Over the years, I used several of these myself and got better results in my Facebook ads.  

To build this list, I considered several factors: cost, effectiveness, ease of use, and other benefits of the tool. In my opinion, it is always best to pay for a tool that offers multiple functionalities than just one.    

We will discuss:

• The best spy tools you can use to find Facebook ads that work
• How to use a Facebook ad spy tool to gain an advantage over the competition
• Reasons why it makes sense to pay for a Facebook ad spy tool 

For starters, here is our list: 

1. Dropship.IO – best overall Facebook Ad spy tool 

2. PowerAdSpy – best for fast Facebook ad research

3. Dropispy – best for unlimited downloads

4. Minea – best for catching trends

5. AdSpy – best for Facebook ad search by demographics

6. BigSpy – best for multi-platform ad search

7. AdEspresso – best for setting up and creating Facebook ads

8. Social Peta – best for deep dive ad analytics

Let us start!

8 Best Facebook Ads Spy Tools

1. Dropship.IO – best overall Facebook Ad spy tool 

Dropship.IO is a tool that is more than just a Facebook ad spy tool. It also has the power to provide you with competitive analysis and tracking capabilities. For Facebook ads, the main tool to use is Ad Spot. 

Dropship.IO Features

• Ad Spot – this is the tool that makes it possible to spy on Facebook ads. You can browse for ads based on a product keyword, the number of likes that an ad has, or the number of shares. You can also filter the search based on the date the ad was created, what call to action the ad used, and many more. 
• Product Database – you can use the product database to search for products and view their revenue and number of units sold. The value you get from this tool is you will know which products have real customer demand. With this, you no longer have to experiment on product demand—you have real data that will back your business decision. 
• Competitor Tracker – you can use the tool to find competitors and decide the track their sales daily, weekly, and monthly. In addition, you can view what apps these stores use in their Shopify stores.  

Dropship.IO Pros

• You get more tools in one software for a low price
• The Ad Spot tool has several filter options
• You can find ads based on keywords and the Facebook ID of the advertiser

Dropship.IO Cons

• There is no free account

Use Dropship.IO if you are looking for a tool that has everything you need for analysis. An ad tool may not be a sustainable option once you already created an ad that works.  

Summary: Dropship.IO is a tool that provides you data not only for winning Facebook ads but also data about your competitors and product revenue. 

2. PowerAdSpy – best for fast Facebook ad research

PowerAdSpy is an excellent tool for dropshippers who want to view winning ads on different platforms. What you would like about it is that it offers a free account.   

PowerAdSpy Features

• Search by Keyword – similar to Dropship.IO, you can look for ads based on the words used in the headline and ad copy. This makes it easier to view ads that have something to do with a specific product. As a result, you do not have to sift through hundreds of ads that do not involve your business. 
• Search with Various Filters – in addition to the power of keyword search, you can narrow your investigation by using filters. With PowerAdSpy, you can find ads based on the category of the ad, the popularity of the ad, and the position of the ad. 
• Track the Performance of Ads – sometimes, an ad may become viral for a while, and then suddenly disappear in the limelight. It can be the opposite sometimes. If you have to track how an ad is performing, you can use the ad tracker so you can come back to it later and see how it is performing. 

PowerAdSpy Pros

• You have access to multiple advertising networks
• There are many ways by which you can search for ads
• The tool makes it possible to find ads in unusual networks like Quora 

PowerAdSpy Cons

• The free account has several limitations
• There is no access to ads on the TikTok platform

I recommend PowerAdSpy if you are looking for a free tool. It works best if you only want to search for ads quickly (for the free version). 

Summary: PowerAdSpy is a program not only for Facebook but for many advertising networks. It is best for dropshippers who plan to advertise on multiple platforms to reach as many audiences as possible.

3. Dropispy – best for unlimited downloads

Dropispy is not just a tool for spying on Facebook ads, but it is also a tool for finding winning products. It has one of the largest databases of e-commerce ads, and you can use it to find inspiring ads that can deliver top results for your business. 

Dropispy Features

• Search Filters – you can find ads based on several parameters such as ad type, the target country of the ad, the number of interactions, success rate, and more. 
• Large Database – the Dropispy platform gives you access to one of the largest databases of ads in the world. Right now, they have over 50 million e-commerce ads in the database. You can download these ads for review later, but you must be a paying subscriber to be able to do this. 
• Recent Ads – you can search the database for the most recent ads. It makes your research more timely, especially if you are looking for trendy ads. 

Dropispy Pros

• There are over 20,000 new ads added to the database every day
• Over 50 million ads in the current database 
• You can spy on winning ads

Dropispy Cons

• The free account does not provide basic filters

Dropship spy is an ad spy tool and nothing more. What it provides you is a dashboard of ad stats, but it cannot provide you with real data on what is happening inside an e-commerce store. 

