Best Ad Spy Tools in 2026, Compared on Price and Platforms

The best ad spy tool for most teams in 2026 depends on platforms and budget: Proxy if you research inside ChatGPT or Claude, TrendTrack or Minea for dropshipping, Foreplay or Atria for creative teams, and the free Meta Ad Library for one-off checks. Below are 10 tools compared on price, platforms, free tier, and AI-assistant (MCP) access.

(Proxy publishes this blog and is one of the tools below. We've tried to keep it fair. Competitor prices and features come from the sources linked inline, checked October 2026; most vendor sites don't list one fixed price, so we give ranges where sources disagree. Confirm before you buy.)

What are the best ad spy tools in 2026?

The best ad spy tools in 2026 are Proxy, TrendTrack, Foreplay, GetHookd, Atria, AdSpy, BigSpy, Minea, Pipiads, and the free Meta Ad Library. They split into AI-assistant tools, swipe-file dashboards for creative teams, and ecommerce product-research tools.

Tool	Starting price	Platforms	Free tier	MCP / AI assistant	Best for
Proxy	Free, Pro $50/mo	Meta, Google, LinkedIn, TikTok (EU)	20 credits/day, no card	Yes, it is an MCP server	Teams who work in ChatGPT or Claude
TrendTrack	about $59/mo	Meta, TikTok	Limited free account	MCP on Pro and up (about $89/mo)	Ecommerce and dropshipping
Foreplay	about $59/mo	Meta, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn	7-day trial	MCP on paid plans, uses API credits	Creative teams with swipe files
GetHookd	about $29/mo	Meta-first	7-day trial	MCP on Team, Agency, or annual plans	Making ads, not just finding them
Atria	about $159/mo ($129 annual)	Meta, TikTok	Free plan (since June 2026)	MCP, no credits drawn for now	In-house creative strategists
AdSpy	about $149/mo	Facebook, Instagram	No free plan	None found	Affiliates searching deep Meta archives
BigSpy	about $9 to $19/mo	Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, X and more	Limited daily searches	None found	Cheap multi-network browsing
Minea	about $49/mo	Meta (TikTok and Pinterest on Premium)	About 200 credits	None found	Dropshipping product research
Pipiads	about $49/mo	TikTok, Facebook	500-credit trial	None found	TikTok-first product hunting
Meta Ad Library	Free	Facebook, Instagram, Messenger	Free, unlimited browsing	No	Quick one-brand checks

"None found" means we couldn't find a public MCP or AI-assistant connector for that tool in October 2026.

How did we choose these ad spy tools?

We picked the ten tools that show up most often in 2026 "best ad spy tool" roundups, plus the free library they all build on. Each was judged on five questions: what it costs to start, which ad networks it covers, whether there's a usable free tier, whether it plugs into ChatGPT or Claude, and who it's actually built for. We didn't score creative quality or database size, because vendors measure those in different ways.

Which ad spy tool is best for each job?

Each tool below wins a specific job. None wins all of them.

1. Proxy: best for teams who research inside ChatGPT or Claude

Proxy is a free MCP server that gives ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, and Codex live access to the Meta Ad Library, Google Ads Transparency Center, LinkedIn Ad Library, and TikTok's EU ad library. You don't open a dashboard. You type "What video ads is Huel running on Meta, and what hooks do they open with?" and get the ads, a transcript of each video, and a read on the angle, in the chat.

It's built for answers, not browsing. Ask it to compare two brands' hooks or find a competitor's longest-running Google ads; it pulls the live data and your assistant does the analysis. It also finds competitors you didn't know about from a domain or a plain description like "meal kit for busy parents."

Usage backs up the workflow. Between February and October 2026, Proxy returned about 179,000 live ads to marketers' AI assistants and transcribed over 1,000 competitor video ads. About a third of the Meta ads came from searching a topic rather than naming a competitor, which is the kind of open-ended question a chat handles better than a filter panel.

Pros

• Lives in the AI tool you already use, with no API keys (OAuth sign-in)
• Covers Google and LinkedIn, which most ad spy tools skip
• Video transcripts and hook breakdowns at 1 credit per video
• Free tier of 20 credits a day, no card; Pro is $50/mo for 100 a day (pricing)

Cons

• You need an AI client like ChatGPT or Claude; there's no standalone app
• No saved boards or years-deep archive. It reads what the libraries show today
• TikTok coverage is EU-delivered ads only, searched by exact advertiser name

Best for: in-house marketers, founders, and agencies who already spend their day in ChatGPT or Claude.

2. TrendTrack: best for ecommerce and dropshipping

TrendTrack pairs a Meta and TikTok ad library with Shopify store and product data, so you can go from a winning ad to the store behind it. Paid plans run about $59, $89, and $149 a month, or $42 to $105 billed annually, and there's a free account with a handful of tools, according to PassiveKit (pricing review). Its MCP is mainly on Pro and higher.

• Pro: store revenue signals and product trends, not just ads
• Pro: MCP access for Claude users on the right plan
• Con: no Google or LinkedIn, so it's a poor fit for B2B

3. Foreplay: best for creative teams who live in a swipe file

Foreplay wins on swipe-file organisation. Boards, saved ads, and briefs are its core, and its MCP lets Claude or ChatGPT read those boards plus a stored library Foreplay puts at over 200 million ads (changelog). According to Foreplay's FAQ, the MCP uses your plan's included API credits, with no separate tier (FAQ). Plans start around $59/mo, or $49 billed annually, per Creatify (breakdown).

