Key Takeaways
- The four best tools to spy on competitor ads are GetHookd, Foreplay, AdSpy, and PowerAdSpy, priced at $29, $59, $149, and $69 per month, respectively.
- GetHookd leads with Brand Spy, a one-to-five Ad Performance Score, and AI script generation, while Foreplay’s biggest strength is its 100 million ad Discovery library paired with Spyder brand tracking.
- AdSpy is known for its database of over 200 million Facebook and Instagram ads with comment search, while PowerAdSpy’s biggest strength is pulling ads from 10 networks into a single dashboard.
- Tips for spying on competitors’ ads include filtering by country, sorting by run length, spotting recurring hooks, checking landing pages, and reworking proven angles into original tests.
- GetHookd stands apart by saving every tracked ad permanently, even after a competitor takes it down, and scoring each one on run length, reuse, and impressions.
What It Means to Spy on Competitor Ads
Spying on competitor ads means tracking the creatives a rival keeps running the longest, since a long-running ad has already proven it converts. Most marketers treat this as guesswork or outright copying, but it really comes down to spotting patterns another brand has already paid to validate.
The free Meta Ad Library shows every live ad, but it erases a campaign the moment a brand turns it off, so relying on it alone means missing the ads that ran the longest and likely performed best. Copying a winning ad outright also tends to backfire, since fatigue sets in fast and a duplicated hook rarely performs the same outside its original account.
GetHookd prevents promising competitor ads from disappearing by saving tracked ads and scoring them based on run length, reuse, and impressions, making proven angles easier to find before they fade.
GetHookd: Turn Competitor Intelligence Into Your Next Winning Ad
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:- ✓ Brand Spy to decode competitor ad strategies in real-time
- ✓ AI script generation and ad cloning for instant variations
- ✓ Performance scoring based on actual ad behavior, not vanity metrics
- ✓ Creative Analyzer to identify and scale your top performers
The 4 Best Tools to Spy on Competitor Ads
1. GetHookd Best For Competitor Research & AI-Powered Creative Production
GetHookd is our ad research and creative intelligence platform for media buyers, ecommerce operators, and agencies. It builds on public Meta Ad Library data, bringing competitor research and ad production into one place.
Our ad search covers 65 million ads and can be filtered by niche, format, and Performance Score. Brand Spy is the part built for competitor work: paste a rival’s Meta Ad Library URL, or pick from 20,000 pre-tracked brands, and its dashboard shows a format breakdown, daily active ad counts, most-used hooks, and top landing pages.
Save Ads then keeps those ads permanently, which is where most spy tools fall short, since the Meta Ad Library drops an ad the moment a brand switches it off. Another powerful feature is Creative Analyzer, which reviews the saved ads to flag recurring hooks and formats.
Knowing which ads a competitor runs is one thing. Knowing which are working is what our Ad Performance Score answers by rating every ad 1 to 5 stars for run length, creative reuse, brand activity, and impressions.
Those help you get a read on performance without needing access to a competitor’s ROAS, CTR, or spend. Scores also update as new data lands, which means a breakout creative shows up while it is still fresh rather than weeks later. Filter by score to jump straight to the winners in a niche.
On the ad production side, Ads Transcription extracts copy and hooks, Video Scripts uses an 8-figure AI copywriter to generate new angles, and Clone Ads creates image variations from an existing ad. A Chrome extension saves ads from the Meta Ad Library while browsing, and these features run on a monthly credit allowance included with each plan.
Pricing starts at $29 per month on Starter, then $49 for Pro, $79 for Team, and $129 for Agency, with each tier adding credits and seats. Annual billing takes up to 35% off those rates, and Starter, Pro, and Team all include a 7-day free trial.
2. Foreplay: Best For Multi-Platform Ad Discovery & Creative Workflows
Foreplay is a creative research and competitor tracking platform used by performance marketers. Its Discovery library holds more than 100 million community-curated ads, and the Spyder feature tracks the ads a brand runs on Meta. Discovery supports keyword and AI-powered search, and it can run AI analysis to detect the emotion and target persona behind an ad.
Foreplay also covers TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and its Lens analytics and Briefs features connect research to creative reports and ad briefs. A Chrome extension saves ads in one click, and API and MCP access are included for teams that pull ad data into their own systems.
Spyder is not included on the entry-level Basic plan. Tracking starts at $175 per month on the Workflow plan, covering 15 brands, or unlimited brands on annual billing. Discovery library’s coverage depends on ads that other users save.
3. AdSpy: Best For Affiliates & Dropshippers Needing Deep Historical Ad Data
AdSpy’s database lists more than 200 million Facebook and Instagram ads from over 29 million advertisers across 225 countries and 88 languages.
It is used mainly by affiliates and dropshippers who need historical ad data, since that depth lets users check how long a specific ad has run and identify evergreen campaigns. The collection expands continually, so newly launched ads appear without a manual refresh.