It is also important to point out here that the winning products they offer are not based on revenue but on advertising performance. The only real way to determine if a product is a winner is based on sales, not likes and shares of ads.  

Summary: Dropispy is a dropship spy tool where you can view winning products based on ad performance. It also provides a way to view the winning ads of competitors.

4. Minea – best for catching trends

Minea is a dropship spy tool that also has coverage for ads. They provide spying capabilities for ads on Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok. Minea can provide you with data about your competitors’ campaigns, especially products that are making trends and sales. 

Minea Features

• Ad Collection – Minea has a database of over 200 million ads, and that is only for Facebook. You can view ads from different countries, which is great for you if you plan to dropship to different regions and not just the United States. 
• Magic Search – this is a new feature where you can find winning products. The AI of Minea analyzes the popularity of products based on ad performance on Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.   
• Filters – you can search ads based on many filters. You can also sort the ads so you can view the results from the top or the bottom.

Minea Pros

• You can find ads that have influencer placements
• You can install a Chrome extension, making the tool accessible anytime
• Has coverage on three of the biggest social media platforms  

Minea Cons

• You cannot access other platforms unless you subscribe

Minea also offers a way to find suppliers for winning products and an importation tool so you can transfer these products to your dropshipping store. On top of that, it has a market saturation AI that can tell you if a product you want to sell already has a lot of competition.

Summary: Minea is an all-in-one dropshipping tool where you can find winning products and ads. The tool also provides you access to product important straight to your dropshipping store.  

5. AdSpy – best for Facebook ad search by demographics

AdSpy is one of the biggest competitors of Dropispy. The big difference is that AdSpy has the largest database of ads from Facebook and Instagram. Its main offering is flexibility based on the types of searches you can do. 

AdSpy Features

• Search Tools – it is not just keywords that you can use to search for ads. There are several filters that you can use to narrow your search and find the right ad that you want to emulate for your business. You can search for ad results based on ad text, URL, audience reactions, and even affiliate networks.
• Comments Search – you can search for ads based on user comments. This feature will make it easier for you to see ads based on user feedback about the product. 
• Demographic Search – if you have a particular target market in mind, you can search for ads using age range, the location where the ad was shown, the gender of the audience, etc. This is a great search feature if you are looking forward to drilling down your marketing efforts.     

AdSpy Pros

• You can find ads based on affiliate network
• The ad search program is fast
• You can target your ad search based on various audience demographics

AdSpy Cons

• No transparency in pricing
• No other services but the ad spy for Facebook and Instagram 

AdSpy can help you find winning ads in over 222 countries. It has over 155 million ads in its database and you can also view these ads in 88 different languages. Overall, you can use AdSpy if you think it is important to penetrate either Facebook or Instagram.

Summary: AdSpy is a huge database of ads from Facebook and Instagram. It offers many ways to do your research for ads in over 200 countries.

6. BigSpy – best for multi-platform ad search 

If you think you need more than just Facebook, BigSpy is a good place to start. It has over 200 million ads on 9 platforms, and this sheer amount of data is more than enough to get ideas for the best working ads in the dropshipping industry. 

BigSpy Features

• Huge Coverage – you can view ads not only for Facebook but other platforms like Google, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and even Unity. Unity is a game-creation platform where companies can advertise on the games that players download and play.  
• Ad Ideas and Top Charts – the system can give you ideas about how you can run your ads for better results. There is also an area where you can, at a glance, see the best-performing ads that can inspire you. 
• Downloads and Tracking – you can download the ads you want to review later or track them. If you track them, you will how they are performing for a period. 

BigSpy Pros

• Multiple platform coverage
• They offer a Pro Plan for only $1 for three days
• You can track Facebook pages

BigSpy Cons

• There is no way to downgrade a plan

BigSpy is great for Facebook and Instagram use at $9 monthly. However, this price only gives you access to 20 daily queries. Although this may sound enough, it does not give you access to playing video ads.

Although you cannot play the ads, you can download the ads. If you need the feature where you can play the ad from the BigSpy dashboard, you will have to upgrade to the PRO Plan, which costs $99 monthly.   

Summary: BigSpy is a huge ad spy network that covers multiple ad platforms, including Google, Yahoo, and TikTok.

7. AdEspresso – best for setting up and creating Facebook ads

AdEspresso is more than just an ad spy tool. With it, you can set up your Facebook pixel, create Facebook ads, and track the conversions of your Facebook ads. With this platform, you can see ad examples related to your business and get inspiration from them.

AdEspresso Features

• Ad Creation – you can create ads straight from AdEspresso. It is not only Facebook that they support but also Google and Instagram. Instead of creating an ad on your Facebook Business Suite, you will create and launch it from the AdEspresso platform.
• Analysis – the platform provides you with a dashboard that you can download in Excel, PDF, and even through email. This dashboard provides you with a way to analyze how your ads are performing.
• Ad University – the company has a team of Facebook marketing experts who can help you learn the intricacies of Facebook advertising. 

