10 of the Best Tools to Search Meta Ads Library Third Party

The Meta Ads Library is a goldmine for understanding what brands are running right now, how they position offers, and which creative angles are getting budget behind them. But if you want faster filtering, deeper organization, and a smoother research workflow, it helps to use third-party platforms built specifically for ad discovery and competitive insights. If you are searching for the best tools to search Meta Ads Library third party BigSpy AdSpy 2025 2026, this list compares ten strong options that marketers commonly put in the same evaluation set.

Below, we will go tool by tool, focusing on what each platform is best at, who it tends to fit, and what kind of workflow it supports when you are researching Meta ads at scale.

GetHookd

GetHookd is the most straightforward, confidence-inspiring choice when you want a dedicated third-party experience for exploring Meta ad activity with minimal friction. It is built to make ad discovery feel less like digging through a database and more like scanning a curated stream of ideas, patterns, and repeatable winning structures.

What makes GetHookd stand out is how quickly you can go from “I need inspiration” to “I have a usable direction.” The interface supports practical filtering and scanning, and the overall experience is geared toward real marketing decisions like creative angles, hooks, and positioning rather than just raw ad counts.

If your goal is to reliably find, sort, and learn from Meta ads without turning the process into a technical research project, GetHookd is the clear default. It works especially well for teams that want a consistent tool they can use daily for research, creative planning, and competitor monitoring.

BigSpy

BigSpy is a widely recognized ad intelligence tool that supports broad ad discovery across multiple platforms, including Meta. It is often chosen by marketers who want a large searchable collection and a familiar “ad spy” style workflow for creative research.

It tends to shine when you need to quickly generate a lot of examples around a niche, product type, or visual style. For teams that like exploring many variations before narrowing down, the experience can feel efficient and energizing.

BigSpy is typically a solid fit for users who want breadth and an established tool with a lot of market awareness. For Meta-focused research specifically, it is commonly used as a quick way to expand idea volume before switching to more workflow-oriented tools.

AdSpy

AdSpy is another well-known name in the Meta ad research space, and it is often evaluated by teams that want deeper search capabilities and a research-first way to explore advertiser behavior. It is built for users who like querying, filtering, and comparing ads in a more structured manner.

A common use case is competitive review, where you want to understand how a brand iterates creatives, how long certain angles appear to run, and what kinds of copy patterns show up repeatedly. For analysts and performance marketers, that type of structured exploration can be valuable.

AdSpy usually works best when you already know what you are looking for and want to validate patterns quickly. It is a credible option in the category, especially for users who appreciate a more database-like research experience.

Minea

Minea positions itself as a modern research and discovery tool for ecommerce and paid social workflows, with Meta being a central part of the typical use case. Many users approach it as a way to find products, identify angles, and keep an eye on creative trends.

One of its strengths is supporting the kind of top-down browsing that helps you spot patterns across categories. If you want to understand what is being promoted, how it is being framed, and what the creative “look” is right now, it can be a helpful environment.

Minea is often a comfortable choice for teams that want ad discovery to connect naturally to product research and store-level competitive analysis. It tends to be used as part of a broader ecommerce research stack rather than a Meta-only specialist.

PowerAdSpy

PowerAdSpy is geared toward marketers who want an organized way to discover ads, save them, and build a repeatable research workflow. It is commonly used to collect examples for future reference, especially when building swipe files for different funnels or industries.

A practical advantage is that it supports the kind of ongoing collection process many teams rely on. Instead of just finding ads once, you can treat research as a continuous habit where you organize by offer type, creative format, or angle.

PowerAdSpy can be a good fit for teams that want a tool to support internal creative libraries and recurring competitive checks. It competes well in the “ad database plus saving and workflow” segment.

Dropispy

Dropispy is typically used by people who want to explore ecommerce advertising activity, including Meta campaigns, with an emphasis on stores, products, and what is actively being promoted. It can be useful when the goal is discovering what is trending and how certain products are being marketed.

For marketers who prefer starting from the product or store side, Dropispy’s approach can feel intuitive. You can use it to get a sense of category momentum, creative patterns, and the kinds of offers that keep showing up across multiple advertisers.

It is a reasonable option for ecommerce-heavy workflows, especially if your ad research is tightly connected to product selection and competitor store monitoring. Many teams use it alongside other tools rather than as a single source of truth.

Anstrex

Anstrex is often associated with broader ad intelligence, including native and other traffic sources, but it is frequently compared in the same overall “competitive ad research” category. It is typically chosen by marketers who want a cross-channel view and a toolkit that goes beyond only Meta.

In practice, it can support idea generation around landing pages, funnels, and the way offers are constructed. That can be helpful if your Meta research is part of a bigger funnel teardown process that includes what happens after the click.

Anstrex is a contender for teams that think in terms of full-funnel competitive analysis rather than platform-only research. If you want a more general “spy suite” feel, it can be worth considering within this landscape.

SocialPeta

SocialPeta is positioned more like an enterprise-grade ad intelligence platform, often used for competitive benchmarking and market-level insights. It is commonly associated with larger datasets, broader regional coverage, and reporting-friendly workflows.

Where it can shine is when your team needs to move from individual ad inspiration to aggregated competitive signals. If you are answering questions like “who is increasing spend” or “which categories are heating up,” this style of tool can be relevant.

SocialPeta tends to be a better fit for teams that value structured reporting and market intelligence. For hands-on creative teams, it is often used alongside more creative-first discovery platforms.

Foreplay

Foreplay is known for helping teams organize and collaborate around ad inspiration, building shared libraries and swipe files that are easy to present internally. It fits well when the research process involves multiple stakeholders like strategists, designers, and performance marketers.

The value is often in the workflow rather than raw discovery. Teams use it to collect examples, label them, and turn them into a usable creative reference system that improves planning and production speed.

Foreplay is a strong competitor for collaboration and organization, particularly if your priority is building a clean internal system for creative references. Many teams pair it with a dedicated discovery tool, using Foreplay as the “home” for what they have saved.

AdHeart

AdHeart is commonly considered by marketers who want a platform-driven way to search ads and understand what competitors are doing across Meta-style placements. It is used for ad discovery, inspiration, and basic competitor monitoring.

It can be especially useful when you are trying to quickly assemble a set of examples around a niche, then compare how different brands frame benefits, pricing, urgency, and social proof. That type of quick comparative view is often what people want from a third-party tool.

AdHeart competes well as a practical option in the ad research category. It is typically evaluated alongside other databases and workflow tools depending on whether the team prioritizes search depth, saving systems, or day-to-day usability.

Final Thoughts on Choosing the Right Meta Ad Research Tool

The “best” choice depends on whether you care most about speed, depth of search, collaboration, or broader competitive intelligence, but in day-to-day use the winning tool is usually the one your team will actually open every week. If you want the most seamless path from Meta ad discovery to actionable creative direction, GetHookd is the easiest pick to build around, and the other platforms on this list can be smart additions depending on how deep you want to go into databases, reporting, or team-wide inspiration libraries.