Overview

Audience can join anonymous profiles identified by browser or app ID with known profiles identified by email or another unique identifier. That lets teams build audiences across both unidentified visits and recognized customers, rather than limiting analysis and targeting to logged-in users.

Data inputs span web and app activity, first-party systems, campaigns, and second- and third-party sources. Collection can use tags, server-to-server integrations or APIs, and profile data can include page views, custom events, device and consent details, progressive-profiling responses, and cross-site behavior. APIs also accept online and offline customer data and allow customers to change the data-field structure. This breadth suits organizations consolidating varied inputs, but requires a deliberate implementation approach.

Key features

Segmentation and enrichment

The Segment Builder creates subsets of anonymous or known profiles for targeting, analytics and export, including look-alike segments. Piano's content crawler uses NLP and LLM processing to classify content by entity, sentiment and subject without manual tagging. That can make content-based audience work less dependent on manual labels, while leaving the value of the resulting segments dependent on the quality of the underlying data and taxonomy.

Activation and exports

Segments can be used for targeting in Piano Activation, while Composer can use them for tests and personalized experiences. Audience can also share segments and selected profile attributes with Composer and export profile attributes to Piano Analytics. The Composer connection needs to be configured by Piano's Support Team before use, so teams should account for that dependency when planning a rollout. Composer integration supports up to 100 profile attributes and up to 100 custom segments per site group, subject to per-type limits.

Documented direct connections include Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Ads, Google Ad Manager, Xandr, Equativ, Adform, Platform161 and Nativo. Integration Designer can select and transform fields, then deliver outputs to an endpoint, file, Amazon S3, sFTP or Google Cloud Storage on a chosen schedule. This gives teams several routes to move audience data into other systems, though activation and exports are distinct paths rather than a promise of universal real-time delivery.

Mobile and security

The implementation guide covers mobile SDK integration alongside web tracking scripts, event tracking and data imports. Piano says its Information Security Management System is based on ISO/IEC 27001:2022, a relevant assurance point for teams evaluating how a platform manages information security.

Pricing

Piano Audience is a paid product with custom pricing; the product page directs buyers to request a demo rather than publishing a price. There is no public plan ladder to compare, so teams should get a quote against their intended data inputs, activation needs and deployment scope before budgeting. Piano describes the product for digital businesses using customer information for personalization, analytics and exports, rather than as a low-commitment self-serve tool.

Platforms

Audience is listed for Android, iOS, web and API use. The combination fits organizations handling both app and browser activity or connecting data programmatically; mobile SDK support is part of the implementation path.

Who it's for

Audience is a stronger fit for digital businesses with first-party customer data spread across web, apps and other systems, especially those that need to turn that data into segments for analysis, personalization or downstream activation. Existing Piano users have a more direct route to share audiences with Composer and Analytics, although Composer use requires support configuration.

It is not designed to track people across the Web. Piano supports consistent first-party behavior across multiple domains managed by one organization without third-party cookies, but that is a different use case from following users across unrelated sites. Teams whose core requirement is cross-Web tracking should not choose Audience for that purpose.

Pros and cons

Pros

Works across anonymous and known profiles: browser or app IDs and known-user identifiers can contribute to the same audience work.
Flexible data intake and export: tags, server-to-server integrations and APIs cover varied inputs, while scheduled transformed exports can reach endpoints, files, S3, sFTP and Google Cloud Storage.
Content-aware segmentation support: NLP and LLM processing can classify content by entity, sentiment and subject without manual tagging.
Useful Piano connections: segments and selected attributes can flow to Composer, and profile attributes can be exported to Piano Analytics.

Cons

No public price: custom pricing and a demo-led purchase make early budget comparison harder.
Composer activation has a dependency and caps: Piano Support must configure the connection, which supports up to 100 profile attributes and 100 custom segments per site group, subject to per-type limits.
No cross-Web tracking: the product supports first-party behavior across an organization's domains, not tracking users across the Web.

Alternatives

Data Management Platforms is the broader category to compare if the team wants to evaluate other DMP options. For teams considering a customer-data-oriented category instead, Customer Data Platforms provides that comparison set.

Adform DMP is another paid, API- and web-supported DMP, with dedicated pricing agreed separately and a standard data-import integration and taxonomy setup per account unless otherwise agreed; consider it when that arrangement suits the buying and setup requirements.
AdKernel Data Activation & DMP is paid and supports API, self-hosted and web platforms; its activation layer is included in the platform, making it worth considering when that packaging is a priority.
Diskover offers a paid enterprise plan with unlimited seats and users, while its AI connector and industry add-ons are sold separately; it may suit teams prioritizing unlimited user access.
Informatica Product 360 is a paid API, self-hosted, web and Windows option whose pricing depends on data volume, modules, deployment, integrations and add-ons; consider it when those product and deployment variables match the project.
Kubico uses a custom commercial structure tiered by activation volume and operator size, with performance pricing tied to qualified FTDs and no per-seat licensing; it may fit buyers whose commercial model aligns with those measures.
Collibra is a paid platform with custom pricing and a demo-led buying path.
Lotame Spherical Data Collaboration Platform is paid, has no free plan, and offers data orchestration, enrichment, insights and activation.
BlueData has a freemium plan with one web user, one mobile user, 1 GB of storage and 500 submissions per month, as well as a paid Starter plan; consider it when a capped entry tier is more important than Piano Audience's broader profile and export workflow.

Verdict

Choose Piano Audience if your team needs to combine anonymous and known first-party profiles, build segments and route them into Piano tools or other destinations. Its strongest case is breadth across data intake, audience creation and export; its main reasons to look elsewhere are custom pricing, the support-configured Composer connection and the firm boundary against cross-Web tracking.

	Ascent360 CDP	Piano DMP
Free plan	No	No
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	—	—
Open source	No	No
Platforms	api, extension, Web	Android, api, iOS, Web
Free plan	No	—
Real-time profiles	Yes	—
Identity resolution	Yes	—
Audience activation	Yes	—

Ascent360 CDP vs Piano DMP

Ascent360 CDP

Piano DMP