Basis vs Halliard: Which Media Planning Tool Is Right for You? (2026)

Basis Technologies holds the No. 1 position in G2’s demand-side platform category — not for one quarter, but for every quarter since 2017. That kind of consistent top-rated status isn’t marketing copy; it’s the result of building a platform that agencies actually want to work in. When media buyers say the Basis DSP is easy to learn and the inventory access is competitive, they mean it.

Halliard comes at the problem from a different angle entirely. Rather than starting with programmatic execution and building planning on top, Halliard starts with the plan — and builds buying, measurement, and institutional memory around it. Halliard is the operating system for modern media teams; Basis is the engine room for programmatic execution.

For many agencies, the question isn’t which is better in the abstract. It’s which one solves the specific problem standing between them and better campaign performance right now.

What Is Basis?

Basis is a fully integrated advertising automation platform developed by Basis Technologies (formerly Centro, rebranded in 2022). The platform pairs a programmatic DSP with campaign management tools covering paid search, social, and direct publisher buys — all connected to a planning, billing, and reconciliation layer. The result is an end-to-end operational system where campaign data flows from brief through execution through financial closeout without leaving the platform.

The Basis DSP supports real-time bidding across display, video, audio, connected TV (CTV/OTT), mobile, native, and digital out-of-home (DOOH). For CTV specifically, Basis reports 98% completion rates and 51.5% attention rates — and provides 80+ CTV-specific performance metrics. Premium inventory is accessible through both open exchange buying and a curated private marketplace (PMP) library that includes Hulu, Spotify, the New York Times, ESPN, and Disney+.

Basis doesn’t publish pricing. The platform is enterprise-only with custom quotes, and a Forrester Total Economic Impact study found an average 48% ROI for organizations that made the switch. The complexity of the platform means implementation takes time and training investment, but for agencies whose workflows center on programmatic buying, that investment pays off in operational efficiency.

What Is Halliard?

Halliard is a modern media planning and buying platform purpose-built for independent agencies and in-house teams managing $10M to $500M+ in annual media spend. The platform was built by Matthew Jacobs, whose background spans Starcom, Dentsu (SVP Product), Amazon DSP (Senior PM), and Paramount (Senior Director) — someone who has lived inside both holding company infrastructure and independent agency constraints.

Halliard’s architecture is planning-first. It starts with the visual flowchart and budget allocation, then layers in cross-channel reach and frequency analysis via a proprietary 10,000-person panel across 210 DMAs, then connects to execution through native integrations with 18+ channels including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, and Hulu. In December 2025, Halliard completed the first fully autonomous media buy via Model Context Protocol (MCP) with PubMatic — moving from plan to executed transaction without human intermediation at the buying step.

Halliard starts free, with no credit card required. Premium and enterprise tiers are available for teams managing larger portfolios. Teams typically reach full productivity within days of signup.

Comparison Table

Where Basis Wins

Programmatic depth. Basis was built DSP-first, and it shows. The inventory access — display, video, CTV, audio, DOOH, native — is comprehensive and backed by a curated PMP library that agencies would otherwise need to negotiate directly with publishers. The targeting options (1,000+ audience parameters, NLP-based contextual, geo-fencing, set-top box data) are enterprise-grade.

CTV operational excellence. For agencies running significant CTV budgets, Basis offers a level of operational control that planning-focused platforms can’t match: 80+ CTV-specific metrics, premium inventory deals, non-skippable formats, and DoubleVerify integration for brand safety and fraud filtering. The 98% completion rate and 51.5% attention rate figures are a real statement about inventory quality.

End-to-end workflow for programmatic shops. The integration of DSP buying with search, social, and direct publisher buys — and the native billing and reconciliation layer — means an agency can run an entire campaign lifecycle inside Basis without exporting data to another system. For shops where programmatic is 80%+ of their business, this is genuinely compelling.

Proven track record. 287 reviews on G2 with a 4.5/5 rating is meaningful signal. The No. 1 DSP ranking on G2, maintained since 2017, reflects consistent user satisfaction over time — not a single good quarter. The Forrester TEI study showing 48% ROI gives procurement teams a concrete number to bring to leadership.

Where Halliard Wins

Planning-first architecture. Basis is built to execute; Halliard is built to plan — and planning is where agencies spend the most strategic time. The visual flowchart builder, budget allocation tools, and multi-scenario planning workflows in Halliard are purpose-designed for the strategic work that happens before any DSP bid is submitted.

Cross-channel reach and frequency at the planning stage. This is Halliard’s most differentiated capability. The proprietary 10,000-person panel across 210 DMAs gives media planners cross-channel R+F analysis — covering TV, CTV, digital, audio, and social simultaneously — at the point where it’s most useful: when you’re still deciding how to allocate budget. Basis doesn’t offer this at the planning layer.

Agentic buying that crosses the plan-to-execution boundary. The December 2025 PubMatic MCP integration is a genuine step change. The Basis DSP automates within the execution workflow; Halliard’s agentic buying bridges the gap between plan and transaction. These are different categories of automation solving different problems.

Accessible economics. Basis requires enterprise contract conversations to even understand the cost. Halliard’s free plan lets a media director explore the platform before any budget conversation happens. For independent agencies without central procurement teams, that accessibility changes the evaluation dynamic entirely.

Institutional knowledge retention. Halliard retains every plan, every result, and every insight inside a single workspace — building a compounding knowledge base that reflects the specific history of your agency, clients, and markets. This becomes more valuable with every campaign cycle, particularly for teams that have experienced turnover.

Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Campaign Planning

Basis offers planning capabilities that connect to the DSP and broader campaign workflows, but the interface is optimized for buyers, not planners. The planning layer exists to inform execution, not to serve as the primary strategic workspace.

Halliard is a planning-first platform. The visual flowchart builder, budget allocation engine, and scenario planning tools are designed for the strategic work of deciding where to invest before any buying begins.

Audience Targeting

Basis provides 1,000+ audience targeting parameters via the DSP, plus integrations with 40+ third-party data providers, NLP-based contextual targeting, and set-top box data for linear TV audience segments. This is deep programmatic targeting infrastructure.

Halliard focuses on cross-channel audience planning via its proprietary panel — identifying unduplicated reach and frequency across channels before campaign execution. It connects to platform audiences (Google, Meta, TikTok) for execution.

Reporting and Measurement

Basis delivers campaign-level reporting within the DSP for programmatic channels, plus integration with search and social data. The reconciliation layer supports financial reporting alongside performance metrics.

Halliard provides real-time tracking from planned to delivered spend across all channels, with historical benchmarking against past campaigns to forecast reach and impact.

Pricing

Basis uses custom enterprise pricing (not published). The Forrester TEI study suggests significant ROI for agencies at scale, but the actual cost is only discoverable through a sales conversation.

Halliard starts free with no credit card required, making it accessible to individual planners and small teams immediately.

Best Fit Scenarios

Choose Basis if:

• Programmatic buying is the core of your agency’s business model and you need a purpose-built DSP
• You run significant CTV campaigns where completion rates, inventory quality, and granular metrics matter
• Your agency manages campaigns across display, video, audio, DOOH, and native — and needs all of these in a single platform
• You need native financial reconciliation and billing workflows integrated with your buying activity
• You have the team size and budget to justify an enterprise DSP contract and the onboarding investment

Choose Halliard if:

• You’re an independent agency or in-house team that needs a planning-first workflow before execution
• Cross-channel reach and frequency analysis at the planning stage matters to your clients and pitches
• You want to see what agentic buying actually looks like in production, not in a demo
• You need to be productive immediately — days, not months, after signing up
• You want transparent pricing and a free plan to evaluate the platform before any budget commitment
• You’re managing 18+ channels and need them unified in a single planning workspace

The Verdict

Basis and Halliard are not direct competitors in the traditional sense — they’re solving adjacent problems in the media workflow with different entry points.

If your agency is built around programmatic execution and you need the DSP to be the center of gravity for your campaign operations, Basis is a strong choice. The inventory access, CTV capabilities, and proven track record on G2 are real. The Forrester-verified ROI gives you a concrete business case.

If your agency needs a strategic planning layer first — with cross-channel R+F analysis, agentic buying that bridges plan-to-transaction, and a workflow that retains institutional knowledge — Halliard is solving a problem that Basis wasn’t designed to address.

The most sophisticated independent agencies are increasingly finding they need both: a planning OS and a programmatic execution layer. In that architecture, Halliard handles the planning, budget allocation, and cross-channel strategy; Basis or another DSP handles the programmatic execution. The key insight is that planning and buying are different problems that don’t require the same platform.

For agencies starting from scratch and evaluating where to invest first: Halliard’s free plan makes the evaluation cost nothing. Try it before your next client pitch, compare the R+F analysis to what you’re doing in spreadsheets, and make the call from there.

FAQ

Is Basis free to try? Basis doesn’t offer a public free trial. Access requires contacting the sales team for a demo and enterprise pricing quote. Halliard offers a free plan with no credit card required, making it immediately accessible for evaluation.

What channels does Basis support? Basis DSP covers display, video, connected TV (CTV/OTT), audio, mobile, native, and digital out-of-home (DOOH) for programmatic buying. The broader platform also covers paid search and paid social, connecting programmatic buying to the full media mix.

Does Halliard have a DSP? Halliard is not a standalone DSP — it’s a planning-first platform that integrates with 18+ channel platforms for execution, including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, and Hulu. In December 2025, Halliard completed the first autonomous media buy via PubMatic MCP, which bridges the plan-to-execution gap without requiring a separate DSP relationship.

What is Basis Technologies’ G2 rating? Basis holds a 4.5/5 rating on G2 with 287 reviews, and has maintained the No. 1 position in G2’s demand-side platform category every quarter since 2017.

What makes Halliard’s R+F engine different from a DSP audience tool? Halliard’s cross-channel R+F engine operates at the planning stage, using a proprietary 10,000-person panel across 210 DMAs to model unduplicated reach across TV, CTV, digital, audio, and social simultaneously. A DSP audience tool operates at the execution stage, targeting specific audiences within the DSP’s inventory environment. These are different capabilities serving different parts of the planning and buying workflow.

Explore More Comparisons

• The Trade Desk vs Halliard — The dominant independent DSP vs. the modern planning OS
• Google DV360 vs Halliard — Google’s enterprise DSP vs. channel-agnostic planning
• Amazon DSP vs Halliard — Amazon’s first-party data engine vs. cross-channel planning
• Adobe Advertising Cloud vs Halliard — The enterprise stack vs. the independent agency OS
• Full Media Planning Tools Directory — All platforms rated and compared

See how Halliard handles cross-channel planning for your next campaign. Start for free at halliardmedia.com/trytoday — no credit card required.