If you’re reading this article about Smartly.io alternatives, chances are you’re feeling some of the common frustrations: bloated features, rising costs, or rigid workflows that no longer align with your business needs. Or perhaps you haven’t tried Smartly yet but know it as a major player in the martech world and are curious about what else is out there.
We’re here to help you navigate the options and evaluate platforms that claim to rival Smartly.io, so you can find the one that fits your needs best.
In this comparison, we’ll dive into 8 Smartly.io alternatives, examining their functionalities, pricing, pros, and cons.
Why are businesses usually looking for Smartly.io Alternatives?
We’ve talked to performance marketers who’ve used Smartly for years, and we’ve mapped 3 most common reasons why businesses are looking for Smartly’s alternative:
#1 Pricing
Let’s address the elephant in the room: Smartly.io’s pricing. Many SMBs in the growth phase feel they’re overpaying for features they don’t use. Built for enterprises with multi-million-dollar budgets, Smartly.io often leaves advertisers spending under $500K/month paying top-tier fees for tools they barely use. (See G2 review)
#2 Rigid workflows
For businesses focused on Meta or Snapchat, Smartly’s workflows can feel like overkill. You’re stuck navigating complex setups designed for omnichannel campaigns, even when you just need to get ads live quickly. (See the G2 review)
#3 Support that feels distant
When you’re a mid-sized client on Smartly, it can feel like you’re on your own. Support often feels slow or outsourced, and getting real-time help isn’t always easy. (See G2 review)
1. Hunch - The only real Smartly competitor
It may sound biased, but it’s true: Hunch and Smartly are the only two social advertising platforms that automate both creative and media workflows. Both platforms leverage dynamic templates to significantly reduce manual work in creative production and campaign management. The main difference lies in the approach. Smartly.io offers a rigid system with workflows set in stone, while Hunch is more agile, offering custom workflows tailored to individual business needs.
Who is it for?
Hunch is designed for mid-market and growth-stage businesses spending €80K–€500K monthly on Meta and Snapchat. It’s an ideal solution for e-commerce, retail, fashion, and other catalog-heavy businesses. Hunch is also an excellent choice for agencies managing multiple clients, providing efficient workflows to prevent client loss due to operational inefficiencies.
Hunch Pricing
Smartly.io calculates pricing based on your entire ad spend. Unlike Smartly, Hunch offers fair pricing:
- Pricing starts at €2,500 per month, with no additional fees for features like AI background removal or other features like Catalog Product Video (fka PLV)
- We’re only looking at the ad spend that runs through the Hunch platform
How Hunch compares to Smartly.io
Source: Internet research
Smartly.io caters to enterprise-level companies with large budgets, often exceeding $1M+ monthly. While it offers robust omnichannel capabilities, it tends to have:
- Rigid workflows that may feel cumbersome for mid-sized businesses.
- Bloated features that some users pay for but never fully utilize.
- Uneven support, with smaller clients often receiving less attention.
Hunch, in contrast, specializes in Meta and Snapchat advertising, offering:
- Agile workflows that adapt to the needs of mid-market businesses.
- Strategic guidance and hands-on support tailored to each client. (See G2 review)
- A more focused and efficient platform, ideal for companies looking to scale without unnecessary complexity. (See the G2 review)
Pros:
✅ Combines creative and media workflows in one platform.
✅ Specializes in Meta and Snapchat for paid social campaigns.
✅ Transparent pricing—customers only pay for what they use.
✅ Personalized onboarding and rapid support through dedicated Slack channels.
Cons:
❌ Limited Google integration compared to Smartly.io.
❌ Best suited for mid-market advertisers spending €50,000+ monthly on social advertising.
2. ROI Hunter - Best for e-commerce product optimization
When you think of ROI Hunter, the first thing that comes to mind is e-commerce brands. This platform focuses on product performance management, helping retailers analyze how individual products perform to maximize margins and make smarter decisions. ROI Hunter integrates product-level data from Google Ads, Facebook, Google Analytics, internal systems, and e-commerce platforms directly into a company’s product feed, making it a strong tool for optimizing product performance and targeting.
