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Ad library API: get Meta, Facebook, Google and TikTok ad data programmatically

An ad library API is a way to pull the ads a platform publishes without clicking through the web interface by hand. Each big platform runs one: Meta has the Ad Library API, TikTok has the Commercial Content API, and Google exposes its Ads Transparency Center. The problem developers hit fast is that all three are built for political and researcher transparency, not for competitor research. Outside the EU and UK, Meta's API returns political and social-issue ads only, so a US DTC brand running product ads to US shoppers is completely invisible to it. TikTok's API needs a separate approved application and strips out creative asset URLs. Google keeps commercial records for roughly 30 days.

So the people who actually want ad data programmatically, agencies building client dashboards, media buyers scoring competitor creative at scale, and product teams feeding an internal tool, run into the same wall. You get ID verification, developer app registration, an access token with ads_read and ads_archive scopes, a 200-call-per-hour rate limit, and then a response with none of the product ads you were trying to see. Three platforms means three incompatible schemas, three auth flows, and three separate rate limits to babysit.

AdEye reads the same public ad-library record the transparency tools point at, across Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google, TikTok and YouTube, and returns the live product ads the official APIs leave out. Every ad comes AI-tagged by hook, angle and format, with run length and variation count so the creatives earning real budget separate themselves from tests. You can work in the app, and API access sits on the Enterprise plan for teams that need to pipe the feed into their own dashboard or database. Nothing here comes from behind a login. It is the same public ad-library data, in one schema, actually usable.

Ad Intelligence Feed

4 libraries live

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Ad libraries

Public ad-library data only. Nothing behind a login.

ads found · showing top creatives

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4 ad libraries, 1 feed · AI hook and angle tags · Public data only

META GOOGLE TIKTOK YOUTUBE

4 libraries one feed

AI-tagged hooks & angles

Why it works

What an ad library API can and cannot return

One schema across platforms

Meta, Google, TikTok and YouTube each expose ads differently, or not at all. AdEye normalizes them into one consistent feed so you write against a single shape, not three broken ones.

The product ads the official APIs skip

Meta's API serves political ads only outside the EU and UK. AdEye returns the live US product creatives that matter for competitor research, pulled from the public ad library.

Tagged data, not raw dumps

Each ad arrives with its hook, angle, format, run length and variation count already attached, so your dashboard or model gets fields it can filter and rank on immediately.

What it surfaces

Every ad card carries the hook, angle and a working signal

You type a brand or niche. AdEye pulls the live public ads into one feed and AI-tags each creative, so you read the strategy and spot the proven winners before you save a single one.

Pull live ads across Meta, Google, TikTok and YouTube
Get US product ads the Meta API omits
Read hook, angle and format on every creative
Sort by run length and variation count
Feed a dashboard or database on the Enterprise plan
Track advertisers and get alerts on new ads
Public ad-library data only

META Top performer

HOOK Before/after ANGLE Results UGC video

RUNNING 210d · 31 VARIATIONS

Why AdEye

One feed, the AI read, the working signal in view

Not four browser tabs and a stale doc. One query across every ad library, the strategy behind each creative, and a living swipe file with alerts. Public ad-library data only.

Every platform at once

Meta, Google, TikTok and YouTube searched in one feed for any brand or niche, so competitor ad research is one query instead of four manual hunts.

The AI reads the why

Every creative is tagged with its hook, angle and format, and a working signal flags the long-runners and scalers, so you see why an ad works, not just what it ran.

A swipe file that stays current

Save winners to boards and get alerted when a tracked competitor launches or scales a new ad, so your research never goes stale in a Google Doc.

Good questions

Questions about ad library api

Yes. Meta publishes the Ad Library API, a Graph API endpoint that returns ads from the public archive. The catch is scope: outside the EU and UK it returns political and social-issue ads only, so ordinary product ads from a US brand do not appear. For commercial competitor research it is far more limited than the website.

The API itself has no fee, but access is gated. You must verify your identity with Meta using a government ID and location, register a Meta developer app, and generate an access token with ads_read and ads_archive permissions. Calls are then capped at roughly 200 per hour, which is tight for any real dataset.

Meta built the API for election and social-issue transparency, and only widened it to all ad types in the EU and UK to meet the Digital Services Act. Everywhere else, including the US, the ad_type=ALL parameter still returns political and issue ads, which is why US product ads are missing from API responses.

TikTok offers a Commercial Content API as part of its research tools. It requires a separate approved developer application, returns limited metadata, carries no spend figures, and excludes creative asset URLs for most cases. Ad data is available for the run period plus about a year, then it drops off.

Google runs the Ads Transparency Center covering Search, YouTube and Display, but there is no full public API for programmatic bulk access to commercial ad creatives. Records are thin and short-lived, with a commercial retention window of roughly 30 days, so long-term competitor tracking is not possible through it directly.

For US product ads the official platform APIs will not deliver it, so most teams use an ad intelligence layer that reads the public ad libraries and exposes the data in one schema. AdEye pulls live Meta, Google, TikTok and YouTube ads, tags each creative, and offers API access on the Enterprise plan for piping into your own tools.

Not directly. The API returns product ads only when you target EU or UK audiences; for US targeting it serves political and social-issue ads. To get a US brand's live product creatives programmatically you need a tool that reads the public ad-library front end, which is what AdEye does across all four major platforms.

Meta caps the free Ad Library API at about 200 calls per hour per user. Combined with pagination on large advertisers, that ceiling makes bulk collection slow, and it is a common reason teams move to an intelligence layer that handles collection and hands back clean, ready-to-use data.

Yes, on the Enterprise plan. That tier adds API access for your own workflow, unlimited tracked brands and seats, SSO and admin controls, and custom indexing, so agencies and product teams can pull the same cross-platform ad feed into their own dashboards, databases or models. The self-serve Starter, Pro and Agency plans are app-only.

The ad libraries are deliberately public, published as advertising transparency disclosures, and readable without an account. AdEye reads only that public record, the same data the transparency tools show, and never touches private ad accounts or anything behind a login. It is the same information organized so you can query it programmatically.

It depends on the platform and the ad type. Meta keeps political ads for seven years but commercial ads only while active plus a short window. TikTok holds ad data for about a year after last shown, and Google keeps commercial records around 30 days. To watch how creative changes over time you need a tool that snapshots and tracks it, which AdEye does for the advertisers you follow.

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