Facebook Ad Library Scraper

Scrape any ad from Meta's public Ad Library: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, Messenger, Audience Network. No login, no API key, no access token.

Why this scraper

• Paste any Ad Library URL: the filters in the URL (country, ad type, active status, media type, publisher platforms, content languages, page IDs, date range, sort) are parsed automatically. Apply filters in your browser, copy the URL, paste it here.
• Full creative data: ad text, headline, link, call to action, every image, every video (HD, SD, preview), every carousel card with its own link and CTA. Meta's raw creative object is passed through in snapshot, so new fields are never lost.
• Page info: page name, ID, profile picture, page likes, categories.
• Political and issue ads: spend range, reach range and impressions as Meta publishes them.
• EU ad transparency details (reach, targeting, payer): switch on includeAdDetails to get total EU reach, reach by country, age and gender, targeting and the declared payer and beneficiary for each ad.
• Fast and light: about 1,000 ads in roughly 3 minutes.
• Pay-per-result: you pay for the ads you receive.

Input sources (mix and match)

Field	Example	Use when
searchUrls	https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&country=DE&q=nike&search_type=keyword_exact_phrase&publisher_platforms[0]=instagram&start_date[min]=2025-06-01	You've already built a filtered view in the browser
searchQueries	["Tesla Model 3", "electric vehicles"]	Quick keyword searches across all of Meta's network
pageIds	["15087023444"]	You know the advertiser's numeric Page ID and want all their ads
advertiserNames	["Baulig Consulting"]	You know the brand name (searched as exact phrase)

Filters (apply to keyword / page / advertiser searches)

Note: when you paste a searchUrl, filters from that URL take precedence. The fields below apply to searchQueries, pageIds, and advertiserNames.

Filter	Values	Default
country	ISO code (US, GB, DE, ...) or ALL	ALL
adType	ALL, POLITICAL_AND_ISSUE_ADS, HOUSING_ADS, EMPLOYMENT_ADS, CREDIT_ADS	ALL
activeStatus	ALL, ACTIVE, INACTIVE	ALL
mediaType	ALL, IMAGE, VIDEO, MEME, NONE	ALL
publisherPlatforms	array of facebook, instagram, messenger, audience_network, whatsapp, threads, oculus	all
contentLanguages	ISO 639-1 codes (en, de, ...)	all
searchType	keyword_unordered (broad) or keyword_exact_phrase (strict)	keyword_unordered
maxAdsPerInput / maxResults	ads per source / total ads (0 = no total limit)	20 / 0
sortBy	total_impressions_DESC, total_impressions_ASC, time_active_DESC, time_active_ASC (Meta has no newest-first sort)	relevancy
startDateMin / startDateMax	YYYY-MM-DD	none
includeAdDetails	true adds EU ad transparency details (reach, targeting, payer) to every ad. Runs take longer because each ad needs one extra lookup	false

What you get

One row per ad. Spend and reach are published by Meta only for political and issue ads, so they are empty for other ads. Meta may add fields over time; they are passed through in snapshot.

