Outbrain
The Trade Desk
| Feature | Outbrain | The Trade Desk |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Contact sales | Contact sales |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Rating | 3.9 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | content-marketers, enterprise-brands, publishers, agencies | media-buyers, agencies, enterprise-advertisers, programmatic-teams |
| Founded | 2006 | 2009 |
| Native Ads | ✓ | ✗ |
| Smartfeed | ✓ | ✗ |
| Audience Targeting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Conversion Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| A B Testing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Brand Safety | ✓ | ✗ |
| Programmatic Buying | ✗ | ✓ |
| Connected Tv | ✗ | ✓ |
| Audio Ads | ✗ | ✓ |
| Data Marketplace | ✗ | ✓ |
| Attribution | ✗ | ✓ |
| Identity Graph | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Outbrain Pros
- Premium publisher network
- Good content amplification
- Strong audience targeting
- Better brand safety than competitors
✗ Outbrain Cons
- Higher minimum spend
- Lower volume than Taboola
- Requires quality content to perform
✓ The Trade Desk Pros
- Best-in-class DSP technology
- Excellent CTV capabilities
- Strong data marketplace
- Transparent pricing
✗ The Trade Desk Cons
- Enterprise minimum spend
- Requires programmatic expertise
- Complex for beginners
The Verdict
Outbrain is built for content marketers and enterprise brands, with a focus on native-ads and smartfeed. The Trade Desk targets media buyers and agencies and leads with programmatic-buying and connected-tv.
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.
The Trade Desk edges out on user ratings (4.5 vs 3.9). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
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.
Bottom line: The Trade Desk has a slight overall edge — but if premium publisher network matters most to you, Outbrain may still be the right call.