Smartly’s platform is built for global enterprises running omnichannel campaigns across dozens of countries. But most brands, even the ones spending millions on ads every month,  don't all operate at that level of complexity.

If you're looking at Smartly primarily because you need creative management software and don't necessarily need all their enterprise features, this breakdown will help you understand what else is out there.

Quick answer: Which Smartly alternative matches your needs?

• Atria: Powerful ad creation & management software (analytics, workflow automation, data-driven insights, competitor intel, workflow automation (coming soon))

• Motion: Clean ad analytics

• Foreplay: Organizing ad ideas and competitor tracking

• Marin Software: Legacy omnichannel management

• Hunch: Workflow automation for paid social

If you’re a rapidly growing brand and your goal is to boost your creative velocity, you’ll want to look for tools that, like Smartly, support an automated ad workflow, where insights lead to creatives and campaign learnings can be applied systematically. This makes Atria a particularly strong alternative to consider..

What is Smartly? (And when alternatives make sense)

Smartly is an enterprise platform for brands running omnichannel campaigns. It’s particularly strong for global brands, because it includes sophisticated localization features and allows you to optimize creatives in real time. Companies like Samsung, Foot Locker, and KLM use Smartlyit to manage massive, complex advertising operations.

Both Smartly and players like Atria follow the same philosophy: insights and production should live in one integrated system, not fragmented across multiple tools. The difference between them isn't capability, it's operational complexity.

Where Smartly genuinely excels

Smartly was purpose-built for enterprise operations. Customers on G2 consistently praise specific strengths where it delivers real value.

Global operations infrastructure is where Smartly really shines. Managing dozens of country-based accounts with localization across 5+ languages is what the platform does best. 

True omnichannel management gives you unified campaign control across Meta, TikTok, Snap, Google, Pinterest, YouTube, Reddit, X, and Amazon DSP with sophisticated automation. A Marketing Director noted:

"The automation capabilities are impressive. We can set rules that work across platforms and save countless hours on routine optimizations."

Advanced DCO lets you turn one master creative into thousands of variants based on location, language, audience, price points, and product catalogs. For brands with extensive international product lines, this kind of dynamic creative optimization is genuinely powerful.

Why most teams need something different

Even brands spending $5M+ monthly on ads rarely need this level of infrastructure. The challenge isn't budget – it's operational fit.

Most brands don't operate at global scale. If you're running campaigns in only a few different markets, you're paying for localization infrastructure built for 30+ countries. Most successful brands focus regionally, and that's perfectly fine for their business model.

Performance typically comes from 2-3 core platforms. When 80% or more of your results come from Meta and TikTok (maybe Google), paying for sophisticated integrations across Pinterest, Reddit, and Amazon DSP doesn't move the needle? It's just overhead.

Pricing creates real tension as you scale. Smartly charges a percentage of ad spend. User reports suggest 2-4%, though that's unverified and you'll need a sales call to get actual quotes. Do the math on what that means at scale. As Chris, a Paid Ads Specialist, noted in his Capterra review:

"The platform's pricing model based on % of total media spend can pose a barrier for advertisers with high spend who only want to use limited features."

Steep learning curve. The breadth of features comes with complexity designed for teams that have dedicated platform specialists and structured approval workflows. For agile teams that need to move fast, this can become friction.

“Pricing model is quite heavy, as is the learning curve. They are in the process of adding more channels but the integration of automation features is not quite 100% yet.”

Some users report technical challenges. One verified user explained: "It's a very glitchy program. When a feed reprocess fails, the explanation is complete jargon. The UI is rather clunky." Another noted: "Ad scheduling is a huge pain point. Creating rules does not always seem reliable."

Look, Smartly is excellent for what it was designed to do. But most brands – even successful ones spending millions – don't need global infrastructure, and don’t have time to learn the ins and outs of a complicated platform. They need to win on creative velocity on the platforms where their customers are actually spending time.

Alternative #1: Atria

Atria's approach is different: It’s built specifically to help large and emerging brands boost their creative velocity with AI and automation features, while using data to drive every creative decision in the workflow.

While Smartly helps you execute omnichannel campaigns across dozens of markets, Atria helps you win on creative by going deep on Meta and TikTok where most brands drive the majority of their performance anyway.

Why creative intelligence fuels better production scale

Most brands had to 2-3x their creative velocity just to maintain performance last year. But with AI’s ability to pump out content, the question isn't JUST about whether you can produce more ads, it's whether or not you can learn as fast as you launch every campaign.

