Quick answer: BigSpy vs PowerAdSpy comes down to what each extra dollar opens. BigSpy starts free and reaches TikTok for less. PowerAdSpy covers Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn and native ads, and all 11 networks cost less on its yearly plan. Spytrend groups ads by the owner who runs them.
BigSpy vs PowerAdSpy: three tools side by side
| BigSpy | PowerAdSpy | Spytrend | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Networks, by plan | Free: Facebook. $69: Facebook, Instagram, AppLovin. $159 and $399: 8, TikTok included. $499: all 11 | $69: Facebook and Instagram. $99: 4. $279: 7. $399: all 11, TikTok included | Facebook and TikTok |
| Database (each company's own figures) | Over 1 billion pieces of ad intelligence, 40 e-commerce sites (Sep 29, 2026) | 500M+ ads indexed (Sep 25, 2026) | 1.4B+ Facebook ads; about 280M new Facebook and TikTok ads a month, 170M+ of them on Facebook; 193 countries (Sep 29, 2026) |
| Free access | Free plan with no end date: Facebook only, 5 searches a day (Sep 25, 2026) | No free plan. A 3-day trial costs $1 on Basic and $7 on the other plans, then the full price (Sep 24, 2026) | Starter: free, no card, ads older than three months |
| Price, monthly and yearly | $69, $159, $399 or $499/mo; paid yearly, $49, $119, $299 or $399/mo (Sep 25, 2026) | $69, $99, $279 or $399/mo; paid yearly, $27, $39, $83 or $119/mo (Sep 24–25, 2026) | Live ads on paid plans, listed on the pricing page |
| Filters and industries | Three industries (eCom, Game, Tool), store platform, exact match, a Search Arbitrage switch | Category, CTA, country and sort on every plan; affiliate and e-commerce filters from $279 | 33 business categories with 342 subcategories |
| Groups ads by advertiser? | Advertisers tab with names masked on the free plan; Page/Domain Analysis from $159 | Tracks brands: 1 on Basic, up to 30 on Palladium | By owner: domains, Page IDs and pixels on one card |
| Best for | Starting free, or app networks such as AppLovin and Unity Ads | Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn and native ads, or all 11 networks at the lowest yearly price | Seeing who runs a group of Facebook or TikTok ads |
Both tools sell breadth, and both now reach 11 networks at the top. The sets differ, though. BigSpy leans toward app-install channels like AppLovin, Pangle and Unity Ads. PowerAdSpy adds Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn and native ads.
How I tested
I opened a free BigSpy account and ran one Facebook search there: "air fryer." I read both pricing ladders on the same day. PowerAdSpy has no free plan, so I didn't get inside it. Its side of this comparison comes from its pricing page and homepage.
What this test doesn't show: how PowerAdSpy's search behaves, since that needs a payment. Paid-only BigSpy features stay untested too, because my account never left the free plan.
Pricing: what each plan opens
At the entry point the two cost the same. BigSpy pricing starts at $69 a month for Starter: Facebook, Instagram and, for a limited time, AppLovin. PowerAdSpy pricing also starts at $69, for Basic with Facebook and Instagram.
After that the ladders split. BigSpy jumps to 8 networks at $159 (Growth). Scale keeps the same 8 at $399 and adds five seats. Ultimate reaches 11 at $499. PowerAdSpy climbs in smaller steps: 4 networks at $99, 7 at $279 and 11 at $399.
TikTok is where the monthly prices part ways. BigSpy adds it on Growth at $159. PowerAdSpy saves it for Palladium at $399, and labels it "niche coverage" along with LinkedIn, Quora and Reddit. If you need TikTok next to Facebook, BigSpy costs $240 a month less.
Yearly billing changes the picture. BigSpy's yearly plans save $240 to $1,200 a year: $49, $119, $299 and $399 a month. PowerAdSpy cuts harder, to $27, $39, $83 and $119 a month, billed as one payment of $331 to $1,436.
So what does that mean for a buyer? Paid yearly, TikTok costs $119 a month on both: BigSpy Growth or PowerAdSpy Palladium. All 11 PowerAdSpy networks cost $119 a month, while BigSpy Ultimate costs $399. One small catch: PowerAdSpy rounds its yearly monthly rates down. $1,004 over twelve months comes to $83.67.
Outside ratings are thin for both. BigSpy's Trustpilot score is 2.1 out of 5, from 25 reviews. PowerAdSpy's is 3.6 out of 5, from 57 (BigSpy, PowerAdSpy).
Free access: a free plan against a paid trial
Only BigSpy can be used without paying. Its homepage promises Facebook only, 5 searches a day and 20 creative downloads a day. After one search, my free account showed 4 searches and 0 downloads remaining. So count on the searches and treat the downloads as uncertain.
PowerAdSpy free access means a paid trial. It's $1 for three days on Basic and $7 on Standard, Platinum or Palladium. After day three, the full monthly rate is charged unless you cancel. With PowerAdSpy there's no free tier to weigh against the paid ones: every plan is paid, and the trial just starts one for less. The PowerAdSpy review in this series compares the trial terms on its different pages.
