ChatGPT answers, unedited

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid enterprise ad-intelligence platforms. The practical setup is one paid search-intelligence tool + the free ad libraries for social.

My shortlist

Semrush's current Advertising Toolkit is particularly interesting because its Base plan is $99/month billed annually and includes competitor keyword analysis, Google research, Meta integration, and a unified dashboard. Its Pro plan is $220/month and adds AdClarity with competitor display/video/social ads and spend data. Semrush Semrush

For search specifically, Semrush can estimate competitor paid-search costs at the keyword level and provides historical data going back to 2012. Semrush Semrush

What I'd actually do

Option A — ~$40/month:
Use SpyFu for Google Ads competitor research, then use Meta's free Ad Library and Google's free Ads Transparency Center for social/search creative monitoring. This gives you the most coverage per dollar, but you'll be stitching things together manually.

Option B — ~$100/month:
Use Semrush Advertising Toolkit Base as your main tool. For a small agency, this is probably the cleanest compromise if you want one place for client competitor research. Semrush

I would not pay $200–$650+/month for Similarweb/Pathmatics-class intelligence unless competitor intelligence itself is a significant billable service for your agency. Spend estimates from these platforms are modeled estimates, not audited competitor budgets, so the numbers should be treated directionally rather than as ground truth. adlibrary.com

One important distinction: "competitor ad spend" is much easier to estimate for search than social. Search tools can infer spend from keywords, CPCs, traffic and ad presence; social platforms generally don't expose a competitor's total budget, so paid tools are still estimating it.

Bottom line: I'd start with Semrush at $99/mo if you want one paid tool, or SpyFu + free ad libraries if $100/month is genuinely painful. Semrush AdEye

If you tell me whether your clients are mainly ecommerce, lead gen, SaaS, or local businesses, I can narrow this to the cheapest stack that actually makes sense for your agency.

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d start with a small stack rather than an all-in-one platform:

1. SpyFu — best budget pick for Google Ads

• Good for competitor keywords, ad history, estimated PPC spend, and seeing who is bidding on what.
• Strong fit if most client spend is search-focused. SpyFu SpyFu
• Meta Platforms Ad Library (free) + TikTok Creative Center (free) — best for social creative monitoring

• Use these to track competitor offers, hooks, formats, and messaging.
• They won’t reliably reveal spend, but they show active creatives.
• SEMrush — upgrade when you need broader agency reporting

• Better if you want PPC + SEO competitor research in one place, but usually harder to justify for a tiny team. Backlinko
• Similarweb — powerful but likely overkill

• Good for cross-channel market intelligence and estimated paid strategy insights, but generally aimed at larger budgets. Similarweb

My lean setup:

• $0: Meta Ad Library + Google Ads Transparency Center + spreadsheets
• ~$40/month: SpyFu for search intelligence
• Add SEMrush only when client acquisition/reporting revenue justifies it

Also: no tool truly “sees” competitor spend; most provide estimates based on ads observed, keywords, traffic, creatives, and historical patterns. gethookd.ai

For a 3-person paid-ads agency on a tight budget, I’d separate “competitor ad spend” from “competitor ad intelligence.” No tool can directly see a competitor’s actual Google/Meta spend; these platforms provide modeled estimates based on observed ads, keywords, traffic, CPCs, impressions, etc. Semrush Similarweb

My shortlist

SpyFu is the one I'd start with. Its PPC research specifically provides estimated competitor ad spend, clicks, budgets, paid keywords, ad history, and spend changes over time, and its current Basic plan starts at $39/month. SpyFu SpyFu

The catch: SpyFu is primarily a search/PPC intelligence tool, so it isn't the single solution I'd choose if your clients care equally about Meta, TikTok, YouTube, display, etc.

If you need search + social in one tool

I'd look at Semrush Advertising Toolkit. The $99/month Base plan includes Google/Meta campaign tooling and competitor paid-search research. The $220/month Pro tier adds AdClarity, which covers competitor display, video and social campaigns and provides estimated spend/creative/placement intelligence. Semrush Semrush

For a tiny agency, though, $220/mo is a significant jump. I'd only pay for Pro if competitor social intelligence is something you're actually selling to clients.

What I'd actually do with your budget

Option A — ~$40/month:
Get SpyFu Basic and use it for Google Ads competitor monitoring. For social, supplement it with the platforms' own public ad libraries rather than paying for another intelligence platform.

Option B — ~$100/month:
Get Semrush Advertising Toolkit Base if you want one broader platform and particularly value Google + Meta workflows. It gives you competitor search research while also letting you work with Google/Meta campaigns. Semrush

Option C — ~$220/month:
Semrush Pro if social/display competitor intelligence is directly useful to client reporting or strategy. AdClarity can track competitor campaigns, creatives, placements and estimated spend across those channels. Semrush

One important caveat: don't present the spend numbers to clients as actual budgets. Treat them as directional estimates. Even Semrush describes competitor spend as an estimate, and Similarweb says its spend/impression figures are modeled from traffic, CPM and CTR data. Semrush Similarweb

Bottom line: for a cash-constrained 3-person agency, SpyFu at ~$39/mo + free ad libraries is probably the most economical stack. If you want a genuinely unified search/social competitive-intelligence product, Semrush is the more practical upgrade.

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I would not buy a big “enterprise ad intelligence” platform first. Most tools that claim to show competitor spend are estimating it, not seeing the actual budgets, so the goal is usually to get directional signals: who is scaling, which keywords they own, what creatives they’re running, and where they’re active. GetHookd

My shortlist:

Similarweb Adbeat## My recommendation for your situation

1. Start with SpyFu + free ad libraries

For a small agency, this is probably the best ROI stack.

Use it for:

• competitor Google Ads keywords
• estimated PPC spend trends
• ad copy history
• keyword overlap
• identifying gaps in client campaigns

SpyFu is specifically focused on competitive search/PPC research and is commonly used as a lower-cost alternative to larger suites. CliqSpy

Pair it with:

• facebook.com — see active Facebook/Instagram ads
• adstransparency.google.com — see Google advertiser creatives

That gives you a surprisingly capable competitor-monitoring workflow for almost no money.

2. Upgrade to Semrush when clients pay for it

If you have enough retainers, Semrush becomes attractive because it combines paid search research with SEO and broader competitive analysis. Its Advertising Research tools include competitor ad copies, keywords, and estimated spend data. Semrush

A good agency justification:

• 5–10 client accounts
• monthly competitor reports
• SEO upsells
• pitch decks

3. Skip Similarweb unless you need enterprise-level insights

Similarweb is excellent for cross-channel views (search, display, social, traffic trends), but pricing and depth tend to make more sense for larger agencies or brands. It provides estimated spend/activity insights rather than exact competitor budgets. Similarweb Similarweb Knowledge Center

A lean agency stack I’d actually run

<$100/month:

• SpyFu (or similar PPC intelligence tool)
• Meta Ads Library (free)
• Google Ads Transparency Center (free)
• Google Sheets dashboard

$200–400/month once growing:

• Semrush
• creative swipe-file process
• automated monthly competitor reports

For client reporting:
Don’t tell clients “your competitor spends $42,000/month” unless you clearly label it as an estimate. Better framing:

• “Competitor appears to be increasing paid activity”
• “Competitor has maintained these ads for 6 months”
• “Competitor owns these keyword themes”
• “Competitor is testing these offers/angles”

Those insights are usually more actionable than a guessed spend number.

If I were running a 3-person paid ads shop, I’d spend the first dollars on SpyFu + a strong creative monitoring process, not a $500+/month intelligence platform.

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

My pick: Semrush Advertising Toolkit

semrush.com is probably the best single paid tool for your situation.

