Platforms & Channels

Amazon Ads vs Microsoft Ads: Selling on the Platform vs Off It

In short: Both are auction-based, but they put the buyer in a completely different place. Amazon Ads reach someone already inside a buying session on Amazon's own catalog, and the click lands on a listing you don't fully control. Microsoft Ads reach someone typing a query on Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo, and the click lands on your own site. Amazon reports its own attributed sales, which overlap other channels and rarely reconcile with total revenue; Microsoft's conversion tracking ties directly to your own analytics. Advertise on Amazon if you sell through its marketplace and want the point-of-purchase moment; advertise on Microsoft if you need traffic to your own property.

By the AdFlint research team · Fact-checked against current Google and Meta platform behavior · Last reviewed July 2026

Amazon Ads

Sells sponsored product, sponsored brand, and display placements against shoppers already browsing Amazon's catalog with immediate purchase intent.

Retail media placed at the point of purchase, where the shopper is already in a buying session and the platform closes the loop on the sales it drives. It suits anyone selling physical products through Amazon. The usual mistake is judging it against site-wide return targets: Amazon reports its own attributed sales, which overlap other channels and rarely reconcile with total revenue.

Full definition

Microsoft Ads

Search advertising on Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and partner sites, formerly called Bing Ads, with an import path from Google Ads campaigns.

The search network formerly known as Bing Ads, covering Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and syndicated partners, plus LinkedIn profile targeting that search rivals do not offer. Volume is far smaller than Google's, though competition is often lighter and the audience skews older and more desktop-heavy. The typical error is importing Google campaigns once and never maintaining them, so budgets and negatives drift apart.

Full definition

Side by side.

The differences that actually change what happens in your account.

	Amazon Ads	Microsoft Ads
What the shopper is doing	Already browsing or searching inside a buying session on Amazon's catalog.	Typing a query on a general search engine, at any stage from research to ready-to-buy.
Where the click lands	An Amazon product or listing page you don't fully control.	Your own website or landing page.
Eligibility to advertise	Generally requires an active seller or vendor listing on Amazon.	Open to any advertiser with a website and a Microsoft Advertising account.
Attribution ownership	Amazon reports its own attributed sales inside its walled garden.	Conversions tracked via your own UET tag, comparable to Google Ads reporting.
Reconciling with total revenue	Rarely reconciles cleanly - overlaps other channels and Amazon's own organic sales.	Ties directly to your own analytics or CRM since the click lands on your property.
Core efficiency metric	Ad-spend-to-sales ratios like ACOS and TACOS.	Cost per click and cost per conversion, like standard search reporting.
Volume driver	Bounded by how much of your catalog sells on Amazon and category competition there.	Bounded by non-Google search share.
Failure mode	Judged against site-wide return targets that Amazon's own numbers were never meant to match.	Campaigns imported once from Google Ads and left unmaintained.

What actually separates them.

Amazon ads sell inside someone else's storefront and hand you their attributed-sales number; Microsoft ads send the click to your own site, where your own analytics own the truth.

Amazon eligibility is generally tied to selling through the Amazon marketplace, while Microsoft Ads is open to any advertiser regardless of where they sell.

Amazon's reported sales overlap with other channels and rarely reconcile against total revenue, while Microsoft's conversion tracking is a single-source click-to-conversion chain you can audit end to end.

Amazon's core efficiency metrics, ACOS and TACOS, have no real analog in Microsoft's reporting, which uses cost per click and cost per conversion like any other search engine.

Amazon captures a shopper already inside a buying session on that specific catalog; Microsoft captures a shopper who could be at any stage of intent, from early research to ready-to-buy.

Which one should you use?

Use Amazon Ads when

You sell physical products through the Amazon marketplace and want the point-of-purchase moment.
You want retail-media placement in front of someone already shopping that category.
You're comfortable with Amazon owning the attribution story rather than reconciling it yourself.
Your goal is winning the buy box against competing listings, not driving traffic to your own site.

Use Microsoft Ads when

You sell off-platform, through your own site or service, not through Amazon.
You need search traffic outside Google and want it to land on your own property.
You want conversion data you can reconcile against your own analytics and CRM.
You're not eligible to sell through Amazon, or don't want to build that channel.

Common questions.

Can I run Amazon Ads without selling products on Amazon?

For Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, generally no - you need an active seller or vendor account with listings on Amazon. Amazon DSP has some options for advertising without an Amazon storefront, but that's a separate product with a different setup.

Why doesn't my Amazon ad spend match my total sales?

Amazon reports the sales it attributes inside its own ecosystem, which overlaps with organic sales, other ad channels, and shoppers who would have bought anyway. That number was never designed to reconcile cleanly with your site-wide revenue, so don't expect it to.

Is Microsoft Ads a substitute for Amazon Ads?

No, they do different jobs. Microsoft sends a search click to your own site; Amazon sells inside its marketplace to someone already in a buying session there. Most sellers on Amazon still need a separate strategy for driving traffic to their own property.

Which platform is cheaper to advertise on?

It depends on your category's competition on Amazon versus non-Google search competition on Microsoft, and there's no universal answer. Test both against your own numbers rather than assuming one is inherently cheaper.

Or stop choosing between them.

AdFlint picks the setting, writes the ads, and keeps optimizing inside the Google and Meta accounts you already own.

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