How to scrape Facebook Ad Library Search Ads with Python

Search This tutorial gets it with a short Python program and the Facebook Ad Library Search Ads API. Each successful call costs 1 credit; errors and not-found answers are free.

1. Get an API key

Sign in to get a key and 100 free credits, no card. Then put the key in an environment variable so it stays out of your code:

export SCRAPEIO_API_KEY="your_key_here"

2. Set up Python

pip install requests

3. Write the code

Save this as scrape.py.

import os
import requests

API_KEY = os.environ["SCRAPEIO_API_KEY"]
URL = "https://scrapeio.com/v1/facebook/adLibrary/search/ads"
params = {"query": "coffee"}

items = []
while True:
    r = requests.get(URL, params=params, headers={"x-api-key": API_KEY}, timeout=60)
    r.raise_for_status()
    data = r.json()["data"]
    items += data.get("items", [])
    if not data.get("has_more") or not data.get("cursor") or len(items) >= 100:
        break
    params["cursor"] = data["cursor"]

print(len(items), "items")
print(items[:3])

The loop follows data.cursor until data.has_more is false, and stops at 100 items. Each page is one call, so it costs 1 credit.

4. Run it

python scrape.py

The response has the same envelope on every endpoint: success, cached, credits_used, credits_remaining and data. Shared fields such as handle, followers, plays, likes and created_at have the same names on every platform.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`query` (required)	string	Keyword to search for
`sort_by`	total_impressions, relevancy_monthly_grouped	Sort by impressions (high to low), or Most Recent (relevancymonthlygrouped).
`search_type`	keyword_unordered, keyword_exact_phrase	If you want to search by exact phrase or not
`ad_type`	all, political_and_issue_ads	Search for all ads or only political and issue ads
`country`	string	This can only be one country.
`language`	string	Language to filter ads on.
`status`	ALL, ACTIVE, INACTIVE	Status of the ad.
`media_type`	ALL, IMAGE, VIDEO, MEME, IMAGE_AND_MEME, NONE	Media type of the ad.
`start_date`	string	Impressions start date.
`end_date`	string	Impressions end date.
`trim`	boolean	Set to true for a trimmed down version of the response
`cursor`	string	Cursor to paginate through results

Errors and what you pay

Status	Meaning	Charged
`200`	Success	Yes, unless cached
`400`	A parameter is missing or wrong	No
`401`	The key is missing or invalid	No
`402`	Not enough credits	No
`403`	The account or post is private	No
`404`	Not found on the platform	No
`429`	More than 300 requests a minute	No
`502`	Every source is down; retry shortly	No

Same endpoint in other languages

Node.js · JavaScript · TypeScript · Go · Rust · Java · C# · PHP · Ruby · Kotlin · Swift · R

Prefer no code?

Connect the MCP server to Claude Code, Cursor or Codex and ask in plain English. The agent uses call_endpoint with path /v1/facebook/adLibrary/search/ads for you.

100 free credits, no card. Credits never expire.

Get API key