If you are evaluating Smartly.io alternatives, you are probably not shopping for features. You are checking whether the platform still matches where your money goes.
Why teams leave Smartly
#1 Pricing
Smartly’s model is a percentage of total media spend on any connected ad account, not just the campaigns running through the platform. Reviewers on G2 report minimums that keep climbing and a fee that gets hard to justify below enterprise scale. The pricing page itself now returns a 404, so the only way to find out is to book a call.
#2 Operations
Breadth costs hours. G2 reviewers describe a learning curve steep enough to recommend hiring a specialist just for onboarding, which turns platform upkeep into a role of its own.
#3 Packaging
One suite covers social, Google, CTV and DSPs. More channels, more you pay. That is a lot of platform to fund when your growth lives on paid social.
Everyone knows Smartly. The question is whether the suite matches where your spend actually goes. Here are eight alternatives, starting with where enterprise paid social teams land most often.
1. Hunch: the enterprise alternative for paid social
Hunch is where enterprise catalog advertisers land when they leave Smartly. Full creative production and media management for Meta, TikTok, and Snap: Creative Studio with Figma and Photoshop import, Smart Sets built from first-party data, catalog product videos, Product Insights, and Autopilot for multi-market launches.
Hunch pricing
Plans start from $2,500 per month, charged only on the spend that runs through Hunch. Not a percentage of every connected account. No per-account limits, and core features including AI creative enhancements are part of the base fee.
The proof
Academy Sports + Outdoors drove 2.3x incremental ROAS in a Meta Conversion Lift Study, outperforming competitor creatives by 102%. The Gym Group went from 15 ads a month to 150+ at 25% lower CPA. Carwow lifted ROI 242% with localized automation. Nordbutiker migrated off its previous platform and was live in three days across four markets.
How Hunch compares to Smartly
Smartly spreads across every channel. Hunch puts everything into Meta, TikTok, and Snap, with creative and media in one workflow that marketers run without an engineering queue. If Google Ads is your core channel, Smartly is the better fit. If paid social carries your growth, that focus is the whole point. Full breakdown: Hunch vs Smartly.
Coming soon: AI-native reporting and Hunch Agentic, native AI workstreams for paid social. See what our CEO just introduced.
2. ROI Hunter – Best for e-commerce product optimization
ROI Hunter focuses on product performance management for e-commerce brands. It integrates product-level data from ad platforms, analytics tools, and internal systems to help advertisers prioritize SKUs and manage catalog-based campaigns.
ROI Hunter is primarily designed for teams that want to optimize product performance and inventory-driven advertising.
Hunch also supports product insights workflows by closing the loop between product signals and creative automation, enabling teams to adapt creative and media decisions based on SKU performance and audience behavior. You can read more about this approach in our article on how Hunch closes the loop with product insights.
Who is it for?
E-commerce brands looking to optimize campaigns using product performance insights.
Pricing
ROI Hunter communicates pricing in the range of 1–5% of ad spend. For details, refer to their pricing page.
Pros
- Strong focus on e-commerce and product feeds
- Effective for Dynamic Product Ads
- Deep product-level insights
Cons
- Limited creative automation
- Less flexible outside e-commerce use cases
- Performance and usability may vary depending on setup
3. Sprinklr – Best for omnichannel customer engagement
Sprinklr operates as a customer experience management (CXM) platform, supporting social listening, sentiment analysis, and engagement across multiple channels including social, messaging, and email. It is designed primarily for enterprises managing large-scale customer interactions rather than paid social performance.
Who is it for?
Large enterprises managing omnichannel engagement and customer experience programs.
Pros
- Comprehensive engagement and analytics
- Strong reporting capabilities
- Enterprise-grade infrastructure
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Limited creative automation for paid social
4. Kargo Commerce – Best for retail feed-based advertising
Kargo Commerce focuses on retail and e-commerce advertising, helping brands create personalized ads at scale. It is primarily used in retail-specific use cases rather than broader paid social automation.
Pros
- Tailored for retail and e-commerce
- Supports personalized ad experiences
- Focused on contextual relevance
Cons
- Limited flexibility outside retail
- No full media workflow automation
- Narrow platform scope
5. Celtra – Best for large-scale creative automation
Celtra is a creative management platform focused on scaling creative production. It is often used by enterprise creative teams but does not include media workflow automation.
Pros
- Strong creative production tools
- Supports multiple ad formats
- Built for large creative teams
Cons
- No campaign or media automation
- Limited performance insights
- Creative-only focus
6. Skai – Best for data-driven media optimization
Skai supports omnichannel marketing across search, retail media, social, and app marketing. It is often used by enterprise advertisers with large, diversified media budgets.
Pros
- Omnichannel coverage
- Advanced analytics
- Enterprise scalability
Cons
- Complex interface
- High cost
- Less focused on social-first creative automation
7. Flashtalking – Best for display, video, and CTV
Flashtalking focuses on ad serving and creative personalization across channels such as display, video, CTV, and social.
Pros
- Independent ad serving
- Dynamic creative capabilities
- Broad channel support
Cons
- No media buying tools
- Enterprise-oriented
- Limited strategic guidance
8. Marpipe – Entry-level option for DPAs
Marpipe focuses on multivariate testing and DPA creative production. It does not offer campaign or media management.
Pros
- Useful for testing creative variations
- Data-driven creative insights
- Scalable for catalog testing
Cons
- No media buying
- Limited workflow automation
- Better as a complementary tool
How to pick a real alternative
Two questions separate a genuine alternative from a smaller version of the same bill. Does the fee apply to every connected account, or only to the spend running through the tool? And are you buying channels you will never activate?
Answer those two honestly and the list above shortens fast. If paid social is where your growth lives and creative volume is the bottleneck, Book a Demo and bring your media plan. We will tell you in one call whether we are the right fit.
Comparison based on publicly available information as of September 2026. The opinions and claims expressed here are based on Hunch’s understanding of the platforms and may not reflect the views of the companies mentioned. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
