These alternatives will help you with: 

• finding winning ads
• View ad stats
• Watch video content of ads to get ideas on how to make yours

I used several ad spy tools in the past, and I can say that these tools provided me with adequate information that helped me make informed business decisions, plus ideas on how to make ads that would get the attention of my target market.  

Today I will discuss: 

• The best alternatives to PowerAdSpy based on features and pricing
• Things to look for in an ad spy software program
• What an ad spy tool does for your dropshipping business

For starters, here is my list: 

1. Dropship.IO – best overall alternative to PowerAdSpy

2. AdSpy – best Instagram advertising spy

3. BigSpy – best for tracking the performance of ads over time

4. Minea – best for searching influencer placements

5. TikTok Business – best free Alternative

6. Anstrex – best for large-scale spying activities

7. Dropispy – best for dropshipping 

8. PiPiAds – best for calculating business metrics

9. AdPlexity – best for high-level competitive analysis 

10. SpyFu – best for paid and SEO ads research

11. AdFlex – best for competitor analysis

12. AdMobiSpy Tools – best spy for mobile and Google ads

Let us get started!    

The 12 Best Alternatives to PowerAdSpy

1. Dropship.IO – best overall alternative to PowerAdSpy

Dropship.IO is both an ad spy tool and a competitor research tool. In addition to that, Dropship.IO allows you to look for suppliers in its database of products. As far as ads go, there is what is called an Ad Spot Tool in the system where you can look for winning ads on Facebook. 

Dropship.IO Features

• Ad Spot – you can use this ad database to see Facebook ads that are performing the best. You can use keywords, advertiser names, and domain names to narrow your search. 
• Product Database – you can search for products using keywords and see which stores carry these products. You will also have a view of the analytics of these products, like how many units have been sold.  
• Sales Tracker – if there is a particular product you like, you can save that on a list, which you can access later on to see if the product is moving fast. You can do the same with stores or competitors. 
• Competitor Tracker – you can search for sellers of the same product such as yours, visit their Shopify stores, and learn many things about them. For example, you can use the competitor tracker to track their weekly sales or check which apps they use in their dropshipping store.

Dropship.IO Pros

• Lots of features that allow you to spy on competitors and ads
• You can track stores and see their financial performances
• The system allows you to see what apps your competitors use  

Dropship.IO Cons

• The ad spy tool only works on Facebook as of this time

Overall, Dropship.IO is the premiere alternative to PowerAdSpy. It not only gives you access to ads, but you can also spy on Shopify stores, even if they are not dropshippers. On top of that, the platform has a Dropship University where you can learn how to succeed in dropshipping.  

2. AdSpy – best Instagram advertising spy

AdSpy is one of the best tools when it comes to viewing ads, but you can only use it for Facebook and Instagram. The tool has a strong focus on search, and it allows you to narrow your investigation based on several parameters such as keywords, comments, etc.

AdSpy Features

• Demographics – you can use this tool to assess what the advertisers are trying to target based on audience demographics. If you know this information, you can make use of it to see who your competitors are targeting.
• Basic Search – AdSpy enhanced its basic search functionality. You can search for ads based on advertiser name, keywords, media type, and how users reacted to the ads. you can even search for ads based on how long the ad has been running already.   
• Search Filters – if you want, you can search for ads based on comments, brand name, etc. You can also look for ads based on positive or negative comments from users and use that to your advantage.   

AdSpy Pros

• More than 150 million ads to view
• The tool covers 222 countries; you can see how ads perform according to your target regions
• There are more than 23 million advertisers you   

AdSpy Cons

• The tool only works for Instagram and Facebook

AdSpy has a rapid interface, which means that despite the millions of ads in its database, you can expect to get results based on your search query in a few seconds only.

3. BigSpy – best for tracking the performance of ads over time

One of the things that you will like about BigSpy is you can download the ads. In addition, the tool has coverage for some of the biggest social media channels, not just in ads but the pages of the advertisers themselves. 

The thing with BigSpy is that it has several limits. For example, you can only do 20 ad queries in a day, even if you are paying $9 monthly for a subscription.

BigSpy Features

• Social Channels – you can use BigSpy to spy on ads on Facebook, AdMob, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Yahoo, and Unity. 
• Pages – you can view the performance of a page on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, etc. For example, you can see an overview of a Facebook page and find out how many followers it has, how many likes, and the top countries that this page caters to.
• Ad Tracking – you can save an ad and visit it again next week to see how it has performed in the past week. With this tracking tool, you can measure if an ad is good enough to get marketing traction, likes, interest, etc.   

