The Meta Ad Library is a public, searchable record of the ads running on Meta's apps. You don't need an ad account to use it: pick a country, search for a brand or keyword and you'll see its live ads, with the creative, the copy and the date each one started running.
What it shows
- Every active ad from an advertiser, including images, videos, carousels and the different versions of each ad.
- The start date, which tells you how long an ad has been running.
- Which of Meta's platforms the ad appears on.
- The call to action and, usually, the landing page.
- For ads about social issues, elections or politics: extra details such as spend and impression ranges and who paid for the ad.
- For ads delivered in the EU: additional transparency information, such as estimated reach and the age, gender and location targeting used.
What it doesn't show
For most commercial ads there's no spend, no results and no detailed targeting. Most commercial ads also disappear from the library once they stop running, although ads delivered in the EU stay visible for longer under EU rules. So the library tells you what competitors run, not how well it performs.
How to use it for research
- List competitors, including smaller D2C brands in your category, not just market leaders.
- Filter to your country and active ads, then work through the ones that have been running longest.
- Record the pattern, not the pixels: the hook, angle, format and offer, and how many variations exist. Several versions of one concept suggest a brand is iterating on a winner.
- Build a swipe file of patterns that recur across brands, then brief your own versions and put each one through creative testing.
- Recheck monthly to see new angles and which ads have disappeared, a hint at what stopped working or began to fatigue.
Look at formats as well as messages. If several competitors lean on UGC-style ads, that's a hint about what buyers in your category respond to.
Never copy competitors' images, copy, logos or brand names. Learn the recipe, then cook your own dish. Fly ROAS's competitor radar does this at scale: it scans competitors' long-running ads in the library and decodes the hooks, layouts and angles that keep working, without copying their creative. For the manual method, read how to use the Meta Ad Library for competitor research.
Frequently asked questions
Can you see how much competitors spend in the Meta Ad Library?
Not for most commercial ads. Spend and impression ranges are shown for ads about social issues, elections or politics, and ads delivered in the EU show some extra reach and targeting details. For ordinary product ads you see the creative and dates, not budget or results.
Is the Meta Ad Library free?
Yes. Anyone can search it without an ad account: pick a country and search by advertiser or keyword. Developers can also query some ad data through Meta's Ad Library API, which mainly covers political and social issue ads and ads delivered in the EU.
How do I find a competitor's best ads in the Ad Library?
Search for the brand, filter to active ads in your market, and look for ads that have been running a long time or have many versions. Long-running ads with several variations are usually concepts the brand keeps investing in. Treat them as clues to test, not proof of performance.
