Meta Ads Manager

Meta Ads Manager is Meta's own tool for creating, running and measuring ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and the Audience Network. It used to be called Facebook Ads Manager. There is no fee for the tool itself: you pay for the ads you run.

Who is Meta Ads Manager for?

Any business that advertises on Facebook or Instagram ends up in Ads Manager, because every campaign runs through Meta's ad system. Small businesses can create simple ads from Meta Business Suite instead, but Ads Manager gives you the full set of objectives, targeting, tests and reports. Agencies and in-house teams use it every day, often alongside a third-party tool for creative testing or cross-network reporting.

What can you do in Ads Manager?

Build and place campaigns

A campaign holds one or more ad sets, and each ad set holds the ads. You choose a goal, a budget, a schedule, an audience and placements. Meta recommends Advantage+ placements, which let its system show each ad where it is likely to do best across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and the Audience Network. Advantage+ campaign budget can spread one budget across several ad sets.

Target the right people

You can start broad with location, age and gender and narrow with interests. Meta says its delivery system works best with a large audience and shows a meter that warns when an audience is too narrow. With the Meta Pixel on your website, you can build custom audiences from site visitors for retargeting and lookalike audiences of people who resemble your best customers.

Test and measure

A/B tests compare two versions that differ in one variable, such as the image, text, audience or placement, and Meta makes sure the two groups do not overlap. Tests can run for 1 to 30 days, and Meta recommends at least 7. Reports show impressions, engagement, purchases and cost per result, so you can compare campaigns and see what to change.

Manage from your phone

The Meta Ads Manager app for iOS and Android lets you create and edit ads, switch campaigns on and off, change budgets and schedules, and get alerts.

How much does Meta Ads Manager cost?

Using Ads Manager costs nothing. You set a daily or lifetime budget, ads compete in an auction, and Meta bills you for delivery, such as impressions or clicks. Checked on 1 November 2026, Meta's pricing page says there is no minimum budget, suggests starting with at least $5 a day for more than six days, and notes that it may spend up to 75 percent over a daily budget on a single day while averaging out across the week.

What do users say about Meta Ads Manager?

The Meta Ads Manager app holds 4.0 out of 5 on Google Play from about 599,000 reviews. On Capterra, the broader Meta for Business listing holds 4.4 out of 5 from about 2,370 reviews. Reviewers praise the amount of data and insights on every campaign, and that new features keep arriving. The most common complaints are slow or hard-to-reach support, ad rejections that are hard to resolve, and occasional glitches.

When should you add another tool?

• You test many ad variations. AdEspresso creates ad variations in bulk and adds optimisation rules on top of Meta's system.
• You run large paid social programmes. Smartly automates creative production and campaigns across several ad platforms.
• You want organic posting and replies too. Hootsuite or Buffer manage posts and comments across networks.

See our list of Facebook tools for marketing or browse all social media tools.