AdSpy vs. BigSpy vs. Foreplay: A 2024 Comparison

Are you looking for a powerful tool to improve your ad creative? You're likely considering AdSpy, BigSpy, and Foreplay, three popular platforms for spying on competitor ads and uncovering winning campaign ideas.

But which delivers the best features, usability, and creative inspiration to streamline your workflow?

Today, we'll examine the key capabilities you need to discover top-performing ads, gain strategic insights, and craft killer campaigns. From AI-powered search and analysis to robust ad libraries and seamless brief-building, we'll see how AdSpy, BigSpy, and Foreplay stack up.

By the end, you'll have a clear picture of which platform provides the most comprehensive and user-friendly solution for supercharging your ad creative process - so you can focus on launching campaigns that crush the competition.

Continue reading our AdSpy vs. BigSpy. vs. Foreplay comparison to see which platform is best for spying on competitor ads. Let’s start by doing a quick overview of all three major competitors. 

AdSpy vs. BigSpy vs. Foreplay at a glance

Let’s start by taking a comprehensive look at Foreplay, one of the best ad spy platforms on the planet. 

Foreplay overview

Foreplay is a comprehensive platform designed to streamline the ad creative process for performance marketers, creative strategists, and agencies.

It offers a centralized hub for spying on competitor ads, organizing inspiration, and collaborating on briefs and storyboards.

With Foreplay, you can supercharge your creative workflow and focus on launching high-impact campaigns, particularly by using the Spyder Ad Spy tool to see what your competitors are doing.

The Spyder Ad Spy tool offers several compelling features, such as real-time competitor tracking and performance insights, that make it a valuable asset for marketers looking to analyze and optimize their advertising strategies. 

Core features

Here’s an expanded look at the top three features that Spyder brings to the table:

1. Real-time competitor tracking

One of Spyder’s standout features is real-time competitor tracking, which provides users an immediate view of their competitors' Facebook and Instagram ads. 

This functionality comprehensively analyzes how different content styles and formats compete within the ad landscape. 

By understanding ongoing trends and strategies, users can visualize the lifespan of ads, gaining deeper insights into competitor tactics over time. Furthermore, Spyder also excels at providing in-depth performance insights. 

2. Performance insights

Another key feature of Foreplay’s Spyder tool is performance insights, which uncovers data on which offers, ad copy, and landing pages receive the most ad spend and creative distribution. 

This aspect is vital for marketers who want to understand what elements drive success in their competitors' campaigns. Users can make informed decisions about their advertising strategies by analyzing which ads are performing well and their associated spending. 

Additionally, this feature allows marketers to spot emerging trends and successful ad elements, empowering them to adapt their campaigns accordingly. Even better, Spyder also allows for the automatic extraction of top-performing hooks. 

3. Automatic extraction of top-performing hooks

Lastly, Foreplay’s Spyder excels at automatically extracting top-performing hooks from competitor ads. This feature focuses on an ad's critical first few seconds, which is essential for audience attention. 

Users can browse various hooks and quickly identify effective messaging strategies, making it particularly useful for crafting compelling ad copy that resonates with audiences. 

Moreover, the tool provides a massive database of successful hooks, inspiring users to create unique ad content while avoiding the pitfalls of directly copying competitors. 

With all of these features that allow you to spy on your competitors with such accuracy, you would think Foreplay would be very expensive. However, this is not the case, as the pricing is quite reasonable. 

Foreplay pricing

Foreplay offers a flexible pricing structure suitable for small and large organizations. It features three plans: Inspiration, Full Workflow, and Enterprise.

Let’s take a look at what each of them entails: 

Inspiration

At $49 per month, this plan is perfect for users looking to discover, save, and share advertisements from platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn. It includes access to the Discovery tool, Swipe File, and limited features of AI Briefs.

Full Workflow

Available for $99 per month, this plan caters to teams aiming to transition from inspiration to successful advertisements. It provides unlimited access to AI tools and encompasses all the features of the Inspiration Plan, along with advanced AI script writing, storyboarding, custom templates, and more.

Enterprise

The Enterprise Plan offers custom pricing and includes all features of the Full Workflow Plan. Additionally, it provides dedicated support and custom integrations tailored to specific needs and allows unlimited user access. This plan suits those looking for a comprehensive tool to optimize Facebook ads.

Start enhancing your creative process today with your free trial.

