AdRoll vs Microsoft Advertising: Which Ad Platforms Tool Is Right for You?

How Do AdRoll and Microsoft Advertising Compare at a Glance?

Both AdRoll and Microsoft Advertising compete in the ad platforms space, but they target different needs and budgets. Here is how they stack up on the key dimensions.

What Are the Key Differences Between AdRoll and Microsoft Advertising?

AdRoll and Microsoft Advertising rarely show up in the same conversation, and that is precisely because they solve unrelated problems. Microsoft Advertising captures people who are actively searching on Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo, competing for the same kind of keyword-driven intent that search advertising has always been built around. AdRoll re-engages people who have already interacted with a brand somewhere else, using display, social, and email placements to bring them back. One captures new intent, the other recovers existing interest.

Microsoft Advertising runs on a pay-per-click model with no minimum spend, and it typically carries lower cost-per-click pricing than the larger search platforms simply because fewer advertisers are bidding in the same auctions. Layered on top of that is LinkedIn-based audience targeting, which lets advertisers filter search campaigns by job title, industry, or company size — a genuinely distinct advantage for B2B advertisers who want professional-audience precision without paying LinkedIn's native advertising rates.

AdRoll runs on a pay-per-impression model and was purpose-built for e-commerce retargeting and prospecting. It tracks a shopper across display ads, social placements, and email under one attribution report, with the goal of recovering revenue from people who already showed interest rather than winning a fresh auction. Where Microsoft Advertising is trying to answer a search query, AdRoll is trying to make sure a bounced visitor gets a second look.

A B2B services business working with a tight budget often gets more immediate value from Microsoft Advertising, since its lower CPCs and LinkedIn targeting can produce qualified leads at a lower cost per click than competing on Google Ads alone. A small e-commerce store with meaningful cart abandonment volume, on the other hand, tends to see faster returns from AdRoll, since recovering an already-interested shopper is usually cheaper than acquiring a new one through any search platform.

Campaign type suitability draws a clean line between the two. Microsoft Advertising fits search and shopping campaigns aimed at people typing specific queries, with LinkedIn's professional targeting adding precision for B2B offers. AdRoll fits abandoned-cart recovery, browse retargeting, and prospecting campaigns built from lookalikes of existing customer data — none of which depend on someone actively searching for anything at all.

Agencies serving both B2B and e-commerce clients rarely treat these platforms as competitors for the same budget line. Microsoft Advertising often extends an existing Google Ads search strategy at a lower incremental cost, picking up search volume that Google alone would miss, while AdRoll operates one layer further down the funnel regardless of which search engine originally drove the visit.

An online retailer already running Google Ads might add Microsoft Advertising specifically to capture the remaining slice of search volume at a lower cost per click, particularly from an audience that skews older or more likely to use Bing by default. AdRoll then sits underneath both search efforts, making sure visitors who arrived through either search engine do not vanish without a follow-up touch somewhere in the display, social, or email channels it covers.

The decision ultimately hinges on whether the missing piece is search coverage or follow-up coverage. Microsoft Advertising answers the first problem by capturing additional search intent at a lower cost, while AdRoll answers the second by recovering traffic that already arrived and left — and most accounts that scale far enough eventually need both running at the same time.

What Does AdRoll Offer?

Retargeting and prospecting platform for e-commerce with cross-channel ad campaigns and attribution. AdRoll is best suited for e-commerce businesses focused on retargeting and cross-channel advertising, with plans starting at Pay per impression.

Read our full AdRollreview →

What Does Microsoft Advertising Offer?

PPC platform for Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo with lower CPCs and LinkedIn audience targeting. Microsoft Advertising is best suited for advertisers seeking lower cpcs and access to the bing and linkedin audience, with plans starting at Pay per click (no minimum).

Read our full Microsoft Advertisingreview →

How Does Pricing Compare Between AdRoll and Microsoft Advertising?

AdRoll starts at Pay per impression, while Microsoft Advertising starts at Pay per click (no minimum). Pricing alone should not drive your decision — consider which features you actually need and how each tool fits your workflow.

Visit AdRoll and Microsoft Advertising for current pricing details, as plans and pricing may have changed since this page was last updated.

Which Ad Platforms Tool Should You Choose?

The right choice depends on your specific needs, team size, and budget. Here is a quick decision framework.

Where Can I Learn More?

Explore more ad platforms content on No Varnish to make an informed decision.

• Ad Platforms — Complete Guide
• AI-Free Brand Positioning: Half of Consumers Now Prefer It — Here's the Data
• AI Marketing Tool Pricing Index: 3 Plans Killed, 2 New Fees — July 2026
• 89% of Marketers Use AI — But Only 41% Can Prove It Works (2026)
• We Verified Pricing for 28 Marketing Tools — Most Pricing Pages Were Wrong
• What Is Agentic Commerce? The AI Shopping Revolution Marketers Can't Ignore
• Meta Ads Review (2026) — Advantage+ AI Changed Everything Except the Tracking Problem
• Microsoft Advertising Review (2026) — 30-60% Lower CPCs and a LinkedIn Edge Google Can't Match

Sources

• AdRoll Official Website
• Microsoft Advertising Official Website