Meta’s, TikTok’s and LinkedIn’s official ad library APIs, Google’s public dataset and the main data APIs, compared on what they return, how they charge and how you connect.
An editorial comparison of what each vendor publishes, checked 25 Sept 2026. Monocrawl is ours and listed first. How we compared
What are you building?
Ad library data inside your own ad intelligence productA data API that reads the libraries per call. They differ most in which libraries they cover and how they charge.
Every ad a competitor runs, for client research and creative briefsA data API for the raw ads, or an ad intelligence platform that adds scores, transcripts and AI analysis.
Ads that mention a product, offer or topicAn option that searches ads by keyword. They differ most in which libraries they search and how they charge.
An AI agent that researches competitors’ adsAn option with its own MCP server, so the agent can call it directly.
Research into political ads, or ads shown in EuropeThe platforms’ own routes: Meta’s and TikTok’s ad library APIs, LinkedIn’s for non-commercial research, and Google’s public dataset.
12options compared
7with an MCP server
7free to start
39sources, checked 25 Sept 2026
Three routes
Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn run official ad library APIs, each with its own scope and access checks. Google publishes its ads data as a public BigQuery dataset. Data APIs read the public libraries, or their own ad databases, with one key.
Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn
Google Ads Transparency Center in BigQuery
Monocrawl and the vendors below
What they return
Which ad libraries each option lists on its own pages, what it returns and how you connect. Spend and reach includes impression ranges.
| Ad library data | Connect | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Option | Meta ads | Google ads | TikTok ads | LinkedIn ads | Keyword search | Creatives | Spend and reach | Ad transcripts | REST API | MCP server | Sources |
| MonocrawlOur product | Our API | ||||||||||
| Meta Ad Library APIOfficial, Meta | – | – | – | – | – | 123 | |||||
| TikTok Commercial Content APIOfficial, TikTok | – | – | – | – | – | 456 | |||||
| LinkedIn Ad Library APIOfficial, LinkedIn | – | – | – | – | – | 789 | |||||
| Google Ads Transparency datasetOfficial, BigQuery public data | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1011 | |||
| AdLibrary.comAd intelligence platform | 1213 | ||||||||||
| AdyntelAd library API | – | 1415161718 | |||||||||
| ApifyAd library scraper actors | – | 1920212223 | |||||||||
| Data365Social data API | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2425 | ||||
| ForeplayAd intelligence platform | – | – | 26272829 | ||||||||
| SearchApiSearch data API | – | 3031323334 | |||||||||
| SociaVaultSocial data API | 3536373839 | ||||||||||
Pricing
A request, a result, a record and a unit are not the same size, and allowances reset on different schedules. Price your own workload with each vendor.
One key and one response format across 70+ platforms, with monitors for alerts.
Monthly plans
No published price Called through Meta’s Graph API with an access token.
Each page of results returns up to 5,000 ads.
Worth knowingAccess starts with confirming your identity and location at Facebook.com/ID, which Meta says can take a few days.
No published price
No published price Apply online. TikTok says it replies within 2 working days.
Worth knowingSearchable by keyword or advertiser name; ad data stays available until a year after the ad was last shown.
No published price
No published price Access is vetted: you request it from a LinkedIn developer app.
Covers ads created since 1 June 2023, for a year after their last impression.
Worth knowingLinkedIn says the API is intended for research and non-commercial use, with a rate limit to prevent abuse.
No published price
Free to query within BigQuery’s 1 TB a month of free processing.
Needs a Google account and a Google Cloud project; the files can also be downloaded.
Worth knowingCovers ads shown in the EEA or Turkey, with a link to each ad on the Transparency Center rather than its creative.
1 TB of queries a month
€329 a month for Business, the plan with API and MCP access
1,000 credits a month. A search or an AI analysis costs 1 credit.
Worth knowingOne endpoint covers 11 ad networks, with a spend estimate and heat score on each ad and an AI teardown on request.
API trial on request
$44 a month for 5,000 credits
Or $55 for 5,000 credits pay as you go. A LinkedIn call returns 25 ads for 1 credit.
Worth knowingBuilt around company domains: send a website and it returns that company’s ads, with copy, creatives, CTAs and links.
50 credits
$5.80 per 1,000 Meta ads on the free plan
From $3.40 on higher plans. The community scrapers for the other libraries list their own rates.
Worth knowingIts Meta Ad Library scraper is maintained by Apify; the Google, TikTok and LinkedIn scrapers cited here are maintained by community developers.