• $99/mo annually for the Base plan.
• Excellent Google paid-search competitor intelligence: keywords, ads, position changes, competitors, landing pages and historical trends. Semrush Semrush
• The $220/mo Pro tier adds AdClarity, including competitor display, video and social ads, creatives, placements and estimated spend. Semrush Semrush
• There's a 7-day free trial, so I'd test it against 5–10 competitors before paying. Semrush

The important caveat: competitor "spend" is modeled/estimated, not their actual media invoices. Treat spend figures as directional—much more useful for seeing who is spending more/less, on what, and how aggressively than for believing an exact dollar figure.

The ultra-budget setup I'd actually use

That gives you search + social intelligence without paying $500–$1,000+/month for a dedicated intelligence platform.

What about SpyFu?

spyfu.com is worth considering if Google Search is 80%+ of your business. Its Basic plan is currently listed around $39/month, with extensive PPC history, competitor keywords and Google Ads data. G2

I'd choose SpyFu over Semrush if your primary question is simply:

"What keywords are my competitors buying, what ads are they running, and how has that changed?"

But it isn't the answer if you genuinely need cross-channel social + search.

What I would not buy yet

Similarweb Ad Intelligence is powerful, but I'd consider it overkill for a three-person agency. Its Ad Intelligence covers search, display and other advertising channels and models impressions/spend, but the broader Similarweb packages get expensive quickly. Similarweb SimilarWeb

Likewise, I wouldn't jump straight to a dedicated enterprise competitive-intelligence platform unless you're using the data across a large client base.

Bottom line

If you can spend ~$100/month: Semrush Advertising Base + free Meta/Google/TikTok libraries.

If you can spend ~$220/month: Semrush Advertising Pro is the more compelling single-platform solution because AdClarity brings social/display/video intelligence into the same workflow. Semrush

If you can only spend ~$40/month: SpyFu, and supplement social research with the free native libraries.

One strategic point: don't obsess over the "estimated spend" number. For an agency, the higher-value intelligence is creative longevity + offer changes + keyword expansion/contraction + landing-page changes + new competitors. Those signals can actually tell you what to test for clients.

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid expensive “ad intelligence” platforms unless you specifically need cross-channel spend estimates.

My shortlist

My recommendation: start with SpyFu + the free platform libraries.

SpyFu is particularly attractive for a small agency because its Basic plan is currently $39/month month-to-month ($33/month annually) and gives you competitor PPC research, historical Google Ads data, competitor comparisons, ad history and PPC-spend-related data. SpyFu SpyFu

The catch is that SpyFu is fundamentally a Google/Search intelligence product, not a true cross-channel social-spend monitor. So I'd use it for questions like:

• What keywords is the competitor buying?
• How long have they been running those ads?
• What ad copy are they testing?
• Which competitors appear to be spending heavily?
• What does their estimated PPC budget look like?

For search + social in one product, Semrush is much more compelling. Its Advertising Toolkit is currently $99/month for Base and $220/month for Pro when billed annually. The Pro tier adds AdClarity, which covers competitor display, video and social advertising, including creatives, placements and estimated spend. Semrush Semrush

What I'd actually buy

If your budget is <$100/month:
SpyFu Basic + free Meta Ad Library + Google Ads Transparency Center.

That's probably the highest ROI setup for a three-person agency. You get strong search intelligence for ~$39/month and use the native ad libraries to manually inspect social/search creatives.

If you can spend ~$220/month:
Go with Semrush Advertising Pro. It gets much closer to the thing you're asking for: one paid intelligence platform covering search plus social/display/video, with estimated expenditure trends. Semrush

One important caveat: competitor “ad spend” is an estimate, not their actual media spend. Treat it as directional—great for identifying who is aggressively investing, changes in activity, relative share, etc., but not as something I'd put in a client report as an exact dollar figure.

For your agency, I'd probably not pay for Similarweb/Adbeat-level intelligence yet unless you're regularly doing competitive research for clients and can directly bill that work.

If you tell me your monthly software budget ($50 / $100 / $250 / $500) and whether your clients are mostly Google, Meta, TikTok, or mixed, I can give you the cheapest stack I'd use and exactly what each tool would cover.

For a 3-person paid-ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid enterprise ad-intelligence platforms unless competitor intelligence is a core product you sell.

My pick: SpyFu + Meta Ad Library

spyfu.com is probably the best value for your situation.

• Search/PPC: Strongest budget option for Google Ads competitor research—keywords, ads, historical activity, estimated spend, competitors, and ad history. SpyFu says its database includes 10+ years of historical data, and its current Basic plan is $39/mo monthly or $29/mo when billed annually. SpyFu SpyFu
• Social: Use Meta Ad Library alongside it. It's free and gives you the actual ads currently running on Facebook/Instagram, which is often more useful than paying for a second intelligence platform.
• Workflow: Put your 10–30 most important competitors into SpyFu, then periodically check their Meta creatives and log notable changes in a shared Sheet/Notion/Airtable.

The important caveat: competitor "spend" is modeled, not their actual invoice data. Treat dollar estimates as directional—much more useful for "Are they increasing/decreasing investment?" than "They spent exactly $47,300 last month."

If you want search + social in one paid platform

Semrush Advertising Toolkit is the upgrade I'd consider.

Its current Base plan is $99/mo and covers Google/Meta advertising workflows plus competitor keyword research. Pro is $220/mo and adds AdClarity, including competitor display, video and social ads, creatives, placements and spend estimates. Semrush Semrush

That's attractive if you want one dashboard, but for a three-person agency I'd probably not pay $220/mo yet. The Pro version's AdClarity limits also include one geographic location, three months of historical data and one channel at a time. Semrush

What about Similarweb?

Similarweb is more powerful for serious competitive-intelligence work. Its Ad Intelligence covers search, display and social and provides competitor campaign, impression and spend information. Similarweb

But it becomes harder to justify on a shoestring budget. Current pricing information puts competitive-intelligence packages around $125+/mo, with broader Ads functionality substantially higher. G2

I'd choose it when you're doing enough strategy/market research that the additional intelligence directly supports client retainers.

My budget ranking

For your agency, I'd start with SpyFu. Spend the saved $60–190/month on something that directly improves campaign execution rather than trying to buy perfect competitor-spend data.

One particularly useful agency setup is a "competitor pulse" dashboard: competitor → estimated Google spend → paid keywords → new/lost keywords → current Google ads → Meta ads → new creatives → landing-page changes → your interpretation. That gives you much more actionable intelligence than simply watching a competitor's estimated spend number. Semrush Semrush

If you tell me roughly how many clients/competitors you need to monitor and whether you're mostly Google, Meta, or 50/50, I can recommend the cheapest stack I'd actually deploy for a 3-person agency.

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

My pick: SpyFu

spyfu.com is probably the best value if Google/Search is important to your clients.

• $33/mo annually ($39 monthly) for Basic. SpyFu
• Tracks competitors' paid keywords, estimated ad spend, clicks, ads, competitors and historical trends. SpyFu SpyFu
• You can compare multiple domains and export the data, which is useful for turning competitor research into client reports. SpyFu
• There's even a free tier for quick spot checks. SpyFu

The catch: SpyFu is fundamentally a search/PPC intelligence tool, not a complete social-ad-spend monitor.

If you need Search + Social in one paid tool: Semrush

semrush.com is the more complete option.

Its $99/mo Base plan covers competitor keyword/ad research, while $220/mo Pro adds AdClarity for competitor display, video and social ads, including creatives, placements and spend. Semrush Semrush

For a tiny agency, though, $220/mo is a lot of overhead. I'd only pay for it if cross-channel competitor intelligence is something you're actively selling to clients.

What I'd actually do on your budget

The important caveat is that competitor “ad spend” is always an estimate, not their actual account data. Even Semrush explicitly says its paid-traffic numbers are benchmarks rather than a competitor's actual Google Ads spend, because it can't observe every auction, local campaign, audience filter, time-of-day variation, etc. Semrush

Similarweb is stronger if you truly need cross-channel intelligence—its Ad Intelligence covers search, display, social and other paid channels and provides spend/impression estimates—but it's positioned much more toward larger organizations and uses a sales/contact-sales model. Similarweb Knowledge Center Similarweb

Bottom line: I'd spend ~$33/month on SpyFu, supplement it with the free Meta/TikTok ad libraries, and put the results into a simple shared competitor dashboard. That's a much better agency-budget-to-insight ratio than jumping straight to Semrush Pro or Similarweb.

