For ecommerce brands and performance marketers, speed matters. AdSpy, BigSpy, and GetHookd are popular tools for researching competitor ads, but not all of them help you act on that research quickly.
In this article, we compare AdSpy, BigSpy, and GetHookd to show where each tool excels, where they fall short, and which delivers the fastest path from competitor insights to live, testable ads.
65M+ Ads Analyzed | 4.8★ G2 Rating | 4.4★ Trustpilot Rating
GetHookd reveals which ads your competitors are actively scaling—not just running. Spy on their best-performing creatives, landing pages, and traffic strategies, then turn proven concepts into testable campaigns in seconds with AI-powered script generation and creative cloning.
What You Get:
GetHookd is a comprehensive ad research and creative platform built for marketers, ecommerce brands, and dropshippers who need to find winning ads and move fast.
What sets our platform apart is what happens after you find an ad. Most ad spy tools stop at saving and organizing. The built-in AI tools let you transcribe scripts, generate new hooks and angles, and clone winning creatives without leaving the platform. You can go from spotting a competitor's top performer to having testable variations ready in minutes.
The ad library includes over 65 million ads across Meta and Google. You can filter by niche, industry, format, platform, and performance status to find ads relevant to your products and audience. Unlike libraries that prioritize high volume over high quality, Explore Ads lets you filter for high-quality, curated ads rather than sorting through outdated campaigns.
Brand Spy enables you to track competitor ad activity over time. You can see which creatives a brand is running, how long they've been active, and which ads are receiving the most spend. The key difference is visibility into what's scaling versus what's just running.
AI Script Generation transcribes any video ad and generates new hooks, angles, and full scripts based on what's working. You can take a competitor's winning ad and create original variations tailored to your product in minutes. This eliminates the manual work of watching ads, taking notes, and rewriting scripts from scratch. You go from research to a ready-to-shoot script without switching tools.
Clone Ads instantly creates visual variations of static image ads. You can adjust colors, swap avatars, and test different formats without needing a designer or editing software. This is especially useful for rapid testing. Instead of waiting days for new creatives, you can generate multiple variations and launch them the same day.
Creative Analyzer breaks down what's working across ad formats, styles, and messaging. It identifies patterns in high-performing ads so you can apply those elements to your own campaigns. Rather than guessing why an ad works, you get a clear breakdown of the hooks, visuals, and copy that drive engagement, making it easier to replicate success.
Save Ads lets you keep any ad in your library permanently, even after the original campaign goes offline. You can organize saved ads by niche, format, or performance status for quick reference. This addresses a common issue with Meta's Ad Library: inactive ads disappear. With Save Ads, your research stays intact and accessible whenever you need it.
Our AI tools assist users at every stage of the creative process, from research to ready-to-launch ads. AI Script Generation is particularly useful for turning competitor insights into original creative. The AI copywriter was built using frameworks developed by 8-figure direct-response marketers, so its output follows proven structures that drive conversions.
You can transcribe any winning ad, then generate new hooks, angles, and full scripts tailored to your product. Clone Ads generates image variations in seconds, and Creative Analyzer breaks down exactly what's working so you're not guessing. This end-to-end AI workflow is what separates our platform from tools that stop at research.
Our platform shows you where competitors are sending traffic. With Brand Spy, you can see which landing pages are receiving the most spend, so you understand the full funnel behind competitor campaigns.
We also include plug-and-play funnel templates based on landing pages and checkout flows, used to scale multiple 7–8-figure brands. Instead of guessing how to structure your pages, you can start with proven frameworks and customize from there.
You also get ready-to-use templates for static image ads, so you can launch creatives without having to start from scratch. When combined with Clone Ads, you can generate multiple variations across different colors, formats, and styles. This gives you more assets to test without waiting on a designer.
Our platform’s workspace makes it easy to collaborate with up to 10 team members on ad research and creative development. You can share saved ads, briefs, and competitor insights without juggling separate tools or chasing down files across email threads and chat apps.
This keeps everyone involved in the creative process aligned and informed, whether you're working with an in-house team, remote collaborators, or external clients.
We offer flexible pricing with monthly and annual billing options. All plans come with a 7-day free trial.
Our tool has strong ratings across review sites such as Trustpilot and G2, with reviewers highlighting its value for competitor research, creative inspiration, and ease of use. Users frequently mention how quickly they can identify winning ad angles and turn them into scalable campaigns. The onboarding process and intuitive interface also received praise, with several reviewers noting they could get up and running without a steep learning curve.
AdSpy is an ad intelligence tool focused on Facebook and Instagram ads. The platform offers a large database of ads with filtering options for keywords, engagement metrics, demographics, and landing pages. It's designed for marketers who want to research competitors' creative assets and identify trends within the Meta ecosystem.
AdSpy lets you search ads by keywords, advertiser name, ad text, and URL. You can filter results by country, language, ad type, and engagement metrics like likes, comments, and shares. Demographic filters for age and gender help narrow results to specific audiences.
The platform captures landing-page snapshots of ads in the database. This lets you see where competitors are sending traffic, even after the original ad stops running. You can study competitor funnels without manually clicking through every ad.
