Free ad spy tools in 2026: what you get without paying

The free alternatives to paid Facebook ad spy tools for a small ecommerce store are the Meta Ad Library, AdLibrarySpy (every feature free), the free plans of BigSpy, Dropispy, Spytrend and Atria, and short no-card trials from PrimeSpy and Swipekit. This page lists 17 tools that give you something for nothing, says exactly what the free tier includes and where it stops, and ends with a free research routine for a small store: the Meta Ad Library, a free swipe file and a spreadsheet. Free tiers research ads well enough to brief a creative; they rarely track many competitors, keep ads after they stop or give your AI assistant real volume. We make AdSwipeFile, so it is listed first; every other tool's facts come from its own site, checked on 6 November 2026, with sources at the end.

How we compared them

• What is free: a permanent free plan, free access, or a no-card trial, as the vendor's own page states it.
• Where it stops: the cap, the locked feature or the date it ends.
• Networks: Meta only, or TikTok and Google too.
• AI access: whether the free tier includes an MCP server for Claude or ChatGPT.
• Fit for a small store: ads to learn from, not products to resell.

How we chose and checked. We read the free row of every tool in our comparison data and kept the ones where the vendor's own site offers something free: a plan with no end date, free access, or a trial with no card. Tools whose trial needs a card, such as Foreplay, Gethookd, Adspo, Hooksy and Motion, are listed under "Trials we left out" rather than here, because a card trial is a paid plan on a delay. Everything was read from the vendors' pricing, home and help pages on the dates under Sources.

What we did not do. We did not sign up to every free plan and push it to its limits, so we report caps as the vendor states them. Where a vendor's pages are unclear (Minea lists a free Lite offer in its FAQ but not on its plan cards; AdsLibrary.ai shows a Free column but says there is no trial), we say so. "Not listed" means the site does not state it.

For a small store. We assume you sell a product line on Facebook and Instagram, you want to learn what other brands in your niche run, and you do not need to resell products from a spy tool. That is why store and product research tools get less weight here than ads you can read and save. AdSwipeFile is listed first because we make it, with its gaps stated.

At a glance

Scroll sideways to see every column.

1. AdSwipeFile

A curated library of 63,244+ real Facebook and Instagram ads, filed by brand, niche and format, that Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor search over MCP.

• Price: Free; Pro $39/mo ($390/yr); Agency $99/mo ($990/yr); plus tax.
• Free plan or trial: Free plan, no card: 50 MCP/API calls for the life of the account and the first 50 ads of every list. 7-day trial on paid plans (card required); 14-day money-back.
• Falls short on: Facebook and Instagram ads only, no product, store or funnel research, no spend estimates and no Chrome extension. The free plan shows the first 50 ads of every list, not the whole library.
• Best for: small stores that want to learn from real Facebook and Instagram ads and ask Claude or ChatGPT about them, free.

Free to use, no paid tier

These four cost nothing and have no paid tier we found. Two are ad libraries (Meta's official one and AdLibrarySpy), one is TikTok's own, and one is a reading archive of copy. For a Facebook and Instagram store, the first two are the core of a free routine.

2. Meta Ad Library

The Meta Ad Library is Meta's own transparency search: every ad running now on Facebook, Instagram and Meta's other apps, free, with no account needed.

• Price: Free.
• Free plan or trial: Free, no account needed to search.
• MCP: None from Meta that we found.
• Best for: checking what a specific advertiser runs on Meta right now, or researching political and EU ads with official reach data.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• It is the source: every active Meta ad, current to the day, free.
• It plays video ads right in the results.
• Official spend, reach and audience data for political ads, and reach and targeting detail for ads shown in the EU.

This is the free core of any routine. It gives you every active ad on Facebook and Instagram, searchable by advertiser Page, with no account and with video playing in the results. It stops in three places: meta shows every ad while it runs. Once an ad stops, only social issue, election and political ads (kept 7 years) and ads delivered in the EU (kept a year after their last impression) stay in the library. Saved searches send no alert on new ads, and we found no export and no MCP server from Meta. Use it to read what a competitor runs today, and save the ones you want to keep elsewhere.

