Answers that name semrush

For a 3-person paid-ads agency on a tight budget, I’d avoid buying a heavyweight “all-in-one” intelligence platform. There’s an important catch: competitor ad spend is always estimated, not their actual billing data. Even Semrush explicitly says its spend figures are benchmarks rather than exact spend. Semrush

My shortlist

What I'd actually do

Start with SpyFu + free platform-level intelligence.

SpyFu's current Basic plan is listed at $39/month, and it gives you competitor Google Ads keywords, ad history, estimated budgets, and unlimited data/downloads. SpyFu SpyFu It specifically estimates Google Search spend; SpyFu says its budget estimates don't include display or other non-Google-search advertising. SpyFu Help Center

Then use the free ad libraries from Meta, Google, TikTok, etc. to fill in the social side. For social, I'd focus less on trying to obtain an exact dollar figure—which generally isn't publicly knowable—and instead track:

• Which competitors are actively advertising
• Number of active creatives
• Creative/message themes
• Offers and promotions
• Landing pages
• How long individual ads remain active
• New creative launches
• Channel mix

That combination gives a small agency a surprisingly useful “who is spending where and what are they saying?” picture without paying hundreds per month.

When I'd pay for Semrush

If you really want one dashboard covering search + social, Semrush's Advertising Toolkit is the more compelling option. Its current Base tier is $99/month, while Pro is $220/month; Pro adds AdClarity for competitor display, video and social intelligence, including creatives, placements and spend. Semrush Semrush

Its search research is quite deep: competitor keywords, ads, historical trends, traffic-cost/spend estimates and landing pages. Semrush Semrush

So I'd frame it this way:

• <$50/mo: SpyFu + free social ad libraries
• ~$100/mo: Semrush Advertising Toolkit Base if you value having everything together
• $220+/mo: Semrush Pro if cross-channel competitor intelligence is a meaningful part of your agency's service
• Enterprise budget: Similarweb becomes interesting; its Ad Intelligence covers search, display, social and other paid channels, but pricing is sales-led. Similarweb Similarweb

One important caveat: don't present competitor “spend” to clients as fact. Treat it as a directional estimate. Semrush, SpyFu and Similarweb all derive these figures from observed ads, keywords, traffic and CPC/impression models rather than competitors' actual invoices. SpyFu Help Center Semrush Similarweb

If you tell me roughly how many clients/competitors you monitor and whether your clients are mostly Google, Meta, or both, I can narrow this to the cheapest stack I'd use for a 3-person agency.

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 local business clients, I’d usually recommend Adbeat + Similarweb/Semrush depending on how deep you need to go. The right choice depends on whether you want creative monitoring, media placement intelligence, or client reporting.

Best options for an agency managing local businesses

1. Adbeat — best for display + video competitor monitoring

Best fit: agencies that need to show clients “here’s what your competitors are actually running.”

Strengths:

• Tracks competitor display ads, native ads, and video ads
• Shows creatives, landing pages, publishers, ad networks, and campaign history
• Useful for monthly competitor reports and creative inspiration
• Good for industries like:

• home services
• dental
• legal
• real estate
• automotive
• local franchises

Adbeat specifically focuses on competitive display advertising intelligence, including display, native, and video coverage. Adbeat

Downside: It is more specialized; you may still need another platform for SEO/search/social intelligence.

2. Similarweb Ad Intelligence — best all-around competitor intelligence

Best fit: agencies that want a broader client-facing story.

Strengths:

• Display + video ad monitoring
• Competitor campaign analysis
• Creative examples
• Estimated ad activity trends
• Publisher/channel insights
• Stronger executive-level reporting

Similarweb’s Ad Intelligence includes competitor ad creatives, formats, publishers, and estimated campaign activity across channels. Similarweb Similarweb

Downside: typically more enterprise-oriented and can be expensive for a small agency.

3. Semrush + AdClarity — best if you already use Semrush

Best fit: agencies already using Semrush for SEO/PPC reporting.

Strengths:

• Combines competitor SEO, paid search, traffic, and display/video research
• White-label reporting options
• Useful for audits and pitches

Semrush’s AdClarity product covers competitor display, video, and social advertising strategies, including creatives, placements, and spend patterns. Semrush

Downside: less focused purely on “ad spying” than a dedicated display intelligence tool.