BigSpy Pros

• Has coverage of several social media platforms
• The system can give you ad ideas
• You can download the ads and store them on your PC

BigSpy Cons

• No free account
• Lots of limitations even if you pay for a subscription

BigSpy is what you want to use if you want to view not only the ads but the performance of a company’s social media page. In addition to search capabilities, I like that it has default Top Charts and New Trending sections where you can easily see what is currently hot in the market right now.  

Please note that you cannot access all social media channels as your access has dependencies on your plan type. To access all social media channels, you must be on the top plan, which costs $3,600 monthly. The most affordable plan starts at $9 monthly, but you can only access Facebook and Instagram.  

4. Minea – best for searching influencer placements

Minea is an advanced ad spy tool where you can also take a look at influencer placements for ads. It means that the tool can recommend influencer channels to you—these are channels on social media platforms where you can work with an influencer with a massive following to endorse your products.

Minea Features

• Multiple Social Media Channels – with Minea, you can spy on ads on TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest.  
• Shop Analysis – you can visit the shop of a competitor and you can also use the analytics tool within Minea to view data about the company. This way, you can see what this company is doing to succeed in its marketing campaigns. 
• Saturation Magic – for products that are in Minea’s database, you can check the level of competition and decide if you still want to sell that product or not. The less competitors there are, the better for you. This way, you can avoid selling the same item that hundreds of dropshippers are already selling. 

Minea Pros

• The platform provides advice for dropshipping strategies
• You can spy on ads on TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest
• There is a Chrome extension for easy ad access

Minea Cons

• The tool is expensive; plans start at $$9 monthly

Minea is what I can consider as a premium ad spy tool. Apart from the ads, you can also access AliExpress suppliers for the products shown in the ads (provided that the supplier is an AliExpress merchant). The tool can also help you find winning products through its artificial intelligence. 

Minea is also a product import tool. You can integrate it with your Shopify store and move import AliExpress products. All in all, you can use Minea to find winning ads, find winning products, find suppliers on AliExpress, and import these products to your Shopify store. 

5. TikTok Business – best free alternative

You do not need to have an ad account to be able to view the best-performing ads on TikTok.  Just go to the TikTok ad center and do the research. Since it is the TikTok platform, you will only see ads in the TikTok ad network.  

TikTok Ad Center Features 

• Rich in Stats – after clicking an ad, you will see several stats that show you how the ad is performing. You can view, among other things, the ad objective, number of likes, number of comments, number of shares, position in CTR, and the budget type for the ad. You can also view an ad’s performance for conversion rate, actual click-through rate, number of conversions, and more.
• Multiple Search Methods – you can search for ads using keywords, or brand names. You can also filter the ads by clicking on what stats matter to you, such as likes, ad format, ad objective, industry, etc. 
• Landing Page View – the ad analytics will show you the link to the advertiser’s landing page. From here, you can get an idea of how the product advertisers position their products.   

TikTok Ad Center Pros

• Free
• Multiple filter options are available
• You can view the ad stats
• You can search by keywords or brand name

TikTok Ad Center Cons

• Your ad search has a limitation; you must create an account to view all ads

TikTok Ad Center is great if your primary market is on the TikTok platform. I will only advise you to use it I you want to create ads on TikTok. 

Sure, you can get ideas from marketers, but this does not necessarily mean that the reaction of TikTokers would be the same as the audience or users of another platform like Facebook. 

6. Anstrex – best for large-scale spying activities 

Anstrex is a multi-tool system where you can spy on ads and also find hot products to dropship. However, they sell these services separately, which means you have to subscribe to multiple subscriptions if you want to use all of them.

For ad spying, what you want is either Anstrex Native or Anstrex Instream. The former allows you to spy on ads from different ad networks. The latter allows you to spy on ads on TikTok only. 

Anstrex Features

• Ads Library – both tools give you access to a library of ads. Apart from TikTok, you can view ads on Yahoo, Google, RevContent, and many more.  
• Country Data – you can research the best ads on TikTok and other platforms per country. This feature should help you narrow your search based on the platforms you want to target.  
• Filters and Sorting – the ad spy tool makes it possible to research ads-based keywords, ad networks, product categories, popularity, duration, etc. 

Anstrex Pros

• Lots of ad networks to choose from
• No data cap on the ads you want to research
• Look for ads in any country that the ad networks operate

Anstrex Cons

• The tools are separate, so you must pay several subscriptions to use them all

Anstrex also allows you to rip and download video ads. In addition, to this, you can even scrape landing pages can do so for many pages. What this does is it makes it easy for you to store the data and the pages where you can get ideas for your campaigns.   

