Can you buy ads in ChatGPT? Yes: who can, the routes, and how to set up Ads Manager

Yes. Any business whose legal entity is based in one of the countries on OpenAI's list can sign up at ads.openai.com and run ChatGPT ads itself, from $25 a day for US-dollar accounts (OpenAI). Self-serve opened in the US on 5 May 2026 and covers 89 countries as of October 2026. Larger advertisers can also buy through OpenAI's sales team, the holding agencies dentsu, Havas Media, Omnicom Media, Publicis Groupe and WPP, or technology partners such as Criteo and StackAdapt (OpenAI).

Checked 13 November 2026. The steps below are the ones OpenAI's help center describes; we have not run campaigns ourselves.

Key takeaways

Who can buy ChatGPT ads

Europe. Personalised ads are not available in the EEA or Switzerland, so ads there match the current conversation only, and OpenAI advises against custom audiences for those countries (OpenAI; OpenAI).

India. Trade press reported that India launched on 29 August 2026 without self-serve (PPC Land). OpenAI's availability list of 31 October 2026 shows India as available for self-service. Check the list for your country before you plan.

Who will see your ads. Adult users on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts, users identified as under 18, and Temporary Chats get no ads (OpenAI).

The ways to buy

Costs of each route: ChatGPT ads cost.

How to set up ChatGPT Ads Manager, step by step

These steps follow OpenAI's help center articles as of 31 October 2026. Ads Manager is a beta, so screens and rules may have changed; each step links its source.

Step 1: Check your country

Open Ads Manager availability and confirm the country where your business is registered is marked "Available".

Step 2: Sign in at ads.openai.com

Select Login or Sign up and use the OpenAI account you use for ChatGPT, or create one. If your company already has an advertiser account, do not create a second one: ask its administrator to invite you (account setup).

Step 3: Start from your website, or skip

Option 1: enter your website URL. Ads Manager uses it to draft your first ad; you review the ad, create a campaign from it and confirm the details. Option 2: skip, and create a campaign later inside Ads Manager.

Step 4: Create the advertiser account

Enter your advertiser name and the required details. Check country or region, currency and time zone carefully: they "cannot be changed after account creation". The name you enter fills three fields (account name, brand name shown on your ads, legal name for billing), which you can edit separately later in Settings → General; changing the brand or legal name triggers a review and can pause ads (account setup).

Step 5: Set up billing

In Billing, create a billing profile (business name, address, invoice email) and add a credit card. Campaigns cannot deliver until billing is complete. Your card may get a temporary authorisation hold. Billing is postpaid: you are charged when unpaid spend reaches your payment threshold (OpenAI's example starts at $25) and at month end (billing).

Step 6: Confirm logo and names, invite your team

In Settings → General, check your logo and brand name. In Settings → Users, invite colleagues as Admin, Member (create and manage campaigns) or Viewer (account setup).

Step 7: Create a campaign

A campaign holds the objective, budget, dates, countries, and optional platforms and custom audiences (creating campaigns):

• Objective: Views (pay per 1,000 impressions), Clicks (pay per valid click) or Conversions (optimised for a conversion event, still billed per click or per 1,000 impressions). The objective cannot be changed later.
• Budget: daily (an average over a Sunday–Saturday week; one day can spend up to twice it) or campaign total. Minimum daily budget: $25, £15, €15, C$25, A$25, ₹725 and other amounts by currency. OpenAI suggests new advertisers start with a daily budget.
• Dates: on your first campaign the start and end dates may only appear after publishing. If you need a fixed start date, do not publish just to reach that setting: ads could start early.
• Countries: to target only the US, include the US explicitly; excluding other countries is not enough.
• Platforms (optional): Android app, Android web, desktop web, iOS app, iOS web.
• Custom audiences (optional): at least 25,000 matched users to include an audience.

Step 8: Add ad groups and context hints

In each ad group, write context hints: the conversations, topics or keywords where your product is relevant. They are not exact-match keywords. Set a maximum bid; for click campaigns OpenAI recommends starting at $3–$5 per click (the basics).

Step 9: Create ads

Choose single image or multiple images (4–6 square images, open beta since 26 October 2026). Write a clear title and a description that adds information, link one specific landing page, and add UTM parameters to it. OpenAI recommends many distinct title and copy variations per offer (creating ads).

Step 10: Pass review and go live

"Your ads will go live once they pass review." Ads deliver only when review, account verification (a banner appears if needed), billing, budget and dates all allow it. Spend starts accruing from that point; if you are not ready, pause the campaign (account setup; FAQ).

Step 11: Measure

Set up conversion measurement in Ads Manager (OpenAI Pixel or Conversions API, OpenAI). Reports show impressions, clicks, spend, CTR, average CPC and CPM and conversions. Impressions and clicks refresh about every 15 minutes; spend can lag 7–8 hours (the basics). More: measuring AI ads.

If ads are not delivering, OpenAI's checklist: ads reviewed and "Serving", account verified, budget not used up, end date not passed, payment method working (FAQ).

Running ads for clients

An agency or freelancer works inside each client's own advertiser account: OpenAI says to "create a separate account for each advertiser" and switch between them with one login, or be invited by the client's admin. You cannot create a new account yourself once you belong to 10 or more (account setup). The billing card should match the advertiser's business and country (billing).

When to use an agency

Self-serve is enough if you already run search or social ads and plan a test of a few thousand dollars a month or less. Published flat agency fees start at $1,500 a month (LeadGulls) and several are $5,000+, so below about $3,000 in media the fee can exceed the spend. One agency, GPT Ads AI, says itself: "Below roughly $3,000 a month, run it yourself" (gptadsai.com).

An agency is more likely to pay for itself when:

• you plan $10,000+ a month and need creative variations, context hints and conversion tracking built fast;
• you are a US finance, health or legal advertiser facing manual approval (agencies such as Rankings.io and Juris Digital work only with law firms);
• you cannot buy self-serve in your market, or you want one team across ChatGPT, Google and Microsoft.

Compare agencies by published proof, fees and minimums: best ChatGPT ads agencies. An "OpenAI partner" badge on an independent agency is its own claim: OpenAI names only five holding networks as agency partners. Neighbour topics: Reddit Ads agencies; if you want to be named in ChatGPT's answers rather than next to them, that is organic work (AI ads vs organic AI visibility).

FAQ