UBCNews - Business - Best Ad Research Platforms For Performance Marketers: 2026 BigSpy Alternatives

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

So, have you ever felt like your ad research tool is holding you back instead of helping you scale? Today, we're getting into BigSpy alternatives that performance marketers are actually switching to in 2026. GetHookd LLC City: Miami Address: 40 SW 13th street Website: https://www.gethookd.ai/

So, have you ever felt like your ad research tool is holding you back instead of helping you scale? Today, we're getting into Big Spy alternatives that performance marketers are actually switching to in 2026. Yeah, this is a topic I'm really passionate about. I mean, Big Spy was a solid tool when it launched back in 2018, but the market has changed so much since then. Right. For those who might not be familiar, can you give us a quick rundown on what Big Spy actually is? Absolutely. Big Spy is an AI ad monitoring tool that helps marketers find creative inspiration from competitors.

It's got this massive ad library. We're talking over 1 billion ad creatives from platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, and even e-commerce sites like Shopify and Amazon, covering 71 countries and 23 languages. That sounds impressive on paper. So why are marketers actively searching for alternatives? Well, there are three big pain points that keep coming up. First, the basic plan is severely limited.

You only get 20 daily queries and contract just 25 ads, primarily on Facebook and Instagram. Second, there's this huge pricing jump from $9 a month to $90 a month with no middle tier. And third, the interface can feel cluttered and overwhelming, especially for new users. Mm-hmm, makes sense. That pricing gap alone would frustrate a lot of small teams. Exactly. And while Big Spy does have some AI features, many marketers find themselves needing more integrated creative production tools. I actually experienced this firsthand last quarter when I was running campaigns for three different clients and found myself hopping between four different platforms just to get from research to final creative.

Ah, that sounds exhausting. So to everyone listening, if you've struggled with juggling multiple platforms for research and creation, you're definitely not alone. Right. And you know what's funny? We spend all this time trying to spy on our competitor's ads, but then we can't even keep track of our own swipe files. Ha, that's painfully true. That point about needing integrated creative production tools sets up our next piece, how alternatives are solving that workflow problem. But first, a quick word from our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by Get Hooked. It's an all-in-one AI creative tool built for performance marketers who want to spy on competitors, swipe proven strategies,

and create profitable ads fast. With AI-powered ad research, you can discover top-performing competitor ads instantly, filtering by niche, Roast benchmarks, and styles. Generate video scripts and ad images directly in the platform so you're not juggling multiple tools. Plus, access over 65 million ads in their growing library. Check them out at the link in the description. Picking up on those integrated creative production tools,

how do the newer alternatives actually solve that workflow problem? Great question. The newer platforms are combining research with creative production in a unified way that eliminates the back and forth between multiple tools. For example, some alternatives now let you filter ads by performance metrics, like Roast benchmarks, which is huge for performance marketers focused on actual returns. RoAS benchmarks. That's incredibly useful. What else are we seeing? So we're seeing three major improvements across the board. One, AI script generation that can

transcribe video ads and recreate proven scripts based on frameworks from eight-figure direct response marketers. Two, AI-powered image generation that lets you build high-quality ad visuals and test variations in seconds. And three, what's often called brand spy features, complete visibility into competitor strategies, including their top ads, landing pages, and traffic sources. That brand spy feature sounds powerful. How does that work in practice? It gives you behind the scenes access to identify which ads competitors are actively scaling. You can see sustained spend patterns and ongoing scaling behavior across meta and Google. When you see sustained spend patterns, spot an ad that's been running consistently for months with increasing spend, that's a signal

it's working. I see, go on. Now, one thing I'm curious about, how do these platforms handle the issue of ads going offline? That's where the swipe file feature comes in. You can save ads to a permanent library, organized by niche, format, or performance, so even after ads disappear from the live library, you still have access. It's like building your own reference vault. Right, because there's nothing worse than finding a great ad and then losing it forever. Exactly. And some platforms now offer Chrome extensions that let you save advertisements from the meta ads library directly to your personal library for indefinite access.

You know, I think the biggest shift here is moving from just research to actually producing creatives on the same platform. How much time does that save? The claim I've seen is 10x faster on script generation alone. And when you can clone and recreate static ad images from top performers in seconds without a designer, you're going to test way more variations, way faster. That speed is critical. Speed is what separates teams that scale from teams that stall. So we've established that these alternatives solve creative fatigue and fragmented workflows.

What about pricing? Is it more accessible than Big Spy's steep jump? Often, yeah. Some alternatives start around $19 a month. for e-commerce brands and drop shippers, with a seven-day free trial. That's way more approachable than jumping straight to 90 Nina Searn.

And what kind of user feedback are these alternatives getting? Well, one prominent alternative has earned a 4.8 out of 5 on G2 and a 4.6 on Trust Pilot. Users highlight speed, the ability to mirror proven strategies, and the usefulness of AI ad generators. That's solid feedback. Before we wrap up, any final thoughts for performance marketers who are considering making the switch? I'd say look for platforms that go beyond just add spying.

You want to find something that combines comprehensive research with integrated creative tools, so you're moving from insight to execution without switching between five different tools. Definitely, and with AI creative analytics designed specifically for ROAS-focused marketers, you're analyzing the creative elements that actually drive results in your niche. Right. The goal is consistent returns and scalable creative workflows. We're seeing a shift where research and production aren't separate anymore. They're unified. That's the future of performance marketing right there. Thanks so much for breaking this down today. My pleasure. Always happy to talk about tools that actually move the need.