Google Ad Manager: the ad server, its pricing, the court remedies and the alternatives

Ad Manager does two jobs that most rivals sell separately. DFP is the ad server: it holds a publisher's orders, line items, floors and targeting, then picks the winner for each ad request. AdX is the exchange: it runs an auction among Google's own buyers and outside buyers. A Google witness put peak load at about 8.2 million ad requests per second (Dkt. 1858, p. 28). Alphabet books Ad Manager revenue in its Google Network line with AdSense and AdMob, which earned $7,455 million in the third quarter of 2026, up from $7,354 million a year earlier (Alphabet 10-Q).

The product reaches small and large publishers through two tiers. Google's help pages describe Ad Manager as a platform "for large publishers who have significant direct sales" and require an AdSense account to sign up (Google Help). Ad Manager 360 is the paid tier, and some features sit only there.

Its formats go well beyond banners. A Google engineer told the court the platform supports display, native, rewarded, interstitial and in-stream video (Dkt. 1858, p. 45). The 2 November 2026 release notes add real-time logs for Dynamic Ad Insertion and switch on deals without the Mobile Ads SDK for video across web, app and CTV (Google Help).

A page or app calls DFP through the Google Publisher Tag or an SDK. DFP compares direct campaigns with programmatic bids from AdX, from Open Bidding partners it calls server to server, and from header bidding line items set up by the publisher. Google says Open Bidding partners "compete in real time during the dynamic allocation process" (Google Help).

The court found that this design tied the two products. Rivals could not get real-time AdX bids into their own ad servers, which an Equativ executive called the "main reason" his company lost large clients to DFP (Dkt. 1858, p. 66). The remedies target that link, not the ad server's features.

On 2 September 2026 Judge Brinkema refused to order a sale of AdX and adopted behavioral remedies. They require integrations between AdX and rival publisher ad servers, between AdX and Prebid, and between DFP and Prebid (Dkt. 1858, p. 58). AdX may not vary its revenue share, latency or data by whether a publisher uses DFP, a rival server or Prebid (p. 74). The term is six years (p. 102).

None of it binds Google yet. The parties filed a joint proposed final judgment on 2 October 2026 with disputed deadlines in brackets (PPC Land, 6 October 2026). Alphabet's quarterly report says it plans to appeal "after the Court enters its final judgment" (Alphabet 10-Q, filed 29 October 2026). We found no entered judgment by 9 November 2026.

The scope is narrow by design. The court rejected data sharing for in-stream video and in-app formats because the liability case covered open-web display only (Dkt. 1858, p. 70). The full obligation list is tracked in Google ad tech remedies explained for publishers.

Google publishes no rate card for Ad Manager 360. The court record gives the two numbers that matter. DFP "currently provides its services for free to over 90 percent of its publisher customers". AdX charges a 20% take rate, higher than rival exchanges that "often charged closer to 10%" (Dkt. 1858, pp. 30 and 57).

Extra data costs extra. Hourly log-level Data Transfer files "come at an additional cost", and Google purges them after 60 days (Google Help). Take $125,000 a month of buyer spend through AdX: at 20%, the exchange keeps $25,000 and the publisher gets $100,000. A 10% exchange would keep $12,500 of the same spend. That gap, not the ad server licence, is the cost most publishers weigh.

Strengths

• Free entry. The ad server costs nothing for most publishers (Dkt. 1858, p. 57).
• Unique demand. Google Ads demand reaches open-web display mainly through AdX, which publisher witnesses said they could not replace (Dkt. 1858, p. 66).
• One system for every format. Web, app, video, CTV and Dynamic Ad Insertion run in one interface (release notes, 2 November 2026).
• Scale. Peak load of about 8.2 million ad requests per second, per Google's testimony (Dkt. 1858, p. 28).

Limits

• A tied exchange. The court held that the tie between DFP and AdX was unlawful; the fix is still pending.
• Prebid tools sit behind the paid tier. Header Bidding Trafficking is "only available in Google Ad Manager 360" until the remedy extends it (Google Help).
• Data you rent. Log files cost extra and expire after 60 days.
• Counting rules change in 2027. Web display moves to begin-to-render counting on 17 February 2027, which will shift reported impressions (release notes).

• Ad Manager 360 list prices or minimum commitments.
• The date the Ad Manager brand replaced DFP and AdX as product names.
• Whether the court entered final judgment after 29 October 2026; the public docket mirror could not be accessed.
• Which rival ad servers have built the receiving side for AdX bids.

1. United States v. Google LLC, No. 1:23-cv-00108 (E.D. Va.), Memorandum Opinion, Dkt. 1858 (2 September 2026, unsealed 16 September 2026). https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/google-judge-memo.pdf
2. Alphabet Inc., Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 September 2026 (filed 29 October 2026). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000165204426000084/goog-20260930.htm
3. PPC Land, "DOJ seeks 6 months, Google 12, to open its ad exchange to rivals" (6 October 2026). https://ppc.land/doj-seeks-6-months-google-12-to-open-its-ad-exchange-to-rivals/
4. Google Ad Manager Help, "Release notes for November 2, 2026" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/179039?hl=en
5. Google Ad Manager Help, "Sign up for Ad Manager" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/7084151?hl=en
6. Google Ad Manager Help, "Header bidding trafficking with the Prebid wrapper" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/12273163?hl=en
7. Google Ad Manager Help, "Ad Manager Data Transfer reports" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/1733124?hl=en
8. Google Ad Manager Help, "Introduction to Open Bidding" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/7128453?hl=en
9. Google, Google Ad Manager product site (accessed 9 November 2026). https://admanager.google.com/home/
10. US Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR submissions record for Alphabet Inc. (accessed 9 November 2026). https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0001652044.json