My recommendation for a local marketing agency workflow

If you manage 5–50 local clients, I’d probably do:

A practical monthly report could include:

• Top 5 competitors monitored
• New ads launched this month
• Messaging themes (“free estimate,” “same-day service,” etc.)
• Offers/promotions being tested
• Landing pages competitors are pushing
• Creative screenshots
• Recommended tests for your client

One caveat: these platforms generally estimate competitive activity; they do not give you competitors’ actual ad account data, targeting settings, or exact spend.

For a local-business agency, I’d lean Adbeat if your main deliverable is “competitor ads intelligence” and Semrush/Similarweb if you want a broader marketing intelligence product you can resell. Adbeat Semrush

If you tell me your typical clients (HVAC, dentists, restaurants, law firms, etc.) and your monthly budget for tools, I can narrow it down.

For your use case—monitoring competitors’ display + video ads for multiple local-business clients—I’d narrow it to Adbeat vs. Semrush/AdClarity.

My pick: Adbeat

adbeat.com is particularly strong if the core job is “show me what my competitors are actually running.” It covers display, native, and video ads and lets you investigate creatives, publishers, ad networks, landing pages, and campaign activity. It also supports alerts for new competitor ads and reporting/export features, which are useful for an agency managing several clients. Adbeat Adbeat

Its current plans start at $249/month, with the $399/month Advanced plan adding competitor alerts, country filtering, comparisons, and a year of historical data. Adbeat

Semrush is more attractive if you want an all-in-one agency platform

semrush.com now includes AdClarity, which covers competitor display, video, and social advertising. You can investigate advertisers, publishers, campaigns, creatives, placements, estimated spend, and share of voice. Semrush Semrush

The current Pro Advertising Toolkit is $220/month and includes AdClarity. Semrush

One important caveat for your local-business clients: Semrush explicitly says some of its advertising data can miss campaigns that run only at the local level, so I wouldn't treat its estimates as a complete picture of what a competitor is showing in a particular city. Semrush

How I'd choose

For a local agency specifically, I'd probably start with Adbeat if competitor ad monitoring is the primary requirement. If you're already paying for Semrush for SEO/PPC work, I'd test AdClarity first before adding another subscription.

One thing I'd want to evaluate before committing is geographic granularity—i.e., whether you can reliably answer “What ads is this HVAC company showing to people in Wichita?” rather than simply “What ads does this HVAC company run nationally?” That's particularly important for local-service clients.

If you tell me roughly how many clients you manage and what industries they're in, I can also compare Adbeat, AdClarity, Moat, Meta Ad Library, Google Ads Transparency Center, and a couple of agency-focused alternatives specifically for your workflow.

For a growing ecommerce brand, I’d avoid buying a single “spy tool” and instead build a small competitor intelligence stack. You’re usually trying to answer three different questions:

1. What ads are competitors running?
2. Where are those ads sending traffic (landing pages, offers, funnels)?
3. What messaging, creative formats, and channels appear to be working?

Here’s the stack I’d consider:

My recommended setup by budget

Lean ($0–$200/month)

Good for a growing DTC brand:

• Meta Ad Library (free)
• Google Ads Transparency Center (free)
• Similarweb free tier
• BuiltWith
• A spreadsheet/Notion database of:

• competitor
• ad angle
• hook
• offer
• landing page URL
• CTA
• screenshots
• date first seen

Serious growth team ($300–$1,000/month)

I’d add:

• Similarweb → market/traffic intelligence
• Semrush → search competition
• Foreplay → creative library
• Minea or AdSpyder → paid social creative discovery

Larger ecommerce team

Consider enterprise tools such as:

• sensortower.com / Pathmatics-style solutions for modeled advertising intelligence
• Advanced customer research platforms
• Custom dashboards combining ad, traffic, and conversion data

The workflow I’d actually run

Every week:

1. Pick 10–20 competitors.
2. Capture:

• their newest ads
• longest-running ads
• biggest offers (discounts, bundles, guarantees)
• landing page structure
• Analyze landing pages:

• headline formula
• above-the-fold offer
• social proof
• product education
• upsells/cross-sells
• email/SMS capture
• Turn findings into tests:

• new hooks
• new landing page variants
• new creative briefs

One important caveat: competitor tools can show you what brands are doing, but rarely prove what is profitable for them. Ad longevity, repeated creative themes, and traffic signals can be useful clues, but they are not the same as seeing their actual conversion data. Ad Library Checker

If you tell me your category (beauty, apparel, supplements, home, electronics, etc.), monthly ad spend, and whether you care more about Meta/TikTok ads or Google/search, I can narrow this to a 3–5 tool stack.

For a growing ecommerce brand, I’d build the stack around three different questions: What are competitors advertising? Where are they sending traffic? And what does their funnel look like?