AdSpy runs on a single flat plan of $149 per month with no consistent free trial. The interface is dated, and research remains manual, with no automated creative production. It suits advertisers who prioritize database depth over workflow features.
4. PowerAdSpy: Advertisers Running Campaigns Across Multiple Ad Networks
PowerAdSpy pulls ads from ten networks into a single dashboard: Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, native placements, and the Google Display Network.
On the Meta side, it filters by keyword, advertiser, domain, ad position, geo-targeting, call-to-action type, engagement, and demographics, and a Chrome extension surfaces competitor ads directly in the newsfeed alongside their ad history.
Their basic plan costs $69 per month and covers Facebook, Instagram, Google, and YouTube. Standard at $129 swaps Google and YouTube for Pinterest and LinkedIn, and Premium at $179 restores YouTube alongside them.
Platinum at $279 is the first tier to carry all six of Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn; then Titanium is $349 and Palladium $399. Annual billing cuts those rates sharply, starting at $29 per month on Basic, and trials run $1 for three days on Basic or $7 on the other plans.
Top 4 Tools to Spy on Competitor Ads: Summary Table
| Tool | Platform Focus | Standout Spy Feature | Starting Price |
| GetHookd | Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, Threads) | Brand Spy, proprietary Ad Performance Score, plus AI ad creation | $29 per month, or $19 per month on annual billing |
| Foreplay | Meta, with TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube | Spyder 24/7 competitor tracking (from $175 per month) | $59 per month, or $49 on annual billing |
| AdSpy | Meta (Facebook and Instagram) | 200M+ ad database with comment search | $149 per month, monthly billing only |
| PowerAdSpy | Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, plus six more networks | Ten-network coverage from one dashboard | $69 per month, or $29 on annual billing |
Tips to Spy on Competitor Ads in 6 Steps
The process below stays the same regardless of which tool runs it. What changes with a dedicated platform is how much happens automatically and how much of the record survives after a competitor switches an ad off.
- Set the country and ad category filters, then search for a competitor’s Facebook Page name to list all active ads. Searching by keyword or product term instead surfaces ads from brands you have not identified yet.
- Sort or scan by how long each ad has run. Ads that have been active for several weeks or months usually indicate profitable campaigns.
- Identify hooks and angles that repeat across multiple ads, since repetition signals a message that converts.
- Open the landing pages behind the ads to review the full funnel, offer, and price point.
- Save the strongest ads to a swipe file. GetHookd retains saved ads even after they go offline.
- Rework each proven angle into an original creative and test it. Direct copying rarely works, but adaptation to your own brand does.
When reviewing an ad, separate the hook from the offer and the format, since a brand often reuses one winning hook across many creatives. The hook is usually the element worth adapting first, while the offer and format can be tested separately to isolate what drives the result.
Grouping the shortlist by angle then exposes the patterns shared across brands, which are the safest to test. Record when you first see each ad. Whether a competitor keeps it live or kills it weeks later shows whether the ad is working.
GetHookd Turns Competitor Ad Research Into Your Next Test
Competitor ad research removes most of the guesswork from paid campaigns, since a rival’s longest-running ad already proves an angle works. The brands that scale profitably tend to be the ones that study those proven angles, then quickly test their own version instead of starting from scratch.
We built GetHookd to make that process fast, tracking competitor ads on Meta and turning them into new creative tests in seconds. Start your 7-day free trial today and put your competitor research to work.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is it legal to spy on competitor ads?
Yes. Ad libraries such as the Meta Ad Library are public. Viewing, saving, and analyzing those ads for research is permitted. The limit is intellectual property, since copying a competitor’s exact creative, logos, or trademarked assets can breach copyright and platform rules.
Can I tell how much a competitor is spending on ads?
Not exactly. Meta and other platforms do not publish standard advertisers’ budgets. You can infer relative spend from how long an ad runs, how many variations run at once, and how broadly it appears. For ads about elections, politics, or social issues, the Meta Ad Library does report spend and reach ranges.
How often should I check competitor ads?
For most brands, a weekly or biweekly review is enough. Winning ads reveal themselves through longevity, so tracking over time matters more than daily checks. Tools that automatically log new ads, such as GetHookd’s Brand Spy or Foreplay’s Spyder, maintain a running history and eliminate the need to monitor each competitor by hand.
Do ad spy tools reveal a competitor’s targeting?
Rarely in full. Ad platforms keep audience targeting private, so no tool shows a competitor’s exact settings. Some tools estimate audiences from signals in the creative and placement. AdSpy, for example, approximates location, gender, and age, but these figures remain estimates rather than the advertiser’s real targeting data.
How is GetHookd different from the free Meta Ad Library?
The Meta Ad Library only shows ads that are live at the moment and drops them once a brand stops running them. GetHookd keeps a permanent, searchable record of saved ads, adds filtering and analysis the native library lacks, and extends into producing new creatives rather than only viewing them. That turns one-off lookups into an ongoing workflow.
*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.
