amBrain

The Trade Desk alternatives: fee model, contract terms and when to run your own DSP

Published Sep 23, 2026Facts checked: Sep 23, 2026

Short answer

The Trade Desk is a self-service DSP whose revenue comes from "a platform fee generally based on a percentage of our clients' total platform spend", on master services agreements that generally run one year, renew automatically and are "terminable at any time upon 60 days' notice by either party".[1] It publishes no price.[2] Stay while that fee is smaller than a bidding team and its servers, and while your advantage is in planning and buying. Look at StackAdapt, Display & Video 360, Amazon DSP, Beeswax, a white-label DSP such as Epom, or your own bidder when the fee grows with every budget increase or your model and your data need to decide each bid.

On this page

What The Trade Desk sells and how it charges

The Trade Desk sells access to its demand-side platform to agencies and brands, who run campaigns on it themselves. Its own website shows no prices, so the commercial model has to be read out of its annual report.

The revenue model, in the company's own words: "We generate revenue by charging our clients a platform fee generally based on a percentage of our clients' total platform spend and from providing value-added services and data to support their advertising campaigns."[1] No percentage appears anywhere in the filing, and no price appears on the website.[1][2]

The contract is short and easy to leave. "Generally, these MSAs have one-year terms that renew automatically for additional one-year periods, unless earlier terminated, and are terminable at any time upon 60 days' notice by either party." The same filing says the MSAs "do not contain any material commitments on behalf of clients to use our platform to purchase ad inventory, value-added services or data".[1]

Control sits with the buyer, inside the vendor's platform: "Our clients directly access and execute campaigns on our platform and can control all facets of inventory purchasing decisions." Clients may also use the APIs to "design their own user interface, bulk manage advertising campaigns and link other systems, including ad servers or reporting tools".[1]

For scale, the filing reports 2025 revenue of $2,896,284 thousand on gross spend of $13,394,683 thousand, and defines gross spend as "the amount of a client's spend on our platform for advertising inventory, value-added services and data; plus the platform fee".[1] Because gross spend already contains the fee, the ratio of the two is not any single client's rate. The rate that matters is the one in your own contract.

The Trade Desk vs the alternatives vs an own DSP

Seven options, by what each vendor publishes
OptionModelPublished feeTerm and exitData access
The Trade DeskSelf-service DSP; clients "control all facets of inventory purchasing decisions"[1]A percentage of total platform spend; the percentage is not published[1][2]Generally one-year terms, renewing automatically; 60 days' notice either way[1]Set in the client MSA, which is not published
StackAdaptSelf-serve, managed or hybrid multichannel DSP; tiers from Basic, paid by credit card, to Enterprise on custom terms[3]No price list. "At StackAdapt, there are no hidden tech fees"[3]; the terms warn "THERE MAY BE A REQUIRED MINIMUM CAMPAIGN VALUE" for the initial campaign[4]Termination for convenience "upon 90 days' prior written notice"[4]"Client Data … are the sole and exclusive property of Client"; "Client is solely responsible for exporting or backing up its data prior to termination"[4]
Display & Video 360Google's "end-to-end campaign management for enterprises in one tool"[5]Not published[5]Not publishedData Transfer v2.0: log-level impression and click files to Google Cloud Storage 24 times a day, activity and match-table files daily, all deleted after 60 days[6]
Amazon DSP"We offer two options to get started: self-service and managed-service."[7]Managed service "typically requires a minimum spend of $50,000 USD (minimum may vary per country)"; no minimum is stated for self-service[7]Not publishedNot published on the product page
Beeswax (FreeWheel)"Bidder-as-a-service"; AdExchanger reported that "users can install their own algorithms"[8]AdExchanger reported that it "charges a subscription fee rather than taking a percentage of media"[8]; the pricing page carries no figures[9]Not publishedNot published
Epom white-label DSPA DSP under your brand, hosted by Epom[10][11]Light: "5% of your ad spend or $250 per month, whichever is higher"; Pro: the same at $2,000. A one-time $500 set-up fee "may" be charged. Up to 5,000 QPS on both Light and Pro[10]Renews in 12-month periods; either party may terminate for convenience on at least 30 days' written notice[11]"Epom is not granting Client any rights whatsoever in the Software source code"; account data "erased from the Software within thirty (30) days of non-renewal or earlier termination"[11]
KevelAPI-based ad-serving infrastructure for building your own ad platform[12]Not published; the site has no pricing page[12]Not published"We're the data processor, you're the data controller so you're always in control of your first-party data"[12]
Your own DSPYour bidder, your supply integrations, your campaign toolsNo platform fee; servers, bandwidth and a teamYour own contracts with supply partnersYour logs, kept as long as you decide

