How to Get to Facebook Ad Library

Uncovering your competitor’s ad strategy can feel like detective work, but it doesn’t have to be. Facebook (now Meta) offers a free and transparent database called the Ad Library where you can see every single ad currently running across its platforms. This article will show you exactly how to find the Facebook Ad Library and use it to get a serious competitive edge.

What Is the Facebook Ad Library, Anyway?

The Facebook Ad Library is a publicly available, searchable database containing all active ads running on Meta platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and its Audience Network. While it was initially launched to increase transparency in political and social issue advertising, it has quickly become one of the most powerful market research tools available to marketers - and it’s completely free.

Instead of guessing what your competitors are promoting, you can simply look it up. For any given company, you can see:

Every active ad creative (images, videos, and carousels).
The full ad copy, including headlines and descriptions.
The platforms where each ad is being displayed (e.g., Facebook, Instagram Stories, etc.).
When each ad started running.
Different versions of an ad created for A/B testing.

In short, it’s a direct window into the advertising playbooks of any business with a Facebook Page, offering a goldmine of strategic information for your own campaigns.

How to Access the Facebook Ad Library: Two Simple Ways

Getting to the Ad Library is incredibly easy. There are two main methods you can use depending on whether you know the brand you want to research or if you're just browsing.

Method 1: The Direct Link (The Easiest Way)

This is the most straightforward route and the one you’ll likely use most often.

Open your web browser.
Go directly to facebook.com/ads/library. This URL takes you straight to the Ad Library’s homepage.
Bookmark it. Seriously, if you plan on doing any kind of ad research, save this link. You’ll be coming back to it constantly.

That's it! From there, you can immediately start searching for any brand or keyword.

Method 2: From Any Facebook Business Page

If you're already on Facebook browsing a competitor's page, you can access their specific ad library directly from their profile. This method involves a few more clicks but is handy when you're in the flow of research.

Navigate to a Brand's Facebook Page. Go to the Facebook Page of the company you want to investigate.
Find the "Page Transparency" section. Look for a box on the left-hand sidebar of their Page labeled “Page Transparency.” It’s usually located below the "About" and "Photos" sections.
Click "See All." Inside the Page Transparency box, you'll see a brief summary. Click the "See All" button to open a more detailed pop-up window.
Locate "Ads from this Page." In the pop-up, scroll to the bottom. You will see a section titled "Ads from this Page" with a line letting you know if the Page is or is not currently running ads.
Click "Go to Ad Library." This button will take you directly to a pre-filtered view of the Ad Library showing only the ads for that specific Page.

A Guided Tour of the Facebook Ad Library Interface

Once you’ve arrived at the Ad Library, it's time to start digging. The interface is simple, but knowing exactly what each feature does will help you find what you need faster.

1. Search Bar

This is your starting point. You need to select three things before you begin:

Location: First, select the country you want to search within. This is useful for seeing ads targeted to specific geographic markets. You can also select "All."
Ad Category: For most marketing research, you'll choose "All Ads." The alternative, "Issues, Elections or Politics," is specifically for political and social issue advertising which has stricter disclosure requirements. After picking your location, make sure "All Ads" is selected.
Advertiser or Keyword: Here, you can type in the name of a specific brand (e.g., "Nike") or a general keyword (e.g., "running shoes"). Searching by keyword will show you ads from all advertisers that use that phrase in their ad copy or on their Page.

2. Filters

After you search, you can refine your results further using the "Filters" menu. This unlocks more powerful sorting capabilities:

Language: See ads only in a specific language.
Advertiser: If you did a keyword search, you can narrow down the results to one or more advertisers.
Platform: Zero in on ads showing on Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, or Messenger. This is great for analyzing platform-specific strategies.
Media Type: Filter by images, memes, images and memes, videos, or no image/video.
Active Status: Choose to see "Active ads" (currently running) or "Inactive ads" (campaigns that have ended). Checking out inactive ads can give you a sense of completed promotions.
Potential Reach (for political ads only): Gives an estimate of the audience size for political or social issue ads.

