Pinterest ad library: how to use the Ads Repository

The Pinterest ad library is called the Ads Repository, and it lives at ads.pinterest.com/ads-repository. It exists because of the EU's Digital Services Act, so it is built around ads shown in the EU: the country menu lists the 27 EU countries plus Norway, Brazil and Turkey. There is no US, UK, Canadian or Australian version.

If your competitor advertises on Pinterest in any of those 30 countries, you can see each ad, when it ran, who it was aimed at and roughly how many people it reached. If they only advertise in the US, the repository will come back empty, and the second half of this page covers what to do instead.

How to search the Pinterest ad library

The page opens without a login. Check the country before you search, because it opens on a default (France, at the time of writing).

1. Set the start and end dates. Pinterest's 2025 DSA risk report says the repository holds all ads served in the EU in the last year, so you can go back roughly twelve months.
2. Pick a country. If you do not know where a competitor advertises, start with the largest market they ship to.
3. Narrow it if you like. Ad category, gender and age filters sit next to the country.
4. Type the advertiser name in the Advertiser name box and press Search. It searches advertiser names, not words in the ad.
5. Open Details on any ad. Each one opens in its own tab with the full record.

Names are the usual stumbling block. Brands often advertise from regional accounts. The repository's own results include names like "Temu.France", "EtsyFR" and "UNIQLO Europe", so try the brand name, the brand plus a country, and the legal company name.

What each ad's details show

The Details page is where the Pinterest ad library earns its keep. It is more open about targeting than most libraries.

Two fields deserve more attention than the rest.

Keywords used. A "Yes" means the advertiser is bidding on what people search for, not just on interests. You will not see the terms, but the Pin's title is often a good guess at them.

Pinner list types. If that field lists a type, the ad was aimed at a list rather than at strangers. Ads aimed at lists are typically remarketing, so they tell you less about how a competitor finds new customers and more about how they bring people back.

Reading a competitor's Pinterest ads

Run length. The date range on the Details page is the ad's own run, not your search window, so a search for last week can turn up an ad that started a month earlier. Anything that has run for months is working for them.

Catalogue ads. Titles that read like a product feed, with a colour and a size tacked onto the end, are usually shopping ads generated from a product catalogue. A competitor with dozens of these is running Pinterest as a sales channel, not a brand channel.

Reach by country. The bands are coarse, but they show roughly which markets get the most exposure. A brand reaching tens of thousands in Germany and a few hundred in Spain has made a choice.

Targeting width. "18+, all genders, no interests, no keywords" is a broad ad left to Pinterest's algorithm. Narrow age bands with listed interests is a team that has done its homework.

Watching Pinterest ads from outside the EU

There is no complete way to do this. These are the practical options.

1. Check whether they advertise in Europe anyway. Brands that sell internationally often run similar creative in the EU. Search their name across France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. What you find there may be close to what they run at home.

2. Watch their Pinterest profile. Pinterest ads are Pins a business pays to promote, and they can start life as ordinary Pins on the brand's profile. A run of new Pins built around one product or offer is a hint that an ad push is coming or already running. Pinterest's own analytics help notes that Pins saved from a past campaign may keep earning impressions, so successful ads can stay in circulation after the spend stops.

3. Search Pinterest like a customer. Search the terms your customers would use, in a private browser window. Ads are marked as such in results. It is slow and only shows what Pinterest chooses to show you, but it is one of the few free ways to see US ads in context.

4. Check where their traffic comes from. If Pinterest barely registers in a competitor's referral traffic, their Pinterest ads are not worth hours of your time. Checking a competitor's traffic sources gives you a rough answer in a few minutes.

5. Paid ad spy tools. Some claim Pinterest coverage. Coverage of the smaller platforms is uneven, so test with a competitor you already know before paying. The ad spy tools roundup covers which are worth a trial.

When Pinterest is worth watching at all

Pinterest's own ad category filter shows the kinds of advertiser it expects: home decor, fashion, beauty, food and drinks, wedding, travel, DIY and crafts, gardening and parenting all have their own category. If you sell in one of those, a monthly look at your two or three closest rivals is time well spent.

If you sell software, professional services or anything people do not plan visually, check once, confirm your competitors are not there, and move on.

For the other platforms, and which matter for which kind of business, see the full list of ad libraries.

A note on Figo

Figo does not cover Pinterest ads. It reads the Google, Meta and TikTok ad libraries each week, plus competitors' Instagram and Facebook posts, but for Pinterest the repository above is the tool to use, and it is free.