AdSwipeFile vs Meta Ad Library, Meta Ad Library alternatives

3. AdLibrarySpy

AdLibrarySpy is a free Shopify store and Meta ads research tool: a store index with SimilarWeb traffic, a Meta ad library ranked in Meta's own impressions order, a Brandtracker, a weekly report, a Chrome extension and an MCP server.

• Price: Free, every feature; it says there is no paid tier.
• Free plan or trial: Everything free for you and your team, no card, no trial; fair-use rate limits.
• MCP: Yes, hosted, free: 1,000 calls a day per workspace. Its tools can also save ads to swipe boards, write briefs and build a store.
• Best for: shopify sellers who want free Meta ad and store research, from the browser or an AI agent.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• Everything is free, including brand tracking, team workspaces and the MCP server, with no ad cap on the free account.
• Store research: 7.8M stores by its count, with SimilarWeb traffic, products, apps and pixels.
• A free Chrome extension, and ads ranked by Meta's own impressions order.
• Its MCP server can write: save ads to boards, write creative briefs and track brands.

The only tool here that is free in full. Beyond the ad library (Meta ads ranked in Meta's own impressions order, with AI labels for hook and angle) it gives you a Brandtracker with an email when a store moves, team workspaces, a Chrome extension and a hosted MCP server, all free. It stops at fair-use rate limits (1,000 MCP calls a day per workspace), covers Meta only, and you rely on one vendor's promise that there is no paid tier. For a small store it is the best-fitting free spy tool, with the Meta Ad Library as the official check.

4. TikTok Creative Center

TikTok Creative Center is TikTok's free hub for advertisers: Top Ads, trends and creative tools. Top Ads shows ads with likes, a CTR percentile and budget level, filtered by region, objective and format.

• Price: Free.
• Free plan or trial: Free; TikTok says no login is required, but recommends one for all features and data.
• MCP: None for Creative Center or Top Ads that we found; TikTok's MCP server is for managing ad accounts (campaigns, reporting, audiences, creative operations; about 400 tools in its full set, about 40 in its progressive set).
• Best for: TikTok-only research where TikTok's own engagement signals matter.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• First-party TikTok signals on each ad: likes, a CTR percentile, budget level and objective.
• Trends next to the ads (trending hashtags), free, and Symphony creative tools (AI video generation, automation) from the same hub.
• My Collections, to save Top Ads you like.

Free and TikTok only. Top Ads shows likes, a CTR percentile and a budget level on each ad, filtered by region, objective and format, which no other free source offers. It stops at what advertisers authorised for the list, and signed out it asks you to log in to see all Top Ads. Worth a look only if TikTok is a channel you use; for Facebook and Instagram it adds nothing.

AdSwipeFile vs TikTok Creative Center

5. Swiped.co

Swiped.co (Swipe-Worthy) is a free-to-read archive of direct-response marketing and copywriting examples, classic and modern, each with a written breakdown of why it works. It is not an ad tool: the swipes on its home page were added in 2017 and 2018.

• Price: Not listed on its site; its beta pricing link asks existing customers to log in.
• Free plan or trial: Swipes and their write-ups are open to read; saving to a collection needs an account. A free email list sends “Swipe Studies”.
• MCP: Not listed on its site.
• Best for: copywriters studying classic direct-response promotions and why they worked, rather than current Meta ads.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• A written breakdown of the psychology and strategy behind each example.
• Classic direct-response work from before the internet: print ads and sales letters by Ogilvy, Halbert, Schwartz and others.
• Formats beyond social ads: direct mail, sales letters, advertorials, emails and landing pages.

Free to read, and free in the sense that matters for a small store's copy: 442 swipes with a written breakdown of why each works. It stops at being an archive, not an ad tool: the swipes on its home page date from 2017 and 2018, only 38 are tagged as Facebook ads, and saving to a collection needs an account. It teaches hooks and offers; it will not show you what is running now.

