Best Ad Spy Tools in 2026

I built StealAds because I wanted competitor research to end with an ad I could make. When I compare ad spy tools, that's the question I start with: what will you have finished when you close the app?

You might need a shared board for a client, a new product to research, or a draft for your own brand. Those jobs call for different tools. Here's how to narrow the shortlist, including where a rival is the better fit.

Quick answer

Choose StealAds to find a rival's long-running Meta ads and make your version. Choose Foreplay for saved references, boards, and a shared research-to-brief workflow. Start with AdSpy for Facebook and Instagram search, or BigSpy for discovery across channels.

For ecommerce product research, look at Minea and PipiAds. For creative analytics around your own ads, look at Motion. Atria belongs on the shortlist if you want an AI workflow that combines your ad data, competitor research, briefs, and ad creation.

What makes an ad spy tool useful?

A useful research tool helps you make a decision. Before you sign up, write down the decision you're trying to make: which customer problem to lead with, which product to investigate, or which reference to put in a brief.

Then check discovery, dates, organization, and handoff. Can you find a relevant advertiser? Can you understand what you're looking at? Can a colleague pick up your notes and make something from them? A crowded results page won't answer those questions for you.

Dates matter most. The median ad in our research ran 16 days, so a tool that shows how long an ad has been live tells you which references are worth your time.

Best ad spy tools by use case

StealAds: from a long-running reference to your version

In StealAds, you find a rival's long-running Meta ads, pick a reference, and make your version with your own brand, product, images, and message. That's the workflow I built it around.

The useful question is what you can transfer. Maybe the reference opens with an everyday frustration, shows the product solving it, then answers an objection. You can use that sequence while making the claims, setting, and proof your own.

Choose StealAds when you know the category you're competing in and need to decide what to make next. During your trial, take a reference all the way to a draft. Check whether you can explain the idea behind it and whether the finished version feels like your brand. Keep the reference close enough to compare structure, then review your draft for originality before it goes further.

Foreplay: saved ads, boards, and team briefs

Foreplay's homepage describes saving and organizing ads, sharing boards, Spyder competitor tracking, Discovery search, Lens creative analytics, and Briefs with storyboards and scripts. Its offer reaches well beyond a swipe file.

Choose Foreplay when references need to travel between strategists, creators, and clients. If your team keeps asking where an example went or which reference belongs in a brief, a shared collection is a sensible place to improve the process.

For a trial, build a board around a real campaign question and ask a colleague to review it. Can they understand why each ad belongs there? Can they turn your notes into a useful brief? Read StealAds vs Foreplay for my closer comparison.

AdSpy: Facebook and Instagram ad search

AdSpy's homepage describes searching Facebook and Instagram ads by ad text, URL, and page name. That makes it a candidate when you want to investigate a known advertiser or find messages around a specific phrase.

Test AdSpy with searches you already understand. Start with a brand you know, then try a product phrase and a landing-page domain. Compare how relevant the results are to the question you're researching.

Write down what you'll do with the ads before collecting them. If your task is to compare how brands explain a difficult product, save the explanation and its context together. A screenshot without a research note will be harder to use when you return to the project.

BigSpy: discovery across channels

BigSpy's homepage lists ad discovery for Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, and TikTok, among other platforms. It also lists ad-copy research, page research, and domain analysis.

Choose BigSpy when your research crosses channels. A founder looking at both social creative and search messaging needs a different starting point from someone building a Meta-only brief.

Use the same customer problem across channels:

• Record the message separately from the format.
• Compare how a search ad answers an existing need with how a video introduces a product.
• Keep the source attached to any idea you want to adapt.

Minea: ecommerce product and store research

Minea's homepage presents ad and store research, trend tracking, and competitor monitoring as part of an ecommerce and dropshipping workflow. Its emphasis is on finding products to investigate as well as researching their advertising.

Start with Minea when the product itself is still an open question. That's a different assignment from making a new ad for an established range.

Choose a product category you understand for your trial. Follow an ad to the store and ask what you'd need to learn before offering something similar: the customer problem, the product difference, and the proof behind the pitch. Research can help you identify a candidate; you'll still need to judge whether it fits the business you want to build.

