SpyFu alternatives for competitor keywords and ads
·4 min read
The best SpyFu alternatives depend on which SpyFu report you use. For a competitor's current Google ads, Google's Ads Transparency Center shows them at no cost. For search volumes, Google Keyword Planner is Google's own data. For a competitor's organic keywords or a keyword gap, you need a third-party estimate, either from a suite or from a tool you pay per report.
SpyFu's own pitch is PPC history, and that is the part least easy to replace. If you study how rivals changed their ads over years, keep it.
What SpyFu does, by its own account
SpyFu sells competitor research for Google Ads and SEO in one subscription. Its home page promises "the SEO & PPC keywords your competitors buy and rank for" and "every ad they've tested."
On the PPC side, SpyFu lists a Google Ads competitor keyword tool, an ad test history that shows which ads a competitor kept and which it dropped, monitoring of the domains bidding on your keywords, negative match suggestions and a Google Ads Advisor that recommends keywords from competitors' bidding history. On the SEO side, it lists competitor organic keywords, a multi-competitor keyword gap tool, keyword ranking history, backlinks by keyword, rank tracking and branded client reports. It also lists an AI site audit and an API.
The same page says SpyFu covers 38 countries and holds 18+ years of history, and it claims more paid keywords and organic rankings than Semrush and Ahrefs. Those are SpyFu's own numbers, not an independent test.
We could not read SpyFu's pricing page with an automated request, so we don't quote a price here. Check it on spyfu.com before you compare.
Why people look for SpyFu alternatives
Most people looking for a SpyFu alternative want one of four things.
- Current ad copy, not a history. If you only need what a rival says in its ads this month, Google publishes that itself.
- Organic keywords. SpyFu leads with PPC. Some people want a tool built around organic rankings, traffic estimates and backlinks, which is where Semrush alternatives and Ahrefs alternatives come in.
- Other countries. Check that the country you sell in is covered before you buy any tool, SpyFu included.
- Pay per use. A subscription is good value when you open it most days. For a quarterly look at three competitors, paying per report costs less.
One thing no alternative fixes. Google does not publish the keywords an advertiser bids on, so every third-party list of a competitor's paid keywords is an estimate, whoever sells it.
No-cost SpyFu alternatives from Google
Google gives away two of the inputs SpyFu sells, straight from its own data.
| Job | Google source | What it leaves out |
|---|---|---|
| A competitor's Google ads | Ads Transparency Center | The keywords behind the ads, spend, clicks |
| Search volume and CPC | Google Keyword Planner | Any competitor's rankings or bids |
| Your own organic keywords | Search Console Performance report | Every site you have not verified |
Google launched the Ads Transparency Center in March 2023. It shows the ads a verified advertiser has run, the regions they ran in, the last date each was shown and the format. You search by advertiser or website, not by keyword. Our Ads Transparency Center guide walks through the filters.
Keyword Planner shows search volumes and bid estimates, and Google asks you to finish setting up a Google Ads account before you can use it. Our Keyword Planner guide covers what it hides from SEO work.
What Google won't give you is a competitor's organic keywords or the gap between their keywords and yours. That data always comes from a third party.
SpyFu alternatives you pay per run
If you want the SpyFu reports without a subscription, three of our tools cover the core jobs, each charged per run from a monthly credit balance. The Indie plan is $29 a month for 2,000 credits.
| SpyFu job | Our tool | Credits per run |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor ads | Competitor Google Ads | 15 |
| Competitor organic keywords | Competitor Keywords | 35 |
| Keywords they rank for and you don't | Keyword Gap | 85 |
Competitor Keywords lists a site's top 100 Google keywords by estimated traffic, with search volume, difficulty, intent and cost per click, in one of 20 countries. Keyword Gap lists up to 300 keywords a competitor ranks for in Google's top 20 where your site doesn't rank at all. Both cover a whole domain, both show estimates, and neither shows the keywords a competitor bids on. A run is refunded when our keyword data has no record of the domain.
There is no rank tracking, no ad history going back years, no negative match suggestions and no budget data. If those are why you use SpyFu, stay.
See a competitor's Google ads per run
Competitor Google Ads takes a competitor's website and pulls up to 100 of the most recently shown Google ads that send people to it, from the Ads Transparency Center, in every country or one of 20 you pick. Each ad comes with its format, the advertiser account, first and last shown dates and days running. The report counts how many ads are running now and how many started in the last 30 days, and lists every advertiser account behind them, which shows agencies and resellers.
It then reads the headlines, descriptions and landing pages of up to 10 text ads, longest-running first. Google publishes no clicks or spend, but an ad that has run for months is one the advertiser keeps paying for, so those come first. A run costs 15 credits. If no ads are found, the run is refunded. It shows no bid keywords, spend or performance, and no Facebook or LinkedIn ads.