If you tell me how many clients you manage and roughly what niches they’re in (e.g. local services, SaaS, e-commerce), I can recommend a <$100/month stack specifically for your agency.

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid enterprise ad-intelligence platforms. You can get most of what you actually need for ~$40–$100/month, especially if “spend” means estimated competitor spend, not their exact actual spend.

My pick: SpyFu + free social tools

spyfu.com is probably the best value for your situation.

• Google Search: Excellent competitor PPC data—keywords, ad copy, ad history, competitors, estimated spend, and historical trends.
• Price: $39/month monthly, or less when billed annually depending on the current plan. It also has a free tier for limited research. SpyFu SpyFu
• Agency-friendly: Its data exports and historical PPC data are particularly useful when you're monitoring several clients.
• Weakness: It isn't the tool I'd buy specifically for Facebook/Instagram/TikTok competitor spend.

For social, I'd pair it with the platforms' free ad libraries rather than paying for a second intelligence platform. Those are generally better for answering “What are they running?” than trying to estimate a precise dollar amount.

If you want one paid platform covering both: Semrush

semrush.com is the stronger all-in-one option.

Its current $99/month Base plan covers competitor paid-search research and Google/Meta campaign-related functionality. The $220/month Pro tier adds AdClarity, including competitor display, video and social ads and estimated spend. Semrush Semrush

The catch: $220/month is probably too much for a 3-person agency on a tight budget. I'd only pay for Pro if competitive social intelligence is a core service you're selling.

How I'd rank them

Similarweb's Ad Intelligence is genuinely comprehensive—it covers paid search, display, social and GenAI, with campaign, impression and spend intelligence—but its pricing is considerably harder to justify for a tiny agency. Similarweb Knowledge Center G2

The important caveat about “competitor ad spend”

None of these tools can magically see a competitor's actual Meta or Google bill. The spend figures are estimates/modelled intelligence.

I'd therefore structure your competitive monitoring around:

1. Estimated spend/trend — Is competitor X increasing or decreasing investment?
2. Keyword coverage — What are they bidding on?
3. Ad frequency/history — Which offers/messages persist?
4. Creative volume — How many new social ads are appearing?
5. Landing pages/offers — What are they sending paid traffic to?
6. Share of voice — Are they becoming more prominent relative to your client?

That gives you much more actionable intelligence than pretending an estimate like “$47,300/month” is an exact number.

What I'd actually buy

If $40/month matters: SpyFu + free Meta/Google ad-library research.

If you can spend $100/month: Semrush Advertising Toolkit Base is the cleaner all-in-one choice. Semrush

If competitor social intelligence is something you sell as part of your agency's deliverable: upgrade to Semrush Pro/AdClarity once the additional $120/month is easy to justify. It specifically provides competitor social/display/video creative and spend intelligence. Semrush

If you tell me roughly how many clients you monitor and whether they're mostly B2B, ecommerce, or local businesses, I can give you a much tighter $0 / $50 / $100-per-month stack for your agency.

None of these tools can magically see a competitor's actual Meta or Google bill. The spend figures are estimates/modelled intelligence.

I'd therefore structure your competitive monitoring around:

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid buying a giant enterprise “ad intelligence” platform. You want something that gives you directional spend estimates + actual ads/keywords + historical movement without turning into another expensive seat-based SaaS bill.

My pick: Semrush

semrush.com is probably the best single tool for your situation.

Why:

• Google Search: competitor paid keywords, ads, estimated traffic/spend, position changes, landing pages and historical trends. Semrush Semrush
• You can go back historically, rather than just seeing what's running today. Semrush
• It is particularly useful for an agency because you can turn the data into a repeatable competitor-analysis process for multiple clients.
• Semrush also offers AdClarity, which extends competitive intelligence into display, social and video and provides estimated expenditure, campaigns and creatives. Semrush Semrush

Important caveat: competitor "spend" is modeled—not their actual Google/Meta invoices. Treat it as a relative signal ("Competitor A appears to be spending 2–3× Competitor B"), not as an exact dollar figure. Even Semrush explicitly describes these as estimates. Semrush

If social spend is the priority: Similarweb

similarweb.com is more interesting if your clients are heavily Meta/social + search.

Its Ad Intelligence product is designed around cross-channel competitive analysis, including spend, impressions, campaigns, creatives and trends. Similarweb Similarweb

However, I'd be cautious for a tiny agency: Similarweb is more of a premium intelligence platform, so it may be difficult to justify if you're watching every dollar. Also, its current product documentation says social coverage is still being expanded, with Meta coming as part of that rollout. Similarweb

What I'd actually do with your budget

The Meta Ad Library is especially valuable because it's free and gives you the actual ads competitors are running. I'd use that alongside Semrush rather than paying for an expensive all-in-one platform solely to get social creative intelligence.

The lean agency stack I'd recommend

Semrush + Meta Ad Library + Google Ads Auction Insights

That gives you three complementary views:

1. Semrush: "What are they probably spending and bidding on?"
2. Meta Ad Library: "What are they actually advertising on Meta?"
3. Auction Insights: "Who are we actually competing against in our clients' Google auctions?"

Semrush itself recommends combining its estimates with other signals rather than treating one spend estimate as truth. Semrush

If you're trying to keep this under ~$200/month for the whole agency, I'd specifically compare the current Semrush plan costs vs. SpyFu vs. AdClarity, because the cheapest option depends heavily on how many client domains you need to monitor.

What I'd actually do with your budget

The Meta Ad Library is especially valuable because it's free and gives you the actual ads competitors are running. I'd use that alongside Semrush rather than paying for an expensive all-in-one platform solely to get social creative intelligence.

The lean agency stack I'd recommend

Semrush + Meta Ad Library + Google Ads Auction Insights

That gives you three complementary views:

1. Semrush: "What are they probably spending and bidding on?"
2. Meta Ad Library: "What are they actually advertising on Meta?"
3. Auction Insights: "Who are we actually competing against in our clients' Google auctions?"

Semrush itself recommends combining its estimates with other signals rather than treating one spend estimate as truth.

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I would avoid the big enterprise “ad intelligence” suites unless you have clients paying for the reports. You’ll get more value from a lean stack that covers search competitor keywords + social creative monitoring + spend proxies.

One important caveat: no tool can see a competitor’s exact ad spend (outside limited transparency cases). The best tools estimate spend using signals like keyword coverage, ad frequency, traffic, impressions, and creative longevity. adlibrary.com

My recommended stack (budget-first)

1. Best overall value: Semrush (paid search + some competitive intelligence)

Best for:

• Google Ads competitor keywords
• Ad copy history
• Competitor PPC trends
• Finding who is bidding on the same terms

Semrush’s Advertising Research tools are built around analyzing competitors’ paid search activity, keywords, ads, and estimated budgets. Semrush

Agency fit: ★★★★★
Cost efficiency: ★★★★★
Weakness: Not great for Meta/TikTok creative monitoring.

Use it when you need answers like:

• “Who is stealing our client’s branded traffic?”
• “What keywords are competitors buying?”
• “What offers are appearing in search ads?”

2. Best free social intelligence: Meta Ad Library

Best for:

• Facebook/Instagram competitor ads
• Creative inspiration
• Offer tracking
• Messaging research

It’s free and gives you the actual active ads competitors are running, but not their budgets or performance. adlibrary.com

Agency fit: ★★★★★
Cost: $0
Weakness: Manual; no nice reporting workflow.