My shortlist

If I were setting this up for a growing brand, I'd start with Semrush + the free Meta/Google libraries, rather than buying five overlapping spy tools.

Why Semrush is particularly useful

Semrush connects the ad → keyword → landing page chain unusually well. Its Advertising Research reports can show competitor paid keywords, actual ad copy, ad history, and the landing pages associated with those ads. Semrush Semrush

For ecommerce specifically, its PLA Research can show competitor Google Shopping keywords, product titles, prices/images, and destination URLs. Semrush

That gives you a workflow like:

Competitor → ad → keyword → landing page → offer → product

You can then manually inspect the landing page for:

• Above-the-fold promise
• Offer/discount
• Product positioning
• Social proof
• Reviews
• Guarantees
• CTA structure
• Bundles/upsells
• Page length
• Mobile experience
• Message match between ad and landing page

For Meta/TikTok-style ecommerce advertising

I'd supplement Semrush with an ad-creative intelligence tool. The important distinction is that search-intelligence tools and creative-intelligence tools solve different problems.

For example, Meta's own Ad Library lets you inspect active ads directly, while third-party tools aggregate and make large numbers of ads searchable. Adligator

For a creative team, I'd look at Foreplay, BigSpy, or Minea depending on whether you care more about creative inspiration, historical volume, or product/advertiser discovery. Current industry comparisons also distinguish these tools from Semrush's search-focused data. adlibrary.com AdMapix

The stack I'd actually use

Lean team / <$10M-ish brand

1. Semrush — Google/Search/Shopping competitor intelligence
2. Meta Ad Library — free Meta research
3. Google Ads Transparency Center — free Google creative research
4. A page-screenshot tool + spreadsheet/Notion — build your own landing-page swipe file

More sophisticated paid-media team

Add Similarweb when you need to understand where the competitor's overall traffic comes from, rather than just what ads they're running.

Add a dedicated creative-intelligence platform when you're analyzing dozens/hundreds of Meta/TikTok creatives every month.

One important caveat

Don't treat competitor-tool numbers like they're their actual internal data. Estimated spend, traffic, impressions, and "top-performing" classifications are generally directional intelligence, not the competitor's analytics. The strongest evidence is the actual ad, destination URL, offer, messaging, and patterns that persist over time.

If you tell me your rough monthly ad spend, primary channels (Meta/Google/TikTok/etc.), and whether you're DTC or marketplace, I can narrow this down to a specific 2–3 tool stack and workflow rather than giving you a giant list.

Yes. If your specific need is “How often are competitors advertising, roughly how much reach/impressions are they generating, and how does that compare across Meta/TikTok/Google/etc.?”, there are a few tools I’d look at—but they serve different levels of sophistication.

My shortlist

1. My first choice: Sensor Tower / Pathmatics

Sensor Tower's Pathmatics is probably closest to what you're describing.

It provides estimated ad spend and impressions, historical trends, creative-level data, placements, share of voice, and competitor comparisons across social, display, video, mobile, OTT/CTV and other channels. Its coverage includes Facebook/Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit and more. Sensor Tower Sensor Tower

The particularly useful part for an in-house marketer is that you can look at things like:

• Competitor A launched 47 new creatives this month
• Their estimated impressions increased 35%
• Their share of voice went from 12% → 19%
• They shifted budget toward TikTok/YouTube
• Their campaign has been running for 8 weeks
• These 5 creative concepts account for most of their activity

Pathmatics says its estimates are built from panel data, crawlers, partnerships/integrations and modelling, so treat reach/spend as estimates rather than ground truth. Sensor Tower

Downside: it's enterprise-oriented, so I'd expect a meaningful sales process and budget.

2. The one I'd demo if you're not a huge enterprise: Adsmom

Adsmom is particularly interesting for your use case because it explicitly tries to normalize competitive advertising across Meta, TikTok, Google and LinkedIn.

It reports reach, estimated spend, share of voice, creative cadence, ad longevity and platform mix, and says it tracks 200M+ ads with daily updates. Adsmom Adsmom

The creative cadence metric is actually something I'd pay attention to. Knowing that a competitor launched 5 ads last week versus 50 tells you something different from simply knowing their estimated spend.

One caveat: their cross-platform "reach" is necessarily modelled/normalized because the platforms report fundamentally different metrics. Their own methodology describes converting reach/impression signals using estimated frequency and CPM assumptions. Adsmom

So I'd use it for directional competitive intelligence, not as an accounting-grade measurement of competitor reach.

