How to Scrape the Facebook Ads Library for Competitor Research (2026)

The Facebook Ads Library shows every ad currently running on Meta platforms — for any advertiser, in any country. It's the single best free source of competitor intelligence in paid social. The problem: Meta gives you no export button.

Here are the three practical ways to get ads out of the Library, from slowest to fastest.

Option 1: Manual research (free, slow)

Search the Library by advertiser Page or keyword, filter by country and platform, and screenshot what you find. This works for checking 2-3 competitors occasionally, but it doesn't scale:

• No export — everything is screenshots and copy-paste
• No history — once an ad stops, it's gone (outside the EU/UK)
• Ads with multiple versions (Advantage+ variations) are easy to miss

Option 2: Chrome extension (free, fast)

A scraper extension works inside the Ads Library page you're already browsing and captures what you see into structured data:

• Creatives — videos and images, downloadable in original quality
• Ad copy — primary text, headlines, CTA buttons
• Metadata — start date, platforms, active status, Page info
• Landing page links — where the traffic actually goes

The workflow: open the Ads Library, search a competitor or keyword, and export the results in one click. Our Facebook Ads Library Scraper does exactly this — it's free on the Chrome Web Store.

Practical tips for extension-based research:

1. Sort by longevity. An ad running 30+ days is paying for itself. Filter out everything younger than a week to skip untested creatives.
2. Count creative variations. When an advertiser runs 15 variations of one angle, that angle works. One-off ads are usually tests.
3. Grab the landing page immediately. Landing pages change faster than ads. Save the URL and a copy of the page while the ad is live.

Option 3: The official Ad Library API (free, limited)

Meta offers an Ad Library API, but it's built for political-ad transparency:

• Full programmatic access covers political and issue ads only
• Commercial ads have very limited API coverage
• Requires identity verification and a developer app
• No creative file downloads

For commercial competitor research, the API is a dead end — which is why browser-based capture remains the standard approach.

From research to launch

Scraped ads are inputs, not outputs. The full loop for media buyers:

1. Scrape competitor ads in your vertical (extension)
2. Shortlist by longevity and variation count
3. Produce your own creatives on the proven angles
4. Bulk-launch them as test campaigns — this is what ScaleForge's ScaleMachine automates

The buyers who win aren't the ones who see competitor ads — everyone can. They're the ones who go from "saw the angle" to "50 test campaigns live" the same day.