ChatGPT answers, unedited

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I wouldn’t buy an expensive “all-in-one” ad-intelligence platform. The sweet spot is one cheap paid-search tool + the free platform libraries for social.

My pick: SpyFu + free Meta/Google libraries

SpyFu is probably the best value for your situation.

• Google/Search: SpyFu is unusually good at competitor PPC: paid keywords, estimated spend, ad history, competitors, and changes over time. Its current Basic plan is $39/mo monthly or $16/mo when billed annually. www.spyfu.comwww.spyfu.com
• Social: Don't pay for social intelligence initially. Use Meta's public ad library to inspect competitors' active creative, offers and messaging. Exact competitor spend isn't publicly disclosed, so any tool claiming precise spend is ultimately estimating it. adlibrary.com
• Google: Google's public ad-transparency data is useful for seeing what competitors are running, while SpyFu gives you the much more useful estimated budget/keyword/history layer.

That gives you a pretty capable competitive-intelligence stack for ~$16–39/month.

If you want one dashboard across search + social

Semrush Advertising Toolkit is the one I'd test next.

Its $99/mo Base plan combines Google and Meta advertising workflows and competitor search research. The $220/mo Pro tier adds AdClarity, including competitor display/video/social ads, placements and spend estimates. adlibrary.comwww.semrush.com

For a tiny agency, though, $220/mo is hard to justify unless competitor intelligence is something you're selling to clients.

What about Similarweb?

Similarweb Ad Intelligence is the more sophisticated option. Its Ad Intelligence covers search, display and social, including estimated ad spend, impressions, campaigns and creatives. support.similarweb.comwww.spyfu.com

I'd put it in the “later, when you're bigger” bucket. It's powerful, but you're likely paying for considerably more intelligence than three people need.

My ranking for your agency

One important caveat: competitor “ad spend” is modeled, not their actual billing data. Treat it as a directional benchmark. The more valuable signals are usually how long an ad has run, how many keywords/ads they maintain, changes in creative, offers, landing pages, and estimated share of spend.

If I were running your agency: I'd spend the ~$16/month annual SpyFu cost, build a simple competitor-monitoring spreadsheet/dashboard, and check the top 5–10 competitors monthly. I'd only graduate to Semrush/Similarweb once the agency's revenue makes the additional intelligence worth it. support.similarweb.comwww.spyfu.com

If you tell me which platforms you actually run (Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.) and roughly how many clients, I can narrow this down to the cheapest stack that covers your exact workflow.

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I wouldn’t buy an enterprise “ad intelligence” platform. Most competitor spend figures are modeled estimates anyway, so you’re paying a lot for precision you can’t actually verify. WhatWins Adextract

My pick: SpyFu + free ad libraries

SpyFu is probably the best value if Google/Bing search spend matters. It gives you competitor keywords, historical ad copy, estimated spend and budget trends, and current comparisons put it around $39/month at entry level. ConversionStudio adlibrary.com

Then pair it with the free official libraries:

• Meta Ad Library — Facebook/Instagram competitor creative and active-ad monitoring.
• Google Ads Transparency Center — Google Search, Display, YouTube and Shopping ads.
• TikTok Creative Center — if TikTok is relevant to your clients.

The free libraries don't give ordinary advertisers' actual spend, but they're excellent for validating who is advertising, what they're running, offers, creative, and longevity. adlibrary.com Kelpi

If you really want one dashboard

I'd look at WhatWins. A recent 2026 comparison lists it at about $39/month, with Meta, TikTok, Google and other cross-channel signals, making it unusually attractive for a small agency. It also emphasizes live monitoring rather than just an archive. WhatWins

The tradeoff: its “spend” information is still modeled rather than your competitor's actual account data.

What I'd actually buy

For your agency, I'd start with SpyFu + the free libraries. That's roughly a $40/month intelligence stack and probably gets you 80–90% of the actionable competitive insight without committing to an expensive platform.

One important caveat: don't put “Competitor spends $47,300/month” in a client report as if it's fact. Treat spend estimates as ranges/signals—e.g. “estimated spend increased substantially” or “appears to be scaling investment.” Even the tools themselves acknowledge that spend is inferred from impressions, CPM assumptions, panels, etc. WhatWins Adextract

If you tell me your typical clients (e.g. SaaS, local services, ecommerce) and whether you care more about Google, Meta, TikTok, or all three, I can narrow this to the cheapest 2–3 tools worth paying for.

