For marketers, founders and media buyers who research competitor ads on Facebook and Instagram
How to use the Facebook Ad Library
Meta's Ad Library at facebook.com/ads/library is free and needs no account. Pick a country, pick an ad category, and search a keyword or an advertiser. Then narrow the results with 6 filters: language, advertiser, platform, media type, active status and impressions by date. The library shows every ad that is active now. An ad that reached the EU stays for 1 year after its last impression, with reach data, and an ad about social issues, elections or politics stays for 7 years with spend.
Published 11 min read
The short version
- The Ad Library search screen has 3 controls at the top, country, ad category and keyword or advertiser, and 6 filters under Filters.
- Meta keeps 3 kinds of ad for 3 lengths of time: an active ad while it runs, an ad that reached the EU for 1 year after its last impression, and a political or issue ad for 7 years.
- Pick an EU country when you search. An ad that reached the EU then shows its reach, its advertiser and its payer, and it stays visible for 1 year after it stops.
- The Ad Library API returns a commercial ad only when it reached the UK or the EU, and it needs 3 steps first: an identity check, a developer account and an app.
- Set Media type to Videos and a keyword search also matches the words spoken in the video, not only the ad copy. The Platform filter holds 6 platforms, from Facebook to Threads.
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.
The Ad Library search screen holds 9 controls: 3 at the top, country, ad category and keyword or advertiser, and 6 under Filters, which are language, advertiser, platform, media type, active status and impressions by date.
Meta keeps ads for 3 different lengths of time: every ad while it is active, an ad that reached the EU for 1 year after its last impression, and an ad about social issues, elections or politics for 7 years.
The Ad Library API takes 5 ad types and 3 active statuses, and it returns an ad that never reached the EU only when that ad is about social issues, elections or politics.
The Media type filter holds 5 choices, and with Videos chosen the Ad Library labels a keyword search as a keyword within the video transcript or the ad copy. The Platform filter holds 6 platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads.
What the Ad Library keeps, and for how long
Three kinds of ad, three lengths of time, three amounts of data.
The Ad Library is Meta's public record of the ads that run across its apps: the Platform filter lists Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads. Meta runs it for transparency, so it costs nothing and needs no login. What you can see depends on two things: where the ad ran, and what it is about.
Meta's Transparency Center states the three rules, read on 26 September 2026:
| The ad | Shown | Kept | Extra data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any ad, anywhere | While it is active | Until it stops | The creative, the Page, the start date, the platforms |
| An ad that reached the EU | While active, then archived | 1 year after its last impression | Reach, targeting, advertiser and payer |
| An ad about social issues, elections or politics | Active or inactive | 7 years | Spend, reach, who paid for it |
| Branded content with a paid partnership label | While active | Until it stops | A separate branded content search |
How to search the Ad Library, step by step
Seven steps, from the first page to a link you can hand to somebody else.
Open the Ad Library
Go to facebook.com/ads/library. You do not need to log in.
Pick a country
The country decides which ads you see. Pick an EU country when the brand sells there, because EU ads carry reach data and stay for 1 year after they stop.
Pick an ad category
All ads is the default. With Germany selected the list also holds Properties, Employment, and Financial products and services, the special ad categories Meta reviews with extra rules.
Search a keyword or an advertiser
Type a product word to see every ad that uses it, or type a brand and choose its Page from the list to see only that Page's ads.
Narrow the results with Filters
Set Media type to Videos, Active status to Active and inactive, and Impressions by date to the weeks you care about. With Videos chosen, your keyword also matches the words spoken in the video. Language, Advertiser and Platform are the other three filters.
Open the ad's details
Each card shows the Library ID and the date it started running. Open the details to see every version of the ad and, for an EU ad, the EU transparency data.
Copy the link and read the ad
Copy the link that carries the Library ID. Paste it into Playhead to get the hook, each beat with its start and length, and every claim with its second.
