What Is Meta's Flexible Ad Format? (2026)

Flexible hands one decision to Meta: which layout an ad takes. You supply a pool of up to ten images and videos plus your text, and the delivery system picks single image, video or carousel per person and placement. Dynamic creative hands Meta a different decision, which combination of your elements to show, and since June 2024 Meta has steered sales and app promotion advertisers from dynamic creative to Flexible. Both are real options today, but not for every account.

What does the flexible ad format do?

Meta’s help page About the flexible ad format describes it as a format “designed to help you automatically optimize your ad format”. When you select Flexible, you can add up to 10 images and videos to one ad, and the delivery system “will automatically determine what media or media combination, such as single image, video or carousel, to show to people”, based on the placement and the audience.

Meta lists three benefits:

• Automatic format choice. The system shows what it predicts is the best format, which Meta says is useful if you don’t have a strong preference.
• Fewer ads to build. You don’t select formats per placement or create extra ads in the ad set to test formats.
• Text and media groups. You can group certain images and videos with different combinations of text, which Meta says can help prevent ad fatigue.

Flexible ads can run across multiple placements, depending on the aspect ratio of the media you upload and the format shown.

Which campaigns can use Flexible?

Meta says you can select Flexible only at the ad level, in the Ad setup section, for campaigns with the traffic, engagement, sales or app promotion objective. Some objectives also need a specific conversion location:

• Traffic: Website.
• Engagement: Website or Message destinations.
• Sales: Website, App or Message destinations.

Two limits come from Meta’s create a flexible ad guide. If you choose Advantage+ catalog ads as the creative source, you can’t select Flexible. And for a sales campaign you toggle off Advantage+ catalog ads at the campaign step before you continue.

Is the flexible ad format still available?

For many accounts, yes, but Meta now hedges. Its flexible format pages open with “This feature may not be available to you”, and add that if you no longer have access to Flexible in Ad setup, you should look at Meta’s multi-media ads and creative customisation workflow instead. If Flexible isn’t in the list of formats, Meta says to click More options in Ad setup before concluding it is gone.

Meta’s About ad formats page, read on 2 Oct 2026, still lists Flexible alongside Single image or video, Carousel and Collection. It also notes Meta is rolling out a new Ad setup experience in which Collection may move under Format display options in Ad creative, so the exact screens can differ by account.

How is Flexible different from dynamic creative?

They automate different things. Dynamic creative mixes your elements, such as images and headlines, into combinations; Flexible chooses the layout. The table sets the two side by side from Meta’s own help pages.

Sources: About the flexible ad format, Create a flexible ad, About dynamic creative and Create an ad that uses dynamic creative.

The June 2024 note matters most. Meta’s dynamic creative pages say that as of June 2024 you “may no longer be able to use dynamic creative” when creating ad sets with the sales or app promotion objective, that existing campaigns are unaffected “at this time”, and that “using flexible ad format to achieve a similar result is recommended”.

Can I tell which format won in a flexible ad?

Meta’s flexible format pages, checked on 2 Oct 2026, don’t describe a report that splits results by the format shown. Meta is explicit about dynamic creative: results are aggregate across all variations, and it does not recommend dynamic creative as a substitute for split testing (About dynamic creative). Meta’s ad creative breakdown in Ads Reporting shows results per creative, but that page doesn’t mention flexible ads and says the breakdown is still being introduced gradually. Treat Flexible the same way as dynamic creative: it is a delivery setting, not an experiment. Why aggregate results hide the winning element is covered in does Dynamic Creative tell me which ad element won?

If the question you need answered is “does carousel beat video for this offer?”, build separate single-format ads or an A/B test, as in how do I test creative inside Advantage+ campaigns? For which format to build first, see which Meta ad format works best for D2C?

How do I create a flexible ad in Ads Manager?

These steps follow Meta’s Create a flexible ad in Meta Ads Manager:

1. Go to Ads Manager, click Create, select Traffic, Engagement, App promotion or Sales, and click Continue.
2. For Sales, toggle off Advantage+ catalog ads, then click Next.
3. In the ad set’s Conversion section, select the conversion location: Website for Traffic; Website or Message destinations for Engagement; Website, App or Message destinations for Sales.
4. At the ad level, in Ad setup, select Manual upload as the creative source.
5. Select Flexible as the ad format, clicking More options if it isn’t shown.
6. In Ad creative, click Add media, choose Add images or Add videos, select up to 10 assets and click Continue.
7. Enter primary text, headline and description (optional), then add the website URL or deep link under Destination.
8. Open Advanced preview in Ad preview to check placements, click Save, then Publish.

When should I use Flexible?

Use it when you have a mix of strong images and videos, no firm view on which layout suits each placement, and you want fewer ads to manage. Skip it when you need a clean read on format, when your campaign relies on Advantage+ catalog ads, or when your account no longer offers it. The Facebook ad creative testing hub covers how to set up the tests that Flexible doesn’t run for you.

FAQ

Is Flexible the same as Advantage+ creative?

No. Flexible is an ad format you select in Ad setup. Advantage+ creative is a set of enhancements, such as brightness and contrast or text improvements, that can adjust your media and text inside a format. Meta’s help pages describe them separately, and you can review or turn off Advantage+ creative enhancements on their own.

How many images and videos can a flexible ad use?

Up to 10 images and videos in total, per Meta’s help pages on the flexible ad format. Meta then chooses whether each person sees one of them as a single image or video, or several as a carousel. Group media with different text combinations if you want more variety without more ads.

Can I still use dynamic creative instead?

Sometimes. Meta says that since June 2024 you may not be able to use dynamic creative when creating sales or app promotion ad sets, while existing campaigns are unaffected for now. Dynamic creative is still listed for awareness, engagement, traffic and leads ad sets, with up to 10 media assets.

Why can’t I see Flexible in Ads Manager?

Check four things: the objective must be traffic, engagement, sales or app promotion; the conversion location must match Meta’s list; the creative source must be Manual upload, not Advantage+ catalog ads; and you may need to click More options in Ad setup. Meta also says the feature may not be available to every account.

Sources

Sources: Meta Business Help Center, About the flexible ad format, Create a flexible ad in Meta Ads Manager, About ad formats in Meta Ads Manager, About dynamic creative, Create an ad that uses dynamic creative, Best practices for ads that use dynamic creative, Understand creative-level performance in Meta ads reporting and About Advantage+ creative (checked 2 Oct 2026).