AdRoll has spent nearly two decades in digital advertising. It started as one of the first platforms to make retargeting accessible to small and mid-sized businesses. Today it spans display, social, video, Connected TV, and digital out-of-home, all managed from a single dashboard. For ecommerce brands running cart abandonment campaigns or D2C companies coordinating Facebook and display retargeting, it delivers real value with a low barrier to entry.
To write this AdRoll review, we analyzed the platform thoroughly. We believe it's the right choice if:
You run an ecommerce or D2C brand and need retargeting across display, social, and CTV
You want a self-serve advertising platform with no minimum contract
You value quick setup and native integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce
You need to coordinate social and web advertising from one dashboard
Your primary goal is re-engaging site visitors and recovering abandoned carts
However, AdRoll might not be the best choice if:
You need B2B account intelligence beyond advertising execution
You require verified contact data, direct dials, and org charts alongside your ad campaigns
You want intent signals tied directly to contact records you can act on
You need GTM orchestration across sales, marketing, and RevOps
Your advertising strategy depends on knowing exactly who is in a buying committee, not just which company visited your site
In this case, consider ZoomInfo: an AI-powered GTM platform that pairs B2B data (500M contacts, 100M companies, 135M+ verified phone numbers, and 200M+ verified business emails) with a native advertising DSP, account-based marketing, and AI-driven GTM orchestration. Where AdRoll tells you which companies to target with ads, ZoomInfo tells you which people to reach, why they're in-market now, and what to say when you get their attention.
We've included a detailed look at ZoomInfo later in this review as the stronger option for B2B teams who need advertising execution backed by real intelligence. If you're ready to explore a data-driven approach to go-to-market, start with ZoomInfo's free trial.
What is AdRoll?
AdRoll is a connected advertising platform built for marketers who want to run multi-channel campaigns and prove ROI across the buyer journey.
Founded in 2006 in San Francisco (originally as Semantic Sugar, Inc.), the company built its reputation on a clear idea: re-engaging website visitors with targeted display ads. By 2013, that focus on retargeting had driven the company to a $100 million annualized revenue run rate.
Today, AdRoll is a brand of NextRoll, Inc. and operates two products. The core AdRoll product handles multi-channel advertising across display, social, Connected TV, video, mobile, native, and digital out-of-home. AdRoll ABM (formerly RollWorks) is a B2B account-based marketing product that combines buyer intent data, audience building, and multi-channel advertising to drive pipeline.
The platform serves 110,000+ brands globally and runs on 16+ years of machine learning, with three AI engines: BidIQ (bid optimization making over 2.5 trillion predictions per day), InIQ (B2B intent data), and HeroIQ (an AI assistant for campaign management). AdRoll integrates with over 70 platforms including Shopify, HubSpot, Klaviyo, and Google Analytics.
AdRoll Pros & Cons
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
✅ No minimum contract; self-serve from $2.50/day | ❌ Platform reliability issues reported in 2025 |
✅ Multi-channel reach: display, social, CTV, DOOH | ❌ Support response times inconsistent during active spend |
✅ Native Shopify/WooCommerce/BigCommerce integrations | ❌ Reporting lacks granularity at the ad level |
✅ Dynamic retargeting with product feed automation | ❌ Cross-channel attribution is a paid add-on |
✅ AI-powered bidding with 16+ years of training data | ❌ Social ads add-on excluded from managed services |
✅ Free ad creative every 90 days | ❌ Limited control over ad placement transparency |
✅ G2 Leader in retargeting and display advertising | ❌ ABM capabilities less mature than dedicated B2B platforms |
AdRoll Review: How It Works & Key Features
Retargeting & Display Advertising: AdRoll's core strength, re-engaging the 97% of visitors who leave without converting.
AdRoll's retargeting engine is the foundation of the platform. The premise is simple: 97% of first-time visitors leave without taking action, and AdRoll brings them back with targeted ads across the web, apps, and streaming platforms.
