Starting with Meta ads is exciting. You have your creative ready, know your audience, and are set to launch. But now you need to decide: daily budget or lifetime budget?

This choice is more than a simple setting; it is a key decision that affects your ad budget, campaign results, and how easily you can make changes. Picking the right option can turn a good campaign into a great one.

Let’s look at the differences to help you spend your marketing money smartly.

Analogy: It’s like having a daily coffee budget of $5. You might spend $6 one day to get a larger size, but you’ll balance it by spending just $4 the next.

A Daily Budget is Best For:

• Ongoing, “Always-On” Campaigns: If you have an evergreen campaign that runs continuously without a set end date, a daily budget provides steady, predictable spending.
• Stable Daily Spending: If you need to ensure your costs remain relatively consistent day-to-day for accounting or planning purposes.
• Simplicity: It’s straightforward to set up and monitor for campaigns where you want consistent daily visibility.

The Lifetime Budget: The Strategic and Flexible Powerhouse

A lifetime budget is the total amount you’re willing to spend over the entire duration of an ad set or campaign. Once you set it, Meta promises you won’t be charged more than that total amount.

The magic of a lifetime budget lies in its flexibility. Instead of trying to spend a similar amount each day, Meta’s algorithm will automatically spend more on days when it sees the best opportunities to get you results (like weekends for an e-commerce brand or weekdays for a B2B service). On slower days, it will spend less.

This intelligent spending is designed to maximize your campaign’s performance and keep your overall costs as low as possible.

Analogy: It’s like a monthly grocery budget. You might spend more one week to stock up on deals, and less the next, but you won’t exceed your total budget for the month.

A Lifetime Budget is Best For:

• Campaigns with a Fixed End Date: Perfect for promotions, holiday sales, event registrations, or any campaign that has a clear start and end.
• Maximizing Results: When your main goal is to get the most conversions or actions possible for your total budget, regardless of daily spending fluctuations.
• Using Ad Scheduling: If you want your ads to run only on specific days or at certain times (e.g., only during business hours), you must use a lifetime budget.

At a Glance: Daily vs. Lifetime Budget

Feature	Daily Budget	Lifetime Budget
Spending Pace	Spends an average amount each day.	Spends more on high-opportunity days, less on others.
Control	Provides predictable day-to-day spending control.	Provides control over the total campaign spend.
Flexibility	Less flexible; the ad delivery system is more restricted.	More flexible; allows Meta to optimize for the best results over time.
Ad Scheduling	Not available.	Available. You can schedule ads to run at specific times.