What is a spy tool in search arbitrage?
A spy tool is an ad intelligence service that collects adverts running on native, social or push networks and shows them alongside their landing pages. Buyers use products such as AdPlexity and Anstrex, and free ad libraries from the platforms themselves, to see which topics, angles and keywords competitors are running and for how long.
A spy tool answers "what is being advertised?" It does not answer "is it profitable?" or "is it allowed?". An advert that has run for weeks suggests someone is making money, but you cannot see their CPC, their feed terms or the deductions they suffer.
Use it for research, not copying. Lifting a competitor's creative risks copyright and trademark policy problems, and aggressive ads seen in a tool are often the ones about to be banned. Treat what you find as ideas for a vertical or ad angle, then write your own compliant version and prove it with creative testing.