Topsort
vs. Kevel.
Compare an ad server built to configure ads with infrastructure built to make commerce natural — where relevance, auctions and optimization run from one shared understanding.
Two categories decide the comparison. Not a feature checklist.
Kevel and Topsort can look similar row by row. The real question is which layers you want the platform to own: the infrastructure that runs retail media, and the intelligence that makes commerce natural.
Retail Media Infrastructure
Build, operate and grow a modern retail media network.
Ad serving, auctions, sponsored listings, advertiser self-service, measurement and monetization — operated as one commercial engine instead of a stack you assemble.
Pan-Commerce Intelligence
Connect product, shopper, transaction and commercial signals so commerce can act naturally.
Relevance, ranking, bidding, pacing and attribution share one understanding of the catalog and the shopper — the layer an ad server was never designed to hold.
Built for different generations of retail media.
Topsort Built for the commerce media era | Kevel Built from the ad-serving model | |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | Commerce monetization | Configurable ad infrastructure |
| Core philosophy | Intelligence built in | Flexibility to build and configure |
| Decisioning | Commerce signals + relevance + auctions + performance | Configurable auctions, targeting, ranking, and custom models |
| Optimization | AI-powered optimization embedded across the monetization system | Autobid, audience ML, and bring-your-own-model capabilities |
| Operating model | One commerce media system | Retail Media Cloud integrated into your existing stack |
| Best fit | Teams building a scalable, performance-driven commerce media business | Teams that want to own and customize more of the underlying ad stack |
Kevel gives you infrastructure to configure.
Topsort gives you commerce intelligence to compound.
Compare the platforms
● Native / core capability ◐ Supported through configuration, integration, or a different operating model
| Capability | Topsort | Kevel |
|---|---|---|
| Commerce-native auction & ranking | ●Core — commerce auctions, relevance and performance decisioning | ●Configurable — auction logic, ranking rules and custom models |
| Sponsored listings | ●Native | ●Native |
| Catalog-aware monetization | ●Core to decisioning | ●Catalog supported |
| Closed-loop purchase attribution | ●Native commerce attribution | ●Supported |
| AI optimization / autobidding | ●BIDLESS + broader optimization layer | ●Autobid available |
| Advertiser self-service | ●Integrated | ●Kevel Console |
| Audience targeting | ●Audience Builder + commerce behavior | ●Kevel Audience + custom models |
| Onsite retail media | ●Unified platform | ●Core capability |
| Offsite retail media | ●Integrated commerce media product | ●Supported through Retail Media Cloud / APIs |
| In-store commerce media | ●Native product + attribution infrastructure | ◐Extendable through APIs |
| Conversational / AI commerce ads | ●Topsort Prompts | ◐AI/ML capabilities, but a different product model |
| Custom APIs / retailer experience | ●API-first customization | ●Core strength |
Don't just run ads. Make commerce natural.
Commerce-native from the start
Retail media decisions aren't just about inventory. They're about:
Topsort connects those signals directly to auction and optimization decisions.
Intelligence comes built in
You shouldn't need to build a separate optimization stack just to make retail media perform. Topsort brings together:
into the same commerce decisioning layer.
Customize the experience — not every mechanic
Topsort is API-first where flexibility matters. Retailers can build differentiated experiences, formats, placements, and integrations while using Topsort's commerce intelligence underneath.
Poshmark is proof: its implementation combined API-first infrastructure with custom ML, custom ranking, sponsored listings, real-time reporting and auto-bidding. Not less control. Less reinvention.
One system across the commerce journey
Retail media doesn't stop at the search results page.
Its offsite product uses the same commerce infrastructure across channels including Google, Meta and TikTok, while its in-store product connects digital screens, auctions and purchase attribution.
The difference shows up in the results.
API-first flexibility meets commerce intelligence.
Poshmark partnered with Topsort to build Promoted Closet using API-first infrastructure, sponsored listings, real-time reporting, auto-bidding and BIDLESS™. Topsort also developed custom machine-learning and ranking models for Poshmark's unique marketplace.
Read the Poshmark case studyEnterprise-scale retail media, ready for its biggest moment.
Magalu selected Topsort to evolve its retail media operation and migrated more than 3,000 advertisers to the platform in one month ahead of Black Friday. A featured advertiser using Sponsored Products during Black Friday recorded +530% clicks, +1,293% impressions and +156% revenue compared with Black Friday 2023.
Read the Magalu case study*Advertiser result highlighted in the Magalu case study.
How to evaluate Topsort vs. Kevel
Don't start with 100 feature rows. Start with four questions.
The platform you choose determines what your team has to operate later.
Talk to a retail media expertThe future of retail media isn"t more ad-server configuration. It"s better commerce decisioning.
Build your retail media business on infrastructure designed around relevance, performance, revenue and the shopper experience.