Setup starts with the AdRoll Pixel, a JavaScript tag installed via a manual header snippet or Google Tag Manager. Once live, the pixel tracks visitor behavior (pages visited, products viewed, cart actions) and builds audience segments automatically. For ecommerce stores on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Wix, the integration handles pixel placement and product feed imports in a few clicks.
Source: AdRoll
Campaigns run through AdRoll's BidIQ bidding engine, which makes over 2.5 trillion predictions per day across 80+ intent signals. Ads are served programmatically through exchange partners including AdX, Index Exchange, Magnite, Microsoft, OpenX, PubMatic, Taboola, and Outbrain, covering display, native, video, mobile, social, and Connected TV placements.
For ecommerce brands, dynamic retargeting ads pull from a connected product feed to show visitors the exact items they browsed. AdRoll claims these earn 2x more clicks than static equivalents. Pricing runs on a dynamic CPM model where the advertiser pays actual inventory cost plus a fixed margin percentage, with a minimum daily budget of $2.50.
Ad fraud protection comes through a partnership with HUMAN Security (Media Rating Council-accredited) for bot detection and viewability verification.
Social Media Advertising: Coordinating paid social and web display from one dashboard.
AdRoll's Social Media Advertising feature solves a common annoyance: recreating the same campaign separately in Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Ads, Pinterest Ads, and a display DSP. AdRoll lets marketers launch and manage campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and the open web from one interface.
Source: AdRoll
The feature works in two modes. First, Ad Recipes are pre-built campaign templates where you select a goal (re-engage browse abandoners, convert cart abandoners, attract new visitors), pick channels, upload creatives, and set a budget. AdRoll splits that budget across channels automatically. Seven Recipe templates cover the full funnel from prospecting through win-back.
Second, brands already running campaigns on Facebook, TikTok, or Pinterest can connect their ad accounts to AdRoll. The platform imports hourly campaigns, audiences, and ads going back 12 months, providing unified reporting without manual data exports.
Source: AdRoll
An important detail: social channel spend is billed directly by each social platform, not marked up by AdRoll. Web channel spend is billed through AdRoll. Social Ads is a paid add-on to the base Ads plan, bundled in the Advanced and Agency packages.
Audiences & Segmentation: First-party and third-party data powering every campaign.
AdRoll's targeting covers four audience types: website, connected, third-party, and ABM, all managed from one interface.
Website Audiences are built automatically from pixel data. Advertisers define segments using URL patterns, JavaScript events, or page-view thresholds. Composite Audiences combine multiple rules with AND logic for tighter targeting (for example, visitors who viewed a pricing page and added an item to cart).
Source: AdRoll
Connected Audiences sync CRM email lists from major platforms including HubSpot, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Marketo, and Constant Contact. Email addresses are matched to browser identifiers through AdRoll's IntentMap, enabling CRM-to-ad targeting without relying on third-party cookies.
Third-Party Audiences use Experian data covering 250 million US consumers across 2,000+ attributes in eight categories: demographics, lifestyle, behaviors, B2B, financial insights, life events, location, and purchase predictors. These segments update in real time using in-market and purchase history data.
Source: AdRoll
For B2B advertisers, ABM Audiences offer over 100 segment filters covering firmographic, technographic, ICP fit, buyer journey stage, and intent signals from G2 and Bombora.
Analytics & Attribution: Measuring campaign performance with configurable models.
AdRoll's analytics suite includes native campaign dashboards and an optional Cross-Channel Attribution add-on.
The base analytics track 30+ metrics including spend, impressions, clicks, CTR, CPM, CPC, conversions, CPA, and ROAS. The Campaign Dashboard calculates return on ad spend using either a fixed conversion value or enhanced tracking that captures order values dynamically from ecommerce integrations.
The Cross-Channel Attribution dashboard (available in the Advanced package or as a paid add-on) connects external ad accounts from Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, Google Ads, Snapchat, Amazon Ads, Microsoft Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and X Ads. It imports platform-reported metrics hourly and runs pixel-based deduplication alongside those self-reported numbers, showing both streams side by side.
