Guide
Run 3 to 5 ads per ad set on most budgets
Updated
Most ad sets work best with 3 to 5 ads. To check yours, divide your daily budget by the ads running: each ad should get at least your target cost per sale.
In short
- 3 to 5 ads per ad set is the right number for most budgets on Facebook and Instagram.
- Meta allows up to 50 ads per ad set, but more ads split the same budget into smaller shares.
- Each ad's share of the daily budget should be at least your target cost per sale, and ideally more.
- Five versions of one idea count as one test, not five.
- Change the ads once a week, all at once, because adding an ad restarts Meta's learning phase.
- Ads per ad set that most budgets can fund properly
- 3-5
- Most ads Meta allows in one ad set
- 50
- Each ad's daily budget when 12 ads share $200 a day
- $16.67
How many ads should you put in an ad set?
Run 3 to 5 ads per ad set on most budgets. Meta allows up to 50, but that is a limit, not advice.
- Meta does not split your budget evenly between ads. It puts most of the money behind the ads that do well early.
- With many ads on a small budget, most of them get too little spend to tell whether they work.
- With 3 to 5 ads, each one gets enough spend to show a result.
- On a small budget, 2 or 3 ads may be all it can fund.
How to check the right number for your budget
Divide your daily budget by the number of ads running. Each ad's share should be at least your target cost per sale, and ideally more.
- Say your daily budget is $200 and your target cost per sale is $30.
- With 4 ads running, each gets $50 a day, enough for more than one sale a day each.
- With 8 ads running, each gets $25 a day, already below your target cost per sale.
- With 12 ads running, each gets $16.67 a day, enough for about half a sale.
- This is a rough check. Meta will not split the money evenly, but if an even share is too small, most ads will get almost nothing.
Each ad's share of $200 a day
With a target cost per sale of $30. Below $30 a day, an ad cannot pay for one sale a day on average.
- 4 ads running$50 each
- 8 ads running$25 each
- 12 ads running$16.67 each
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
Rules for the ads in your ad set
These rules keep every ad funded well enough to judge.
Ad set rules
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| Count versions of one idea as one test | They test the same idea, even in different sizes |
| Pause clear losers before you add new ads | The ads still running keep enough budget |
| Add new ads all at once, not one by one | Adding an ad restarts Meta's learning phase |
| Switch off losers on early numbers like views and clicks | The money moves to the better ads sooner |
Rule: Count versions of one idea as one test
- Why
- They test the same idea, even in different sizes
Rule: Pause clear losers before you add new ads
- Why
- The ads still running keep enough budget
Rule: Add new ads all at once, not one by one
- Why
- Adding an ad restarts Meta's learning phase
Rule: Switch off losers on early numbers like views and clicks
- Why
- The money moves to the better ads sooner
How often should you change the ads in an ad set?
Once a week, all at once, on a fixed day. Adding ads one at a time keeps the ad set from ever settling.
Changing ads once a week
Pause the clear losers
Before you add anything new
Add the new ads together
So 3 to 5 are running
Check each ad's share
At least your target cost per sale
Leave it alone
Until the same day next week, even after one bad day
Does a testing ad set need a different number than a scaling one?
Yes, a little. A testing ad set holds new ads, so 3 to 5 is right. A scaling ad set holds ads that already won, so it can run fewer ads with more budget each.
- In a testing ad set, the goal is to see which new ads work, so each one needs its share of the budget.
- In a scaling ad set, you put more money behind the few ads that already brought in sales at your target cost.
- Advantage+ creative does not change the number. It makes variations of one ad, such as adding motion or fitting a video to more placements, and the ad still counts as one.
- The budget check works the same in any campaign: divide the daily budget by the ads running.
Where Cutroom fits
Replacing the losing ads every week takes a steady supply of new ones. Cutroom turns one recording into several finished ads.
- You upload one video of yourself talking, up to 3 minutes long.
- You get a finished 9:16 MP4 with cuts, captions and b-roll in about a minute.
- You make more versions in the editor by writing a new headline on screen, picking another caption or hook theme, or moving the b-roll.
- A 30-second ad costs 110 credits. Another version of the same video costs only its export, 10 credits.
- Cutroom only makes vertical 9:16 ads, and someone has to be on camera.
What it costs in Cutroom
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Editing one video | 100 credits |
| Export | 20 credits per minute of video |
| Lite plan | $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 ads of 30 seconds |
| First video | Free, no card, within 7 days |
Item: Editing one video
- Cost
- 100 credits
Item: Export
- Cost
- 20 credits per minute of video
Item: Lite plan
- Cost
- $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 ads of 30 seconds
Item: First video
- Cost
- Free, no card, within 7 days
Questions people ask
- How many ads should I put in one ad set?
- 3 to 5 for most budgets. Meta allows up to 50, but each ad needs a big enough share of the budget to show whether it works.
- How many ads should I put in an ad set on a small budget?
- Two or three. Check that each ad's share of the daily budget is at least your target cost per sale. If it is not, run fewer ads, not more.
- Should each ad get its own ad set?
- Usually not. It gives cleaner results per ad, but it splits your budget, so each ad set takes longer to get through the learning phase.
- What if one ad takes all the spend right away?
- That is often the right outcome. It is only a problem if the ad won on a handful of early sales. Wait for enough sales before you trust it, rather than forcing spend onto weaker ads.
- How often should I swap ads in and out?
- Once a week or every two weeks, on a fixed day that matches how fast you can make new ads. Planned changes work better than constant small ones.
- Do different sizes of the same video count as separate ads?
- Not if you put them in one ad. Meta lets one ad show a different size of the same video in each placement. For your testing, count them as one idea either way.
- Does Advantage+ creative change how many ads to run?
- No. Advantage+ creative makes variations of one ad, so it still counts as one ad. Each ad still needs at least your target cost per sale a day.
Check your budget per ad, then add new ads every week. Your first video is free.