CBO vs ABO – Which One Should You Use for Meta Ads?

29 Jul CBO vs ABO – Which One Should You Use for Meta Ads?

Posted at 10:25h in Uncategorized by

 

CBO vs ABO – Which One Should You Use for Meta Ads?

Let’s settle this once and for all.

Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) or Ad Set Budget Optimization (ABO) — which one should you use?

Honestly, this has been one of the most debated questions in Meta advertising for years. If you’ve been running ads for a while, you’ve probably gone through this dilemma too.

And if you ask me?
It depends. Both work. That’s why Meta still gives us both options. If one was clearly better, the other would’ve been gone by now.

So instead of asking which one is “better,” let’s look at how each works, and when you should use which — so you can make smarter, more strategic decisions with your ad budget.

Want more Meta ads strategies? Watch these free Meta ads strategy trainings.

 

What Is Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO)?

With CBO, you set your budget at the campaign level. Meta then decides how much to allocate to each ad set — depending on which one it thinks will perform better.

Think of it this way:
You’ve got one campaign with multiple ad sets — maybe one targets Instagram, one targets Facebook, another targets a specific age group or city.
With CBO on, you’re basically saying:

“Here you go Meta, take the wheel. You decide which ad set gets how much.”

But here’s the problem.
More often than not, Meta ends up pushing more budget into the wrong ad sets — ones with higher CPMs, lower CTRs, and worse cost per result.

So yeah, CBO can work. But you’ve got to be okay with giving up control.

 

What Is Ad Set Budget Optimization (ABO)?

Now with ABO, you set the budget at the ad set level.
So if you’ve got 3 different audiences you want to test, and you want each one to get exactly $10/day — ABO is what you need.

You’re in full control. You decide what gets spent where. And if something’s underperforming, you scale it down or turn it off manually.

This is especially useful when you’re:

  • Testing new audiences
  • Comparing placements (like FB vs IG)
  • Wanting to ensure each variation gets a fair shot

 

So… Which One Should You Use?

Here’s how I break it down with my coaching clients:

 

Use ABO when:

  • You want control
  • You’re testing different audiences or creatives
  • You want to make sure each ad set gets a fair budget

 

Use CBO when:

  • You’ve already validated what works
  • You’re scaling winners
  • You don’t want to micro-manage budgets every day

But don’t overthink it.

Start with ABO, get your data, then scale with CBO if you’re happy to let Meta decide from there.

That’s it. Simple.

 

Struggling to identify which part of your campaign is broken? This is exactly what I help clients fix in my Meta ads audit calls. Book a 30-min strategy call here and I’ll walk you through your own campaigns step by step.

One More Thing…

If you’re running Advantage+ campaigns, you already know — there’s zero control there. You just dump in 20–30 creatives and let Meta go crazy.

And guess what? Sometimes it actually works!

So again, it all depends on what you’re trying to achieve. But if control matters to you, then ABO is your go-to.

 

Prefer Watching Instead?

This post is based on a YouTube video I put together for Meta advertisers like you.
If you prefer watching, click the link below to check it out:

Watch the full video on YouTube

 

Want Me to Review Your Campaign?

If you’re tired of guessing and wasting money on Meta ads that don’t convert, I offer 1-on-1 coaching to help you:

  • Fix your structure (CBO? ABO? Let’s find out)
  • Optimize your targeting
  • Scale your ads sustainably

Just book a 20-minute session here. I’ll look at your setup and tell you straight what to tweak.