Source: AdRoll
The attribution system offers nine configurable models: last click, last touch, first touch, linear, positional, time decay, and custom options. A comparison tool previews how switching models would change reported conversions, revenue, and ROAS before you commit. Industry Benchmark Reports compare your CTR, CPC, and CPM against aggregated performance from 110,000+ brands on the platform.
AI Assistant & Machine Learning: Conversational campaign management powered by three AI engines.
AdRoll's AI operates at two levels. The always-on layer is BidIQ, which evaluates publisher data, advertiser data, and user signals at each auction to submit adjusted bids. It processes data at roughly twice the volume of the New York Stock Exchange.
The interactive layer is the AI Assistant, powered by HeroIQ, a system of specialized AI agents. It handles campaign creation (generating ready-to-review drafts for retargeting, lookalike, and contextual campaigns), natural-language Q&A, and reporting (generating custom reports via chat). AdRoll says advertisers using the AI Assistant are 50% more likely to launch campaigns with all recommended ad sizes.
Source: AdRoll
The assistant also surfaces 15+ optimization recommendations across the dashboard, covering missing ad sizes, budget adjustments, conversion segment setup, and contextual category suggestions. It's available to all users on both AdRoll and AdRoll ABM at no extra cost.
AdRoll ABM: Account-based marketing for B2B revenue teams.
AdRoll ABM (formerly RollWorks, unified under the AdRoll brand in August 2025) targets B2B teams that need to identify in-market accounts and engage buying committees with multi-channel advertising.
The InIQ engine draws on 1.2 billion digital identities and trillions of behavioral data points. It scores accounts by ICP fit, surfaces buying intent from proprietary signals combined with Bombora and G2 data, and generates Journey Prediction signals that identify accounts 5x or 25x more likely to become open opportunities.
Once target accounts are identified, campaigns activate across display, native, video, social, CTV, and DOOH. The Command Center centralizes account data, and Sales Insight Alerts notify reps when accounts spike in activity.
AdRoll Pricing
AdRoll structures pricing across four layers:
Self-Service Ads (pay-as-you-go). No contract, no platform fee. You pay only for media spend. Includes display, native, video, mobile, and CTV campaigns, the AI Assistant, basic analytics, free ad creative (one static ad set per quarter), and 24/5 chat and email support. Social Ads and Cross-Channel Attribution are paid add-ons.
Managed Services (spend-qualified). Access scales with monthly ad spend across four tiers:
Tier | Monthly Ad Spend | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
Bronze | Under $5,000 | Self-service only, 1 static ad set/quarter |
Silver | $5,000-$10,000 | Assigned account manager, 5 static + 5 HTML5 + 2 dynamic ad sets |
Gold | $10,000-$25,000 | Quarterly business review + optimization deep dive |
Platinum | Above $25,000 | Monthly optimization deep dive, expanded creative |
Advanced Package (annual commitment). Requires a one-year contract. Bundles the Social Ads and Attribution add-ons, includes ad credits (amount varies by contract), and guarantees managed services. Pricing is quote-based.
AdRoll ABM Packages (quote-only). Four tiers from Account-Based Retargeting (no platform fee, media-only) through Account-Based Marketing + Advertising (full ABM with multi-channel advertising). All require a sales conversation.
Key pricing details: ad credits do not roll over month to month, cannot be applied to CTV or social campaigns, and all packages automatically renew unless cancelled. Fees are non-refundable, and AdRoll may spend up to 20% above the set daily budget on high-opportunity days.
Where AdRoll Falls Short
AdRoll delivers solid advertising execution for ecommerce and mid-market brands, but several limitations surface under closer examination. These reflect a platform built for ad delivery, not go-to-market intelligence.
Platform Reliability Concerns.
Capterra reviews from mid-2025 describe recurring errors, broken processes, zero delivery, and ineffective support. Specific issues include Facebook and Instagram integration failures and a recurring "Unable to save your information" error blocking campaign setup. These appeared across multiple reviewers, suggesting a platform regression rather than isolated cases.
Support Gaps During Active Spend.
