XCut AI for ecommerce and DTC brands

Your creative is the variable that moves ROAS, and you are being asked for more of it every week. XCut reads the ads your competitors are actually still running, explains what makes them work, and writes your next batch.

The problem is creative volume, not media buying

Most ecommerce teams have the targeting and the budget sorted. What stalls is creative: you need a steady supply of new angles, and the honest way to get them is to look at what is already converting in your category rather than guessing from a blank page.

Doing that properly means opening the Meta Ad Library, working out which ads have been running long enough to be working, screenshotting them, writing up why, and then briefing variations. That is most of a day, every week.

What XCut does for a DTC team

1. Reads competitors' live ads. Paste a brand and XCut pulls the Facebook and Instagram ads they are currently running. Run duration is the signal that matters when spend is hidden — an ad still running after weeks is an ad that is working.
2. Explains the angle. What promise, what pain, what proof, what offer structure. Not "this is a good ad" but the specific mechanism it uses.
3. Generates variations. Ad copy, UGC scripts and hooks per product and per angle, in your brand voice, so you are testing ten angles rather than defending one.
4. Covers organic too. The Reels and TikToks outperforming in your category, scored against the accounts that posted them — which is where the next ad angle usually comes from before it is an ad.
5. Builds the carousel. Instagram carousels generated end to end, which for most DTC brands is the highest-engagement organic format and the most tedious to produce.

Why the outlier scoring matters here

A 400,000-view post from an account that averages 380,000 is an ordinary day. A 40,000-view post from an account that averages 4,000 found something. XCut scores every post against the median of the account that published it, so the patterns you are shown are ones that actually worked rather than ones that came from a big account.

For a brand that is not yet large, this is the difference between learning from peers and being told to copy a competitor with fifty times your budget.

You can analyse an ad, add it to Canvas, and XCut immediately decodes and recreates it — with production notes on how to execute it.

If we use XCut to build the ads and push them out in minutes instead of a day or two, we cut the workflow in half.

Where XCut sits in your stack

XCut owns the creative decision and the creative itself: what angle to run, why it works, and the copy, scripts and carousels to test. It sits upstream of your ad account rather than inside it, so your existing reporting and media buying stay where they are.

That boundary is deliberate. A tool that tries to be the ad platform, the reporting layer and the creative engine does none of them properly. XCut is the creative engine, and it is the part of the stack most brands are short of.

If you also want a searchable swipe file with continuous advertiser tracking, Foreplay adds that on top — the two run together comfortably.

Getting started

1. Start free — 200 credits, no card, no expiry.
2. Paste two or three competitors in your category.
3. Look at what they have kept running, and at the organic posts beating their own baselines.
4. Generate three angles you would not have written yourself, and put them in the next test.

Frequently asked questions

Can XCut AI see my competitors' Facebook and Instagram ads?

Yes. XCut reads competitors' live Facebook and Instagram ads, including how long each has been running — which is the most reliable performance signal available when spend is not public.

Does XCut AI connect to my Meta ad account?

No. XCut works upstream of your ad account: it researches what is working in your category and generates creative. It does not report on ROAS, CPA or CTR, and it does not manage campaigns.

Can it write UGC scripts?

Yes — UGC scripts and ad variations per product and per angle, built from ads and organic posts that are already performing in your category rather than from a blank prompt.

How much does it cost for a DTC brand?

Starter is $29/mo month-to-month and Pro is $69/mo with 3 seats. Every account starts free with 200 credits and no card, and paid plans carry a 14-day money-back guarantee. Full plans are on the pricing page.

References

• XCut AI pricing — plans, credits and seats.
• Best Meta Ads creative research tools (2026) — the wider category, including the specialists.
• XCut AI vs Foreplay — how XCut compares with the dedicated ad-research tool.