Competitive Research
Every Major Ad Library, in One Place
An ad library is a free, public archive of the ads a platform is running, published for transparency. Every major platform now has one, and together they are the best free competitive-research resource in marketing. They also share the same blind spot: each is built to show you ads, and none of them lets you save, organise, or export what you find. This hub covers what each library does, how to search it properly, and how to actually keep the ads that matter.
Every major ad library, compared
| Platform | What it covers | Search by | Spend shown? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Ads Library (Facebook & Instagram) | All active ads across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads | Advertiser or keyword | Political/issue ads only |
| Ads run in the last year by any Company Page | Advertiser, keyword, country | EU political ads only | |
| Google Ads Transparency Center | Search, Display, YouTube & Shopping ads by verified advertisers | Advertiser or domain | Not shown for commercial ads |
| YouTube | Video ads, via Google’s Ads Transparency Center | Advertiser | Not shown for commercial ads |
| Inside the Meta Ad Library (platform filter) | Advertiser or keyword | Political/issue ads only |
Guides for each library
Meta Ad Library
How to search Facebook & Instagram ads, the four things it cannot do, and the Chrome extension that downloads them.
LinkedInLinkedIn Ad Library
A complete guide to the LinkedIn Ad Library: how to search every B2B advertiser’s ads, what the EU data adds, the limits, and how to keep the ads you find.
GoogleGoogle Ads Transparency Center
How to use the Google Ads Transparency Center, Google's free ad library: search any advertiser's Search, YouTube, Display and Shopping ads, plus the filters and the limits.
YouTubeYouTube Ads Library
There is no standalone YouTube ads library. Here is how to research any advertiser’s YouTube video ads for free through Google’s Ads Transparency Center.
ToolMeta Ad Library search builder
Set country, platform, media type and dates once, then open the official results.
ToolMeta ads downloader
A free Chrome extension that adds a download button to every ad in the Meta Ad Library.
InstagramInstagram Ad Library
Instagram ads live inside the Meta library. Here is how to isolate and research them.
How to search the Meta Ads Library
When people say "ad library" they usually mean the Meta Ads Library (Facebook and Instagram), and its search is easy to get wrong. The filters matter more than the search box.
- Pick a country first. The library won't search until you do, and "All" mixes markets that were never meant to sit side by side.
- Set the ad category to "All ads". The other option only shows ads about social issues, elections or politics.
- Type a brand or a keyword. To see one advertiser's ads, choose them from the dropdown instead of pressing Enter. Pressing Enter gets you every ad that mentions the word.
- Narrow it with the filters: active or inactive, platform (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network), media type (images or videos) and the date the ad started.
- Check the start date on each card. If an ad has been running for months, the advertiser is usually happy with it.
Our free Meta Ad Library search builder sets all of those filters for you and opens the results in one click. To keep what you find, the Meta ads downloader adds a download button to every ad.
Ad libraries in India
Every library on this page works for India. In the Meta Ads Library, set the country to India to see the ads running there. That includes ads in Hindi and other Indian languages, which you can find by typing the keyword in that script. In the Google Ads Transparency Center, set the region to India to see which ads a verified advertiser runs there. LinkedIn's Ad Library has a country filter too.
Indian ads about social issues, elections or politics come with extra detail. Meta shows who paid for them and a spend range, and Google publishes Indian election ads in its political ads transparency report. For ordinary brand ads the creative is public and the budget isn't, in India and everywhere else.
The one thing every ad library gets wrong
Every library on this page is excellent at showing you ads and offers nothing at all for keeping them. No save, no export, no way to organise by mechanism so patterns become visible. That is why most competitive research quietly evaporates every time a browser tab closes.
The fix is to download the ads worth keeping and file them by mechanism, not by brand. Our free swipe file is real ads with the mechanism written out, our ad teardowns take single ads apart hook by hook, and the free Meta Ad Library downloader adds a one-click download button to the ads you are already looking at.
FAQ
What is an ad library?
An ad library is a free, public archive of the ads a platform is running, published for transparency. Meta, Google, LinkedIn, and YouTube all have one. Together they are the best free competitive-research resource in marketing, though none of them lets you save or export what you find.
Which ad libraries are there?
The major ones are the Meta Ad Library (Facebook and Instagram), the Google Ads Transparency Center (Search, Display, YouTube, and Shopping), and the LinkedIn Ad Library (B2B). Instagram ads sit inside the Meta library, and YouTube ads sit inside Google’s Transparency Center rather than a standalone tool.
Are ad libraries free?
Yes. Every major ad library is free and public, and none require a login or an advertiser account. You can search any of them by advertiser to see a competitor’s current or recent ads.
Can I see competitor ad spend in an ad library?
Generally no. Spend is disclosed only for political and issue ads, and only in certain regions. For a normal commercial campaign you can study the creative but not the budget behind it.
How do I search the Meta Ads Library?
Go to facebook.com/ads/library, choose a country, set the ad category to "All ads", then type a brand or keyword and pick the advertiser from the dropdown. Narrow it down with the filters for platform, media type, active status and start date.
Can I see ads running in India?
Yes. Set the country to India in the Meta Ads Library, or the region to India in the Google Ads Transparency Center. You'll see the ads running there. As in every country, spend is only shown for political and issue ads.
How do I keep the ads I find in an ad library?
No ad library has a save, bookmark, or export feature, so research disappears when you close the tab. Screenshot or download the ads worth keeping and file them by mechanism (before/after, testimonial, price anchor) rather than by brand, so patterns stay visible.
Seeing the ads is the easy part
Keep them, break them down, and rebuild the winners. HookAds is the free hub for ad creative.
Browse the free swipe file →