Positives of Foreplay

Foreplay offers advanced tools that empower marketers to gain a competitive edge, streamline workflows, and boost creativity. From cutting-edge ad spying technology to AI-powered tools, Foreplay enhances every stage of the advertising process.

Here are the biggest benefits of using Foreplay to spy on competitors:

Cutting-edge ad spying tech

Foreplay’s cutting-edge Spyder Ad Spy technology equips users with powerful tools to stay ahead of the competition. With the 24/7 Ad Library Scraper, you can effortlessly capture every advertisement launched by your competitors, complete with enriched metadata. 

This continuous access ensures you never miss a beat in the fast-paced advertising landscape, allowing you to analyze and adapt to emerging trends effectively. 

Additionally, the automated competitor reporting feature delivers concise summaries of your competitors' advertising activities directly to your inbox or your client’s, keeping you informed and enabling data-driven decision-making.

Moreover, Foreplay helps you unlock the secrets to successful advertising by discovering winning hooks. The Spyder tool automatically transcribes, analyzes, and presents effective ad hooks, providing you with tested ideas to incorporate into your campaigns. 

By taking advantage of these insights, you can optimize your ad content to resonate more effectively with your target audience, ensuring your advertising efforts are innovative and impactful. 

Aside from spying on your competitors, Foreplay allows you to do much more to benefit your ad campaigns, such as providing a comprehensive ad library. 

Comprehensive ad library

Foreplay provides users access to an extensive and meticulously curated collection of over ten million advertisements from various platforms, including Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn. 

This vast library is a valuable resource for marketers and creatives, providing endless inspiration for new campaigns.

By exploring diverse ad formats and strategies, users can gain insights into what resonates with audiences, helping them to craft compelling advertisements. 

Users can then also take advantage of Foreplay’s advanced AI tools. 

Ai-powered tools

Foreplay’s numerous AI-driven tools assist users at every stage, from initial ideation to detailed storyboarding, with the AI Briefs being extremely useful for getting the ball rolling. 

By automating repetitive tasks and providing intelligent suggestions, these tools empower teams to focus on creativity and strategy, ultimately leading to more innovative and impactful advertisements. This, in combination with its advanced collaboration options, makes Foreplay a top competitor in this space. 

Seamless collaboration

Foreplay’s intuitive sharing capabilities make collaboration easy. Users can effortlessly share ad examples, briefs, and feedback with team members or clients, fostering a more collaborative environment. 

This feature ensures that everyone involved in the creative process stays aligned and informed, streamlining communication and enhancing productivity. Whether you’re working with remote teams or in-house collaborators, Foreplay facilitates a smooth workflow that keeps projects moving forward.

Easily organize ads

The Swipe File feature of Foreplay is a game-changer for marketers looking to enhance their creative strategies. This tool allows users to effortlessly save, organize, and share ad inspiration from platforms like Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, and more. 

With the Foreplay Chrome Extension, ads can be saved with a single click, making it easy to build a comprehensive library of creative content. By capturing a wide range of ad formats, such as images, videos, carousels, and dynamic creative optimization (DCO) ads, marketers can stay ahead of trends and gain deeper insights into what works best in different industries and formats.

Foreplay’s Swipe File also enables users to enrich their ad research by saving ads with full metadata and copy, offering valuable context for analyzing competitor strategies. 

The feature’s organizational tools, such as custom tags and advanced filters, make managing and retrieving content straightforward, enhancing workflow efficiency. Additionally, users can easily share swipe files with team members or clients through simple links.

What could be better?

One drawback some users have pointed out about Foreplay is its limited integrations, which we discuss below.

Limited integration with more platforms

While Foreplay is undeniably the leading ad workflow tool, it does have some limitations, particularly regarding its integration with various platforms. 

Currently, Foreplay supports Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn, but expanding its integration to include additional platforms like Google Ads and Twitter could enhance its capabilities for ad inspiration and analysis. 

With that being said, the other tools on the list we are reviewing today are no better on this front and quite the opposite. With that in mind, let’s move on and take a closer look at AdSpy. 

AdSpy overview

AdSpy is a Facebook ad spy tool allowing users to search and analyze successful ads in their niche. 

With AdSpy, marketers and advertisers can gain valuable insights into their competitors' strategies and find inspiration for their ad campaigns.