3. Similarweb if you want the broader picture

Similarweb's Ad Intelligence is another strong option. It covers paid search, display, social and GenAI, and provides competitor campaign, creative, impression and spend intelligence. Similarweb Similarweb

I'd lean toward Similarweb if your competitive analysis extends beyond advertising into:

ads → traffic → search demand → competitor websites → audience behavior.

That's a more comprehensive market-intelligence use case than simply monitoring ad frequency.

What I would actually buy

If I were running an in-house marketing team, I'd narrow it to:

Enterprise / large ad budget:
→ Pathmatics

Mid-market / growth team wanting a straightforward cross-platform view:
→ Adsmom

Marketing intelligence + web traffic/search intelligence:
→ Similarweb

Mostly Google/search advertising:
→ Semrush — its Advertising Research is particularly good for competitor keywords, ads, historical PPC activity and estimated budgets. Semrush Semrush

One important distinction: competitor “frequency” is much harder to know accurately than competitor ad activity. Public ad data generally doesn't expose the actual frequency a competitor's campaign delivers to its audience. Tools infer it from panels, impressions, reach models, observed ad serving, etc. So I'd be skeptical of any vendor presenting competitor frequency/reach as precise fact.

If you tell me your approximate annual paid-media budget, B2B vs. B2C, and the platforms you care about (e.g. Meta + TikTok + Google + LinkedIn), I can narrow this down to 2–3 tools worth actually taking demos for, including approximate pricing and what each can/can't measure.

For a mid-market retailer managing paid search, the shortlist usually comes down to whether you need estimated spend/keyword intelligence, ad copy history, or broader cross-channel competitor monitoring. No third-party tool can see a competitor’s actual Google Ads budget, but several estimate it from observed rankings, clicks, CPCs, and ad visibility. Semrush

My typical stack recommendation for a retailer

If your main questions are:

• “Who is bidding on our brand/category terms?”
• “What keywords are competitors buying?”
• “Are they increasing paid search investment?”
• “What messaging are they testing?”

I’d start with:

1. Semrush Advertising Research — strongest general-purpose option for an in-house retail team that needs reporting and keyword/ad intelligence together. Semrush
2. SpyFu — good complementary tool if you want deeper Google Ads history at a lower cost. SpyFu
3. Google Ads Transparency Center — useful as a reality check for currently running advertiser creatives (especially when validating copy changes), since estimated tools and live creative archives answer different questions. AdEye

A few caveats for budget estimates:

• Treat competitor “spend” as a directional estimate, not a financial disclosure. Tools infer it from search visibility, CPC assumptions, and modeled traffic. Semrush
• Retailers with Shopping campaigns, Performance Max, local inventory ads, or heavy feed-driven advertising may require additional analysis because traditional paid keyword tools capture only part of the picture.

For a mid-market retailer, I’d usually evaluate Semrush vs SpyFu in a 2–4 week test using your top 10–20 competitors and compare:

• overlap with your actual keyword universe,
• detection of new entrants,
• usefulness of ad copy history,
• accuracy of insights against manual SERP checks.

If you tell me your retailer category (apparel, home, electronics, grocery, etc.), ad platforms (Google only vs Google + Microsoft + Meta), and approximate monthly paid search spend, I can narrow the shortlist.

For a mid-market retailer focused specifically on paid search competitive intelligence, I’d shortlist SpyFu and Semrush.

• spyfu.com — probably the closest fit if your main needs are competitor keyword spend estimates + historical ad-copy changes. Its PPC research includes estimated spend/clicks, competitor keywords, and an Ad History database showing how competitors' ads have changed over time. SpyFu SpyFu
• semrush.com — better if you want competitive PPC intelligence alongside broader SEO/marketing research. It provides estimated traffic cost/spend at the keyword level, paid-keyword changes, competitor ads, and historical advertising trends. Semrush Semrush

For your specific use case

One important caveat: neither tool knows a competitor's actual Google Ads spend. Spend/“traffic cost” figures are modeled estimates based on observed keywords, traffic, CPCs, positions, etc.; Semrush explicitly describes its figure as an estimated cost. Semrush Semrush

My practical pick: If you're primarily a paid-search manager and want to answer “What are they bidding on, roughly how much are they investing, and what messaging are they changing?”, I'd trial SpyFu first. If your team already uses Semrush for SEO or wants one broader competitive-intelligence platform, Semrush is the more consolidated choice. SpyFu Semrush

If you tell me roughly how many competitors you monitor and whether Google Shopping/PLAs matter, I can narrow this to 2–3 tools and compare their current pricing and retailer-specific capabilities.