However, ROI Hunter falls short on the creative side. It lacks tools for dynamic creative production, leaving advertisers to rely on other solutions to fill the gap between data and engaging ad creative.
Who is it for?
E-commerce brands are looking to optimize their ad spend using product performance insights.
Pricing
They are communicating that they charge 1-5% of your ad spend. For more information, you should check their pricing page.
How it compares to Smartly.io:
ROI Hunter focuses solely on e-commerce and product performance, making it a decent option for brands prioritizing DPAs and product insights. If you’re working for that kind of brand, ROI Hunter is a suitable alternative to Smartly.
Unlike ROI Hunter, Smartly.io offers a seamless integration of creative and media workflows, allowing advertisers to automate ads across the entire funnel. For brands looking to combine product insights with dynamic creative production and streamlined campaign management, ROI Hunter simply doesn’t compare.
Pros:
✅ Excellent for e-commerce brands.
✅ Integrates deeply with product feeds.
✅ Optimizes Dynamic Product Ads effectively. (Check the G2 review)
Cons:
❌ Limited creative automation.
❌ Not ideal for other verticals.
❌ Platform can be slow and freeze frequently (See the G2 review)
3. Sprinklr - Best for omnichannel campaign management
Sprinklr is a well-known company often mentioned as a Smartly.io alternative. However, it operates beyond the realm of social advertising, positioning itself as a customer experience management (CXM) platform for enterprises. Sprinklr focuses on social listening, sentiment analysis, and omnichannel engagement across channels like social media, email, and messaging apps. Designed for brands prioritizing relationship-building and consistent customer experiences, Sprinklr is more about managing conversations than driving paid ad performance.
Who is it for?
Large enterprises managing multi-channel campaigns and customer engagement.
Pricing
According to their pricing page, Sprinklr Service offers two primary pricing plans:
- Self-Serve Customer Service Solution:some text
- Cost: $199 per seat/month (billed annually) or $249 per seat/month (billed monthly).
- Enterprise Custom Solution:some text
- Cost: Custom pricing based on specific requirements.
In terms of comparing Sprinklr with Smartly, the second pricing model is what you would be looking for.
How it compares to Smartly.io:
Just simply looking at the pricing packages makes it clear that Sprinklr operates far beyond the scope of social advertising. Without question, Smartly.io is superior for paid social-first campaigns. However, the overlap between these two platforms lies in their focus on enterprise solutions running omnichannel campaigns. From this perspective, Sprinklr can be considered a valid competitor to Smartly.io, offering an excellent platform for omnichannel management.
Pros:
✅ Comprehensive campaign management.
✅ Ideal for large-scale customer engagement.
✅ Strong analytics and reporting. (See the G2 review)
Cons:
❌ Complex interface with a steep learning curve. (Read the G2 review)
❌ Lacks advanced creative automation tools
4. Kargo Commerce - Best for feed and product ad management
Kargo Commerce is a retail and e-commerce-centric platform that enables the creation of personalized ads at scale. While Kargo Commerce offers solutions for personalized advertising, it primarily focuses on retail and e-commerce industries. In contrast, Smartly.io specializes in social media advertising automation across various industries. Therefore, Kargo Commerce is a Smartly.io alternative for retailers.
Who is it for?
Retailers and e-commerce businesses seeking to enhance their advertising efforts with personalized, scalable ad solutions.
Pricing
Kargo Commerce doesn’t communicate pricing on their website.
How it compares to Smartly:
Kargo Commerce and Smartly.io serve different purposes and are not direct competitors. While Kargo Commerce specializes in retail and e-commerce advertising, focusing on personalized ads to drive both online and in-store sales, Smartly.io provides a broader solution for social media advertising automation across industries. With advanced features like dynamic creative optimization and cross-platform campaign management, Smartly.io is better suited for advertisers looking to scale paid social campaigns efficiently.
