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 (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 | |
| 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 |
TikTok is left off deliberately. The platforms above are the ones worth your research time.
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
A complete guide to the Google Ads Transparency Center (the Google ads library): how to search Search, Display, YouTube and Shopping ads, the limits, and how to keep what you find.
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, and how to keep what you find.
InstagramInstagram Ad Library
Instagram ads live inside the Meta library. Here is how to isolate and research them.
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 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 →