Pace runs the same core pacing engine on Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Microsoft Ads, and TikTok Ads. What's identical everywhere is the safety model around the AI. What differs is the level Pace paces at, and how much finer control you can opt into.
The universal part: give Pace a monthly budget and it adjusts your budgets daily so the month lands on target. Every recommendation stays inside two bounds: a floor, so it never drops below the ad platform's own minimum daily spend, and a ceiling, so no single day burns a disproportionate share of the month. Overspend Protection runs every five minutes on all five platforms as a hard spending limit, separate from the pacing engine that sets your daily budgets. And a campaign without enough data holds steady, so a young campaign isn't starved while it learns. Those clamps are covered in how Pace decides what to change.
Knowing which level Pace works at on each platform tells you exactly what automation will and won't touch. That's handy whether you're auditing before you switch it on or explaining to a client why Meta behaves differently from Google.
Key terms
- CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization): one budget on the campaign, which the platform splits across ad sets or ad groups. Pace paces that single budget.
- ABO (Ad Set / Ad Group Budget Optimization): budgets sit on the individual ad sets on Meta Ads, or ad groups on TikTok Ads, not the campaign.
- Smart+: a TikTok Ads campaign type Pace paces through TikTok's dedicated Smart+ controls — set at the campaign level for Smart+ CBO, and spread evenly across ad groups for Smart+ ABO. It has no equivalent on the other platforms.
- Rails: a minimum and maximum daily budget you set on a single Meta Ads ad set, bounding how far Pace can move it.
What Pace paces on each platform
The table shows the level Pace paces at by default on each platform, plus the finer control you can opt into.
| Platform | What Pace paces by default | Optional finer control |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | Campaign daily budgets | — |
| Microsoft Ads | Campaign daily budgets | — |
| LinkedIn Ads | Campaign budgets, at the group level when Budget Optimization is on | — |
| Meta Ads | Campaign budgets (CBO); ABO isn't paced until you switch it on | Per-ad-set budgets, min/max rails, CPA/ROAS override (Pro+) |
| TikTok Ads | Campaign budgets (CBO and Smart+); ABO spread evenly across ad groups | Per-ad-group budgets replacing the even split (Pro+) |
Google Ads and Microsoft Ads pace at the campaign daily budget level, with no ad-group budget management. LinkedIn Ads paces at the campaign level too; when campaigns run under LinkedIn's campaign-group Budget Optimization, Pace detects it and writes one combined budget to the campaign group instead of to each campaign.
Note: Pace never writes below each platform's minimum: $1.56/day per ad set on Meta Ads, $10/day on LinkedIn Ads, and about US$50/day per campaign on TikTok Ads. Google Ads and Microsoft Ads minimums vary by account currency.
Common misconceptions
"Meta ABO and TikTok ABO behave the same by default." They don't. Leave the opt-in off, and a Meta Ads ABO campaign isn't paced at all — there's no campaign-level budget to move. A TikTok Ads ABO campaign is paced: Pace paces the whole campaign and spreads its total budget evenly across the ad groups.
"TikTok ad groups get the same rails as Meta ad sets." They don't. Meta ad-set management adds min/max rails and a per-ad-set CPA or ROAS target. TikTok ad-group management does one thing — pace each ad group on its own results instead of splitting evenly.
"The switch lives on the Budget tab." Both switches live under Account Settings → General, not the Budget tab. They read Manage ad set budgets (ABO campaigns) on Meta Ads and Manage ad group budgets (ABO campaigns) on TikTok Ads, and both need the Pro plan or above.
A worked example
Say you run Meta Ads and TikTok Ads side by side, each with one CBO campaign and one ABO campaign. On both platforms, Pace paces the CBO campaign's single budget straight away. The Meta ABO campaign sits untouched until you turn on ad-set management; the TikTok ABO campaign is already paced, with its budget fanned out evenly across ad groups.
Switch both opt-ins on. Now each active Meta ad set becomes its own budget unit — you can set it a minimum of $1.56 (Meta's ad-set floor), a maximum, and a CPA or ROAS target, edited from the campaign row's gear menu under Edit → Pace rules. Each TikTok ad group starts pacing on its own results in place of the even split. That applies to accounts run on a monthly budget. Accounts run instead on a fixed daily floor — a Pro mode built around a daily minimum rather than a monthly total — don't get TikTok ad-group management, and the daily floor keeps steering CBO and Smart+ at the campaign level.
To switch either opt-in on, start from the platform setup — connect Meta Ads or connect TikTok Ads — then open Account Settings → General. For the layers these controls sit in, read how budgets and pacing fit together.