Advertising on Meta
Meta Ad Library: How to See Your Competitors' Ads (2026 Guide)
The Meta Ad Library shows every active ad from your competitors for free. How to search it, read the signals and turn what you find into a better ad.
Written by Genly's AI team, reviewed by Marlon Bonink
· 4 min read
Your competitor seems to be everywhere: Instagram, Facebook, always with new ads. What exactly are they running, and what works for them? Good news: you do not have to guess. Meta publishes every active ad in the Meta Ad Library. It is free, and you do not even need an account.
Short answer: Open facebook.com/ads/library, choose a country and "All ads" as the category, and search for your competitor's name. You will see all their active ads on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, with start dates and variations. You cannot see budget or results, but an ad that has been running for months is almost certainly making money.
How to open the Ad Library
- Go to facebook.com/ads/library. No login required.
- Under Country, choose the market your competitor targets.
- Under Ad category, choose "All ads". The other category covers political and social issue ads.
- Type the advertiser name or a keyword in the search bar. Pick the Page from the dropdown to see only their ads.
- Use the filters: active or inactive, platform, media type (image or video), language and the date range the ad ran.
What you can and cannot see
| You can see | You cannot see |
|---|---|
| All active ads from a Page | Budget (except for political ads) |
| The date an ad started running | Clicks, sales or other results |
| Which platforms it runs on | Exact targeting settings and interests |
| Whether there are multiple versions | How the ad performs compared with others |
| Visual, video, copy, headline and button | What happens on the landing page after the click |
A bonus in Europe: for ads shown in the EU, Meta also displays transparency information under the Digital Services Act. Click an ad and open the EU transparency section to see, among other things, EU reach and the age, gender and locations it targeted. These ads also stay visible for a while after they stop.
Reading the signals
You cannot see budget or results, but three signals tell you a lot:
1. How long an ad has been running. Nobody keeps a money-losing ad live for months. An ad that has been active for two or three months is almost certainly a winner. Look for the oldest active ads first.
2. How many variations exist. The same concept in five or ten versions, with different openings or visuals? Your competitor is scaling something that works.
3. Which hooks and formats repeat. Write down the first line or first frame of each ad. If the same kinds of openings keep appearing (a question, a problem, a number), that is the tone that lands with their customers.
From inspiration to your own ad, without copying
Copying is off limits: other people's visuals and copy are protected by copyright, and an ad that mimics a competitor can mislead customers. Ideas and angles are fair game. Turn inspiration into a better version:
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1. Collect | Pick three to five long-running ads from different competitors |
| 2. Dissect | For each ad, note the hook, offer, format and what happens in the first second |
| 3. Translate | Ask: what is the principle here, and what does it look like for my product and customer? |
| 4. Improve | Add what they lack: your own benefit, a real review, a clearer offer |
| 5. Test | Make three variations of your version and run them side by side for a week |
That last step takes a lot of time by hand. With AI you create three variations in minutes; see how to make ads with AI.
Tracking competitors in Genly
Searching the library by hand every week gets skipped fast. In Genly you follow competitors on the Competitors page: their active Meta ads come in automatically, so you see what they run without searching. Then you create your own version in your brand style in the same place. The number of competitors you can follow depends on your plan, from 1 on Lite to unlimited on Scale and Pro. See our plans.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Meta Ad Library free?
Yes. The library is free and public, even without a Facebook account. Meta offers it for advertising transparency.
Can I see competitors' budgets and results?
No, except for political and social issue ads. For regular ads you see no budget or results. For ads shown in the EU you do see reach and the broad targeting.
Can I copy competitors' ads?
You may be inspired by ideas and angles, but you may not copy their visuals, videos or copy. Always create your own version with your own product, visuals and words.
Can I see ads that are no longer running?
For ads shown in the EU, Meta keeps them visible for a while after they end. Set the filter to "Active and inactive". Elsewhere you mainly see what is running now. For the difference between boosting and running ads, read boost post vs. Facebook ads.
Editor
Marlon Bonink
Co-founder of Genly
This article was written by Genly's AI team and reviewed by Marlon before it went live. How we work with AI: AI transparency.
