To see your competitors' Facebook and Instagram ads, go to facebook.com/ads/library, pick a country, choose All ads and search the competitor's name. Select their verified Page and you'll see every ad they're running in that country. It's free, it covers Facebook and Instagram, and you don't need an account. For targeting and reach, switch the country to an EU market.
This guide shows how to see competitors' Facebook ads the way a creative strategist does, using smart ring brand Oura as the example. You'll find rivals you didn't know about, see what they launched this week, check who's behind each Page, read real EU targeting data, and turn it all into a competitor ad analysis you can brief from.
What you need before you start
Just a browser. The Meta Ad Library works without a Facebook account, and nothing you do there is visible to the brands you look at.
Have a list of 3 to 5 competitors ready, or follow Step 1 to build one. If you've never used the library before, our full guide on how to use the Facebook Ad Library covers every button and filter.
How to see competitors' Facebook ads: step by step
We walked every step below on the live Meta Ad Library on October 13, 2026.
Step 1: Find your competitors with an exact phrase search
Go to facebook.com/ads/library, choose your country and set the category to All ads. Then type the phrase your category uses, in quotes, and press Enter.
Quotes matter. Without them, Meta matches either word, so "smart ring" pulls in barbers and Amazon ads. With them, you get ~1,600 results in the United States, and the line under the count confirms These results include ads that match your exact phrase search.
Scroll the results and write down every advertiser. For "smart ring", the first few results alone show RingConn, Halo and Oura. That's your competitor list.
Meta Ad Library exact phrase search for "smart ring" in the United States showing about 1,600 results with ads from RingConn and Halo
Step 2: Open each competitor's verified Page
Clear the search box and type a competitor's name. Under Advertisers, pick the Page with the verified badge and the real follower count. Big brands attract lookalike Pages, so check before you start taking notes.
You land on the brand's Ad Library page. For Oura (shown as ŌURA) in the United States, it showed ~96 results with the Active status: Active ads filter on. Every card shows the Started running on date, the platforms, and whether This ad has multiple versions.
Oura's Page in the Meta Ad Library showing about 96 active ads in the United States, with start dates and multiple versions labels
Step 3: Sort by Most recent to see what's new
Click Sort by. The default is Impressions: high to low, which puts the ads the brand serves most at the top. Switch to Most recent to see what it launched in the last few days.
Do both. The impressions sort tells you what carries the account today. The most recent sort tells you what the brand is testing next. When we checked, Oura's top ads in the US were a "$100 off select styles" Oura Ring 4 sale and Oura Ring 5 launch ads, all started in September 2026.
The Sort by menu on Oura's Ad Library page with Impressions high to low selected and Most recent highlighted
Step 4: Check the About tab for who runs the Page
Click About next to Ads at the top of the brand's page. This is Meta's Page transparency panel, and most people never open it.
It shows the linked Facebook and Instagram accounts with their follower counts, the Page history (when the Page was created and how often its name changed), the organization responsible for the Page, and where the people who manage it are based. For Oura, it shows a Page created on February 28, 2015, 1 name change, and Oura Health Oy as the organization behind it.
This is how you spot a copycat. A Page created last month, with several name changes and no organization listed, is not the brand you think it is.
The About tab on Oura's Ad Library page showing Page transparency with linked accounts, Page history and the organization that manages the Page
Step 5: Switch to an EU country to see targeting and reach
Change the country to an EU market where the competitor advertises, like Germany. Open See ad details on an ad and expand Transparency by location.
For ads shown in the EU, Meta lists the targeted locations, age range and gender, plus an estimated Reach broken down by age and gender. This is the only free way to see a competitor's Facebook ads target audience.
Here's what it showed for a German Oura ad offering 129 € off Oura Ring 4, started on August 12, 2026. Targeting was broad: Germany, 18-65+ years old, gender All.
Yet of its estimated 912,337 reach, about 72% was women, and women aged 25 to 34 alone made up 298,862. Oura didn't target women. Meta's delivery found them.
EU transparency for an Oura ad in Germany showing 18-65+ age targeting, all genders and an estimated reach of 912,337
Other ways to see a competitor's ads
The Ad Library is the most complete route, but there are two shortcuts.
- From Instagram. Instagram's Help Center says to go to the brand's profile, tap the menu, select About this account and look under Active ads. That links you to the brand's ads in the Meta Ad Library. You must be logged in to Instagram to see it.
- From Facebook. The same Page transparency panel from Step 4 appears on Facebook Pages, but Facebook asks you to log in before it shows a Page. When we opened Oura's Page logged out, a login wall covered it. The Ad Library's About tab shows the same data with no login.
How to do a competitor ad analysis with what you find
Seeing the ads is the easy part. A competitor ad analysis turns them into decisions. For each competitor, fill in one row like this:
| What to note | Where to find it | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Longest-running active ads | Started running on date | What's profitable enough to keep paying for |
| Newest ads | Sort by > Most recent | What they're testing right now |
| Repeated creatives | "2 ads use this creative and text" | What they're putting more budget behind |
| Versions | This ad has multiple versions | Which hooks or headlines they're A/B testing |
| Offer | Ad copy and headline | Discount depth, bundles, free trials |
| Landing page | The link under the ad | Product page, quiz or sale page |
| Format | The creative itself | UGC, product shot, founder, demo |
| EU audience | Transparency by location | Who actually sees the ad |
Then look across the rows. In our smart ring search, Oura leads with "$100 off" and a new ring launch, while RingConn's ads lean on "no subscription" messaging. That's a positioning gap you can see in 10 minutes for free.