AdSpy includes a comment search feature that lets you find ads based on user comments. This can surface ads generating strong reactions or specific feedback, which can be useful for understanding audience sentiment.
AdSpy provides research data but lacks the AI-powered insights found in newer tools. There's no creative scoring, performance predictions, or automated analysis to help you interpret what's working.
Users must develop their own frameworks for analyzing competitive intelligence, which adds time to the research process. Tools like GetHookd automate much of this analysis, surfacing patterns and recommendations without the manual work.
The platform doesn't offer built-in features to save, organize, or tag ads for later reference. You'll need to rely on screenshots or external tools to build a swipe file.
AdSpy offers a single pricing tier at $149/month, which is a significant commitment to testing the platform. There is no permanent free plan, but some offers and coupon codes provide a limited trial with a set number of ad views (e.g., 1,000–2,000) before you must subscribe.
AdSpy has mixed feedback from users. Some praise the database size and the depth of the filtering options for Facebook ad research. However, some reviews mention frustration with the user interface and learning curve, particularly from newer users or those with limited time for research. Others cite the high price point, lack of a free trial, and limited platform coverage as drawbacks. The absence of ad-saving and AI features is often cited as a gap relative to newer tools in the space.
BigSpy is an ad spy tool that helps marketers and advertisers research competitor ads across platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and more. It provides insights into competitor strategies and surfaces top-performing ad creatives to help users identify winning concepts for their own campaigns.
BigSpy's ad search and analysis capabilities enable users to discover competitor ads using filters for keywords, advertisers, platforms, and countries. The platform maintains a large database of active ads and updates it regularly. Its search functionality balances depth with usability, allowing users to quickly find relevant inspiration.
The landing page inspection feature provides insights into post-click strategies, helping marketers understand the complete funnel their competitors have created. This functionality allows users to see how ads connect to landing pages and what conversion elements successful advertisers implement.
BigSpy also offers customizable alerts that notify users of new competitive ads matching specified criteria. These automated monitoring tools alert marketers to industry trends without requiring constant manual checks.
Some users report occasional delays in ad database updates compared to premium competitors. For marketers in fast-moving industries where being first to market with new approaches delivers significant advantages, these delays could potentially impact competitive positioning.
The platform's analytics capabilities, while useful, lack some of the advanced AI and creative features. There's no script generation, creative cloning, or automated recommendations. You'll need separate tools to turn research into ready-to-test ads. Platforms like GetHookd include these AI features natively.
BigSpy offers four pricing tiers with a free plan available:
Users appreciate BigSpy's multi-platform coverage, with several reviewers noting the convenience of researching across platforms in a single interface. Some advanced users note limitations in data depth and analytics capabilities. Common complaints include slow loading times and the steep price jump between plans. Some users also mention that the data isn't always up to date, with "active" ads sometimes already offline.
After comparing these leading ad intelligence platforms across features, pricing, and user experience, GetHookd stands out as the most comprehensive solution in the market for actionable creative insights.
Ad spy tools help you see what competitors are running, but most stop there. You're left with screenshots and spreadsheets, still unsure how to proceed with the research. GetHookd closes that gap by combining ad intelligence with AI-powered creative tools on a single platform.
With our tool, you can spot which ads competitors are actively scaling, transcribe winning scripts, generate new hooks and angles, and clone static creatives, all without switching between tools. The workflow is built for speed, so you spend less time researching and more time launching ads that convert.
For ecommerce brands, dropshippers, and performance marketers who need to test fast and scale what works, GetHookd delivers the full workflow in one place. No more stitching together separate tools for research, scripting, and creative production.
An ad spy tool collects ads running across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google, then organizes them into a searchable database. You can filter by keywords, engagement, ad format, and country to find ads relevant to your niche. Most ad spy tools also let you save ads and view landing pages.
AdSpy focuses solely on Facebook and Instagram, offers a large database and detailed filtering, but costs $149/month with no free trial. BigSpy covers more platforms, including YouTube, and starts at $9/month, but has strict limits on lower plans. Neither offers AI tools for ad creation.
No, AdSpy is not free to use. It’s a paid advertising intelligence tool that costs about $149 per month for full access to its Facebook and Instagram ad database, and it does not offer a permanent free version. There may be limited trial credits (typically 1,000–2,000 ad views) available through online promotions.
BigSpy can be worth the investment for marketers who need ad research and competitor insights without the high cost of premium enterprise tools, especially if you plan to use it regularly for campaign planning. But BigSpy is not worth it if you’re looking for a tool that also helps create or optimize ads, since it focuses purely on ad research rather than execution.
AdSpy and BigSpy are ad research tools. They help you find and filter competitor ads, but stop there. GetHookd includes the research plus AI-powered creative tools to transcribe scripts, generate hooks, and clone winning ads without leaving the platform. For marketers who want to move fast, it's the most complete solution at the most accessible price point.
*Note: Pricing and/or product availability mentioned in this post are subject to change. Please check our website for current pricing and stock information before making a purchase.
