GAM Standard vs 360: Differences & Who Needs 360

The short answer

Stay on Ad Manager (Standard) if you serve under the free monthly impression thresholds (90M, 150M or 200M non-video impressions depending on your country, and 800,000 video impressions) and do not need a 360-only feature. You need Ad Manager 360 when you need Teams, Audience Solutions or PPID, Data Transfer files, Prebid header bidding trafficking, the MCM parent role, or direct Google support. Exceeding the free thresholds alone does not force 360: Google then requires a paid contract for the extra impressions.

Comparison table

Topic	Ad Manager (Standard)	Ad Manager 360
Pricing	Free up to monthly thresholds: 90M / 150M / 200M non-video impressions by country, 800,000 video impressions. Above that, a paid contract is required.	Paid contract with Google (fee schedule and rate card in the order form). Includes direct access to Google support.
Ad unit hierarchy	Up to 1 level below the effective root ad unit	Up to 2 levels below the effective root ad unit
Custom dimension key-values (reporting)	5,000	20,000
Audience Solutions (1st and 3rd party segments)	Not available (Google: contact your account manager)	Available
Publisher provided identifiers (PPID)	Not available	Available (activation via your account manager)
Teams (access restricted by advertiser, order, ad unit)	Not available: user roles only	Available
Data Transfer (event-level files)	Not available: aggregated reports in the UI or the API	Available at additional cost, hourly files in CSV or Parquet
Open Bidding	Available if you use Ad Exchange (onboard online)	Available (the 360 contract includes the Open Bidding agreement)
Header bidding trafficking (Prebid wrapper)	Not available	Available
Multiple Customer Management (MCM)	Not available	Available (parent publisher role)
Ad Manager API	Yes: enabled in network settings by an Administrator	Yes: same switch; some limits and features differ (see above)

1. Free impression thresholds and pricing

Google sets monthly impression limits for the free version of Ad Manager. For non-video ad units the limit depends on your location; for video it is a flat 800,000 impressions per month.

When you exceed a threshold, Google requires a paid contract for the additional impressions. If no valid payment method is on file, the account is converted to read-only and may ultimately be suspended, at which point ad serving may stop.

Ad Manager 360 is a separate account type: you sign a paid contract with Google, with a fee schedule and rate card set in the order form, and get direct access to Google support.

90 million non-video impressions per month: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United States.
200 million: a list of countries that includes, among others, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, India and Mexico. Google publishes the full list.
150 million: all other locations not listed.
800,000 video impressions per month, regardless of location.

Source: Ad Manager billing setup (thresholds) · Ad Manager 360 billing setup · About Ad Manager and Ad Manager 360 accounts

2. Inventory structure and limits

The Ad Manager API documents the ad unit depth rule in the AdUnitHierarchyError.INVALID_DEPTH error: the maximum allowed depth is two levels below the effective root ad unit for Ad Manager 360 accounts, and one level below it for Ad Manager accounts.

If you hit that limit, flatten the naming (for example homepage_sidebar) or use key-values to target page sections instead of creating more nested ad units.

Google lists most system maximums once, without a Standard/360 split: for example 600,000 total line items, 100,000 active ad units, 200 active keys and 2,500,000 active key-value pairs. The one documented difference is custom dimension key-values: 20,000, or 5,000 without Ad Manager 360. Google also notes that a network can have an exception, so check Admin, Global settings, Limits in your own network.

Source: AdUnitHierarchyError.Reason (Ad Manager API v202605) · System maximums and limits

3. Audience Solutions and PPID

Audience Solutions lets you build first-party segments from how users interact with your site or app and integrate third-party segments. Google marks it as available only in Ad Manager 360, and tells Small Business accounts to contact their account manager.

Publisher provided identifiers (PPID) are also a 360 feature, used for frequency capping, audience segmentation and targeting across devices. Google notes that PPID is not currently supported in reach reporting or conversion tracking.

Source: First- and third-party audience segments · About publisher provided identifiers

4. Open Bidding and header bidding trafficking

A common myth: Open Bidding is 360-only. Google states that Open Bidding was originally available only in Ad Manager 360, but is now available to all publishers using Ad Exchange in Ad Manager.

