# Ad library research. Facebook and LinkedIn ads, as data.

> Read a competitor's ads from Meta's Ad Library and the LinkedIn Ad Library: creative, headline, CTA, dates and platforms. Quote first, priced per record.

Canonical: https://apiforagents.dev/use-cases/ad-library-research · Updated 2026-10-21

See what competitors run and for how long. Read every ad a Facebook page runs in Meta's Ad Library, active or stopped, and the ads on an advertiser's LinkedIn Ad Library page, then compare creative, offers and run length.

- Facebook: from $0.0022 per record
- LinkedIn: from $0.001 per record
- Free to start: $0.10

## The workflow

1. Run Facebook ads with up to five page URLs or handles, and status "active" for what runs now or "inactive" for what stopped: creative, headline, CTA, link, dates, platforms, advertiser and EU reach.
2. Copy the advertiser's LinkedIn Ad Library URL and run LinkedIn adsLibrary on it: headline, body, format, media, click URL, impressions where shown, targeting location, start and end dates, days active.
3. Sort by days active to see which ads they keep running, and group the rest by message and offer.
4. Read the Facebook pages card alongside for the page's followers and ads status.
5. Run it on a schedule from your own job to catch new creative the week it starts.

## Who uses it

- **Performance marketers.** Keep a swipe file of competitor creative and the offers they test.
- **[Agencies](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/facebook/ad-library-api).** Open a pitch with an audit of every ad the prospect's competitors run.
- **[Product marketing](https://apiforagents.dev/use-cases/competitor-monitoring).** Watch how competitors position on LinkedIn, ad by ad, over the quarter.

## Operations used

List prices per record. A call can carry a minimum, so quote first: the quote is free, and a record that does not come back is not charged.

| Step | Operation | What comes back | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Facebook ads | Creative, headline, CTA, link, dates, platforms, EU reach | $0.0045 per record |
| 2 | Facebook pages | Followers, likes, category, ads status | $0.009 per record |
| 3 | LinkedIn adsLibrary | Headline, body, format, impressions, dates, days active | $0.002 per record |

> **Set a ceiling** A large advertiser can run hundreds of ads. Set limit to what you will read and "maxUsd" on the call, and quote it first with "estimateOnly": true.

## The operations in this workflow

- [Facebook ads](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/facebook/ad-library-api): Creative, headline, CTA, link, dates, platforms, EU reach
- [Facebook pages](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/facebook/page-api): Followers, likes, category, ads status
- [LinkedIn adsLibrary](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/linkedin/ads-library-api): Headline, body, format, impressions, dates, days active

## Questions

### Can I see ad spend?

Neither returns spend. Facebook ads carry EU reach, and LinkedIn ads carry impressions where LinkedIn shows them.

### Can I read ads that have stopped?

Yes. On Facebook, set status to "inactive". LinkedIn ads carry started and ended dates and days active.

### What do I pass for LinkedIn?

An Ad Library URL: an advertiser's page for all their live ads, or one ad's detail page.

## 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