For dropshippers, DTC owners and media buyers who study the ads of competing stores

TrendTrack vs Playhead: which one you need

TrendTrack and Playhead do two different jobs. TrendTrack is a database: it tracks Shopify stores, 2 to 3 million new ads a day, advertisers and email flows, and it tells you which ones grow. Playhead is a reader: you paste the link of one ad and get the hook, every beat with its start and length, and every claim with the second it appears. TrendTrack starts at €49 a month and its ads library starts on Pro at €89. Playhead is free for 50,000 credits a month, and its first paid plan is $19.

By The Playhead team

We build the video layer these numbers are measured on. Every figure about Playhead comes from the source file it lives in.

Published 26 September 202610 min read

The short version

TrendTrack's €49 Starter plan holds shop research, 5 lookups a week and 2 tracked brands. The ads library, email library and MCP access start on Pro at €89 a month.
TrendTrack's MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity to its data from Pro, with 20,000 API credits. Playhead's MCP is on every plan, the free one included.
A team of 2 on TrendTrack needs Business at €159 a month, which holds 3 seats. Playhead's $19 Creator plan holds 3 seats.
TrendTrack tells you which ad a store runs and for how long. Playhead tells you what happens inside that ad, second by second.
The two work together: find the ad in TrendTrack, paste its link into Playhead.

What is on this page and on no other

Every page about these products carries the same prices and the same feature lists. These are the facts this one produced itself, and how each one was made.

TrendTrack's pricing page prints two annual prices for each of its 3 plans. The cards show €34, €62 and €111 a month, and the comparison table under them shows $42, $63 and $105 a month, billed yearly.
Counted The pricing page read on 26 September 2026 as raw HTML, where the card prices sit as 49, 41, 34 and 89, 76, 62 and 159, 135, 111, beside the table text.
4 of the 5 product rows on TrendTrack's €49 Starter card are crossed out: Mail, Ads, Advertisers, and API and MCP access. Starter keeps Shops, 5 lookups a week and 2 tracked brands.
Counted The plan cards and the comparison table of the pricing page, read on 26 September 2026 in a browser with no account.
For 3 people, TrendTrack costs €159 a month on Business and Playhead costs $19 a month on Creator, because TrendTrack's Starter and Pro hold 1 seat each.
Counted The seat rows of both pricing pages, read on 26 September 2026.

What TrendTrack is better at

First, because a comparison that opens with our own advantages is an advertisement rather than a comparison.

A database of stores, ads, advertisers and emails. You can search the market for what grows, which Playhead cannot do, because Playhead holds no database.
Store traffic from SimilarWeb and EU reach and spend from Meta's transparency data, beside every shop and ad.
Email flows and campaigns of competing stores: welcome series, cart abandonment and one-time sends.
A brand tracker that follows up to 20 competitors on Business and refreshes every 24 hours.
An MCP endpoint that puts stores, ads, advertisers and emails into Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity.

How they compare

Playhead compared with TrendTrack, capability by capability
What you want	TrendTrack	Playhead
Find winning stores and products in a niche	YesShops with traffic, growth, creation date and Shopify theme filters on every plan, including the €49 Starter. ^[1]	NoPlayhead holds no store or product database. You bring the link of the ad you want read.
Search competitor ads by spend, format and date	In partThe ads library with filters and search by image starts on Pro at €89 a month. The Starter plan card crosses out Ads. ^[1]	NoNo ad search. Take the link from the Meta Ad Library, TikTok or Instagram, where every public ad already is.
What happens inside one ad, second by second	In partThe home page lists the best hooks as quoted opening lines, and a creative analysis of hooks, copy variations and testing timelines. A beat with its start and length is not described. ^[3]	YesThe hook and how it reaches the viewer, every beat with its start and length, every claim quoted at the second it is legible, the cuts, the first face and the first product.
Compare a set of ads side by side	In partAutomated analysis of a brand's ad strategy: frequency, formats used and key messages, on the tracked brands. ^[3]	YesUp to 10 ads in one set, each read on its own, then stacked with the same fields so the differences show row by row.
Does the ad work with the sound off	Not documentedNot described on the pricing page, the MCP page or the home page.	YesEvery teardown says if the ad works muted, and why, from what is on screen and what is only said.
Email flows and traffic of a competing store	YesEmail flows and campaigns on Pro, store traffic from SimilarWeb on every plan. ^[1]	NoPlayhead reads video. It does not see a store's email or its traffic.
Use it inside Claude or ChatGPT	In partAn MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity, from the Pro plan at €89, with 20,000 API credits. The Starter plan card crosses out API and MCP. ^[2]	YesA hosted MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor on every plan, the free one included.
Seats for a team of 3	In partStarter and Pro hold 1 user each. Business at €159 a month holds 3, and each further seat is $29. ^[1]	Yes3 seats on the $19 Creator plan and on the $39 Pro plan. Studio at $109 holds 5.
Try it before you pay	Not documentedEvery button reads Start Now for Free. The pricing page names no free plan and no trial length. ^[1]	YesThe first analyses need no account. A free account holds 50,000 credits a month and needs no card.
The price of the first plan	Yes€49 a month, €41 quarterly, €34 on the annual rate as the card shows it. The comparison table on the same page prints $42 for the annual rate. ^[1]	YesFree with 50,000 credits a month. Creator $19, Pro $39, Studio $109 a month.