Multiple G2 and Capterra reviewers describe long waits for technical support while campaigns were actively spending budget. For a platform managing real ad dollars in real time, slow support creates direct financial risk.
Reporting Lacks Depth.
G2 reviewers consistently flag insufficient ad-level insights and dashboards that lack flexibility for custom analysis. Cross-channel attribution is gated behind a paid add-on rather than included in the base product. For teams accountable to specific ROAS targets across channels, this creates a measurement gap.
The B2B Intelligence Gap.
AdRoll ABM provides account-level targeting through intent signals and firmographic data, but it doesn't include a verified contact database. You can identify that a target company is in-market, but you can't pull up the buying committee's direct dials, verified emails, or org chart from within the platform. For B2B teams, this means pairing AdRoll with a separate data provider to make the advertising actionable at the contact level.
Costs Scale Quietly.
The $2.50/day entry point is accessible, but total cost rises quickly once you add Social Ads, Cross-Channel Attribution, and enough spend to qualify for managed services. G2 and Capterra reviewers flag rising costs as a consistent pain point.
Limited Ad Placement Transparency.
Advertisers who need granular brand-safety controls or site-level exclusion lists at scale may find AdRoll's controls insufficient compared to direct DSP access. The platform sits between advertiser and publisher, which simplifies operations but reduces visibility.
These limitations follow naturally from building a platform around advertising execution. For B2B teams in particular, they create a clear need for a solution that combines advertising reach with the intelligence to know exactly who to target and why.
Top AdRoll Alternative for B2B Teams: ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo is an AI-powered GTM platform built on a large B2B data foundation: 500M contacts, 100M companies, 135M+ verified phone numbers, and 200M+ verified business emails.
Where AdRoll focuses on advertising delivery, ZoomInfo unifies data, intelligence, and execution in a single platform that covers the full go-to-market motion: identifying which accounts to pursue, understanding why they'll buy, and reaching the right people with the right message.
The key difference: AdRoll can tell you a company visited your website. ZoomInfo can tell you which person at that company visited, what they were researching, who else is on the buying committee, their direct phone numbers and verified emails, and what signals suggest they're ready to buy.
Source: ZoomInfo
Comprehensive B2B Data: The foundation that advertising platforms can't replicate.
ZoomInfo operates a large B2B data platform spanning identity data (500M contacts, 135M+ verified phone numbers, 120M direct-dial phone numbers, 200M+ verified business emails), company context (100M companies with org charts and technographics), and buying signals that reveal when accounts are actively in-market.
This data is verified through a multi-source pipeline backed by 300+ human researchers and reaches up to 95% accuracy on first-party data. In a Fortune 500 competitive RFP analyzing 25 million contacts across vendors, the independent consultant concluded that "no other competitor came even close."
Source: ZoomInfo
For advertising, this data means your campaigns target verified contacts at real companies showing buying intent, not anonymous cookie pools or modeled audiences.
ZoomInfo Intent tracks signals from 210 million IP-to-Organization pairings and 6 trillion+ new keyword-to-device pairings sourced monthly. Guided Intent (exclusive to ZoomInfo) identifies topics historically correlated with deal success rather than requiring manual topic selection.
SpringDB saw 2-3x increases in campaign conversions and a 300% increase in database usability after using ZoomInfo's enriched data for targeting across client campaigns. (SpringDB)
GTM Context Graph: Intelligence that explains why deals move, not just that they moved.
ZoomInfo's GTM Context Graph processes 1.5B+ data points daily, fusing ZoomInfo's B2B data with a customer's CRM records, conversation transcripts (via Chorus), email interactions, and behavioral signals.
The result is an intelligence layer that captures not just what happened in a deal, but why it happened.
Source: ZoomInfo
AdRoll's analytics tell you a campaign generated a certain number of clicks and conversions. ZoomInfo's Context Graph tells you which of those accounts have executive sponsors engaged, which are researching your competitors, and which match the signal patterns behind your closed-won deals.
ZoomInfo built this on 20 years of data unification and acquired conversation intelligence engines that extract context from every customer interaction.
