How to Use the Facebook Ad Library in 2026: The Complete Guide

To use the Facebook Ad Library, go to facebook.com/ads/library, pick a country, choose All ads as the ad category, then search a brand and select its verified page. You'll see every ad that brand is running in that country, sorted by impressions, with start dates and platforms. No Facebook account is needed.

This guide walks through every step on the live library as it looks in October 2026, using Gymshark as the example. By the end you'll know how to find any competitor's ads, read what each ad card tells you, and get the extra reach and targeting data Meta only shows for EU ads.

What is the Facebook Ad Library?

The Facebook Ad Library, now officially the Meta Ad Library, is Meta's public archive of ads. According to Meta, it shows every ad currently running across its apps, plus ads about social issues, elections or politics from the past 7 years, and ads that ran in the EU or UK in the past year.

For marketers, it's the free way to see what any brand is running on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads, WhatsApp and the Audience Network. It's where most competitor research starts. Meta says a new ad appears in the library within 24 hours of its first impression. For what each ad card shows and what the library is used for, see what the Facebook Ad Library is.

How to use the Facebook Ad Library: step by step

Step 1: Open the Facebook Ad Library

Go to facebook.com/ads/library. You don't need to log in. The page opens with a short explainer and a Search ads box near the middle.

The Facebook Ad Library home page with the Search ads box, country selector and ad category selector

Step 2: Choose the country

The first dropdown sets the country. It defaults to where you are, and it controls which ads you see: an ad only shows up if it was delivered in that country.

Pick the market your competitor actually sells in. A US brand testing in the UK will show different ads under United Kingdom than under United States.

The country dropdown in the Facebook Ad Library set to United States

Step 3: Pick "All ads" as the ad category

This is the step most people miss. The search box reads Choose an ad category and stays greyed out until you pick one.

Click Ad category and choose All ads. The other options, Issues, elections or politics, Properties, Employment and Financial products and services, only show ads in those special categories.

The Select ad category menu in the Facebook Ad Library with All ads highlighted

Step 4: Search the brand and pick its verified page

The box now reads Search by keyword or advertiser. Type the brand name and wait for the suggestions.

You'll see two kinds of result. The top line searches the exact phrase across all ads, and the Advertisers list below it shows Pages.

Pick the Page with the blue verified badge and the right follower count. For Gymshark that's @Gymshark, with 2.2M follows and the Clothing (brand) label.

Look carefully at the rest of the list. When we searched, it also showed lookalike pages named "Gymshark Sale HQ", "Gymshark outlet.live" and "Gymshark Discount Zone", each with 0 follows. Big brands attract fake pages, so don't analyze the wrong account. For a full competitor workflow, from finding rivals to reading their EU targeting, see how to see your competitors' Facebook ads.

Facebook Ad Library search suggestions for Gymshark with the verified Gymshark page highlighted under Advertisers

Step 5: Check the results count and regional pages

You land on the brand's ad page. The count at the top tells you how many ads match: ~730 results for Gymshark in the United States when we checked.

Below it, Similar regional ads lists the brand's other Pages, here Gymshark Germany and Gymshark France. Global brands often run separate Pages per market, so click View Ads on each one to see the full picture.

Gymshark's ad page in the Facebook Ad Library showing about 730 results and similar regional pages for Germany and France

Step 6: Read each ad card

Scroll down to the ads. Each card shows the same fields:

• Active: the ad is running now.
• Library ID: the ad's unique ID. Save it if you want to find the ad again.
• Started running on: the launch date. It's your best free signal of what works, because brands don't keep paying for ads that lose money.
• Platforms: icons for where it runs (Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, Threads).
• This ad has multiple versions: the brand is testing variations of copy, headline or creative.
• 2 ads use this creative and text: the same creative is live in several ads. Click See summary details to see them all.

A Gymshark ad card in the Facebook Ad Library with the Started running on date highlighted

Step 7: Sort by impressions or by newest

Click Sort by. You get two options: Impressions: high to low, which is the default, and Most recent.

Impressions order is the closest thing to a performance signal in the free library. The ads at the top have been shown the most. Meta doesn't show the actual numbers, though, and there's no option to sort by how long an ad has been running. Switch to Most recent to see what the brand launched this week.

The Sort by menu in the Facebook Ad Library with Impressions high to low selected and Most recent as the other option

Step 8: Narrow the results with Filters

Click Filters to open the filter panel:

• Language: useful for global brands that run ads in several languages.
• Platform: Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, WhatsApp or Threads.
• Media type: Images, Memes (images with text), Images and memes, Videos, or No image or video.
• Active status: Active and inactive, Active ads or Inactive ads.
• Impressions by date: a From and To date range.

Click Apply to update the results. For text, use the Keyword box next to Filters. It searches the copy of this brand's ads only, so you can find every ad that mentions "sale" or a product name.

The Filters panel in the Facebook Ad Library with Language, Platform, Media type, Active status and Impressions by date

Step 9: Open "See ad details"

Click See ad details on any card. The panel shows the full ad with its copy, headline and call to action. If the ad has multiple versions, you can step through them ("1 of 2"). About the advertiser shows the Page behind it.

Click through to the landing page too. Where an ad sends people (a product page, a quiz, a collection) tells you as much about the strategy as the ad itself. For real examples, see these supplement landing pages and the ads that drive them.

The Ad details panel in the Facebook Ad Library showing a Gymshark ad with its start date, platforms and versions

Step 10: Switch to an EU country for reach and targeting

This is the most useful free data in the library, and few people use it. Change the country to an EU market, such as Germany, open See ad details on an ad, and expand Transparency by location.

