Ad costs and benchmarks · Guide
How much do TikTok ads cost in 2026?
By Limon Ghosh, Sydney · Updated 24 October 2026 · 7 min read
Short answer: TikTok requires a daily budget above $20 per ad group and above $50 per campaign. Published benchmarks put the median CPM at about $4 and the median cost per purchase at about $17, but sources disagree widely and none is Australian. Plan a test around your own margin, not a benchmark.
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What TikTok requires you to spend
TikTok’s Ads Manager help page sets minimum budgets. The page shows a “$” sign without naming the currency, and it does not describe regional differences, so check your own account before you plan.
| Budget type | Minimum | Rule on TikTok’s page |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign, daily | More than $50 | The campaign budget should not be lower than the ad group budget |
| Ad group, daily | More than $20 | Budget increases are capped at 40% per change in the learning phase and 30% after, with at least 2 days between changes |
| Campaign, lifetime | More than $50 | You cannot switch between daily and lifetime once live |
| Ad group, lifetime | Days × the daily minimum | Example on the page: a 31-day ad group needs at least $620 |
Source: TikTok Ads help: budget, read 24 October 2026.
What this means: a single ad group running for a month at the $20 daily minimum is about $620. That is the floor for a test, not a recommended budget.
How TikTok charges
TikTok lists these bid and billing types: oCPM (optimised cost per thousand), CPC (cost per click), CPM (cost per thousand) and CPV (cost per view). Its bidding strategies are “Target cost per result”, which keeps your average cost per result at or below the amount you set, and “Maximum results”, which uses your budget to get the most results it can. Names change over time, so check the current help page.
What the benchmarks say
These figures come from vendor samples, not from TikTok itself, and they disagree. Read them as a range.
| Metric | Focus Digital | Triple Whale via Influee |
|---|---|---|
| Period | Aug 2025 to Jul 2026 (vs prior 12 months) | Jan to Dec 2025 (vs 2024) |
| Sample | 5,900 brands | Not stated |
| Median CPM | $4.08 (was $5.71) | $13.26 platform-wide (2024: $11.43) |
| CTR | 0.61% (was 0.70%) | 1.77% on all clicks; link CTR 0.5% to 0.7% |
| Conversion rate | 1.56% (was 2.46%) | 2.01% |
| Cost per purchase | $17.07 (was $24.86) | $32.74 |
| ROAS | 1.51 (was 1.43) | 2.21 |
Sources: Focus Digital and Influee (Triple Whale data). Lebesgue’s ecommerce dataset reports a CPM of $4.80, CTR 0.61% and conversion rate 1.92%.
Why the CPMs differ. Triple Whale’s platform-wide CPM of $13.26 is much higher than its own industry medians, which range from about $4.24 to $5.34 for the industries listed. The page does not explain the gap, so we would not call $13.26 typical.
TikTok vs Meta on cost
In the same October 2025 comparison, TikTok was cheaper to reach people but not to get a link click:
Cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM): TikTok vs Meta
US dollars, October 2025 (Focus Digital; sample size not stated)
Source: Focus Digital, published 8 October 2026. The page mixes medians and averages, so treat it as a rough guide.
View as table
| Item | TikTok | Meta |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per 1,000 impressions | $4.67 | $8.17 |
Cost per link click: TikTok vs Meta
US dollars, October 2025 (Focus Digital)
Source: Focus Digital, as above. TikTok CPMs are lower, but a link click cost more on TikTok than on Meta in this sample.
View as table
| Item | TikTok | Meta |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per link click | $0.49 | $0.37 |
Cost per sale by industry
For online stores the number to watch is cost per purchase. Triple Whale’s 2025 medians by industry:
Median cost per purchase by industry on TikTok
US dollars, 2025 (Triple Whale data, republished by Influee)
Source: Influee, citing Triple Whale, published 22 July 2026. Sample size and currency not stated.
View as table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Pets and animals | $13.46 |
| Health and wellness | $16.87 |
| Beauty | $18.82 |
| Apparel and accessories | $21.85 |
| Electronics | $31.25 |
For service businesses, Focus Digital reports 2025 median click costs of about $1.04 for professional services and $1.22 for utility software, with click-through rates of 0.40% and 0.34%.
What about Australia?
No Australian benchmark. We could not find a TikTok cost benchmark for Australia from a named source. All figures here are global or US-dollar samples. Convert at the current exchange rate and track your own numbers from the first week.
Compare TikTok with your other channels using the same break-even. See what is a good ROAS and our Meta ads cost guide.
How to set a safe test budget
- Work out your break-even firstBreak-even ROAS is 1 divided by your gross margin.
- Start at the platform minimum for one ad groupAbout $20 a day, and give it time to leave the learning phase.
- Test creative before audiencesTry several short videos. Spark Ads, TikTok’s native format that uses organic posts, are a common way to start.
- Track purchases properlyMake sure your pixel and events work. See our server-side tracking guide.
- Judge on cost per sale, not viewsCheap impressions do not pay the bills.
We run TikTok and Meta ads for stores in Australia and the USA. See our Meta and TikTok ads page.
Sources
- TikTok Ads help: budget
- TikTok Ads help: bidding strategies
- TikTok Ads help: Spark Ads
- Focus Digital: average TikTok ads CTR and CPM by industry
- Influee: TikTok ads benchmarks (Triple Whale data)
- Lebesgue: TikTok ads benchmarks
Questions answered
What is the minimum budget for TikTok ads?
TikTok’s help page says a daily campaign budget must exceed $50 and a daily ad group budget must exceed $20. For a lifetime ad group budget the minimum is the number of days times the daily minimum. The page does not name the currency.
How much does a TikTok click cost?
It depends on the sample. Focus Digital reported a cost per link click of $0.49 for TikTok in October 2025, and 2025 median click costs of about $1.04 for professional services. We found no Australian figure.
Are TikTok ads cheaper than Facebook ads?
Per 1,000 impressions, yes in one October 2025 comparison ($4.67 vs $8.17). Per link click, Meta was cheaper in the same data ($0.37 vs $0.49). What matters is cost per sale for your business.
What is a Spark Ad?
TikTok describes Spark Ads as a native ad format that lets you use organic TikTok posts and their features in your advertising.
Why do benchmark sources disagree so much?
They use different samples, periods and definitions, and some mix medians with averages. Treat benchmarks as a range and track your own results.
Limon Ghosh runs MindfulClicks from Sydney and manages paid ads, tracking and Claude AI automation for online stores and B2B companies in Australia and the USA.
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