# Facebook/Meta Ads Library Scraper API - Winning Ads, Scam Check (`anshumanatrey/facebook-ads-library-api`) Actor

Scrape the Facebook/Meta Ads Library with no login: winning ads by days running and versions, with text, button, landing page, images and videos, plus advertiser leads and a brand scam check. $0.70 per 1,000 ads, 8x less than the most-used scraper, no start fee.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/anshumanatrey/facebook-ads-library-api.md
- **Developed by:** [Anshuman Atrey](https://apify.com/anshumanatrey) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Lead generation, Marketing
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.70 / 1,000 ads

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Facebook/Meta Ads Library Scraper API - Winning Ads, Scam Check

Scrape the Facebook Ads Library, which Meta now calls the Meta Ad Library (ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads and Audience Network), with no login, no cookies and no Meta API token. Type a keyword or paste a Facebook page, and get every matching ad as a row: the advertiser, **how many days the ad has run**, **how many versions it has**, the text, headline and button, **the landing page and its domain**, image and video links, platforms, and the reach, spend and EU audience data Meta publishes. On top of that: an **advertiser list** (businesses advertising on a keyword right now, one row each) and a **brand scam check** (ads that use a brand's name from pages that are not the brand's own). **$0.70 per 1,000 ads**, no start fee. Use it from the Apify Console, the API, Python, JavaScript, n8n, Make, Zapier or an AI agent through the Apify MCP server.

### What does it do?

It reads the public Meta Ad Library, the same one at facebook.com/ads/library, and returns what you would otherwise copy by hand, for as many keywords or advertisers as you give it:

- **Ads for keywords (`ads`)**: every ad matching your words in a country or worldwide.
- **Ads of advertisers (`pages`)**: all ads of the Facebook pages you list, by link, page id or just the name.
- **Advertiser list (`advertisers`)**: the businesses advertising on your keywords now, with how many ads, their longest-running ad and the websites they send people to.
- **Brand scam check (`impersonation`)**: ads that name a brand but come from other pages, each with a risk level and the signals behind it (look-alike page name, look-alike landing domain, a new ad from a small page).

### Why do people use the Ad Library data?

**Answer: to see what already works in someone else's ads.** Meta shows every running ad but no results, so the best free signal is time: an ad that has run for 30 to 90 days is almost always paying for itself, because nobody keeps paying for an ad that loses money.

- **Media buyers and DTC brands** find competitors' long-running ads and copy the hook, offer and format instead of paying to test from zero. `daysRunning` and `versions` are here for that: several live versions of one ad are an A/B test, and the survivors are the winners.
- **Creative strategists and agencies** keep a weekly watchlist of 10 to 20 brands and build swipe files; the landing domain shows the funnel behind each ad.
- **Agencies prospecting** use the advertiser list: a business spending on ads now has a budget, so it is a warm lead.
- **E-commerce and dropshipping** spot products pushed with many long-running ads.
- **Developers** build ad-spy tools, n8n and Make flows (scrape, then have GPT or Gemini pull out hooks and write new variations) and AI-agent tools on top of it, without maintaining a scraper.
- **Brand protection and security teams** run the brand scam check. Meta itself estimated about 15 billion scam ads are shown every day and expanded its brand-impersonation detection in March 2026; this finds the ones using your name.

### How is it different from other Facebook Ads Library scrapers?

- **Cheaper than the two most-used Facebook/Meta Ads Library scrapers**: $0.70 per 1,000 ads against $5.80 for Apify's own and $0.75 plus a start fee for curious\_coder (together about 70% of this category's users). With no start fee it is also the cheapest for small runs: under 40 ads compared with automation-lab and under 250 compared with memo23. On large runs those two and jmlp cost less per ad; the table below shows every price.
- **Winning-ad signals built in**: `daysRunning` is computed for every ad, `versions` is Meta's own count of an ad's variants, and **Min days live (`minDaysRunning`)** keeps only the long runners.
- **Landing domain on every ad**, so you can group ads by the site they send people to.
- **Advertiser list and brand scam check** in the same actor, charged the same way.
- **Simple for anyone**: type a keyword and press Start; country names work (India, USA, UK), commas split keywords, and a pasted Ad Library link or Facebook page link is understood.
- **No proxy to set up**: Meta blocks cloud and datacenter IPs (in our 2026-09-25 test both returned 0 ads), so every search runs on Apify's residential proxy, included in the price.
- **You pay only for rows saved**, and a spending limit stops the run cleanly between batches.