Atria grounds every step of the creative workflow in data. Performance marketing teams have unlocked massive wins with this approach, using competitor insights, ad performance data and customer reviews to find unique ad angles, then generating assets at scale to act on those insights, and giving teams beautiful creative reporting so they can zoom out and see trends at a glance.

Will Sartorius, Founder at SelfMade creative agency explained it this way:

"Overall, Atria has gotten rid of the guesswork and forces data-driven decisions across the whole team," Will says. "Our creative reporting has gotten so good at this point that our customers couldn't live without that, and I don't know how we survived before."

How Atria supports each step of the creative workflow

Come up with ad ideas with in-depth competitor breakdowns, searching a curated ad library, mining customer reviews for new ad angles, and checking Radar, Atria’s algorithm trained on over $1B in ad spend, to get recommendations based on what’s already working in your account.

Create new assets by cloning competitor ads with your branding, creating scroll-stopping scripts based on performance data, or partnering with Atria’s UGC creators to produce hundreds of videos every month.

See performance in beautiful reports by connecting your ad accounts to Atria. AI automatically tags all of your assets and groups them by insight, so you can see exactly what ad angles are having the most impact. 

Iterate automatically Atria’s Radar feature grades each of your ads on hook quality, CTR, and thumbstop rate, then tells you exactly how to optimize. Click one button to generate the improved version and test it. 

Launch new ads (coming soon) with batch upload creative assets to Meta in one click.

Reuse & Repurpose  assets with asset management that comes with AI tagging & collaboration features for light-weight approvals.

Simon Freeman, Founder of Welcome to Digital, said:

"I love Radar. We can quickly identify quick wins and show clients: 'We've got good content, great visuals. We just need to change that hook and this becomes a winning ad.'"

Real results

Teams using Atria report 80% faster research (beehiiv), 200% boost in creative output (THESIS), roughly 10 seconds to generate new creative (RYZE), 75% cost savings (DOTE), and about 5 hours saved per week per person (growthmaster).

Patrick C, a Pre-Sales Consultant, wrote in his G2 review: "Atria has been a lifesaver for my advertising workflow. The AI-generated ad concepts are surprisingly on-point. What I love most is how it doesn't just spit out generic templates – it actually provides thoughtful creative directions that I can build upon."

Pricing & trial

See current pricing here – there are multiple plan tiers with flat monthly pricing (not percentage of ad spend). There's a 7-day free trial so you can test before committing. Done-for-you UGC services are also available when you need a human touch.

Who uses Atria

Brands and agencies spending anywhere from $50k to $5M+ monthly on Meta and TikTok. The common thread isn't budget size, it's that creative velocity is their competitive advantage.

Customers include performance agencies like VaynerCommerce, Stella Rising and Power Digital, plus fast-growing DTC brands like Knix, Ipsy, Ryze, Loop Earplugs, and established names like Dole and Paramount.

The trade-off

Atria goes deep on Meta and TikTok (where most performance happens) rather than offering surface-level coverage across 10+ platforms. Google and YouTube are on the roadmap. If you need sophisticated omnichannel management across 5+ platforms today, Smartly is a better fit.

Alternative #2: Motion

Motion transforms overwhelming performance data into digestible creative reports. 

Instead of drowning in spreadsheets and dashboards, you get clean reports that everyone can understand – from creatives to buyers to leadership. The platform captures lessons from campaigns to inform iteration and strategic pivots, which is genuinely valuable for teams struggling with "data soup."

Motion focuses purely on analytics though, which means applying learnings is still a step you’d need to take on your own. There's no ad ideation, generation capabilities, or creative grading with improvement recommendations. Instead, the platform uses chat-based AI agents for campaign advice, which works well if you're comfortable with prompting but is less plug-and-play than tools with built-in workflows.

Want the full Motion breakdown? Check out our Motion overview.

Alternative #3: Foreplay

Foreplay started by solving one problem really well: finding and organizing ad inspiration from Meta's Ad Library with a Pinterest-like experience.

Reviews consistently compare browsing Foreplay to scrolling TikTok. You can quickly build boards for different clients and share inspiration without endless screenshots. The Spyder tool tracks competitors in real-time with years of historical data, so you can see what they're testing and how their strategy evolves.

The limitations are real though. Navigation through large libraries can be frustrating once you've accumulated hundreds or thousands of saved ads – it's a common complaint in reviews. The tool also doesn't analyze deeper aspects like competitor personas or emotional themes. Foreplay is purely for inspiration, so you'll need other tools for ad generation.

Check out our full Foreplay breakdown

Alternative #4: Marin Software

Marin is a legacy enterprise platform that brings campaign management across 10+ channels into one view.

