Guide · OpenAI Ads Manager

ChatGPT Ads Manager: what it is and how to set it up

By Jamie Lund · Updated October 14, 2026 · Every step from OpenAI's Help Center

What is ChatGPT Ads Manager?

OpenAI's self-serve platform for ChatGPT Ads, at ads.openai.com. It's officially called Ads Manager Beta: you create campaigns, set budgets and bids, manage billing and users, and read reporting in one place.

You can build campaigns with a guided flow or upload them in bulk from a CSV file. Reporting comes as a table, charts or CSV exports, and Settings holds members, permissions, API keys, billing and change logs. OpenAI says the product "will continue to evolve," and the self-serve beta has been rolling out since May 5, 2026. Larger advertisers can ask OpenAI for sales support instead. Sources: Ads Manager Beta Overview (OpenAI Help Center), New ways to buy ChatGPT ads (OpenAI), OpenAI Ads Manager.

ChatGPT Ads login and sign-up

Log in at ads.openai.com/auth/login, or sign up at ads.openai.com/auth/signup. Both use your OpenAI account, the same login you use for ChatGPT.

One login can belong to several advertiser accounts and switch between them. If you don't have an OpenAI account yet, you create one during sign-up. A ChatGPT workspace role or API organization role doesn't give you access to Ads Manager; ads permissions are granted separately. Sources: Ads Manager Account Setup (OpenAI Help Center), Managing identity and access for Ads Manager (OpenAI Help Center).

Who can use ChatGPT Ads Manager

Businesses whose legal entity is in one of the 63 countries where self-serve is available, selling in a category OpenAI allows. You can create an account elsewhere and get notified when your country opens.

Some new self-serve accounts can advertise only in their home country at first. Other supported countries unlock after identity verification is approved and the account reaches a spend level on home-country campaigns; OpenAI doesn't publish that amount. To check your country and category in two questions, use the eligibility check. Sources: Ads Manager Availability (OpenAI Help Center), Create Campaigns for ChatGPT Ads (OpenAI Help Center).

How to set up ChatGPT Ads Manager, step by step

1. 1

   Sign in at ads.openai.com

   Choose Sign up and sign in with an OpenAI account. OpenAI's quickstart suggests one tied to your work email.

2. 2

   Enter your website, or skip

   Ads Manager can use your site to draft a first ad and campaign for you to review. You can also skip straight to Ads Manager and build a campaign later.

3. 3

   Name the advertiser

   The name you enter fills three fields: Account Name (internal), Brand Name (shown with your ads) and Legal Name (used for billing and verification). You can edit them separately later in Settings, General. Changing the brand or legal name triggers a new review.

4. 4

   Choose country, currency and time zone carefully

   All three are set when the account is created and can't be changed afterwards. Use the country of the legal entity that will be billed.

5. 5

   Set up billing

   Create a billing profile (business name, address and invoice email) and add a credit card that matches the business and its country. Campaigns can't deliver until billing is set up.

6. 6

   Complete verification

   Business verification can take up to 7 business days. Account verification, account approval and ad review are separate checks, so passing one doesn't clear the others.

7. 7

   Add your logo and invite your team

   In Settings, add your logo and invite people as Admin (full access), Member (create and manage campaigns) or Viewer (view only).

8. 8

   Install measurement, then build your first campaign

   Create a data source in the Conversions tab to get your Pixel ID and install it before you spend. Then build the campaign. Don't publish just to reach the start and end dates: on a first campaign they may only appear after publishing, and ads could start running.

Sources: Ads Manager Account Setup (OpenAI Help Center), Quickstart: Launch your first campaign (OpenAI Help Center), Troubleshooting Common Onboarding and Policy Issues (OpenAI Help Center), Create Campaigns for ChatGPT Ads (OpenAI Help Center).

Campaigns, ad groups and ads

A campaign holds the goal and budget, an ad group holds the bid and context hints, and an ad is the creative: title, copy, image and landing page.

Two settings are permanent: a campaign's objective and billing option can't be changed after it's created, so you'd build a new campaign instead. A campaign-total budget can be switched to a daily budget, but not back. Each account can hold up to 5,000 campaigns, 5,000 ad groups and 5,000 ads. Sources: Launch Campaigns (OpenAI Help Center), Create Campaigns for ChatGPT Ads (OpenAI Help Center), Maximize Results Bid Strategy (OpenAI Help Center).

Writing context hints

Context hints describe the conversations where your ad is relevant. They guide matching but aren't exact-match keywords, targeting rules or exclusions, and they don't guarantee delivery.

OpenAI recommends one clear, natural phrase per hint that says what you offer, who it's for and when they need it. A florist, for example, might write "same-day sympathy flowers to send to a funeral home this week" rather than a list of keywords. Hints can't enforce geography, schedules or exclusions; those belong in campaign settings. To write hints in your customers' words, see what they ask with the free ChatGPT Question Finder. Sources: Write Context Hints for ChatGPT Ads (OpenAI Help Center), Ads in ChatGPT: The Basics (OpenAI Help Center).