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid trying to buy a giant “all-in-one” competitive-intelligence platform. You’ll get more value from one paid search tool + the free native social ad libraries.

My pick: SpyFu + Meta/TikTok/LinkedIn libraries

1. spyfu.com — best budget paid tool

If your main question is “How much are competitors spending on Google Search, and what are they bidding on?”, SpyFu is probably the best fit.

It gives you:

• Estimated monthly Google Ads budget
• Paid keywords and estimated clicks
• Competitor ad history
• Changes in competitor spend over time
• Competitor comparisons
• Ad copy and keyword history

Most importantly for you, SpyFu currently advertises membership starting at $33/month, with unlimited data/downloads. SpyFu SpyFu

One caveat: its ad-budget estimate is Google Search only, not display/social. SpyFu Help Center

2. Meta Ad Library — free for social

For Facebook/Instagram, I'd use Meta's own Ad Library rather than paying for another database.

You can see competitors' active ads, creative variations, messaging, offers and landing pages. Don't treat the number of ads as a spend estimate, though—you generally can't infer a reliable dollar budget from it.

3. TikTok Creative Center — free

Useful if your clients' competitors are active on TikTok. Again, I'd use it primarily for creative/offer monitoring, not precise spend estimation.

If you absolutely need one paid platform for search + social

I'd look at Semrush + AdClarity.

semrush.com has strong paid-search intelligence: competitor spend estimates, paid keywords, ad copy, historical trends and landing pages. Semrush Semrush

Its AdClarity product extends the picture into display, social and video, with estimated expenditure, impressions, campaigns and active ads. Semrush itself explicitly says these are estimates, not exact competitor spend. Semrush Semrush

That's the important distinction: nobody outside the advertiser has their actual Meta/Google spend. You're looking for directional estimates.

What I'd actually buy in your situation

So I'd start with SpyFu. For a tiny agency, $33/mo for actionable Google Ads intelligence plus free social libraries is a much better economics story than paying hundreds per month just to get a prettier dashboard.

One more agency-specific trick: don't monitor 50 competitors continuously. Pick 5–10 important competitors per client and track their spend trajectory, new keywords, new offers, creative changes and landing pages once or twice a month. Spend changes are generally more useful than trying to believe an absolute “$87,400/month” estimate. Semrush itself recommends looking at trends rather than isolated spend snapshots. Semrush

If you tell me roughly how many clients you manage and whether they're mostly local SMB, ecommerce, SaaS, or lead-gen, I can narrow this down to the cheapest stack I'd use for your agency.

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the expensive enterprise ad-intelligence platforms and build around SpyFu + Meta’s own ad transparency data.

My ranking

1. SpyFu — my pick for you

At roughly $29/month when billed annually, SpyFu gives you historical competitor PPC data, estimated spend, paid keywords, ads, clicks and budget trends. help.spyfu.comwww.spyfu.com

The particularly useful part for an agency is that you can look at a competitor and answer:

• What keywords are they paying for?
• Roughly how much are they spending?
• Which ads have persisted over time?
• Which competitors overlap with them?
• How has their PPC activity changed?

SpyFu says it tracks PPC budget, clicks and ads over time, with 10+ years of historical data on its paid plans. help.spyfu.comwww.spyfu.com

Catch: it's primarily a Google/search intelligence tool, not a complete social-spend-monitoring solution.

So I'd use SpyFu as the inexpensive quantitative backbone.

2. Semrush — best if you can spend ~$100–220/mo

Semrush Advertising Toolkit is much closer to what you're describing.

The $99/mo Base plan covers competitor search research, while the $220/mo Pro plan adds AdClarity, which provides competitor intelligence for display, video and social, including creatives, placements and estimated spend. help.spyfu.comwww.spyfu.comwww.semrush.com

That makes it substantially more useful if your clients are running Google + Meta and you want one system.

The problem for a tiny agency is the price: $220/month is a meaningful chunk of overhead for something that's primarily intelligence rather than campaign execution.

I'd only upgrade to it if you're regularly doing competitive research for clients and can justify the cost across several accounts.

3. Similarweb — best data, probably wrong budget

Similarweb has arguably the closest match to your ideal feature set. Its Ad Intelligence covers search, display and social, with competitor campaign, impression and spend intelligence. support.similarweb.com

It is particularly interesting because Similarweb has consolidated paid-search, display and social intelligence under Ad Intelligence in 2026. support.similarweb.com

But for a three-person shop, I'd consider it overkill unless competitive intelligence itself is something you're selling clients.

