# The Facebook Ad Library API what it covers and who can use it.

> Meta's Ad Library API needs an ID check and covers political ads worldwide plus all ads shown in the EU and UK. How to read every ad a page runs.

Canonical: https://apiforagents.dev/guides/facebook-ad-library-api · Updated 2026-10-21

Yes, Meta has an Ad Library API, but it is narrow. You need a Facebook account, an identity check and a developer app, and it returns ads about social issues, elections or politics anywhere in the past seven years, and ads of any type delivered to the EU or UK in the past year. Other commercial ads are not returned.

- Identity check: Required
- Political ads: Worldwide, 7 years
- All ad types: EU and UK, 1 year
- Checked: Oct 2026

## Official API or this one

Meta's side is from its Ad Library API page and Graph API reference, seen 21 October 2026.

|  | Meta Ad Library API | API for Agents |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial ads shown outside the EU and UK | Not returned | Yes, as shown in the Ad Library, $0.0045 per record |
| Political and issue ads | Yes, with spend and impressions ranges | Yes |
| Fields on every ad | Page, delivery dates and where it ran; more for political, EU and UK ads | Copy, headline, call to action, landing page, dates and platforms |
| Look up by | Search terms or page IDs | Page URL or handle, active or stopped ads |
| Who can get access | Facebook account, identity confirmation, developer app | Anyone. An agent signs itself up in one call and starts on a $0.10 trial |
| Price model | No price published | Pay as you go, from $0.0022 per record |
| Setup | Confirm your ID, create a Meta app, get a token | One API key. No Facebook account or app review |

## When Meta's API is the right tool

For research on political and issue advertising, Meta's API is the primary source: it carries spend and impression ranges and demographic reach that the public library page does not show for other ads. For EU and UK ads it adds estimated reach and, for the EU, advertiser and payer details.

For competitor research on ordinary commercial ads in other markets, those ads are not in the API. Reading the ads a page runs, the way the Ad Library shows them, is what this API does.

## What you can get here

- **[Facebook Ad Library API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/facebook/ad-library-api).** Every ad a page runs in the Ad Library, active or stopped: copy, headline, call to action, link, dates and platforms.
- **[Facebook Page API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/facebook/page-api).** Followers, likes, category, contact details and whether the page is running ads.
- **[Facebook Posts API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/facebook/posts-api).** A page's recent posts with reactions, comments, shares and views.

> **Not affiliated** API for Agents is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta. It returns public data only: nothing behind a login.

## Operation pages

- [Facebook Ad Library API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/facebook/ad-library-api)
- [Facebook Page API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/facebook/page-api)
- [Facebook Posts API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/facebook/posts-api)

## Questions

### Who can use the Meta Ad Library API?

Anyone with a Facebook account who completes Meta's identity and location confirmation and creates a Meta for Developers app, per Meta's Ad Library API page.

### Does the Ad Library API return all ads?

No. It returns ads about social issues, elections or politics delivered anywhere in the past seven years, and ads of any type delivered to the EU or UK in the past year.

### Does it show ad spend?

Only for political and issue ads, as a range. Commercial ads come without spend.

### What does an ad cost here?

Priced per record, from $0.0022 per record. Quote first with estimateOnly, which is free.

### Can I read other Facebook pages through Meta's API?

Reading public content of pages you do not manage needs the Page Public Content Access feature, which requires App Review and business verification.

## Sources

1. [Meta Ad Library API](https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/api), seen 21 October 2026
2. [Graph API reference: ads_archive](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/reference/ads_archive/), seen 21 October 2026
3. [Graph API reference: Archived Ad](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/reference/archived-ad/), seen 21 October 2026
4. [Meta for Developers: Page Public Content Access](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/features-reference/page-public-content-access), seen 21 October 2026

## Why API for Agents

- One key for 26 platforms: social, commerce, jobs, places, search and contacts, with one request shape and one response shape.
- A free quote before any spend: add "estimateOnly": true to any call and see the most it can cost.
- Pay per record in US dollars. No subscription, nothing expires, top-ups from $5.
- $0.10 free to try, no card. An AI agent can sign itself up in one request; a person claims it later.
- Measured, not estimated: every answer says when each row was measured, whether it was fresh or a recent capture, and how sure to be of each field.
- Partial success is success: anything that could not be fetched is named with a reason, and the charge settles to what came back, never above the quote.
- Typed fields that keep their names whichever source answered, and a details object last with everything else the source sent, under our own field names.
- Try any endpoint in the playground and download the answer as CSV or JSON.

## Start

The playground runs any endpoint by hand: pick a platform and what you want from it, fill a short form named in plain words (or press Use sample input), see the free quote on the Run button, run it, then read the answer as a table or JSON and download it as CSV or JSON. The same call is written out as cURL, Python and Node while you type. Open it at https://apiforagents.dev/dashboard/run (sign in first).

Agents register at https://apiforagents.dev/auth.md (one POST, $0.10 free). People: https://apiforagents.dev/docs#start. Prices: https://apiforagents.dev/pricing.md