Ad spy platforms, store databases, product research software and the free libraries that compete with them. We open each one on a paid account, run every filter, and publish what the sales pages leave out: the real limits, the real prices, and who should skip it.
Or start with the free method: how to spy on competitors’ ads.
| Six ad spy tools, side by side | Sept 2026 |
| Facebook Ad Library, every filter | Sept 2026 |
| Breakeven ROAS calculator | Sept 2026 |
| Reading a store’s revenue estimate | Sept 2026 |
Every page carries the date its prices and counters were last checked. Figures come from inside the tools, not from their marketing pages. Some links are affiliate links; they never change a verdict.
Three pages that answer most of the mail we get.
Long, dated, and written with the software open. Start wherever your bottleneck is.
How to spy on competitors’ ads
The whole ladder, from the free ad libraries a beginner should bookmark to the full-funnel tracking a scaler needs. Most of it costs nothing.
Six ad spy tools, tested and compared
Minea, Kalodata, Winning Hunter, AdSpy, Dropship.io and TrendTrack: where each one genuinely wins, and which channel it was built for.
Facebook Ad Library: the complete guide
Every filter, what each ad card reveals, the EU reach data most people miss, and exactly where the free tool stops.
The tools, opened one at a time.
Each comparison names what the other tool does better. When a competitor fits your channel, the page says so and sends you there.
TrendTrack, tested for a month
A deep spy suite let down by aggressive gating: the cheapest plan cannot spy on a single ad. Who it fits, who should pass.
TrendTrack vs Minea
Minea wins on price and product discovery. TrendTrack wins on channel coverage. The right pick depends on how you research.
TrendTrack vs AdSpy
AdSpy holds a decade of Facebook and Instagram ads with comment search. Nothing else here fully replaces that.
TrendTrack vs Kalodata
If you live inside TikTok Shop, Kalodata is the specialist and the cheaper entry. If you run three ad platforms, it is not.
TrendTrack vs Dropship.io
Two dashboards that look like the same product until you look past Facebook. Dropship.io is the budget entry at $39/mo.
TrendTrack vs Winning Hunter
Cheaper ad spy entry, Pinterest ads and AI-led creative research on one side; Google Ads and whole-funnel tracking on the other.
All comparisons, or the money questions first: is it worth it, what each plan costs, what is actually free.
Run the numbers before you run the ads.
Both calculators open on a worked example you can check with a pen, recalculate as you type, and send nothing anywhere.
Dropshipping profit margin calculator
Price, product, shipping, fees and the ad spend it took to win the sale. Net margin, breakeven ROAS and the maximum CPA you can pay.
Breakeven ROAS calculator
The return every ad dollar has to bring back before a cent is profit, plus the target ROAS that holds the net margin you want.
How the research actually gets done.
Module by module, with screenshots from our own accounts. Each page states which plan the feature sits on, so you never pay for a tab you cannot open.
- Track a competitor’s whole funnelAds, tests, emails and landing pages from one slot.
- Sort 337M ads by what is winningAd Rank, days running and estimated spend.
- Read a competitor’s real ad budgetEU and UK reach turned into a spend estimate.
- Rank Facebook pages by ad activityThe pages behind the ads, not the ads one by one.
- See any brand’s Search and YouTube ads88M+ Google ads, filtered by channel and format.
- Spy on a brand’s TikTok, ads and organicBoth halves of the account, ranked by views and shares.
- Filter 1.87M Shopify storesNiche, traffic, best-seller price, apps, theme.
- Estimate any store’s monthly salesWhat the revenue column knows, and what it guesses.
- Detect a store’s theme, apps and pixelsOne store, or every store running the same stack.
- Search 6M real store emailsFlows, campaigns and seasonal offers, by subject line.
- X-ray a store with a free extensionTraffic, country, apps and theme, no account needed.
- Pull the data into Claude or n8nAn MCP server and a REST API, with monthly credits.
The newest checks.
Three rules every page follows.
Every module is opened and every filter run on a subscription we pay for, or on a trial the vendor granted and the page discloses. Counters are read inside the app.
Prices and limits change. Each page states the day they were last verified, and the worked examples are recomputed by hand before publication.
Comparisons say where the competitor is better. Some links are affiliate links; they are disclosed on every page and they never move a score. How that works.