Overview

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) is a cloud clean room for advertisers who need to analyze Amazon Ads activity alongside their own signals. Its no-cost access for eligible advertisers is compelling, but its value depends on Amazon Ads being central to the analysis and activation work.

Built on AWS Clean Rooms, AMC brings together pseudonymized signals from Amazon properties, advertisers, and onboarded third-party providers. Its web interface and APIs support both analysis and audience management, while privacy controls keep advertiser-uploaded signals in a dedicated instance and limit outputs to aggregated, anonymous results.

Key features

Cross-channel measurement: AMC measures customer journeys across Amazon Ads media and channels, including impact at Amazon's online and offline stores and on advertiser-owned sites. That breadth helps teams connect ad activity to outcomes, though the measurement remains oriented around Amazon Ads signals and connected inputs.
Audience creation and activation: Advertisers can build audiences from engagement records, conversion events, and segment information, then activate them for sponsored, video, and display ads. This makes AMC useful when analysis needs to feed Amazon campaign targeting rather than remain a standalone reporting exercise.
Flexible analysis: SQL analysis is available for teams that want to query connected signals directly. Curated templates and Ads Agent assistance provide a no-SQL path to insight generation and visualization, which broadens access without replacing the flexibility of SQL for more tailored work.
Signal connections: Ads Data Manager and integrated signal-management tools connect Amazon Ads, advertiser, and third-party provider signals. Amazon names Xmars, Pacvue, Treasure Data, and LiveRamp as software vendor partners with native integrations. The APIs also support reporting, audience management, and first-party signal onboarding by stream or upload.
Signal depth and retention: AMC provides hundreds of campaign fields, including ad-attributed impressions, clicks, and conversions, and access to 25 months of ad traffic signals. That gives analysts a substantial window for journey work, subject to the signals they can connect.
Privacy controls: Pseudonymized inputs and aggregated, anonymous outputs support analysis without exposing individual-level results. Advertiser-uploaded signals stay in the dedicated instance and cannot be exported or accessed by Amazon; this is a meaningful safeguard, though it also means teams should not expect raw uploaded data to be available for export.

Pricing

Plan	Price	What it includes
Amazon Marketing Cloud	0.00 USD per free	Available at no cost to eligible advertisers, with access through a web-based UI and API.

The free plan removes a software fee for eligible advertisers while retaining the core clean-room, measurement, and audience-building functions. Access is not universal: Amazon DSP advertisers can request it through their Ad Tech Account Executive, while sponsored ads advertisers can use self-service access. No seat or usage quota is stated. Amazon directs prospective users to an account executive, and its Ads Agent course describes product support within AMC.

Platforms

AMC is available on the web and through an API, with cloud deployment. SQL analysis is supported, alongside no-SQL templates and Ads Agent assistance. The API is relevant for teams automating reporting, audience management, or first-party signal onboarding; teams seeking a downloadable or self-hosted deployment should look elsewhere.

Who it's for

AMC suits advertisers and analytics teams already working with Amazon Ads who want to join campaign signals with advertiser and partner inputs, measure customer journeys, and turn findings into Amazon ad audiences. Its no-cost access and no-SQL tools lower the barrier to trying that workflow, while API and SQL support accommodate more technical teams. It is a weaker fit when analysis must center on channels outside Amazon Ads or when users need exportable advertiser-uploaded signals.

Pros and cons

Pros

No-cost access for eligible advertisers: The free plan makes clean-room analysis and audience activation available without a software price.
Measurement linked to activation: Teams can move from customer-journey analysis to audiences for sponsored, video, and display ads.
Multiple ways to work: SQL, APIs, curated templates, and Ads Agent assistance serve both technical analysts and users who prefer no-SQL workflows.
Privacy-minded data handling: Uploaded advertiser signals remain in a dedicated instance, and results are aggregated and anonymous.

Cons

Eligibility gates access: The free plan is not an unrestricted public sign-up; Amazon DSP advertisers need an account executive, while sponsored ads access is self-service.
Amazon Ads is the center of gravity: The product is best suited to analysis and activation built around Amazon's advertising signals, limiting its fit for teams whose priorities lie elsewhere.
Outputs are not individual-level: Aggregated, anonymous results preserve privacy but do not provide raw, person-level analysis.

Alternatives

For a broader clean-room category search, compare Data Clean Room Software; advertisers shopping for campaign buying platforms can browse Demand Side Platform. Live Shopping Platforms and Email Marketing Analytics Software serve adjacent needs rather than AMC's core Amazon Ads clean-room workflow.

Adobe Advertising Creative is a paid alternative with usage-based fees or annual subscriptions and self-service or managed account options; consider it when that pricing structure and account model suit your needs better. illumin, Nexxen DSP, Adform DSP, Moloco Ads, rtb.com, Infillion DSP, and Simpli.fi are paid alternatives to evaluate when choosing an advertising platform rather than AMC's free clean-room offering.

Verdict

Choose AMC if your team is an eligible Amazon advertiser and needs a privacy-focused way to analyze Amazon Ads signals and turn findings into campaign audiences without a software fee. Its combination of journey measurement, SQL and no-SQL analysis, and activation is the strongest reason to adopt it. Look elsewhere if Amazon Ads is not central to your work or your analysis requires individual-level outputs or exportable uploaded signals.

	Amazon Marketing Cloud	Northbeam
Free plan	Yes	No
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	Free	—
Open source	No	No
Platforms	api, Web	api, Web
Free plan	Yes	No
Ecommerce tracking	—	Yes

Amazon Marketing Cloud vs Northbeam

Amazon Marketing Cloud

Northbeam