Step-by-step guide

How to advertise on ChatGPT.

Everything a business needs to launch its first ChatGPT campaign: getting into Ads Manager, what it costs, how targeting works, and how to tell whether it's paying off.

Updated October 13, 2026 · 9 min read · Facts checked against OpenAI's Ads Manager help center

The short answer

Sign up at ads.openai.com, connect conversion tracking, create a Clicks or Conversions campaign with a budget of at least $25 a day, describe the conversations you want to appear in with context hints, and start bids at $3 to $5 per click. Ads show as labeled sponsored placements below ChatGPT's answer, to adults on the Free and Go plans.

Minimum budget$25 a day (US). No account minimum.
Starting bid$3 to $5 per click, per OpenAI's guidance
New advertisers$500 ad credit when you spend $500 (current offer)

How we got here

  • February 2026: OpenAI begins testing ads in ChatGPT in the US, sold only as managed buys to large brands that committed large minimum spends.
  • May 5, 2026: Self-serve Ads Manager opens in beta, cost-per-click bidding is added alongside cost-per-thousand-views, and the pilot commitments end. Access rolls out gradually.
  • Summer 2026: Conversion bidding, geographic exclusions and bulk upload arrive; ads reach more countries.
  • Fall 2026: ads.openai.com offers new advertisers $500 in ad credit after their first $500 of spend.

Formats and rules change often. Our platform status page tracks what is buyable today across every major assistant.

Step by step

  1. Check the audience fits. Ads reach adults on ChatGPT's Free and Go plans only. Plus, Pro and Business users never see them. For most local services, retail and consumer brands that is the majority of your customers; for buyers who mostly use ChatGPT through a work account, organic visibility matters more than ads.
  2. Create an Ads Manager account. Go to ads.openai.com, register your business and add a payment method. OpenAI is opening access gradually, so new accounts can take time to be approved. Larger advertisers can also buy through OpenAI's agency and technology partners.
  3. Set up measurement before you spend. Install the OpenAI pixel on your site or connect the Conversions API, and choose the standard events that matter (a lead form, a call, a purchase). Add UTM parameters to your landing page links so ChatGPT traffic is visible in your existing analytics. Without this, you can see clicks but not customers.
  4. Pick an objective. Views bids per thousand impressions and suits awareness. Clicks bids per click and is the practical starting point for most businesses. Conversions optimizes toward a conversion event but still bills per click, so it's the natural next step once tracking has data.
  5. Build ad groups around conversations, not keywords. There's no exact-match keyword list. Each ad group gets context hints describing the questions you want to appear beside ("homeowner asking how much a roof replacement costs", "comparing family dentists that take a given insurance"). Group similar questions together; one ad group per service or customer problem works well.
  6. Write the ad. An ad has your business name, favicon, a short title, a line of copy, an image and a landing page. Keep the title and copy brief and specific to the question; the ad appears beneath an answer the person just read, so it has to feel like the obvious next step. Send clicks to a page that answers the same question, not your homepage.
  7. Set budget and bids. The US minimum is $25 a day per campaign. Daily spend can reach up to twice the daily budget on busy days, capped at seven times the daily budget over a week. Start Clicks bids at $3 to $5. Ads are chosen in a relevance-weighted, second-price auction, so a well-matched ad can win against a bigger bidder.
  8. Launch and read the right numbers. Impressions, clicks and click-through rate refresh about every 15 minutes; spend can lag seven to eight hours, so a spend of zero early on doesn't mean nothing has been charged. Judge the first two weeks on cost per lead, not click-through rate.
  9. Optimize weekly. Move budget to the ad groups producing leads, rewrite copy for the ones that get clicks but no conversions, and switch to the Conversions objective once you have steady conversion data.

What a first campaign really costs

One campaign at the $25 daily minimum spends about $750 a month. At $3 to $5 per click, that is roughly 150 to 250 visits. Advertisers have publicly reported paying from about $3 to $9 per click, with software and finance higher. With the current new-advertiser credit, the first $500 of spend is effectively matched.

For a fuller breakdown of bidding and test budgets, see how much ChatGPT ads cost for a small business.

The useful test: run one service, one region, one landing page for a month, and compare cost per lead with your search campaigns. That tells you more than any benchmark.

Mistakes we see most

  • Launching without conversion tracking, then judging the channel on clicks alone.
  • Writing context hints like keywords. Short phrases match poorly; describe the situation and intent.
  • Sending traffic to the homepage. The ad sits under a specific answer; the landing page should continue it.
  • Expecting the ad to change the answer. The sponsored placement sits below the response. Being recommended inside the answer is organic work, and it can't be bought.
  • Running ChatGPT alone. Google Ads campaigns can show in AI Overviews and AI Mode, and Microsoft Advertising campaigns in Copilot, for the same kinds of questions. You can't target those placements directly, but you can't appear there without the campaigns.

Do it yourself or hand it off?

If you have a few hours a week, a working pixel and a budget of at least $750 a month for ChatGPT alone, running Ads Manager yourself is reasonable. Handing it off makes sense when you also want the Google and Microsoft side, the organic work that gets you named in the answer, and one report that shows all of it. We compare the options, including other agencies and their published prices, in ChatGPT advertising agencies compared.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to advertise on ChatGPT?

There's no account minimum. In the US the minimum daily campaign budget is $25 and OpenAI recommends starting bids of $3 to $5 per click. A campaign running every day at the minimum spends about $750 a month.

Is there a minimum spend?

Not at the account level. The large commitments from the early managed pilot ended when the self-serve beta opened on May 5, 2026. The floor today is the $25 daily budget.

Who sees ChatGPT ads?

Adults on the Free and Go plans. Not Plus, Pro or Business users, and not accounts OpenAI identifies as under 18.

Can I target keywords?

Not exact-match keywords. Context hints describe the conversations you want, and the system matches by context and expected relevance.

Will an ad put my business in the answer?

No. Ads appear below the response, labeled as sponsored. Being recommended in the answer is organic.

Sources

Want it set up and run for you?

We run ChatGPT ads through OpenAI's Ads Manager, manage Google and Microsoft campaigns that can appear in AI Overviews, AI Mode and Copilot, and do the organic work that improves how often you're recommended in the answer. An affiliate of Nartak Media Group, buying media since 1984.

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