The cheap stack I'd actually run

$29-ish/month + free tools:

SpyFu → quantitative search intelligence
Meta Ad Library → actual competitor Meta ads/creative
Google Ads Transparency Center → Google's own advertiser/creative visibility
Google Sheets/Looker Studio → your monitoring dashboard

The key distinction: don't treat competitor "ad spend" estimates as ground truth. Nobody outside the advertiser has their actual Meta/Google spend. These platforms infer spend from observed ads, impressions, traffic, CPC/CPM assumptions, etc.

I'd therefore create a simple monthly competitor scorecard:

Competitor → estimated search spend → paid keywords → new keywords → persistent keywords → Meta creative count → new creatives → offer/message → landing pages → apparent activity trend

That is often more actionable than pretending you know their exact $47,382/month spend.

Bottom line

If you're genuinely budget constrained: SpyFu.
If you can afford $99/mo and want one more comprehensive system: Semrush.
If competitive intelligence is a core agency deliverable: Similarweb.

For your size, I would not spend $220+/month yet. Start with SpyFu and free Meta/Google transparency sources, then upgrade when you can point to specific client decisions that the extra data would improve.

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the expensive “enterprise ad intelligence” platforms. You can get most of the useful competitive signal for a fraction of the cost.

My pick: Semrush Advertising Toolkit

Semrush Advertising Toolkit is probably the best single-tool starting point.

• $99/mo for the Base plan when billed annually.
• Excellent for Google/Bing paid search: competitor keywords, ad copy, estimated traffic/spend, position changes, landing pages, and historical activity.
• The Pro plan is $220/mo and adds AdClarity for display/video/social competitor intelligence. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.com
• You can track multiple competitors and export reports, which is useful when you're managing this across clients. www.semrush.com

The catch: $99 gets you strong search intelligence, but not deep social intelligence.

If social is equally important

I'd look at Similarweb Ad Intelligence, but only if you can justify the cost. It covers search + display + social, including competitor campaigns, creatives, impressions and estimated spend. support.similarweb.com

The problem for a tiny agency is price: current public pricing puts its competitive-intelligence/ads offering around $540/month starting, so it's hard to justify on a tight budget. www.g2.com

What I'd actually do with your budget

Adbeat starts at $249/month and is primarily useful for display/programmatic/native competitive intelligence; its estimated advertiser spend is actually an Enterprise feature, making it a poor fit for your particular use case. www.adbeat.com

Anstrex is cheap, but its core products are oriented toward native/push/pop advertising rather than the Google + Meta ecosystem most agencies care about. www.anstrex.com

One important caveat about “competitor ad spend”

Don't treat any third-party platform's estimated spend as actual spend. These products infer budgets from observed ads, keywords, traffic, CPCs, impressions, etc. They're much more useful for answering:

“Is Competitor X materially increasing/decreasing paid activity, what are they advertising, and where?”

than:

“Competitor X spent exactly $47,381 last month.”

For a small agency, I'd actually prioritize share of voice + new/lost keywords + creative volume + landing pages + estimated traffic over the absolute spend number.

My recommended stack: Semrush Advertising Base ($99) + Meta Ad Library (free) + TikTok Creative Center (free). That gives you strong search intelligence and native-platform social creative research without blowing $500+/month on competitive intelligence. Semrush's paid-search data also goes back as far as 2012, which is useful for understanding whether a competitor's activity is a temporary campaign or a durable strategy. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.com

If you tell me your monthly software budget (e.g. $100, $200, or $300) and whether your clients are mostly B2B, ecomm, local, or lead gen, I can narrow this to the best exact stack.

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the big enterprise “ad intelligence” suites. You can get ~80% of the useful competitive picture for a fraction of the cost.

My pick: SpyFu + free platform libraries

Best overall value: SpyFu

At $33/month billed annually ($39 monthly), SpyFu is unusually well suited to a small agency. It tracks competitors’ Google paid keywords, ad copy, estimated clicks and estimated monthly ad spend, plus historical PPC activity. www.spyfu.com

The important caveat: its spend figure is an estimate of Google Search spend, not actual spend, and doesn't cover display or other channels. help.spyfu.com

For social, I'd supplement it with the free Meta Ad Library rather than paying for another tool. That gives you the actual creative, messaging and active ads; you can then use spend estimates/creative volume as directional signals rather than pretending you know a competitor's exact budget.

