Connect Facebook Ads to Looker Studio: a partner connector or a CSV export

Connect Facebook Ads to Looker Studio: the two routes

Connect Facebook Ads to Looker Studio (Google now calls it Data Studio) with a third-party partner connector, or with a CSV file you export from Ads Manager and upload. Google's documentation calls such a connector, built by a third party and not by Google, a community connector.

Google's own marketing connectors cover Google Analytics, Google Ads, Campaign Manager 360, Display & Video 360 and Search Console. Google says third-party developers build the connectors for products such as Facebook Ads.

Step 1: add a partner connector in Data Studio

In Data Studio, choose Create, then Data source, and search for the connector by name. Google says a data source made from the home page can be used across several reports. Windsor.ai's, for one, is listed as Facebook Ads By Windsor.ai under partner connectors.

Using a community connector lets Data Studio interact with it on your behalf, and Google says it is your responsibility to know how the connector uses your information.

In a Google Workspace organization, Apps Script must be enabled, or charts built on a community connector will not show data.

Step 2: authorize Facebook Ads and pick the accounts

Google's own steps for adding a data source end with authorizing the dataset if asked, clicking CONNECT and then CREATE REPORT. Windsor.ai's connector asks for two authorizations, one for the community connector and one for your Facebook account, and then for the ad accounts to pull; Windsor.ai says that with no account selected it pulls all of them.

Stay signed in to one Google account in the browser. Windsor.ai names several Google accounts at once as the most common cause of install failures.

Windsor.ai's Data Studio page says analyst access to the ad account is enough for reporting; its other pages ask for more, as the Facebook Ads to BigQuery guide sets out.

Step 3: build the report and keep it fresh

Windsor.ai says Data Studio refreshes on its own schedule, so open Edit Connection and make sure auto-refresh is on. Google's Data freshness page lists community connectors as Varies, and a viewer or editor can refresh by hand after a one-minute cooldown.

For client reports, choose Owner's credentials. Google says viewers then need no access of their own to the underlying dataset.

Windsor.ai's connector pages list 858 Facebook Ads fields (656 metrics and 202 dimensions); its installation guide, last updated December 16, 2025, gives a lower count of 560+ metrics and 150+ dimensions.

The CSV steps and the free and paid limits

The CSV route needs no connector:

1. In Meta Ads Reporting, select the checkbox beside a saved report and click Export to save it as a .csv file. Meta says this needs administrator, advertiser or analyst access to the ad account.
2. In Data Studio, add the file with the Upload CSV files connector, or put it in Google Sheets and connect the sheet with the Google Sheets connector.
3. Export and upload again whenever the numbers need to change, since the file stays as exported.

Windsor.ai says two sources in one report need a paid plan after the first 30 days. That applies when both come through Windsor.ai: Google's own Google Ads connector is free, and Windsor.ai says Data Studio's blend feature can join two data sources on date or campaign.

The pricing page describes a 30-day free trial period, with up to 10 data sources and 15 accounts, and then a Forever Free plan of 1 data source and 1 account, while the Terms say trial access ends. Windsor.ai's answers page adds that no credit card is ever asked for. See the Windsor.ai free plan for the limits.

A report on Google Ads, Google Analytics or Search Console alone needs no third-party connector, and free Looker Studio connectors covers that route. A quarterly report can use the CSV upload. Pick the partner connector when the numbers must stay current across several ad accounts.

Windsor.ai's Facebook Ads connector is one such partner connector, and the Facebook Ads Looker Studio connector guide weighs it against the others.