Ads Lighthouse Review
Brand-search ad monitoring for Google, Bing, and Google Shopping
Ads Lighthouse documents who appears on defined brand searches. Starter costs $49 for one brand, Growth adds Google Shopping, and Scale adds API access and white-label PDFs. It is not a general ad library or a substitute for Google impression-share reporting.
Pros and cons
- Saved observations retain the search term, engine, location, device, time, advertiser domain, ad copy, and destination URL
- Published plans start at $49 per month, have no per-seat charge or automatic overage charge, and include a seven-day trial
- Google and Bing search-ad monitoring is included on every plan, with Google Shopping product ads available from Growth
- Affiliate ID matching, policy cases, redirect traces, evidence packs, and complaint records support compliance work
- Every plan includes CSV and Excel exports, team accounts, email, Slack, and webhook alerts, plus an MCP server for AI assistants
- Coverage is limited to Google and Bing search ads plus Shopping, not social ads, Amazon, Yahoo, regional engines, or AI answer surfaces
- Starter allows one project, 20 keywords, two locations per project, and 7,500 scheduled checks per month
- Google Shopping is unavailable on Starter, while the REST API and white-label reports begin on Scale at $299 per month
- Observed visibility is a share of configured searches, not Google impression share, spend, proof of a purchased keyword, or proof of infringement
- Saved observations and related history are kept for three UTC calendar months, limiting long-range in-product historical analysis
What is Ads Lighthouse?
Ads Lighthouse monitors paid results on configured brand searches. A project holds one brand, its domains, keywords, markets, devices, and schedule. It searches Google and Bing for paid text ads, while Growth and higher plans also capture sponsored Google Shopping product listings. Each check is one keyword, location, device, and source at a particular time.
The product answers questions normal PPC reporting cannot settle: which third-party domains showed on a brand term, whether an affiliate ID appeared behind an ad, and how copy changed. Paid Results ranks domains by observed visibility, then supports keyword, advertiser, copy-change, and destination drilldowns. An observation proves an ad appeared, not what keyword was bought, spend, or a trademark violation.
Pricing scales with projects, keywords, locations, and checks rather than named users. Starter begins at $49 per month; Shopping requires Growth, and API keys or client-branded PDFs require Scale or above. High-frequency multi-market coverage consumes the shared monthly check allowance quickly.
Core features
Scheduled brand-search monitoring across Google, Bing, and Shopping
Ads Lighthouse checks Google and Bing for the keyword, location, device, and schedule a project specifies. It supports country and city locations, desktop and mobile, operating-system context, and rotating city coverage. The fastest published schedule is daily on Starter, every six hours on Growth, every two hours on Scale, hourly on Business, and every 15 minutes on Enterprise. Google Shopping starts on Growth and records product, merchant, price, destination, and position.
Paid-results explorer and advertiser history
The paid-results view groups domains found on monitored searches and reports ads analyzed, keywords, and observed visibility. Users can segment affiliate markers, brand mentions, coupon sites, and lookalike domains, then filter by date, engine, device, operating system, country, and location. Advertiser and keyword drilldowns retain appearance counts, first and last seen dates, and ad-copy history. Observed visibility is the share of saved monitored searches where a domain appeared, not Google impression share.
Affiliate compliance, policy cases, and evidence
A team can declare its affiliate URL parameter and upload known IDs; Ads Lighthouse matches saved Google ad links exactly and leaves unfamiliar IDs visible. It can flag common affiliate parameters, open non-compliant affiliate cases, and track them through New, In progress, Resolved, or Ignored. Policy rules can assess saved ad copy, positions, and destination URLs for forbidden terms, direct linking, promo codes, or unauthorised IDs. Eligible destinations can be traced server-side, recording status codes, the final page, affiliate IDs, and a WARC 1.1 archive when a trace reaches a server.