AdEspresso Pros

• The company shows you how to succeed in advertising on Facebook
• You can use the tool to find the right audience for your product and niche
• You can create a Facebook ad from the AdEspresso platform

AdEspresso Cons

• The platform is heavily focused on how to create Facebook ads

AdEspresso is a good tool to make ads on Facebook with their guidance. It makes sense to work with them if you do not know how to create a Facebook ad or if you are lost in the process.   

Summary: AdEspresso is an advertising tool where you can create ads on Facebook. It can also show you ads and their stats. 

8. Social Peta – best for deep dive ad analytics

Social Peta covers only about 69 countries, but it has access to over 70 advertising channels. It is best for analyzing ads, not just for viewing ads that have a high number of shares or likes. 

Social Peta Features

• Ad Database – this platform is a smorgasbord of ads. The database has over 1.3 billion ads covering various networks, including TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and many more. 
• Niche Products – you can use the data from this platform to view ad results and performance in platforms like Amazon, AliExpress, and Shopify. This feature can help guide you in niche and product selection. 

Social Peta Pros 

• You can access ads from more than 5 million advertisers
• You can monitor your competitors’ marketing strategies

Social Peta Cons

• There is no transparency in pricing

Social Peta is a giant repository of ads. In addition to the ads, Social Peta has a dedicated academy where you can learn about the latest trends in advertising. 

Summary: Social Peta is an ad database that contains 1.3 billion ads. You can use it to glean insights from ads or find niche products in various selling platforms.  

Why Do You Need to Spy on Facebook Ads?

Facebook ads are all over—there is no time you launch the app without seeing an ad, so why do you need a Facebook ad spy tool? 

As a dropshipper, you need to be in tune with what is going on in your industry or niche. Spying on ads is not a new activity among marketers. In the past, when there was no internet, it was easier because the ads were visible on TV, radio, and print.   

Today, there is too much noise, and it would be difficult for you to see what your competitors are doing to make sales. Apart from visibility, below are some reasons why you need a Facebook ad spy tool: 

• Learn social trends
• View ads that produce results
• Identify markets you are not advertising to

Let us go through each one of these to learn more.  

1. Learn social trends

Not all dropshippers are personally interested in trends. However, you must change this mindset once you begin selling. The thing is that it would take time for you to get into the middle of things. 

With a Facebook ad spy, you can easily see which videos are going viral. It won’t be unusual to observe several ads doing the same thing—these are trends that you must capitalize on. 

Here are the best examples of Facebook trends that happened in the past: 

• Ice bucket challenge – a trend that raised awareness about Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. You had to pour a bucket of ice water over 24 hours or donate to the ALS cause  
• Bitstrip – a kind of cartoon that looked silly. These cartoons depicted people and their friends doing routines.  

If you know what is hot and viral, you can use the idea to participate as part of a social community. You can post a video, and then use that post as ad material. Do this, and people who see your ad will naturally feel that you are one with them and that you support their social causes, making your brand known.     

2. View ads that produce results

There are thousands of ads on Facebook, and yours may not be getting the attention and results you are expecting. The key here is to use a Facebook ad spy where you can find ads that have great results.  

Here is an example: 

All these are ads for flying toys or drones. We know from this feed that all these got thousands of reactions. As a dropshipper, you can choose what to watch from these ads knowing that people reacted to them.

From here, you can tell yourself how you can craft a better ad that will be likely to get the same number of reactions from the audience. 

3. Identify markets you are not advertising to

The last reason why you need a Facebook ad spy tool like our Ad Spot is to view untapped markets. You may be advertising to the USA only because you did not realize that there is another market out there. 

Here is an example: 

This is an ad for a drone that got more than 20,000 reactions. We would not have thought that the market for this is not the USA. As you can see to the right, the target market is mostly Belgium. 

Doing further research, I found out that it was also targeting other European countries like Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, etc.  All in all, this ad had a reach of 8,569 people, and it did not even target the USA. 

Summary: You need a Facebook ad spy tool to improve your visibility on what your competitors are doing. It also narrows down the ads you see to the ones relevant to your niche. It flushes out any ad that has nothing to do with your dropshipping business, the result of which is you can learn more from ads that work. 

How to Take Advantage of a Facebook Ad Spy Tool

What are the benefits of a Facebook ad spy tool and how can you leverage this for your dropshipping business? In this section, I will discuss several ways you can use a tool like Ad Spot to improve your dropshipping sales.

1. Find Ads by Creative Type

We know that video ads are some of the ads that deliver the most clicks and conversions. However, how will you make a video if you have never done one before? 