Pros:
✅ Excellent for creating tailored, engaging ads for retail and e-commerce audiences.
✅ Designed specifically for driving online and in-store sales in the retail sector.
✅ Helps retailers deploy ads efficiently with tools focused on contextual relevance.
Cons:
❌ Primarily serves retail and e-commerce, with minimal flexibility for other industries.
❌ Lacks advanced tools for dynamic creative optimization or media workflow automation.
❌ Doesn’t offer cross-platform campaign management like Smartly.io.
Note: We couldn’t find enough G2 reviews for this platform.
5. Celtra - Best for large-scale creative automation
Celtra is a creative management platform for digital advertising that operates as a cloud-based, self-service software for streamlining the whole creative production process. Celtra became a synonym for creative automation, but that is exactly where Celtra stops - at creative, while Smartly offers automated campaign management too.
Who is it for?
- Enterprise brands managing complex, multi-market advertising campaigns.
- Creative agencies working on high-volume ad production for multiple clients.
- In-house creative teams looking to scale creative production efficiently while maintaining brand consistency.
Celtra is particularly strong for brands needing a creative-first solution but since it doesn’t address media workflow automation or paid social ad management, the platform is less suitable for performance marketers.
Pricing
Same as Kargoo Commerce, Celtra doesn’t share their pricing transparently which is why you’ll have to contact them for more information.
How it compares to Smartly:
If you’re looking to automate your social advertising from A to Z, you won’t be comparing these two platforms. And, honestly, we don’t think anyone should compare them at all. Because Celtra and Smartly are not direct competitors. Celtra is a creative-first platform, whereas Smartly.io combines creative and media workflows, making it a more comprehensive solution for performance marketers managing paid social campaigns. Celtra might complement Smartly.io but doesn’t replace its capabilities.
Pros:
✅ Creative-First Platform: Ideal for scaling and managing high-quality, on-brand creative assets. (Read the G2 review)
✅ Multi-Channel Creative Production: Supports various ad formats for display, video, and social.
✅ Collaboration Tools: Designed for creative teams to streamline production and approvals across global campaigns.
Cons:
❌ No Media Workflow Automation: Lacks tools for managing or optimizing ad campaigns.
❌ Limited to Creative Production: Doesn’t integrate creative and media workflows like Smartly.io.
❌ Not Performance-Focused: Offers limited campaign performance analytics (G2 review)
6. Skai - Best for data-driven media optimization
Skai (formerly Kenshoo) has made a name for itself in martech with strong omnichannel marketing tools. Its platform helps advertisers plan, run, and analyze campaigns across retail media, paid search, paid social, and app marketing. While its solutions are powerful for cross-channel advertising, Skai’s broad approach often lacks the focus needed for truly social-first campaigns.
Who is it for?
Skai is ideal for enterprise brands and agencies with large advertising budgets spread across multiple channels. It’s especially valuable for industries like retail, CPG, finance, automotive, and travel, where detailed performance insights and an omnichannel strategy are essential.
Pricing
Skai uses a flat annual fee structure with tiers based on annual ad spend, starting at $95,000 per year for advertisers spending up to $4 million. Higher tiers, such as Enterprise Premier, support ad spends exceeding $35 million and include features like incrementality testing, white-glove onboarding, and custom solutions. Read more on their pricing page.
How Skai compares to Smartly.io:
In a sentence: While Skai offers a wide scope of capabilities, Smartly.io provides depth for social-first campaigns, ensuring advertisers can seamlessly scale with precision and creativity.
Skai is ideal for advertisers managing campaigns across diverse digital ecosystems. However, its social advertising capabilities, while robust, lack the level of creative automation and agility provided by Smartly.
Pros:
✅ Omnichannel Focus: Integrates search, social, retail media, and app marketing for a unified strategy.(G2 review)
✅ Advanced Analytics: Delivers granular insights, enabling data-driven decisions
✅ Scalability: Well-suited for enterprise advertisers with large budgets and complex campaigns.
