What Is the Facebook Ad Library and What Is It Used For?

The Facebook Ad Library is Meta's free, public database of ads. Now called the Meta Ad Library, it lets anyone search every ad currently running across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Meta's other apps, plus political and issue ads from the past 7 years. You can see each ad's creative, copy, advertiser, start date and platforms, with no account needed.

For marketers, it's the easiest free way to see what any brand is running right now. This explainer covers what the library includes, what it's used for, what it leaves out, and how to get more out of it.

What is the Facebook Ad Library?

The Facebook Ad Library is a searchable archive of ads run by any advertiser on Meta's apps. Meta's own FAQ calls it "a place where you can search for ads that are running across Meta technologies." Facebook renamed the company Meta, so you'll see both names. They're the same tool.

Here's how Meta describes what's inside when you open it:

• All ads currently running across Meta technologies.
• Ads about social issues, elections or politics that have run in the past 7 years.
• Ads that have run anywhere in the EU in the past year.
• Ads that have run in the UK in the past year and after July 1, 2025.

The Meta Ad Library homepage describing which ads it includes: all active ads, political and issue ads from the past seven years, and EU and UK ads from the past year

It isn't a performance tool. You won't see clicks, sales or ROAS. What you get is a live window into what every advertiser is showing people today.

What the Facebook Ad Library shows for each ad

Search a brand and you get a grid of ad cards. Here's AG1's search in the United States, with about 570 results for "AG1 by Athletic Greens" when we checked on October 12, 2026.

Facebook Ad Library search results for AG1 by Athletic Greens in the United States, about 570 active ads, with the Started running on date highlighted

Each card shows:

• Status. A green Active label for ads that are live.
• Library ID. A unique number for the ad, handy for sharing or reporting it.
• Started running on. The date the ad first ran. The first AG1 ad above started on February 24, 2026.
• Platforms. Icons for each Meta app the ad runs on, such as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads.
• Versions. "This ad has multiple versions" and how many ads use the same creative and text.
• The ad itself. The copy, image or video, headline and call to action, exactly as people see it.

Political and issue ads get more. They show spend, reach and who paid for the ad, marked with a "Paid for by" disclaimer. Ads that ran in the UK and EU also get extra transparency details specific to those regions.

What is the Facebook Ad Library used for?

Meta built the library for transparency. Anyone can check who is behind an ad and what else they're running. Marketers use it just as much, for very different reasons.

Competitor research

Type in a competitor and you see every ad they're running in a country today. You learn their offers, their angles, which products they push and which platforms they use.

The start date is the closest thing to a performance signal you get for free. A brand rarely keeps paying for an ad that doesn't work, so ads that have run for months are usually worth studying. Our guide on how to see your competitors' Facebook ads walks through the full workflow.

Creative inspiration

Creative strategists use the library to break blank-page syndrome. Search a keyword like "creatine" or "protein powder" and you get ads from every brand in the category.

Look for patterns: the hooks that keep showing up, the formats (UGC, founder videos, static offers), and the claims brands lead with. Our guide to what creative strategy is shows how to turn those patterns into a brief.

Checking your own ads

Media buyers use it to check their ads are live and look right in every placement. Meta says a new ad appears in the library within 24 hours of its first impression, and edits show up within 24 hours too.

Transparency and spotting scams

Journalists, researchers and regular users use it to see who is paying for political messages. It's also a quick way to check whether a "brand" running a too-good-to-be-true offer is the real, verified page or a copycat.

Research at scale with the API

Meta also offers the Ad Library API for custom searches by parameters like country, language or estimated audience size. You have to complete a few access steps first, and it's aimed at people comfortable with code. There's also a separate branded content search for paid partnerships with creators.

How to use the Facebook Ad Library in 4 steps

The full walkthrough lives in our guide on how to use the Facebook Ad Library. The short version:

• Go to facebook.com/ads/library and pick the country the brand advertises in.
• Set Ad category to All ads. The search box stays locked until you do.
• Type the brand name and pick its verified page under Advertisers.
• Use Filters and Sort by to narrow the results.

What the Facebook Ad Library doesn't tell you

The library is genuinely useful, and it's free. But it was built for transparency, not for creative research, and the gaps show quickly.

• No performance data. You can't see spend, impressions or results for commercial ads. You see what's running, not what's working.
• No runtime sort. It shows a start date but no "longest running" sort, so you count days in your head.
• Duplicates everywhere. One creative can sit behind many ads. You scroll the same video again and again.
• Most history disappears. Outside the EU and UK, regular ads drop out once they stop running. Last quarter's winners are gone.
• No tracking or saving. You can't follow a brand, get alerts on new ads or save ads to a board for your team. There's no download button either, though you can still download ads from the Facebook Ad Library with your browser.

How Adspo builds on the Facebook Ad Library

Adspo starts where the free library stops. It tracks 10,000+ verified brands at the creative level, so each unique creative appears once with its full lifespan from launch to turnoff.

Take AG1. The free library returns about 570 keyword results in the US alone. In Adspo, AG1's brand page shows 581 active creatives running as 925 ads, its media mix (54% video, 46% image), its top landing pages and target countries, led by the US and Canada.

AG1's brand page in the Adspo app showing 581 creatives and 925 ads, recent activity, creative velocity, landing pages, media mix and target countries

Filter to Active and sort by Longest running, and the ads AG1 keeps paying for come first. Its longest-running active creative has been live for 387 days. That's the runtime sort the free library doesn't have.

AG1's active creatives in the Adspo app sorted by longest running, led by creatives live for 387, 384 and 370 days

Here's how each gap maps to Adspo:

• No performance data: every creative is ranked by impressions within the brand's own account, so you see what the brand is putting the most behind.
• No runtime sort: sort by longest running, newest or most impressions.
• Duplicates: creative-level tracking shows each creative once, with the number of ads behind it.
• Lost history: full lifespans from launch to turnoff, not just what's live today.
• No tracking: follow unlimited brands and save ads to boards your team can share.
• Context: hooks, transcripts, landing pages, target countries and creators for every ad.

Adspo costs $29/month, or $19/month billed yearly, with a 7-day free trial (14 days on yearly). See the full comparison on our Facebook Ad Library alternative page, or the tools in our Facebook Ad Library alternatives roundup.

Wrapping it up

The Facebook Ad Library is Meta's free window into every ad running on its apps. It's the right place to start when you want to see what a brand is showing people today.

When you need to know which of those ads are winning, how long they've run and what changed this week, you need more than a search box.

Try Adspo free for 7 days and see every brand's ads ranked, deduplicated and tracked.