Free plans that stay free

These nine have a free plan or free account with no end date, each with a cap. The caps are the point: a free BigSpy plan searches Facebook only with a daily limit, a free OpenAdLibrary account shows the 20 newest ads, and a free Dropispy plan locks the advanced filters. Read the cap before you build a routine on one.

6. BigSpy

BigSpy is an ad library across 11 ad networks, from Facebook and TikTok to Google, YouTube and AppLovin, for ecommerce, game and app advertisers, with a free plan.

• Price: Starter $69/mo, Growth $159/mo, Scale $399/mo, Ultimate $499/mo billed monthly ($49, $119, $299 and $399 a month billed yearly: $588, $1,428, $3,588 and $4,788 a year).
• Free plan or trial: A free plan: Facebook ads only, 10 searches a day (visual and feature search included), 20 tracked creatives, 5 video analyses a month, no downloads, no ad copy. No free trial listed; refunds follow its refund policy, whose terms its pricing page does not give.
• MCP: Not listed on its site.
• Best for: advertisers who research beyond Meta, especially game, app and ecommerce teams buying on TikTok, Google and YouTube.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• Many more ad networks: TikTok, Google Ads, YouTube, X and Pinterest as well as Meta, by plan.
• A much larger library, by its own count (over 1B creatives).
• Game and app ad research: playable ads, pre-registration pages, TikTok Shop ads.
• A free plan with daily searches, and 5 seats on Scale.
• Downloads of the creative itself (50 a day on Starter, 300 on Growth, 3,000 on Ultimate), video analysis and a Creative to AI Prompt tool.
• Industry filters for e-commerce and for game and tool apps, plus 40 e-commerce sites, including Shopify, Amazon and Etsy, by its home page.

BigSpy's free plan is the clearest cap in this list: Facebook ads only, 10 searches a day, 20 tracked creatives and no downloads. That is enough to test the interface and run a handful of searches on your niche. It stops at the first paid tier: Starter at $69 a month ($49 billed yearly) adds Instagram, and TikTok, Google and YouTube need Growth at $159. No MCP server is listed.

AdSwipeFile vs BigSpy, BigSpy alternatives

7. Dropispy

Dropispy is a budget ad spy tool for dropshippers: search ecommerce ads with social proof filters to find winning products, plus a Shop Spy tool that ranks dropshipping stores and lists their ads.

• Price: Premium $29.90/mo ($14.90/mo paid yearly), Business $249.90/mo on both billing tabs.
• Free plan or trial: Free plan: the ad spy tool with basic filters and unlimited downloads; no advanced filters, Shop Spy or recent ads.
• MCP: Not listed on its site.
• Best for: dropshippers on a tight budget hunting for winning products in Facebook ads.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• Ad search filtered by engagement, country, date and store platform, aimed at finding products to sell.
• Shop Spy: a ranking of dropshipping stores with their ads, which AdSwipeFile does not do.
• A low annual price: Premium at $14.90 a month paid yearly.

Dropispy's free plan is the one built for dropshippers: the ad spy tool with basic filters and unlimited downloads. It stops at advanced filters, Shop Spy (its ranking of dropshipping stores) and recent ads, which are all Premium, $29.90 a month or $14.90 billed yearly. It lists Facebook only and no MCP server. The downloads are the unusual part: most free tiers withhold them.

8. Spytrend

Spytrend is a Facebook, Meta and TikTok ad spy for media buyers and affiliates: it groups ads by the webmaster behind them, linking pixels, landing domains and Page IDs into one competitor profile, sorted into 33 AI verticals, with an MCP server.

