Toolradar Research
Advertising software statistics 2026
First-party data on the 86 advertising tools Toolradar tracks: LinkedIn Ads at 1.20 from 3,043 reviews, the weakest high-volume score in the catalog.
Founder, Toolradar & Dupple
Key findings
What the data shows.
- 01
86 advertising tools tracked, holding 43,503 aggregated third-party reviews. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 02
LinkedIn Ads sits at 1.20 from 3,043 reviews, the weakest high-volume score we publish. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 03
Podscribe leads volume at 4.60 from 13,206 reviews. ironSource holds 10,010 at 4.10. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 04
74% are paid-only. Ad tech is a paid-first category. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 05
The review-weighted average is 4.09. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)
About the research
How we built this report.
Toolradar tool database. Editorial review with weekly pricing verification.
2026. Snapshot taken September 17, 2026. Refresh due Dec 17, 2026.
Public scoring rubric. See how we rate for the full criteria.
Creative Commons BY 4.0. Quote, link, and reuse with attribution.
Advertising has a hole at the bottom that is hard to ignore. Toolradar tracks 86 tools holding 43,503 reviews. 74% are paid-only. Podscribe holds 13,206 reviews at 4.60. ironSource holds 10,010 at 4.10. AdCreative.ai holds 3,955 at 3.90. LinkedIn Ads holds 3,043 at 1.20. Anyword holds 1,618 at 4.80. A 1.20 from three thousand reviews is not a niche complaint. It is the category's loudest fact.
Every figure below is computed from the Toolradar directory on September 17, 2026. The live dashboard is Advertising statistics. The buyer ranking is best advertising software.
How large the category is
We track 86 published tools, or 0.8% of the 10,619 tools in the directory. 99% (85 of 86) were added to Toolradar in 2026. "Added" means added to our directory, not founded this year.
A $39 ad tool is a creative seat. The $113 mean is a media platform.
How these tools are priced
74% of the 86 tools are paid-only. 26% offer a free tier or freemium plan (22 tools). 3% are fully free.
n = 86 tools, September 17, 2026How advertising software are priced
For the 17 tools that publish a paid tier, the median entry price is $39 a month and the mean is $113.
n = 17 tools with a published paid tierEntry price distribution
The catalog-wide median entry is $20 (software pricing statistics).
How these tools are rated
54 of 86 tools carry a rating (63%). Those ratings rest on 43,503 reviews. Unweighted mean 4.16. Review-weighted mean 4.09.
n = 54 rated toolsRating distribution
The most-reviewed tools on September 17, 2026:
| Tool | Rating | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Podscribe | 4.60 | 13,206 |
| ironSource | 4.10 | 10,010 |
| AdCreative.ai | 3.90 | 3,955 |
| LinkedIn Ads | 1.20 | 3,043 |
Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.
LinkedIn Ads at 1.20 is the lowest score we publish for any tool with more than 3,000 reviews. The rest of the category sits in a normal 3.90 to 4.80 band.
The highest-rated tools with at least 150 aggregated reviews:
| # | Tool | Rating | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anyword | 4.80 | 1,618 |
| 2 | DataFeedWatch | 4.80 | 415 |
| 3 | Swipe Pages | 4.80 | 355 |
| 4 | Podscribe | 4.60 | 13,206 |
| 5 | Quartile | 4.60 | 215 |
| 6 | SellerApp | 4.60 | 214 |
| 7 | Creatopy | 4.60 | 204 |
| 8 | Influ2 | 4.60 | 161 |
| 9 | SpyFu | 4.50 | 663 |
| 10 | Metadata.io | 4.50 | 346 |
Anyword leads at 4.80.
Review volume by platform:
| Review platform | Tools with a profile | Aggregated reviews | Mean rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| G2 | 49 | 24,050 | 4.51 |
| Trustpilot | 12 | 17,472 | 3.39 |
| Capterra | 19 | 1,751 | 4.62 |
| SourceForge | 6 | 209 | 4.32 |
| TrustRadius | 1 | 21 | 4.30 |
Three tools worth comparing are LinkedIn Ads, Anyword, and Podscribe if you want the volume leader.
How often pricing moves
Our pricing tracker logged 7 pricing changes for these tools in 2026, 0 of them applied.
How this data was measured
Every figure in this report is computed live from the Toolradar directory on September 17, 2026, covering the 86 published tools we categorize under Advertising. Pricing model is read from each vendor's official pricing page. The entry price is the cheapest positive monthly tier a tool publishes. Ratings and review counts are aggregated from third-party platforms (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and others), not from Toolradar's own reviews. The leaderboard floor is 150 aggregated reviews. This is a directory snapshot, not a survey.
Cite this report
- APA: Corneloup, L. (2026). Advertising software statistics 2026. Toolradar Research. https://toolradar.com/reports/advertising-software-statistics
- MLA: Corneloup, Louis. "Advertising software statistics 2026." Toolradar Research, 17 Sept. 2026, toolradar.com/reports/advertising-software-statistics.
Browse the full category on the best advertising software page, or explore all of Toolradar Research.
Cite this report
Use the data, credit the source.
Released under Creative Commons BY 4.0. You may quote, link, and reuse the data with attribution.
More research
The high-volume low-score list 2026: 35 tools buyers still hate
35 published tools in the Toolradar directory hold at least 2,000 aggregated reviews and still score 3.60 or below. They account for 358,490 reviews, 7.0% of the 5.10 million in the catalog. LinkedIn Ads sits at 1.20. PayPal and Zoom are on the list.
Stock assets software statistics 2026
First-party data on the 70 stock asset tools Toolradar tracks: Envato Elements at 3.20 from 9,151 reviews against Flaticon at 4.80 from 6,033, with Pond5 leading volume at 4.50 from 16,034.
Health and fitness software statistics 2026
First-party data on the 74 health and fitness tools Toolradar tracks: Breathwrk at 2.80 from 2,666 reviews against Everfit at 4.80, with Mindbody leading volume at 3.90 from 3,469.