For a small agency, I’d make this part of your weekly process:

• Save competitor ads
• Note launch dates
• Track recurring hooks/offers
• Screenshot landing pages

3. Best cheap “all channels in one place” option: AdSpyder

Good if you want:

• Search + Meta + YouTube + LinkedIn + TikTok research
• A searchable ad database
• Less manual library hopping

AdSpyder positions itself as a cross-platform ad library covering multiple networks and competitor creative research. AdSpyder

Agency fit: ★★★★☆
Cost efficiency: ★★★★☆
Weakness: Treat spend estimates cautiously.

4. Upgrade option when clients pay for it: Similarweb Ad Intelligence

Best for:

• Pitch decks
• Enterprise clients
• Competitive market reports
• Showing “where the category is spending”

Similarweb’s ad intelligence product covers search, display, social, and estimated spend/traffic insights. Similarweb Similarweb

Agency fit: ★★★☆☆
Cost efficiency: ★★☆☆☆
Weakness: Usually overkill for a tiny agency.

What I’d actually buy if I were your agency

Under ~$100/month

• Meta Ad Library: free
• Google Ads Transparency Center: free
• Semrush entry plan (or trial strategically)
• Spreadsheet/Notion database for competitor tracking

~$100–300/month

• Semrush
• Add AdSpyder (or another creative intelligence tool)
• Build a repeatable competitor report template

Avoid for now

• Enterprise platforms like Similarweb unless you’re using them to win bigger retainers.
• Tools that promise “exact competitor spend” — they’re estimating.

Your weekly competitor monitoring workflow (30–60 minutes)

For each client:

1. Track 5–10 competitors.
2. Record: - New ads launched
3. Offers/promotions
4. Landing page changes
5. New keywords
6. Messaging angles
7. Approximate ad pressure (number of active ads + longevity)
8. Turn findings into: - New creative tests
9. Negative keyword ideas
10. Landing page recommendations

For a three-person agency, the biggest ROI usually comes from turning competitor intelligence into better client strategy, not building a perfect spend-tracking dashboard.

For a 3-person paid-ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the big enterprise suites and use one cheap search-intelligence tool + Meta’s free Ad Library.

My ranking

🥇 Best value: SpyFu + Meta Ad Library

spyfu.com is the one I'd start with.

Its core strength is competitor Google Ads intelligence: estimated PPC spend, paid keywords, clicks, ad history, competitors, and budget trends. Its current Basic plan is $39/month monthly ($33/month annual), with 10,000 results in the main research categories and historical data. SpyFu SpyFu

Then pair it with Meta Ad Library, which costs nothing and lets you inspect competitors' active Facebook/Instagram ads.

That gives your agency a surprisingly capable stack for ~$39/month:

• SpyFu → Who is spending on Google, what keywords, approximate budget, ad history
• Meta Ad Library → What they're actually running on Facebook/Instagram
• Your own Google Ads / Meta reporting → Your clients' actual performance

The important caveat: competitor ad spend is always an estimate, not their actual invoice. Treat spend numbers as directional rather than precise.

🥈 If social intelligence is genuinely important: Semrush

semrush.com is probably the best single-platform answer.

The $99/mo Base plan covers Google/Meta campaign management, competitor keyword analysis and Google Ads research. The $220/mo Pro tier adds AdClarity, including competitor display, video and social ads. Semrush Semrush

AdClarity is much closer to what you're describing: it can show competitor creatives, placements and estimated spend patterns across display, video and social. Semrush says its broader coverage spans 50+ markets and 650,000+ publishers. Semrush

For a three-person agency, though, $220/month is a lot unless you're using the intelligence constantly across enough clients to justify it.

🏆 If you eventually need serious competitive intelligence: Similarweb

similarweb.com has perhaps the strongest broad competitive-intelligence proposition. Its Ad Intelligence covers search, display, social and GenAI, including estimated impressions and spend. Similarweb

But pricing starts around $199/month for its individual Competitive Intelligence offering, so I wouldn't put it on the stack for a budget-conscious three-person agency. Similarweb

What I'd actually buy

Right now:

SpyFu Basic ($39/mo) + Meta Ad Library (free)

I'd spend the remaining budget on your own reporting/automation rather than paying $200+ for competitor intelligence.

Then, once you're managing enough paid-media accounts that competitor research is a major part of your deliverables, upgrade to Semrush Advertising Pro.

One other tip: don't obsess over the absolute "competitor spend" number. For agency work, the more actionable dataset is usually spend trend + impression/keyword presence + creative longevity + offers + landing pages. Knowing that Competitor A supposedly spends $47k versus $62k is less useful than knowing which 30 keywords they've continuously bought for 9 months and which creatives they've kept running for 6 months.

If you tell me roughly how many clients you manage and whether they're mostly Google, Meta, or 50/50, I can give you a <$100/month agency stack I'd use.

For a 3-person paid-ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid enterprise “ad intelligence” platforms and start with Semrush Advertising Toolkit.

My shortlist

*Semrush's social/display/video competitor intelligence is in its Pro tier.

🥇 Best choice: Semrush Advertising Toolkit

semrush.com

The current Base plan is $99/month billed annually, and gives you competitor paid-search research, Google Shopping research, Google/Meta campaign functionality, keyword analysis and ad-spend-related competitive data. The $220/month Pro plan adds AdClarity, including competitor display, video and social ads, creatives, placements and spend information. Semrush Semrush

For an agency, the big advantage is that you're not buying a separate tool for every channel. Semrush can show competitor paid-search keywords, live ads, historical trends and estimated spend; its AdClarity layer extends that into display/social/video. Semrush Semrush

I'd start at $99, not $220. For most small agencies, the incremental information from AdClarity isn't worth another $121/month until you're regularly using competitor social intelligence in client strategy.

🥈 If most of your work is Google Ads: SpyFu

SpyFu is the one I'd investigate if search is 80%+ of your business. It is much more focused on competitor Google Ads/PPC research, so you're not paying for a giant cross-channel platform you don't need.

The tradeoff is obvious: it doesn't solve the social competitor-ad problem nearly as well. Current comparisons put SpyFu among the more affordable PPC-intelligence options. CliqSpy Backlinko

🚫 I wouldn't buy Adbeat yet

adbeat.com

It's excellent if you're doing serious display/programmatic competitive intelligence, but Standard is currently $249/month, Advanced $399/month, and estimated advertiser spend is gated to Enterprise. Adbeat

That's hard to justify for a three-person shop unless competitor display research is itself a major billable service.

One important caveat about "competitor ad spend"

None of these tools can magically see a competitor's actual Meta or Google Ads bill. Spend figures are modeled estimates, based on observable ads, impressions/traffic signals, CPC/CPM assumptions, etc. Treat them as directional, not accounting-grade numbers.

For example, Semrush describes its Advertising Research as revealing competitor ad spends, while its AdClarity product provides estimated competitive intelligence across channels. Semrush Semrush

What I'd actually do with your budget

$0–$100/month:
Use Semrush Advertising Base + the free Google Ads Transparency Center and Meta Ad Library for creative verification. You get quantitative search intelligence from Semrush and can directly inspect competitors' social creatives without paying for an enterprise intelligence platform.

$100–$250/month:
Still use Semrush Base unless you're producing competitor-ad audits frequently. If social intelligence becomes a recurring client deliverable, upgrade to Semrush Pro.

$250+/month:
Only then would I start evaluating Adbeat, Similarweb or Sensor Tower/Pathmatics for deeper spend/placement intelligence.

Bottom line: Semrush Advertising Base at $99/mo is the sweet spot for your agency. It gives you the most useful search intelligence while keeping enough budget available for the actual ad-monitoring workflow. Upgrade to Pro only when social/display competitor intelligence is something clients will actually pay you for. Semrush

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

My pick: SpyFu

spyfu.com is probably the best value if Google Search is a meaningful part of your clients’ acquisition mix.