Yes. For an international campaign operation, I’d separate cross-market ad intelligence from the platform-native ad libraries. No single tool gives perfect coverage everywhere.

Strong options

AdClarity is particularly relevant to your use case: it says it monitors competitors across 52 markets and uses a 30M+ human panel, while Semrush describes coverage across 650,000 publishers and 50+ markets. AdClarity Semrush

For multilingual paid search, Semrush is unusually useful: its Advertising Research database covers 100+ countries and 20+ languages, and provides competitor ad copy and keyword information. Semrush

What I'd use for an international team

I'd build the stack roughly like this:

• AdClarity → central cross-country intelligence layer for display/video/social.
• Semrush → Google Search/PPC and multilingual keyword/ad-copy intelligence.
• Meta Ads Library + TikTok Creative Center + Google Ads Transparency Center → ground-truth the actual platform creatives rather than relying entirely on third-party estimates. Google's transparency service, for example, lets you search ads by advertiser name or website. Ads Transparency
• Add your own dashboard/data warehouse if you need daily alerts such as "Competitor X launched 14 new creatives in Germany, France and Japan this week."

One important caveat: "reliably" doesn't mean identical coverage in every country. Third-party ad-intelligence platforms estimate things such as spend, impressions and share of voice; platform transparency libraries are closer to the source for the actual ads but are fragmented by platform and have different geographic/data-retention rules. AdClarity itself describes its spend/audience information as intelligence derived from its panel rather than first-party advertiser data. AdClarity adpitstop.com

If you're running campaigns across, say, 20–50 countries, I can also compare AdClarity vs Semrush vs Similarweb vs BigSpy vs Brandwatch specifically on country coverage, language coverage, alerting, API access, creative history, estimated spend, and enterprise pricing.

For international campaigns, you’ll usually want an enterprise ad intelligence platform rather than a simple “ad spy” tool. The important capabilities are:

• Multi-country coverage (not just US/UK)
• Creative capture (images, video, copy, landing pages)
• Language detection and translation
• Historical tracking (when ads launched/stopped)
• Spend/impression estimates
• Channel coverage (Meta, Google, TikTok, YouTube, display, CTV, marketplaces)
• Alerts when competitors change messaging

A shortlist of platforms commonly used by global marketing teams:

For a global campaign team, I’d typically evaluate:

1. Sensor Tower Pathmatics

• Best fit if your question is: “Where are competitors spending, what creatives are they running, and how is that changing by country?” Sensor Tower
• Useful for:

• Brand launches
• Category monitoring
• Share-of-voice tracking
• Creative benchmarking

2. Similarweb Ad Intelligence

• Best fit if you want ads plus broader market context:

• competitor traffic
• paid search strategy
• publishers
• digital channel mix Similarweb

3. Combine with platform-native sources
For some channels, official sources can be more accurate:

• Meta Ad Library (political and many commercial ads)
• Google Ads Transparency Center
• TikTok Creative Center

These are often worth adding because third-party platforms may estimate coverage differently.

Questions I would ask vendors before buying

1. Which countries do you actually collect ads from?

• “Global coverage” often means a subset of markets.
• Can you show ads in the original language and translated form?

• Important for Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Chinese, and multilingual European campaigns.
• How do you estimate spend?

• Ask whether it is modeled, panel-based, crawler-based, or platform-sourced.
• How quickly do you detect new creatives?

• Daily refresh is very different from weekly monitoring.
• Can you export raw creatives and metadata?

• Your strategy team will usually want APIs, CSV exports, or dashboards.

A practical stack for a multinational advertiser

• Enterprise intelligence: Sensor Tower Pathmatics + Similarweb
• Search competitor tracking: Semrush
• Social creative discovery: platform libraries + specialist creative tools
• Internal dashboard: connect exports into Tableau, Power BI, or a data warehouse

If you are running large-scale campaigns across 10+ countries and multiple languages, I would start vendor evaluations with Sensor Tower Pathmatics and Similarweb, then test both against a fixed list of competitors and markets before committing. Sensor Tower Similarweb

For a boutique agency pitching new clients, the strongest fit is usually AdClarity. It is built around competitive ad intelligence and is particularly useful when you need a polished “here’s what your competitors are doing” audit for a pitch deck. It provides competitor creative examples, estimated ad spend, channels, publishers, and campaign insights that can be turned into client-facing reports. AdClarity Biscience Insights

Other good options depending on your pitch style:

