Google Ads vs AdSense

by Gralio Mar 10, 2025

Google Ads and AdSense serve different purposes within the online advertising ecosystem. Google Ads is for businesses looking to actively promote their products or services, while AdSense is for website owners seeking to monetize their content by displaying ads.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 3131 reviews and 60 websites, saving 17 hours, 53 minutes of reading.

Google Ads

Website LinkedIn Twitter

AdSense

Website LinkedIn Twitter

About

Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users. It can place ads both in the results of search engines like Google Search and on non-search websites, mobile apps, and videos. Google Ads enables businesses of all sizes to reach their target audience, increase website traffic, and generate leads or sales. Its self-service platform allows for campaign customization, budget control, and performance tracking.

AdSense is a platform by Google for website and blog owners to earn money by displaying targeted ads on their sites. AdSense automatically displays text, image, and video ads that are relevant to your content and audience, potentially increasing revenue through clicks or impressions. It's a straightforward way to monetize your online presence, suitable for businesses of all sizes.

Summary

Main difference

Google Ads is a platform for businesses to create and manage their own advertising campaigns, offering control over targeting, bidding, and ad creatives. AdSense, conversely, lets website owners earn money by displaying ads on their sites, automating the ad selection and placement process.

Relative strengths of Google Ads (compared to AdSense)

Extensive campaign control and customization options.
Advanced targeting and bidding strategies.
Detailed performance tracking and analytics.

Relative weaknesses of Google Ads (compared to AdSense)

Requires active management and optimization.
Can be more complex to learn and use.
Potentially higher costs depending on bidding strategies.

Who should use Google Ads VS. AdSense

Google Ads is a powerful online advertising platform enabling businesses to reach a vast audience and drive conversions. Users praise its precise targeting and robust analytics but note the complex interface and reporting. Best for businesses seeking scalable advertising solutions across diverse industries.

Google AdSense helps website and blog owners monetize content by displaying targeted ads. Easy setup and various ad formats are praised, while users note difficulties with support and low CPC rates in certain regions. Suitable for small to medium businesses in media, entertainment, marketing, and advertising.

Ideal for businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises.
Suitable for a wide range of industries, including e-commerce, finance, healthcare, and more.

Best for small to medium businesses (1-1000 employees).
Ideal for Media & Entertainment and Marketing & Advertising.

Google Ads and AdSense features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

Performance Tracking & ROI Measurement

Supported

Google Ads allows tracking impressions, clicks, conversions, and estimated revenue for ROI measurement.

Partially supported

AdSense tracks impressions, clicks, and revenue. Use Google Analytics integration to measure conversions and ROI.
Advertising Campaign Management

Supported

Google Ads provides tools and methods for managing ad campaigns across Google platforms.

Not supported

AdSense is focused on automating ad solutions for publishers, not managing complex campaigns across platforms.
Google Ads integration

Supported

Google Ads allows managing campaigns directly within its platform.

Partially supported

AdSense does not directly manage Google Ads campaigns, but integrates with Google Ad Manager, which does.
PPC suggestions

Supported

Google Ads offers PPC campaign optimization suggestions in the Recommendations tab.

Not supported

AdSense is for publishers and focuses on displaying ads, not managing PPC campaigns.
Bing Ads integration

Partially supported

Bing Ads campaigns cannot be managed directly within Google Ads, but integrations with third-party tools or APIs are available.

Not supported

AdSense does not support Bing Ads campaign management.
Automated bidding

Supported

Google Ads supports automated bidding based on goals like conversions and ROAS.

Not supported

AdSense does not support automated bidding.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

-0.08

Neutral sentiment

+0

Neutral sentiment
Customer Service

+0

Neutral sentiment

-0.5

Rather negative sentiment
Ease of Use

+0.37

Rather positive sentiment

+1

Strongly positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance

+0.55

Rather positive sentiment

-0.71

Strongly negative sentiment
Ease of Implementation

-0.12

Neutral sentiment

+1

Strongly positive sentiment
Scalability

+1

Strongly positive sentiment

No data

Google Ads and AdSense Pricing

No data

User sentiment

Neutral

-0.08

We couldn't find a pricing page for Google Ads.

No data

We couldn't find a pricing page for AdSense.

Google Ads and AdSense review insights

3131 reviews analysed from and

Users love

Unmatched reach and precision targeting
Ideal for large campaigns with robust analytics and scalability
Powerful retargeting tools
Google performs max campaign is productive

Easy setup and integration.
Targeted advertising.
Variety of ad formats.
Detailed performance reports and analytics.

