Guide · Updated
How do Facebook ad delivery and budget pacing work?
Short answer
Meta spends your budget by bidding in ad auctions, aiming to spend your average daily budget each day. It may spend up to 75% over on a good day, but without budget sharing no more than 7 times the daily budget in a week. If an ad set won't spend, check its audience, bid or cost goal, and budget.
Delivery problems come in two kinds: the ad set cannot spend, because of its status, a payment or a setting, or it spends but each result costs more than it did. For an ad set that won't spend, Meta's own checklist looks at three settings: an audience that is too narrow, a bid cap or cost per result goal set too low, and a daily budget under about 10 times the cost of your optimization event. New ads can take up to 24 hours to start delivering. Start with the three posts below, then go to the question that matches what Ads Manager shows you. To check the whole account at once, use the Meta ads audit checklist.
Start here
- Why are my Facebook ads not spending their budget?
Nine fixes for a campaign that won't spend its budget, starting with Meta's spending limits and your bid.
- Why are my Facebook ads not delivering?
Eight checks for ads that aren't delivering, from the Delivery column to review, payment, schedule and bids.
- How do I set a safe daily Meta ads budget?
A worksheet that sets a safe daily ceiling from the cash you can actually spend.
Why is my campaign not spending its budget?
- Why is my Facebook cost cap campaign not spending?
Whether a cost cap that won't spend is broken, how high to set the cost per result goal, and five fixes.
- Is my Facebook ad restricted by policy or by the auction?
Whether a barely spending campaign is held back by a policy flag or by losing auctions, since the fixes run opposite.
- How do I tell if Meta is down or my account is broken?
How to tell a platform-wide Meta fault from a problem in your own account before you cut budgets.
- Why can't my Facebook Page run ads?
The Page-level checks when a Page can't run ads.
- Why can't I boost my Instagram post?
The reasons an Instagram post can't be boosted, and the fix for each.
Show 4 more answersHide 4 answers
- Why are my Meta ads not showing on Instagram?
The checks when ads deliver on Facebook but not on Instagram.
- Why can't I see my own Facebook ad in my feed?
Why you may not see your own ad, and the tools to preview it.
- What happens when my Facebook Page hits its ad limit?
What a Page's ad limit counts, and how to get back under it.
- How do I set up a first Facebook campaign for my store?
The steps from ad account to a first Sales campaign for a store.
Why does one ad set get all the budget?
- Why is Meta spending my whole budget on one ad set?
When a campaign budget is right to concentrate spend on one ad set, and how to protect a test.
- Why does my test ad set get no budget in a winning campaign?
How ad set spend limits keep a test ad set funded inside a campaign budget.
Why are my catalog ads not delivering?
- Why are my Meta catalog ads not delivering?
A feed-health checklist for catalog ads that stall: disapprovals, missing fields and stock.
- How do I check my Meta product catalog for errors?
A field-by-field check of your catalog's IDs, prices, stock and GTINs.
- Why do my Meta catalog ads show out-of-stock products?
How stock status flows from the feed to catalog ads, and how to keep it current.
- Why are my Shopify products not syncing to my Meta catalog?
The reasons Shopify products don't reach the Meta catalog, and the fixes.
Is my targeting too narrow, or competing with itself?
- What does it mean when Meta says my audience is too small?
What Meta's audience-too-small warning is measured against, and the order to fix it.
- What is the minimum source audience size for a Meta lookalike?
The source sizes Meta documents for lookalike audiences, and what quietly changes the result.
- Should I use Advantage+ audience or interest targeting?
How Advantage+ audience differs from interest targeting, when interests should stay hard limits, and how to test both.
- Should I use broad or narrow targeting on Meta?
A test for whether broad or narrow targeting suits your account.
- How do I check and fix audience overlap on Facebook?
What audience overlap is, how Meta handles your overlapping ad sets in the auction, and how to measure and reduce it.
Show 6 more answersHide 6 answers
- Why are my Facebook ads reaching people outside my targeting?
Why ads reach people outside your targeting, and which controls are hard limits.
- Why do identical Facebook ad sets get different results?
Why two identical ad sets can get different results.
- Why is my customer list match rate so low on Meta?
