Best Display Advertising Software: 7 Compared

How we chose

Seven platforms, one honest finding: none of them publishes a price. Every pricing page, plans page and homepage was read on 14 November 2026, and no starting price, plan price or free plan exists on any of them. The list is therefore ordered by buying model and fit, not by price, and the comparison below is about how each platform charges and who it suits. No hands-on testing was done. Two details are worth noting: StackAdapt's pricing URL returns a 404, and its plans live at stackadapt.com/plans-and-packages; and AdRoll's pricing page lists its packages — Self-Service Ads, Managed Services Ads and an Advanced Package — without a single dollar figure.

How display advertising platforms charge

Since no price exists to compare, compare the model. The table shows what each platform's model means for your budget.

AdRoll is the clearest pay-as-you-go option here: no fee to get started, and you pay only for media. StackAdapt charges a platform fee as a percentage of media spend, with no minimum spend to start. The enterprise platforms — Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk, Criteo and Smartly — are custom contracts sold through sales, and their price depends on your spend, your contract length and your service needs.

1 1. Google Display & Video 360: best for large advertisers buying across Google inventory

Display & Video 360 is Google's enterprise demand-side platform for buying display, video, audio and connected TV inventory. It is sold through sales only: the product page carries a "Talk to Sales" call to action and no prices, no plans and no trial. It suits a large advertiser that already buys across Google's inventory and needs one platform for planning, buying and measurement at scale. Skip it if you need a published price or a self-serve start, because neither exists.

2 2. The Trade Desk: best for independent programmatic buying at scale

The Trade Desk is an independent demand-side platform that buys inventory across the open internet rather than inside one company's network. Its site offers no prices and no pricing page — the route in is a conversation with sales. It suits an advertiser or agency that wants an independent platform and buys at a scale that justifies a custom contract. Skip it if you want to start without talking to sales, or if your budget is small enough that a custom contract is not worth the vendor's time.

3 3. AdRoll: best for small teams starting display ads with no upfront fee

AdRoll's pricing page lists three packages: Self-Service Ads, Managed Services Ads and an Advanced Package. Self-Service Ads are pay-as-you-go with no fee to get started — you pay only for media. Managed Services Ads require a qualifying ad spend, and the Advanced Package carries an annual commitment; neither publishes a figure. AdRoll suits a small team that wants to start display advertising without an upfront fee or a sales process. Skip AdRoll if you want a managed service without meeting its ad-spend qualification, because the managed tier is gated on spend.

4 4. Criteo: best for retail and ecommerce retargeting

Criteo is built around retargeting: showing ads to people who already visited a store or viewed a product. Its site publishes no prices and has no pricing page. It suits a retailer or ecommerce store that wants to bring back visitors who left without buying, because retargeting is its core strength rather than an add-on. Skip Criteo if you want to compare prices without talking to sales, because the price only appears in a quote.

5 5. StackAdapt: best for self-serve programmatic with no minimum spend

StackAdapt offers five tiers — Digital Basic, Bronze Grow, Silver Scale, Gold Accelerate and Platinum Enterprise — and states there is no minimum spend required to get started. Its own guidance says most teams hit their stride around $5,000 a month in ad spend. The platform fee is a percentage of media spend, with no percentage stated and no hidden tech fees, according to the plans page. StackAdapt suits a team that wants self-serve programmatic buying without a minimum spend. Skip it if your monthly ad budget is well under $5,000, because the vendor's own guidance suggests that is where the platform starts to pay off.

6 6. Choozle: best for agencies that want a simple self-serve platform

Choozle's pricing page loads and contains no dollar figures at all — only a request-a-demo route. It is a self-serve demand-side platform aimed at agencies and mid-size advertisers who want programmatic buying without enterprise complexity. It suits an agency that manages display campaigns for several clients and wants one platform to run them. Skip Choozle if you need a price on the website before you book a demo, because the site does not give one.

7 7. Smartly: best for enterprise teams automating social and display creative

Smartly is an enterprise AI advertising platform that automates creative production and campaign management across social and display. It sells through demo, quote and contract only, and publishes no prices. It suits an enterprise team running many campaigns with many creative variants, where automating the creative work is worth a custom contract. Skip Smartly if you want to buy without a demo and a custom quote, because that route does not exist.

A worked example: choosing by budget, not by price

Take a small ecommerce store spending $3,000 a month on ads. It cannot compare these platforms on price, because no price is published, so it compares on model. AdRoll's pay-as-you-go start costs nothing upfront — the store pays for media only. StackAdapt has no minimum spend, but the vendor's own guidance says most teams hit their stride around $5,000 a month, so $3,000 is below the level where the platform is designed to pay off. The enterprise platforms are not realistic at this budget: they are sold through sales on custom contracts. The store starts with AdRoll, tests display ads for a quarter, and revisits StackAdapt when monthly spend passes $5,000. The numbers are the vendor's own guidance, and the decision follows the model, not a price comparison that cannot be made.

Mistakes to avoid with display advertising software

• Comparing prices that do not exist. No platform here publishes one. A review that quotes a price for these tools is quoting a guess or an old contract.
• Signing without the fee in writing. Ask for the platform fee as a percentage of spend, the minimum spend, the contract length and what counts as billable media — in writing, on the same spend level you asked every other vendor about.
• Confusing media spend with platform cost. The money that buys the ad placements is separate from the platform's fee. A quote that only mentions one of them is incomplete.
• Starting enterprise tools on a small budget. Enterprise platforms are built for scale. A small budget on a platform designed for $50,000 a month will underperform, whatever the sales call promises.
• Forgetting the creative. Display ads need creative work — banners, video, variants. Budget for design alongside media, or the best platform in the world will show weak ads.

Six display advertising terms worth knowing

• Demand-side platform (DSP): software that buys ad inventory from many publishers through one interface.
• Programmatic advertising: buying ad placements automatically, using data and auctions, rather than negotiating each placement.
• Retargeting: showing ads to people who already visited your site or viewed a product.
• Media spend: the money paid for the ad placements themselves, separate from platform fees.
• Platform fee: the charge for using the software, often a percentage of media spend.
• Self-serve: a platform you operate yourself, without the vendor running campaigns for you.

For the wider paid advertising picture, see the best PPC management tool comparison and the programmatic advertising platforms post. The PPC versus SEO budget allocation guide helps split spend between channels, and Adziq's Google Ads service page covers managed campaigns if you want them run for you.

Display Advertising Software at a glance

Common questions

Sources

• Google Display & Video 360
• The Trade Desk
• AdRoll pricing
• Criteo
• StackAdapt plans and packages
• Choozle pricing
• Smartly

Adziq sells marketing services and does not accept payment for placement in its articles. See our editorial policy.