### How much does it cost to scrape the Facebook Ads Library?

**$0.0007 per ad ($0.70 per 1,000)**, **$0.008 per advertiser** in the Advertiser list and **$0.002 per ad** in the brand scam check (it first reads the brand's own pages to learn their real websites). No start fee, no monthly fee, platform usage and residential proxy included.

| Run | Charged | Price |
|---|---|---|
| The example input (20 ads for "running shoes") | 20 ads | $0.014 |
| 100 ads for one keyword | 100 ads | $0.07 |
| 1,000 ads across 10 keywords | 1,000 ads | $0.70 |
| Advertiser list from 200 ads, 60 advertisers found | 60 advertisers | $0.48 |
| Brand scam check that finds 40 ads from other pages | 40 scam-check ads | $0.08 |
| A search where Meta has no matching ads | 0 | $0.00 |

Apify's free plan includes $5 of monthly credit, which covers about 7,000 ads.

### How does the price compare with other Facebook Ads Library scrapers?

The Facebook Ads Library actors with 250 or more users in the last 30 days on 2026-09-25, ordered by those users, at their Apify free-plan price.

| Scraper | Price per 1,000 ads | Start fee | Users, 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| **This actor** | **$0.70** | **None** | **New** |
| [Facebook Ads Library Scraper](https://apify.com/apify/facebook-ads-scraper) by apify | $5.80 | None | 6,040 |
| [Facebook Ads Library Scraper](https://apify.com/curious_coder/facebook-ads-library-scraper) by curious\_coder | $0.75 | $0.00005 | 5,853 |
| [Facebook Ad Library Scraper](https://apify.com/igolaizola/facebook-ad-library-scraper) by igolaizola | $0.75 | $0.0075 | 1,048 |
| [Facebook Ads Library](https://apify.com/automation-lab/facebook-ads-library) by automation-lab | $0.575 | $0.005 | 458 |
| [Facebook Ads Library Scraper](https://apify.com/memo23/facebook-ads-library-scraper-ppe) by memo23 | $0.50 | $0.05 | 340 |
| [Facebook Ads Library Scraper](https://apify.com/brilliant_gum/facebook-ads-library-scraper) by brilliant\_gum | $15.00 + platform usage | $0.001 | 271 |
| [Meta Ad Scraper](https://apify.com/whoareyouanas/meta-ad-scraper) by whoareyouanas | $10.00 | None | 256 |
| [Meta Ad Library Scraper](https://apify.com/jmlp/meta-ad-library-scraper) by jmlp | $0.15 + platform usage | None | 254 |

Several of these discount their prices on paid Apify plans, and some bill platform usage on top; automation-lab, memo23 and jmlp cost less per ad on large runs. Compare at your own plan if you run large volumes.

### Which inputs does it take?

Every field has a plain name with its JSON key in brackets. Only Keywords is needed.

| Field (JSON key) | Required | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Report type (`mode`) | No | `ads` (default), `pages`, `advertisers` or `impersonation` (brand scam check) |
| Keywords (`searchTerms`) | Yes, except for `pages` | One per line; `a, b` on one line is two keywords; a pasted Ad Library search link works. For the scam check, the brand |
| Advertisers (`pages`) | For `pages` | Facebook page links, page ids or names, for example `https://www.facebook.com/nike` or `Gymshark` |
| Country (`country`) | No | `ALL` (worldwide, default), a name such as `India` or a code such as `IN` |
| Ads per search (`maxAds`) | No | Most ads saved per keyword or advertiser, default 100 |
| Ad status (`status`) | No | `active` (default), `inactive` or `all` |
| Ad category (`adType`) | No | `all` (default), `political`, `housing`, `employment`, `credit` |
| Media type (`mediaType`) | No | `all`, `image`, `video`, `meme`, `none` |
| Min days live (`minDaysRunning`) | No | Keep only ads that ran at least this many days |
| Exact phrase (`exactPhrase`) | No | Match the keywords as one phrase |
| Merge versions (`groupVersions`) | No | One row per group of ad versions |
| Order (`sortBy`) | No | `impressions` (most seen first, default) or `relevance` |
| Official pages (`officialPages`) | No | For the scam check: the brand's own pages; left empty, pages named exactly like the brand are used and listed in the run summary |

```json
{ "searchTerms": ["running shoes"], "country": "US", "minDaysRunning": 30, "maxAds": 200 }
```

### What does the output look like?

One row per ad (or per advertiser in the Advertiser list). Every key is always present, empty when Meta has no such part. An example ad row, shortened:

```json
{
  "adId": "866569929827744",
  "adLibraryUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?id=866569929827744",
  "pageName": "Example Brand",
  "pageId": "1234567890",
  "pageLikes": 48210,
  "isActive": true,
  "startDate": "2026-06-01T12:30:00",
  "daysRunning": 116,
  "versions": 3,
  "platforms": ["FACEBOOK", "INSTAGRAM", "THREADS"],
  "adText": "Our best-selling trainer is back in stock...",
  "headline": "Free shipping this week",
  "callToAction": "Shop now",
  "landingUrl": "https://www.example.com/sale",
  "landingDomain": "example.com",
  "imageUrls": ["https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/..."],
  "videoUrls": [],
  "spend": null,
  "ageGender": [],
  "impersonation": null
}
```

Brand scam check rows add `impersonation`: `{"brand": "Nike", "risk": "high", "signals": ["page name uses the brand but it is not an official page", "sends people to nike-outlet-sale.shop, a look-alike site, not an official domain"]}`. The signals are for you to review, not a verdict: resellers such as Foot Locker also use brand names and come back as low risk.