For what long-running ads have in common, see our best Facebook ad examples, and for how this feeds a brief, read what creative strategy is.
What the free Ad Library won't show you
The Meta Ad Library is built for transparency, not research. Here's where it runs out.
- No spend and no performance. For regular ads, Meta shows no spend, clicks or sales. It sorts by impressions without showing the numbers.
- One country at a time. Oura showed ~96 active ads in the US and ~67 in Germany. To see everything, you search market by market.
- No runtime sort. You count days from Started running on by hand.
- No tracking. You can't follow a competitor or get told when they launch something.
- Ads disappear. Meta shows ads that are currently running, plus political and issue ads for 7 years and ads shown in the EU for 1 year. A stopped US ad is gone.
- Duplicates. One creative can show up as many separate ads, so the same video fills your screen.
A faster way: track competitors' ads with Adspo
Adspo starts where the free library stops. It tracks ads from 10,000+ verified brands at the creative level, across every country at once, and ranks each creative by impressions within the brand's own account.
Here's Oura in Adspo. Instead of ~96 ads in one country, you see 317 active creatives behind 662 ads across every market. The brand page shows 68 new creatives in the last 30 days, a 67% image and 33% video mix, and the United States, United Kingdom and Australia as its top target countries. It also shows that 31% of its creatives send people to one Oura Ring store page.
Oura's brand page in the Adspo app showing 317 creatives and 662 ads, creative velocity, media mix, target countries and landing pages
Scroll down and filter to Active, sorted by latest, and you get the "what did they launch this week" view in one click, across every country. When we checked, Oura's newest creatives were 2 days old, including a "Wear your best life" static, and a creator video that opens with "do NOT get Oura" had been live for 3 days.
Oura's active creatives in the Adspo app sorted by latest, showing new static and video ads launched 2 to 9 days ago
Here's how Adspo answers each limit above:
- A real ranking. Sort a competitor's creatives by most impressions, longest running, latest or most ads.
- Every country at once. One brand page covers all markets, with top target countries shown.
- Unlimited brand tracking. Follow every competitor and see new creatives as they go live.
- Full history. Each creative keeps its lifespan from launch to turnoff.
- Context for every ad. Hooks, transcripts, landing pages and creators come with each creative.
- No duplicates. One creative appears once, however many ads it runs in.
See how Adspo compares with the free library on our Facebook Ad Library alternative page. Adspo costs $29/month, or $19/month billed yearly, with a 7-day free trial (14 days on yearly).
Related guides
- How to use the Facebook Ad Library: every filter and setting, step by step.
- What is the Facebook Ad Library?: what it includes and what it's used for.
- How to download ads from the Facebook Ad Library: save competitors' video ads as MP4 and image ads as JPG.
- The best ad spy tools: paid tools for tracking competitor ads, compared.
Frequently asked questions
How can I see my competitors' Facebook ads?
Go to facebook.com/ads/library, pick a country, choose All ads, then search the competitor's name and pick its verified Page under Advertisers. You'll see every ad that Page is running in that country across Meta's apps, including Facebook and Instagram. It's free and you don't need a Facebook account.
Can I see a competitor's Instagram ads?
Yes. Instagram ads run through Meta, so they show up in the Meta Ad Library under the brand's Page. In the Instagram app you can also open the brand's profile, tap the menu, select About this account and look under Active ads, which links to the same library. Instagram says you must be logged in to see About this account.
Can I see a competitor's Facebook ads target audience?
Only for ads shown in the EU. Switch the Ad Library country to an EU market such as Germany, open See ad details on an ad and expand Transparency by location. You'll see the targeted locations, age range and gender, plus an estimated reach broken down by age and gender. Outside the EU, Meta doesn't show targeting for regular ads.
Can I see how much a competitor spends on Facebook ads?
No, not for regular commercial ads. Meta only shows spend for ads about social issues, elections or politics. For other ads, use the signals you can see: how long an ad has been running, how many ads use the same creative, and EU reach where it's shown.
How do I check a competitor's Facebook ads performance?
Meta doesn't show clicks, sales or ROAS for anyone else's ads. The free library sorts a brand's ads by Impressions: high to low by default, but without the numbers. Runtime is the next best signal, because brands rarely keep paying for an ad that doesn't work. Adspo ranks every creative by impressions within the brand's own account and shows how long each one has run.
Can a competitor see that I looked at their ads?
No. The Meta Ad Library is public and anyone can browse it without logging in. Nothing in the library tells an advertiser who has viewed their ads.
Wrapping it up
Seeing your competitors' Facebook ads takes 5 steps: find them with an exact phrase search, open their verified Pages, sort by most recent, check the About tab, and switch to an EU country for targeting. It's free, and it's the right place to start.
When you need to follow every competitor across every market without counting dates by hand, let Adspo do it. Try Adspo free for 7 days.