Alerts, exports, reports, and team accounts
Alerts can go by email, Slack incoming webhook, or webhook JSON POST when a new advertiser appears, returns after 30 days, mentions the brand, or uses an affiliate ID. Daily and weekly summaries are available, and all plans include members and admin roles without a per-seat fee. Every table exports filtered rows to CSV or Excel, and every plan includes PDF project reports. Scale and higher add agency branding for PDFs and case evidence packs.
Google connections, REST API, and MCP server
Optional read-only Google Ads and Search Console connections run separate on-demand reports from customer-controlled accounts; their data does not feed monitoring reports. The REST API, available on Scale and above including trials, reads saved observations and updates projects, alerts, team access, and reviews. API reads do not start searches, but project creation and on-demand checks consume allowance. The hosted MCP server is on every plan and connects signed-in accounts to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI, or Claude Code.
Pricing
| Feature | Starter $49/month | Growth $99/month | Scale $299/month | Business $599/month | Enterprise Custom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Projects | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | Agreed with you |
| Keywords | 20 | 50 | 150 | 500 | Agreed with you |
| Locations per project | 2 | 5 | 12 | 25 | 100 |
| Most frequent schedule | Once a day | Every 6 hours | Every 2 hours | Every hour | Every 15 minutes |
| Scheduled checks per month | 7,500 | 18,000 | 60,000 | 144,000 | Agreed with you |
| On-demand checks per month | 100 | 200 | 500 | 1,000 | Agreed with you |
| Google and Bing search ads | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google Shopping product ads | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| MCP server for AI assistants | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| REST API and API keys | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| White-label reports | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CSV and Excel exports | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Team members and roles | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Who it is for
A team that must preserve the search, place, device, timestamp, copy, and destination behind a finding can build a more defensible record than from a manual screenshot alone. Policy cases, evidence packs, redirect traces, and complaint-preparation records make this the strongest fit.
Managers with a known affiliate URL parameter and ID list can find those IDs in saved Google ad links, review unfamiliar IDs, and move suspected non-compliance through a documented case workflow.
Teams monitoring several brand portfolios can use projects, shared allowance-based pricing, alerts, exports, and white-label PDFs. Scale is the practical starting point for an agency that needs API access or client branding.
Verdict
Ads Lighthouse earns an 8.2 because it treats brand-search monitoring as an evidence workflow rather than a loose competitor feed. Its public pricing and check limits are unusually concrete, and the $49 entry plan makes controlled monitoring accessible. The trade-off is focus: it does not discover broad display or social creative, and its figures describe only the searches a team configures. Choose it when a saved, attributable record of brand-search ads matters more than a large cross-channel ad database.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Ads Lighthouse cost for monitoring a single brand in 2026?
Ads Lighthouse Starter costs $49 per month and includes one project, 20 keywords, two locations per project, 7,500 scheduled checks per month, and 100 on-demand checks per month. The vendor lists monthly USD prices with tax included and offers a seven-day trial that can be cancelled before it ends.
Does Ads Lighthouse monitor Google Shopping as well as Google and Bing text ads?
Ads Lighthouse monitors Google and Bing paid text ads on every plan, while Google Shopping product-ad monitoring starts on the Growth plan. Shopping observations can include the product, merchant, price, destination, and position.
Is Ads Lighthouse observed visibility the same as Google Ads impression share?
No, Ads Lighthouse observed visibility is the share of saved monitored searches in which a domain appeared, not Google Ads impression share. A saved observation shows that an ad appeared at one time, place, device, and search source, but it does not prove spend, a purchased keyword, or infringement.
Which Ads Lighthouse plan includes API access and client-branded reports?
Ads Lighthouse includes REST API access, API keys, and white-label reports on Scale, Business, and Enterprise plans, starting at $299 per month for Scale. The MCP server is included on every plan, including Starter and Growth, through account sign-in.
Reviewed by Filipe Lins DuarteCo-Founder & CEOVast experience talking to customers and users to understand what good software looks like. Background spans commercial and product roles.
Checked by John RiceCo-Founder & CTO15+ years building tech products and web applications. Conducted hundreds of user interviews to know what a good product looks like.
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