GTM AI Index
Index › Vendors › The Trade Desk › Alternatives · September 2026 Edition
Two categories · what the models named instead

Alternatives to The Trade Desk, as AI models named them

In the September 2026 Edition, 312 of the 432 answers collected in the two categories where The Trade Desk holds a standing named it neither as a first choice nor as an alternative. These are the products those answers put first, category by category and buyer by buyer. The output is the models' output.

Named instead, most often
StackAdapt53
YouTube Ads28
Meta Ads24
AdRoll21
Vibe.co19
LinkedIn Campaign Manager16
First choices in the 312 answers that did not name The Trade Desk, every category and segment above added together; a product can be counted in several. Each category below keeps its own denominator.

Programmatic and display advertising

Marketing. Six framings, twelve models, one answer each per buyer segment; an answer counts here when The Trade Desk is not its first choice or an alternative in it.
Small businessThe Trade Desk is #7 of 12 here at 4% of first choices, 48 labels.

Sixty-six of the seventy-two answers did not name The Trade Desk; it was the first choice in two. The first choices in those sixty-six answers, fourteen products in all, the eight most named:

StackAdapt26 of 66Head to head →
AdRoll15 of 66Head to head →
Choozle5 of 66Head to head →
Google Ads4 of 66
LinkedIn Campaign Manager4 of 66
Hey Sid3 of 66
AdRoll ABM1 of 66
Blasto DSP1 of 66
6 more in the record.The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe Trade Desk is #3 of 14 here at 11% of first choices, 56 labels.

Forty-three of the seventy-two answers did not name The Trade Desk; it was the first choice in seventeen. The first choices in those forty-three answers, six products in all:

StackAdapt17 of 43Head to head →
AdRoll6 of 43Head to head →
Choozle2 of 43Head to head →
ad:personam2 of 43
AdRoll ABM1 of 43
Google Ads1 of 43
The full mid-market standing →
EnterpriseThe Trade Desk is #1 of 6 here at 43% of first choices, 54 labels.

Twenty-eight of the seventy-two answers did not name The Trade Desk; it was the first choice in thirty-two. The first choices in those twenty-eight answers, seven products in all:

Demandbase2 of 28Head to head →
StackAdapt2 of 28Head to head →
AdSovereign1 of 28
Adobe Advertising1 of 28
Adobe Advertising Cloud DSP1 of 28
Basis1 of 28
Terminus1 of 28
The full enterprise standing →

Video advertising

Marketing. Six framings, twelve models, one answer each per buyer segment; an answer counts here when The Trade Desk is not its first choice or an alternative in it.
Small businessThe Trade Desk is #9 of 9 here at 0% of first choices, 13 labels.

Seventy-two of the seventy-two answers did not name The Trade Desk; it was the first choice in zero. The first choices in those seventy-two answers, eighteen products in all, the eight most named:

Meta Ads19 of 72
Vibe.co14 of 72
YouTube Ads14 of 72
LinkedIn Video Ads7 of 72
TikTok Ads7 of 72
LinkedIn Campaign Manager3 of 72
Google Ads2 of 72
Google/YouTube2 of 72
10 more in the record.The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe Trade Desk is #9 of 9 here at 0% of first choices, 24 labels.

Sixty-one of the seventy-two answers did not name The Trade Desk; it was the first choice in zero. The first choices in those sixty-one answers, twelve products in all, the eight most named:

YouTube Ads14 of 61
StackAdapt8 of 61
LinkedIn Campaign Manager7 of 61
Meta Ads5 of 61
TikTok Ads3 of 61
Vibe.co3 of 61
LinkedIn Video Ads2 of 61
Adwave1 of 61
4 more in the record.The full mid-market standing →
EnterpriseThe Trade Desk is #1 of 10 here at 19% of first choices, 41 labels.

Forty-two of the seventy-two answers did not name The Trade Desk; it was the first choice in sixteen. The first choices in those forty-two answers, thirteen products in all, the eight most named:

Google Display & Video 3603 of 42
Demandbase2 of 42
LinkedIn Campaign Manager2 of 42
LinkedIn Video Ads2 of 42
Vibe.co2 of 42
6sense1 of 42
Adobe Advertising1 of 42
Arcade1 of 42
5 more in the record.The full enterprise standing →

How to read this

A category is asked six ways of each of twelve models on behalf of each buyer segment, so a segment is seventy-two answers. An answer belongs on this page when the judge labeled The Trade Desk neither its first choice nor an alternative in it; the products listed are the first choices those answers made, counted once per answer. An answer that named nothing first, or named The Trade Desk only in passing, is in the denominator and adds to no product. The counts are not the category standing, which is on the category page with its share and rank; they are the same record read from The Trade Desk's side.

Every answer and every label is in the free record. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index, and a product named instead of The Trade Desk was named by a model, not endorsed by anyone.

The Trade Desk's pageAll products