An MCP gives your AI assistant access to Google Ads. You get answers in a conversation. Ads Clear View gives you what your clients expect: accurate figures, an audit, reports ready to send and a client space. With nothing to install.
What each option costs, what it takes to set up, what you get, and what is missing.
| Criterion | In-house MCP | Market MCP / connector | Ads Clear View |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | You need to be a developer, or have one, for this free version: a Google Cloud project, a developer token, OAuth and a server to run.Free (Apache-2.0 licence). Add your AI assistant subscription and, if you put it online, hosting. | A connector subscription, at each vendor's price, plus your AI assistant subscription.
|
One price, AI included. Free plan with no credit card, then 59 € to 199 € excl. VAT per month, with no extra charge per Google Ads account. |
| Setup | Google Cloud project, Google Ads API enabled and access requested for live accounts, OAuth credentials, Python install (pipx), then run locally or host on Cloud Run. | No server: an account with the vendor, the Google Ads connection, then plugging the connector into your AI assistant. | Nothing to install. Connect your Google account from the browser and pick your accounts: no Google Cloud project, no API access to get approved. |
| Skills required | Developer: command line, Google Cloud, and GAQL queries written by the AI, to be checked. | Being comfortable with an AI assistant and managing its connectors. | No technical skills. Screens in English, French and Spanish, designed for people who run campaigns, not servers. |
| Who calculates the figures | The AI, from raw API responses: totals, ratios and period comparisons. | The AI, from the data sent by the connector. | Code, not AI. Tables, charts, key figures and the audit are calculated by the application; the AI comments on values that are already right. |
| Account audit | Ask the AI, one question at a time. | Ask the AI, with the prompt templates offered by the vendor. | A full audit in one click. Conversion tracking is checked first, then campaigns, keywords and ads, with wasted spend in euros (1 audit per week from the Free plan). |
| Client reports | Format them yourself from the assistant's answers, then send them by hand. | Depending on the vendor: answers in the conversation, export to other tools, sometimes dashboard templates. | Ready reports, sent automatically. Ready-made templates, drag-and-drop composer, PDF and PowerPoint (5 layouts), weekly, monthly or quarterly sends in your name (paid plans). |
| Access for your clients | None: the server serves the person who installed it. | The connector serves the assistant's user; for the end client, you export and pass things on. | A client space under your brand. White-label portal protected by a code (paid plans) and a live client dashboard where the client picks the period (Agency plan). |
| Changes to campaigns | Read access, plus a few writes (assets, labels) after confirmation. | Read-only or write access, depending on the connector. | Always read-only. Ads Clear View changes nothing in your accounts: it analyses and recommends, you decide in Google Ads. |
| Team and clients | One access per person, set up by each. | Depending on the vendor's plan. | The whole agency in one place. Clients, Google Ads accounts and members in one space: up to 50 clients and 5 members on the Agency plan. |
Comparison made on 5 November 2026. In-house MCP: based on the public documentation of Google's open-source Google Ads MCP server and of the Google Ads API. Market connectors: general operation, which varies from one vendor to another; check the details with each one.
The monthly price of the cheapest plan that covers each number of clients, based on each tool's public price list, in its original currency. The assumptions are listed below the table.
| Clients | Self-hosted MCP + AI assistant | Ads Clear View |
|---|---|---|
| 1 client | Free licence (open source)plus the AI assistant subscription (below) and the setup, which cannot be priced | Solo59 € excl. VAT a month, or 47.20 € excl. VAT a month billed annually |
| 3 clients | Free licence (open source)plus the AI assistant subscription (below) and the setup, which cannot be priced | Solo59 € excl. VAT a month, or 47.20 € excl. VAT a month billed annually |
| 10 clients | Free licence (open source)plus the AI assistant subscription (below) and the setup, which cannot be priced | Pro89 € excl. VAT a month, or 71.20 € excl. VAT a month billed annually |
Public price taken on 5 November 2026 from the official page: github.com/googleads/google-ads-mcp
Four real situations: what an MCP (in-house or from the market) gives you, what Ads Clear View gives you. The last one favours the MCP.
On the 1st of the month, six clients are waiting for last month's results.
For each client: open the assistant, ask for this month's and last month's figures, check the maths, paste the answer into a document in her layout, send it. Six times, every month.
She builds a report template once, applies it to each client and schedules a monthly send: the "last month" period updates itself, and the email goes out in her name with a link to the report. Six clients fit in the Pro plan (10 clients).
Clients want to see their results whenever they like, without waiting for an email.
The MCP serves the agency, not its clients: to show them anything you have to export and send, every time.
Each client gets the address of their portal on agency.acvhub.net, with an access code. They find their one-off and recurring reports there, with the agency's logo and colours and no mention of Ads Clear View. Regenerating the code cuts access.
He wants to understand why, without being a Google Ads expert.
He can ask an assistant, once the MCP or connector is installed and configured. The AI fetches the data and does the maths itself: a miscalculated ratio or a misread period can easily go unnoticed.
He connects his account and runs the audit: conversion tracking is checked first (a faulty counter is enough to distort a cost per lead), then campaigns, keywords and ads, with wasted spend quantified. He can then ask the assistant. The Free plan is enough: 1 audit per week and 30 messages per month.
He manages his own account, knows how to install a server and wants to explore his data freely.
Google's free open-source MCP does the job: he asks his assistant questions, with no report to deliver to anyone.
Ads Clear View would mainly add the audit and figures computed by code. With no client and no report to deliver, it isn't essential; the Free plan lets him compare at no cost.
Ads Clear View is not for everyone. An MCP, in-house or from the market, may be enough if:
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT call external tools. A Google Ads MCP gives the assistant access to a Google Ads account's data through Google's API.
No. It is a web application with its own AI assistant, already connected to Google Ads and your clients' other Google sources. There is no server to install and no separate AI subscription.
No. You sign in with your Google account and choose the accounts to follow; the API access is Ads Clear View's.
No. Access is read-only: no bid, budget or ad is ever changed. You apply the recommendations yourself, in Google Ads.
The Free plan is free, no credit card needed. Paid plans range from 59 € to 199 € per month excl. VAT, AI included (100 to 1,000 messages per month), with no extra charge per Google Ads account.
Yes, nothing stops you: an MCP to explore freely, Ads Clear View for the audit, client reports and the portal.
Connect a Google Ads account, run the audit and build your first report. Free plan with no credit card; read-only, nothing is changed in your accounts.
