Ad spy platforms have become indispensable for marketers who want to keep a competitive edge. These tools let you monitor and analyze your competitors’ ads across channels like Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Google, TikTok, YouTube, and more. Instead of guessing, you can see which creatives, copies, and placements are winning in your industry and learn directly from them.
Below we cover some of the best ad spy platforms that growth teams, agencies, and CMOs are using in 2025.
What is an Ad Spy Platform?
An ad spy platform is a tool that:
- Reveals competitor ads currently running across networks.
- Shows ad creatives (images, videos, headlines, text).
- Tracks ad engagement and performance signals.
- Provides historical data to see how campaigns evolved.
- Surfaces insights on targeting, placements, and strategies.
Why use one? Because it helps you:
- Shortcut to proven ideas – use what’s already working in your niche.
- Spot gaps – find opportunities competitors aren’t targeting.
- Save spend – avoid testing blind and cut CAC.
- Stay updated – never miss new creative formats or trends.
Best Ad Spy Platforms
Here’s a list of leading platforms that marketers rely on today:
1. GetCrux
GetCrux is more than an ad spy tool – it’s an AI creative strategist built for teams that want to go beyond seeing ads and actually understand why they work.
Coverage & Formats: Meta, TikTok, and integrations with Google and first-party data sources with global multi-region coverage. Handles static, carousel, and video formats with pipeline for additional networks.
Creatives & Funnel Access: Shows competitor ads, user comments, and landing page flows. Goes further by labeling every creative element (messaging, background, talent demographics, placement timing).
Filters & Searchability: Granular filters by ad type, launch date, platform, demographics, and even visual attributes (indoor vs outdoor, background color, influencer age group).
Historical Data vs Freshness: Pulls in months or even years of back data while also tracking new ads in near real time.
Ease of Use & Team Features: Includes AI Copilot for natural-language queries (“Which angles are winning this quarter?”), fatigue/fixer reports, and shareable dashboards.
Extra Value:
- Reads through competitor ad comments to extract audience objections and new angles.
- Generates on-brand creatives automatically, cloning competitor ads within your brand guidelines.
- Flat pricing tied to creative volume, not ad spend.
Best For: Brands and agencies scaling creative output who want actionable insights and AI-generated assets, not just raw data.
2. AdSpy
One of the largest and oldest ad spy databases, AdSpy has built its reputation on depth and raw scale.
Coverage & Formats: Primarily Meta (Facebook and Instagram), with a focus on social feed formats.
Creatives & Funnel Access: Provides access to images, video ads, headlines, and ad text. Funnel or landing page visibility is limited.
Filters & Searchability: Famous for its powerful search engine – lets you filter by keyword, advertiser domain, call-to-action, gender, age, and engagement metrics.
Historical Data vs Freshness: Known for its huge historical archive of social ads, though freshness is sometimes delayed compared to lighter-weight spy tools.
Budget: Pricing starts mid-tier, typically around $149/month, making it popular with dropshippers and DTC brands.
Ease of Use & Team Features: Interface is designed for solo use rather than collaborative teams; saving and tagging is available but lightweight.
Best For: DTC and dropshipping brands who need to quickly mine a massive Facebook/Instagram ad library for proven ad angles.
3. BigSpy
BigSpy markets itself as a cross-platform option for budget-conscious teams.
Coverage & Formats: Covers seven major channels: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter (X), Pinterest, and Yahoo. Good for social and display ad visibility.
Creatives & Funnel Access: Allows you to see creatives, ad copy, and in many cases landing pages.
Filters & Searchability: Search by advertiser, keyword, CTA, placement, and country. Not as deep as AdSpy, but broad enough for multi-platform testing.
Historical Data vs Freshness: Stronger on freshness, with daily ad pulls; historical depth is more limited.
Budget: Affordable pricing tiers (including entry-level packages under $100/month) make it attractive for startups.
Ease of Use & Team Features: Collaborative tagging and saving features available; interface is beginner-friendly.
Best For: Startups or small teams needing affordable cross-channel ad intelligence across multiple platforms.
4. PowerAdSpy
A tool focused on detailed ad intelligence with an emphasis on niche and targeting.
Coverage & Formats: Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram), YouTube, and Google display.
Creatives & Funnel Access: Goes beyond creatives by allowing you to see landing pages and funnel flows tied to ads.
Filters & Searchability: Strong filtering by ad position, engagement, niche, and CTA. Particularly useful for uncovering targeting tactics.
Historical Data vs Freshness: Balanced – supports both live ads and historical tracking, though archives are smaller than AdSpy.
Budget: Mid-range pricing, typically $49–$99/month depending on features.
Ease of Use & Team Features: Saves and organizes searches, supports agencies handling multiple accounts.
Best For: Agencies managing many brands where targeting insights and CTA analysis are critical.
5. SocialAdScout
Built for performance marketers, SocialAdScout is designed for deep competitive analysis.
Coverage & Formats: Strong across Facebook, Google native, and affiliate traffic sources.
Creatives & Funnel Access: Provides landing page previews, funnel path tracking, and copy variations in addition to ads.
Filters & Searchability: Hyper-granular – filter by geo, device, language, or ad type.
Historical Data vs Freshness: Robust historical archive plus near real-time updates for live campaigns.
Budget: Premium pricing, often above $300/month, reflecting its affiliate-heavy feature set.
Ease of Use & Team Features: Advanced interface; steep learning curve but allows saving, tagging, and alerts for team workflows.
Best For: Affiliates and paid media buyers who need geo-targeting and funnel-level insights to compete.
6. SpyFu
While not a traditional “creative spy” tool, SpyFu is essential for search marketers.
Coverage & Formats: Focused on Google Ads and search campaigns, including text ads and keyword data.
Creatives & Funnel Access: Provides keyword history, ad copy, and estimated budgets; does not provide visual creative data.
Filters & Searchability: Deep keyword-level filtering across domains and competitors.
Historical Data vs Freshness: Exceptional historical keyword archives (going back 10+ years). Freshness of ad creative is secondary.
Budget: Plans start around $39/month, making it cost-effective for SEM teams.
Ease of Use & Team Features: Built-in reports, keyword lists, and competitive overlap charts are shareable across teams.
Best For: SEM managers and SaaS growth teams relying on keyword-driven Google Ads campaigns.
7. SEMrush Ad Intelligence
An all-in-one marketing intelligence suite with ad spying as part of its broader offering.
Coverage & Formats: Includes display, Google Ads, and programmatic visibility alongside its core SEO tools.
Creatives & Funnel Access: Offers visibility into both creatives and advertiser landing pages.
Filters & Searchability: Unified filters across SEO, PPC, and ad data. Not as granular as standalone ad spy tools, but excellent for cross-channel context.
Historical Data vs Freshness: Strong for benchmarking past campaigns; display ad archives can go back years.
Budget: Premium enterprise pricing – often starting at $199/month and up.
Ease of Use & Team Features: Dashboards and reports designed for enterprise teams, with easy sharing and integrations.
Best For: Enterprises needing a single platform to monitor SEO, PPC, and display ads together.
Comparison Snapshot
Takeaway
If you just want to see competitor ads, platforms like AdSpy or BigSpy get the job done.
If you need funnel-level views or niche targeting, PowerAdSpy and SocialAdScout are strong.
For SEM, SpyFu is unmatched; for enterprises, SEMrush fits best.
But if you want to know why ads succeed, fill the creative gaps with your own brand, and even generate compliant, on-brand assets automatically, GetCrux is the standout choice.