• Google Search: Excellent. It shows competitors’ paid keywords, ad history, ad copy, estimated clicks and ad budget/spend. SpyFu Help Center SpyFu
• Historical intelligence: It has 10+ years of ad history on higher tiers. SpyFu
• Price: Basic is currently $39/mo monthly or $33/mo billed annually; Professional is $79/mo monthly or $58/mo annually. SpyFu
• Agency reporting: Professional includes custom branded reporting, which is useful when you're turning competitor research into client deliverables. SpyFu

The important caveat: competitor “spend” is an estimate, not their actual Google Ads bill. Treat it as directional intelligence—great for identifying who is investing, approximate scale, keywords and trends, but not as ground truth.

For social: don't pay for intelligence yet

For a small agency, I'd supplement SpyFu with the platforms' own free research tools.

• Meta Ad Library: Use it to see competitors' currently running Facebook/Instagram ads and analyze creative, offers, messaging and landing-page patterns.
• TikTok Creative Center: TikTok's free Creative Center includes Top Ads and lets you filter high-performing ads by region, industry, objective and other attributes. TikTok For Business TikTok For Business

This gives you a surprisingly capable Search + Social competitor-monitoring stack for ~$33–39/month.

Where Semrush fits

semrush.com is the better one-platform option if you specifically need social/display intelligence alongside search.

Its current Advertising Toolkit Base plan is $99/month, with Google/Meta functionality and competitor keyword analysis. The $220/month Pro tier adds AdClarity, including competitor display, video and social ads, creatives, placements and spend. Semrush Semrush

For your situation, though, $99–220/month is hard to justify unless you're using the data constantly across a substantial client roster.

What I'd actually buy

Bottom line: Start with SpyFu Basic. Have one person on your team maintain a competitor sheet with estimated search spend, paid keywords, new/lost ads, Meta creatives, TikTok creatives, offers and landing pages. Review it monthly rather than trying to monitor everything continuously.

If your agency is primarily Google + Meta, that's the stack I'd choose. If you're heavily Meta/TikTok-first, I'd change the recommendation.

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the big all-in-one competitive-intelligence platforms. You can get most of the useful signal for a fraction of the cost.

My pick: SpyFu + the free ad libraries

spyfu.com is probably the best fit for you.

• ~$33/month starting price according to its current site.
• Strongest value for Google Search competitor intelligence: paid keywords, estimated spend, ad history, competitors, and changes over time. SpyFu SpyFu
• It specifically lets you track a competitor's PPC budget, clicks, number of ads and spend trends. SpyFu
• Unlimited data/downloads at the entry membership level is particularly useful for an agency doing research across multiple clients. SpyFu

Then supplement it with the free official libraries:

• facebook.com — see competitors' active Facebook/Instagram ads and creative variations. Meta says ads generally appear within 24 hours of their first impression. Facebook Business
• adstransparency.google.com — search advertisers and inspect ads running across Google. Ad Transparency

What I'd spend

Semrush's current Advertising Base is $99/month and includes Google/Meta campaign tools plus competitor keyword research, but the deeper competitor display/video/social intelligence is in the $220/month Pro tier. Semrush Semrush

Similarweb is powerful—it estimates spend across search, display and social—but its broader competitive-intelligence pricing starts much higher, making it hard to justify for a three-person shop. Similarweb Knowledge Center Similarweb

One important caveat

Don't treat competitor "ad spend" numbers as actual spend. SpyFu, Semrush and Similarweb are estimating budgets from observed traffic, keywords, CPCs, impressions, etc. For example, Semrush describes its figure as estimated cost/traffic cost, not the competitor's actual account spend. Semrush Semrush

For an agency, I'd therefore monitor directional changes rather than saying "Competitor X spends exactly $47,300/month."

A cheap workflow I'd use is:

SpyFu → monthly Search spend/keyword changes → Meta Ad Library → Google Transparency Center → manually log creative + offer changes in a shared sheet.

That gets you surprisingly close to the intelligence you'd buy from a $200–500+/month platform without putting a big dent in your agency's margins.

For a 3-person paid-ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid expensive “ad-spy” platforms and use a cheap paid-search intelligence tool + the free native ad libraries.

My pick: Semrush Advertising Toolkit

semrush.com is probably the best one-tool compromise for your situation.

• $99/mo for the Base plan when billed annually; it includes paid-search competitor research, competitor keywords/ads, Google Shopping research, and Google + Meta campaign management. Semrush Semrush
• Its paid-search research shows competitors' keywords, ads, estimated traffic/CPC and historical activity. Semrush Semrush
• The $220/mo Pro plan adds AdClarity, which estimates competitor spend and tracks display/video/social campaigns. Semrush
• There's a 7-day free trial, so you can test it against your actual client verticals before committing. Semrush

But I wouldn't buy Pro on your budget. Spend estimates for competitor advertising are inherently modeled, not actual billing data, so I wouldn't pay an extra $121/mo just to get a more comprehensive estimate.

The budget stack I'd actually run

business.facebook.com lets you search advertisers and see their currently running Meta ads. Facebook Business

adstransparency.google.com similarly lets you search by advertiser or website and inspect active Google ads. Ad Transparency

*Semrush's listed $99 price is the annual-billing rate; check the current monthly price if you don't want an annual commitment. Semrush

One important caveat about “monitoring spend”

Nobody outside the advertiser has a magic dashboard showing “Competitor X spent $37,412 last month.” Tools like Semrush estimate spend from observed ads, keywords, traffic, CPCs, impressions, etc. Semrush itself notes that Google Ads data is dynamic and it cannot capture every ad. Semrush

So I'd use competitor-spend numbers as directional intelligence, not as facts.

For your agency, I'd actually track these five things instead:

1. Estimated monthly spend
2. Number of active keywords/campaigns
3. New/lost keywords
4. Creative rotation — new ads appearing/disappearing
5. Landing-page/offers changes

That gives you much more actionable intelligence than obsessing over whether a competitor spent $20k or $25k.

What I'd not buy yet

AdClarity / Semrush Pro ($220/mo): excellent if competitive intelligence is a major part of your agency's service, but hard to justify for three people on a tight budget. It covers display, video and social and provides expenditure estimates, but you're paying for considerably more breadth. Semrush Semrush

Similarweb: powerful, but I'd consider it overkill unless you're also selling broader market/traffic intelligence.

Adbeat: interesting if your clients are heavily invested in display/native, but not my first choice for a general search + Meta agency.

SpyFu: worth considering if your business is overwhelmingly Google Search. But once you need meaningful social intelligence too, the free Meta library + Semrush combination is more attractive.

Bottom line: $99/mo Semrush + free Meta Ad Library + free Google Ads Transparency Center is the sweet spot I'd choose for a three-person agency. It gives you quantitative search intelligence and qualitative cross-channel creative intelligence without turning competitor monitoring into a $500–$1,000/month software expense.

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the big “all-in-one” intelligence platforms unless you have a specific need for their social/display data.

My pick: SpyFu + free platform libraries

spyfu.com is probably the best value as your paid-search intelligence layer. Its current entry pricing starts at $33/month, and it gives you estimated competitor Google Ads spend, paid keywords, ad history, competitors, and spend trends. SpyFu SpyFu

The important caveat: competitor “spend” is an estimate, not their actual budget. SpyFu explicitly says its budget figure estimates Google Search spend and excludes things like Display. SpyFu Help Center

For social, I'd pair it with the free native ad libraries rather than paying for a second intelligence platform:

• Meta Ad Library — see competitors' active Facebook/Instagram ads and monitor creative/message changes.
• TikTok Creative Center — useful for TikTok ad/creative research.
• Google Ads Transparency Center — useful for seeing advertisers' Google ads.

That combination gets you surprisingly far for $33/month + your team's time.

What I'd buy at different budgets

Semrush is the more compelling single-platform option. Its Advertising Toolkit Base is currently $99/month annually and includes competitor keyword analysis plus a unified Google/Meta dashboard. Its $220/month Pro tier adds AdClarity, including competitor display, video and social ads, creatives, placements and spend. Semrush Semrush

So I wouldn't pay $220/month for your situation unless competitor intelligence is a major deliverable you're selling to clients.

