AdLibrary vs Pencil: Ad Search and AI Ad Breakdown or Generations, Agents and Account-Trained Scoring
AdLibrary fits marketers who want to search ads from many platforms in one place and have AI explain them. Pencil fits teams that want agents and a model trained on their own ad account, at a low entry price.
Choose AdLibrary if you want to search other brands' ads across many platforms and save the best ones. Choose Pencil if you want a low entry price and scoring trained on your own ad account's data. If you also need campaigns built from a chat, Madgicx does that, from $45 a month.
See how we reached this recommendation| AdLibrary | Pencil | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Monthly credits: Starter EUR 29 a month for 50 credits, Pro EUR 179 for 300, Business EUR 329 for 1,000. One search costs 1 credit. | Monthly generations: Core $14 a month ($11 billed annually), Growth $55 ($44 billed annually). Pro is custom. |
| Free plan or trial |
Its pricing page lists no free trial. Starter comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
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No free plan and no trial of the full platform. A guided sign-up creates six ads at no cost.
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| Image ads |
We saw no image ad generation on its pages. It is a search tool for existing ads.
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Agents generate images and ads from briefs and assets, using third-party image models.
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| Video ads |
We saw no video ad generation on its pages. It searches ads, including video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok.
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Its blog and home page present video as live, but its pricing table marks AI video Coming soon on every plan, so its pages disagree.
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| Scoring new ads before launch |
We saw no scoring of new ads before launch on its pages.
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A model trained on your own ad account data scores new creatives.
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| Analysis of your live ads |
We saw no analysis of your own live ads on its pages. Its AI breakdown explains ads you find in the library: hook, angle, audience and triggers.
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Shows which of your creatives perform best and why, from 90 days of history plus ongoing data.
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| Ad inspiration and research |
Its home page claims over 1 billion ads across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google, YouTube, X and more, with saved ads, folders, filters and a Chrome extension.
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Not confirmed: we read nothing on its pages about browsing other brands' ads. |
| Publishing to ad accounts |
We saw no way to publish ads to an ad account on its pages.
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Its help center describes exporting finished ads to connected accounts, while its pricing and integrations pages say it launches or publishes, so its pages disagree.
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| G2 rating | No G2 rating found | 4.7 from 16 reviews |
Where they differ
How the price grows
AdLibrary: Plans sell credits: a search costs 1 credit and an AI ad breakdown costs 1 credit per ad. Full ad insights such as spend and reach start on Pro, and API and MCP access is on Business. Pencil: Plans sell monthly generations: 50 on Core and 250 on Growth, with unlimited generations only on the sales-only Pro plan.
Who each is built for
AdLibrary: Its home page names performance marketers, media buyers, creative strategists and growth teams at companies spending $100k to $10M or more a month on ads. Pencil: Owned by The Brandtech Group, with larger brands and agencies named on its news page. The $14 Core plan reads as aimed at small teams.
What each one is built to do
AdLibrary: It collects ads from many platforms into one searchable library. You save ads into folders and ask AI to break an ad down into hook, angle, audience and triggers. Pencil: Agents read a brief and make ads, and a model trained on your ad account's history scores them. Its Scribble agent, launched 28 September 2026, runs creative work in the background.
What reviewers say
AdLibrary: We could not match a G2 listing to AdLibrary with confidence, so we quote no rating or review count. Pencil: G2 lists 16 reviews. In 10 recent ones, 5 praise fast creation, resizing and feeds, 3 mention off-brand output needing manual edits and 3 mention instability or export problems.
Price
| Example | AdLibrary | Pencil |
|---|---|---|
| Entry level | Starter: EUR 29 a month, or EUR 19 billed yearly (50 credits) | Core: $14 a month, or $11 billed annually (50 generations, 1 workspace) |
| Mid level | Pro: EUR 179 a month, or EUR 159 billed yearly (300 credits, full ad insights) | Growth: $55 a month, or $44 billed annually (250 generations, unlimited workspaces) |
| Larger or custom | Business: EUR 329 a month, or EUR 299 billed yearly (1,000 credits); Enterprise from EUR 2,000 a month | Pro: custom, sold through a demo (unlimited generations, users and brands) |
Our verdict
Choose AdLibrary if
- You can start at EUR 29 a month, or EUR 19 billed yearly.
- You get one search across ads from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google, YouTube and more.
- You get an AI breakdown of any ad into hook, angle, audience and triggers.
Choose Pencil if
- You see which of your own creatives perform best and why.
- You get agents such as Scribble that run creative work from a brief within your brand guidelines.
- You get a low entry price: Core is $14 a month, or $11 billed annually.
Neither fits when
You need what happens after the creative. AdLibrary's pages describe no way to create campaigns from a chat. Madgicx creates campaigns, ad sets and ads from a chat, paused until you approve. Madgicx analyzes which creatives and lines of copy bring results on your live ads. Madgicx has ready-made and custom automation rules. Seats and ad generations are unlimited in every plan, from $45 a month.
How we compare: methodology
- What each tool generates, researches or analyzes: images, video, text and ad libraries.
- Whether the tool scores new ads, analyzes live ads or both.
- What the price buys: credits, generations or seats.
- What recent G2 reviewers praise and complain about.
Published by Madgicx, which competes with both tools. We use each vendor's pricing and product pages (adlibrary.com and trypencil.com) and the most recent G2 reviews we could read, with dates listed below. This is our editorial view of fit, not independent test results. Confirm any capability not listed here with the vendor. AdLibrary's home page quotes $179 a month while its pricing page shows euro plans, so we use the pricing page and show euros as published. Pencil's pricing table marks almost every feature Coming soon, so we could not use it to tell what each plan includes.
Frequently asked questions
How much do AdLibrary and Pencil cost?
AdLibrary is from EUR 29 a month. Pencil is from $14 a month. AdLibrary entry level: Starter: EUR 29 a month, or EUR 19 billed yearly (50 credits) Pencil entry level: Core: $14 a month, or $11 billed annually (50 generations, 1 workspace)
Does AdLibrary have a free trial?
Its pricing page lists no free trial. Starter comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Does Pencil have a free trial?
No free plan and no trial of the full platform. A guided sign-up creates six ads at no cost.
Does AdLibrary show my own ad performance?
We saw no analysis of your own ads on its pages. It searches other advertisers' ads and breaks them down with AI.
Can Pencil make video ads?
Its blog and home page present video generation as live, but its pricing table marks AI video as Coming soon on every plan. Ask Pencil which plan includes it.
Sources
- AdLibrary on G2, reviewed 5 November 2026
- AdLibrary pricing, reviewed 5 November 2026
- AdLibrary home page, reviewed 5 November 2026
- Pencil pricing, reviewed 5 November 2026
- Pencil home page, help center, blog and feature hub, reviewed 22 October 2026
- Pencil on G2, reviewed 22 October 2026
- Madgicx pricing, reviewed 5 November 2026
