and is strictly in social ads.
Read full review
Pros
  • 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.
Read full review
  • Remove duplicates: The platform has a tool that enables marketers to easily identify duplicate keywords across campaigns, ad groups, and the account; from there duplicates can be paused in an effort to improve quality scores and account performance.
  • Bid management: WordStream reveals which current keywords can improve campaign performance by increasing and decreasing their bids - updates can be made on the spot.
  • Ad optimizations: WordStream scans paid search accounts to ensure each ad group is using high performing ads. Marketers can quickly create new ads, and pause ads based on the tool's recommendations.
Read full review
Cons
  • 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.
Read full review
  • This is definitely not for a beginner and require knowledge on how PPC/SEM campaigns are run unless you purchase the premium support package that includes a dedicated representative to which they are very helpful.
  • We had some serious tracking issues and were unable to effectively track the clicks to our website. Because of this, I had to start from scratch and decided not to use WordStream.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
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
Read full review
I am not the PPC manager here so I have to use the products available.
Read full review
Usability
Set-up like other marketing platforms. If you know Google Ads, you know Kenshoo
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Very responsive and bring fast answers for problems
Read full review
I have not had any experience with the customer support team for platform issues, but the account representative checks in with us often and is always available to answer questions. We will usually get on quarterly review calls so that she can share any new updates to the platform and answer questions.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
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
Read full review
I've never used a system to help with my Google AdWords. This was the first system I had used. WordStream definitely takes the cake though, I have a hard time believing there could be a better system out there. I wouldn't even consider going to look for a new system. I am confident WordStream has owned the Google AdWords space.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • 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.
Read full review
  • Since beginning to use the tool, we've seen our search impression share nearly double for some campaigns.
  • We've increased our click-through rates by over 25% since adding WordStream to our toolset.
  • I'm more confident in the strategies that are having an impact on our cost per conversion, and can better forecast our impact for the future.
Read full review
ScreenShots