How I'd stack the tools

Similarweb is the more sophisticated option if you eventually need cross-channel estimates across search, display, social and video; its Ad Intelligence explicitly covers those channels and spend/impression benchmarks. But it is positioned as a sales-led enterprise product, so I wouldn't put it on a three-person agency's budget today. support.similarweb.com

Semrush is the interesting middle ground, but the relevant cross-channel competitor functionality sits in its $220/month Pro Advertising Toolkit. Its $99 Base plan has Google/Meta campaign tooling and paid-search competitor research, but the deeper display/video/social competitor intelligence requires Pro. www.semrush.com

What I'd actually do

Spend $33–39/month on SpyFu, and build a simple competitor-monitoring sheet/dashboard around it:

For each client:

• 5–10 primary competitors
• Estimated Google Search spend
• Paid keyword count
• New/lost keywords
• Top paid keywords
• Ad copy changes
• Landing-page changes
• Meta active ads/creative themes
• Offer/CTA changes
• Month-over-month movement

Then review it once a month, not continuously. You're looking for directional intelligence—“Competitor X appears to have doubled its Search presence and launched 14 new Meta creatives”—rather than an imaginary precise number like “they spent $47,231.”

That's particularly important because even Semrush acknowledges that competitor ad-spend figures are benchmarking estimates rather than actual spend, and Search data can miss local, time-specific and audience-targeted campaigns. www.semrush.com

Bottom line:
$0: Meta Ad Library + whatever free competitive data you can collect.
~$40/mo: SpyFu + Meta Ad Library — my recommendation for you.
~$100/mo: Semrush Base if you also want broader PPC workflow/management features.
$220+/mo: Semrush Pro or Similarweb when competitive intelligence itself becomes a meaningful agency service.

If you tell me whether your clients are mostly local businesses, B2B, e-commerce, or lead gen, I can narrow this down further—the best competitor-spend stack differs quite a bit by vertical.

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the expensive “full intelligence suite” category and use SpyFu + free/native social sources.

My pick: SpyFu

SpyFu is the best value if Google Search is a major part of your agency’s work.

• Starts around $39/mo month-to-month or $33/mo annually on the current pricing page. www.spyfu.com
• Shows competitors’ estimated monthly PPC spend, paid keywords, clicks and ad history. www.spyfu.com
• Its historical ad data goes back many years, so you can distinguish a competitor's ongoing strategy from a one-off campaign. www.spyfu.com
• You can compare multiple domains and identify competitors bidding on the same terms. help.spyfu.com

Important caveat: competitor “ad spend” is an estimate, not their actual Google Ads invoice. Treat it as directional—excellent for spotting who is spending more/less, where, and whether spend is increasing, rather than as an exact dollar figure.

For social: don't pay for expensive intelligence yet

For Meta, I'd pair SpyFu with Meta Ad Library, which is free. It's much better for answering “What are they running right now?” than trying to infer an exact competitor budget.

That gives your team a cheap two-part stack:

What I would not buy yet

Semrush is more capable cross-channel, but it's considerably harder to justify on your budget. Its Advertising Toolkit is currently $99/mo for Base, while the $220/mo Pro tier is where AdClarity adds competitor display, video and social intelligence—including spend/creative information. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.com

Semrush Advertising Toolkit

Similarweb Ad Intelligence is arguably closer to what you're describing as a true cross-channel competitor-spend platform: it covers search, display and social and provides spend/impression intelligence. support.similarweb.com But it's positioned as a much more substantial intelligence product, with sales-led pricing, so I wouldn't put it ahead of SpyFu for a 3-person agency watching every dollar.

The agency setup I'd actually use

$33–40/month: SpyFu

Then create a simple competitor-monitoring sheet with columns:

Competitor → Google estimated spend → paid keywords → new/dropped keywords → Meta active ads → new creatives → offer/message → landing page → date spotted

Have one person spend 30–45 minutes per week updating it. You're not trying to know whether Competitor X spent exactly $47,382. You're trying to catch things like:

“Their estimated search spend jumped 40% this month, they're suddenly bidding on 25 new high-intent terms, and they launched six new Meta creatives around the same offer.”

