Ad spy tools we bought and tested

Tested on our own accounts updated 28 October 2026

Start free: BigSpy’s free plan caught new Facebook ads on their launch day in our 20-ad test, at about 10 searches a day. For the most launches, Spytrend Pro at $79 a month. The cheapest paid plan is Dropispy at €29.90, Facebook only.

We tested seven ad spy tools on our own accounts in October 2026. Three on plans we paid for: Spytrend Pro, Dropispy Premium and Minea Starter. Four only on a free plan or trial: BigSpy and TrendTrack free, the PiPiADS 500-credit trial and the PowerAdSpy three-day trial.

Reviews

Seven tools, each on our own account, each with a dated test.

BigSpyReviewed

BigSpy review: what the free plan opens and what it hides

Tested 13 Oct 2026from $69/mo

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DropispyReviewed

Dropispy review: is the €29.90 Premium plan worth it?

Tested 12 Oct 2026from €29.90/mo

Read review

MineaReviewed

Minea review: what the $49 Starter plan opens and how fresh its ads are

Tested 14 Oct 2026from $49/mo

Read review

PiPiADSReviewed

PiPiADS review: what the 500-credit free trial shows and what it hides

Tested 14 Oct 2026from $49/mo (list $69)

Read review

PowerAdSpyReviewed

PowerAdSpy review: is the 3-day trial worth it?

Tested 8 Oct 2026from $69/mo (pricing page), $99 in the account

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SpytrendReviewed

Spytrend review: what the free plan and Pro actually open

Tested 8 Oct 2026from $79/mo

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TrendTrackReviewed

TrendTrack review: what the free plan opens and which plan shows ads

Tested 27 Oct 2026from €49/mo (ads from Pro, €89)

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What the free plan or trial actually lets you do

The cheapest way into each tool, opened on our own account on 8 October 2026.

BigSpy free plan limits, 8 October 2026 — **BigSpy** · Search works, but advertiser names are partly hidden behind asterisks. Our account, 8 Oct 2026.

Dropispy free plan limits, 8 October 2026 — **Dropispy** · Keyword search is locked, and ads from the last two months are hidden. Our account, 8 Oct 2026.

Minea no subscription limits, 8 October 2026 — **Minea** · Ad search works; shop performance and shop info filters are Premium-only. Our account, 8 Oct 2026.

PiPiADS trial limits, 8 October 2026 — **PiPiADS** · 500 credits, no ads newer than 90 days, ad details unavailable. Our account, 8 Oct 2026.

PowerAdSpy $1 trial limits, 8 October 2026 — **PowerAdSpy** · Only Facebook opens; the other 10 networks and Analytics open this upgrade window. Our account, 8 Oct 2026.

Spytrend free plan limits, 8 October 2026 — **Spytrend** · Only ads older than three months; live ads, TikTok and selection analytics are locked. Our account, 8 Oct 2026.

TrendTrack free plan limits, 8 October 2026 — **TrendTrack** · Only shop search and shop cards open; ad, product, advertiser and email search are locked. Our account, 8 Oct 2026.

At a glance

Prices from each vendor’s pricing page, checked 28 October 2026.

Tool	Cheapest way in	Paid from	Best for	Our review
BigSpy	Free plan: Facebook only, 5 searches a day published, about 10 on our account	$69/mo	Starting at zero cost on Facebook	Read review →
Dropispy	Free plan, last 2 months of ads hidden	€29.90/moread in our account October 14, 2026	Cheap Facebook ad browsing for dropshippers	Read review →
Minea	Free account: ad search, shop data locked	$49/mo	Browsing Meta ads and Shopify products; few new launches in our test	Read review →
PiPiADS	Trial: 500 credits, no card	$49/mo (list $69)	TikTok-first by its own pitch; we tested only the trial	Read review →
PowerAdSpy	3-day trial from $1 (Basic), $7 above	$69/mo (pricing page), $99 in the account	LinkedIn, Quora and Reddit ads, sold on the $399 plan (not tested)	Read review →
Spytrend	Free plan: ads older than 3 months	$79/mo	Fresh Facebook, Instagram and TikTok ads; most new launches in our test	Read review →
TrendTrack	Free account: shop search only	€49/mo (ads from Pro, €89)	Studying the store behind the ads	Read review →

How we test

Our own accountsEvery tool is tested on our own account, on a plan we pay for, a free plan or a trial we start ourselves, never on a vendor demo. Each review says which plan in its first lines.

Dated searchesEach review ran on its own dates and searches: “dropshipping” in Spytrend, PowerAdSpy, PiPiADS and a free Minea account on 8 October; the Gymshark and Manscaped pages in Dropispy, Minea, BigSpy and PiPiADS on 12–14 October; 10 keywords in BigSpy on 13 October; one shop in TrendTrack on 27 October. The one like-for-like test is 20 new Meta ads, searched the same way in five tools by 28 October. Result counts are not compared across tools: their databases differ.

Dated screenshotsEach screenshot carries the date, the query and the count the tool showed; where a tool hides a number, we say so.

Ad spy tools: we tested 5 on 20 new Meta ads: 20 Meta ads launched on one day, searched the same way in five tools: Spytrend 19, BigSpy Free 9 of 19, Minea 4, AdSpy 2, Dropispy 1.

FAQ

Which ad spy tool catches new Facebook ads first?

In our test of 20 Meta ads launched on 20 October 2026, picked in Meta’s Ad Library and searched the same way in five tools on 28 October, Spytrend Pro held 19 of 20, BigSpy’s free plan 9 of the 19 we could search, Minea Starter 4, AdSpy 2 and Dropispy Premium 1.

Which ad spy tools have a free plan, and do they show new ads?

BigSpy, Dropispy and Spytrend have free plans; Minea and TrendTrack let a free account in with shop data or ad search locked. Only BigSpy’s showed new Facebook ads, on their launch day, at about 10 searches a day on our account. The other two free plans hide recent ads, the last two and three months respectively, and the PiPiADS trial the last 90 days.

Is a paid ad spy tool better than the free Meta Ad Library?

Only if you need what the library leaves out: stopped ads, TikTok next to Facebook, or shop data. The Meta Ad Library is free and shows running ads, but outside the EU and UK it drops ordinary ads once they stop. The cheapest paid plan we tested is Dropispy Premium at €29.90 a month, Facebook only.

Which ad spy tool shows LinkedIn, Quora and Reddit ads?

Of the tools we looked at, only PowerAdSpy sells them, and only on its Palladium plan at $399 a month, which we have not tested: on our Basic trial those networks opened an upgrade window. None of the other tools we tested covers LinkedIn, Quora or Reddit.