3 July 2026 · 6 min read
How to See What Ads Your Competitors Are Running on Facebook and Instagram
Your competitors are showing ads to your customers right now — and you can see every one of them, for free. You do not need a marketing degree or any special software to start. This guide walks you through exactly how, using the tool Meta built for it.
The short answer: Meta's Ad Library
Every ad that runs on Facebook or Instagram is public. Meta keeps a free, searchable archive of them called the Ad Library. Anyone can search any business and see what they are currently advertising — no login required, and the company you look up never knows.
Step by step
- Open the Meta Ad Library and set the country to where your competitor advertises.
- Choose the “All ads” category so you see commercial ads, not just political ones.
- Type the competitor’s business name and select their official page.
- Browse every ad they are running: the image or video, the wording, and how long each has been live.
What to look for
The raw library shows you a lot, but a few signals matter more than the rest:
- How long an ad has been running.Businesses turn off ads that don’t work quickly. An ad that has run for months is one they have proven works.
- The offer and the wording. Discounts, free shipping, guarantees — what promise are they leading with?
- How many people it reached. In the EU, Meta shows the number of people each ad reached, which hints at how much they are putting behind it.
Where this gets hard by hand
The Ad Library is great for a quick look, but it is not built for tracking. It does not tell you which ads are new since last week, which have been running the longest, or roughly how much a competitor is spending. That is the gap Insyte fills: you type in your competitors once, and it keeps a live feed of their ads, flags their proven winners, and explains what is working in plain English — updated every week.
Frequently asked questions
Can you see other companies' Facebook and Instagram ads?
Yes. Every ad running on Facebook or Instagram is public in Meta's Ad Library. You can search any business by name and see the ads they are currently running, for free, without following them.
Is it legal to look at competitor ads?
Yes. Meta publishes the Ad Library specifically for transparency, and looking at ads that companies are already showing to the public is completely legal. You are viewing information Meta makes available to everyone.
Can competitors see that I viewed their ads?
No. Browsing the Ad Library is anonymous. Businesses cannot see who has looked at their ads.