Guides · Ad research
Best tools to analyze competitors' Facebook ads in 2026
Last updated November 11, 2026Vendor sites checked November 11, 20268 toolsBy Every Signal
Start with Meta's own Ad Library. It is free, needs no account, and shows every active ad from any Page with its start date, platforms and versions. Add a paid ad-spy tool to search across many advertisers, save ads to boards, see ads that have stopped, or cover TikTok and Google in one place. Use a teardown when the question is not what ads does this company run
but how does this company get and convert customers
.
Each tool below is described from its own public site on November 11, 2026, with its price where the site states one. Every Signal is not an ad-spy feed; where it fits is explained at the end.
Side by side
Which tools analyze competitors' Facebook ads?
Vendor facts are the vendors' own claims as listed on their sites on November 11, 2026. Prices change and several were promotional, so check the current pricing page. Every Signal facts are from /pricing/.
| Tool | What it is for | Covers | Pricing as stated | Free option |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Ad Library | Meta's official archive of active ads from any Page, with start date, platforms and versions | Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network, Threads | Free | All of it |
| Foreplay | Save ads from the ad libraries into boards and write briefs with AI; The Complete Winning Ad Workflow | Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn ad libraries, Google Transparency Center, YouTube Shorts | Basic $59 a month, or $49 a month billed annually; higher tiers for teams | 7-day trial, card at sign-up; free Chrome extension |
| Atria | AI-powered creative management platform: an ad library with boards, an AI strategist and a sort by longest-running ads | Meta and TikTok; others listed as roadmap | FAQ says paid plans start at $129 a month; prices shown were promotional | Free plan, no card |
| BigSpy | Large searchable ad database with creative and video analysis tools | Facebook on the free tier; Instagram, Google, YouTube, X, TikTok, Pinterest and others on paid tiers | Starter $69 a month, or $49 a month billed yearly | Free tier: Facebook, 10 searches a day |
| AdSpy | Searchable database of Facebook and Instagram ads, with comment search and affiliate filters | Facebook and Instagram | $149 a month, described as an introductory offer | None mentioned |
| Pipiads | TikTok and Facebook ad library with rankings, an ad tracker and a budget estimator | TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, Threads | Credit-based; Basic $49 a month | Trial tier with 500 credits |
| Similarweb Ads Intel | Display and paid social creatives, paid search and publisher analysis inside a traffic suite | Not named by platform; Display & Social ads | Custom packages through sales; check current pricing | Free trial |
| Every Signal | A sourced teardown of how one company buys and converts: live ads, landing pages, funnel, stack, pricing, each figure tagged | Meta, Google and TikTok ad libraries for the company studied | Automated snapshot $49; custom teardowns $495 to $4,000; library $299 a month | Report summaries, one free audit a try, 50 API credits |
MagicBrief is left out: on November 11, 2026 its site said it is shutting down and its team has joined Canva.
Tool by tool
What is each tool actually for?
Meta Ad Library: the source every other tool reads
The Ad Library at facebook.com/ads/library lists every ad currently running from a Page, across Meta's apps, with its start date, platforms, versions and creative. For ads about social issues, elections or politics it also shows a spend range, reach and demographics, kept for seven years. For other US ads it shows none of that. For ads shown in the EU, Meta adds more information under EU rules.
The paid tools below add search, storage and history on top. For one competitor the free library is enough; the Meta ads guide walks through it.
Foreplay: a swipe file and brief tool for creative teams
Foreplay's pitch is a workflow: save ads from the Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn ad libraries into boards, analyse them with AI, write briefs, and connect your own ad accounts for reporting. Its pricing page also lists YouTube Shorts and Google Transparency Center as sources. Basic is $59 a month, or $49 a month billed annually, for one user with $20 per additional user. The 7-day trial takes a card at sign-up.
Atria: boards plus an AI strategist, Meta and TikTok only
Atria calls itself an AI-powered creative management platform. Its library claims 100M+ ads from Meta and TikTok, updated weekly, with Google, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn described as roadmap. It offers boards, a sort by longest-running ads and an active or inactive status per ad. Its FAQ says paid plans start at $129 a month and that there is a free plan with no card; the plan prices shown on November 11 carried a promotional discount, so check the current page.
AdSpy and BigSpy: volume databases, one with a free tier
AdSpy calls itself the largest searchable database of Facebook and Instagram ads, about 214 million from about 30 million advertisers, built for affiliate marketers with comment search and affiliate offer filters. Its homepage lists one price, $149 a month, described as an introductory offer. No trial is mentioned.
BigSpy claims over 1 billion creatives across 11 platforms and sells by tier. The free tier covers Facebook with 10 searches a day. Starter ($69 a month, or $49 a month billed yearly) adds Instagram; Growth and Scale add Google, YouTube, X, TikTok and Pangle; Ultimate adds Pinterest, Yahoo and Unity.