• Price: Base $79/mo billed monthly with 1 AI category (more at $50/mo each); Pro Exclusive $79/mo prepaid 3 months with 5 categories; Enterprise $300/mo prepaid 6 months with all 33. Add-on sections from $249/mo. 14-day money-back on first payments.
• Free plan or trial: Free plan, no card: archive ads older than 90 days and 500 MCP tokens once.
• MCP: Yes, hosted, OAuth sign-in, 22 tools. 40,000 tokens a month on paid plans, 500 once on a free account; extra 40,000 for $50.
• Best for: media buyers and affiliates who map competitors' entire ad operations by pixel and domain, on Meta and TikTok.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• It links ads by pixel, landing domain, Page ID and IP, so you see a competitor's whole ad network in one profile, and you can search by Pixel ID.
• TikTok ads as well as Meta, and a far larger archive by its own count, going back to 2018.
• Days-active, live status and trend signals across 33 verticals, aimed at affiliate niches such as gambling, crypto and nutra.
• Its MCP data is also open as an HTTP API.

Spytrend's free plan, no card, is a sample of its archive: ads older than 90 days, plus 500 MCP tokens once. Old ads are useful for studying how a brand's creative has changed, but the recent ads that tell you what is running now are on the paid plans from $79 a month. It also gives three Telegram watches on new ads from a domain, Page or advertiser. Aimed at affiliates, so it fits a store only when you want to map a competitor's domains and pixels.

9. Atria

Atria is a creative platform for Meta and TikTok advertisers: an ad library, analytics on your connected ad accounts, and an AI agent (Raya) that grades ads, writes briefs, generates ads and uploads them to Meta.

• Price: Core $219/mo, Plus $549/mo, Business $1,549/mo billed monthly ($129, $343 and $959 a month billed annually); Enterprise custom.
• Free plan or trial: A permanent free plan, no card, no time limit: 1 seat, 1 ad account, 1 followed brand, 1,000 AI credits and 30 MCP calls, all once (its help center); paid-plan trials are reviewed case by case.
• MCP: Yes, hosted, for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor. 600 calls a month on Core, unlimited from Plus; calls over the Core cap cost 1 AI credit each.
• Best for: brands and agencies running Meta and TikTok ads that want analytics on their own accounts, AI briefs and ad generation in one place, from $219 a month.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• Analytics on your own Meta and TikTok ad accounts.
• AI that grades ads, writes briefs, generates new ads and uploads them to Meta (Raya, with 4,000 AI credits a month on Core).
• Brand following (50 brands on Core), a Chrome extension and mobile Instagram saving, with multi-level boards.
• Team seats, from 5 on Core, and guest access on Business.

Atria's free plan is permanent and needs no card, but it is a trial in size: one ad account, one brand, and 30 MCP calls and 30 API calls once. It stops there, and the paid Core plan is $219 a month during a promotion. The value for a small store is seeing how Atria's library and AI agent behave on your own brand before deciding; it is not a research tool to live on.

AdSwipeFile vs Atria, Atria alternatives

10. OpenAdLibrary

OpenAdLibrary is an ad intelligence tool for media buyers and affiliates: one library of Meta, TikTok, Google and native ads (Taboola, Outbrain and more) that follows each native ad's click to its landing page, plus a creative editor and a campaign tracker.

• Price: Founders $29.99/mo, or $299 a year ($24.92 a month); Unlimited Track add-on $49.99/mo.
• Free plan or trial: Free account, no card: the 20 newest ads and the top three of each ranking. Search, filters, saved research and the API need Founders.
• MCP: Yes, hosted, on Founders: sign in with an OpenAdLibrary account or send an API key.
• Best for: media buyers and affiliates who run native ads and want the funnel behind them, for $29.99 a month.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• Native ad networks (Taboola, Outbrain, MGID and more) beside Meta, TikTok and Google, with the redirect chain from each native ad to its landing page.
• TikTok and Google ads in the same library, not only Meta.
• A creative editor with AI and a click and conversion tracker in the same subscription.
• Its own spend estimates and Meta's EU reach figures on Meta ad cards.

A free OpenAdLibrary account, no card, shows the 20 newest ads and the top three of each ranking across its libraries. Search, filters, saved research and the API are locked behind Founders at $29.99 a month. That makes the free account a window for browsing what is new, not for researching a niche. Its coverage is wider than most free tools (Meta, TikTok, Google and native networks), which matters if you run more than Meta.

