What Reddit ads cost: bidding, budgets and billing

This guide is built from Reddit Ads Help: Budgets and Bidding, Campaign Objectives, About Billing and Payment, Set Up Payment and Tax ID Collection. Setting up the account and campaigns is in our Reddit ads for small businesses guide.

Why there is no fixed price

Reddit says "Reddit Ads is an auction-based ads platform where your ads compete against others to reach users." Your bid, targeting and ad creative decide how well you do in each auction. On top of that, your objective, optimisation goal and bidding strategy decide which results Reddit chases and which actions you are billed for. That is why the same budget can buy very different results for two advertisers, and why any "average Reddit CPC" you read elsewhere says little about your own campaign.

Creating a Reddit Ads account is free; you pay only for ad delivery. Reddit also doesn't guarantee that you'll spend your whole budget: depending on auction performance, an ad group may under-deliver.

What you pay for, by objective

The campaign objective "determines how you'll be charged". From Reddit's objectives page:

• Awareness and consideration: impressions (CPM, cost per thousand impressions) or 6-second or 15-second video views (CPV, cost per view).
• Traffic: clicks (CPC) or Landing Page Visits (charged by CPM).
• Sales, lead generation and app promotion: optimised CPM (oCPM) with lowest cost or target cost bidding, or CPC with cost cap.

Reddit's budgets page gives a traffic example: "you're billed for impressions (oCPM) if you choose lowest cost, or for clicks (CPC) if you choose cost cap." It also notes that actions occurring within two hours of the ad being placed are billed.

Bidding strategies

Reddit offers three automated strategies and recommends them over manual bidding where available:

• Lowest cost: the default for every objective. You don't enter a bid; Reddit tries to get as many results as possible for your budget. Use it when you want volume and are happy to spend the budget in full.
• Cost cap: Reddit adjusts bids to get as many results as possible while keeping the average cost (CPM, CPV or CPC, depending on the objective) at or below your cap. If the cap is too aggressive, you may not spend your budget. Reddit notes that "Starting February 10, 2027, cost cap will no longer be available" for sales, app promotion and lead generation.
• Target cost (beta): for lower-funnel objectives. You set a target average cost per conversion or app event, and Reddit adjusts bids over time to meet it. It isn't a guarantee. Sales and lead generation need at least 200 events in the last 28 days to be eligible, and app promotion at least 120.

Manual bidding is available for ad groups in any objective and sets one bid amount for every auction. Max campaigns take bidding out of your hands: Reddit says budget and bids "are automatically allocated and adjusted to minimize cost-per-action (CPA)".

Budgets and spend caps

• Campaign budget optimisation (CBO): you set one budget for the campaign and Reddit moves spend between ad groups based on performance. With CBO off, each ad group has its own budget. CBO is available for every objective except sales with a catalog.
• Daily budget: the most you want to spend each day the ad group runs.
• Lifetime budget: the most you want to spend between the start and end dates.
• Campaign spend cap (optional): the most the campaign can spend over its lifetime. Reddit says "Campaigns are never billed more than this amount." It doesn't change ad group pacing, so set budgets and bids that fit inside it.

Two things to know. Because delivery runs on live auctions, "your ad group may overspend its budget by up to 20%" on a given day. And budget changes can take up to 60 minutes to take effect.

How much to budget

The Reddit help pages we used don't state a general minimum daily budget. They do give a few figures that help you plan:

• For a first sales campaign with a product catalog, Reddit's campaign setup page recommends "At least $100/day for Purchase events", with lowest cost bidding and a 60/40 split between prospecting and retargeting.
• Target cost needs 200 conversion events in 28 days (120 for app promotion), which is a volume a small budget may not reach.
• For Max campaigns on a small budget, Reddit advises custom audience inclusions of 10,000 people or more.

In practice, work back from your cost per result: a budget has to buy enough clicks or conversions each week for the bidding to learn and for you to judge the results. Our Pinterest ads cost guide covers the same question on Pinterest.

Payment methods

Reddit accepts credit cards, debit cards, insertion orders and credit lines. It doesn't accept prepaid debit cards, PayPal, bitcoin, checks or wire transfers. You add a card under Ads, Account, Billing; the card is charged an authorisation fee, and Reddit says to contact support if it isn't removed within a week. Your ads won't run without at least one payment method.

Billing threshold and receipts

Once ads run, Reddit charges your card automatically. Your billing threshold starts at a small amount and rises as you make successful payments. You are charged:

• the first time your balance ever reaches the threshold (only with no payment history);
• once a day if your balance is over the threshold;
• at the end of the month for any outstanding balance;
• when you reach your credit limit, or when you pay manually.

You can see your threshold in Ads, Account, Billing, and contact support to lower it. Every payment creates its own receipt, downloadable from Transaction History. Ad credits Reddit issues are used before your card is charged and show on receipts as promotional credits; they can't cover costs from before they were issued.

Monthly invoicing

Eligible advertisers can be invoiced monthly instead. Reddit extends a credit line to the business, which acts as the credit limit for its ad accounts, and invoices are due 30 days from the issue date. The credit line's currency must match the ad account's, and by default each active ad account gets its own invoice. Monthly invoicing is arranged through a Reddit Ads expert.

Taxes and tax IDs

Reddit says you "may be required to pay sales, value-added, or similar taxes", and it needs your tax registration ID to collect them where local law requires. If you aren't a registered business or not in a VAT country, you don't need a VAT ID. Card-paying advertisers add it under Billing; invoiced advertisers ask their account manager. Reddit's page lists the ID format for each country.

How we budget Reddit campaigns

This is our own practice, not Reddit's guidance:

• We start with lowest cost bidding and a daily budget, and only add a cost cap or target cost once we know the real cost per result.
• We set a campaign spend cap on every test campaign, so a 20% overspend day can't add up.
• We judge results after the learning period, not in the first days.
• We add the client's tax ID before launch, so receipts are right from the first charge.

If you want help planning a Reddit or other paid social budget, see our services.

Frequently asked questions

How much do Reddit ads cost?

There is no fixed price. Reddit ads are sold in an auction, and cost depends on your objective, bidding strategy, budget, targeting and creative. You set the daily or lifetime budget and can cap total campaign spend.

Does Reddit charge per click or per impression?

It depends on the objective and bidding. Traffic campaigns can pay per click; awareness pays per thousand impressions or per video view; sales, leads and app campaigns pay oCPM with lowest cost or target cost, or CPC with cost cap.

Can Reddit spend more than my budget?

An ad group may overspend its budget by up to 20% on a day, because of live auctions. A campaign is never billed more than its campaign spend cap.

When does Reddit charge my card?

When your balance reaches your billing threshold, once a day while it's over the threshold, and at the end of each month for any remaining balance.

Can I pay for Reddit ads with PayPal?

No. Reddit accepts credit and debit cards, insertion orders and credit lines, but not prepaid debit cards, PayPal, bitcoin, checks or wire transfers.

For bidding on other platforms, see our guides to TikTok ads bidding, LinkedIn ads bidding and Snapchat ads cost, and for Reddit creative, our Reddit ad specs guide.