How to see any competitor’s ads, for free
Meta, Google, TikTok and LinkedIn all run public ad libraries now. Here is where each one lives, what it shows, what it hides, and how to read one without fooling yourself.
Four free libraries cover almost every ad you will care about
For Facebook and Instagram, search the Meta Ad Library. For Search, YouTube and Shopping, search the Google Ads Transparency Center by the competitor’s website. For TikTok, use Creative Center Top Ads for inspiration and the Commercial Content Library for European ads. For B2B, use the LinkedIn Ad Library. None of them need a paid tool.
None of them show spend or results for US commercial ads, either. A library tells you what a competitor is running, how long it has run and where it sends people. It never tells you whether it worked. Everything below is about reading those signals honestly.
| Library | Covers | Search by | You can see | You cannot see (US commercial ads) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Ad Library | Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network, Threads, WhatsApp | Advertiser or keyword, by country | Creative, copy, button, landing link, start date, platforms, status | Spend, impressions, reach, targeting |
| Google Ads Transparency Center | Search, YouTube, Maps, Play, Shopping | Advertiser name or website (no keywords) | Creative, format, last date shown, verified advertiser and payer | Spend, clicks, keywords, bids, results |
| TikTok Top Ads | A curated set advertisers opted into | Brand or keyword, region, industry | Likes, shares, CTR, budget level, performance graph | Most of any one brand’s ads |
| TikTok Commercial Content Library | EEA, UK and Switzerland only | Advertiser or keyword, country, date | Payer, dates, reach range, targeting | Any US ad |
| LinkedIn Ad Library | LinkedIn ads | Advertiser, keyword, country, date | Creative, button, payer, landing link | Spend and results |
Where each library lives and what it shows
Meta Ad Library (Facebook and Instagram)
Where: facebook.com/ads/library
No login needed. Pick a country and “All ads”, then search the brand name or a keyword. You can also get there from any Facebook Page: Page Transparency, then See All, then Go to Ad Library.
Filters cover active or inactive status, platform (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network, Threads and WhatsApp), media type, language, advertiser, and impressions by date range.
Each ad shows its Library ID, whether it is active, the date it started running, the platforms, the creative, the copy, the button and the landing link. Since December 2025, ads with fewer than 100 impressions carry a Low impression count label.
US commercial ads show no spend, impressions, reach or targeting. EU ads add targeting, reach by country, age and gender, and who paid, and stay searchable for a year after they last ran. Political and issue ads show spend ranges and stay for seven years.
Sources disagree on whether paused US commercial ads stay searchable, and on whether the “Started running on” date resets when an ad is paused, relaunched or edited. I treat that date as a floor, not a birthday.
Google Ads Transparency Center (Search, YouTube, Shopping)
Where: adstransparency.google.com
Search by advertiser name or website. There is no keyword search. Searching the domain is more reliable, because many brands verify under a parent company or an agency name, and each country domain shows up as its own result.
Filters cover region, platform (Search, YouTube, Maps, Play and Shopping), format (text, image, video), date range and topic.
Each ad shows the advertiser name and location, who pays, verification status, the creative, its format and the last date it was shown. In the EEA and Turkey you also get targeting and a times-shown range.
Commercial ads never show spend, clicks, conversions, keywords, bids or match types.
Ads take 48 to 72 hours to appear. How long commercial ads stay listed is disputed: published sources range from 30 days to a year after an ad was last shown. Political ads stay for seven years.
TikTok Creative Center Top Ads
Where: ads.tiktok.com Creative Center
A curated showcase, not a library. TikTok says every ad in Top Ads was authorized by the advertiser, so it will never show you everything one competitor runs.
Useful for hooks and formats by industry: filter by region, industry, objective, period, language and format, or search a brand or keyword. Ads show likes, comments, shares, CTR, a budget level and a second-by-second performance graph. Some features need a login.
Treat it as inspiration. If a competitor is missing from Top Ads, that tells you nothing about whether they advertise on TikTok.
TikTok Commercial Content Library
Where: library.tiktok.com
Launched in July 2023 to comply with the EU Digital Services Act. It holds paid ads and branded content with a paid-partnership label, for the EEA, the UK and Switzerland only. There are no US ads in it.
Search by advertiser or keyword with country and date filters. Each ad shows the advertiser and payer, first and last shown dates, a range of unique users reached, and targeting such as age, gender and location.
An Austrian research group (ÖIAT) found keyword results inconsistent in May 2026, with descriptions, hashtags and outbound links missing. Search by advertiser where you can.
LinkedIn Ad Library
Where: linkedin.com/ad-library
No login needed. Search by advertiser, keyword, country and a date range going back up to 12 months.
Each ad shows the creative (image, video, carousel, document or text), the button, the advertiser, the payer and the landing link. EU ads add impressions by country and targeting such as job title, company and seniority.