That's the intelligence that's actually useful to a small agency.

Bottom line: SpyFu is my recommendation for your situation. If you eventually need true cross-channel spend/impression intelligence across Search + Meta + display/video and have clients willing to subsidize it, then graduate to Semrush AdClarity or Similarweb Ad Intelligence. support.similarweb.comwww.semrush.com

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid enterprise-grade ad-intelligence platforms and use a cheap search-intelligence tool + free social ad libraries.

My pick: SpyFu + Meta Ad Library

SpyFu is probably the best value if Google Search is important. Its current Basic plan is $39/month ($29/month when billed annually) and includes 10+ years of Google Ads history, competitor PPC research, ad history, and exports. www.spyfu.com

For social, pair it with Meta Ad Library (free). You can see competitors' active Facebook/Instagram ads and monitor creative, offers, messaging, and how long ads appear to be running.

Important caveat: no competitor tool can actually know a competitor's exact spend. "Ad spend" figures are modeled estimates based on observed ads, keywords, impressions/traffic, etc. Treat them as directional, not accounting data.

How I'd rank the paid options

\*Semrush's $99 Base plan gives you Google/Meta campaign tooling and competitor search research; its $220/mo Pro tier adds AdClarity for competitor display, video and social ads, including spend information. www.semrush.com

Similarweb is the more sophisticated cross-channel option: its Ad Intelligence covers search, display, social and GenAI, including competitor campaigns, creatives and spend trends—but it's positioned as a much more comprehensive research platform. www.similarweb.com

What I'd actually buy

If you're spending <$100/month on competitive intelligence:

1. SpyFu Basic — $39/mo
   • Google Search competitor spend estimates
   • Keywords competitors buy
   • Historical ads
   • Competitor PPC trends
2. Meta Ad Library — free
   • Facebook/Instagram creative
   • Active offers/messages
   • Creative rotation
3. LinkedIn Ads Library / TikTok Creative Center — free where relevant
   • Use these for additional social monitoring rather than paying for a second intelligence platform.
4. Keep a simple spreadsheet with competitor → estimated search spend → active social creatives → offer → landing page → first/last seen.

That gets you surprisingly far for an agency your size.

Upgrade to Semrush if you find yourselves constantly needing one dashboard for search + social/display, or if competitor intelligence is part of your sales/pitch process. Its Advertising Research specifically estimates competitor PPC spending and tracks ad copy, while AdClarity adds cross-channel spend/creative intelligence. www.semrush.com

Bottom line: SpyFu + free ad libraries is the budget sweet spot. I'd only pay $220+/month for Semrush/AdClarity once the agency has enough clients that the competitive-intelligence time savings directly justify it.

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the expensive “full competitive intelligence” platforms and build around Semrush + the free native ad libraries.

My pick: Semrush Advertising Toolkit

Semrush Advertising Toolkit is probably the best single paid tool for your situation.

• $99/mo for the Base plan when billed annually.
• Gives you competitor Google paid-search keywords, ad copy, estimated spend/traffic, competitors, and historical trends.
• Semrush specifically lets you analyze competitor PPC spend and seasonality. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.comwww.facebook.comsupport.similarweb.comaccount.similarweb.com
• The $220/mo Pro tier adds AdClarity, including display, video and social competitor ads and estimated spend. www.semrush.com

The important caveat: competitor “spend” is an estimate, not their actual account spend. Semrush itself notes that Google Ads are dynamic and no third-party platform captures every ad. www.semrush.com

The cheap agency stack I'd actually use

The Meta Ad Library is especially useful because it's free and shows currently active ads across Meta platforms. www.facebook.com

What about Similarweb?

Similarweb Ad Intelligence is arguably the better product if your core requirement is “tell me how much competitors are investing across search + social + display.” It covers spend/investment trends across search, display and social, plus creatives, publishers and campaigns. support.similarweb.com

But it's hard to justify for a tiny agency: Similarweb's entry-level Competitive Intelligence starts around $125/month, while the package including ads is reported around $540/month. account.similarweb.com

My recommendation for you

Start with Semrush Base at $99/mo. Use it for the quantitative Search intelligence, then use the free Meta Ad Library for social creative/competitor monitoring.

I wouldn't pay $220/mo for AdClarity yet unless competitor research is something you actively sell to clients. Once you have enough clients to make competitive-intelligence reporting a billable deliverable, upgrading starts making much more sense.

