Programmatic and display advertising · September 2026 Edition
StackAdapt vs The Trade Desk
Ten of twelve models named StackAdapt first on the direct prompt; one named The Trade Desk. Both were named by all twelve models and StackAdapt carries 54 labels and The Trade Desk 56, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in nine categories this edition.
By Trade Desk, Ventura, United States, founded 2009. Named in seven categories this edition.
First-choice share61%11%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate7%41%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#3A position in a field of 14; printed, not drawn.
Labels5456A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, StackAdapt reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.AdRoll ABM was named alongside these two in seven of the twelve direct answers. StackAdapt vs AdRoll · AdRoll vs The Trade Desk
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the programmatic and display advertising page.
By framing
How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
StackAdaptFirst choices, of twelve modelsThe Trade Desk
Direct1011 against StackAdapt · 8 against The Trade Desk
Paraphrase1014 against The Trade Desk
Comparative09
Budget-constrained401 against StackAdapt · 8 against The Trade Desk
Scale-constrained431 against The Trade Desk
Negative032 against StackAdapt · 2 against The Trade Desk
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.
The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where StackAdapt and The Trade Desk stood in it.
StackAdapt first, The Trade Desk an alternative
10 of 12 modelsThe Trade Desk was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5StackAdapt alternatives: AdRoll ABM, Hey Sid, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Gemini 3.5 FlashStackAdapt alternatives: AdRoll ABM, Choozle, Metadata.io
Perplexity SonarStackAdapt alternatives: Basis, DV360, Demandbase, The Trade Desk
Grok 4.1 FastStackAdapt alternatives: Demandbase, Google Display & Video 360, Hey Sid, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Mistral SmallStackAdapt alternatives: AdRoll ABM, Hey Sid
DeepSeek V4 FlashStackAdapt alternatives: AdRoll ABM, Demandbase, Hey Sid, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Llama 4 MaverickStackAdapt
Kimi K2StackAdapt alternatives: AdRoll ABM, Hey Sid
GLM 4.7 FlashXStackAdapt alternatives: AdRoll ABM, Amazon DSP, Google Display & Video 360
MiniMax M2.5StackAdapt alternatives: Google Display & Video 360, Hey Sid, The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk first, StackAdapt not the choice
1 of 12 modelsStackAdapt was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Qwen 3.7 FlashThe Trade Desk alternatives: Demandbase, Google Display & Video 360, Zeta Global
Neither was named
1 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.GPT-5.4 miniAdRoll ABM alternatives: 6sense, Demandbase
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
StackAdapt leads by twenty-eight points.
StackAdapt32%#1 of 12The Trade Desk4%#7 of 12Mid-marketThe figures above
StackAdapt leads by fifty points.
StackAdapt61%#1 of 14The Trade Desk11%#3 of 14Enterprise
The order flips: The Trade Desk leads at enterprise.
The Trade Desk43%#1 of 6StackAdapt9%#3 of 6What the models said about StackAdapt
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of five in this category shown.
“Why avoid: If CTV represents over 40% of planned spend, these platforms should be eliminated” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“StackAdapt if CTV is a major share of your budget, you need access to major walled gardens” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“I'd choose StackAdapt for most companies with a limited budget because it is the most consistently recommended *low-to-mid budget* platform” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · first choice
“Highly regarded for its intuitive UI, excellent customer support, absence of heavy minimum spends, and robust AI-driven optimizations” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“StackAdapt is a standout here. It requires no ad-ops specialist... For B2B / ABM campaigns: Start with StackAdapt.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
What the models said about The Trade Desk
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“Avoid DV360/Trade Desk/Amazon DSP: High mins ($25K–$50K/month), fees make them unviable below that.” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · hard negative
“Avoid Demandbase or The Trade Desk unless your budget is comfortably into six figures annually” Kimi K2 · paraphrase prompt · hard negative
“Platforms to Avoid (for Mid-Market) | The Trade Desk | Requires ~$20K+/month minimum” Kimi K2 · direct prompt · hard negative
“The Trade Desk is often a strong starting point because it excels at ABM, offers granular targeting, has competitive pricing with lower minimum commitments” Claude Haiku 4.5 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“The Trade Desk is the largest independent DSP on the market... champion of the "open web," offering unbiased attribution.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“The Trade Desk and DV360 are the main choices when you want broad reach across many publishers and premium CTV.” Perplexity Sonar · comparative prompt · first choice
Comparisons are drawn for the top three products in each category. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.