3. The Results Grid

The main part of the page displays the ad results in a grid of cards. Each card gives you a quick summary of an ad, showing the creative, the primary ad copy, the page running the ad, and "Active" status, indicating that the campaign began on a certain date and is still live. You’ll also see little icons indicating if it’s running on Facebook, Instagram, or both.

4. See Ad Details

On each ad card, there's a link labeled "See ad details." Clicking this opens a more comprehensive view of that specific ad. This view is incredibly valuable because it often reveals additional information, most notably other versions of the same ad. Oftentimes, marketers test the same image with different headlines or the same headline with different videos. This detailed view shows all those active combinations, revealing exactly what they are split-testing.

Beyond Just Looking: 4 Smart Ways to Use the Ad Library

Knowing how to get to the Ad Library is one thing, knowing how to use it strategically is another. Here are four practical ways to leverage it to improve your own marketing.

1. Analyze Your Competitors' Strategies

This is the most common use case. By looking at a competitor's ads, you can reverse-engineer their marketing funnels. Ask yourself:

What offers are they pushing? Are they promoting a discount, a free ebook, a webinar RSVP, or a direct purchase? This shows their current customer acquisition strategy.
What angles are they using in their copy? Do they focus on solving a pain point, highlighting a unique benefit, or using social proof like testimonials?
Which creative formats are they relying on? Are their ads heavy on professional videos, user-generated content (UGC), static graphics, or simple text photos? The format can hint at what's resonating with their audience.
How long have their ads been running? If an ad has been active for several weeks or months, it's a strong signal that it's profitable. Profitable ads are rarely turned off.

2. Gather Creative and Copy Inspiration

Feeling stuck in a creative rut? The Ad Library is an endless wellspring of inspiration. Look for design trends, compelling color schemes, video editing styles, and caption formats that catch your eye. You shouldn't copy anyone directly, but you can gather ideas to inform your own brand's unique style.

Pro Tip: Don't limit your research to just your direct competitors. Look at top-tier brands in totally different industries (e.g., e-commerce, SaaS, local services) to see how they approach advertising. You can discover innovative techniques to adapt for your own market.

3. Uncover A/B Testing Opportunities

As mentioned earlier, the "See ad details" view often shows you the different variations of an ad. This is like getting a free look at your competitor's A/B testing matrix. You might discover they are testing:

The same video with three different opening hooks.
The same offer with five different headlines.
The same product image with and without a promotional text overlay.

This gives you proven ideas of which advertising variables are worth testing in your own campaigns, saving you time and money.

4. Research Ad Strategies in Different Markets

By using the country filter, you can see how brands localize their campaigns. An international brand might use different messaging, imagery, or even different offers for its customers in the United Kingdom versus its customers in Japan. This is crucial for businesses looking to expand internationally and is also a great way to understand cultural nuance in advertising.

What the Facebook Ad Library Doesn't Tell You

While powerful, the Ad Library isn't all-seeing. It’s important to understand its limitations to avoid making incorrect assumptions:

No Performance Data: You cannot see key metrics like spend, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), or conversions. The data is purely qualitative, not quantitative.
Limited Targeting Info: The tool doesn't show you the specific audience targeting parameters (e.g., interests, behaviors, custom audiences) an advertiser used.
No Organic Content: The library only includes paid ads, not organic posts or promoted posts that are run differently.

Basically, you can see the message, but you can't see who it was shown to or how well it performed.

Final Thoughts

Finding the Facebook Ad Library is a simple first step towards gaining a much deeper understanding of the paid advertising landscape in your industry. By using it regularly to analyze competitors, spark new ideas, and research market trends, you can make smarter, more informed decisions for your own ad campaigns.

While the Ad Library perfectly showcases the creative side of advertising, truly understanding its performance requires connecting it to your own business data. That’s why we built Graphed. We simplify connecting your key data sources like Facebook Ads, Shopify, and Google Analytics to one place. In seconds, you can use plain English to ask, "Show me which Facebook ad creative generated the most sales last week," and get a live, automated dashboard showing you exactly what’s working, helping turn your inspiration from the Ad Library into measurable growth.