Seismic attributed 39% of active pipeline to opportunities identified or influenced by ZoomInfo signals, while their sales team reported 54% productivity gains. (Seismic)
Native Advertising and ABM: Data-powered campaigns without a separate ad platform.
ZoomInfo Marketing includes a native demand-side platform that deploys display ads based on 300+ company attributes across major networks. Audiences auto-update as signals change. B2B teams can run targeted display advertising from the same platform where they manage contact data, intent signals, and sales workflows, with no need to export audiences to a separate tool.
GTM Studio extends this further. Marketers describe audiences in natural language, launch multi-channel plays targeting accounts that match proven win patterns, and watch pipeline impact in real time. Pre-built GTM plays cover inbound acceleration, champion tracking, competitive displacement, and ICP targeting, launchable in one click.
Source: ZoomInfo
Customers have reported a 900% CTR increase and a 61% increase in opportunities from ZoomInfo's advertising capabilities.
Impartner saw a 45% increase in website engagement after implementing ZoomInfo's data and insights for account-based marketing. (Impartner)
Universal Access: Use the intelligence anywhere, not just inside ZoomInfo.
ZoomInfo delivers its intelligence through three paths.
GTM Workspace gives sellers an AI-powered workspace for prioritized accounts, AI-drafted outreach, and deal execution. GTM Studio gives marketers and RevOps an orchestration canvas where audience definition, campaign activation, and pipeline measurement happen without engineering tickets. For teams that build beyond ZoomInfo's own products, APIs and MCP expose the same intelligence to any custom agent, third-party tool, or AI application.
Source: ZoomInfo
API access is included in all relevant plans, and ZoomInfo MCP is listed in the Claude directory with support for additional MCP-compatible tools coming. All three paths draw from one GTM Context Graph, so the choice of interface never limits the intelligence available.
BDO Canada achieved an 87% reduction in time spent on data dashboard updates using ZoomInfo's API, with their Senior Marketing Intelligence Analyst noting its "plug-and-play" integration into any process. (BDO Canada)
AdRoll or ZoomInfo: Comparison Summary
AdRoll | ZoomInfo | |
|---|---|---|
Primary focus | Multi-channel advertising execution | AI-powered GTM platform |
Target audience | Ecommerce, D2C, and mid-market advertisers | B2B sales, marketing, and RevOps teams |
Contact database | ❌ No native contact data | ✅ 500M contacts, 200M+ verified emails, 135M+ verified phones |
Intent data | Bombora + G2 (ABM only) | Proprietary + Bombora + G2, with Guided Intent |
Display advertising | ✅ Full DSP with multi-channel reach | ✅ Native DSP with 300+ targeting attributes |
Social advertising | ✅ Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest | Integrated via GTM plays and audience exports |
CTV & DOOH | ✅ Included | Display-focused |
Retargeting | ✅ Core strength with dynamic product ads | ✅ Website visitor identification at contact level |
ABM capabilities | Account-level targeting and intent | Full ABM with contact-level intelligence, org charts, and buying committees |
Sales tools | ❌ Not included | ✅ GTM Workspace with AI agents, outreach, CRM integration |
Conversation intelligence | ❌ Not included | ✅ Chorus (call recording, transcription, deal intelligence) |
CRM integration depth | HubSpot, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Marketo | Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics + 120 marketplace integrations |
AI capabilities | BidIQ bidding, HeroIQ assistant | GTM Context Graph, AI agents, natural-language orchestration |
Attribution | 9 models (add-on for cross-channel) | Pipeline attribution tied to contact-level signals |
Free entry point | No platform fee (media-spend only) | ZoomInfo Lite (free, permanent) + 7-day trial |
Pricing model | Dynamic CPM on media spend + add-ons | Custom-quoted, seat-and-credit-based |
Analyst recognition | G2 Leader in retargeting and display | Gartner MQ Leader (ABM), Forrester Wave Leader (Intent Data) |
Final Verdict
The choice between AdRoll and ZoomInfo depends on whether your main challenge is advertising execution or go-to-market intelligence.
