What Is Ad Spy? How Ad Spy Tools Work, With an Example

Ad spy is competitor ad research. You pick a brand or a topic, look up the ads being shown for it, and read them closely: what they offer, which pain they lead with, which format they use and how long each ad has been running.

The word "spy" makes it sound secret, but it is not. Ad spy works only with ads that are already public. Ad platforms show these ads to the public, and some platforms publish searchable records of them. An ad spy tool just puts that public information in one place and makes it faster to search, filter and save.

The goal is not to copy. It is to answer practical questions before you spend money: what are others in my market promising, which angles do they keep using, and where is the gap my ad can fill?

An ad spy tool is software that searches running ads for you. Most work the same way:

• You type a competitor's brand, website or a keyword.
• You choose the ad platforms to search.
• The tool returns ads as tiles you can open to read the copy, see the picture or video, and check how long the ad has run.
• You save the ads worth keeping into a folder or board.

Tools differ in which platforms they cover, how many ads they keep, and what you can do next. Some are research libraries only. QuickAds, for example, lists a free Discover plan to "Search 32M+ winning ads for inspiration", with paid creation plans from $199 a month. GoMarble says it can "Scan competitor ads and surface the creative gaps worth testing next". Check each vendor's pricing page before you choose, since plans change.

You can do basic ad spy without a paid tool, because some ad platforms publish public records of their ads.

Google's Ads Transparency Center is the clearest example. Google describes it as a searchable repository of advertisers and the ads they have served on Google platforms like Search, Display, Gmail and YouTube. You search by advertiser or website name, then filter by details like date and targeted location. You can also report ads you believe break Google's policies.

The trade-off with official sources is time: each covers one ad network, so checking several platforms means several sites, each with its own filters. Ad spy tools fill that gap by searching several platforms at once and letting you save and reuse what you find.

Opening ads is easy. Learning from them takes a checklist. For each ad, note:

1. The offer: a discount, a free trial, a bundle, free shipping or no offer at all.
2. The hook: the first line of copy or the first second of video. This is what stops the scroll.
3. The pain or desire it names: saving time, saving money, looking better, avoiding a risk.
4. The proof: reviews, numbers, logos, before and after, a founder speaking.
5. The format: single image, carousel or video, and the aspect ratio.
6. The run time: an ad that has been running for a long time is usually one the advertiser keeps paying for, which hints that it works for them. A brand new ad tells you what they are testing now.

After 10 to 20 ads, patterns show up. Write down the 3 angles everyone uses and 1 angle nobody uses. Your first test can take the common angle with a better offer, and your second can try the empty angle.

Say you run a small online skincare brand and plan your first Meta campaign for a new sunscreen.

1. You search the 3 biggest sunscreen brands you compete with, plus the keyword "sunscreen for oily skin".
2. You open about 20 ads and fill in the checklist above.
3. You notice most ads lead with "no white cast", most use short videos of a person applying the product, and almost none mention price.
4. You also see one competitor ad that has run for months: a carousel comparing textures side by side.
5. You save the carousel and 4 strong hooks to a folder named "Sunscreen launch".

Your plan: one carousel that compares textures in your own brand style, and one short video that leads with your price, the angle nobody else is using. You did not copy anyone's ad. You used theirs to decide which 2 ideas were worth testing first.

Infinall AI has a built-in Ad Spy. It shows the ads a competitor is running on Meta, Google and LinkedIn. You search by brand (a website) or by keyword, and the ads appear as a grid of tiles. TikTok and X are coming soon and cannot be searched yet.

• Cost: free, no credits, on both Free and Pro. A search that finds no ads also costs nothing. If a search is ever priced, the app shows the price and asks you to confirm first.
• Limits: no daily limit on the number of searches. Up to 3 searches can run at once. The search box takes up to 200 characters, and each platform returns 40 to 200 results. A stored search less than 24 hours old opens at once. Your last 20 searches are listed in Recent searches.
• Reading results: open a tile to read the ad copy, see every slide of a carousel and see how long the ad has been running. The grid loads 24 tiles at a time as you scroll.
• Saving: save any ad to a folder in Library, then find it under Library > Saved.
• Using an ad: with a connected ad account, an opened ad shows Save to creative library and Recreate and boost. Both start from the competitor's copy and picture, and you edit it so it is yours. A campaign you run spends money on the ad platform, and Infinall also uses 2 credits a month while an ad is live.

Starting a search needs a workspace role that can spend, so Viewers and Commenters cannot start one. The Free plan is 1,000 credits every month with no card. Pro is $10 for the first month, then $30 a month or $299 a year (in India, Rs 999 for the first month, then Rs 2,899 a month or Rs 33,999 a year).

Some searches mix up ad spy with spyware. They are different things. Commercial spyware is software sold to secretly monitor a person's phone or computer. Ad spy tools do nothing of the kind: they do not touch anyone's device and do not read private data. They only show ads that advertisers chose to make public.

Two fair-use habits keep ad research clean. First, treat competitor ads as research, not as assets: write your own copy, use your own photos and your own brand. Second, read the terms of each site or tool you search before you reuse anything from it.