WordStream Google Ads Grader alternative

The Google Ads Performance Grader from WordStream by LocaliQ is free, and so is the SpendCanary scan. SpendCanary’s paid plan, Watch, costs $19 a month for daily checks of one account. The grader gives you a score and grades against benchmarks. SpendCanary gives you a list of money leaks, each with a monthly dollar figure and a plain-English fix. If you want a score and a benchmark comparison, the grader is a good fit. If you want to know which settings are costing you money, try SpendCanary.

At a glance

What matters	SpendCanary	WordStream Google Ads Grader
Who it’s for	Business owners who run their own Google Ads	Small businesses and agencies, according to its page
Price	Free scan. Watch: $19/month or $190/year	Free
Setup	Run a read-only script in your account. Email only, no sign-in, no card	Enter your email, pick an account type, sign in with Google
What you get	Each leak, what it costs a month, and how to fix it	An overall score, grades by area and next steps
Ongoing checks	Watch checks one account daily, with instant alerts	Performance Tracker re-analyzes your account every 30 days
Changes to your account	None. It only reads	Its page says it uses your credentials to analyze your account
Main focus	Settings, tracking, wasted clicks and landing pages	Quality Score, impression share, wasted spend, account activity

When the WordStream grader is the better choice

The grader fits better in these cases:

• You want a score and a benchmark. The grader rates your account against what its page calls “10 key metrics” and compares results such as Quality Score, click-through rate and wasted spend with industry benchmarks. SpendCanary does not give an overall score or benchmark you against other accounts.
• You care about Quality Score and impression share. These are two of the grader’s four core grades. SpendCanary does not grade either one.
• You want a free check every month. The grader’s Performance Tracker analyzes your account every 30 days. SpendCanary’s daily checks are part of the paid Watch plan.
• You want ad copy and account structure feedback. The grader lists best and worst text ads, account structure, mobile readiness, and Display and Shopping ads among the areas it reviews.
• You may want hands-on help later. LocaliQ also offers paid marketing software and services, listed on its site, so the grader can lead to a conversation with them if you want one.

When SpendCanary is the better choice

SpendCanary fits better when:

• You don’t want to sign in with Google. The free scan is a short, read-only script that you paste and run in your own account. You can read every line first. No sign-in, no card, and the report arrives by email in about two minutes.
• You want a dollar figure. Each leak comes with an estimate of what it costs you a month, so you know which fix to make first.
• You want specific settings checked. The scan looks at search partners, Display ads inside Search campaigns, Performance Max spend drifting to YouTube and Display, clicks from outside your target area, irrelevant search terms, broken or inflated conversion tracking, Maximize Clicks bidding, target cost per acquisition or target return on ad spend limited by budget, automatically created assets, changes made by auto-applied recommendations, and landing pages that are broken, slow, have no contact details or don’t match the ad.
• You want to hear about problems the day they start. Watch checks one account every day and alerts you to spend spikes, broken tracking and new big leaks. You also get a weekly plain-English email.

Prices, checked October 20, 2026

WordStream Google Ads Grader, as shown on its page on localiq.com:

• Price: free. The page says “Get your personalized Google Ads score today, for free.”
• What it asks for: your email, your account type and a Google sign-in. Extra business details are optional.
• Who runs it: WordStream by LocaliQ. The page says WordStream will only use your personal information and Google Ads credentials to analyze your account.

SpendCanary:

• Free scan: $0, no card.
• Watch: $19/month or $190/year. One account checked daily, a weekly plain-English email, and instant alerts for spend spikes, broken tracking and new big leaks.
• Refunds: a full refund within 30 days of any payment, no questions asked.

Using both

Both are free to try, and they look at different things. Run the grader for a score, a Quality Score breakdown and benchmarks. Run the SpendCanary scan for a list of settings and tracking problems with a monthly cost on each. For wasted spend from search terms, our guide to negative keywords for small businesses shows how to clean them up yourself.