Basis Technologies: DSP, workflow software, Compass AI and alternatives

Most DSPs stop at the bid. Basis is built around the work before and after it: plans, insertion orders, approvals, invoices and reconciliation. It says it consolidates "your entire advertising workflow in one platform" across the open web and walled gardens (Basis platform).

That makes it a different buy from a pure DSP. Agencies use it to run direct-sold site deals, search and social next to programmatic, with one dataset for reporting. Basis says its DSP is "the only demand side platform united with search, social, and site direct via a single interface" (company claim, Basis DSP page, accessed 9 November 2026).

The company also sells people. Its services menu lists consulting and onboarding, and media strategy and activation run by Basis staff (Basis). Basis sells access to its own platform, not a white-label or self-hosted product; see bidder-as-a-service vs white-label DSP vs self-hosted for those models.

The platform follows a campaign from brief to payment. The table maps each stage to the feature Basis names for it.

Compass is the newest layer. Basis announced it in April 2026 as the first release of an agentic system built into the platform, covering programmatic, direct, paid search and paid social (MarTech Vibe, 6 April 2026).

The DSP itself buys display, video, CTV, audio, native and digital out-of-home inventory. Basis claims a library of "over 2,000 active private deals" for private marketplace buying. It also claims "25,000+ audience segments across over 30 different data providers", though another section of the same page says "40+" providers (company claims, Basis DSP page).

Basis does not publish a rate card, a platform-fee percentage or a minimum spend. Neither its platform page nor its DSP page shows prices, and an earlier check on 17 October 2026 found the same (DSP pricing explained). Because the product mixes software, media and optional managed services, a quote may combine a software fee, a media fee and a service fee.

Ask for each one separately. A combined rate hides how much of the budget reaches media; the ad tech fee calculator shows the effect of each layer on working media. The three common DSP pricing models are compared in DSP pricing explained.

Strengths

• Workflow and finance in the same system. Plans, buys, invoices and reconciliation share one record, which cuts manual exports between tools.
• Channels beyond programmatic. Search, social and direct-sold buys sit beside the DSP, so reporting covers the whole plan.
• AI planning tied to activation. Compass hands its plans straight to buying, rather than producing a document to re-key.
• Large deal library. The claimed 2,000+ private deals give buyers curated supply without building each deal themselves (Basis DSP page).

Limits

• No public pricing. Buyers cannot model cost before talking to sales.
• Conflicting claims on its own page. The DSP page cites both 30+ and 40+ data providers, so ask which partners are live.
• Unnamed integrations. Basis describes links to "search, social, and ad server platforms" without listing them on the pages we read.
• More than a DSP to adopt. Teams that only need a bidder may not use, or want to pay for, the planning and finance layers.

• Any Basis fee, minimum spend or contract term.
• The dates of the Cint brand-lift and Barometer podcast partnerships. Basis's press pages could not be accessed.
• The names of the search, social and ad server platforms that Basis integrates with.
• The year Centro adopted the Basis name, and the company's current investors.

1. Basis, "Platform" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://basis.com/technology/platform
2. Basis, "DSP" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://basis.com/technology/dsp
3. Basis, "About Basis" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://basis.com/company
4. Basis, "News" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://basis.com/news
5. Basis, home page (accessed 9 November 2026). https://basis.com/
6. MarTech Vibe, "Basis Launches Compass Agentic AI for Omnichannel Media Planning" (6 April 2026). https://martechvibe.com/article/basis-launches-compass-agentic-ai-for-omnichannel-media-planning
7. IAB Europe, Global Vendor List v3, version 184 (last updated 5 November 2026). https://vendor-list.consensu.org/v3/vendor-list.json