Finally, Anstrex offers analytics. You will find whatever type of data you need to help you formulate your ad copy, target the right market, and create ads that work.

7. Dropispy – best for dropshipping 

Dropispy is a product research tool that also provides data about ads. You can use the service for free, and the tool focuses its content on dropshipping. The free plan should be enough if you are new to dropshipping. However, you will need to subscribe to a plan if you want more features, like accessing the most recent and hottest ads. 

Dropispy Features

• Unlimited Downloads – you can download the ads, especially the videos, to your device. This feature allows you to review these videos without having to go back to the Dropispy app.  
• Shop Spy – this tool provides you insights about what apps a dropshipping store uses. You can filter your research with dropshipping stores only. With this tool, you can view stats like the store’s Alexa Global rank and US rank.
• Education – Dropispy has tons of videos you can watch to learn more about dropshipping. They have topics like how to find and sell untapped products, how to find winning products, etc.  

Dropispy Pros

• You can analyze your competitor’s data like bounce rate, daily page views, etc.
• There are 20,000 new ads added to the platform daily
• The AdSpy tool has the biggest database of ads

Dropispy Cons

• There are search limitations even on the paid plan

Dropispy is a multi-research tool in the sense that you can spy on ads and Shopify stores. As far as Shopify stores go, you can view the store’s traffic, which countries visit the store the most, and more. The Dropispy tool also enables you to check if a store launched ads recently, giving you an edge to keep up with your competitors’ advertising strategies.  

8. PiPiAds – best for calculating business metrics

PiPiAds is a TikTok-focused platform where you can find thousands of ads on TikTok. In addition to ads, you can also view winning products, and their stats, and calculate metrics like profit and traffic. On top of that, you can use PiPiAds to spy on stores, not just products.

PiPiAds Feature

• TikTok Ads Library – the ad spy tool gives you access to a huge database of TikTok ads, especially those that went viral. You can view TikTok ad stats, including the audience that the ad targeted.     
• Winning Products – there is a section in the tool where you can view winning products and the most recent top products. You can use this tool to search for products that you can add to your dropshipping store, especially if the product has low competition levels or if it is currently trending in the market.
• Calculators – you can access many types of calculators to help you manage your business. Some examples are the CPA calculator, profit calculator, and traffic calculator. Use these tools for quick calculation so can easily decide if a product is worth selling or not. 

PiPiAds Pros

• There is a Chrome extension that makes it easier to track ads and products 
• You can do both ad and product research 
• It is possible to search for ads based on the advertiser or brand

PiPiAds Cons

• There is no free account

You must subscribe to a paid plan if you use the PiPiAds system. Even so, each plan has limitations. For example, the Starter Plan, which starts costs $77 monthly, allows you to do a maximum of 200 searches per day and view up to 50 ad details per day.  

I recommend PiPiAds if your target demographic uses TikTok, and if you want to market on the TikTok platform. If not, it is wise to consider another ad spy tool.   

9. AdPlexity – best for high-level competitive analysis 

AdPlexity is an ad spy tool that covers mobile desktop, and native ads. The tool gives you access to ads in over 75 countries, including hidden campaigns from various mobile carriers. In addition to what ad spy tools commonly offer, AdPlexity can even give you details about affiliate marketing campaigns that businesses launch, and what affiliate marketing networks they use.    

AdPlexity Features

• Filter Options – you can use several filter options to do your ad research. Some examples of the filter options are by keyword, by advertiser, by publisher, and by affiliate network. Publisher refers to online magazines, blogs, and other websites where the ads appear. 
• Campaign Analysis – you can view stats for the ads that grab your attention. Some examples of these stats are device targeted, publisher placement or ad positions, how long the ad has been running, and the traffic sources of the ad. 
• Successful Campaigns – you can easily find successful campaigns so you can download them and replicate them. You can see the offers of advertisers and their respective landing pages, tracking tools that the advertisers use to track campaign success, and many more.   

AdPlexity Pros

• You can narrow your search through several filter options
• You can download the landing page of the ads 
• It is possible to see the traffic sources of ads 

AdPlexity Cons

• The tool is costly; you must pay separate subscriptions based on the type of ad you want to see

AdPlexity has several sub-tools, such as mobile, desktop, etc. If you want to analyze ads on mobile, you have to subscribe to that specific mobile-only analysis tool, which costs $199 monthly. If you want to analyze desktop ads, you need to pay another subscription for it. 