One important reality about “competitor ad spend”

No third-party tool can reliably tell you “Competitor X spent $47,382 last month.” Treat these numbers as directional estimates.

For example, Semrush says its paid-traffic estimates are designed for benchmarking competitors, not as an exact measure of their actual Google Ads spend, and its data can miss local, time-specific, audience-filtered, or otherwise uncaptured ads. Semrush

I'd actually monitor competitors using three signals:

1. Estimated spend — Is their investment growing or shrinking?
2. Ad persistence — Which keywords/ads have they kept running for months?
3. Creative volume + messaging — What offers, hooks and angles are they repeatedly testing?

That tells you considerably more than an estimated spend number alone.

Bottom line: Start with SpyFu at ~$33/mo + Meta/TikTok/Google's free ad libraries. Upgrade to Semrush at ~$99/mo if having search + Meta intelligence in one workflow saves your team enough time to justify the extra ~$66/month. SpyFu Semrush

If you tell me roughly how many clients you manage (e.g. 5, 20, 50) and whether you're mostly Google + Meta or also TikTok/LinkedIn, I can narrow this down to the cheapest stack that will actually work for your agency.

No third-party tool can reliably tell you “Competitor X spent $47,382 last month.” Treat these numbers as directional estimates.

For example, Semrush says its paid-traffic estimates are designed for benchmarking competitors, not as an exact measure of their actual Google Ads spend, and its data can miss local, time-specific, audience-filtered, or otherwise uncaptured ads.

I'd actually monitor competitors using three signals:

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I would avoid the big enterprise ad-intelligence platforms. Most of them are built for brands spending millions, not a small agency trying to win pitches and improve client strategy.

The best stack is usually 2–3 lightweight tools, depending on whether you care more about search, social, or spend estimates.

My recommendation: start with this stack

1. Best overall value: SpyFu + free ad libraries

Best for: Google Ads competitor research

Why it fits a small agency:

• Tracks competitor paid keywords
• Shows historical ad copy
• Estimates competitor PPC spend trends
• Good for client audits and pitch decks
• Much cheaper than enterprise platforms SpyFu SpyFu

Use it for:

• “Who is bidding on our client’s keywords?”
• “What offers are competitors running?”
• “How long has this ad been live?”
• “What keywords are we missing?”

Pair it with:

• facebook.com (free competitor Facebook/Instagram creative research)
• adstransparency.google.com (free Google advertiser creative lookup)

Estimated cost: ~$40/month range depending on plan. SpyFu

2. Best “agency pitch weapon”: Semrush

Best for: client reports + broader competitor intelligence

Strengths:

• PPC keyword overlap
• Competitor ad copy
• Search competitor discovery
• Combines SEO + PPC research Semrush

Weakness:

• You may pay for a lot of SEO functionality you don't need.

For a tiny agency, I’d only buy it if you can use it for:

• SEO audits
• content research
• PPC research
• sales proposals

Otherwise SpyFu is usually the better budget choice.

3. Best for social competitor ads: free first, then upgrade

For Meta/TikTok, spend estimates are much harder to get accurately. Most tools infer spend from signals like number of creatives, run duration, placements, and estimated impressions rather than seeing actual budgets. GetHookd

Start with:

• facebook.com
• ads.tiktok.com

Look for:

• creative angles
• hooks
• offers
• landing pages
• how many ads they are testing

Upgrade only when clients demand deeper competitive reporting.

Tools I would not buy yet

Similarweb

Excellent, but usually overkill for a 3-person shop. It is more of a market intelligence platform than a pure PPC tool, and pricing can be enterprise-oriented. Similarweb

Adbeat

Great if you manage display/native campaigns, but probably unnecessary if your bread and butter is Google Search + Meta. Adbeat

Pathmatics

Powerful, but aimed at larger advertisers/agencies.

If I were running your agency, my $100/month-ish setup would be:

Then create a repeatable monthly “competitor pulse” report:

• Top 5 competitors
• New ads launched
• Offers/promotions
• Messaging changes
• Keyword gaps
• Estimated spend direction (up/down)

That is usually more valuable to clients than a fancy dashboard full of questionable spend estimates.

For a 3-person agency, I’d put the first paid dollar into SpyFu, not a $500+/month intelligence platform. SpyFu backlinko.com

Adbeat

Great if you manage display/native campaigns, but probably unnecessary if your bread and butter is Google Search + Meta.

Pathmatics

Powerful, but aimed at larger advertisers/agencies.

If I were running your agency, my $100/month-ish setup would be:

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid trying to buy one giant “everything” platform. The best value is usually one strong search-intelligence tool + free social ad libraries.

My pick: SpyFu + free Meta/Google data

1. spyfu.com — best budget paid tool

Why I’d start here: it’s unusually cheap for the amount of PPC competitor intelligence you get.

• Tracks competitors’ Google Ads keywords, ads, estimated spend, clicks, and historical activity.
• Lets you compare multiple competitors and see where their paid-search strategies overlap.
• Its current Basic pricing is $39/month monthly or $29/month when billed annually. SpyFu SpyFu
• Importantly, SpyFu is explicit that its spend numbers are estimates of Google Search spending, not actual budgets. SpyFu Help Center

For a small agency, that's a much easier expense to justify than $200–$500+/month enterprise intelligence software.

2. Meta Ad Library — free for social

Use Meta's own ad library alongside SpyFu. It lets you inspect competitors' active Facebook/Instagram ads and see things like creative, messaging, formats and landing destinations.

The key distinction: don't expect reliable competitor spend numbers from public social data. Social intelligence tools generally estimate spend based on observed impressions/placements rather than having access to the competitor's actual account budget.

3. Google Ads Transparency Center — free

Pair SpyFu with Google's own transparency database for actual ad creatives and advertiser activity. SpyFu is better for historical/search-keyword intelligence; Google's database is useful for validating what you're seeing.

If you want one paid platform covering search + social

Then I'd look at Semrush Advertising Toolkit Pro.

semrush.com

Its current pricing is $220/month for Pro, versus $99/month for Base. Pro adds AdClarity, which provides competitor intelligence across display, video and social, including creatives, placements and spend estimates. Semrush Semrush

That's substantially more comprehensive than SpyFu—but for a three-person shop, $220/month is hard to justify unless competitor intelligence is a core deliverable you sell clients.

What I'd actually buy

SpyFu's Team/Agency plan is currently $249 monthly or $187/month annually, but that is probably overkill for three people unless you need its additional seats, unlimited data and agency reporting. SpyFu

One important caveat

Nobody can reliably tell you a competitor's exact ad spend. Treat “$47,000/month estimated spend” as a directional signal, not accounting data. Semrush itself notes that competitor spend is only one input into competitive analysis. Semrush

For your agency, I'd build a simple competitor monitoring sheet/dashboard around:

• Estimated Google spend
• Paid keywords gained/lost
• Ad count
• New ad creative
• Messaging/offer changes
• Landing pages
• Meta creative changes
• Approximate social activity
• First/last seen dates

That gives you 80–90% of the practical competitive-intelligence value without paying for an enterprise platform.

Bottom line: start with SpyFu. If you find yourselves regularly needing social/display spend estimates and cross-channel creative intelligence, graduate to Semrush Advertising Pro.

Pair SpyFu with Google's own transparency database for actual ad creatives and advertiser activity. SpyFu is better for historical/search-keyword intelligence; Google's database is useful for validating what you're seeing.

If you want one paid platform covering search + social

Then I'd look at Semrush Advertising Toolkit Pro.

semrush.com

Its current pricing is $220/month for Pro, versus $99/month for Base. Pro adds AdClarity, which provides competitor intelligence across display, video and social, including creatives, placements and spend estimates. Semrush Semrush

That's substantially more comprehensive than SpyFu—but for a three-person shop, $220/month is hard to justify unless competitor intelligence is a core deliverable you sell clients.

