Compare · agencies
NotFair vs hiring a Google Ads agency
Most SMB agencies bill $2-10k/month for what is, honestly, a junior account manager running a checklist. NotFair gives you that same checklist as an AI agent — supervised by you, on your schedule, for a fraction of the cost.
When an agency is the right call
If you don't want to touch the account, an agency is the right answer. They'll handle creative, landing pages, reporting, and account hygiene. You pay for the convenience.
- You don't want to operate the account directly
- You need creative + landing-page production bundled in
- You want a single accountable contact
When NotFair beats an agency
If you're a founder spending your own money and want the optimization done well without a $5k/month retainer, NotFair is the better answer. AI agents do the boring diagnostic work — search-term scrubbing, structural audits, budget pacing — that agencies bill the most for.
- You manage your own spend and want speed + transparency
- You can describe what you want in plain English
- You want the audit log of every change
- You don't want to wait until next Tuesday's sync to fix something
The in-house + AI pattern
The team-of-one + NotFair model is increasingly viable for SMBs spending $1k-30k/month on ads. Founders run weekly audits with the agent, approve writes inline, and reserve agencies for one-off creative or scale-up phases.
Side by side
At a glance
| Feature | NotFair | SMB Google Ads agency |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free during beta, usage-priced later | $2k-10k/month retainer |
| Turn-around | Minutes — ask, approve, ship | Days — wait for next sync |
| Transparency | Operation log on every write | Monthly report PDF |
| Strategy | You + your AI client | Account manager |
| Best for | Founders managing their own spend | Owners who want to outsource entirely |
Connect Google Ads in two minutes
Authorize once at notfair.co. Then open your AI client and ask real questions about your account.
FAQ
Short answers to the most common questions.
Can I run my Google Ads entirely with NotFair, no agency?
Yes — many of NotFair's users do exactly that. Pair NotFair with a competent AI client (Claude, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf) and a willingness to spend an hour a week reviewing the account.
Is NotFair for agencies too?
Yes. Agencies use NotFair to accelerate the boring parts of account management — search-term scrubbing, audits, weekly reports — so their team time goes to strategy and creative.
Is NotFair safe to use on a real Google Ads account?
Yes. NotFair separates read tools from write tools. Diagnostic queries run freely, but every write — bid change, negative keyword, ad copy, campaign state — is approval-gated and logged with full provenance so you can audit exactly what the agent did.
Does NotFair support more than Google Ads?
Meta Ads is in beta and GoHighLevel is shipping. Roadmap covers the rest of the SMB ad stack. The principle is the same on every platform: typed primitives, freshness metadata, approval-gated writes.