One other option worth investigating is SpyFu if your work is heavily Google Search-focused; it can be cheaper than buying a broad cross-channel platform. But if you specifically want one dashboard spanning Search + Social, Semrush is the better fit at your budget.

Bottom line:
$99/mo Semrush + free Meta Ad Library = best bang-for-buck setup.
$220/mo Semrush Pro = best upgrade once you need actual cross-channel ad intelligence.
$500+/mo Similarweb = overkill for a 3-person agency unless competitor intelligence itself is a major service.

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid enterprise “ad intelligence” platforms. The best value is usually a cheap search-intelligence tool + free social ad libraries, rather than trying to buy one platform that estimates everything.

My pick: SpyFu + Meta Ad Library

1. SpyFu — best paid tool for your situation

• Strong on Google Search competitor intelligence: paid keywords, ad copy, historical ads, competitors and estimated costs. www.spyfu.com
• Plans currently start around $39/month monthly, with annual pricing lower; its Team/Agency tier is substantially more. www.spyfu.com
• It has particularly deep historical PPC data, which is useful for figuring out whether a competitor is testing ads briefly or has been investing consistently.
• Weakness: it isn't your best source for Meta/social spend.

Then use Meta Ad Library for free to see competitors' active Facebook/Instagram ads. You won't get reliable competitor spend estimates, but you'll get the actual creative, messaging and offers.

If you want one paid platform: Semrush

Semrush Advertising Toolkit is probably the best single-tool compromise.

Its Advertising Toolkit Base is currently $99/month and covers Google/Meta campaign work plus competitor keyword research; the $220/month Pro tier adds AdClarity for competitor display, video and social intelligence. www.semrush.com

That's considerably more expensive than SpyFu, though, so I'd only choose it if your agency will actually use its broader SEO/marketing functionality too.

What I'd not buy on your budget

Adbeat, for example, starts at $200/month for Standard and only exposes estimated advertiser spend at its Enterprise level. www.adbeat.com Similarweb's ad intelligence includes search/display/social and spend signals, but its business offerings are geared toward larger budgets. www.similarweb.com

One important caveat about “competitor ad spend”

Treat every competitor-spend number as an estimate, not ground truth. These platforms infer spend from observed ads, keywords, impressions, traffic and other signals; they're much more useful for relative benchmarking than saying “Competitor X spent exactly $47,300 last month.” Even industry comparisons note that accuracy falls for smaller advertisers and geo-restricted campaigns. brndle.com

For your agency, I'd build a lightweight stack:

$39-ish/mo SpyFu → Search spend/keywords/ad history
$0 Meta Ad Library → Facebook/Instagram creatives
$0 Google Ads Transparency Center → Google competitor creatives
$0–low-cost spreadsheet → monthly competitor spend estimates + creative changes

That gets you surprisingly far without committing $200–$700+/month to enterprise intelligence.

If your main clients are local businesses, ecommerce, or B2B, I can also tell you which stack I'd use for that specific client mix.

For a 3-person paid-ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid enterprise tools like Similarweb/Pathmatics and keep this pretty lean.

My pick: Semrush Advertising Toolkit Pro

Semrush Advertising Toolkit is probably the best single tool for your use case because it covers both sides of the problem:

• Google Search: competitor keywords, ads, paid traffic, and estimated costs/spend. www.semrush.com
• Social/display/video: its AdClarity module estimates competitor spend and lets you inspect campaigns, creatives, placements and channels. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.com
• Historical monitoring: useful for spotting whether a competitor is increasing or cutting investment rather than reacting to one month's snapshot. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.com
• Current Pro pricing is $220/month billed annually; Base is $99/month but doesn't include the cross-channel AdClarity competitor intelligence you specifically want. www.semrush.com

The catch: $220/mo is a meaningful chunk of budget for a 3-person agency.

If $220/mo hurts: SpyFu + free social intelligence

SpyFu is the better budget choice if most of your clients' competitive intelligence is Google Search. Its entry plan is currently $33/month, and it provides estimated competitor spend, PPC keywords, ad history and spend trends. www.spyfu.com

Then use the Meta Ad Library and other platform-native ad libraries for social creative/activity monitoring. You won't get the same unified estimated social-spend number, but you'll save roughly $180/month versus Semrush Pro.