11. Minea

Minea is a product research and ad spy tool for dropshippers and ecommerce: Meta ads, TikTok ads, shop and product listings, a brand tracker and AI ad analysis, on a credit system.

• Price: Starter $49/mo, Premium $99/mo, Business $199/mo billed monthly; $39, $79 and $158 a month paid quarterly; $34, $69 and $139 a month annually.
• Free plan or trial: Its FAQ lists a free Lite offer and says you can test Minea for free; its pricing page says registration is free and the plan cards show only paid plans. No refunds.
• MCP: Not listed on its site.
• Best for: dropshippers and ecommerce sellers hunting for winning products and the shops selling them.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• Product and shop research for dropshipping: product and shop listings, supplier finder, daily niche lists and store creation.
• TikTok ads alongside Meta ads (from Premium), and Pinterest by its FAQ.
• AI analysis and transcripts of ads (10 to unlimited a month by plan) and a Chrome extension.
• A free .Store domain on every plan, and 10 shop listings on Premium (its pricing page).

Minea's FAQ lists a free Lite offer and says you can test Minea for free, but its plan cards show only paid plans and it offers no refunds, so confirm what Lite includes at sign-up before relying on it. Paid, it starts at $49 a month. It is built for finding products to sell, so a store that wants ads to learn from will use only part of it.

AdSwipeFile vs Minea, Minea alternatives

12. AdsLibrary.ai

AdsLibrary is a swipe file you fill with its Chrome extension, saving ads and organic posts from the Facebook Ad Library, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and more, with a shared Discovery library and an Ad Tracker for Facebook advertisers.

• Price: Basic $19/mo, Advanced $49/mo, Unlimited $99/mo billed monthly (Advanced and Unlimited at 3 members, more members cost more); annual plans 50% off until Dec 31: $114, $294 and $594 a year.
• Free plan or trial: Its plan table has a Free column (1 user). Its pricing FAQ says it offers no trial now, while its Ad Tracker page offers a free trial with no card. No refunds.
• MCP: Not listed on its site.
• Best for: creative teams that collect ads from many platforms and want to download and share them, from $19 a month.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• A Chrome extension that saves ads and organic posts from Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn into your own swipe file.
• An Ad Tracker that follows Facebook advertisers automatically, with real-time, daily or weekly email reports, 1 to 100 advertisers by plan.
• Bulk download of ad media and data, and share links with comments for teams and clients.

AdsLibrary.ai's plan table has a Free column for one user, while its pricing FAQ says it offers no trial now and no refunds, and its Ad Tracker page offers a free trial with no card. The pages disagree, so check what you get on sign-up. Paid starts at $19 a month. Its pull is the Chrome extension that saves ads and posts from Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and more into your own swipe file.

13. SwipeWell

SwipeWell is swipe file software for marketing examples of any kind: save pages, ads, emails and social posts with its Chrome extension, email forwarding or mobile apps, track brands' Facebook and Instagram ads (Ad Finder), and browse 13,000+ curated examples.

• Price: Pro $12/mo ($10/mo billed yearly, $120 a year); Team $12 per user a month ($10 per user billed yearly).
• Free plan or trial: Free plan, no credit card: up to 10 swipes, personal use, 1 free Ad Finder use. 30-day money-back promise on paid plans.
• MCP: Not listed on its site.
• Best for: marketers and copywriters who want one cheap swipe file for every kind of marketing example, with light competitor ad tracking.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• Saves any marketing example, not just ads: landing pages, emails by forwarding, social posts, from a Chrome extension or its iOS and Android apps.
• Unlimited brand tracking of Facebook and Instagram ads (Ad Finder) from $12 a month.
• AI that rewrites a saved swipe (AI Remix) and generates ad creatives from it (Ad Creator).
• A curated library of landing pages, emails and popups as well as ads, 13,000+ examples by its count.

