Best Native Ads Spy Tools To Get A Leg Up On Your Competition

There´s no shortage of native ads spy tools. But how do you actually choose the right one for you?
That´s the hardest part.

Some of these spy tools are better than others. I´ve decided not to rate them in order though because it can get a bit subjective. A great feature for me might not be what you need.
The goal of this post is to educate you instead of telling you what to do. Armed with information, you can make a smarter decision.

We´d like to make it easier for you to choose a native spy tool. Hence, we´ve already done the hard work of researching and comparing these tools. All you have to do is read along.

5 Reasons To Use A Native Ads Spy Tool

Native advertising is just like any type of advertising. You might say, “no, it´s not… it´s different from Facebook, Google, or Microsoft ads.” It´s different in terms of user behavior but the same in terms of media planning.

On both platforms, you still have to know your audience, how to communicate your offers and what competitors advertise there. In advertising, intelligence can be your ultimate competitive advantage. Not the “I have such a high IQ” kind of intelligence, by the way.

A word of warning when it comes to spying on competitors or anyone, really.

It´s better if you already have a solid understanding of advertising to start with, and you know what a great ad looks like. Many newbie advertisers jump into “ad spying mode” only to model average advertisements and get mediocre results.

That being said, there are probably more but here are the top 5 reasons to use a native ads spy tool.

1 – Offer Insights

The biggest reason to get a spy tool is to check what offers your competitors are using on native. Your offers are the backbone of your marketing. A really strong offer with average ads will almost always outperform an average offer with great ads.

In your research, you might find out that one of your main competitors is offering a free report.

You check another big indirect competitor in the industry and find the same thing, they´re using free reports. This can be a clear sign that reports, as a front-end offer, are working better for your industry and audience type.

So, it might be a good idea to not waste time creating a webinar but instead promote a report.

2 – Copywriting Insights

I believe copywriting is one of the biggest levers you can pull to improve performance.

This is especially true on native placements since much of the ads´ success relies on attention-grabbing headlines. With a native spy tool, you can see what headlines your best competitors are using and either try to model it or try new hooks to differentiate your company.

One thing you can definitely model is the type of headline they use, that´s working well. You might find that “listicles” or “how to” are used more often. You probably aren´t going to copy the exact headline but you can use the same headline type and apply it to your content.

3 – Creative Insights

This is a hard one to miss when you start doing your copywriting research. You will start noticing headline patterns and also creative patterns.

• Are your competitors using more lifestyle images or product images?
• How good are they at copy-creative congruence?
• Which ones are working better for them, close-ups or distance shots?

These are all questions you´ll get answered as you start diving deeper into your ad spy tool and competitor research process.

4 – Funnel Hacking

These native spy tools will not only give you access to ads but also the corresponding landing pages. This is a huge benefit that many people miss – they just focus on the ads and forget to research what happens after the click.

Once you find a killer native ad from one of your competitors, check their landing page and go through their funnel. Yes, that means purchasing their products as if you were their customer. Well, you will soon be one!
The investment will pay off, as you´ll gather precious insights about the user journey and messaging throughout their funnel. These insights can fuel your advertising efforts like none of the other reasons, mentioned here.

5 – Targeting Research

You´ll also be able to see things like what native platforms, countries, publishers, and devices the ads show up on. This can be very useful information to assist your media planning. Here´s an example from Mobidea spy tool.

In your research, you might find that one of your best competitors is only running ads on Outbrain and Revcontent, for example, the same platforms you use.
It can be an indication that they´ve tried Taboola or another platform but didn´t get good results or they never advertised there, which is an opportunity for you to grab market share.

Top Native Ads Spy Tools Right Now

Now that you´ve got some ideas on how to use native ads spy tools to inform your media planning, let´s get into the actual tools. We´ll give an overview of each tool, and go over things like top features, supported ad networks, pricing, some pros, and cons, and who´s best for.

AdPlexity

AdPlexity is one of the most complete competitive intelligence tools in the market for advertisers. They understand their market and have tailored solutions for different segments. One of them is native.

Features

• Competitive data in over 32 countries
• Download landing pages as a zip file
• Data about affiliate offers on 100 networks
• Filter by keyword, advertiser, publisher, or affiliate network

Supported Networks

• RevContent
• MGID
• Content.Ad
• Yahoo Gemini
• Taboola
• Outbrain
• AdNow

Pros & Cons

Pricing

Unfortunately, AdPlexitiy doesn´t offer a free trial, at the moment. They do have a 24-hour refund policy. It´s going to cost you $249 a month or $2,490 a year, per user.

Best For

• Global advertisers can benefit from AdPlexitiy´s wide country list
• More experienced advertisers who want a simple yet effective solution

AdVault

AdVault is a more focused solution on native ads. Amongst other features, you can spy on winning campaigns, discover top pages and funnels, and monitor the activity of your niche and competitors. A cool thing about this spy tool is that you can save your favorite ads to reference later.

Features

• Landing page and funnel research
• Redirect link tagging
• Super affiliates research
• Data from 13 networks in 19 countries

Supported Networks

• Outbrain
• Taboola
• Gravity
• Adblade
• MGID
• EngageYa
• Content.Ad
• RevContent
• Yahoo
• Nrelate
• Ligatus
• Dianomi
• ZergNet

Pros & Cons

Pricing

$97 a month for the Pro plan and $1,499 a month for the higher tier, Network plan. You also get a $2,300 ad credit on any plan.

Best For

• Advertisers using many different networks
• Folks who are looking for other advertisers to partner with

Anstrex

Anstrex has one of the strongest value propositions in the market and they back it up with usage data. At the time of this writing, their platform provides competitive insights on over 150,000 advertisers, across 27 ad networks, in up to 92 countries.