The run summary is the OUTPUT record: status, notes about anything we changed in your input, one entry per search with how many ads were read and saved, and the charged events.

### How fast is it?

In our 2026-09-25 tests on Apify (256 MB, peak 57-70 MB): 20 ads in 16 s, 200 ads for one keyword in 106 s, 3 keywords of 50 ads each in 49 s (they run at once, each on its own residential IP), 60 ads of 2 advertisers in 48 s, and an advertiser list of 86 businesses from 100 ads in 66 s. No run was rate-limited.

### Common questions

**Q: Is the Facebook Ads Library the same as the Meta Ad Library?**
Yes. It is the same public library at facebook.com/ads/library; Meta now calls it the Meta Ad Library, and it covers ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads and Audience Network. This actor reads all of them.

**Q: Do I need a Facebook account, cookies or a Meta API token?**
No. It reads the public Ad Library the way a logged-out visitor sees it.

**Q: Can I see how much an ad spends or how many people it reached?**
For political and issue ads, yes: Meta publishes spend and impressions ranges. For ads delivered in the EU, Meta publishes reach by age, gender and region. For other ads Meta shows no numbers, which is why `daysRunning` and `versions` matter.

**Q: How do I find winning ads?**
Set Min days live (`minDaysRunning`) to 30 or more. Ads that keep running for weeks are the ones making money, and `versions` shows which ones are being tested in several variants.

**Q: Is this the official Meta Ad Library API?**
No. The official API needs a developer account and identity verification and covers political and issue ads plus ads shown in the EU. This actor covers every ad the public Ad Library shows.

**Q: Can I monitor competitors every week?**
Yes. Save the input as an Apify task and schedule it; Ad status (`status`) `active` with Order (`sortBy`) `impressions` gives the ads that matter first.

**Q: Why do I need a residential proxy?**
You do not set one up. Meta rate-limits cloud and datacenter IPs to zero ads, so the actor uses Apify's residential proxy for you and the price includes it.

**Q: Does it download images and videos?**
No. It returns Meta's own image and video links; download them yourself if you need copies.

**Q: What does the brand scam check look for?**
Pages whose name uses the brand but are not the official pages, ads that send people to a look-alike domain, and new ads from small pages. It skips the brand's own pages, found by name or given by you.

### Limitations

- Meta shows spend and impressions only for political and issue ads, and audience breakdowns only for ads delivered in the EU.
- Whether a page is verified is not in Meta's ad search results, so the actor does not guess it.
- Keyword search follows Meta's own matching, which can return loosely related ads; turn on Exact phrase (`exactPhrase`) for tighter matches.
- Very large searches take time: about 110 ads a minute per keyword (200 in 106 s on Apify); several keywords run at once.

### About the maintainer (priority response within 1-2 hours)

Built and maintained by **Anshuman Atrey** ([@AnshumanAtrey](https://github.com/AnshumanAtrey)).

- Purple-team security researcher, 5x hackathon winner
- Co-founder of **Walrus Securitas** (AI cybersecurity SaaS) and **The Drone Syndicate** (autonomous defence drones)
- Author of the OSINT and data actor portfolio on Apify Store: 18 shipped actors covering email, phone, username, IP and domain, network, secret, social, LinkedIn, domain history, Telegram, Google Trends, Meta ads and Indian fintech data

#### Custom feature requests shipped within 1-2 hours (priority)

If you need a field, a filter or an output format this actor does not have, the maintainer ships it directly into this actor, typically within 1-2 hours for priority requests during active hours and within 24 hours overnight. This is direct one-to-one service from the maintainer, not a contractor queue.