• AdClarity — Best overall for agency pitches

• Best when you need: competitor screenshots + spend estimates + media mix analysis.
• Good for showing: “Competitor X is investing heavily in Meta/video/CTV while your brand has a gap.”
• More enterprise-oriented, so pricing may be higher. AdClarity Marketraa
• Similarweb — Best for broader strategy decks

• Useful if your audit combines paid ads with traffic, audience, SEO, and market positioning.
• Less focused on creative screenshots/spend intelligence than dedicated ad spy tools. AdMapix
• Semrush — Best for PPC-heavy clients

• Strong for paid search competitor analysis, keyword gaps, and ad copy history.
• Better if your agency sells Google Ads/SEO together. AdMapix
• Sensor Tower (including Pathmatics capabilities) — Best for larger brands

• Strong competitive spend intelligence across digital advertising, but often more suited to larger agencies or enterprise teams. AdMapix
• AdRecon — Best for creative teardown pitches

• Useful when your pitch emphasizes hooks, messaging, creative formats, and competitor ad examples across Meta/TikTok/Google. AdRecon

For a boutique agency trying to win new business, I’d typically build the audit like this:

1. Use AdClarity (or a similar spend-intelligence platform) for the “market opportunity” slides:

• Competitor spend estimates
• Channel allocation
• Share of voice
• Campaign activity
• Add screenshots from platform libraries:

• Meta Ad Library
• Google Ads Transparency Center
• TikTok Creative Center
• Turn it into a 10–15 slide “growth opportunity audit”:

• What competitors are promoting
• Their creative angles
• Their offers
• Where the client is under-invested
• Your recommended first 90-day plan

If you want a single tool that creates the most impressive new-business pitch artifact, I’d start with AdClarity. If you’re a smaller boutique agency and cost matters more than spend estimates, a combination of Semrush + public ad libraries + a reporting template can often get you most of the way there. AdMapix AdClarity

If your goal is specifically “alert me when a competitor launches a new creative, changes an offer, or starts a promotion”, I’d choose a competitor-ad monitoring platform, not just an ad-library tool.

My recommendation

For most businesses, I'd start with GetCrux if you need cross-platform monitoring, or Mako Metrics if 80%+ of your competitors' activity is on Meta. Current comparisons specifically highlight GetCrux for monitoring competitor ads, hooks, offers, CTAs, creative themes, cadence and active days across multiple channels. Crux

What I would set up

For each competitor, monitor:

• New creative detected → instant Slack/email alert
• New promotion/offer → “20% off,” “BOGO,” free shipping, etc.
• New messaging angle/hook
• Creative replaced or materially changed
• Ad suddenly appearing across multiple channels
• Creative running for an unusually long time → possible winner
• Competitor launches a new campaign/product

The important distinction is alerting vs. browsing. Meta's Ad Library is excellent and free for seeing current Facebook/Instagram ads, while TikTok's Creative Center provides current TikTok creative examples, but these aren't really designed to proactively tell you “Competitor X just launched something new.” Muze AI TikTok For Business

If you tell me what industry you're in, roughly how many competitors you want to track, and whether they're mainly on Meta/TikTok/Google, I can narrow it down to the 2–3 tools I'd actually pay for, including approximate pricing and which one I'd pick.

If your priority is client-ready competitive reports that show estimated spend + top ads/creatives, I’d narrow it to three:

My take for an agency

Adbeat is the closest match to exactly what you're describing. Its reporting is explicitly built for agencies: you can compare advertisers, spend and share of voice, and export reports as PDF, CSV, or presentation-ready PowerPoint decks. Adbeat Adbeat Adbeat

Semrush is more compelling if your clients care about Google/search as well as display/social. Its Advertising Research reports show competitor ads, keywords, costs and ad history, with CSV/Excel/PDF exports; its newer AdClarity product adds top ads, expenditure trends and estimated cross-channel spend. Semrush Semrush Semrush

One important caveat: competitor spend is generally an estimate, not actual billing data. Semrush explicitly describes its cross-platform spend figures as estimates. Semrush

If your agency specifically sells Meta/Facebook competitor audits, there's also a different category: tools like KeptAds specialize in archiving competitors' Meta creatives and producing white-label client reports, but they deliberately don't provide spend estimates. KeptAds

So, in one sentence:

• Polished client decks → Adbeat
• Google + broader PPC intelligence → Semrush
• Enterprise cross-channel intelligence → Similarweb
• Meta creative monitoring/white-label reports → KeptAds

If you tell me whether your clients are primarily Meta, Google, or both, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools I'd actually demo for an agency.