SwipeWell's free plan is a real, small swipe file: up to 10 swipes, personal use, and one use of Ad Finder, which tracks a brand's Facebook and Instagram ads. It stops at ten, which fills in a single research session. Pro at $12 a month removes the cap and makes Ad Finder unlimited. It saves pages, emails and posts as well as ads, and lists no MCP server.

14. Savepad

Savepad is a personal swipe file and bookmark manager for marketers, designers and developers: save links, screenshots, emails, PDFs, code and ad library links, sort them into folders and search everything. It has no AI inside, and new users join a waitlist before launch.

• Price: Free; Light $5.99/mo, Ultra Pro Max Plus $10.99/mo in US dollars (€4.99 and €9.99 in euros, VAT included in the EU). Monthly only, no yearly plan.
• Free plan or trial: Free plan, no card: 150 saves, MCP and full export. Sign-ups are a waitlist for now.
• MCP: Yes, on every plan; it can search and save, and file or bin with full control. Its pricing FAQ says you run the server yourself; its docs connect with a link made in Settings.
• Best for: one person who wants a private, searchable swipe file of everything they save, ads included, at a few dollars a month.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• Saves far more than ads: pages, screenshots, emails, PDFs, fonts, code and notes, 17 save types, with text in screenshots searchable.
• Files links from the Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn and Google ad libraries as ads in your own folders.
• An MCP server on its free plan that can also save and file things for you, not only read.
• Watches web pages and keeps a monthly snapshot of what changed, for two years (Ultra Pro Max Plus).

Savepad's free plan keeps 150 saves, includes the MCP server (it can search, save and file) and lets you export everything. That is the most generous free swipe file here for an AI workflow. It stops at being a waitlist for now, so you may not be able to sign up today, and it holds only what you save: no shared library and no brand tracking for ads. Paid is $5.99 a month.

Free credits and no-card trials

These three let you try before paying. PrimeSpy and Swipekit state that no card is needed; PiPiAds describes its free trial as 500 credits without saying whether a card is needed. A trial is a way to test a tool on your own niche for a week or two, not a free tier to live on.

15. PrimeSpy

PrimeSpy is an ad spy tool built on the Meta Ad Library, with TikTok ads too: search ads with estimated reach and spend, filter by store platform and creative reuse, and track competitors with email alerts.

• Price: Pro $9.99/mo billed monthly, $6.99/mo billed annually ($83.88 a year). Its FAQ says Pro does not auto-renew.
• Free plan or trial: Free trial: 500 credits and 2 ad trackers, no credit card.
• MCP: Not listed on its site.
• Best for: advertisers who want a low-cost Meta and TikTok ad search with spend estimates and competitor alerts, from $9.99 a month.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• TikTok ads as well as Meta, on its Pro plan.
• Estimated reach and spend on each ad, with filters on reach, spend, store platform and creative reuse.
• Competitor tracking with email alerts, 2 trackers free and 20 on Pro at $9.99 a month.

PrimeSpy's trial is 500 credits and 2 ad trackers with no credit card, on a tool built on the Meta Ad Library with TikTok ads too and estimated reach and spend on each ad. It stops when the credits run out, then Pro is $9.99 a month ($6.99 billed annually) and does not auto-renew. It lists no MCP server. The lowest-cost paid step in this list, so a reasonable first upgrade.

16. PiPiAds

PiPiAds is a TikTok and Facebook ad spy tool with TikTok Shop, product, store and app research, an ad tracker and an MCP server, on a credit system.

