Every ad a company runs on Facebook and Instagram is public, in the free Meta Ad Library. That makes it the easiest place to study a competitor: what they’re selling, how they word it, which formats they use and where they send people. This guide is for founders and marketers who want to learn from a competitor’s ads, not just glance at them.
How do I find a competitor’s Facebook ads?
Search for them in the Meta Ad Library and pick their Page from the list of advertisers. That shows every ad they’re running on Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s other apps.
- Open facebook.com/ads/library. You don’t need to log in.
- Choose your country, or All to see everywhere they advertise.
- Under Ad category, choose All ads.
- Type the competitor’s name. As you type, a list of advertisers appears: pick their Page.
- You now see their ads, newest or most seen first (change it with Sort by).
If you press Enter instead of picking the Page, you get every ad that mentions their name, including other brands’ and resellers’ ads. That’s useful too: it shows who else is bidding on their name.
Some brands run ads from several Pages (one per country, product or founder). Check the advertiser list for all of them.
What should I look for in a competitor’s ads?
Look for the ads they keep paying for. A brand stops an ad that doesn’t sell and copies one that does, so how long an ad has run and how many versions it has are the best clues you get.
| Look at | Where it is | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| How long it’s run | Started running on on each card | An ad running for months is very likely paying for itself |
| How many versions | “This ad has multiple versions” and “4 ads use this creative and text” | Several copies of one ad usually means it’s being given more budget, or tested in more places |
| What’s new | Sort by, then Most recent | What they’re testing now |
| The landing page | The button under the ad, which links to it | The offer, the price and the page they think converts |
| The format | Filters, then Media type | Whether they lean on video, images or text-and-image memes |
| Where it runs | The Platforms icons | Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads or Meta’s other placements |
| The words | The ad text and headline | The problem they lead with, their claims and their call to action |
A good way to work: write down the five longest-running ads, then open each landing page. That shows you the offers the competitor knows work.
What can’t you see?
- Spend. Only ads about social issues, elections or politics show what was spent. For ordinary ads, nobody outside the company knows.
- Results. No clicks, sales, cost per sale or return on spend.
- Targeting, outside the EU and UK. For ads shown there, See ad details lists the advertiser’s age, gender and location choices and the reach.
- Stopped ads, outside the EU and UK. They leave the library when they stop.
- Likes and comments. The library shows the ad, not how people reacted. To see that, find the ad on the brand’s own Page or Instagram.
Anything that claims to show a competitor’s exact spend or sales from the Ad Library is guessing.
How do I see a competitor’s past ads?
Look them up in a European country. Meta keeps ads shown in the EU or UK for a year after they stop, so if the competitor advertises there, you can see what they’ve switched off.
- In the Ad Library, choose a European country or the United Kingdom.
- Search for the competitor and pick their Page.
- Open Filters, choose Active status, and pick Active and inactive or Inactive ads.
An ad that stopped within a week was probably a test that failed. That’s worth knowing too.
How do I do this for every ad a competitor runs?
Scrolling and noting down dates by hand works for ten ads, not two hundred. Parsly is a free Chrome extension that collects them all and does the counting.
- In the Ad Library, open the competitor’s ads (pick their Page as the advertiser).
- Open Parsly from Chrome’s toolbar. The first time, allow it on facebook.com.
- Click Collect. Parsly scrolls the page like a person would and reads every ad.
- Parsly marks the likely winners: the ads that have run longest, with the most versions, judged against that competitor’s own ads.
- See their formats, landing pages and how many new ads they start each week, then download it all as a spreadsheet (CSV).
Collect the same competitor again next week and Parsly shows what’s changed: new ads, and the ones they’ve stopped. It reads the same public page you do, so it can’t see spend or results either.
Which way should I use?
| Way | Cost | Whole brand at once | Marks what works | Past ads | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Ad Library, by hand | Free | Scroll and count | No, you judge it | EU and UK only | High for big advertisers |
| Parsly | Free | Yes | Yes, likely winners | Each time you collect, what’s changed | One click |
| Paid ad-spy tools | Monthly subscription | Yes | Varies | Often, from their own saved copies | Low, once set up |
Paid ad-spy tools save ads over time and add search across many brands. They read the same public library, so they can’t see spend or results either; any spend figure they show is an estimate.
New to the library? Start with how to use the Meta Ad Library. To keep copies, see how to download ads from the Meta Ad Library.
Questions people ask
Can a competitor see that I looked at their ads?
No. The Meta Ad Library doesn't tell advertisers who searched for them, and you don't need to log in to use it.
Can I see how much my competitor spends on Facebook ads?
No, unless the ads are about social issues, elections or politics. For ordinary ads, nothing in the library shows spend, and no outside tool can read it from there either. Ad-spy tools that show a figure are estimating.
Can I see who my competitor is targeting?
Only for ads shown in the EU or UK, where Meta lists the age, gender and locations the advertiser chose, and the reach. Elsewhere, read it from the ad: the words, the people in it and the offer say who it's for.
Why does my competitor have no ads in the library?
They may not be advertising right now, or not in the country you picked. Try All countries, check you picked the right Page, and remember that ordinary ads outside Europe disappear once they stop.
How do I see a competitor's old Facebook ads?
Pick a European country or the United Kingdom and set Active status to Active and inactive. Meta keeps ads shown there for a year after they stop. Elsewhere, stopped ads aren't kept, so collect them while they run.
Sources
Checked against the real sites on 22 October 2026. Platforms change their buttons often; if something has moved, tell us at [email protected].