Smartly

Category: Automation/Workflow

Creative automation for paid social, with EU data hosting.

Smartly automates creative production and campaign management for paid social at scale, generating and versioning large volumes of ad creative from templates and product feeds, then managing delivery and optimisation across Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snap, Reddit and Google, with newer connected TV and Amazon and Roku integrations. The creative automation is the core: producing hundreds of localised or product-specific variants without a designer touching each one. It acquired an incrementality measurement business in 2026 and added an agent orchestration layer. Ownership is private equity, majority held since 2019, and it has a confirmed UK legal entity in London. Data is held in Europe across German and EU cloud infrastructure, and it holds ISO 27001 certification, which is a stronger position than most of its peers.

Our verdict

The best creative automation in paid social, and if your problem is producing hundreds of variants across markets, languages or a product catalogue, nothing else does it as well. The incrementality acquisition is a sensible addition, moving it from execution toward proving what the spend achieved. For UK buyers it has the best data position of the adtech group here: data held in Europe on German and EU infrastructure, ISO 27001 certification, and a confirmed London legal entity, which makes procurement considerably easier than with the US-based alternatives. Three things to weigh. It is social-led, so this is not an open-web demand-side platform and you will need something else for that. Pricing is a percentage of spend, negotiated and undisclosed, which means your bill grows as you scale without any additional service, and the circulating percentage figures are blog estimates rather than fact. And we found no MCP server, so despite the agentic positioning it is not addressable from an assistant.

Best for: Large advertisers and agencies producing high volumes of localised or product-level paid social creative.

Pros

  • The best creative automation in paid social, producing variants at genuine scale
  • Data held in Europe on German and EU infrastructure, with ISO 27001 certification
  • Confirmed London legal entity, which simplifies UK procurement
  • Incrementality measurement added through a 2026 acquisition
  • Covers Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snap, Reddit and Google, plus newer CTV

Cons

  • No MCP server found, despite the agentic positioning
  • Priced as a percentage of spend, so the bill grows as you scale with no added service
  • Social-led, so not an open-web demand-side platform
  • Reported twelve-month auto-renewing terms with ninety days' notice
  • UK GDPR specifics and the transfer addendum are unverified
  • Circulating percentage-of-spend figures are blog estimates, not published rates

Pricing: Pricing on application, percentage of spend (Enterprise)

Rating: 4/5