VSDoing it yourself
Why choose Adsmith over doing it yourself?
Choose Adsmith when you want business research, creative exploration, targeting, campaign management, and learning connected in one workflow. Enter your website, review your first ads free, and use your time to judge the ideas and business outcomes instead of coordinating every production and campaign task. Doing it yourself can be a good fit if you already have the skills, tools, and time, need channels or workflows outside Adsmith’s app support, or want to execute every detail directly. The question is whether doing the work yourself is the best use of your time—not whether it is possible.
Compare the work, not just the tools
| Work | Adsmith | Doing it yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Understand the business | Research your website and offering, then develop audience and creative directions. | Research customers, write the brief, and decide which messages to test. |
| Create the ads | Turn personas, stories, and styles into keywords, captions, images, and videos. | Write, design, record, or commission the assets, then revise and format them. |
| Launch and manage | Connect your existing Google PMax or Meta account and review creative, settings, and budget before launch. | Set up the campaigns, targeting, assets, budgets, and approvals in the advertising platforms yourself. |
| Learn and rebalance | Connect results to subsequent creative experiments and portfolio budget decisions. | Review performance, decide what to change, make new assets, and update campaign budgets. |
| Control | Choose your budget and review publishing unless you explicitly enable auto-publish. | Make and execute each decision directly, with responsibility for the setup and ongoing work. |
| Time | Focus your review on business accuracy, creative fit, and outcomes; Adsmith handles the connected workflow. | Allocate recurring time for research, production, setup, measurement, and subsequent experiments. |
See your first ads before you pay
Enter your website and review your free onboarding drafts. Compare the business understanding, messages, and creative with what you would make yourself. No payment details or obligation to continue are required. Payment is needed to launch campaigns or generate additional paid drafts.
See your first ads freeKnow what you’re paying for
| Cost | Adsmith | Doing it yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising spend | Paid to the advertising platform, separate from Adsmith’s fees. | You still pay the platform to deliver the ads. |
| Campaign management | 10% of spend on covered campaigns, only while those campaigns run. | No Adsmith agent fee. Account for your own time and any paid management tools or outside help. |
| Creative | Initial onboarding ads are free. Additional image-only drafts cost $5; drafts with video cost $10 total, including images. | Account for any design or video tools, asset licensing, contractors, and your production time. Costs depend on what you use. |
| Your time | You still review the business details, creative, settings, and results. | You handle the complete process or organize the people and tools that do. Use your actual workload rather than an assumed hourly rate. |
Put us head-to-head
Use one real offering and the same campaign goal. Compare the work you can review, the tasks still on your plate, and the complete cost—not just the software fee.
- Enter your website in Adsmith and inspect the free onboarding ads. In parallel, prepare the same brief and assets using your usual tools.
- Trace the route to launch: targeting, formats, campaign settings, tracking, and review. Record the time and outside costs each route requires.
- If you run a comparison, use consistent outcome definitions and review periods. Track customer or lead quality, acquisition economics, and the work needed for the next experiment.
Before you get started
Is doing it myself cheaper?
It can be, especially if you have the skills, tools, and available time. You avoid Adsmith’s fees, but still pay for advertising delivery and any production tools or help you choose. Compare your actual costs and workload; we do not assume a dollar value for your time.
What do I still need to do with Adsmith?
Provide your website and business context, review accuracy and creative fit, connect an existing ad account, choose a budget, and review campaign settings and outcomes. You approve publishing unless you enable auto-publish.
Can I try Adsmith without replacing my current process?
Yes. Your initial onboarding ads are free, without payment details or an obligation to continue. Compare those drafts with your own work before deciding whether to launch.
Can I stop a campaign?
Yes. Stop a covered campaign at any time and no further campaign fees accrue on it while it remains stopped. Previously incurred fees remain payable. Paid creative is charged when generated, even if unused.