AdPlexity is great for ad agencies or dropshipping networks where you are managing a conglomerate of e-commerce websites. If you only have one dropshipping store, I recommend that you try the other alternatives in this list. 

10. SpyFu – best for paid and SEO ads research

SpyFu is not your average ad spy tool, as it incorporates heavy-duty stats and analysis of data from SEO marketing and pay-per-click advertising. This tool can give you months of historical data on an ad, including backlinking strategies and competitive analysis. 

SpyFu Features

• Search Engine Optimization – the tool offers access to stats and data for search engine optimization purposes, such as access to backlinking strategies and keyword research. This tool can help you write the best ad title and ad copy, especially if you are advertising on Google. 
• Influencer Marketing – you can use this tool to do social outreach and target influencers who can promote or endorse your products. You can build a direct relationship with these influencers or use their names in your keywords for your ads. 
• Unlimited Projects – there is no limit to the number of searches and projects you can create inside the platform. There is, however, a limit to the number of searches you can do and the number of data you can see. 

SpyFu Pros

• SpyFu has a huge database of data that covers multiple facets of advertising analysis
• It is an excellent tool for search engine optimization
• You can find profitable keywords for your niche
• It is best for Google ad spying

SpyFu Con

• The tool is more of an analysis tool that is best used by analysts and researchers; it is not easy to use

SpyFu is what you need if you want to do some heavy lifting for data analysis. It gives you access to tens of thousands of keywords that advertisers use to promote their products—keywords that you must also use if you want your ads to succeed.

11. AdFlex – best for competitor analysis

AdFlex covers more than 15 advertising networks in over 80 countries. With AdFlex, you can view more than 15 million ads and get ideas on how to create ads that will increase your conversion rate. As far as platforms go, you can use AdFlex to search for ads on Facebook, TikTok, and Google.  

AdFlex Features

• Search – you can search for ads to find specific stats that will help you build a better marketing strategy. For example, you can spy on the online activities of your competitors, how they target their audiences, and what their landing pages look like.  
• Analysis – you can choose to analyze ads from Facebook, TikTok, or Google. The analysis tool makes it easy for you to narrow your search to specific ad campaigns, ads per country, ads per niche, interest, or even demographics.
• Ad Content – once you choose an ad, you can investigate what makes this ad work well. You can view the ad’s stats, engagement rate, impressions, placement, and targeted audiences. These stats will allow you to assess the strength and audience of an ad type or content, giving you leverage to create better marketing campaigns. 

AdFlex Pros

• They offer a free trial account for 30 days
• You can filter your ad search in many ways like via domain, fan page, and even funnel types
• They offer an onboarding session to enterprise users 

AdFlex Cons

• You must pay at least $99 to enjoy all the features 

AdFlex is a tool I recommend if you want to search for ads that come from specific companies. It is useful if you want to create ads similar to what your competitors launched. With this tool, you will not make ads that fail—you will know exactly what kind of ads work best for your audiences based on the failures and successes of your competitors. 

12. AdMobiSpy Tools – best spy for mobile and Google ads

AdMobiSpy is an ad spy tool that covers 14 networks. It is best used y dropshippers who want to advertise on unconventional platforms. Some of the ad networks they cover are StartApp, Google AdWords, PopMyAds, AirPush, and MoPub.

AdMobiSpy Features

• Search Filters – you can search ads based on several filters. Overall, AdMobiSpy offers 15 different ways to filter the ads you are searching for. You can search by geography, region, country, ad formats, etc. 
• Ad Monitoring – you can monitor ads from 52 countries. This feature allows you to search for five ad formats, find affiliate networks, and view more than 2,000 new ads daily. You can also monitor ads based on their types, such as banners, text, and native ads.   
• MyTarget Ads – this feature allows you to build ads on social media channels and in 11 countries. The tool will provide you guidance on where to launch your campaign and if there are affiliate networks and channels you can use to advertise.

AdMobiSpy Pros

• You can create ads and launch them 
• The platform covers over 50 countries
• You can access landing pages of ads

AdMobiSpy Cons

• Too costly; each top feature has a different cost

AdMobiSpy does not charge a single subscription fee. instead, you will pay a monthly fee based on the specific type of service you are looking for. For example, the cost of building a pop-up ad and spying on them is $149 per month. On the other hand, building ads on popular networks costs $299 monthly.

What is an Ad Spy Tool?

An ad spy tool is a software program that allows you to search ads that are currently active on an ad network. The tool allows you to filter your research, so you only see ads related to your interest. 