Stay on The Trade Desk if…

  1. 1.Your team's value is in planning and buying, not in software. You control inventory decisions directly, and the exit is generally 60 days.[1] Staying costs you very little flexibility.
  2. 2.The fee on your spend is smaller than running a DSP. Multiply your yearly platform spend by the percentage in your contract. If that is less than a year of a bidding team, servers and supply integrations, renting wins on cost.
  3. 3.You rely on the bundled data and services. The platform sells "value-added services and data" alongside access.[1] Replacing them means a separate contract with each data and measurement provider.

Consider leaving The Trade Desk if…

  1. 1.Symptom: the fee line grows exactly as fast as your media budget. A fee "generally based on a percentage of our clients' total platform spend"[1] rises with every campaign, while the work the platform does for you may not change.
  2. 2.Symptom: your advantage is a model or a data asset that should price every bid. On a rented DSP you configure the platform; you do not run your own code on each bid request and keep its logs. A bidder-as-a-service, where "users can install their own algorithms",[8] is the middle step; your own bidder is the end of that road.
  3. 3.Symptom: you buy one narrow kind of supply and pay an omnichannel platform's fee for it. One channel, one region, a few supply partners: that is the shape where a smaller DSP, a white label such as Epom's,[10] or your own bidder covers everything you actually use.

What to settle before leaving a Trade Desk seat

ItemWhy it mattersWhat to do
Notice and renewal dateTerms generally run one year and renew automatically; either side can end on 60 days' notice[1]Put the renewal date in the plan and give notice with a buffer
Campaign structureLine items, budgets, flights and targeting live inside the platformExport them and map every setting to the new platform before the last flight ends
AudiencesFirst-party segments reach the DSP through data partners and onboardingRe-onboard segments to the new platform and compare match rates before moving spend
Private marketplace dealsDeal IDs are set up by the supply side against a buyer's seatAsk each supply partner to re-target the deals to the new seat
Conversion tagsAdvertiser sites carry the platform's tagsAdd the new tags first, run both through the overlap, remove the old ones last
Reporting and log-level historyWhat you may export, and for how long, is set in your own agreement rather than on a public pageExport everything you need for billing disputes and models before notice ends

A migration path in four steps

  1. 1.Pick the first slice. One advertiser, one channel or one region — the part where the fee or the missing control hurts most.
  2. 2.Stand up the replacement. Another DSP seat, a bidder-as-a-service, or your own bidder with one or two supply integrations; the decision itself is covered in build, license or rent a DSP.
  3. 3.Run in parallel. Split budget between the old and the new platform on comparable supply, and reconcile impressions, spend and conversions until the numbers agree within a tolerance you set in advance.
  4. 4.Move spend in steps, then give notice. Shift budget slice by slice and keep the old seat until the final reports are exported; the notice window is generally 60 days.[1]

What drives the cost of building your own

These are the cost drivers, not a price.