Field	Type	Description
ad_archive_id	string	Unique Ad Library archive ID
ad_id	string	Internal ad ID (rare)
collation_id	string	Meta's grouping ID for ad variants (group by it to see distinct creatives)
collation_count	integer	Number of ad variants in this group
page_id	string	Facebook Page ID of the advertiser
page_name	string	Display name of the advertiser's Page
page_is_deleted	boolean	Whether the advertiser Page has been deleted
page_like_count	integer	Likes on the advertiser's Page
page_profile_picture_url	string	Direct URL to the Page's profile picture
page_profile_uri	string	Public URL of the Page
is_active	boolean	Whether the ad is currently running
start_date	integer	Unix timestamp when the ad started running
end_date	integer	Unix timestamp when the ad stopped running (empty if still active)
start_date_formatted	string	Start date as YYYY-MM-DD
end_date_formatted	string	End date as YYYY-MM-DD
total_active_time	integer	Total seconds the ad has been active
publisher_platform	array	Platforms where the ad runs (FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, MESSENGER, AUDIENCE_NETWORK, WHATSAPP, THREADS)
targeted_or_reached_countries	array	Countries the ad targets or reaches
categories	array	Meta's ad categories
display_format	string	Creative format (IMAGE, VIDEO, CAROUSEL, DCO, ...)
cta_type	string	Call-to-action button type (LEARN_MORE, SHOP_NOW, ...)
cta_text	string	Display text of the call-to-action button
link_url	string	Destination URL the ad links to
link_description	string	Description text below the link title
title	string	Ad headline
body_text	string	Main body text of the ad
ad_caption	string	Caption on the link card (usually the domain)
snapshot	object	Meta's full creative object: body, images[], videos[], cards[] for carousels, page categories, byline, disclaimer label and more
currency	string	Currency code for spend figures
spend	string	Spend range as text, for example >$1M (political and issue ads only)
reach_estimate	string	Reach range as text, for example >1M (political and issue ads only)
impressions_with_index	object	Impression range with text representation
has_user_reported	boolean	Whether users have reported the ad
report_count	integer	Number of user reports
is_aaa_eligible	boolean	Whether the ad is eligible for ad authorization (political and issue ads)
gated_type	string	Ad gating status (ELIGIBLE, GATED, ...)
hide_data_status	string	Whether transparency data is hidden (NONE, HIDDEN, ...)
contains_digital_created_media	boolean	Whether the ad contains AI-generated or digitally altered media
contains_sensitive_content	boolean	Whether Meta flagged sensitive content
is_violating_eu_siep	boolean	Whether the ad violates the EU policy on sensitive issues, elections or politics
violation_types	array	Policy violations associated with the ad
verified_voice_context	object	Verified-voice transparency information
state_media_run_label	object	State-controlled media label
menu_items	array	Interactive menu items in the ad
fev_info	object	External review information
regional_regulation_data	object	Regional regulatory data
aaa_info	object	Ad authorization data, included when Meta returns it
transparency_by_location	object	Per-jurisdiction transparency data, included when Meta returns it
advertiser	object	Advertiser metadata, included when Meta returns it
total_advertiser_spend_lower	integer	Lifetime Page spend, lower bound (only when Meta returns it)
total_advertiser_spend_upper	integer	Lifetime Page spend, upper bound (only when Meta returns it)
total_advertiser_spend_currency	string	Currency of the lifetime Page spend
eu_total_reach	integer	Total EU reach of the ad (with includeAdDetails; empty when the ad was not delivered in the EU)
targets_eu	boolean	Whether the ad targets the EU (with includeAdDetails)
beneficiary	string	Beneficiary declared by the advertiser (with includeAdDetails)
payer	string	Payer declared by the advertiser (with includeAdDetails)
target_ages	string	Targeted age range, for example 18-65+ (with includeAdDetails)
target_gender	string	Targeted gender, for example All (with includeAdDetails)
target_locations	array	Targeted locations, an empty list when unknown (with includeAdDetails)
reach_breakdown	array	EU reach per country and age range: country, age_range, male, female, unknown (with includeAdDetails)
ad_details_status	string	ok, not_eu (ad not delivered in the EU) or failed (details could not be fetched) (with includeAdDetails)
ad_library_url	string	Direct link to the ad in the Ad Library
advertiser_url	string	Link to all ads of the Page
country	string	Country filter applied to the request
search_input	string	Which input produced the ad: query:X, page_id:X, advertiser:X or url:X
source_url	string	The Ad Library URL used to fetch the ad
scraped_at	string	ISO 8601 UTC timestamp when the record was extracted

Pricing

Pay-per-result. An ad is charged only after it has been saved to the dataset, and each ad is charged once. A run with no results costs nothing.

Event	When	Price
actor-start	Once per run, right before the first ads are saved	$0.005
facebook-ad-result	Per ad saved to the dataset	$0.0008

Example: 1,000 ads cost one start event plus 1,000 ad events (about $0.81).