AdSpy has three main features that make it worth considering: ad search, ad analytics, and ad alerts. Each feature can be useful for marketers and creatives in their specific ways. 

Let’s move on and take a closer look at AdSpy's three main features. 

Core features

AdSpy has several useful features, including searching for ads, analyzing them, and providing ad alerts. We want to look at them all right now, starting with ad search. 

1. Ad search

AdSpy provides a comprehensive search functionality that enables users to find relevant Facebook ads based on various criteria, such as keywords, advertiser name, and ad format.

Users can filter their search results by country, language, ad position, and more to narrow down the most relevant ads for their needs.

The platform also offers advanced search options, such as excluding certain keywords or advertisers and searching for ads within a specific date range. In addition to finding Facebook advertisements, AdSpy can also analyze them. 

2. Ad analytics

AdSpy users benefit from in-depth analytics for each ad, including engagement metrics, ad spend, and audience demographics, enabling them to make informed decisions. 

Additionally, the platform provides access to the landing pages associated with each ad, allowing users to study the complete customer journey and identify effective post-click strategies. 

AdSpy offers valuable advertising data on trending ads and advertisers to keep users ahead of the curve, ensuring they stay updated on the latest strategies within their niche. 

Furthermore, the competitor tracking feature empowers users to monitor their rivals' ads and performance over time, providing critical insights that can inform their advertising efforts.

3. Ad alerts

With AdSpy, you can set up alerts for specific keywords, advertisers, or ad formats, ensuring you receive real-time notifications whenever new ads matching your criteria are detected. 

This feature informs you about your competitors' latest strategies, allowing you to adapt your advertising marketing campaigns accordingly. 

By staying on top of emerging trends and never missing an opportunity to learn from successful ads in your niche, you can enhance your advertising efforts and maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Let’s now see what AdSpy is going to cost you. 

AdSpy pricing

AdSpy offers a straightforward pricing structure. Its monthly plan, priced at $149, provides users with access to 100,000 views per month. This plan is designed to cater to businesses of all sizes, giving them virtually unlimited usage of AdSpy's features and ad database. 

With pricing covered, let’s find out what makes AdSpy a beneficial tool for marketers and creatives. 

Positives of AdSpy

From an extensive ad library to detailed analytics, AdSpy simplifies competitive analysis and strategy development.

Here are the biggest benefits of using AdSpy to spy on competitors:

Extensive ad library

AdSpy offers a vast database of Facebook ads across various industries and niches, giving users access to various creative examples and strategies. This expansive library serves as an invaluable resource for inspiration and benchmarking.

Detailed ad analytics

The platform provides comprehensive insights into ad performance and audience engagement, allowing users to analyze what works best and make data-driven decisions. These detailed metrics help in optimizing ad campaigns for better results.

Competitor tracking

Users can easily monitor their competitors' ad strategies and stay ahead by understanding their tactics. With AdSpy's tracking features, you can uncover competitor weaknesses and capitalize on emerging trends.

Intuitive interface

AdSpy's user-friendly interface makes searching, filtering, and analyzing ads easy, ensuring a smooth and efficient user experience. Even beginners can quickly learn to navigate the platform and gain valuable insights.

What could be better?

Although AdSpy has many benefits, it also has many drawbacks that need to be addressed, including being limited to Facebook and a distinct lack of AI-powered tools. 

Limited ad platforms

AdSpy only focuses on Facebook ads, excluding other popular platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

No ad saving or organizing features

Users cannot save or organize ads within the platform for future reference or collaboration.

Lack of AI-powered tools

AdSpy does not offer AI-assisted features for ad creation or analysis, which could streamline the process for users.

Now that we’ve reviewed two of the top three competitors, let’s move on to the final one, BigSpy. 

BigSpy overview

BigSpy is an ad spy tool that enables marketers and advertisers to research and analyze successful ads across various platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more. 

BigSpy helps users uncover winning ad ideas and optimize their advertising campaigns by providing insights into competitor strategies and top-performing ad creatives.

It contains several core features that allow users to gain insights into their competitors' advertisements, which we will discuss below. 

BigSpy core features

BigSpy has three core features worth examining: ad search and analysis, landing page inspections, and ad alerts. 

Let’s start by looking at the ad search feature. 

