Meta ad budget pacing: planned, expected, and projected spend

Compare spend to a manually selected daily pace without turning a projection into an automatic budget action.

Three budget views

Planned budget is daily budget × analysis days. Expected spend to date is daily budget × elapsed days. Projected spend extends the observed daily average across the full window.

Pacing ratio is actual spend divided by expected spend to date. The calculator flags ratios below 0.80 or above 1.20 as outside its product band.

A hypothetical pacing example

Hypothetical example: a USD 20 daily budget across seven days plans USD 140. After three days, expected spend is USD 60. If actual spend is USD 72, pace is 120% and projected spend is USD 168, or USD 28 above plan.

Projection is not control

A pacing projection helps an operator inspect delivery and assumptions. It does not change a budget, pause an ad, or predict final performance.