**Fastest contact channels (ranked by response speed):**

1. **LinkedIn DM** -> [linkedin.com/in/anshumanatrey](https://linkedin.com/in/anshumanatrey), typically under 1 hour during active hours
2. **GitHub issue** on this actor's repo
3. **Apify Console** DM to `@anshumanatrey`
4. **Email** via [atrey.dev](https://atrey.dev)

***

### Sibling actors by the same maintainer

| Actor | Use case |
|---|---|
| [google-trends-api-scraper](https://apify.com/anshumanatrey/google-trends-api-scraper) | Google Trends interest over time, regions, related queries and Trending Now, no login |
| [domain-history-contact-osint](https://apify.com/anshumanatrey/domain-history-contact-osint) | A domain's previous owners, emails and history: pair it with the landing domains found here |
| [netintel](https://apify.com/anshumanatrey/netintel) | IP or domain intelligence: WHOIS, DNS, GeoIP, ASN, ports, for look-alike scam domains |
| [telegram-channel-scraper](https://apify.com/anshumanatrey/telegram-channel-scraper) | Posts, media and buttons from public Telegram channels, no login |
| [theharvester-osint](https://apify.com/anshumanatrey/theharvester-osint) | Emails, subdomains and hosts of a domain from public sources |
| [holehe-email-osint](https://apify.com/anshumanatrey/holehe-email-osint) | Which of 120+ sites an email is registered on |

### Documentation

- Apify API: https://docs.apify.com/api/v2
- Run it from Python or JavaScript with the Apify client, or from n8n, Make and Zapier through their Apify integrations.
- Source: https://github.com/AnshumanAtrey/facebook-ads-library-api

### Last updated

2026-09-25: version 1.0.

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/anshumanatrey/facebook-ads-library-api/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Pick the report type you want back. Ads for keywords: every ad that matches your words. Ads of advertisers: all ads of the Facebook pages you list. Advertiser list: the businesses advertising on your keywords right now, one row each (a lead list). Brand scam check: ads that use a brand name from pages that are not the brand's own.

## `searchTerms` (type: `array`):

Type the keywords to search, one per line, for example running shoes. "protein powder, creatine" on one line counts as two. You can also paste an Ad Library search link: its keywords, country and filters are used. For the brand scam check, type the brand, for example Nike. Technical: Ad Library q, keyword search (unordered unless Exact phrase is on).

## `pages` (type: `array`):

For Ads of advertisers: the Facebook pages to list, one per line. A page link, a page id or just the name works, for example https://www.facebook.com/nike or Gymshark. Technical: page link, numeric page id, or a name resolved through the Ad Library page search.

## `country` (type: `string`):

Pick where ads run: a country, or Worldwide (ALL). You can also type a name such as India or a code such as IN. Technical: Ad Library country filter, ISO 3166-1 alpha-2.

## `maxAds` (type: `integer`):

Set the most ads per search to save for each keyword or advertiser. For the Advertiser list, the number of ads read to find advertisers. Technical: per-search cap; a spending limit also stops the run cleanly.

## `status` (type: `string`):

Pick the ad status: only ads running now (the default), only ads that stopped, or both. Technical: active\_status.

## `adType` (type: `string`):

Pick the ad category: all ads, or one of Meta's special categories. Political and issue ads carry spend and impressions ranges. Technical: ad\_type.

## `mediaType` (type: `string`):

Pick the media type to keep: only ads with this kind of creative. Technical: media type, checked on the returned creatives.

## `minDaysRunning` (type: `integer`):

Keep only ads that have run at least this many days, for example 30. Ads that run for weeks are usually the ones that make money. Technical: days from delivery start to stop, or to today while active.

## `exactPhrase` (type: `boolean`):

Match the keywords as one exact phrase instead of any order. Technical: KEYWORD\_EXACT\_PHRASE.

## `groupVersions` (type: `boolean`):

Keep one ad per group of versions (Meta groups the A/B variants of one ad). The versions column still says how many there are. Technical: one row per collation\_id.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Pick the order the ads come in, which decides the ones you get when Ads per search stops the list. Technical: SORT\_BY\_TOTAL\_IMPRESSIONS or relevancy.

## `officialPages` (type: `array`):

For the brand scam check: the brand's own Facebook pages, whose ads are skipped. Leave empty and the actor picks the pages whose name is the brand (listed in the run summary). Technical: page links, ids or names.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "ads",
  "searchTerms": [
    "running shoes",
    "protein powder"
  ],
  "pages": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/nike",
    "Gymshark"
  ],
  "country": "ALL",
  "maxAds": 20,
  "status": "active",
  "adType": "all",
  "mediaType": "all",
  "minDaysRunning": 0,
  "exactPhrase": false,
  "groupVersions": false,
  "sortBy": "impressions",
  "officialPages": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/nike"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `ads` (type: `string`):

Every saved row as JSON.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Status, notes, one entry per search, charged events.

## `log` (type: `string`):

The full log of the run.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchTerms": [
        "running shoes"
    ],
    "maxAds": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("anshumanatrey/facebook-ads-library-api").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchTerms": ["running shoes"],
    "maxAds": 20,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("anshumanatrey/facebook-ads-library-api").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchTerms": [
    "running shoes"
  ],
  "maxAds": 20
}' |
apify call anshumanatrey/facebook-ads-library-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,anshumanatrey/facebook-ads-library-api"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/DDHgdLYfCKSsrM0Zo/builds/zBMXywXANmx5iWBoV/openapi.json