How to advertise on ChatGPT: Ads Manager, partners, prices and rules

Who sees ChatGPT ads

Ads appear only on the Free and Go plans. In OpenAI's words: "Plus, Pro, and Enterprise subscriptions will remain ad-free." When the test began in the US on 9 February 2026, OpenAI said it was "for logged-in adult users on the Free and Go subscription tiers". It said then that it would not show ads to accounts where "the user tells us or we predict that they are under 18".

OpenAI says ChatGPT has more than 1.2 billion weekly users. Paying subscribers on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education see no ads.

Where ChatGPT ads run

How to start: Ads Manager or a partner

Ads Manager. OpenAI's self-serve tool, where 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." It opened as a beta in May 2026, reached Europe on 31 August, and is the route OpenAI names for the 26 countries added on 21 October. Sign up at ads.openai.com.

A partner. OpenAI sells through agency partners (it names Dentsu, Havas Media, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP) and technology partners (Adobe, Criteo, Kargo, Pacvue and StackAdapt). Partners help with budgets, bids and ad creative. OpenAI's ads system still decides where and when an ad shows.

OpenAI's own team. You can also buy through the OpenAI Ads Solutions team.

How you pay

You can bid in two ways:

• CPM: a price per thousand times your ad is shown. This was the only way to buy in the first phase.
• CPC: a price per click, added in May 2026. OpenAI says advertisers "are only charged based on a click outcome."

By August 2026 OpenAI had also added conversion optimization, geo-targeting and custom audiences. Its advertising terms say OpenAI charges the payment method on your account, or invoices you where invoicing is on, and that late fees can carry "a finance charge of 1.5% of the unpaid balance per month." The pages we read give no minimum budget and no list price: you set the budget and the bids.

How ads are matched and measured

ChatGPT picks an ad by "matching ads submitted by advertisers with the topic of your conversation, your past chats, and past interactions with ads," OpenAI wrote when the test began. Ads are "clearly labeled as sponsored and visually separated from the organic answer," and OpenAI says advertising "does not influence the answers ChatGPT provides."

To measure results you can use OpenAI's pixel and its Conversions API, which report what people do after they see your ad, such as a purchase or a sign-up. OpenAI also works with attribution companies including AppsFlyer, Triple Whale, Adjust, Northbeam and Branch. On 5 October 2026 OpenAI said a new image ad format, shown while people create images, would start testing in the US later that month.

What you may advertise

OpenAI's ad policies (updated 10 September 2026) say ads are "primarily limited to consumer verticals such as lifestyle and household goods, local services, travel and experiences, and digital products or education." Financial services, healthcare and legal services are approved case by case.

The rules cover the whole ad: its copy, its images and its landing page. Ads also do not show next to conversations about topics such as health, politics or self-harm.

What advertisers never see

OpenAI says: "Advertisers do not have access to your chats, chat history, memories, or personal details." Advertisers get only "aggregate information about how their ads perform such as number of views or clicks." People can dismiss ads, see why they were shown one, delete their ad data and turn off ad personalization.

Before you start

• Check your product is in an allowed category and your country is one of the 89.
• Decide whether you buy yourself in Ads Manager or through a partner.
• Pick CPM or CPC, and set up the pixel or the Conversions API before the first campaign, so you can see what the clicks bring.
• Ads are not the only way to show up in ChatGPT. Answers are free of ads, and being named in them is a separate job: see how to rank in ChatGPT, and the AI visibility tools that track it.
• ChatGPT is not the only AI answer that carries ads. See how to advertise in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode and how to advertise in Microsoft Copilot. Perplexity sells no ads publicly.

Sources

Every page below is OpenAI's own, checked on 23 October 2026. The date after each is the one the page carries.

1. OpenAI, ChatGPT Ads expands to 26 new countries, 21 October 2026 openai.com
2. OpenAI, Building advertising for the way people use AI, 5 October 2026 openai.com
3. OpenAI, ChatGPT Ads expands to Southeast Asia and Taiwan, 23 September 2026 openai.com
4. OpenAI, Ad policies, updated 10 September 2026 openai.com
5. OpenAI, A milestone in expanding access to AI, 31 August 2026 openai.com
6. OpenAI, Advertising terms, updated 25 August 2026 openai.com
7. OpenAI, ChatGPT Ads expands across Europe, 18 August 2026 openai.com
8. OpenAI, Testing ads in ChatGPT, 9 February 2026, updated 11 August 2026 openai.com
9. OpenAI, New ways to buy ChatGPT ads, 5 May 2026 openai.com
10. OpenAI Ads Manager ads.openai.com