For brands running complex omnichannel strategies, it consolidates data from multiple platforms for genuine cross-channel insights. The AI Advisor provides actionable suggestions for copy and creative direction, and the platform covers tracking, forecasting, spend allocation, and campaign management.

But reviews consistently mention bugs, stability issues, and software that feels behind on modern AI capabilities. The sign-up process is complicated due to an ongoing acquisition. Marin is capable, but it's showing its age. Teams who go with Marin should expect a few trade-offs on usability / AI friendliness for the cross-channel consolidation.

Alternative #5: Hunch

Hunch automates paid social workflows to help teams test creatives faster, and is mainly focused on media buyer optimization.

The platform removes operational bottlenecks so creative testing moves more quickly. You can build automated workflows for your campaign tasks, and localization features help delay creative fatigue with geo-targeted variants. For teams drowning in manual tasks, this genuinely helps.

But there are no ad inspiration or analytics features. Hunch is strong on media buying operations but doesn't address creative team needs for ideation or performance insights.

Smartly vs. Atria: When to choose which

Both follow the same philosophy: insights and production in one integrated system. The question is whether you need global infrastructure or if you’re more focused on a platform that’s really easy to learn and doesn’t break the bank.

Choose Smartly if you:

Run campaigns in 20+ countries with localization needs, need sophisticated management across 5+ platforms simultaneously, have massive product catalogs requiring automated variant generation, or have an enterprise team structure with platform specialists.

Choose Atria if you:

Drive most performance from Meta and TikTok, need rapid creative iteration over global production infrastructure, want creative velocity as your competitive advantage, or prefer predictable pricing that doesn't scale with ad spend.

Most successful brands – even ones spending $5M+ monthly – don't need global infrastructure. They need to win on creative velocity on the platforms where their customers actually are.

How to choose the right alternative

Where does your performance come from? If 80%+ comes from Meta and TikTok, go with Atria to go deep on what matters. If it's truly distributed across 5+ platforms, consider Smartly or Marin. Need Google/YouTube right now? Marin has it, Atria has it on the roadmap.

What's your operational complexity? Teams running 1-5 markets with focused structures fit Atria well. Operating in 20+ countries with localization needs? Smartly makes sense. Agencies managing multiple brands or clients on 2-3 platforms will find Atria was built for them. Global CPG brands with massive SKU counts need Smartly's infrastructure.

What's your competitive advantage? Creative velocity and iteration? Choose Atria. Production scale and efficiency? Choose Smartly. Operational excellence across channels? Look at Marin or Hunch. Finding inspiration fast is the bottleneck? Foreplay solves that specific problem.

Try before you commit

With Smartly, you go through a sales call, custom demo, negotiation process, sign an annual contract, then go through implementation.

With Atria, you sign up, start a 7-day trial, and begin using it immediately.

If you want to explore Atria: Try free for 7 days with no sales call required, or book a strategy call where we'll help figure out if it actually fits your needs (and be honest if it doesn't).

FAQ

How much does Smartly cost?

Smartly doesn't publish pricing and requires sales calls for custom quotes. User reports suggest 2-4% of total ad spend, though that's unverified.

What's Atria's pricing?

View current pricing here – flat monthly plans, not percentage of ad spend.

Does Atria have a free trial?

Yes – 7 days with Core features. Generation features have limited AI credits during trial. Hover over buttons to see credit costs.

What's the main reason teams leave Smartly?

They're paying for global infrastructure they don't need. Most brands operate in fewer than 10 markets and drive performance from 2-3 platforms.

Can I use multiple tools instead of one platform?

Sure. Many teams use Foreplay for inspiration, Motion for analytics, and native platform managers. The trade-off is managing multiple contexts and switching between tools. Both Atria and Smartly offer integrated workflows – just at different scales.

What's the core difference between Smartly and Atria?

Smartly provides global infrastructure for omnichannel operations. Atria provides deep creative intelligence on core platforms. Same philosophy (integrated workflow), different scale.

Which alternative is closest to Smartly's full feature set?

None match it for global omnichannel scale – that's genuinely where Smartly excels. Marin comes closest for enterprise campaign management breadth. But most teams don't need everything Smartly offers.

Do I need to spend millions monthly to use Atria?

No. Atria works for teams spending $50k to $5M+ monthly. The common thread isn't budget – it's that creative velocity matters more than global infrastructure.

The best tool isn't the one with the longest feature list or most impressive client logos. It's the one that matches your operational reality and helps you win where you actually compete.