Choose AdRoll if you're an ecommerce or D2C brand that needs to re-engage site visitors and coordinate retargeting across display, social, and CTV from one dashboard.
AdRoll's strengths hold up: 16 years of bidding optimization data, native integrations with major ecommerce platforms, dynamic product ads that show shoppers exactly what they browsed, and a self-serve entry point with no contract required. For brands focused on advertising performance rather than B2B sales cycles, AdRoll delivers real value.
Choose ZoomInfo if you need advertising to be part of a larger go-to-market strategy, not the whole strategy.
ZoomInfo gives B2B teams the ability to identify which companies are in-market, see the buying committee's direct dials and verified emails, understand why deals are moving through AI-powered intelligence, and act on all of it through native advertising, sales automation, and orchestration.
The data foundation (500M contacts, 100M companies) and the GTM Context Graph turn advertising from a volume game into a precision operation. For teams where knowing who to reach matters as much as reaching them, ZoomInfo is the more complete platform.
Get started with ZoomInfo here.
AdRoll FAQ
What is AdRoll best used for?
AdRoll is best suited for ecommerce and D2C brands that need to retarget website visitors with display, social, video, and Connected TV ads.
Its core strength is re-engaging people who have already visited your site, particularly through dynamic product ads that show shoppers the exact items they browsed. It also supports prospecting campaigns using lookalike and contextual targeting.
How much does AdRoll cost?
AdRoll's base self-service plan has no platform fee. You pay only for media spend, with a minimum daily campaign budget of $2.50. Social Ads and Cross-Channel Attribution are paid add-ons (pricing not publicly listed).
The Advanced Package requires a one-year contract and bundles those add-ons with ad credits. Managed services start at $5,000/month for an assigned account manager.
Does AdRoll have a free trial?
AdRoll does not offer a formal free trial. The self-service Ads plan has no platform fee, so you can sign up and explore the dashboard without cost, but running campaigns requires ad spend. The Account-Based Retargeting package similarly has no platform fee, charging only for media.
ZoomInfo offers both a permanent free tier (ZoomInfo Lite) and a 7-day free trial with no credit card required.
Does AdRoll support B2B account-based marketing?
Yes, through AdRoll ABM (formerly RollWorks). It provides ICP scoring, buyer intent signals from Bombora and G2, multi-channel advertising to target accounts, and a Command Center for pipeline management.
However, it does not include a verified contact database, meaning you cannot pull direct dials or verified emails for buying committee members from within the platform. ZoomInfo combines ABM capabilities with 500M contacts and 135M+ verified phone numbers in one platform.
What channels does AdRoll support?
AdRoll runs campaigns across display, native, video, mobile, social (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest), Connected TV, and digital out-of-home. Social ads require a paid add-on or the Advanced/Agency package. CTV inventory includes placements on services reaching over 200 million global viewers.
How does AdRoll's AI work?
AdRoll uses three AI engines. BidIQ handles real-time bid optimization, making over 2.5 trillion predictions per day. InIQ surfaces B2B buyer intent signals for the ABM product. HeroIQ powers the AI Assistant, a conversational tool that helps create campaigns, answer questions, and generate reports. The AI Assistant is included for all users at no additional cost.
What integrations does AdRoll offer?
AdRoll integrates with over 70 platforms, including ecommerce (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix), CRM and email (HubSpot, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Marketo), analytics (Google Analytics, TripleWhale), tag management (Google Tag Manager, Tealium), and advertising channels (Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Google Ads). Eight public APIs are available for custom integrations.
ZoomInfo's marketplace includes 120+ integrations with deeper native connections to Salesforce, HubSpot, and Microsoft Dynamics.
Can AdRoll replace a dedicated DSP like The Trade Desk or DV360?
AdRoll serves as a self-contained DSP for small and mid-market advertisers, with access to major exchange partners and premium inventory.
However, large enterprises or agencies running hundreds of campaigns with complex trafficking needs, custom bidding logic, or full exchange-level transparency will find the platform more constrained than enterprise DSPs. AdRoll's strength is accessibility and ease of use, not configurability.
