Criteo
Meta Ads Manager
| Feature | Criteo | Meta Ads Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Contact sales | Contact sales |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Rating | 4 / 5 | 4.1 / 5 |
| Best For | ecommerce-retailers, d2c-brands, agencies, performance-marketers | ecommerce, dtc-brands, agencies, local-businesses |
| Founded | 2005 | 2007 |
| Dynamic Retargeting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Product Recommendations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Retail Media | ✓ | ✗ |
| Audience Targeting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Commerce Insights | ✓ | ✗ |
| Omnichannel Ads | ✓ | ✗ |
| Carousel Ads | ✗ | ✓ |
| Video Ads | ✗ | ✓ |
| Retargeting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Lookalike Audiences | ✗ | ✓ |
| Conversion Api | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Criteo Pros
- Excellent retargeting performance
- AI-powered product recommendations
- Large retail media network
- Strong ROAS for ecommerce
✗ Criteo Cons
- Primarily retargeting focused
- Complex reporting
- Minimum spend requirements
✓ Meta Ads Manager Pros
- Huge audience
- Advanced targeting
- Visual ad formats
- Retargeting capabilities
✗ Meta Ads Manager Cons
- iOS privacy impacts
- Rising costs
- Complex reporting
The Verdict
Criteo is built for ecommerce retailers and d2c brands, with a focus on dynamic-retargeting and product-recommendations. Meta Ads Manager targets ecommerce and dtc brands and leads with audience-targeting and carousel-ads.
Both tools use custom enterprise pricing — you'll need to contact sales for a quote, which makes direct cost comparison difficult.
Neither tool offers a free plan, so factor the subscription cost into your decision from the start.
Both tools are a solid fit for agencies — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.