"How much does Amazon DSP cost" has a frustrating answer: it depends on how you buy it, who you buy it through, and what you count. The useful version of the answer breaks the cost into its three layers, so you can price each one for your situation and add them up. That is what this guide does. For what DSP is in the first place, start here.
Layer 1: the media
DSP sells impressions, priced per thousand (CPM). You pay for the ad being shown, not clicked. The CPM varies with the audience, the placement and the season.
Narrow, high-intent audiences, such as retargeting your own product viewers, cost more per thousand because every impression is aimed at someone likely to buy. Broad audiences, such as lifestyle segments, cost less per thousand and convert at a much lower rate. Amazon's own placements tend to price differently from third-party sites and streaming video. And CPMs rise in Q4 as every advertiser competes for the same shoppers.
This is why "the CPM" is not one number, and why judging DSP on CPM alone misleads. A cheap CPM on a broad audience can be expensive per sale; a high CPM on a retargeting audience can be cheap per sale. The targeting options guide explains the audience types.
Layer 2: the access route
There are three ways to buy DSP, and each has its own minimum and its own way of charging.
Amazon managed service. Amazon's team runs the campaigns. Historically this route has carried a monthly minimum spend that puts it beyond most small and mid-size sellers. In exchange, you get Amazon's own operators and data access.
Agency. An agency with a DSP seat runs campaigns on your behalf. Minimums are usually lower than Amazon's managed service. The agency charges a management fee, a percentage of DSP spend, or both.
Self-service platform. A third-party tool gives you DSP access through its interface, at a lower minimum, with a software fee. You or your team run the campaigns.
Minimums change over time and between providers. Confirm the current figure directly before budgeting.
Layer 3: fees on top
Platform fee. Amazon charges a fee on DSP media spend. It is often folded into what the agency or platform quotes, but ask whether it is.
Management fee. Agencies charge for running the campaigns. Percentage-of-spend is common, which means the fee grows with the media budget. The agency pricing post covers how these structures work and where the incentives point.
Creative. DSP display and video ads need assets in multiple sizes. If you do not have them, someone has to make them, and that cost sits outside the media budget entirely.
Data and tools. Amazon Marketing Cloud, custom audiences and advanced reporting may involve additional cost or require an agency or platform that supports them.
Putting it together
The total monthly cost of DSP is media plus platform fee plus management or software fee plus amortized creative. Ask every provider for that number at your planned media budget. If one quotes only media, ask again.
Then compare the total to what the same money would do in sponsored ads. That comparison is the honest test. For a brand whose Sponsored Products program still has room to improve, the same budget spent on getting ACoS down or on Sponsored Display retargeting is usually a better return than DSP at a minimum that strains the budget.
How to judge whether it is worth it
Not on ACoS. DSP reaches shoppers who were not searching, and much of its value appears as lift: more branded searches, better conversion on sponsored ads, new customers who later buy through search. Direct attribution understates it.
The measures that fit: cost per detail page view, which tells you what it costs to bring a shopper to your listing. Cost per new-to-brand order, which tells you what it costs to acquire a customer who has not bought from you before. And lift in branded search and sponsored ad conversion during DSP flights compared with periods without, which tells you whether the channel is feeding the rest of the account.
Run DSP long enough to read these. A two-week test on broad audiences tells you very little; a month of retargeting tells you whether the channel works for your products at all. The guide for smaller sellers covers how to run that first test at the lowest cost.
The cheaper alternative
Sponsored Display offers views-based retargeting and in-market audiences in the regular advertising console, billed per click or per impression, with no minimum and no separate platform. For many brands it is the right way to find out whether audience-based advertising works for their catalog before paying DSP's entry cost. The DSP versus sponsored ads comparison covers when the jump makes sense.
Frequently asked questions
Is Amazon DSP pay per click?
No. DSP is bought on a cost-per-thousand-impressions basis. You pay for ads shown, whether or not anyone clicks. That makes cost per click and ACoS a poor fit for judging it; the useful measures are cost per detail page view, cost per new-to-brand customer, and total return including lift in search.
What is the minimum spend for Amazon DSP?
It depends on the access route. Amazon's managed service has historically required a meaningful monthly minimum. Agencies with DSP seats and self-service platforms offer lower entry points. Minimums change, so confirm the current figure with whoever you would buy through.
Are there fees on top of Amazon DSP media spend?
Usually. Amazon charges a platform fee on DSP media. Agencies add a management fee or a percentage of spend. Self-service platforms charge a software fee. Ask for the all-in cost per month at your planned spend, not just the media figure.
Off Hours runs the sponsored ads side at a flat $149 per account: dayparting, budget, event and performance rules that make the most of the budget before DSP is the question. Start a free 14-day trial.