  • Requests you receive. Servers and bandwidth scale with bid requests, including every auction you lose. The Trade Desk's own platform operations expense covers hosting for "internet traffic" associated with "the viewing of available impressions or queries per second".[1]
  • Supply integrations. Each exchange or SSP has its own specification, its own test process and its own contract.
  • Latency budget and regions. Exchanges set the deadline; answering in time from far away means running in several regions. Garbage-collection pauses in the bid path eat the same budget; see Rust vs Go for RTB bidders.
  • Campaign tools. Budgets, pacing, frequency caps, creatives and reporting for the people spending the money.
  • Identity. The Trade Desk describes Unified ID 2.0 as "an open-source identity framework" and says a European version, EUID, "was released in a limited beta in 2023".[1] Adopting an open framework is possible without renting a platform; the integration work is still yours.
  • Data, consent and what you may store, per market.
  • Traffic quality. Invalid-traffic and brand-safety checks, built or connected.
  • Operations. A bidder earns money every second it answers, so partners' specification changes and traffic shifts need someone watching every day.

Frequently asked questions

Through "a platform fee generally based on a percentage of our clients' total platform spend", plus value-added services and data.[1] The percentage is not published, in the filing or on the website.[1][2]

It publishes no minimum. The annual report says the MSAs "do not contain any material commitments on behalf of clients to use our platform to purchase ad inventory, value-added services or data".[1] Anything beyond that is set in your own contract.

"Generally, these MSAs have one-year terms that renew automatically for additional one-year periods, unless earlier terminated, and are terminable at any time upon 60 days' notice by either party."[1] Read your own agreement: the filing describes the general case.

Epom publishes white-label DSP prices: on the Light plan, "5% of your ad spend or $250 per month, whichever is higher", and the same structure at $2,000 on Pro.[10] Amazon states a typical $50,000 minimum for its managed service.[7] StackAdapt, Display & Video 360, Beeswax and Kevel publish no fee figures.[3][5][9][12]

When the platform fee on your spend exceeds what a bidding team and its infrastructure cost, or when your model and your data must decide each bid under your own code, and you can staff on-call operations. Build, license or rent a DSP covers the decision in full.

Disclosure: this page is published by amBrain. From amBrain's AdTech services: "DSP development, real-time bidding platforms, and ad exchange engineering." The last row of the comparison table is the kind of work amBrain does. Every vendor fact on this page links to its source. The Trade Desk, StackAdapt, Display & Video 360, Amazon DSP, Beeswax, Epom, Kevel and Unified ID 2.0 are trademarks of their owners and are used only to identify the products discussed.

Sources

  1. [1]The Trade Desk, Inc., Form 10-K, annual report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (revenue model, master services agreements, gross spend, APIs, Unified ID 2.0, platform operations expense), Dec 31, 2025. Company filing · checked Sep 23, 2026
  2. [2]The Trade Desk, Home page (no price, fee or rate appears anywhere on the page). Vendor's own page · checked Sep 23, 2026
  3. [3]StackAdapt, StackAdapt Plans and Packages (tier table and pricing FAQ). Vendor's own page · checked Sep 23, 2026
  4. [4]StackAdapt, StackAdapt Platform Terms of Use (last updated and effective 12 December 2025), Dec 12, 2025. Vendor's published terms · checked Sep 23, 2026
  5. [5]Google Marketing Platform, End to End Campaign Management — Google Display & Video 360. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 23, 2026
  6. [6]Google for Developers, Data Transfer v2.0, Display & Video 360 (page states "Last updated 2024-10-14 UTC"). Official documentation · checked Sep 23, 2026
  7. [7]Amazon Ads, Amazon DSP: Advertise with a demand-side platform. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 23, 2026
  8. [8]AdExchanger, FreeWheel Buys Beeswax, by Ryan Joe, Dec 17, 2020. Press · checked Sep 23, 2026
  9. [9]Beeswax, Beeswax Pricing (page carries no figures, only "Talk to an Expert"). Vendor's own page · checked Sep 23, 2026
  10. [10]Epom, Epom DSP Pricing. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 23, 2026
  11. [11]Epom, Terms of Service. Vendor's published terms · checked Sep 23, 2026
  12. [12]Kevel, Home page (no pricing page on the site; data-processor and data-controller roles). Vendor's own page · checked Sep 23, 2026

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