• Price: Basic $49/mo, Advanced $99/mo, Enterprise $900/mo, Flexible $180/mo billed monthly (shown against $69, $159 and $1,999 in a flash sale). Annual plans 50% off in a Q4 promotion until Dec 31: $294, $594, $5,400 and $1,080 a year. Extra credits from $50 for 10,000.
• Free plan or trial: A free trial with 500 credits: ad lists only, no ad details.
• MCP: Yes: a local MCP server and CLI (73 tools, mostly read-only, with write tools that create and cancel monitor tasks) run with an API key through Node.js 20 or later, with no hosted URL. Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf and ChatGPT desktop are listed. API credits are billed separately from the site membership, through Pipispy: about 1 credit a result in a search, and nothing from the membership or an AI subscription carries over.
• Best for: dropshippers and TikTok advertisers who research TikTok ads and TikTok Shop products.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• TikTok ads and TikTok Shop products, stores and creators alongside Facebook ads.
• Ad tracking on its first plan, and an MCP server that can create and cancel monitoring tasks.
• Product, store, app and game research with rankings.
• Image search to find similar ads, and AI tools for video transcripts, translation and text removal.

PiPiAds gives a free trial of 500 credits, for ad lists only: an ad in a list costs 1 credit, but an ad's detail costs 20, so the trial cannot open ad details. Paid starts at $49 a month. Aimed at TikTok and TikTok Shop. For a Facebook and Instagram store the trial shows you the lists and little else.

AdSwipeFile vs PiPiAds, PiPiAds alternatives

17. Swipekit

Swipekit is a swipe file you fill yourself: a Chrome extension saves ads from the Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn ad libraries, TikTok Top Ads and organic posts, with brand tracking and an MCP server on every plan.

• Price: Basic $39/mo, Plus $69/mo, Agency $99/mo billed monthly ($26, $46 and $66 a month billed annually). All three include the swipe file, Multiplayer (the shared library), Brand Tracker, MCP, API and whitelabel share links.
• Free plan or trial: No free plan. First 14 days free, no credit card.
• MCP: Yes, on every plan, and it can create boards and tag ads. Its MCP page names Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini and shows operations to list ads, list boards, create a board, save an ad and tag an ad.
• Best for: small teams that want to build their own swipe file from ad libraries and track a few brands.

Where it is stronger than AdSwipeFile:

• 5 seats and brand tracking on its first plan ($39 a month).
• Its MCP server can write: create boards and tag ads.
• Saves organic posts as well as ads, and transcribes saved video ads.
• Whitelabel share links for boards on every plan.

Swipekit gives the first 14 days free with no card, with the full first plan: 5 seats, brand tracking and the MCP server, which can create boards and tag ads. After that Basic is $39 a month ($26 billed annually). It is a swipe file you fill yourself with a Chrome extension, so the trial is worth it only if you will save ads every day for two weeks.

AdSwipeFile vs Swipekit, Swipekit alternatives

A free ad research routine for a small ecommerce store

You do not need a paid spy tool to learn from competitors' Facebook and Instagram ads. This routine uses the Meta Ad Library, a free swipe file and a spreadsheet, and takes about an hour a week.

1. List ten brands. Pick your five closest competitors and five brands in an adjacent niche with a bigger budget. Write their names in the first column of a sheet.

2. Read each brand's ads in the Meta Ad Library. Open the Meta Ad Library, choose your country and the category "All ads", type the brand, and pick its Page from the suggestions. Set Active status to active and, to study one format, Media type to Images or Videos. Read the ads that are live now.

3. Log what you see, one row per ad. Use these columns:

Scroll sideways to see every column.

4. Save the ones you want to keep. Meta removes most ads once they stop running, so keep the creative and copy somewhere else. Free options in this list: AdSwipeFile (50 MCP/API calls for the life of the account), AdLibrarySpy (free swipe boards), Savepad (150 saves, waitlist) or SwipeWell (10 swipes).

5. Repeat once a week, on the same day. Note which ads are new, which are gone and which are still running with a bigger day count.

6. Turn the sheet into a brief. For the three ads you rank highest, write the hook, the angle, the offer and the format, then write your own version of each and test it. Our guide to saving ads from the Facebook Ad Library covers step 4 in more detail.

How to read days running and variations, never as proof of profit

A long run and many variations are the two public signals you have. A winning ad is one its brand kept running on Meta. Brands rarely keep paying for ads that lose, so a long run is the clearest public signal we have, and the ads readers save most add a second one. Nobody outside the brand sees its spend or sales, so a winning ad is a signal worth studying, not proof of results.