Adbeat is the closest match to exactly what you're describing. Its reporting is explicitly built for agencies: you can compare advertisers, spend and share of voice, and export reports as PDF, CSV, or presentation-ready PowerPoint decks. Adbeat Adbeat Adbeat

Semrush is more compelling if your clients care about Google/search as well as display/social. Its Advertising Research reports show competitor ads, keywords, costs and ad history, with CSV/Excel/PDF exports; its newer AdClarity product adds top ads, expenditure trends and estimated cross-channel spend. semrush.com semrush.com semrush.com

One important caveat: competitor spend is generally an estimate, not actual billing data. Semrush explicitly describes its cross-platform spend figures as estimates.

If your agency specifically sells Meta/Facebook competitor audits, there's also a different category: tools like KeptAds specialize in archiving competitors' Meta creatives and producing white-label client reports, but they deliberately don't provide spend estimates.

So, in one sentence:

If your priority is client-ready competitive ad reports—especially estimated spend + top ads/creatives + exportable deliverables—I’d look first at Adbeat and Semrush.

My pick for an agency

Adbeat is probably the closest match to exactly what you're describing. It explicitly supports client-facing reports, competitive comparisons, spend/share-of-voice analysis, and exports in CSV, PDF, and presentation-ready PowerPoint. It also lets you compare up to five advertisers and examine spend trends over daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly periods. Adbeat Adbeat

adbeat.com

If you need Google Search + SEO + broader marketing intelligence in the same platform, I'd lean toward Semrush, particularly its Advertising Research plus AdClarity capabilities. Semrush's Advertising Research provides competitor budgets, ads, keywords and ad history, while AdClarity adds top ads, top campaigns, spend trends, share of voice, and display/video/social intelligence. Semrush Semrush

semrush.com

One important caveat: competitor spend is estimated, not the competitors' actual media invoices. Semrush itself notes that competitor ad-spend figures aren't a single exact number. Semrush

If you tell me whether your clients are primarily running Meta, Google, TikTok, or display ads, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 platforms that give the strongest client-facing reports for that channel.

If your main requirement is “show me where competitors’ video ads are appearing and estimate how many impressions/views they’re getting,” I’d shortlist these:

• semrush.com — probably the closest match. It tracks video placements such as pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll and masthead, and provides estimated impressions, spend, publishers, creatives, and YouTube channels. Semrush Semrush
• sensortower.com — stronger for enterprise-grade market intelligence. It provides estimated impressions and spend across social, display, video and mobile, plus the creatives, publishers/platforms, placements and flighting associated with campaigns. Sensor Tower
• adclarity.com — worth considering directly if video is your primary focus. It specifically covers video formats and cross-platform placements, including feed, in-stream, out-stream and masthead. AdClarity

What I'd pick

If you're a small/mid-sized marketing team, I'd start with AdClarity. It has the most direct match to your request: competitor → creative → placement/publisher → estimated impressions/spend. Semrush currently lists its Advertising Toolkit Pro at $220/month, including AdClarity, with a 7-day trial; the exact limits are worth checking because the plan restricts geography, historical data, reports and exports. Semrush

If you're doing serious competitive intelligence across many brands, channels, and markets, I'd demo Pathmatics as well. Its modeling explicitly estimates impressions and spend rather than pretending those figures are exact observed view counts. Sensor Tower

One important caveat: “estimated views” aren't the same thing as verified video views. These platforms use modeled estimates based on observed ad exposures and other data, so I'd use them for relative competitive intelligence and trend detection, not as an exact count of people who watched an ad. Sensor Tower

If you tell me which platforms you care about (YouTube, TikTok, Meta, CTV, etc.) and your approximate monthly budget, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools that actually fit.

If your main goal is “show me where competitors’ video ads are running + estimate their reach/views”, I’d start with AdClarity by Semrush.

My shortlist

• semrush.com — best fit for your exact use case. It tracks video, display, and social advertising across 650,000+ publishers in 50+ markets. You can investigate placements, publishers, creatives, estimated impressions/views, spend, campaigns, and share of voice. Semrush AdClarity
• Pathmatics by Sensor Tower — worth evaluating if you need broader advertising-spend intelligence and larger enterprise-scale competitive monitoring. It's commonly compared with AdClarity for this category. G2
• ads.tiktok.com — free supplement for TikTok. It lets you search competitors' high-performing ads and provides metrics such as reach, CTR, 2-second/6-second view rates, and engagement for qualifying ads. TikTok For Business TikTok For Business
• business.facebook.com — free supplement for Meta. Excellent for discovering currently running Facebook/Instagram creatives, although it's much less useful for estimating competitors' commercial video views than an intelligence platform. Facebook Business

One important caveat

“Estimated views” aren't the same thing as a competitor's actual first-party reporting. For example, AdClarity describes its data in terms of estimated impressions, views, costs, and share of voice, so I'd treat those numbers as competitive-intelligence estimates rather than audited figures. Semrush

If you tell me which channels you care about — YouTube, Meta, TikTok, connected TV/streaming, or all of them — I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools that actually expose the placements and view estimates you need.