What I'd actually buy

SpyFu's Team/Agency plan is currently $249 monthly or $187/month annually, but that is probably overkill for three people unless you need its additional seats, unlimited data and agency reporting.

One important caveat

Nobody can reliably tell you a competitor's exact ad spend. Treat “$47,000/month estimated spend” as a directional signal, not accounting data. Semrush itself notes that competitor spend is only one input into competitive analysis.

For your agency, I'd build a simple competitor monitoring sheet/dashboard around:

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I would avoid the big enterprise “ad intelligence” platforms. They’re useful, but many are priced for brands spending millions and agencies with dedicated research teams. GetCrux MediaRadar

Your best stack is probably a cheap/free combo rather than one magic tool:

Best value stack (my pick)

1. semrush.com — best for Google Search competitor research

Use it for:

• Competitor keywords
• Search ad copy
• Landing pages
• Estimated paid search activity
• Seeing when competitors enter/leave auctions

Why it fits an agency: You can turn findings into client-facing reports and pitches. Its paid research features are stronger for search than social. GetCrux Adsroid

Downside: It won’t replace a social creative intelligence tool.

Budget move: Don’t buy the highest tier immediately. Use trials/months strategically for audits and proposals.

2. Free platform libraries — mandatory before paying anyone

Use these as your baseline:

• facebook.com — Facebook + Instagram competitor ads
• adstransparency.google.com — Google/YouTube advertiser ads

They’re not “monitoring” tools, but they are the source data many paid tools build on. Segwise Superscale

Create a simple Airtable/Notion database:

• Competitor
• Offer
• Hook
• Creative type
• CTA
• Landing page
• First seen date
• Still running?

For a small agency, this often beats paying $300+/month for a dashboard nobody opens.

3. foreplay.co — best if you sell creative strategy

Use it for:

• Saving competitor ads
• Building swipe files
• Client presentations
• Creative briefs

Good fit if your agency wins clients by saying “here’s what your competitors are doing and here’s what we’d test.” Foreplay is more creative intelligence than true spend tracking. Mako Metrics Superscale

4. bigspy.com — cheap “what are people running?” research

Use it for:

• Finding lots of social creatives
• Spotting offers/hooks
• Quick competitor inspiration

Better for discovery than reliable spend estimates. Segwise

If you specifically need competitor spend estimates

This is where costs jump.

Consider:

• Similarweb — broader digital intelligence
• Pathmatics — serious ad spend intelligence
• MediaRadar — cross-channel ad monitoring

These are more appropriate when clients are paying you for market intelligence reports, not just campaign management. MediaRadar

What I’d buy with a small agency budget

<$100/month

• Meta Ad Library (free)
• Google Ads Transparency Center (free)
• Airtable/Notion tracker
• Occasional Semrush subscription month when doing audits

$100–300/month

• Add Foreplay or BigSpy
• Keep Semrush for search audits

$300+/month

• Consider a real intelligence platform only if you can monetize it through: - competitor reports
• pitch decks
• quarterly strategy retainers

One important caveat: competitor “spend” is mostly estimated, not actual. The most reliable competitive signals for a small agency are usually:

• how long an ad has been running
• creative volume
• offer changes
• keyword coverage
• landing page changes
• frequency of new tests

If I were running a 3-person PPC/social shop, I’d probably start with Semrush + Meta Ad Library + Foreplay and only upgrade once competitor research becomes a billable deliverable. GetCrux Mako Metrics

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I would not buy an enterprise “ad intelligence” platform. The big catch is that nobody can see a competitor’s actual ad spend; paid tools provide modeled estimates based on impressions, CPCs, traffic, etc. Semrush Ad Library Checker

My shortlist

SEMrush is the most compelling single subscription for your use case. Its Advertising Research gives you competitor paid keywords, ads, traffic-cost/spend estimates and historical trends; its higher Pro tier adds AdClarity for display/video/social competitor intelligence. Semrush Semrush

semrush.com

But I wouldn't jump straight to the $220/mo Pro plan. For a three-person shop, $99/mo Base + free platform libraries is probably the sweet spot. Base includes Google/Meta campaign functionality and competitor keyword research, while AdClarity is the expensive upgrade. Semrush

If I were running your agency

I'd build this stack:

• $0 — Meta Ad Library: monitor competitors' active Facebook/Instagram ads.
• $0 — Google Ads Transparency Center: inspect competitors' Google ads.
• ~$39–79/mo — SpyFu: quantify/search-monitor competitor Google Ads, including estimated spend, keywords and historical ad activity.
• Optional ~$99/mo — SEMrush: replace SpyFu if you also want broader SEO/competitive research and a more polished agency workflow.

The free libraries are actually important because they show real ads, whereas the spend numbers from third parties are estimates. adlibrary.com adlibrary.com

One important distinction

If by “monitoring competitor ad spend” you mean:

“Tell me when Competitor X increases/decreases their budget across Google + Meta + TikTok, and roughly by how much.”

That's a substantially harder problem than:

“Show me what ads Competitor X is running and estimate their Google spend.”

For the second, SpyFu/SEMrush + free libraries is excellent value. For the first, you're moving toward dedicated cross-channel intelligence platforms, and the price jumps considerably.

My pick for you: start with SpyFu + the free Meta/Google libraries. If you're already paying for SEMrush for SEO, don't add SpyFu—use SEMrush's Advertising Research instead. Its historical paid-search data goes back to 2012. Semrush

If you tell me roughly how many competitors/clients you need to monitor (e.g. 10, 50, 200) and whether Google, Meta, TikTok, or LinkedIn matters most, I can narrow this down to the cheapest stack that will actually scale for your agency.

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the big enterprise suites and build around SpyFu + the free native ad libraries.

My pick: SpyFu + Meta Ad Library

spyfu.com is probably the best value if Google Search is a major part of your clients’ mix. It estimates competitors’ PPC spend, tracks budgets/clicks/ad counts over time, shows paid keywords and ad copy, and starts around $33–$39/month depending on the current plan/billing option. SpyFu SpyFu

For social, pair it with Meta Ad Library for free. That gives you the actual ads competitors are currently running on Facebook/Instagram. You won't get reliable competitor spend from it, but you can monitor creative, offers, messaging and how long ads appear to be running.

That combination is hard to beat for your situation.

How I'd rank the paid options

semrush.com is the upgrade I'd consider if you want one dashboard. Its $99/month Base tier covers competitor search research and Google/Meta campaign functionality, while the $220/month Pro tier adds AdClarity for competitor display, video and social campaigns, including creatives, placements and spend. Semrush

similarweb.com is considerably more sophisticated. It covers search, display and social and estimates impressions/spend using traffic, CPM and CTR modeling. But the current individual pricing for the package that includes Ads Intelligence is around $540/month, which I'd consider overkill for a three-person agency watching its costs. Similarweb G2

The important catch: nobody knows competitors' exact spend

Treat every "competitor ad spend" number as an estimate, not a fact. Even Semrush explicitly notes that there's no simple way to obtain a competitor's exact budget. Semrush

For agency work, I'd actually track three signals:

1. Estimated spend — directional indication of budget.
2. Ad persistence — ads running for months are often more interesting than ads launched yesterday.
3. Share of messaging/keywords/creative — tells you where they're putting that budget.

What I'd actually buy

$0–40/month: SpyFu + Meta Ad Library + Google's Ads Transparency Center.

~$100/month: Semrush Advertising Toolkit Base if you want a more unified workflow and also care about Google Shopping/Meta.

$200+/month: Only move to Semrush Pro or Similarweb when competitive intelligence itself is becoming a meaningful part of your agency's service offering.

For your size, I'd start with SpyFu. Spend the money you save on actual ad testing rather than paying $500+/month for estimates.

If you tell me roughly how many clients you manage and whether they're mostly B2B, ecommerce, or local businesses, I can narrow this down to the cheapest stack that would cover your actual workflow.

