ChatGPT Ads: How Advertising on ChatGPT Works (October 2026)

ChatGPT ads are sponsored placements that OpenAI shows inside ChatGPT, below the end of an answer, to users on the Free and Go plans. Testing started in the United States on February 9, 2026. Since then OpenAI has added a self-serve Ads Manager, cost per click bidding, conversion tracking, and dozens of countries.

This is a fast-moving story, so this guide is dated: every fact below is from OpenAI's own pages, checked on October 8, 2026. If you are reading this months later, check the sources at the bottom before you act on any detail.

We run Google Ads, not ChatGPT ads. We wrote this because store owners keep asking us the same question: should I be there? The short answer is at the end.

ChatGPT ads timeline

Who sees ads in ChatGPT

OpenAI's help center sets the rules:

• Free and Go plans may see ads.
• Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts do not.
• No ads for users under 18, based on account age information and age prediction where available.
• No ads near sensitive or regulated topics, including personal health, mental health and politics. Political ads are not allowed.
• No ads in the ChatGPT Atlas browser during the test.

Users can turn off ad personalization, see why an ad was shown, and avoid ads by upgrading to Plus or Pro, or by choosing a free option with fewer messages. OpenAI also says personalized ads are not initially available in the European Economic Area or Switzerland.

What do ChatGPT ads look like?

From OpenAI's help center:

• Ads appear below the end of a response.
• They are labeled as sponsored and visually separated from the answer.
• One ad unit can show one or more items, from one advertiser or several.
• In longer chats, OpenAI says it also weighs the overall context and user experience.

People can tap the three-dot menu on an ad and choose Ask ChatGPT to ask about it. And they can message an advertiser through an ad. OpenAI says the advertiser then sees only the messages the user sends them.

How ChatGPT chooses which ad to show

OpenAI says its ads system weighs several signals:

• the context and intent of the current conversation,
• the ad's landing page, title and copy,
• hints and targeting the advertiser gives it,
• and, when ad personalization is on, select signals from the user's broader ChatGPT use.

When several ads are eligible, OpenAI says it considers "relevance and advertiser bids" in deciding which to show first.

On the answers themselves, OpenAI is firm: "Ads do not influence ChatGPT's answers. Ads run on separate systems from our chat model, and advertisers have no ability to shape, rank, or alter ChatGPT's responses."

How to run ads on ChatGPT: Ads Manager

There are two ways to buy.

1. Self-serve, through OpenAI Ads Manager (beta). Sign up at ads.openai.com. OpenAI says businesses can "register as advertisers, add payment information, set budgets, bids and pacing, upload ads, launch and manage campaigns, and view performance in the portal." If your country is not supported yet, OpenAI says you can create an account and be told when it opens.

2. Through partners. OpenAI names agency partners including Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP, and technology partners including Adobe, Criteo, Kargo, Pacvue and StackAdapt. It also has its own Ads Solutions team.

Campaign setup, step by step

From OpenAI's guide to creating campaigns:

1. Pick an objective. Views (CPM), Clicks (CPC) or Conversions. OpenAI says the objective sets both pricing and optimization, and you cannot change it after creation.
2. Set a budget. A campaign-total budget, or a daily budget.
3. Choose countries. To target only the US, include the US. OpenAI warns that excluding other countries alone does not restrict delivery.
4. Choose platforms. Android app, Android web, desktop web, iOS app or iOS web.
5. Add audiences, if you want. Custom audiences need at least 25,000 matched users to include. Exclusions can be smaller.
6. Build ad groups and ads, and wait for review. Ads only serve once approved and once account verification and billing are complete.

There is also a product-feed campaign type for catalogs. OpenAI says new product-feed campaigns can only target at country level.

One limit for new accounts: OpenAI says some new self-serve accounts can at first advertise only in their home country, until identity verification is approved and they reach the required spend there.

ChatGPT ads pricing: CPM, CPC and conversions

OpenAI publishes no rate card. You set the budget and bids. The billing models:

Budget rules, from OpenAI's guide and FAQ: a daily budget is an average over a 7-day period. Daily spend will not exceed twice the daily budget, and a 7-day period will not exceed seven times it. A campaign-total budget caps spend over the whole campaign.

Reporting: OpenAI says impressions, clicks and click-through rate refresh about every 15 minutes, while spend can lag 7 to 8 hours.

On results, OpenAI says it plainly: "As an early platform, ChatGPT Ads does not yet have performance benchmarks across advertisers, industries, or campaign types." Be wary of anyone quoting a "typical" ChatGPT ads ROAS.

Measurement and privacy

OpenAI added a Conversions API and pixel-based measurement, plus third-party measurement integrations. Advertisers get aggregated results. OpenAI says advertisers do not get access to chats, chat history, memories or personal details.

If you test ChatGPT ads, set up the pixel or Conversions API before the first dollar, exactly as you would with Google Ads conversion tracking. A channel you cannot measure is a channel you cannot judge.

ChatGPT ads vs Google Ads

The people using ChatGPT are often mid-decision. OpenAI describes them as "learning about a category, comparing options, or deciding what to do next." That is a real opportunity. But Google Ads still catches the moment someone types a product name and buys, and it has the reporting to prove which clicks paid.

Google has its own version of this shift: ads inside AI Overviews and AI Mode. We covered that in Google Ads in AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Should an online store test ChatGPT ads?

Our view, as a team that lives in Google Ads accounts:

1. Fix the channel that already pays first. If your Google Ads account leaks money, a new channel adds a second leak. Run the free Google Ads audit first.
2. Test with a separate, small budget you are willing to lose. Do not pull it from campaigns that make money.
3. Track conversions before launch, with the OpenAI pixel or Conversions API.
4. Judge on cost per sale, not clicks or impressions.
5. Give it weeks, not days, and compare against your Google Ads cost per sale for the same products.

ChatGPT ads are a new channel to buy. Using ChatGPT to help run Google Ads is a different thing. If that is what you came for, read whether ChatGPT can manage Google Ads, whether ChatGPT is good for Google Ads, or see the GPT for Google Ads.

Keep Google Ads tight while you test

We build Scaley, an AI media buyer for Google Ads, so weigh our view with that in mind. Disclosure: Christopher Krassnig, who founded Scaley, also runs ZenoX Media, a Google Ads agency. Scaley does not run ChatGPT ads. It watches the Google Ads side while you test new channels: Scaley Media Buyer connects read-only and answers from your live account, and Scaley Suite makes a change only after you approve it. Start the free trial.

Where these facts come from

Checked on 2026-10-08. ChatGPT ads change often, so recheck these before you act:

• Ads in ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center - the February 9, 2026 start, eligible plans, placement, how ads are chosen, privacy, controls and sensitive topics.
• Testing ads in ChatGPT, OpenAI - the test and the March 26, May 7 and August 11, 2026 updates.
• New ways to buy ChatGPT ads, OpenAI - May 5, 2026: Ads Manager beta, CPC bidding, partners, Conversions API and pixel.
• ChatGPT Ads expands across Europe, OpenAI - August 18, 2026: 31 European markets, self-serve from August 31, conversion optimization, geo-targeting and custom audiences.
• ChatGPT Ads expands to Southeast Asia and Taiwan, OpenAI - September 23, 2026: seven more markets and more than 60 countries.
• Ads Manager Beta Overview, OpenAI Help Center - what Ads Manager does and reporting refresh times.
• Create Campaigns for ChatGPT Ads, OpenAI Help Center - objectives, billing, budgets, country and platform targeting, audiences and new-account limits.
• Frequently asked questions, OpenAI Help Center - beta status, no benchmarks yet, budget limits and delivery checks.