Verified 15 September 2026.
TikTok does not sell a fixed rate card. You pay what the auction clears. Planning bands for self-serve USD accounts in 2026:
- CPM: $4–$15. Most operators land $6–$9. Adcore cites ~$9.16 platform average vs Meta ~$14.91.
- CPC: $0.30–$1.50. Platform average sits near $1. Above $2, fix creative before you raise budget.
- CPV: $0.01–$0.07 for 2-second or 6-second views.
- CPA: wildly vertical. Triple Whale has cited ~$33 average. Treat that as a rumor until your pixel says otherwise.
The number that actually gates you is not CPM. It is the minimum budget.
Offer terms live on TikTok ads credit and TikTok ads coupon. This page is cost only.
Platform floors
USD self-serve Ads Manager, 2026:
| Level | Daily floor | Lifetime floor |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign | $50 / day | $50 total if you pick lifetime |
| Ad group | $20 / day | $20 × scheduled days |
A 31-day ad group at the floor needs about $620 in lifetime budget. That is why a “$200 test” cannot be one campaign running all month with three ad groups. The floors eat it.
Both floors apply at once. A $50 campaign with one $20 ad group launches. A $50 campaign with three $20 ad groups does not, unless you raise the campaign cap.
TopView, Branded Effects, and Hashtag Challenges are reservation products with five-figure minimums. They are not this page.
What a dollar buys (planning math)
Using a mid-band $8 CPM and $0.90 CPC:
| Daily budget | Est. impressions | Est. clicks | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| $20 (ad group min) | ~2,500 | ~22 | Below a useful purchase test |
| $50 (campaign min) | ~6,250 | ~56 | Bare launch |
| $100 | ~12,500 | ~111 | Real test cell |
| $300 | ~37,500 | ~333 | Scale on a winner |
| $500 | ~62,500 | ~556 | Scale |
$200 cash on the first coupon tier is four days at the campaign floor. That is enough to kill a dead hook. It is not enough to call a channel. If the unit needs a week of learning, plan the $500 or $1,000 tier before you open the account. Clock starts at registration: how to claim.
How the $6,000 match changes the price
The auction does not get cheaper. Your effective cost does, if you spend the returned credit before it expires.
| Cash you spend | Credit back | Total media | Effective $ per media $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| $200 | $200 | $400 | $0.50 |
| $1,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 | $0.50 |
| $6,000 | $6,000 | $12,000 | $0.50 |
| $5,900 | $4,000 | $9,900 | ~$0.60 |
Miss the next rung and the “50-cent dollar” disappears. Tax does not count toward the match. Load extra. Details: $6,000 credit.
Do not pause a profitable Meta account to “make CPM look cheap” on TikTok. Comparison: vs Meta.
Cost by format (directional)
| Format | Typical CPM band | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| In-Feed auction | $4–$10 | Default start |
| Spark Ads | $4–$10 | Often cheaper CPA when the post already has comments |
| TopView | Reservation, $50k+ | Not self-serve coupon territory |
| Branded Effect / Hashtag | $45k–$150k+ | Brand, not performance test |
Spark on a live organic post is usually the cheapest way to spend the match. Symphony-generated clips with no comments start colder. Use them as volume, not as the only cell: Symphony.
Geography
US / UK / AU sit at the high end of the CPM band. ID / TH / VN / PH often clear $1.50–$2.20 CPM on broad In-Feed. Same $50/$20 floors may display in local currency.
A $200 match in Vietnam is a different number of impressions than a $200 match in the US. Country list: credit countries. Vietnam page: TikTok ads Vietnam.
What inflates your CPM this week
- Narrow interest stacks on week-one accounts
- One polished brand film instead of five native cuts
- Learning-phase restarts every time you edit the ad group
- Bidding on conversions with a pixel that has 12 events
- Spending into a vertical that is already loud (finance, app subs)
Fix creative first. Creative Center is the research desk: Creative Center.
What the match does to effective cost
The coupon does not lower auction CPM. It adds a second pile of media after cash spend.
Example, $1,000 rung, $8 CPM:
- Cash: $1,000 → ~125,000 impressions
- Credit later: $1,000 → another ~125,000 if CPM holds
- Effective cost of the combined 250,000: $4 CPM — only if you actually spend the credit before it expires
A $6,000 rung at the same CPM is ~1.5 million impressions for $6,000 cash if you spend both halves. Miss the credit (empty Promotions, freeze, expiry) and you paid full freight. $6,000 credit.
Tax and the $50/$20 floors still apply. A $200 test is four days of $50 campaigns, not a $10/day experiment.