The important catch: nobody knows competitors' exact spend

For a 3-person paid-ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid buying an expensive “full competitive intelligence” platform unless you have enough clients to justify it.

My pick: SpyFu + free ad libraries

SpyFu is probably the best cost-to-usefulness fit for you.

• Search/PPC: SpyFu is strong at competitor Google Ads research—paid keywords, ad history, estimated clicks/spend, competitors, and keyword overlap.
• Price: currently $39/mo month-to-month or $33/mo annually for Basic; there’s also a free tier with limited results. SpyFu
• Agency-friendly: You can use one relatively inexpensive research platform across multiple clients rather than buying a separate intelligence product for each.
• Big caveat: its spend numbers are estimates, not competitors' actual budgets.

Then supplement it with the Meta Ad Library and Google Ads Transparency Center for free. Those are better for answering “what ads are they actually running?” than trying to infer everything from modeled spend.

If you need search + social spend in one dashboard

Similarweb is more compelling conceptually. Its Ad Intelligence can compare competitor Search, Display, and Social activity and provides estimated spend, impressions and visits; data is updated daily. Similarweb Support Similarweb Support

The problem for a small agency is cost/access. Similarweb's inexpensive self-service products don't necessarily give you the full depth of Ad Intelligence, while the more serious ad-data offerings can become a sales-led purchase. So I wouldn't make it your first buy unless cross-channel competitor budgeting is a core service you're selling.

What about Semrush?

Semrush is probably the best all-around platform, but I'd only choose it if you're going to use the broader Semrush ecosystem.

Its current Advertising Toolkit is:

• $99/mo Base — strong Google paid-search research, including competitor keywords, ads and estimated traffic cost.
• $220/mo Pro — adds AdClarity for display/video/social competitor campaigns and estimated expenditure. Semrush Semrush

Semrush's paid-search data is quite useful: you can see competitor paid keywords, ads, historical activity, estimated traffic and traffic cost, which is essentially its estimate of what the competitor would need to spend to buy that traffic. Semrush

The $220/mo Pro plan is overkill for a three-person agency on a tight budget, in my opinion.

My ranking for your situation

The setup I'd actually use

For your agency, I'd spend ~$35/month initially:

SpyFu → competitor search intelligence
Meta Ad Library → actual Meta creatives/campaign activity
Google Ads Transparency Center → actual Google advertiser creatives
Google Sheets → monthly competitor spend/creative tracker

And importantly, I'd track ranges/trends rather than pretending you know exact spend. Competitor-intelligence vendors model spend from things like observed ads, rankings, traffic, CPC, impressions and other signals. Even Similarweb explicitly describes its figures as tracked estimates rather than total spend. Similarweb Support

If you tell me roughly how many clients you manage and whether they're mostly B2B, ecommerce, or local businesses, I can narrow this down to the cheapest stack that gives you useful competitor spend + creative + keyword intelligence.

For a 3-person agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid the expensive “all-in-one competitive intelligence” platforms. The best setup is one inexpensive paid-search tool + the free ad libraries for social.

My pick: SpyFu + free platform libraries

spyfu.com is probably the best value for your situation.

• Google/Search: SpyFu estimates competitor PPC spend, paid keywords, clicks, CPCs, ad history, and budget changes over time. SpyFu Help Center SpyFu
• Price: currently $39/mo month-to-month or $33/mo billed annually for Basic. There's also a free tier for lightweight research. SpyFu
• Agency-friendly: you can search essentially unlimited domains/queries, rather than burning credits every time you investigate a prospect. SpyFu Help Center
• Historical data: useful for answering “are they actually increasing spend, or did we just happen to see them today?” SpyFu provides 10+ years of historical PPC data on paid plans. SpyFu

Then supplement it with the free ad transparency tools from Meta and Google for the social/creative side. Those are better for seeing what competitors are actually running than trying to infer a precise spend number.

If you want one paid tool that covers more channels

I'd look at semrush.com, particularly its Advertising Research + AdClarity capabilities.

Semrush's Advertising Research estimates paid-search traffic costs/spend and shows competitors' keywords, ads, landing pages and historical activity. Semrush Semrush Its AdClarity product extends competitive spend intelligence across display, social and video, with estimated spend trends by channel. Semrush

The catch: it's considerably harder to justify on a 3-person agency budget if competitor ad spend is the primary reason you're buying it.

How I'd rank them for you

One important caveat: competitor “ad spend” is an estimate, not their actual media invoice. Even Semrush explicitly recommends looking at spend trends rather than treating the absolute number as precise. Semrush

The lean agency stack I'd actually buy

$0: Meta Ad Library + Google Ads Transparency Center
~$33/mo: SpyFu Basic
Total: ~$33/month

Use SpyFu for “How aggressively are they buying search, and what keywords are they buying?” Then use the free libraries for “What creative/offers are they actually running on social?”

That gets you surprisingly far without paying for a $200–$500+/month intelligence platform.

If your agency is heavily Meta/TikTok rather than Google Ads, though, I'd change the recommendation—the best cheap stack is different.

For a 3-person paid ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid expensive enterprise “ad intelligence” platforms. Your best value is Semrush, specifically its Advertising Toolkit.

My ranking

🥇 Best choice: Semrush

semrush.com

Semrush's current Advertising Toolkit Base plan is $99/month when billed annually. It gives you competitor paid-search research, ad copies, keyword data, Google Shopping research, and a unified Google/Meta advertising workflow. Semrush Semrush

The important distinction is that social spend intelligence requires the $220/month Pro plan, which adds AdClarity for display, video, and social ads. Semrush Semrush

So I'd actually start with Base, not Pro.

For each competitor, you can monitor things like:

• Estimated Google Ads investment / traffic cost
• Paid keywords they're entering and leaving
• Ad copy and messaging
• Competitor overlap
• Landing pages
• Historical changes
• Shopping ads

Semrush explicitly cautions that its spend figures are estimates for competitive benchmarking, not the competitor's actual Google Ads bill. That's an important distinction when you're presenting this data to clients. Semrush

What I'd do for your agency

$99/mo Semrush + free platform-native research is probably the sweet spot.

Use Semrush for search intelligence, then supplement it with the free ad libraries for social creative monitoring. That gets you surprisingly far without spending $300–$1,000+/month on intelligence software.

If cross-channel estimated spend is absolutely central to your service, then test Semrush Pro for a month. Its AdClarity provides spend/expenditure trends and competitor creative information across social, display and video, though the current Pro limits include one geo, three months of historical data, and one channel per report. Semrush

When I'd choose Similarweb instead

similarweb.com

Similarweb is arguably the better product for true cross-channel competitive intelligence. Its Ad Intelligence covers paid search, display, social and GenAI, with competitor impressions, spend, creatives and media mix. Similarweb Similarweb

The catch for a tiny agency is price/access: Similarweb positions Ad Intelligence as a more comprehensive paid-media intelligence product and its site directs prospects toward sales rather than publishing a straightforward low-cost agency plan. Similarweb

So I'd only go there once the intelligence itself is something you're selling to clients, rather than merely using internally.

The key caveat about "competitor ad spend"

No tool can reliably tell you that Competitor X spent exactly $47,382 last month.

These platforms infer spend from things such as observed ads, keywords, impressions, traffic, CPC/CPM models and estimated visibility. Semrush specifically explains that its search estimates are based on observed paid positions and modeled traffic/cost, and can miss things like highly localized or audience-restricted campaigns. Semrush

So I'd build your agency's reporting around:

Estimated spend → share of voice → keywords/placements → creative volume → messaging changes → landing pages

rather than presenting an estimated spend number as fact.

My recommendation

Start with Semrush Advertising Toolkit Base at $99/mo.
If after 30 days you're regularly telling clients, “We need reliable competitor social/display spend intelligence,” upgrade to Pro and test AdClarity.

I wouldn't spend $200–$500+/month on a dedicated ad-spy platform yet with only three people. Put that money into tooling that also helps you actually run and optimize campaigns. Semrush

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.