# What are Advantage+ placements?

> Advantage+ placements let Meta choose where your ad shows across Facebook, Instagram and more. How it works, a cost example and when to pick placements yourself.
- **Author**: Marxx
- **Published**: 2026-11-11
- **Category**: Meta
- **URL**: https://marxx.ai/library-glossary/advantage-plus-placements

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Advantage+ placements is a Meta setting that lets Meta decide where your ad shows, instead of you ticking each place by hand. Meta lists Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Audience Network and Threads as the places it can use ([Meta Help Center](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/196554084569964), checked 2026-10-20).

## How it works

Meta looks at every chance to show your ad and buys the cheapest ones for your goal. It aims for the lowest cost across all placements together, not inside each one. Meta recommends Advantage+ placements when you use the highest volume bid strategy ([Meta Help Center](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/965529646866485), checked 2026-10-20).

Meta also says adding more placements does not raise the cost of your ad ([Meta Help Center](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/407108559393196), checked 2026-10-20). In one Meta experiment ([source](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/196554084569964), checked 2026-10-20), ad sets with Advantage+ placements had an 11.7% lower [cost per action](/glossary/cpa) on average than ad sets with manual placements. That is Meta's own test, so check your own results.

## A worked example

Say you have INR 2,700 to spend. Meta can buy these purchases (made-up prices):

| Placement | Chances | Cost each |
|---|---|---|
| Audience Network | 3 | INR 100 |
| Facebook | 3 | INR 300 |
| Instagram | 3 | INR 500 |
| Audience Network | 2 | INR 700 |

- **All placements on:** Meta buys the 3 at INR 100, the 3 at INR 300 and the 3 at INR 500. That is 9 purchases for INR 2,700, or INR 300 each.
- **Instagram off:** Instagram has the highest average cost, so you switch it off. Meta buys the 3 at INR 100, the 3 at INR 300, then the 2 at INR 700. That is 8 purchases for INR 2,600, or INR 325 each.

Instagram looked dear at INR 500, yet it beat the next best chance. A high average cost is not always a waste.

## When to pick placements yourself

- Your brand rules allow only some places. Meta applies account controls even with Advantage+ on.
- Your creative fits one shape only, such as a 9:16 video. See [ad aspect ratios](/glossary/aspect-ratio-for-ads).
- You want to leave out [Audience Network](/glossary/audience-network), which shows ads inside other companies' apps.

How you exclude a place depends on your campaign goal (checked 2026-10-20). For Awareness and Traffic, open the ad set's Placements section, hover over Advantage+ placements, click Edit and choose Manual placements. For Engagement, Leads, App promotion and Sales, Meta is rolling out a change so you no longer choose placements in the ad set. You set account-level exclusions in Account controls instead ([Meta Help Center](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1546753450586085)).

Meta says excluding a placement in an ad set turns Advantage+ off ([Meta Help Center](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/175741192481247)). Its "Allow limited spend to excluded placements" option can still send around 5% of budget to each excluded place when Meta expects it to help ([Meta Help Center](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1462437878221374)).

If one video must fit several placements, Marxx's [video editor](/features/ai-video-editor) reframes it for another placement in one request. We make Marxx.

## FAQ

### Is Advantage+ placements the same as automatic placements?

People still say automatic placements for the same idea. Meta's help pages say Advantage+ placements.

### Should I leave it on?

Meta recommends it. Turn it off only for a clear reason, then compare your cost per result before and after.

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