"What is my competitor running on Instagram?" usually starts with opening the competitor's profile and scrolling through the posts. But the feed does not separate ads from posts. You cannot tell from it which post ran as an ad, or which ad is still running.
Meta's ads are collected in one place: the Meta Ad Library. Instagram ads appear there too, in the same list as Facebook ads. The job is to narrow the search to Instagram and make the list that comes back readable.
This article covers those two steps. If you have never used the library, start with our Meta Ad Library guide; here we assume you know how to run a search.
What you see in the library, and what you do not
The library shows every ad's creative, copy, button and start date. For commercial ads it does not show spend, impressions, results or targeting. So you see what a competitor runs and for how long; you do not see how much it spends or who it shows the ad to.
That limit also sets the research question. "Which ad makes them the most money?" has no answer here. "Which ad have they kept running for a long time, and which one are they just testing?" does.
1. Narrow the platform to Instagram only
In the panel's Meta Search section, the Platform row has six chips: FB, IG, MSG, WA, AN and TH. In order, that is Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Audience Network and Threads. Each chip turns on and off on its own.
FB and IG are selected when you start. To see only Instagram ads, turn FB off and leave IG on. The search goes to Meta with the selected platform only.
Three settings around that row make the job easier:
- Search Term — type the competitor's brand name or a product word. The field itself says "Brand or keyword".
- Target Country — pick the country the competitor sells in. The same brand can run different ads in different countries.
- Status — Active to see what is live today, All to see ended ads as well.
After you change the settings, press Search on Meta. This is not a card filter: it sends a new query to Meta, the cards on the screen are cleared and it counts against your scan limit. So finish the settings first, then search once.
2. Keep the search as a link
If you look at the same competitor every week, you do not have to rebuild the same search each time. The Meta Ad Library carries its search settings in the address bar. In our search link builder, pick the term, country, status and platform once and bookmark the link. When you open it, the search arrives with the same settings.
3. Load the cards
The library loads results as you scroll. Auto Scan scrolls the page for you and never counts the same ad twice. You set the card limit, the speed and the random wait between scrolls in the panel; it can play a short sound when the scan is done.
If a competitor has hundreds of ads, you do not have to load them all. Load enough cards for your question, then move on to the filters.
The strip at the top of the panel shows how many cards have been scanned, live. When you apply a filter, the same strip also shows how many cards remain on the screen and what percentage was filtered out. So you always know how much a filter narrowed the list; if no cards are left, loosen the filters first, then change the search.
4. Read the list with presets
Once the cards are on the screen, the card filters on the Filter tab come into play. They do not send a new request to Meta; they only filter the cards on the screen. The Presets row at the top asks the most common questions in one click:
- New tests — active ads that started recently. Shows what a competitor is trying right now.
- Long-running — active ads that have been running for a long time. The ads a competitor trusts most are usually here.
- Short video — short videos that have stayed live for a while. If you are preparing creatives for Instagram, this may be the list you look at most.
- Winning videos — mid-length videos in the Winner stage, grouped by advertiser.
When you press a chip, the related filter fields are set where you can see them; you read the values on the filter page and change them if you like. We explain when each chip is useful in our filter presets article.
5. Read the ads by badge and order
Every card shows how many days the ad has been running. An ad that has been running 45 days or more and is still active carries the Winner badge. The badge is not a performance measure; it tells you the competitor has kept that ad on for a long time.
Set Sort to Longest Running and the oldest ads come first. Newest Published brings the latest tests to the front. Looking at both, one after the other, shows the two ends of a competitor's Instagram strategy.
Hover over a creative and the image or video grows to the size you chose; video can play at up to 4× speed. On multi-card ads, the cards appear one after another as you move the mouse sideways.
6. Watching several competitors at once
If you use a category word as the search term, several brands come back. Two tools help here:
- The Top Advertisers list on the Analytics tab shows the five brands with the most ads. Click a name and the cards are filtered by that brand's name.
- The Group Same Advertisers option stops one brand's dozens of similar ads from filling the list.
7. Save the ones you like
Save an ad by double-clicking its creative, or right-click the card and choose Save; the Saved state filter shows only the ones you saved.
Three mistakes to avoid
- Leaving FB on. The Platform row starts with two chips selected. If you want Instagram only, make sure FB is off.
- Changing a setting and forgetting to search. A change in the Meta Search section does not change the cards on the screen until you press Search on Meta. Card filters, on the other hand, never go to Meta; they work only on the cards on the screen.
- Drawing conclusions from one ad. A single ad is a test. When you see the same idea repeated across several ads and kept running for a long time, you can talk about a pattern.
Cost
The Ad Library is free and public. The extension's free plan scans 2,000 ads a day, the limit renews in 6-hour windows, and no credit card is required. Platform selection, Auto Scan and most of the presets are on the free plan; you can see the plans for paid features on the pricing page.
To do this with the extension: Meta Ad Library guide