• Days running: compare within one brand. An ad that has run far longer than the same brand's other ads is worth studying for its hook and offer. A very new ad tells you what the brand is testing, not what works.
• Variations: several ads sharing one concept with small changes (a new first line, a different image) suggest the brand is iterating on an idea it cares about. A single ad with no variations may be a one-off or a stable evergreen.
• Seasonality: a Black Friday ad running for three weeks is normal, and says nothing about the rest of the year.
• What you cannot see: spend, conversions, margin, or whether the ad is on autopilot because nobody turned it off.

Write down a hypothesis, such as "a before-and-after image with a price in the first line may fit our product", and test it with your own budget. Do not copy an ad because it ran long; borrow the hook, angle and format, and change the product and proof.

A free stack: Meta Ad Library, a free swipe file and a spreadsheet

If you want the shortest version of the routine:

1. Meta Ad Library for the live ads of ten brands (Free, no account needed to search).
2. A free swipe file to keep the ones you like: AdSwipeFile, AdLibrarySpy or Savepad if you use an AI assistant; SwipeWell or Savepad for a personal folder.
3. A spreadsheet with the columns above, to compare days running and variations across brands.
4. An AI assistant, optionally, connected to AdSwipeFile or AdLibrarySpy, to pull a brand's longest-running ads and list their hooks. Facebook ads in Claude and ChatGPT shows how, and the MCP server comparison lists every tool that offers one.

This stack costs nothing and covers one niche well. It stops when you want to follow more than a few brands, keep a large library of ads that left Meta, or give a team access. That is when a paid swipe file or a paid spy tool earns its price.

Where free stops and what the first paid step costs

Free tiers cap the same four things:

• How many brands you track: BigSpy's free plan tracks 20 creatives, PrimeSpy's trial 2 trackers, Spytrend's free plan 3 Telegram watches.
• How recent the ads are: Spytrend's free archive is older than 90 days; Dropispy's free plan excludes recent ads.
• Whether you can download or search: BigSpy's free plan has no downloads; OpenAdLibrary's free account has no search or filters.
• Whether your assistant can use it: most free tiers give no MCP server, or a one-off allowance (Atria, Spytrend), while AdLibrarySpy and Savepad include one.

The lowest-priced paid steps are PrimeSpy at $9.99 a month, Dropispy at $29.90, AdSwipeFile Pro at $39 and Swipekit at $39. For every tool's plans see ad swipe file and ad library pricing.

Trials we left out

These tools offer a free trial, but with a card or at a price that makes them paid plans on a delay, so they are not in the list above:

• Foreplay: No free plan. 7-day free trial with a card, then billed; 14-day money-back after the first charge.
• Gethookd: No free plan. 7-day trial for $0.
• Adspo: No free plan listed. 7-day trial on monthly, 14-day on yearly; 7-day money-back promise.
• Hooksy: No free plan. 7-day free trial, $0 today, card required.
• Motion: Free trial, no credit card (home page); 14 days, per its MCP help article. Runneth's llm-info page says trials start with a short setup call and self-serve signup isn't available yet.
• PowerAdSpy: No free plan. Its pricing page lists paid 3-day trials ($1 on Basic, $7 on the others); its home page says both 3-day trial and free for seven days.

If you try one, set a reminder before the trial ends. The right free options for a small store are above.

Which one should you pick?

• You have no budget and run Meta ads: the Meta Ad Library plus AdSwipeFile's free plan, with a spreadsheet.
• You want a free spy tool with store research: AdLibrarySpy.
• You want to test a classic spy tool: BigSpy's free plan (Facebook only), or Dropispy's if you dropship.
• You want your AI assistant to search ads for free: AdLibrarySpy, Savepad or AdSwipeFile.
• You want TikTok signals: TikTok Creative Center.
• You want to try a paid tool without a card: PrimeSpy or Swipekit.
• You want to study copy, not ads: Swiped.co.