1. Ad search and analysis

BigSpy offers a comprehensive ad search functionality, allowing users to find relevant ads based on keywords, advertisers, and other criteria. The platform covers multiple advertising channels, providing a comprehensive view of the competitive landscape.

Users can filter ads by platform, country, language, ad format, and more to narrow down the most relevant ads for their needs. BigSpy also provides detailed ad analytics, including engagement metrics, ad spend estimates, and audience demographics.

2. Landing page inspector

BigSpy's landing page inspection feature allows users to access and analyze landing pages associated with ads, providing a deeper understanding of competitors' post-click strategies. 

By viewing screenshots and inspecting HTML code, marketers can gain insights into page design and structure and learn which elements are most effective. The tool offers mobile and desktop views of landing pages, enabling users to optimize their pages for different devices. 

Additionally, BigSpy stores historical data, allowing users to track changes and iterations over time to understand how competitors refine their approaches in response to market trends and customer behavior.

3. Ad alerts

With BigSpy, you can set up custom alerts for specific keywords, advertisers, or ad formats, ensuring you receive real-time notifications whenever new ads matching your criteria are detected. 

This feature lets you stay informed about your competitors' latest strategies, enabling you to adapt your campaigns accordingly. 

Also, you can easily organize and manage your alerts through a user-friendly dashboard, streamlining your workflow and enhancing your ability to respond quickly to emerging trends in the advertising landscape.

Now that we know BigSpy’s core features, let’s see how much they charge for their services. 

BigSpy pricing

BigSpy offers four pricing plans, starting with an affordable basic plan and ending with a high-end VIP Enterprise plan.

Let’s start by looking at the basic plan:

Basic

The basic plan, priced at $9 per month, includes one seat, supports Facebook and Instagram, and allows for three industry switches per month. Users can submit up to 20 queries daily, track 25 ads, and download 25 items each day.

Pro

At $99 per month, the Pro plan offers one seat and three industry switches per month and supports multiple platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Yahoo. It includes unlimited queries, tracking up to 250 ads daily, downloading 250 items daily, tracking 20 Facebook pages, and access to limited features, such as ad ideas and landing page insights.

Group

For $249 per month, the Group plan provides five seats (one owner and four members) and supports the same platforms as the Pro plan. It includes unlimited queries, tracking 250 ads per seat daily, downloading 250 items per seat daily, tracking 20 Facebook pages, and limited access to featured ads, ad ideas, and landing page insights.

VIP Enterprise

Starting at $2,000 per year, this premium plan offers unlimited seats and supports a wide range of platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Yahoo, AdMob, YouTube, TikTok, and Unity. It includes unlimited queries, unlimited ad tracking and downloads, monitoring up to 100 Facebook pages, access to all ad features and insights, top charts, new trending content, multi-account seats, and special team support.

Seeing as you might spend a good deal of money on BigSpy, let’s find out why you might want to choose it.

Positives of BigSpy

BigSpy has several benefits worth mentioning, such as extensive ad coverage and detailed landing page analysis.

Here’s why BigSpy makes for a viable option: 

Extensive ad coverage

BigSpy offers ad data from multiple platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more, providing a comprehensive view of the advertising landscape.

Detailed ad analytics

The platform provides in-depth insights into ad performance, audience demographics, and ad spend estimates, helping users make data-driven decisions.

Landing page analysis

BigSpy's Landing Page Inspector allows users to study competitors' post-click strategies and optimize their landing pages accordingly.

Real-time ad alerts

Users can set up custom alerts to stay informed about their competitors' latest ad strategies and adapt their campaigns quickly.

What could be better?

Although BigSpy has its advantages, it unfortunately also has a few drawbacks that we must address. 

Limited ad saving and organization features

While BigSpy allows users to save ads for future reference, its current ad-saving and organization features are somewhat basic. The platform could benefit from more advanced tools to categorize and tag saved ads, making it easier for users to organize and retrieve specific ads based on campaigns, industries, or creative elements.

Lack of AI-powered ad creation tools

Unlike some of its competitors, BigSpy does not offer AI-assisted tools for creating or optimizing ads. Such features could help users generate new ad concepts, enhance existing creatives, and make data-driven adjustments to improve campaign performance.

With the top three competitors in the industry covered, let’s compare them side by side based on several factors. 

AdSpy vs. BigSpy vs. Foreplay: Ad library size

Having access to as many of your competitors' ads as possible is crucial when you want to spy on them. 

