# Apple Ads Platform API vs Meta Marketing API

> Meta Marketing scores 67.7 (B) to Apple Ads Platform's 53.8 (D) for ad reporting. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apple-ads-vs-meta-marketing-api
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apple-ads-vs-meta-marketing-api.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apple-ads-vs-meta-marketing-api.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apple-ads-vs-meta-marketing-api.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Meta Marketing API scores 67.7 (B) on agent readiness against Apple Ads Platform API's 53.8 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Apple Ads Platform API leads on security & auth. Both do ad reporting.

- Apple Ads Platform API: grade D, 53.8/100, rank #699 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/apple-ads.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/apple-ads.json
- Meta Marketing API: grade B, 67.7/100, rank #243 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/meta-marketing-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/meta-marketing-api.json
- Best advertising platform APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/advertising/index.md
- All 28 advertising comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/advertising/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Apple Ads Platform API (D)

Good for: An agent that manages or reports on App Store search campaigns, or Apple Maps campaigns, for an advertiser whose administrator can grant an API role.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 68 against 61

Watch for: The Platform API was first released in August 2026 and its changelog has one entry. The Campaign Management API 5 it replaces is sunset on 26 January 2027

### Meta Marketing API (B)

Good for: The direct route to Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads advertising for reporting, campaign and budget changes, audiences and creatives.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 80 against 35
- Schema & documentation, 76 against 69
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 69
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 74 against 48

Watch for: Default Limited access allows a score of 60 per ad account (read 1, write 3) and blocks for 300 seconds at the limit


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Apple Ads Platform API | Meta Marketing API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 80 | Meta Marketing API +45 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 76 | Meta Marketing API +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 77 | Meta Marketing API +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 61 | Apple Ads Platform API +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 30 | Meta Marketing API +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 48 | 74 | Meta Marketing API +26 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 66 | 68 | Meta Marketing API +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **53.8 · D** | **67.7 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Apple Ads Platform API | Meta Marketing API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Apple | Meta Platforms, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.ads.apple.com/v1` | `https://graph.facebook.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | OAuth |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Apple Advertising Services Terms of Service. The client libraries are MIT | Proprietary service under the Meta Platform Terms. The Business SDKs and the codegen specs on GitHub carry Meta's own platform licence, which allows use only with Meta's APIs |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-08-14 | 2026-09-21 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-02-03 |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 1.6k stars, 501k npm/wk, 1.1M PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**Apple Ads Platform API.** Every response carries `RateLimit-*` headers and a 429 carries `Retry-After`, Apple maintains MIT client libraries in four languages, and read-only API roles exist. The API was first released in August 2026. No status page, SLA, published OpenAPI file, idempotency key or test account was found, and a person must create the credentials in the Apple Ads interface.

**Meta Marketing API.** Reporting, campaign, budget, audience and creative endpoints sit behind `ads_read` and `ads_management` scopes, with a `validate_only` option and sandbox ad accounts for checking a change before it spends. New apps are held to a score of 60 per ad account, with a 300-second block at the limit, and the documented requests pass the access token as a parameter.

## Before you call either

### Apple Ads Platform API

1. Send `Authorization: Bearer {access_token}` and `X-AP-Context: adAccountId={adAccountId}` on every ad account call. Get the account id from `GET /v1/acls`
2. Request a new access token every 3,600 seconds from `https://appleid.apple.com/auth/oauth2/token` with scope `searchadsorg`. The signed client secret lasts at most 180 days
3. Read `RateLimit-Remaining` on each response. On a 429 wait the `Retry-After` seconds, then double the wait up to 16 seconds
4. List and filter with POST to a `/query` endpoint, not GET with query parameters. Deleted entities return only when a filter asks for them
5. On PUT send only the fields to change, and send the complete desired array for any array field. Create campaigns with `"status": "PAUSED"` before review

### Meta Marketing API

1. Put a version in every path, such as /v26.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/campaigns. Unversioned Marketing API calls fail
2. Create campaigns, ad sets and ads with `status=PAUSED`, and send `execution_options=["validate_only"]` first to test a write without making it
3. Ask for `ads_read` alone when the task is reporting. `ads_management` can change budgets and activate spend
4. Read `X-Business-Use-Case-Usage` and `X-Ad-Account-Usage` after each call and wait for `estimated_time_to_regain_access` on errors 17, 613 and 80004
5. Change an ad set budget at most four times an hour and an account spending limit at most ten times a day

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Apple Ads Platform API or Meta Marketing API?

Meta Marketing API scores 67.7 (B) on agent readiness against Apple Ads Platform API's 53.8 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Apple Ads Platform API leads on security & auth.

### Do Apple Ads Platform API and Meta Marketing API need an API key?

Both use an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Apple Ads Platform API and Meta Marketing API without installing anything?

Yes. Apple Ads Platform API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.ads.apple.com/v1 and Meta Marketing API at https://graph.facebook.com.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apple-ads-vs-meta-marketing-api.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apple-ads-vs-meta-marketing-api.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "apple-ads", "b": "meta-marketing-api"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare apple-ads meta-marketing-api`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/apple-ads.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/meta-marketing-api.json

## Other comparisons with Apple Ads Platform API or Meta Marketing API

- [Amazon Ads API vs Apple Ads Platform API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-ads-api-vs-apple-ads.md)
- [Amazon Ads API vs Meta Marketing API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-ads-api-vs-meta-marketing-api.md)
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