Solutions · WordStream

WordStream alternative: the grader diagnoses, an AI media buyer treats

WordStream built its name on two things: the free Google Ads Performance Grader and affordable self-serve software that promised PPC management in 20 minutes a week. In 2026, the grader is still free, but the self-serve product has largely disappeared into LocaliQ, the Gannett-owned marketing services company that acquired WordStream. Visit the site today and the path leads to free tools, then a demo call for LocaliQ's managed services, with no published software pricing.

If what you wanted was the old promise, software that handles your PPC without an agency relationship, Adbot is that product taken to its conclusion. It does not grade your account and hand you a to-do list. It researches, writes the ads, builds the campaigns, and optimizes Google, Meta, and TikTok every day, for a flat fee starting at $297 a month.

See it run

Last updated July 2026

Adbot

campaign cockpit

Optimizing

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Monthly budget

Goal

No account needed. Watch Adbot build it live.

A full media buyer, working for you 24/7

Execution, not recommendations

Graders and advisors produce lists of things you should do. Adbot does them: bids, budgets, negative keywords, and creative changed daily in your account.

Published flat pricing

$297 to $1,497 a month, on the pricing page, no demo call required. You know the cost before you talk to anyone, because there is no one you need to talk to.

Software, not a services upsell

No account manager will call to move you onto a marketing services bundle. Adbot is the product, and running your ads well is the whole job.

Honest comparison

WordStream and LocaliQ vs Adbot

What each option is in 2026, and what you actually get.

	Adbot	WordStream free tools	LocaliQ managed services
What it is	An AI media buyer	Free graders and keyword tools	A human-run marketing services company
Runs your campaigns	Yes, builds and optimizes daily	No, it scores and recommends	Yes, agency-style
Pricing	Flat $297 to $1,497/mo, published	Free	Custom quote after a consultation
How you buy it	Sign up online	Enter your email	Sales call and proposal
Ad creative	Written and tested automatically	No	Produced by their team
Channels	Google, Meta, TikTok	Grades Google and Facebook accounts	Search, social, display, plus wider local marketing
Optimization cadence	Every day, 24/7	One-time snapshot per run	Per your account manager
Contract	Cancel anytime	None	Varies, typically ongoing service agreements
Best for	Businesses that want the PPC work done, not advised	A quick, free health check of an account	Local businesses that want a human team on retainer

WordStream and LocaliQ details reflect their public sites as of July 2026, which direct software inquiries to a consultation rather than publishing prices. Adbot figures are our own published pricing.

What it handles

Everything, from research to daily optimization

You set the goal and the budget. Adbot does the work a media buyer would, and reports back in plain language.

Google Search, Performance Max, and Shopping built and managed
Meta and TikTok campaigns in the same system
Search-term mining and negative keywords handled daily
Ad copy written, tested, and replaced when it fatigues
Plain-language reporting on spend, CPA, and conversions

14-day result

Optimizing

Cost per acquisition

$25

▼ 38%

Return on ad spend

3.6x

▲ 31%

Budget reallocated to winners

What happened to WordStream?

Gannett acquired WordStream in 2018 and folded it into LocaliQ, its digital marketing services division. Over the years since, the self-serve WordStream Advisor product that small businesses signed up for directly has been de-emphasized: the site today leads with the free graders and keyword tool, and the commercial path points to a LocaliQ demo rather than a software checkout with published tiers.

That is a real loss for a specific kind of buyer: the small business that wanted competent PPC help without an agency relationship. The free grader still identifies problems, wasted spend, poor Quality Scores, missing negative keywords, but identifying them was always the easy half. The searches for a WordStream alternative are mostly people looking for whoever will do the other half.

Why a grader cannot fix your account

An account audit is a snapshot. Your Google Ads account is a moving system: auctions shift, competitors change bids, search terms drift, and creative fatigues. A to-do list generated on Tuesday is partly stale by Friday, and completely stale by the monthly check-in most small advertisers actually manage.

The work that moves cost per acquisition is boring and continuous: mining search terms for negatives, reallocating budget from losing ad groups to winning ones, testing new headlines against tired ones, adjusting bids to hit a CPA target. None of it is intellectually hard. All of it has to happen every day, which is precisely why handing it to software beats being advised about it. That is the job our automated Google Ads management does around the clock.

How much does WordStream cost in 2026?

There is no published answer, and that is the answer. WordStream's site no longer lists software pricing; inquiries route to a LocaliQ consultation, where pricing is quoted based on your situation and typically bundles managed services. Third-party sources describe historical self-serve pricing that started around $49 a month, but you cannot buy that product off the shelf today.

When a price requires a sales call, budget for the sales call's job: moving you up to a services engagement. If you want a number you can plan around, you want published pricing, and if you want the retainer conversation anyway, compare it against what a PPC agency actually charges so you negotiate informed.

When LocaliQ makes more sense

If you are a local business that wants a human team handling a broad local-marketing footprint, listings, reputation, a website, search and display ads, under one vendor, LocaliQ is built for exactly that, and Gannett's local reach is real. You will pay services prices, and you should ask the standard agency questions about account ownership and reporting.

If your need is narrower and sharper, run my paid ads well and show me the numbers, then a managed-services bundle is more vendor than the problem requires. Adbot keeps the scope tight on purpose: Google, Meta, and TikTok campaigns, optimized daily, at a price on the pricing page.

Why Adbot

Done-for-you, both channels, flat fee

Not a creative generator, not a rule engine you have to operate. A real AI media buyer.

Build to launch in 48h

Research, creative, structure, and launch across Google and Meta, with no onboarding call.

Optimized every day

Bids, budgets, audiences, and creative tuned 24/7 to drive your CPA down and ROAS up.

No cut of your spend

A flat monthly fee, never a percentage of ad spend. Your budget stays yours.

Good questions

Questions about wordstream

Effectively no. As of July 2026, WordStream's site offers free tools like the Google Ads Performance Grader and routes commercial interest to a consultation for LocaliQ's managed services. The old buy-online Advisor product with published tiers is not offered on the site.

As a free snapshot, yes. It will surface obvious issues like missing negative keywords or poor ad strength. Just treat it as a diagnosis, not a fix: the findings still need someone, or something, working the account daily.

WordStream is the brand and toolset; LocaliQ is the Gannett-owned marketing services company that acquired it in 2018. Today WordStream functions mainly as the free-tools and content front door to LocaliQ's human-run, custom-priced services.

WordStream's tools tell you what to change in your account. Adbot changes it: the AI researches keywords, writes ads, builds campaigns, and adjusts bids, budgets, and negatives every day across Google, Meta, and TikTok, for a flat published fee.

That is essentially its job description. Wasted spend, thin negative keyword lists, weak ad strength, and poor budget allocation are the exact defects daily automated management exists to grind down. Connect your account and Adbot starts on them within 48 hours.

No. Free audits are lead magnets for a sales process, and Adbot does not have one. The product itself is the trial: connect your account, review the campaigns it proposes before anything goes live, and cancel anytime if the numbers do not earn the fee.

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