Every control on the search screen
Nine controls, and what each one is for when you study a competitor.
| Control | Where | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Country | Top bar | Choose whose ads you see. An EU country shows more data and older ads. |
| Ad category | Top bar | All ads, or one special category: Properties, Employment, Financial products and services. |
| Keyword or advertiser | Top bar | Search every ad that uses a word, or one Page's ads. |
| Language | Filters | Keep only the ads in the language of your market. |
| Advertiser | Filters | Keep one or more Pages after a keyword search. |
| Platform | Filters | Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, WhatsApp or Threads. |
| Media type | Filters | Images, Memes, Images and memes, Videos, or No image or video. Videos searches the spoken words too. |
| Active status | Filters | Active and inactive, Active ads, or Inactive ads. |
| Impressions by date | Filters | Keep the ads that were shown on one date or in a date range. |
Two things on a result card are worth reading before you open it. "Started running on" is the date the ad first ran, and an ad that still runs months later is an ad somebody keeps paying for. "N ads use this creative and text" means the same creative runs in more than one ad, which is how an advertiser scales a winner. Both are on the card, so you can sort winners from tests without opening one ad.
When you search an EU country, the screen can also sort the results by impressions, highest first.
The Ad Library API, and who can use it
More data than the screen, for fewer ads, after three steps.
Meta's Ad Library API page, read on 26 September 2026, says the API searches two sets of ads: ads about social issues, elections or politics delivered anywhere in the past 7 years, and ads of any type delivered to the UK or the EU in the past year. A commercial ad that never reached the UK or the EU does not come back from the API at all.
To get access you need a Facebook account and three steps:
Confirm your identity and location
Go to facebook.com/ID and finish the check that Meta requires to run political ads. Meta says it can take a few days.
Make a Meta for Developers account
Select Get started on Meta for Developers and agree to the Platform Policy.
Add an app
Return to the Ad Library API page, select Access the API, and create an app under My apps.
| For | Fields |
|---|---|
| Every ad | Library ID, the creative, the Page name and Page ID, the delivery dates, the platforms |
| Political and issue ads | Spend as a range, impressions as a range, reach by age, gender and location |
| UK and EU ads | Estimated impressions in the UK and EU, targeting and reach by age, gender and location |
| EU ads only | The advertiser and the payer |
Do you need a Facebook Ad Library downloader?
Usually not. A link is enough for most of what a download is for.
Meta's pages about the Ad Library describe no download of an ad's video, which is why "facebook ad library downloader" is one of the searches people type about it. Most people want the file for one of two reasons: to keep the ad after it stops, or to study it frame by frame.
For the first reason, the link with the Library ID is the record. For an EU ad it works for 1 year after the last impression. For the second reason, you do not need the file at all. Paste the link into Playhead and it reads the video from there: the hook, each beat with its start and length, every claim with its second, the cuts, the first face and the first product.
The one download Meta does describe is the Ad Library Report, a summary of political and issue ads per country, in the countries that require an authorisation to run them.
The verdict
The Ad Library is the best free source of competitor ads there is, because every paid tool reads from it and it answers the question "what runs now" for 0 dollars. Two settings change what it shows you: an EU country, which adds reach data and keeps stopped ads for 1 year, and the Active status filter set to all. What it does not do is tell you why an ad works. It shows the video and stops there. Copy the link, paste it into Playhead, and you get the hook, the beats and the claims with the second of each, which is the part of the job the library leaves to you.
Common questions
Is the Facebook Ad Library free?
Meta's Ad Library is free and needs no account. Anybody can search every active ad across Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads at facebook.com/ads/library. Only the API needs an account, an identity check and a developer app.
How long do ads stay in the Facebook Ad Library?
An ordinary ad stays while it is active. An ad that reached the EU stays for 1 year after its last impression. An ad about social issues, elections or politics stays for 7 years, active or not. Meta states all three on its Transparency Center page.
Can I see how much a competitor spends in the Ad Library?
Meta shows spend only for ads about social issues, elections or politics, as a range. For an ordinary ad that reached the EU, the library shows reach and demographics, not spend. For an ordinary ad outside the EU, Meta shows no spend and no reach.
Why can I not find an ad that I saw last month?
An ordinary ad leaves the Ad Library when it stops, unless it reached the EU. Select an EU country and set Active status to all ads: if the ad reached the EU, it stays visible for 1 year after its last impression.
How do I download a video from the Facebook Ad Library?
Meta's Ad Library pages describe no download of an ad's video. The one download they describe is the Ad Library Report, a summary of political and issue ads. To study the video, you do not need the file: paste the link with its Library ID into Playhead, which reads the video from the link and names every beat and claim with its second.