Usage examples

Paste any Ad Library URL

{
  "searchUrls": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=all&country=DE&q=baulig&search_type=keyword_exact_phrase&publisher_platforms[0]=facebook&publisher_platforms[1]=instagram&start_date[min]=2025-06-06"
  ],
  "maxResults": 200,
  "maxAdsPerInput": 200
}

Search by keyword in a specific country

{
  "searchQueries": ["Tesla Model 3", "electric vehicles"],
  "country": "US",
  "activeStatus": "ACTIVE",
  "mediaType": "VIDEO",
  "maxAdsPerInput": 100
}

Get all ads for a specific advertiser Page

{
  "pageIds": ["15087023444"],
  "maxAdsPerInput": 500
}

Research political advertisers in the EU

{
  "searchQueries": ["vote 2026", "election"],
  "adType": "POLITICAL_AND_ISSUE_ADS",
  "country": "DE",
  "contentLanguages": ["de"],
  "maxAdsPerInput": 200
}

Compare a brand across platforms

{
  "advertiserNames": ["Nike"],
  "country": "ALL",
  "publisherPlatforms": ["facebook", "instagram"],
  "maxAdsPerInput": 500
}

EU ad transparency details (reach, targeting, payer)

{
  "searchQueries": ["nike"],
  "country": "DE",
  "maxAdsPerInput": 20,
  "includeAdDetails": true
}

Example of the added fields for one ad:

{
  "eu_total_reach": 140850,
  "targets_eu": true,
  "payer": "Example Media Ltd.",
  "beneficiary": "Example Media Ltd.",
  "target_ages": "21-65+",
  "target_gender": "All",
  "target_locations": ["Germany"],
  "reach_breakdown": [
    { "country": "DE", "age_range": "25-34", "male": 1200, "female": 800, "unknown": 12 }
  ],
  "ad_details_status": "ok"
}

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Connect this actor to any MCP-compatible AI client, including Claude Desktop, Claude.ai, Cursor, VS Code, LangChain and LlamaIndex.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=santamaria-automations/facebook-ad-library-scraper",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Example prompt: "Use facebook-ad-library-scraper to find 30 active Nike video ads in Germany, including page like count and call to action."

Use cases

• Competitive intelligence: see what ads your competitors are running, with copy, creative and call to action
• Creative research: analyse ad hooks, CTAs and carousel structures at scale
• Political ad transparency: spend and reach ranges for political and issue ads
• Market sizing: measure category-level ad activity across countries and platforms
• Lead generation: find companies that advertise on Meta in your vertical
• Compliance auditing: surface AI-generated, sensitive or flagged ads

Notes

• Meta's Ad Library is publicly accessible without login under their ad transparency policy
• Spend and reach ranges are Meta's own and only published for political and issue ads
• collation_id groups ad variants of one creative: group by it to see distinct creatives
• Meta serves 10 ads per page. The scraper waits about 1.5 seconds between requests, so 1,000 ads take roughly 3 minutes
• pageIds must be numeric Page IDs. To search by brand name use advertiserNames
• Meta limits how fast the Ad Library can be read. Blocked or rate-limited requests are retried automatically (maxIPRotations, default 5 retries). Large runs may need a higher value.
• Changes on Meta's side are handled automatically, so runs keep working without any action from you

Data protection

This actor returns only data that is publicly visible on the source pages. Results can include personal data, such as names, phone numbers, email addresses and addresses of private persons, sole traders or contact persons. Where the source labels an entry type, it is included so you can filter the results yourself.

You are responsible for using the data lawfully, including the GDPR/DSGVO, national data-protection laws and unfair-competition rules (e.g. UWG) for marketing and outreach.

Related actors

• Instagram Scraper - profiles and posts of the brands you find in the Ad Library.
• TikTok Search Scraper - see the same brands' organic TikTok content.
• Google Ads Transparency Scraper - the Google side of a competitor's advertising.
• Website Contact Extractor - contact details from the advertisers' websites in link_url.

Issues and feedback

• Issues tab for bug reports and feature requests
• More actors by santamaria-automations