What stays 360-only is header bidding trafficking with the Prebid wrapper. It is designed to simplify header bidding setup, consolidate reporting across demand channels and potentially improve performance with true bid values instead of Price Priority line items. You still need the Prebid wrapper with a standard implementation.

Source: Open Bidding FAQ · Header bidding trafficking with the Prebid wrapper

5. Data Transfer: event-level files

Data Transfer provides non-aggregated, event-level data taken from the Ad Manager ad server logs, with one file per event type and timestamps accurate to the second. Files are produced hourly, in CSV or Parquet, and you enable it under Admin, Advanced features, where the pricing is shown: Google states the files come at an additional cost.

Google lists Data Transfer reporting among the features of Ad Manager 360 accounts. Without it, you work with aggregated reports in the interface or through the reporting service of the API.

Source: Data Transfer reports · About Ad Manager and Ad Manager 360 accounts

6. Teams and MCM

Teams restrict user access to advertisers, agencies, orders, ad units and more: a user sees an object only if they are on a team that includes it and their role allows it. Google marks Teams as available only in Ad Manager 360. Without Teams, access is governed by user roles.

Multiple Customer Management (MCM) lets a parent publisher manage inventory or accounts for child publishers through a Manage Account or Manage Inventory delegation. Google marks MCM as available only in Ad Manager 360. A child publisher keeps its own Ad Manager network and its direct contract with the parent.

Source: About teams · About Multiple Customer Management

7. API access

Google does not document a Standard versus 360 split for API access: an Administrator turns on API access under Admin, Global settings, Network settings. The differences that reach the API are the ones described above, such as the ad unit depth and the 360-only features.

Source: Turn on API access

Which version fits which team?

Ad Manager (Standard)

A fit when the free thresholds and the standard feature set cover your needs.

You stay under the free thresholds, or accept paying for the extra impressions.
One flat access model (user roles) is enough.
Aggregated reports, including the API reporting service, answer your questions.
You can work with one level of child ad units.

Ad Manager 360

Consider it when you need one of the capabilities Google reserves for 360.

Restrict access by brand, region or client (Teams).
Build first-party segments or use PPID (Audience Solutions).
Load event-level logs into your own warehouse (Data Transfer).
Run Prebid header bidding trafficking or act as an MCM parent.
Direct access to Google support.

4 illustrative 360 scenarios

Illustrative examples built on the documented features, not customer results.

Teams: separate regional sales arms

Google’s own example: one team works with APAC clients, another with EMEA clients. Teams restrict each group to its own advertisers, orders and ad units inside a single network.

Data Transfer: audit billing and traffic quality

A network loads the hourly event-level files into its own warehouse to reconcile impressions and investigate suspicious traffic, which aggregated reports cannot support.

Header bidding trafficking: one reporting view

A publisher already running Prebid uses the trafficking feature to consolidate header bidding reporting across demand channels and avoid managing Price Priority line items by hand.

Audience Solutions and PPID: cross-section segments

A publisher builds a segment of users who read a given section, then targets it across other sections of the site, which Google describes as turning run-of-site inventory into premium inventory.

Frequently asked questions: GAM Standard vs 360

Is Google Ad Manager Standard free, and what are the impression limits?

It is free up to monthly thresholds: 90 million non-video impressions in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US, 200 million in a listed set of countries (including France, Germany and the UK), 150 million elsewhere, and 800,000 video impressions per month anywhere. Beyond that, Google requires a paid contract for the additional impressions.

What is the ad unit hierarchy difference between Standard and 360?

Per the Ad Manager API documentation, the maximum depth is one level below the effective root ad unit for Ad Manager accounts and two levels below it for Ad Manager 360 accounts. Exceeding it returns AdUnitHierarchyError.INVALID_DEPTH.

Which features are exclusive to Ad Manager 360?

Google lists Audience Solutions, PPID, Data Transfer reporting, Teams, special ad units and Multiple Customer Management as 360 features, plus header bidding trafficking with the Prebid wrapper and a higher custom dimension key-value limit (20,000 instead of 5,000). Open Bidding is no longer 360-only.

Is Open Bidding only available in Ad Manager 360?

No. Google states it was originally 360-only but is now available to all publishers using Ad Exchange in Ad Manager.

Sources

Last verified: 2026-09-30. Official Google pages read in full on 2026-09-30. Google can change these rules; check the pages before you decide.

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