$5 of usage a month
€300 a month for one network
500,000 credits included.
Worth knowingFacebook ad search runs as a task you create, then collect once it has finished.
14-day trial, on request
$59 a month for Basic, its lowest plan
Plans include 10,000 API credits a month; one ad is one credit. Extra credits from $99 a month for 100,000.
Worth knowingSearches Foreplay’s own database of ads saved by its community, plus the brands you track, with transcriptions.
7-day trial with 10,000 credits
$40 a month for 10,000 searches
From $1 per 1,000 on its largest listed plan.
Worth knowingA separate engine for each ad library, Reddit’s included; only successful searches are billed.
100 free requests
$29 for 6,000 credits, one time
Credits never expire.
Worth knowingMost calls cost 1 credit, and a Meta video ad transcript is charged only when one is returned.
50 credits
Try a call
The same kind of request on the Meta, Google, TikTok and LinkedIn ad libraries, in cURL, TypeScript or Python, with each recorded response. No identity check, no developer app and no Google Cloud project.
GET /v1/meta_ads/search-companiescurl "https://www.monocrawl.com/v1/meta_ads/search-companies?query=Nike" \
-H "x-api-key: mn_your_key_here"
Nike
Sportswear Store
Selected public fields from the recorded response. Live values will differ.
Meta ad search4 creditsMeta ads by advertiser4 creditsMeta ad transcript5 credits
Google ads by advertiser4 creditsGoogle ad details4 credits
TikTok ad search4 credits
LinkedIn ad search4 creditsLinkedIn ad details4 credits2.1sMedian response in our benchmark. 22 September 2026 catalogue benchmark. Median of recorded endpoint timings across 636 operations with a successful HTTP response. Includes network time; individual requests vary.
Questions
Meta’s, TikTok’s and LinkedIn’s official APIs publish no price, but each comes with limits: Meta’s covers political and issue ads plus ads delivered to the UK or EU, TikTok’s covers ads shown in Europe for approved applicants, and LinkedIn’s is vetted and for non-commercial use. Google’s ads dataset is free to query within BigQuery’s 1 TB a month. Most data APIs let you start free: Monocrawl gives 1,000 credits every month, Apify $5 of usage a month, SearchApi 100 requests, Adyntel and SociaVault 50 credits each, and Foreplay a 7-day trial with 10,000 API credits.
No. Meta says it covers ads about social issues, elections or politics delivered anywhere in the past seven years, and ads of any type delivered to the UK or EU in the past year; spend is shown only for political and issue ads. To use it you confirm your identity and location at Facebook.com/ID, which can take a few days, then create a Meta for Developers account and an app. For all ads running now, Meta points to its Ad Library website.
Google’s Ads Transparency Center FAQ lists no API. Google publishes the Center’s data for ads shown in the EEA or Turkey as a public BigQuery dataset, with advertisers, impression ranges, run dates, formats and topics, and a link to each ad rather than its creative. Monocrawl, Adyntel, Apify, SearchApi and SociaVault list Google ads read from the Center itself.
LinkedIn says its Ad Library API is intended for research and non-commercial use, access is vetted, and its Research Tools terms bar use for business or commercial purposes. TikTok describes its Commercial Content API as for the public and researchers: it covers ads shown in Europe, and access is by approved application.
Monocrawl, AdLibrary.com, Adyntel, Apify, Foreplay, SearchApi and SociaVault publish their own MCP servers, so assistants such as Claude or Cursor can call them directly. Adyntel’s covers its Meta, Google and LinkedIn endpoints, and AdLibrary.com includes MCP access on its Business plan.
Yes. Monocrawl returns the spoken words of a Meta video ad as text, and returns null when the video has no speech. SociaVault charges its Meta ad transcript only when one is returned, Foreplay’s ad objects include a transcription, and AdLibrary.com’s AI analysis of an ad includes a timestamped transcript.
Method
What’s includedThe official route into each of the four main ad libraries, Meta, Google, TikTok and LinkedIn, plus widely used third-party APIs that return ads from them, publish their pricing or offer a trial, and come up across ad library API searches and comparison lists. Ad spy tools are included only where they sell API access.
What we comparedWhich ad libraries each vendor lists, what ad data it returns, and its pricing, free allowance and access, read on its own pages. “Best” here means worth comparing, not a ranking from tests: we have not run their APIs.
About MonocrawlMonocrawl is our product and is listed first. Its details come from our live plans and catalogue.
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