High coverage is what you can expect from this native spy tool. The Anstrex team also does a great job at comparing themselves to the competition.

Features

• Filter ads by ad network, category, country, device, popularity, or dates
• Advanced search with and/or parameters
• Landing page download
• Customize landing pages and deploy them directly into your servers
• Related ads and landing pages

Supported Networks

• Adblade
• Colombia
• Decide
• Plista
• Outbrain
• Google
• Ad Up Technology
• Newsmax
• Jeng
• Spoutable
• Yahoo
• Runative
• Content.Ad
• MGID
• Taboola
• PopIn
• ZergNet
• RevContent
• Postquare
• Twiago
• Performance Advertising
• Jubna
• Adnow
• EngageYa
• Yengo
• Dianomi
• Adskeeper
• Bidtellect

Pros & Cons

Pricing

Anstrex starts at $69.99 a month per user with data from 64 countries. The intermediate plan costs $139.99 and offers data for 38+ push ad networks along with some more features. Finally, the premium plan gives you native, push, and pop-up intelligence for $219.99 a month. There´s also a 48 money-back guarantee.

Best For

• Medium to large-scale advertisers looking for a complete solution

Mobidea

You might have heard of Mobidea as a top mobile CPA network for affiliate marketers. But did you know they also offer a native ads spy tool? Coverage is one of their strongest points, giving you intel on over 10 million ads, and 27 networks in over 60 countries.

Features

• Landing page ripper
• New campaign alerts
• Filter campaigns by network, country, device, category, and tracker
• Lists of offers from affiliate networks

Supported Networks

• Adnow
• Google
• MGID
• Outbrain
• Revcontent
• Taboola
• Yahoo
• Connatix
• EngageYa
• Ligatus
• Adblade
• Bidtellect
• Content.Ad
• Dianomi
• Earnify
• Impact Advertising
• Lockerdome
• PopIn
• Spoutable
• Twiago
• Veeseo
• ZergNet
• Plista

Pros & Cons

Pricing

Native intelligence solely starts at $69.99 a month for 64 countries. The higher-tier plan comes with native and push, for 92 countries, and will cost you $139.99 a month.

Best For

• Affiliate advertisers can benefit the most from this solution since you can use the account balance to purchase their spy tool and save money

Native Ad Buzz

Native Ad Buzz coverage is not impressive compared to some of the other tools. It currently has access to 10 networks, and over 5 million ads in 12 countries. However, they have a unique approach by giving you access to a mastermind forum.
It´s a great value-add from my perspective, as it grants you access to successful advertisers and their insights, using the same tool. They´re also one of the most affordable solutions on the market.

Features

• Landing page and funnel data
• Save your favorite ads
• Filter by 5 device types, including IOS, Android, phone and tablet, and desktop
• 12 different filters to refine your searches

Supported Networks

• ZergNet
• Taboola
• Outbrain
• Yahoo
• Adblade
• Content.Ad
• Revcontent
• Gravity
• Ayboll
• MGID

Pros & Cons

Pricing

The standard plan gives you access to 2 major ad networks in the UK and US, for $47 a month. You get more networks, devices, and countries on the Pro plan, for $97 a month. Finally, the Agency plan comes with maximum coverage and simultaneous logins for $750 a month.

Best For

• Advertisers looking for an affordable, simple solution, who value having a community to tap into and get insights

PowerAdSpy

Besides native, PowerAdSpy also provides ad intelligence for other ad platforms including Google, YouTube, and Facebook. When it comes to native spying, it´s also one of the most affordable solutions on the market. Like many of the tools we´ve analyzed here, they cater to content creators and brand advertisers but focused on affiliates.

Features

• Over 15 million ads to spy
• Coverage in 140 countries
• Filter searches by country, language, affiliate network
• Landing page ripper

Supported Networks

• Bing
• MGID
• Adblade
• Taboola
• Revcontent
• Outbrain
• Strossle
• AppNexus
• Content.Ad
• Yahoo
• Yengo
• Microsoft
• ZergNet

Pros & Cons

Pricing

You can tailor your plan depending on the platforms you´re interested in. Each platform is priced at $49 a month, starting with a $7 trial for 5 days.

Best For

• Even though their focus is on affiliates, advertisers who want a simple, custom, and affordable solution can benefit most from this tool

SpyOver

SpyOver is a feature-intense native spy tool with good coverage and advanced filters. This tool gives you ad intelligence in 150 countries and over 10 million ads to spy on. SpyOver also has some great built-in analytics that make it easier for less analytical people to make smart decisions.

Features

• Search ads by keywords, redirects, publishers, landing text, offers, and more
• Filter pages by network, country, tracker, type of landing page, and date of impression
• Detailed statistics with diagrams and graphs
• Download ads and landing pages in one click

Supported Networks

• Yahoo
• Adnow
• Plista
• PropellerAds
• Revcontent
• EngageYa
• Content.Ad
• Adblade
• AdsKeeper
• Yengo
• Midas
• Outbrain
• MGID
• Taboola

Pros & Cons

Pricing

You can get access to SpyOver for $149 a month. If you need more than two users, they offer a Corporate plan at $299 a month.

Best For

• Global advertisers or companies looking for an all-round solution with solid features that don´t break the bank

Native Ads Spy Tools: Got A Favorite?

There you have it. The top native ads spy tools to get a leg up on your competition. Now you know the importance of spy tools and what each one can bring to the table.

Some of these tools have better or more features than others, while some are cheaper than others.
At the end of the day, the most important is that you find the right tool for you. Hopefully, this post was helpful enough to assist you in that decision.

Do you have a favorite already? Let us know in the comments.