ChatGPT ad specs

Titles can run to 50 characters and copy to 100, but OpenAI recommends 16 to 24 and 32 to 48. Images are square PNG or JPG files, no larger than 1200 by 1200 pixels.

Landing pages must be reachable and must not block OAI-AdsBot; OpenAI also recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot. Login-gated pages and app-store links may not give the reviewer enough to read. OpenAI suggests writing many distinct title and copy variations per offer, focused on specific benefits. Check what your robots.txt allows with the free AI Visibility Checker. Sources: Launch Campaigns (OpenAI Help Center), Create Ads for ChatGPT Ads (OpenAI Help Center), Advertiser Guidance for Allowing OpenAI Web Crawlers (OpenAI Help Center).

Review and approval

Every ad is reviewed against OpenAI's ad policies, title, copy, image and landing page included, and approved ads keep being monitored. OpenAI doesn't publish how long review takes.

• Ads go live once they pass review and billing, account readiness, budget and schedule allow.
• A rejected ad shows "Not serving"; hover for the reason, then edit and resubmit or appeal.
• Business verification is a separate check and can take up to 7 business days.
• OpenAI suggests waiting at least 24 hours after launch before reporting zero delivery, and contacting support if an appeal is pending more than 7 days.
• Editing an ad's creative sends it back for review.

Sources: Launch Campaigns (OpenAI Help Center), Troubleshooting Common Issues (OpenAI Help Center), Troubleshooting Common Onboarding and Policy Issues (OpenAI Help Center), Ad policies (OpenAI).

Pixel, Conversions API and reporting

Create a data source in the Conversions tab to get a Pixel ID, add the pixel to every page where conversions happen, and send the same events from your server through the Conversions API.

• The pixel goes in the page head, directly or through Google Tag Manager. It sends standard events such as items added, checkout started and order created.
• OpenAI adds a click reference to your landing page URL. The pixel stores it in a first-party cookie; keep it through redirects and pass it with server events, because the Conversions API doesn't capture it on its own.
• When the pixel and the Conversions API report the same conversion, give both the same event ID so it counts once.
• Conversion campaigns optimize toward one standard event, so set tracking up before you launch them.

Reports can be split by device, country and platform. You can view conversions on 7, 14 or 30-day click windows, with or without 1-day view-through; the window changes reporting only, not bidding or billing. Shopify stores can also use the ChatGPT Ads app OpenAI announced for the Shopify App Store. Sources: Conversion Measurement (OpenAI Help Center), Ads (OpenAI Developers), Measure Results (OpenAI Help Center), Reimagining advertising with AI (OpenAI).

Budgets and billing in Ads Manager

Each campaign needs a daily budget of at least $25 in US dollars. Billing is postpay: your card is charged each time spend reaches a payment threshold, and at month end.

Daily budgets average over a Sunday-to-Saturday week, so a day can spend up to twice the budget. The payment threshold starts low and rises after successful payments, and taxes are added on top. Ads can run for up to 24 hours after you pause, and that spend is billed. For what a test should cost at your numbers, see how much ChatGPT ads cost. Sources: Daily Budgets (OpenAI Help Center), Billing & Payment (OpenAI Help Center).

Giving an agency access to ChatGPT Ads Manager

Invite the agency to your advertiser account as a Member or Admin. OpenAI doesn't document an agency manager account, so agencies work inside yours, and the account, billing and history stay with you.

OpenAI asks for a separate advertiser account for each business. An agency switches between client accounts with one login, and once a person belongs to 10 accounts they can't create more themselves, but can still be invited. OpenAI's Advertising Terms require an agency acting for an advertiser to have its written authority. OpenAI's named agency partners are holding companies (dentsu, Havas Media, Omnicom Media, Publicis Groupe and WPP); independent agencies like ours work inside the advertiser's own account. Sources: Ads Manager Account Setup (OpenAI Help Center), Advertising Terms (OpenAI), ChatGPT Ads expands to Southeast Asia and Taiwan (OpenAI).

Plugin, API and integrations

• Ads Manager plugin for ChatGPT: drafts ads from a website or brief, creates, updates or pauses campaigns after you confirm, and analyzes performance. It can't handle billing, legal identity or appeals.
• Advertiser API: create and manage campaigns and pull reporting in code, with API keys issued in Ads Manager Settings.
• Integrations: a Shopify app and a HubSpot connection, both announced September 16, 2026, plus measurement partners such as Triple Whale and Northbeam.

Sources: Use the ChatGPT Ads Manager plugin (OpenAI Help Center), Ads (OpenAI Developers), Reimagining advertising with AI (OpenAI), Building advertising for the way people use AI (OpenAI).