A database and a reader

TrendTrack tells you which ad to look at. Playhead tells you what is in it.

TrendTrack answers which. Which stores grow, which advertiser spends in the EU, which ads a brand has run for 30 days. It scans the Shopify and Meta ecosystem every 24 hours, and it is built to point you at the right store.

Playhead answers what. You found the ad. Now you need to know what it does: what the first 3 seconds say and show, when the product appears, how long the proof runs, what the call to action promises, and whether it still works with the sound off. Today a person does that with a timeline scrubber and a notes file. Playhead does it from the link.

So the honest answer to "TrendTrack or Playhead" is that they sit one after the other. TrendTrack ends where the ad begins.

A Playhead teardown of a supplement ad. Six frames across the runtime, and under them a timeline with the beats Hook, Demonstration, Turn, Proof, Demonstration, Proof and Ask. — A Playhead teardown. Every beat of the ad sits on one timeline, with the second it starts and the second it ends.

What each plan costs, and what it opens

The TrendTrack ads library and MCP start on Pro. Playhead's MCP is on every plan.

Both price lists, as the two pricing pages printed them on 26 September 2026
Plan	A month	Ads library or ad reading	MCP	Seats
TrendTrack Starter	€49	No ads library	No	1
TrendTrack Pro	€89	Ads library	20,000 credits	1
TrendTrack Business	€159	Ads library	20,000 credits	3, then $29 each
Playhead Free	$0	50,000 credits of reading	Yes	1
Playhead Creator	$19	600,000 credits of reading	Yes	3
Playhead Pro	$39	1,500,000 credits of reading	Yes	3
Playhead Studio	$109	5,000,000 credits of reading	Yes	5

TrendTrack and Playhead in the same Claude chat

Both have an MCP. One finds the ad, the other reads it.

Connect both servers to Claude
Add TrendTrack's MCP from its Pro plan, and Playhead's MCP from any plan, the free one included.
Ask TrendTrack for the ads
Ask for the ads a competing store has run the longest, or the scaling ads in your niche. Each result carries the ad's link.
Ask Playhead what is in them
Hand the links to Playhead and ask for the hook, the beats and the claims. Up to 10 ads go in one set and come back as one comparison.
Ask the follow-up
When is the price on screen. How long is the product in the hand. A later question on a saved ad costs less than the first reading.

When to choose TrendTrack instead

Choose TrendTrack when your question is which stores and which ads to look at: what grows in a niche, which advertiser spends in the EU, what a competitor sends by email. That is a search over a market, and it needs a database. Playhead does not search a market, it reads the ad you already found.

The verdict

TrendTrack is the better tool for finding which stores and ads to study, and at €89 a month on Pro it holds a database Playhead does not have. But every ad it finds still has to be watched by a person with a scrubber. Playhead does that part from the link, from $0, with 3 seats at $19 and an MCP on every plan. If you pay for TrendTrack, add Playhead. If you only need to understand the ads you already have, Playhead alone is the cheaper answer.

Common questions

Is Playhead a TrendTrack alternative?

Playhead replaces TrendTrack for one job and not for the other. For taking apart a competitor's video ad, with the second of every hook, beat and claim, Playhead does the job from $0. For finding stores, products, ads and email flows across a market, TrendTrack does the job and Playhead has no database to search.

Does TrendTrack have an MCP for Claude?

Yes. TrendTrack's MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity to its stores, ads, advertisers and emails. On 26 September 2026 the pricing page showed it from the €89 Pro plan with 20,000 credits, and crossed out on the €49 Starter plan.

How much does TrendTrack cost?

TrendTrack costs €49, €89 or €159 a month for Starter, Pro and Business, and €34, €62 or €111 on the annual rate as the plan cards show it. The comparison table on the same page prints $42, $63 and $105 for the annual rate.

Is there a free trial of TrendTrack?

Every button on TrendTrack's pricing page reads Start Now for Free, and the page names no free plan and no trial length. Playhead has a free plan with 50,000 credits a month, and the first ad analyses need no account at all.

Can I use TrendTrack and Playhead together?

Yes, and the two fit end to end. Find the ad in TrendTrack, then paste its link into Playhead, or connect both MCP servers to one Claude chat and hand the links from one to the other.