Cons:
❌ Complexity: The platform’s vast feature set can overwhelm users unfamiliar with its ecosystem. (See G2 review)
❌ High Cost: Pricing is out of reach for smaller businesses or mid-market advertisers.
❌ Limited Social-First Focus: Skai lacks the creative and workflow automation tailored specifically for paid social advertising that Smartly.io excels at.
7. Flashtalking – Best for high-volume campaigns across display, video, and CTV
Flashtalking by Mediaocean is the ad tech platform for creative personalization and intelligence across all marketing channels including CTV, video, display, social, native, audio, and retail media. For Flashtalking social advertising is one of the things they do.
Who is it for?
Large brands and agencies running high-volume campaigns across display, video, and CTV, need advanced ad serving and dynamic creative optimization.
Pricing
Specific pricing details for Flashtalking are not publicly disclosed, as the platform offers customized solutions. You can contact Flashtalking directly to receive a quote based on your specific requirements.
How Flashtalking compares with Smartly:
The choice ultimately comes down to your specific needs. If you’re seeking a solution that spans multiple channels, with social advertising as just one part of your strategy, Flashtalking may be the better option. However, if you need an end-to-end platform dedicated to optimizing your social advertising efforts, Smartly.io clearly outshines Flashtalking.
✅ Independent Ad Serving: Unbiased delivery and measurement.
✅ Creative Personalization: Delivers dynamic, data-driven ads at scale.
✅ Data Transparency: Privacy-compliant, user-level insights.
✅ Omnichannel Support: Covers display, video, and CTV. (See G2 review)
Cons:
❌ Complex Interface: Can be challenging for new users.
❌ No Media Buying Tools: Lacks integration for full campaign management.
❌ Enterprise Focused: Best suited for large-scale advertisers.
❌ Weak Customer Support: Not offering strategic guidance (See G2 review)
8. Marpipe - Good entry point for DPAs only
You may encounter this platform when looking for Smartly alternatives. Marpipe puts its focus on the production of DPA templates. They enable the creation of enriched catalogs and use them for campaigns on all major platforms. You can use Marpipe to produce better ad visuals for your DPAs, but that’s pretty much where their work is done because this platform doesn’t offer campaign management.
Who is it for?
Ideal for brands and agencies with a small number of SKUs and lower ad spend.
Pricing
Marpipe offers three primary pricing tiers:
- Starter: $2,000 per month for 50 ad variations.
- Growth: $5,000 per month for 150 ad variations and additional features like team collaboration.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing tailored to large-scale advertisers with specific needs.
How it compares to Smartly.io:
Smartly.io focuses on automating creative production and media buying, while Marpipe bets on Multivariate Testing—but don't confuse it with creative testing in Smartly’s realm. Marpipe’s approach randomly serves creative variations to analyze what works best, helpful for designers unsure about their assets. However, once launched, you lose control over the process. Marpipe is best for discovering top-performing creatives, making it a complementary tool to Smartly.io, not a competitor.
Pros:
✅ Allows testing of multiple ad variables simultaneously.
✅ Data-driven insights to optimize creative performance.
✅ Scalable for growing teams and enterprise-level needs.
Cons:
❌ Higher learning curve for smaller teams with limited resources.
❌ Does not include media buying or omnichannel management capabilities.
At the moment, Marpipe has only a few G2 reviews, so we recommend reading them all here.
The challenge of being a true Smartly.io alternative
As one of the pioneers in the martech industry, Smartly.io has set the bar high, educating countless marketers on how to work not just faster but smarter. However, with their rapid growth and increasingly bloated features, it’s become challenging for both competitors and even their own clients to keep up.
That’s where the Hunch comes in - a platform that delivers the same capabilities, minus the extra fluff. We’ve sharpened our focus on providing the best possible campaigns on Meta and Snapchat, giving our customers the best of both worlds: a wide range of powerful features paired with customized workflows designed to meet their unique needs. If this article sparked your curiosity about Hunch, here’s a deeper comparison of Smartly and Hunch you should check.