For ads shown in the EU, Meta adds the targeting and an estimated reach. One Gymshark ad we opened targeted women aged 18 to 35 in Germany and had reached an estimated 162,498 accounts, with a breakdown by age and gender. That's real proof of which ads a brand puts weight behind.

EU ad delivery data in the Facebook Ad Library showing age and gender targeting and an estimated reach of 162,498 for a Gymshark ad in Germany

How to read what you find

Finding ads is the easy part. Here's how to turn them into decisions.

• Long runtime means it works. Count the days since Started running on. An ad that has run for months is almost certainly profitable. A week-old ad is still a test.
• Many versions mean the brand is testing. When This ad has multiple versions shows on a lot of new ads, the brand is hunting for a new angle.
• One creative in many ads means it's scaling. When several ads use the same creative and text, the brand is putting more budget behind something that works. For 50 real examples of long-running ads and what they have in common, see our best Facebook ad examples.
• Check the top of the impressions sort, then sort by newest. The first shows what carries the account. The second shows what's coming next.
• Compare countries. Run the same search under the US, UK and an EU country. Offers and messaging often change by market.
• Read the landing pages. Note whether the ad goes to a product page, a bundle, a quiz or a sale. It's half of the funnel.
• Search phrases, not just brands. The exact phrase search finds ads from every advertiser that use a hook or offer, like "free shipping" or "clinically proven". Our Facebook Ad Library search tips cover more tricks, like searching inside video transcripts.

If you're researching a whole category rather than one brand, our top DTC brands breakdown shows which brands are worth searching first, with their ad data.

Common problems and fixes

• The search box is greyed out. You haven't picked an ad category yet. Choose All ads.
• The brand doesn't appear. Switch the country to one where the brand advertises, or check its regional Pages. Some brands run ads from a separate Page.
• You found a page but the ads look off. You may be on a lookalike page. Go back and pick the verified page with the real follower count.
• A new ad is missing. Meta says ads appear within 24 hours of their first impression, so check again tomorrow.
• No spend or reach numbers. Outside the EU and UK, regular commercial ads don't show reach or spend. Only ads about social issues, elections or politics show spend.
• The ads are in another language. Use the Language filter.

What the Facebook Ad Library won't tell you

The library is the best free source of competitor ads. It's also built for transparency, not for research, and that shows.

• No performance numbers. You can sort by impressions, but you never see them. Outside the EU and UK there's no reach or spend for commercial ads.
• No runtime sort. You can't sort by how long an ad has run, which is the best free signal of a winner. You count dates by hand.
• One brand, one country at a time. There's no way to follow a list of competitors or get told when they launch something new.
• No saving or organizing. You can't save ads to a board or share a set with your team, and there's no download button (here's how to download ads from the Facebook Ad Library anyway).
• Ads disappear. According to Meta, regular ads only stay in the library while they run, unless they ran in the EU or UK (kept for a year) or are about politics or social issues (kept for 7 years). When a US ad stops, its history goes with it.
• Duplicates. The same creative often shows up as many separate ads, which buries the signal.

If you need more than the free library, we compared the best options in Facebook Ad Library alternatives and ad creative research tools.

A faster way: find winning ads with Adspo

Adspo starts where the free library stops. It tracks ads from 10,000+ verified brands at the creative level, so each unique creative shows up once, with its full lifespan from launch to turnoff. Every creative is ranked by impressions inside the brand's account, and you can sort by longest running.

Take Gymshark. Adspo counts 36,379 Gymshark ads, but only 2,278 unique creatives behind them. One "We do gym" video alone sits behind 55 separate ads. The free library shows you those ads one by one; Adspo shows you the creative once.

Gymshark's brand page in Adspo also shows what the free library can't: 366 new creatives launched in the last 30 days, a 70% image and 30% video mix, the landing pages its ads send people to, and the US, UK and Canada as its top target countries. Its longest-running active creative has been live for 626 days, since January 17, 2025.

Gymshark's brand page in the Adspo app showing 2,278 creatives and 36,379 ads, creative velocity, media mix, target countries and landing pages

Scroll down the same page and you get every Gymshark creative. Filter to Active and sort by Longest running, and the ads Gymshark has kept paying for come first: 626 days, then 594, 580 and 553. Each card shows how long it has run, and hovering shows how many ads use that creative. That's the runtime sort the free library doesn't have.

Gymshark's active creatives in the Adspo app sorted by longest running, with runtime badges of 626, 594, 580 and 553 days

Now switch the sort to Most impressions. The picture changes completely: the creatives Gymshark is pushing hardest right now are much newer, mostly between 91 and 214 days old. They include a Spanish-language sale ad, a "Free 121 shopping experience" carousel and a "Loved by runners" product ad.

Read the two sorts together. Longest running shows the evergreen ads that keep paying for themselves. Most impressions shows where the budget is going today.

Gymshark's active creatives in the Adspo app sorted by most impressions, led by newer ads between 91 and 214 days old

Here's how Adspo answers each limit above:

• Runtime and ranking. Sort any brand's ads by longest running or by most impressions, and filter by status, format, country, runtime and more.
• Track brands. Track any brand with no limits, and see what each one is testing, scaling and turning off.
• Context for every ad. Hooks, video transcripts, ad copy, landing pages and target countries come with each creative.
• Save and share. Save ads to boards, download them and share them with your team or clients.
• No duplicates. One creative appears once, however many ads it runs in.

You can browse Gymshark's ads on Adspo for free, or see how Adspo compares 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 the yearly plan).

Wrapping it up

The Facebook Ad Library is the free way to see any brand's ads. Pick a country, choose All ads, search the brand's verified page, then sort, filter and open the details. Switch to an EU country when you want reach and targeting.

When you need runtime, rankings and tracking across every competitor, try Adspo free for 7 days.