Users dislike

The new UI could be less confusing
It crashes quite frequently
Filters aren’t very clear
Reporting can be complicated
Google Ads launched automated channels which puts digital marketers less levers to for optimization
DDA driven attribution has also has a down side as the backend numbers or the CRM numbers referred by the client creates a huge discrepancy in the reporting conversions

Difficult to get support.
Strict policies can lead to account termination.
Low CPC rates for some regions.
Delayed payments and high minimum payout threshold.

Google Ads and AdSense Ratings

G2

4.3/5

(1936)
Capterra

4.5/5

(949)
Glassdoor

3.5/5

(2)

G2

4.2/5

(250)
Glassdoor

3.5/5

(2)

Company health

Employee growth

69% increase in the last year

Web traffic

2% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

July 2018 - $16M

How do Google Ads and AdSense differ in campaign control?

With Google Ads, advertisers have granular control over their campaigns, including targeting, bidding, ad creatives, and budget. AdSense, however, gives publishers less direct control over the ads displayed. Publishers can choose ad formats and categories they deem appropriate for their site, but the specific ads shown are determined by Google's algorithms based on site content and user demographics. Essentially, Google Ads users actively manage campaigns, while AdSense users passively earn revenue from ads chosen by Google.

Which product, Ads or AdSense, better suits my passive monetization goals?

AdSense better suits passive monetization goals. While Ads requires active campaign management and bidding, AdSense automatically displays ads on your website, generating revenue passively based on clicks and impressions. You simply place the AdSense code on your site and Google handles the rest.

What are the advantages of Google Ads?

Google Ads offers broader reach and more precise targeting options compared to AdSense. It provides robust analytics, scalability for large campaigns, and powerful retargeting tools, making it suitable for businesses actively seeking to expand their audience and drive conversions. Google Ads also offers more control over ad campaigns with various bidding strategies and optimization features, unlike AdSense's more passive approach to ad revenue generation.

What are the disadvantages of Google Ads?

Google Ads can be complex to manage, especially for beginners, with a confusing UI and complicated reporting. Users have reported issues with the platform crashing. Automated features, while intended to be helpful, can limit control over campaign optimization. Discrepancies can arise between Google Ads' data and client-reported data, making it difficult to accurately assess campaign performance. Finally, users have reported dissatisfaction with customer support.

Alternatives to Google Ads and AdSense

Google Ad Manager

Google Ad Manager is a comprehensive platform designed to help website and app owners earn money from their online content by displaying ads. It provides tools to manage various types of ads, connect with numerous advertisers, and track ad performance to maximize revenue. Google Ad Manager is a robust solution suitable for businesses of all sizes seeking to streamline their online advertising operations.

Hospitable.com

Hospitable.com (formerly Smartbnb) is a vacation rental software that helps automate and streamline the management of short-term rental properties. It offers tools for managing guest communication, automating messages, syncing calendars across platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo, coordinating cleaning teams, and creating direct booking websites. Hospitable emphasizes time-saving automation and aims to reduce the manual workload for hosts.

Basis

Basis is a software platform designed for managing digital advertising. It allows you to control all aspects of your campaigns, from planning and buying to analysis, all in one place. Basis offers automation tools to streamline tasks, along with features for targeting specific audiences and managing budgets across various channels like social media, search engines, and connected TV. The platform focuses on improving efficiency and effectiveness for businesses running digital ad campaigns, promising to save time and maximize your advertising budget. Basis also offers educational resources and support to help your team get the most out of the platform.

Smile.io

Smile.io helps businesses turn one-time buyers into loyal customers with easy-to-manage rewards programs. Used by over 100,000 brands, it lets you reward actions like purchases, social sharing, and reviews. Features include customizable program design, powerful reporting, and integrations with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce. Smile.io aims to increase sales, repeat purchases, and brand loyalty, while saving on marketing costs.

Whisper

Whisper is an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system developed by OpenAI. It can transcribe audio from multiple languages and translate it into English. Whisper offers high accuracy and robustness, especially for challenging audio. It is a versatile tool for businesses that need to transcribe meetings, interviews, or other audio content.

RollWorks Account-Based Platform

RollWorks is a platform designed to help businesses find and connect with their ideal customers, particularly in the business-to-business (B2B) market. Using a large database and artificial intelligence, it identifies companies that are likely to be interested in your products or services and provides insights to help you tailor your marketing efforts. It offers a suite of tools for advertising, account-based marketing, and sales intelligence, all aimed at driving revenue growth. RollWorks integrates with other marketing and sales tools to streamline your workflow and track campaign effectiveness.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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