You can use a Facebook ad spy tool to do this. All you need to do is filter out any ad that is not a video, like this: 

Once you click on the search button at the bottom, you will see ad results that are video only. Take a look at this:

From here, you can watch each video and get ideas on how you will advertise your products. For this specific example, I searched for a drone ad. Now, I can list down the best ways I can shoot my drone video ads.  

So, if a drone ad shows a drone in flight, and it has lots of likes and shares, I will do the same. If the videos that get attention are those that are tech-oriented and feature-oriented, then I will create the same type of videos.   

2. Find Ads by Competitor

If you know who your competitor is, you can use a Facebook ad spy tool to find out if they are advertising. All you need to do is type their name in the search field: 

After clicking on SEARCH, you will see something like this:

As you can see here Jetronics does not only sell drones. It is also a jewelry retailer. However, let us focus on the drone aspect of the business. We will click on the VIEW MORE link.

Then we get this: 

Now, we can see the ad creation date, the number of ads that this seller is running on Facebook, the ad copy for the drone, and the landing page. 

Now, we can proceed to investigate the various aspects of this ad and see why it works and what people love about it. At the very least, we should watch the ad video itself and see how we can improve it.

3. Find Ads by Audience Response

Finally, you can leverage a Facebook ad spy tool by searching for an ad based on how well the audience received it.  

The screenshot above shows a slider of how you can choose ads based on audience response. You can even choose a range of video lengths to see how long your video ads should be. 

How does this help? If your goal is to get shares, then it is wise to search for ads on Facebook that have a high share count. Then, you can choose which ads resonate with the audience and get ideas on how you will create and position yours. 

Summary: A Facebook ad spy tool is one you can leverage so you can create better ads or ads that get the results you need. Without an ad spy tool, you are pretty much dependent on your ideas and experience, which can be so self-limiting at times. 

How to Choose the Best Facebook Ad Spy Tool

Of all the Facebook ad spy tools shared earlier, it would still be a tad difficult to choose which one is best for you. Below is a guide on what features to look for that can help you in your dropshipping journey. 

1. Cost of Facebook Spy Tool

Spy tools are costly, which means you would have to bake this in your budget. What makes this painful to the pocket is that you are already paying for other software programs like your dropship supplier tool.

I do not always recommend free software programs. My issue with many free dropshipping tools is that they provide little value. In this case, however, it makes sense to use free ad spy tools if you are tight on budget. 

Just know that free spy tools also do not give you a lot of data. They can, to a degree, provide useful insights you can take advantage of to improve your marketing content.    

2. Other Services Offered 

If possible, choose a program that offers multiple services. For example, Dropship.IO is more than just an ad spy tool. Our Ad Spot feature is one of the many programs you can use.    

Why is this important? Money does not grow on trees. It makes a lot of financial sense to pay for a multi-tool than just paying for a single type of service. 

Here is a sample cost analysis:

• Dropship tool – $29 monthly
• Product research tool – $30 monthly 
• Ad spy tool – $30 monthly
• Shopify –$25 monthly

These three tools will cost you $119 monthly. Now, if you can find a dropship tool, product research tool, and ad spy tool in one program, like Drosphip.IO, you will only spend $25 for Shopify and then another $29 for Dropship. IO. This makes much more financial sense than paying for different tools.  

3. Ease of Use and Functionality

Finally, choose a tool that is easy to use and one that offers more functional elements. Here are some examples: 

• Sorting
• Filtering
• Search by keyword

Tools are there for a reason—to make your work easier. If a Facebook ad spy does not help you reduce the time and effort spent on it, you need to look for a better choice. 

Summary: Not all Facebook ad spy tools are created equal. Choose a Facebook ad spy tool that not only makes it possible to spy on ads but also gives you other tools to spy on competitors and find products in high demand.

FAQ: Best Facebook Ads Spy Tools

Which is the tool to spy on competitor ads?

The best tool to spy on competitor ads is Dropship.IO. With it, you can first find a real competitor based on the products they sell, and then check if they have ads on Facebook.  

What is an ad spy tool?

An ad spy tool is a software program that makes it possible to research what ads your competitors launched. The tool makes it easy to find ads related to your niche and get ideas on how your competitors market their products.     

How do I monitor Facebook ads?

You can monitor Facebook ads from an ad spy tool or the Facebook ad library. 

What is the most effective Facebook ad type?

There is no single most effective Facebook ad type. Generally speaking, the highest-performing ones are video ads and carousel ads.  

Summary

The next step I encourage you to take is to try Dropsip.IO, which has a 7-day free trial. Once your account is set, go to the Ad Spot tool and explore the Facebook ads that will give you fresh ideas.

You can also use the tool to spy on your competitors, find winning products, and track how products and competitors are performing!