Foreplay vs Pencil: Ad Research and Swipe Files or Generations, Agents and Account-Trained Scoring
Foreplay fits creative teams that save, search and track other brands' ads. Pencil fits teams that want agents and a model trained on their own ad account, at a low entry price.
Choose Foreplay if you research ads, saving them, searching them and tracking competitors. Choose Pencil if you want a low entry price and scoring trained on your own ad account's data. If you also need automation rules, Madgicx does that, from $45 a month.
See how we reached this recommendation| Foreplay | Pencil | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | By users and tracked brands: Basic $59 a month ($49 billed annually), Workflow $175 ($149), Agency $459 ($389). | Monthly generations: Core $14 a month ($11 billed annually), Growth $55 ($44 billed annually). Pro is custom. |
| Free plan or trial |
7-day free trial on Basic, Workflow and Agency. A card is required and billing starts automatically after.
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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.
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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.
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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 |
Lens has reports and creative test analysis from the Workflow plan up. The pages we read do not say which ad accounts it reads.
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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 |
Swipe File saves ads from Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn ad libraries, Discovery searches over 100M ads, and Spyder tracks competitors (not on Basic).
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Not confirmed: we read nothing on its pages about browsing other brands' ads. |
| Publishing to ad accounts |
We saw no publishing or launching of ads 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 | 4.8 from 129 reviews | 4.7 from 16 reviews |
Where they differ
How the price grows
Foreplay: Price follows users and tracked brands, not ad spend. Extra users are $20 each. 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
Foreplay: Creative teams and agencies that collect and study ads for inspiration and briefs. 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
Foreplay: It saves and organizes ads, lets you search a large ad database and tracks competitors. Lens adds analytics, and Briefs helps build storyboards and scripts. 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
Foreplay: G2 lists 129 reviews. In 10 recent ones, from February to October 2026, 9 praise its research and inspiration and 1 mentions messy, low-quality ads in its library. 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 | Foreplay | Pencil |
|---|---|---|
| Entry level | Basic: $59 a month, or $49 billed annually (1 user, no Lens or Spyder) | Core: $14 a month, or $11 billed annually (50 generations, 1 workspace) |
| Mid level | Workflow: $175 a month, or $149 billed annually (5 users, 1 Lens brand) | Growth: $55 a month, or $44 billed annually (250 generations, unlimited workspaces) |
| Larger or custom | Agency: $459 a month, or $389 billed annually (10 users, 10 Lens brands). Enterprise is custom | Pro: custom, sold through a demo (unlimited generations, users and brands) |
Our verdict
Choose Foreplay if
- You search a large ad database and track competitors around the clock.
- You get a lower entry price, $49 a month billed annually, and a price that does not follow ad spend.
- You share saved ads with your team in folders and boards, and build briefs with storyboards and scripts.
Choose Pencil if
- You get a low entry price: Core is $14 a month, or $11 billed annually.
- You get new creatives scored by a model trained on your own ad account data.
- You see which of your own creatives perform best and why.
Neither fits when
You need what happens after the creative. We saw no automation rules on Foreplay's pages. Madgicx has ready-made and custom automation rules. 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. 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 (foreplay.co 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. Foreplay's pricing page disagrees with itself on Spyder brand limits, so we do not quote them. 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 Foreplay and Pencil cost?
Foreplay is from $49 a month billed annually. Pencil is from $14 a month. Foreplay entry level: Basic: $59 a month, or $49 billed annually (1 user, no Lens or Spyder) Pencil entry level: Core: $14 a month, or $11 billed annually (50 generations, 1 workspace)
Does Foreplay have a free trial?
7-day free trial on Basic, Workflow and Agency. A card is required and billing starts automatically after.
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.
Can Foreplay track competitor ads?
Yes. Spyder tracks competitor ads around the clock, with ad history up to three years. It is not included in the Basic plan.
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
- Foreplay pricing, reviewed 5 November 2026
- Foreplay home page, reviewed 5 November 2026
- Foreplay on G2, reviewed 15 October 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
