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Smartly

PPC & Paid Ad Management

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★★★★☆ 4.4 / 5 on G2 · 4.3 on Capterra (500+ G2 reviews)
4.4 / 5
G2 rating, 500 reviews [source]
2013
Founded, Helsinki [source]
Creative
Automation at scale [source]
Meta+
TikTok, Pinterest, more [source]

Quick facts

CategoryPaid social advertising
Founded2013
HeadquartersHelsinki, Finland
Starts atQuote based
Best forPaid social creative at scale
DeploymentCloud, web
Free planNo
IntegrationsMeta, TikTok, Pinterest, Google
G2 rating4.4 / 5
Capterra rating4.3 / 5

What is Smartly?

Smartly, often written Smartly.io, is an enterprise paid social advertising platform that automates creative production and campaign optimisation across social networks. Founded in 2013 in Helsinki, it helps large brands and agencies produce many ad variations, automate how they are built and localised, and optimise spend across Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat and more. Its focus is the two hardest parts of social advertising at scale: making enough good creative, and optimising it across channels.

Smartly's distinction is creative automation. Producing the volume and variety of creative that modern social advertising demands is a major bottleneck, and Smartly automates building, versioning and localising ads from templates and feeds. Combined with cross channel optimisation, that makes it a powerful platform for brands running paid social at serious scale.

Smartly at a glanceSmartly automates creative and optimisation across Meta, TikTok, Pinterest and other social networks for large advertisers [Smartly]. It holds a 4.4 out of 5 rating across more than 500 reviews on G2, used by major brands and agencies for paid social at scale.

Who Smartly is best for

Smartly is best for large brands and agencies running paid social advertising at significant scale that need to automate creative production and optimise across multiple social platforms. It suits teams for whom creative volume and cross channel social optimisation are real bottlenecks. It is a weaker fit for small advertisers or those focused on search, where Optmyzr or the native platforms fit, since Smartly is enterprise priced and social focused.

Key features

The core strengths are automated creative production and versioning from templates and product feeds, dynamic and personalised ads, cross channel campaign management and optimisation across social networks, and strong reporting. It supports Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat and Google, and offers AI for creative and optimisation. Its ability to produce and optimise social creative at scale is its defining advantage.

Smartly pricing

Smartly does not publish prices. It is quote based enterprise software, typically priced as a percentage of managed ad spend or a platform fee, with annual contracts aimed at brands and agencies spending heavily on paid social. Because it targets large advertisers, total cost reflects significant social ad budgets. Expect a sales led evaluation. Request current pricing through the Smartly site.

Integrations and ecosystem

Smartly integrates with the major social ad platforms, Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat and Google, plus product feeds, creative tools and analytics. Its ecosystem is built around paid social advertising at scale, connecting creative sources and ad platforms in one workflow.

Smartly AI

Smartly has invested in AI for creative generation and variation, predicting which creative will perform, and optimising spend across platforms. As AI reshapes ad creative, Smartly positions its automation and AI as the way for large brands to keep up with the volume social advertising demands.

Ease of use and support

Smartly is a capable enterprise platform that benefits from onboarding, and its creative automation rewards teams that invest in templates and feeds. It offers enterprise support and services. Its G2 reviews praise creative automation and optimisation, with the enterprise focus and setup effort the main considerations.

Is Smartly worth it?

For a large brand or agency running paid social at scale that needs to automate creative and optimise across platforms, Smartly is one of the strongest choices available and can greatly improve creative throughput and performance. The main caution is that it is enterprise software, quote based and social focused, so smaller advertisers or search focused teams are better served by Optmyzr, AdEspresso or the native platforms.

Pricing

Paid social platform

Quote
% of spend or fee
  • Creative automation
  • Cross channel social
  • Optimisation

Creative + AI

Quote
custom
  • Dynamic and AI creative
  • Versioning and localisation
  • Feeds

Enterprise

Quote
custom
  • Full platform
  • Dedicated support
  • Large scale

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Automates social creative at scale
  • Cross channel social optimisation
  • Dynamic and personalised ads
  • Supports Meta, TikTok, Pinterest and more
  • Strong for large brands and agencies

Cons

  • Quote based, enterprise pricing
  • Social focused, not search
  • Setup effort for creative automation
  • Overkill for small advertisers

Smartly alternatives

These ppc & paid ad management tools come up most often against Smartly.

Smartly FAQ

What is Smartly used for?
Smartly is used by large brands and agencies to automate paid social creative production and optimise campaigns across Meta, TikTok, Pinterest and other networks, solving the twin challenges of creative volume and cross channel optimisation.
How much does Smartly cost?
Smartly is quote based enterprise software, typically priced as a percentage of managed social ad spend or a platform fee with annual contracts. Request pricing from the Smartly site.
What makes Smartly different?
Its creative automation. Smartly automatically builds, versions and localises large volumes of social ad creative from templates and feeds, alongside cross channel optimisation, which sets it apart from basic ad tools.
Is Smartly good for small businesses?
Generally no. Smartly is enterprise software for brands and agencies running paid social at scale. Small advertisers are better served by AdEspresso, the native platforms or Optmyzr for search.
Which platforms does Smartly support?
Smartly supports the major social ad platforms including Meta, TikTok, Pinterest and Snapchat, as well as Google, letting large advertisers manage and optimise paid social across channels in one place.
Smartly vs AdEspresso, which is better?
Smartly is an enterprise platform for paid social at scale with creative automation, while AdEspresso is a simpler SMB tool for Facebook and Instagram ad testing. Large brands choose Smartly; small businesses choose AdEspresso.

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