PipiAds: TikTok and ecommerce discovery

PipiAds' homepage lists TikTok and Facebook ad search, advertiser research, ad tracking, and product and store search. It also has TikTok Shop research. Include PipiAds when TikTok is central to the work you're doing.

Take a real short-form brief into your trial. Look for how a creator introduces the problem, when the product appears, and how the demonstration earns attention. Save a note on the sequence you want to explore, alongside the reference.

Don't carry a creator's personal story into your own script. Ask what an actual customer of yours could truthfully show or say. That gives you a useful research outcome even when the original ad's setting and personality are impossible to reproduce.

Motion: creative analytics for your own ads

Motion's homepage describes visual reports that bring creative assets and account metrics together, creative grouping, AI tagging, sharing reports with teams or clients, and an AI agent that tracks ads launched by competitors. Choose Motion for the recurring review of your own advertising.

Bring a question from your account into the trial. You might want to compare demonstrations with testimonials, or understand which opening styles deserve another iteration. Decide how you'll label those differences before looking for a pattern.

Ask whether the report leads to a clear production decision. Which idea will you repeat? What will you change? Who needs to see the evidence? Those are useful review questions for a team connecting media buying with creative production.

Atria: AI analysis, briefs, and ad creation

Atria's homepage describes Raya, an AI teammate that analyzes a brand's ads and data, draws on competitor and customer insights, builds creative briefs, and creates ads. Try Atria when you want those stages connected in an AI workflow.

Use a brief where you know the product details well. Review the reasoning behind the recommendation, then inspect the draft for accurate claims, suitable imagery, and a voice you'd actually publish.

I care about how easy it is to correct the direction. If the first idea misses the customer's concern, can you make that concern clear and get a useful revision? Keep the same standard you'd use with a human creative partner: a clear brief, relevant evidence, and an accountable final review.

Choose a tool by the work you need to finish

• Choose StealAds if you want to find a rival's long-running ads and make an original version for your brand.
• Choose Foreplay if shared references, boards, competitor tracking, and briefs are central to your team's work.
• Choose AdSpy if your starting point is Facebook and Instagram search by text, page, or URL.
• Choose BigSpy if you need to research advertising across several channels.
• Choose Minea if you're investigating ecommerce products and stores alongside their ads.
• Choose PipiAds if TikTok and product discovery are central to your research.
• Choose Motion if your next decision depends on reviewing your own creative and account metrics together.
• Choose Atria if you want an AI workflow from ad-data analysis through briefs and creative.

Where the Meta Ad Library fits

The Meta Ad Library is another place to start your research. Use it to look at a brand's public ads, then decide what additional work you need a tool to help with. Our Facebook Ad Library guide walks through the research process.

Check older references as well as fresh creative. Use the ad hook generator to explore another opening, then follow the full brand-strategy research method to turn your notes into a brief.

If you're choosing what to use next, compare Meta Ad Library alternatives for saving and following rivals, or Foreplay alternatives for shared references and creative work.

FAQ

What is an ad spy tool?

An ad spy tool helps you research other brands' advertising. Depending on the product, you can search ads, monitor advertisers, save references, study creative patterns, or investigate products.

What is the best ad spy tool for Facebook ads?

Choose StealAds if your goal is to make your version of a rival's long-running Meta ad. AdSpy belongs on your shortlist for text, URL, and page searches; Foreplay belongs there for saved references and team briefs.

Are ad spy tools only for dropshipping?

No. Founders, agencies, and in-house creative teams use ad research too. Choose around your assignment: product discovery, competitor research, shared inspiration, or a new ad draft.

What's the best ad spy tool for swipe files?

Choose Foreplay for saving ads, organizing boards, and sharing references. Test it with a real brief and ask a colleague to pick up your research without a meeting.

How we counted

Method note: the run-length findings use 10,950 measured public ads across 234 brands. Runs span each ad's start date to its last observation; ads still live have unfinished runs. We can see what ran and for how long, never what a brand paid or what an ad brought in.