Pipiads: TikTok first, Facebook second
Pipiads is an AI-powered TikTok and Facebook ad library covering TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger and Threads, with ad rankings, image search and an ad tracker. Its Estimate Ad Budget & Conversions
feature is a model, since Meta publishes no spend for ordinary ads, so treat its output as an estimate. Plans are credit-based from $49 a month, with a free trial tier of 500 credits.
Similarweb Ads Intel: ads inside a traffic suite
Similarweb's marketing packages include an Ads Intel Suite with display and social creatives, paid search and publisher analysis. Platforms are not named on its packages page, prices are custom through sales, and a free trial is offered. It fits when you need traffic estimates for many sites with ad data alongside; the Every Signal vs Similarweb guide covers the split.
A method
How do I tell which ads work when Meta shows no spend?
A proxy, used in every teardown and tagged inferred: a company keeps paying for an ad that works, but a long run is a sign, not proof.
1. List every active ad across all of the brand's Pages
Search by brand name and by domain, set the country, and filter to active ads. Brands run ads from partner, advertorial and creator Pages too: Shortical's 3,651 active ads sat on 21 Pages shortical verified, and about 50 creator Pages started Comfrt ads in September and October 2026 comfrt verified.
2. Record days running and versions for each ad
Each ad shows its start date and whether it has multiple versions. Today's date minus the start date is days running. A new campaign resets the clock: Quest Nutrition's longest ad showed 61 days because a fiscal-year campaign had restarted verified. Kalshi's longest ad had run about 76 days on October 29, 2026 kalshi verified.
3. Rank by days running times versions
Multiply days running by the number of versions and sort. The top of the list is what the company has kept paying for longest, in the most variants. Also count ads started in the last 30 days: Calm launched 525 of 575 and FashionPass 24 of 25 in that window, so the few long runners stand out calm fashionpass verified.
4. Label it a proxy and open the landing page
Write inferred
next to the ranking. Then follow each top ad to its landing page and record the offer and price. 480 of Calm's 575 ads went to a quiz on quiz.calm.com, not to calm.com, and FashionPass ads said $75 while the pages said $39 then $125 verified. The paywall and funnel guide covers the walk from there.
Where Every Signal fits
When do you need a teardown instead of a tool?
When the question is how the company gets customers, not what its ads look like
An ad-spy tool answers what is this company running
. A teardown answers how does this company buy and convert customers
. Every Signal reports count live ads across every Page in Meta's, Google's and TikTok's libraries, follow each ad to its landing page, walk the funnel to the paywall without paying, scan for tracking and affiliate tools, and check revenue claims. Each figure carries a tag: verified, estimate, inferred or rumour.
- Rotten runs about 110 Meta ads from one Page and nothing on Google or TikTok, landing on advertorial pages, and sells through Shopify, Amazon (about 2,950 units a month from Amazon's own badges) and retail. rotten verified
- Full reports include a top-20 campaigns table ranked by estimated spend, tagged estimate, and the pixel and account IDs found on the site. fashionpass
Every Signal has no searchable feed across advertisers, no boards and no history beyond its dated reports; for those jobs, use the tools above.
Questions
FAQ
What is the best free tool to see a competitor's Facebook ads?
Meta's own Ad Library at facebook.com/ads/library. It is free, needs no account, and lists every active ad from any Page across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network and Threads, with the start date, the platforms and the versions. It does not show spend or reach for ordinary US ads.
Can any tool show how much a competitor spends on Facebook ads?
Not from Meta's data for ordinary US ads. Meta publishes spend and reach only for ads about social issues, elections or politics, and adds reach data for ads shown in the EU. Any spend figure a tool shows for other ads is a model, so treat it as an estimate and ask the vendor how it is built.
Which paid ad-spy tool should I pick?
It depends on the job. Foreplay and Atria are built for saving ads to boards and briefing creative teams. AdSpy and BigSpy are large searchable databases, with BigSpy offering a free tier. Pipiads covers TikTok and Facebook together. Similarweb sells ad intelligence as part of a wider traffic suite. Check each vendor's current pricing page before buying.
Is Every Signal an ad-spy tool?
No. Every Signal does not sell a searchable feed of ads. It publishes sourced teardowns of how one company buys and converts customers: all of its live Meta, Google and TikTok ads, the landing page each ad sends to, the funnel and prices behind it, the tracking stack and a revenue sanity check, each figure tagged verified, estimate, inferred or rumour.
How many Meta ads does a typical company run?
It varies by orders of magnitude. In Every Signal's public reports, American Hartford Gold ran 6, SaneBox 19, FashionPass 25, Rotten about 110, Kalshi about 1,100, Shortical 3,651 across 21 Pages and Comfrt about 5,900, each counted on the record date.
Try it
Get one company's ads, funnel and stack in one report
Read any report summary in the library for free. For a company that is not covered, the intel_report job returns its stack, live Meta ads, search footprint and homepage as data (490 credits, $49); a quick teardown ($1,500) adds the funnel walk, the revenue check and a person reading it. Prices on /pricing/; agent setup at /connect/.