First, AdSpy provides access to a database of over 50 million Facebook ads across various industries and niches. This extensive library allows users to find relevant ads for their research and inspiration needs.

BigSpy offers an ad library of over 20 million ads from multiple platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. While smaller than AdSpy's library, BigSpy covers a wider range of advertising channels.

Foreplay boasts a curated library of over 10 million ads from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Although the library is smaller than AdSpy and BigSpy, Foreplay focuses on providing high-quality, community-curated ads that real users have saved. 

While the other two competitors may feature more ads to examine, those from Foreplay are higher in quality and specially curated. Moreover, another area where Foreplay excels is AI-powered search. 

AdSpy vs. BigSpy vs. Foreplay: AI-powered search

It is a game changer to be able to use artificial intelligence to spy on competitors and create ad campaigns, but not all of the services reviewed today contain AI features. 

AdSpy's search functionality allows users to find relevant Facebook ads based on keywords, advertiser names, and ad formats. However, it does not offer AI-powered search capabilities.

BigSpy provides a comprehensive ad search feature that enables users to find ads based on keywords, advertisers, and other criteria. While it offers advanced search options, BigSpy does not utilize AI for its search functionality.

Foreplay stands out by offering an AI-powered search engine that allows users to search by ad content and visuals. This enables them to conduct in-depth research and find highly relevant ads quickly and efficiently.

Another aspect worth considering is landing page insights, another aspect where Foreplay appears to excel. 

AdSpy vs. BigSpy vs. Foreplay: Landing page insights

The landing page is the first thing visitors see on any website, making it an ideal starting point for analysis. So, which of our three products is best on this front? 

AdSpy does not provide landing page screenshots or analysis, limiting users' ability to study the full customer journey and post-click strategies.

BigSpy's landing page inspection feature allows users to access and analyze the landing pages associated with each ad, providing screenshots and code inspection for both mobile and desktop views.

Foreplay automatically saves landing page screenshots for desktop and mobile views, allowing users to gain insights into the post-click experience and understand what landing pages receive the most ad spend and creative distribution.

The fourth and final aspect we want to examine is how many platforms each product covers. 

AdSpy vs. BigSpy vs. Foreplay: Multi-platform ad coverage

The more platforms a service covers, the more comprehensive your ad campaign can be. So, who is the best in terms of multi-platform coverage? 

AdSpy focuses solely on Facebook ads, excluding other popular platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn, which may limit users' ability to view the advertising landscape comprehensively.

BigSpy offers ad data from multiple platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, providing users with a broader perspective on the competitive landscape. Nine platforms are covered in total.

Foreplay provides ad inspiration and data from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn, enabling users to analyze and compare ad creative across the most popular social media channels.

AdSpy vs. BigSpy vs. Foreplay: Which should you choose?

Here's a scoring table that compares the key features of each platform on a 5-point scale to help you make an informed decision.

Get started with Foreplay

Foreplay excels in providing AI-powered search and detailed landing page insights, making it easier for you to find and analyze top-performing ads. Its multi-platform ad coverage allows you to draw inspiration from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn, giving you a comprehensive view of the competitive landscape.

The platform's focus on high-quality, community-curated ads ensures that you have access to the best creative examples. Additionally, Foreplay's user-friendly interface and advanced collaboration features streamline your ad creation process. Let’s not forget that the Spyder Ad Spy tool is one of the most comprehensive competitor insight tools on the market, 

By choosing Foreplay, you gain a powerful tool to enhance your ad creative workflow and stay ahead of the competition.

Start optimizing your creative process today with Foreplay!

Frequently asked questions

Which platform is best for comprehensive competitor tracking?

Foreplay excels in comprehensive competitor tracking with its Spyder Ad Spy tool. It offers real-time tracking, performance insights, and the ability to automatically extract top-performing ad hooks, making it the best choice for detailed competitor analysis.

Can AdSpy be used for ads on platforms other than Facebook?

No, AdSpy focuses solely on Facebook ads. While it provides a vast library and detailed analytics for Facebook, it lacks support for other popular platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

How does Foreplay's AI-powered search differ from other tools?

Foreplay's AI-powered search allows users to search by ad content and visuals, providing more precise and relevant results. This feature helps users quickly find top-performing ads based on specific creative elements, which is not available in AdSpy or BigSpy.