You use an ad spy tool to see:    

• What ads are getting the most likes, follows, comments, and shares
• The kind of ads that are currently viral
• What makes the ads go viral and what content do these ads have
• Where the ad is available for viewing

Since an ad spy tool gives you access to ads that you would not have access to otherwise, you will also get ideas on how other marketers and dropshippers promote their brands and products.

With an ad spy tool, you will begin to understand what products are currently trending. Since you have visibility on these ads, you can also view them in the same way a target consumer does.

From here, you can read through people’s comments, see the ad copy, and get ideas on how to create your ad images and videos. Since you know that these ads work, you now have guidance on how to promote your brand the same way that successful marketers do.    

An ad spy tool is not the only thing you need in your dropshipping business. There are other alternatives you can use, such as Dropship.IO. If you need more information about ad spy tool alternatives, I suggest you read our blog about it: 9 Best Alternatives to Ad Spy For Dropshipping.  

How to Choose an Ad Spy Tool

Now that we have covered the best alternatives to PowerAdSpy, let us discuss the four factors you must consider in choosing an ad spy tool. 

These factors are:  

• Ad Network Coverage
• Pricing and Data Coverage
• Store and/or Supplier Access
• Features Ease of Use and Other Features

Let us take a look at each one. 

1. Ad Network Coverage

Not all ad spy tools cover the same social media channels or ad networks. Some only cover a few, while others cover multiple.

This is not to say that you must choose an ad spy tool that has the most ad network coverage. What you need to think about is this: what social media channels or ad networks do you want to market to?

It is alright to get the services of an ad spy tool that covers only one network, provided that your target consumers are in that network, or that they use the social media channel.  

2. Pricing and Data Coverage

Some ad spy tools are free, but many of them charge a monthly subscription fee. For example, PowerAdSpy has many subscription options that cost anywhere between Free and $399 monthly. 

Choose an ad spy tool that delivers what you need at a price that will not break the bank. In addition, make sure that you are paying for the data that you need, not data that they (the ad spy creators) think you need. 

For example, make it a prerequisite that the ad spy tool must have: 

• Ad likes, shares, and comments
• Link to the actual ad so you can view it as a consumer
• Link to the advertiser’s website

These three are non-negotiable. Do not pay for an ad spy tool that does not, at the very least, offer these three stats.   

3. Store and/or Supplier Access

Choose an ad spy tool where you can access the store of the advertiser or the supplier of the product. It is going to significantly reduce your work. 

For example, Dropship.IO’s Ad Spot gives you a link to the Facebook ad and the link to the advertiser’s store. You no longer have to do separate research in a different tool.

If you can access the store, you can see:

• Your competitor’s website design
• Your competitor’s marketing pricing and marketing strategies

In addition to this, Dropship.IO also allows you to track the store, provided that the seller built the store on the Shopify platform. Apart from viewing ads, our tool also makes it possible to spy on stores and see what apps they use, how much they make, and what products they sell.  

4. Ease of Use and Other Features

The last factor you must consider is ease of use. In addition, take a closer look at the features that the ad spy tool has to offer. 

Here are some examples of features you must look for: 

• Keyword option for the ad research 
• Search by advertiser or brand name
• Sorting of data or filtering by number of likes, comments, shares
• Filter option to choose video or image ads only, or both 
• Audience demographics

The more features you get, the easier it will be for you to look for ads that matter to your business. For example, it does make sense to use an ad spy tool where you cannot even search specific ads for clothing only.

Overall, I recommend that you choose an ad spy tool that does two things: shows you the business data that you need and makes your work easier, not harder. 

FAQ: PowerAdSpy Alternative

Is PowerAdSpy worth it?

Yes, PowerAdSpy is worth it, provided that your main goal is to find ads in different ad networks. However, it cannot tell you where to find a supplier for a product, or how a specific product performs in terms of sales.

Is PowerAdSpy free?

PowerAdSpy offers a free account, but you have limitations when it comes to the number of searches you can do. 

How does PowerAdSpy work?

PowerAdSpy aggregates ads from ad networks and social media platforms. You can use the tool to see which types of products are getting attention on a particular market or social media platform.   

Summary

The next thing that I recommend you do is sign up for a 7-day free trial account with Dropship.IO. you will have access to all the tools, especially the Ad Spot tool where you can find winning ads on Facebook.

Once you do your research, save the ad links in a file, like Excel, or use our tool to track the store that launched the ad. In addition, you can explore further by spying on these stores from the Dropship.IO platform.