What I'd do in your shoes

Adbeat is excellent for display intelligence, but its Standard plan starts at $200/month and estimated advertiser spend is an Enterprise feature, so I wouldn't choose it for your situation. www.adbeat.com

One important caveat: competitor “ad spend” is always an estimate, not their actual media invoice. Even Semrush explicitly describes AdClarity's figures as estimates. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.com I'd use the data primarily for relative trends—“Competitor A is probably spending 2–3× us and ramped up 40% this quarter”—rather than presenting a client with “they spend exactly $87,400/month.”

Bottom line:

• Under ~$50/mo: SpyFu + free platform ad libraries.
• Around $200/mo and want one dashboard: Semrush Pro.
• I wouldn't spend enterprise money on Similarweb/Pathmatics for a three-person shop unless competitive intelligence itself is a major billable deliverable.

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid buying an expensive all-in-one intelligence platform. The sweet spot is Semrush + free ad libraries, with an upgrade only if competitor social/display spend is a core part of your service.

My ranking

What I'd actually buy

Start with Semrush Advertising Toolkit Base at $99/month. It gives you competitor paid-search keywords, ads, traffic-cost estimates, historical trends and competitor discovery. Semrush explicitly positions its Traffic Cost metric as an estimate of what competitors are spending to generate their paid traffic. www.semrush.com

That is unusually good value for a tiny agency because you can use it across multiple client accounts, rather than buying a separate tool for each client.

Then supplement it with the free Meta Ad Library for Facebook/Instagram. Meta lets you search currently active ads, so you can monitor creative, offers, messaging and which competitors are actively advertising without paying for another platform. www.facebook.com

When I'd pay the extra $121/month

If your agency genuinely needs estimated competitor social + display + video spend, move to Semrush Advertising Toolkit Pro.

It's currently $220/month billed annually and adds AdClarity. That includes estimated competitor spend, creatives, publishers/placements and activity across display, video and social. Semrush says the tool covers 30+ global markets, though the base Pro limits include one geography, three months of historical data and one channel per report. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.com

That's probably the best single-platform answer to your question.

One important caveat

Don't present competitor "ad spend" to clients as an actual number. Nobody can reliably see a competitor's exact spend. These platforms estimate it from observed ads, impressions/traffic, CPCs, placements and other signals. Semrush itself explicitly describes AdClarity figures as estimates. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.com

I'd report something like:

Estimated competitor spend: $50–75k/mo
Confidence: Medium
Evidence: paid-search visibility + estimated traffic cost + social/display activity

That is much more defensible than saying "Competitor X spends $62,413/month."

What I'd do with your $99/month

For your agency, I'd build a lightweight competitive-monitoring workflow:

1. Semrush → estimated Google Search spend, keywords, ad copy and landing pages.
2. Meta Ad Library → active Facebook/Instagram ads and creative changes.
3. Google Ads Transparency Center → Google creative/activity.
4. A simple Google Sheet/Looker Studio dashboard → monthly competitor spend estimates, new ads, offers and major changes.
5. Upgrade to AdClarity only when clients actually value cross-channel spend intelligence enough to justify the extra $121/mo.

I wouldn't buy Similarweb yet. Its current Ads package is around $540/month, and its own PPC data is also based on estimated spend. That's a lot of budget for a three-person shop unless competitive intelligence itself is something you're selling. support.similarweb.com

Bottom line: $99/mo Semrush + free Meta/Google libraries is the best budget setup. $220/mo Semrush Pro is the best "one tool does nearly everything" setup.

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the big all-in-one platforms unless you need lots of SEO functionality. Also, an important caveat: competitor “ad spend” is modeled/estimated, not their actual invoices or platform billing data. www.semrush.com

My picks

\*Social/display/video competitor intelligence requires Semrush's $220/mo Pro Advertising Toolkit; the $99/mo Base tier is primarily search-focused. www.semrush.com

1. Best budget choice: SpyFu

If most of your clients' competitive activity is Google Search, I'd start here. SpyFu gives you competitors' paid keywords, estimated spend, PPC budgets/clicks over time, ad history and competing advertisers. Its current entry plan is listed at $39/month, with unlimited keyword/domain results and Google PPC history. www.spyfu.com

The catch: no meaningful social intelligence. So pair it with the free platform-native resources below.