Why customer list match rates come out low and how to raise them.
- Which custom audiences should an online store build first on Meta?
Which custom audiences a store should build first and what each is for.
- Why did my Facebook detailed targeting options disappear?
Which detailed targeting options Meta removed or merged, and what to use instead.
- Is Shopify Audiences worth it for Meta ads?
Who can use Shopify Audiences, how it works with Meta, and when it fits.
Is my bid strategy holding delivery back?
- How do I choose a Meta bid strategy?
A matrix of Meta bid strategies, what each trades off, and when to avoid it.
- Which Meta bid strategy should I use?
How to choose between cost cap, bid cap and minimum ROAS from your contribution margin.
- Should I use value optimisation or purchase optimisation?
When value optimization buys revenue you don't keep, and when purchase count protects margin.
- Should I use manual bidding on Meta in 2026?
When to put a cost cap or ROAS floor back into an automated account without breaking learning.
- What are Meta value rules and when should I use them?
What value rules adjust in bidding and when to use them.
Did a payment problem stop my ads?
- Why did my Meta ads payment fail?
A diagnostic tree for failed Meta ad payments: account status, payment method, limits and currency.
- Why did my Meta ad spend suddenly stop with no error?
A triage for billing faults behind a sudden drop in spend, from declined cards to spending limits.
- How do I know if a campaign is really failing?
Checks that separate a losing campaign from a billing or delivery fault.
- What happens when my Facebook account spending limit is reached?
What happens at the account spending limit and how to change it.
- How does the Facebook ads billing threshold work?
How the payment threshold triggers charges and how it changes over time.
- Why was I charged for Facebook ads I didn't run?
The checks to run when a card shows a Meta ads charge you don't recognise.
Why does my spend run above or below the budget?
- Why is Facebook spending more than my daily budget?
How Meta paces a daily budget across the week, and how to tell normal pacing from a fault.
- How should budget pacing change as I scale?
How budget pacing should change as monthly spend grows.
- Did my budget edit cause the performance drop?
How to tell whether a budget edit caused a performance change or it was ordinary variance.
- Should I use a lifetime or daily budget on Facebook ads?
How lifetime and daily budgets spend, and when each fits.
How fast can I raise my budget?
- When is it safe to increase my Meta ads budget?
A readiness gate to pass before raising a budget: contribution, CAC and concentration.
- How much can I increase my Facebook ad budget?
Safe budget steps and how often to take them, by monthly spend.
- What should I check before changing a Meta ads budget?
Five account-health checks to run before you raise or cut a budget.
Why did my CPM or CPA suddenly rise?
- Why is my Facebook CPM suddenly so high?
How Facebook CPM is set, whether the rise is yours or everyone's, and seven ways to bring it down.
- Did the Meta Andromeda update make my CPA go up?
What Meta has published about Andromeda, and an order for diagnosing a CPA rise.
- Why does my CPA keep rising?
Common reasons CPA keeps climbing, and steps to bring spend back in line with profit.
- Why is my Facebook cost per click so high?
The causes of a high cost per click and how to work through them.
- What is a good CPM for Facebook ads?
How to read your CPM against a baseline instead of an industry average.
- How much do Facebook ads cost in 2026?
How Meta charges for ads and how to estimate your own costs.
Where is my budget being wasted?
- What are the most common Meta Ads mistakes that waste budget?
Ten setup mistakes that waste budget, each with its fix.
- What are the most common revenue leaks in a Meta ads account?
Ten common leaks in a Meta ad account, and the fix that closes each one.
- Should I turn off Audience Network for my ecommerce ads?
How to judge Audience Network placements and the controls for excluding them.
- Should I use Advantage+ placements or manual placements?
When automatic placements fit and when to choose placements manually.
- How do I see which age or placement converts in Ads Manager?
How to break results down by age, placement and more, and the limits of that data.
- Should I apply Meta's opportunity score recommendations?
What the opportunity score measures and how to judge each recommendation.
Sources: Troubleshoot ad delivery, About daily budgets, Troubleshoot ad delivery: your ad set hasn't delivered enough since it started, Troubleshoot ad delivery: one of your ad sets isn't running (checked 1 October 2026).
Last updated