BigSpy vs PowerAdSpy on Facebook
Facebook is the one network both tools open on their cheapest paid plan. That makes it the fairest place to compare. In BigSpy I searched "air fryer" and kept its defaults: the eCom industry, the last 90 days and exact matching. It found 93K ads. Default deduplication cut that to 49K, and strict deduplication left 20K.
Each card shows a Creative Score, running days, the last-seen date, impressions and a popularity score. On the free plan, advertiser names and domains are partly starred out. The search is also very literal. The first card sold a bundle of air-fryer recipe books, and the third one promised "+1.000 Descargas", a download count.
PowerAdSpy's side stays on paper. Its pricing table lists popularity and impressions on every plan and Estimated Ad Budget from Platinum. Its homepage promises AI labels for each ad's hook, copy, visual style and CTA. I couldn't check any of it from inside.
For Facebook work, BigSpy lets you judge the data before you pay anything. With PowerAdSpy, the first look inside costs at least the $1 trial.
Where a third tool fits
Spytrend is an ad intelligence platform for Facebook and TikTok advertising: an archive of ads going back to 2018, AI-classified into 33 business categories, with every advertiser assembled into a single card — all ads, pages, domains and countries in one place.
Spytrend covers Facebook and TikTok, and groups ads by who's behind them. It sorts ads into 33 categories and 342 subcategories. BigSpy has three industries, and PowerAdSpy has a single category filter. The free Starter plan shows ads older than three months, and Spytrend pricing lists what the paid plans add.
Here's an example I opened in the Webmasters section. The card for Moboshortw2a (moboshortw2a.com) counts 1,078,597 ads. Of those, 20,012 are active and 1,058,585 have stopped. They run across 6 domains, 3 of them active, and 1,706 Facebook Page IDs, 702 of them active. The Philippines, the US and Indonesia lead its countries.
The "What merged this network" list shows why these ads sit together. Fan pages with different names all advertise moboshortw2a.com. Moboshort APP ran 20,830 ads, and MoboShort, Mobo-Short, Little daily moments and MoboShort-US ran hundreds to thousands each.
Searched page by page, those names look like separate advertisers. Grouped by the domain they share, they're one operator. BigSpy's Page/Domain Analysis starts at $159, and PowerAdSpy caps tracking at 30 named brands. Spytrend's card starts from the operator and pulls in the domains, Page IDs and pixels they share. A walkthrough of the Webmasters section shows how these cards come together.
Which one to choose
If you want to try the data before paying, or you buy on AppLovin, Pangle or Unity Ads, BigSpy fits better. Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn and native ads, or all 11 networks at the lowest yearly price, point to PowerAdSpy. Tracing the operator behind a group of Facebook or TikTok ads, with every domain and page they run, is closer to what Spytrend is built for.
The quickest check is your own. Search one product from your niche on BigSpy's free plan and in Spytrend's Starter. Then hold PowerAdSpy's plan list against the networks you actually buy on. More tools are ranked in the ad spy tool roundup. Related pairs in this series: AdSpy vs BigSpy, BigSpy vs Minea, AdSpy vs PowerAdSpy and PowerAdSpy vs Minea.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, BigSpy or PowerAdSpy?
Both start at $69 a month. BigSpy is cheaper for TikTok on monthly billing: $159 against $399 on PowerAdSpy. On yearly billing TikTok costs $119 a month on both. PowerAdSpy is cheaper for all 11 networks: $119 a month paid yearly, against $399 for BigSpy Ultimate.
Is there a free version of PowerAdSpy?
No. PowerAdSpy has no free plan. The closest thing is a three-day trial for $1 on Basic or $7 on the higher plans, and it renews at the full monthly rate. Every plan includes keyword, advertiser and domain search. Networks and deeper filters are added plan by plan.
Is there a good PowerAdSpy review to go by?
On Trustpilot, PowerAdSpy has 3.6 out of 5 from 57 reviews. The PowerAdSpy review in this series is built from its public pages and signup form, because the tool can't be opened without paying. It points out that the trial and refund terms differ from page to page.
Which is better for Facebook ads, BigSpy or PowerAdSpy?
For Facebook alone, BigSpy is easier to start with. Its free plan searches Facebook ads five times a day and shows impressions, running days and popularity on each card. PowerAdSpy says it labels each ad's hook, copy and CTA with AI, but you only see that on a paid plan.
What is a good PowerAdSpy alternative?
BigSpy has a free plan and cheaper TikTok on monthly billing. AdSpy suits work that stays on Facebook and Instagram, especially if you search ad comments. And if the operator behind a set of Facebook or TikTok ads matters more to you than extra networks, look at Spytrend.
Is Spytrend the same as BigSpy or PowerAdSpy?
No. BigSpy and PowerAdSpy spread across many ad networks and list ads one by one. Spytrend covers Facebook and TikTok. It builds one card per operator, with their domains, Page IDs and pixels together.