• Pro: the most mature board-and-brief workflow in this list
• Pro: stored history, so you can see ads that are no longer live
• Pro: MCP included on paid plans
• Con: no free tier beyond a 7-day trial
• Con: no Google Search ads

We compare the two head to head in Proxy vs Foreplay.

4. GetHookd: best for making ads, not just finding them

GetHookd starts with the con: it's Meta-first and doesn't cover LinkedIn, so B2B research needs another tool. What it does well is the step after research, with script writing and ad cloning built next to the library. Starter is about $29/mo, Team about $79, and Agency about $129, per EveryDev (listing). Capterra reports a 7-day trial and no free version (listing). According to GetHookd's help center, the MCP sits on Team, Agency, or any annual plan (plans), and it connects with an API key (setup guide).

5. Atria: best for in-house creative strategists

Atria is built for creative strategists who want AI analysis, briefs, and competitor tracking in one place. Core is about $159/mo, or $129 billed annually, per Hackceleration (pricing). New workspaces now start on a free plan, according to Atria's help center (free plan). Its MCP connects Claude or ChatGPT over OAuth, can transcribe ad videos, and draws no credits for now (Atria MCP). That makes Atria Proxy's closest rival on AI-assistant access. It covers Meta and TikTok, not Google or LinkedIn.

• Pro: generous MCP terms
• Pro: strong brief and tracking features
• Con: paid plans are the priciest here for small teams

6. AdSpy: best for affiliates who need deep Meta search

AdSpy is the classic Facebook and Instagram archive, with search by ad text, comments, domain, and affiliate network. It's one plan at about $149/mo with no free plan, according to TrendTrack's review (review); AffNinja mentions a limited trial (pricing). There's no TikTok, Google, or LinkedIn, and we found no AI-assistant connector. If you're weighing a switch, see AdSpy alternatives.

• Pro: comment and text search across a large Meta back-catalog
• Con: Meta only
• Con: the highest single entry price on this list

7. BigSpy: best for cheap browsing across many networks

BigSpy covers the most networks of any tool here: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, X, and several mobile ad networks, according to eComposer (review). The free tier allows a few searches a day. Paid plans start at $9 a month per Capterra (listing) or $19 per TrendTrack (review). Reviewers say per-network depth is thinner than specialist tools, and the Pro plan (about $99 to $149) is where it gets useful.

8. Minea: best for dropshipping product research

Minea is a product-research tool first: it finds winning products through their ads. Starter is about $49/mo for 10,000 credits, Premium about $99 adds TikTok and Pinterest, and a free plan gives about 200 credits, per TrendTrack (Minea pricing) and AffMaven (pricing).

• Pro: product and store data alongside the ads
• Con: Starter is Meta only
• Con: credits don't roll over
• Con: no B2B coverage

9. Pipiads: best for TikTok-first product hunting

Pipiads started as a TikTok ad library and added Facebook later. PiPiADS advertises more than 95 million ads and 700,000 advertiser profiles, per Copyfy's review. The Basic plan is about $49/mo with a 500-credit trial, according to AffNinja (pricing); older listings show $77 (TrustRadius). Pipiads wins for US TikTok research, which Proxy doesn't cover.

10. Meta Ad Library: best free option for one-off checks

The Meta Ad Library is free and shows any advertiser's active Facebook and Instagram ads. Ordinary ads disappear once they stop running, while ads shown in the EU stay visible for a year and political ads for seven, per PPC Land (guide). It has no transcripts and no saved boards. Our guide on how to use the Facebook Ad Library covers the filters.

Which ad spy tool is best for dropshipping?

TrendTrack and Minea are the best ad spy tools for dropshipping, because they connect ads to the products and Shopify stores behind them. Pipiads is the pick if TikTok is your main channel. Proxy helps once you know which brands to watch. It doesn't track store revenue.

What is the best free ad spy tool?

The best free ad spy tool is Proxy for AI-assisted research and the Meta Ad Library for manual checks. Proxy gives 20 credits a day with no card, enough for roughly 20 brand lookups or video transcripts. BigSpy, Minea, and Atria have free tiers too, but they cap searches tightly or hold back features for paid plans.

Which ad spy tool should agencies use?

Agencies should pick by what clients pay them for.

• Creative agencies: Foreplay or Atria, since clients see the boards.
• Performance and B2B agencies: Proxy. One question covers several competitors across Meta, Google, and LinkedIn, and the answer drops straight into a client deck.

The catch is volume. Proxy's free tier caps you at 20 credits a day, so agencies running research for several clients usually need Pro ($50/mo for 100 credits a day) or Max ($100/mo for 250). Is that cheaper than a seat-based dashboard? Usually, but count your weekly lookups first.

Do ad spy tools show competitor ad spend?

No. Public ad libraries don't publish spend or ROAS for ordinary commercial ads, so any spend figure is an estimate. Run length, meaning how long an ad has stayed live, is the most honest free signal of a winner.

How do you try Proxy in two minutes?

Add https://mcp.useproxy.dev/mcp as a custom connector in ChatGPT or Claude, sign in, and ask "What ads is [competitor] running on Meta and Google?" Step-by-step setup for every client is on the install page and in how to see competitor ads in ChatGPT and Claude. For other MCP options, see the best ad library MCP servers, and if Foreplay is your current tool, Foreplay alternatives.