Ads appear 24 to 48 hours after launch and stay for a year after they last ran. LinkedIn’s own help pages could not be checked for this guide, so these details come from third-party documentation.
The rest, mostly EU-only
- Microsoft Ad Library (adlibrary.ads.microsoft.com): EU and EEA only, with advertiser, payer, dates, an impression range and targeting.
- X Ads Repository (ads.x.com/ads-repository): EU only. You enter an account, country and date range and download a CSV. There is no on-screen browsing.
- Snapchat and Pinterest run EU-only repositories as well.
What none of these tools tell you
Every library shows you the ads. None of them show you the scoreboard. Keep these gaps in mind before you copy anything.
- Results: CTR, conversions, CPA, ROAS or revenue for commercial ads.
- Spend or impressions for US commercial ads.
- Google keywords, bids or match types.
- Full targeting. Outside the EU you get none; inside it you get the main parameters only.
- A complete record. Independent audits by Mozilla and ÖIAT found that no library reliably shows every ad that ran.
How to read a competitor’s ad library
Sort by longevity
Long-running active ads suggest a concept survived, since most advertisers cut losers. Brand spend, small always-on retargeting or plain neglect also keep ads alive, so treat age as a hint.
Count concepts, not ads
Many versions of one concept suggest it is being scaled; a single version suggests a test. Collapse duplicates by creative first, or the raw count lies.
Follow the links
Note the offer and the page type behind each ad: product page, collection, quiz, advertorial or home page.
Check formats and placements
The media type and platform filters show where the effort goes: video or static, Instagram or Facebook, Search or YouTube.
Cross-check platforms
Look the same brand up in Google by domain, in Meta and in LinkedIn. If it also advertises in the EU, switch country to see reach and targeting.
Screenshot everything
Ads vanish once they stop running. Save what you want to compare next month.
What this looks like on one real account
I ran this method on every live Liquid Death Meta ad on September 23, 2026: 229 ads, 158 distinct creatives, 42 headlines, two buttons, and four offers, all free shipping. The full count, the charts and the method are public.
Or have the libraries read for you
I built free tools that do the reading above automatically, because I use them on client work. No login, public data only.
- Free Meta ad audit: your Facebook Page against a competitor’s, every live ad on both, emailed in about a minute.
- Free Google Ads creative audit: your domain against a competitor’s, pulled from the Ads Transparency Center.
- Competitor ad research: the done-for-you version, across every platform your competitors run on.
Competitor ad research FAQ
Can you see a competitor’s ad spend on Facebook?
Not for US commercial ads. The Meta Ad Library shows spend only for political and issue ads. For everything else you get the creative, copy, start date, platforms and landing link, which is enough to read strategy but not budget.
Can you see which keywords a competitor bids on in Google Ads?
Not from Google. The Ads Transparency Center shows the ads, their format and the last date shown, but no keywords, bids, match types, spend or clicks. Paid third-party tools estimate keywords, so treat those numbers as estimates.
How long do ads stay in the Meta Ad Library?
Political and issue ads stay for seven years. EU ads stay for a year after they last ran, which the Digital Services Act requires. For inactive US commercial ads, sources disagree, so screenshot anything you want to keep.
Is there a TikTok ad library for US ads?
Not a complete one. The Commercial Content Library covers the EEA, the UK and Switzerland only. For US ads, Creative Center Top Ads shows a curated set that advertisers opted into, not everything a brand runs.
Sources
Checked September 29, 2026. Where sources disagree, this guide says so rather than picking one.
- Buffer, Meta Ad Library guide. buffer.com
- Jon Loomer, Meta Ad Library. jonloomer.com
- PPC Land, WhatsApp filter and Low impression count labels. ppc.land
- Google, Ads Transparency Center help. support.google.com
- Google, launch of the Ads Transparency Center (March 2023). blog.google
- WordStream, Google Ads library guide. wordstream.com
- TikTok, Top Ads help article. ads.tiktok.com
- TikTok newsroom, Research API and Commercial Content Library. newsroom.tiktok.com
- Superads, LinkedIn Ads Library guide. superads.ai
- Microsoft Learn, Ad Library API. learn.microsoft.com
- X, ads transparency. help.x.com
- Indicator (Craig Silverman), a guide to investigating digital ads, May 2024. indicator.media
- Mozilla Foundation and CheckFirst, ad repository stress test, April 2024. mozillafoundation.org
- ÖIAT, AdWatch policy brief on ad libraries, May 2026 (PDF). research.oiat.at
- Digital Services Act, Article 39. springlex.eu
Want your competitors’ ads read for you
The free ad audit reads every live ad on your Page and a competitor’s and emails you the comparison in about a minute. For a full teardown or ongoing competitor research, use the form below.