2. Best single paid tool: Semrush Advertising Toolkit

This is probably what I'd buy if you need both search and social rather than merely PPC research. The current Base plan is $99/mo and includes competitor search research; Pro is $220/mo and adds AdClarity for competitor display, video and social ads, including creatives, placements and spend estimates. www.semrush.com

For a small agency, I'd start with Base + free social intelligence, rather than immediately spending $220.

3. Skip Similarweb for now

Similarweb is excellent if competitive intelligence is a major part of your agency's service, with Ad Intelligence covering search, display, social and GenAI channels. But its current pricing is much harder to justify for a 3-person shop: the marketing package has been listed from $199/mo, while broader Ads Intelligence access can run considerably higher. support.similarweb.com

The budget stack I'd actually use

$39/mo SpyFu + free Meta Ad Library + free Google Ads Transparency Center.

Use SpyFu for:

• competitor estimated Google spend
• paid keyword overlap
• PPC history
• ad-copy changes
• identifying who is consistently investing

Then use the free ad libraries for actual observed social/search creatives, rather than paying for a second intelligence platform.

That gives you a surprisingly capable competitor-monitoring setup for well under $50/month, versus $99–$220+ for a unified commercial solution.

If you want automated monitoring/alerts across 20–50 clients, though, I'd change the recommendation: the economics start favoring a higher-tier tool or an API/data workflow.

SpyFu · Semrush Advertising Toolkit · Similarweb

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d make Semrush Advertising Toolkit the default choice—specifically because you need search + social in one place.

My ranking

\*Adbeat's estimated advertiser spend is on its Enterprise tier, so its $249 Standard plan isn't actually giving you the spend-estimation capability you're asking for. www.adbeat.com

🥇 I'd pick Semrush Pro

Semrush Advertising Toolkit

At $220/month when billed annually, Pro includes Semrush's AdClarity plus competitor ads across display, video and social, while its Advertising Research covers paid search. Semrush also provides competitor spend/budget estimates and search-keyword intelligence. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.com

That's unusually good for a tiny agency because you can answer questions like:

• "Is this competitor actually spending heavily, or are we just seeing them frequently?"
• "Which keywords are they consistently buying?"
• "What Meta/social creatives are they running?"
• "When did they launch this campaign?"
• "Which landing pages are they pushing?"
• "Are they shifting budget from search into social?"

The important caveat: competitor "spend" is an estimate, not their actual media invoice. Treat it as directional intelligence—great for spotting changes and relative investment, not for saying "Competitor X spent exactly $47,300."

Semrush's current Pro AdClarity limits are also worth knowing: one geo, three months of historical data, one channel at a time, and up to five campaign results under the listed limits. www.semrush.comwww.semrush.com

🥈 If $220/mo is too much

Start with Semrush Base at $99/month. It gives you paid-search competitor research, including keywords, ads, competitors and Google Shopping research. www.semrush.com

Then use Meta's own public Ad Library for social creative surveillance rather than paying another $100–300/month just to see competitors' Facebook/Instagram ads.

That gives a 3-person agency a pretty compelling low-cost stack:

Semrush Base ($99) + Meta Ad Library (free) + Google Ads Transparency Center (free)

I'd choose this over spending $250+ on a dedicated ad-intelligence platform unless competitor intelligence is a major part of what you're selling clients.

🥉 When I'd choose Similarweb instead

Similarweb Ad Intelligence

Similarweb is more compelling if you want true cross-channel competitive intelligence. Its Ad Intelligence covers paid search, display, social and GenAI, including competitor campaigns, creatives, landing pages and spend trends. support.similarweb.com

But for a three-person shop, I'd only pursue it if you can get a favorable agency quote. Their positioning is much more enterprise-oriented, and the public site doesn't give you a simple $99/$220 entry price.

One thing I wouldn't buy

Adbeat is excellent if your focus is display/programmatic. But its Standard plan is $249/month and primarily gives you display, programmatic and native intelligence; estimated advertiser spend is an Enterprise feature. www.adbeat.com

So it's a poor fit if your core question is "How much are competitors spending across Google + Meta?"

Bottom line:

• <$100/mo: Semrush Base + free ad libraries
• ~$220/mo: Semrush Advertising Toolkit Pro — my pick
• $300+ and competitive intelligence is a core agency service: investigate Similarweb
• Display/programmatic-heavy clients: consider Adbeat

If you tell me roughly how many clients/competitors you monitor (e.g. 10, 50, 200), I can also recommend the cheapest stack that will let your team monitor them continuously rather than manually.