If your main requirement is country-specific competitor creatives across multiple ad platforms, I’d shortlist these:

• BigSpy — probably the closest fit for your use case. It has country/region filters, platform filters (Facebook/Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.), creative-format filters, and lets you search global ad creatives. Its documentation specifically says the country filter reflects the locations where ads were observed. BigSpy BigSpy
• AdSpyder — useful if you want one database across many networks. It says it covers 15+ platforms and 100+ countries, with searches by brand, domain, platform, and country. AdSpyder
• Semrush Advertising Toolkit — stronger for Google/search competitor intelligence than visual social-creative spying. You can select a country database and inspect competitor ad copy, keywords, landing pages, and historical activity. It supports 100+ countries for paid-search data. Semrush Semrush
• Native platform libraries — worth using alongside the above when accuracy matters. Aggregators can miss ads because ad delivery is dynamic. Semrush itself notes that highly localized/audience-targeted campaigns may not be captured completely. Semrush

For a global ads team

I'd structure the stack as:

BigSpy/AdSpyder → discovery across GEOs and platforms → native ad library → verification → your own creative database.

For example, you could research Competitor X → US → Meta → video → last 30 days, then repeat for UK, Germany, France, Australia, etc., and compare:

• Which creatives are localized vs. reused globally
• Country-specific offers/pricing
• Hooks and opening frames
• Languages and CTAs
• Landing pages
• How long a creative has been observed
• Platform/GEO combinations

If you're primarily running Meta + TikTok, rather than Google, I'd lean toward BigSpy/AdSpyder over Semrush. BigSpy explicitly supports country/region and social-platform filtering. BigSpy

app.bigspy.com
adspyder.io
semrush.com

If you tell me which platforms (Meta/TikTok/Google/YouTube/etc.) and roughly how many GEOs, I can narrow this to the 2–3 tools that fit your workflow and compare their country filtering, creative history, spend estimates, and pricing.

If you mean competitive ad intelligence (not managing your own campaigns), the tools that come closest to a single dashboard combining ads + landing pages + estimated spend are:

A few notes:

• Closest match to “ads + landing pages + spend in one place”: Kewise, Adbeat, Growlytics, and AdSpendSpy. kewise Adbeat Growlytics
• For paid search competitor research specifically (Google Ads keywords, copy, landing pages), Semrush is usually in the conversation. Semrush
• For enterprise teams tracking an entire category, MediaRadar is more of a market intelligence platform than a marketer’s swipe-file tool. MediaRadar
• Treat spend numbers as estimates, not verified competitor budgets; many vendors derive them from signals such as ad activity, reach, CPM assumptions, or transparency data. AdSpendSpy AdScope

If you’re building a competitive research workflow, I’d typically shortlist:

1. Semrush → search/PPC + SEO overlap
2. Kewise or AdSpendSpy → creative + landing-page teardown
3. Adbeat or MediaRadar → larger-scale media intelligence

The right choice depends heavily on whether you care more about Google Search, Meta/TikTok creative, B2B SaaS, ecommerce, or enterprise brand tracking.

Similarweb Ad Intelligence is probably the closest match to what you’re describing. It consolidates competitor search, social, display, and video ads, landing pages, estimated spend, creatives, and channel mix in one platform. Similarweb Similarweb

Other strong options:

• Semrush Advertising Toolkit — especially strong for Google/Meta competitive research, keywords, ads, landing pages, and budget estimates. Semrush Semrush
• SpyFu — excellent for historical Google Ads, keywords, ad tests, and estimated spend, but less comprehensive for social/creative. SpyFu SpyFu
• Adbeat — particularly strong for display advertising, creatives, publishers, landing pages, and spend comparisons. Adbeat

If your requirement is literally “ads + landing pages + estimated spend across search and social in one dashboard,” I’d start with Similarweb. Note that spend figures are estimates, not competitors’ actual media invoices. Similarweb