Best Tools for ChatGPT Ads in 2026

1. OpenAI's Own Ads Manager (Direct)

The most direct route is ads.openai.com, OpenAI's self-serve platform. As of May 5, 2026, it's open to all US advertisers with no minimum spend requirement — a sharp reversal from the $250,000 pilot minimum it launched with in February. CPC bidding currently runs roughly $2–$8, and pricing has been on a downward trend since launch: the original $60 CPM has compressed to around $25 in the nine weeks after launch, and the spend minimum fell from $250,000 to $50,000 in April before dropping to zero entirely in May.

The appeal of going direct is control: you're inside OpenAI's own targeting and reporting tools, with no intermediary markup. The real limitation is measurement — conversion tracking is still in limited beta, and OpenAI's own reporting tool is widely acknowledged to be incomplete. Early ROI data reflects that gap: click-through rates have been reported around 0.91%, well below Google's roughly 6.4% benchmark, though Criteo data on the same campaigns shows LLM-referred users converting at 1.5× the rate of other channels — which suggests the audience quality is strong even where the platform's own measurement tooling isn't yet mature. For the full breakdown of what's actually driving those numbers, see Thrad's ChatGPT Ads ROI analysis.

2. Agency / Holding Company Routes

For brands that would rather not run campaigns themselves, OpenAI's enterprise motion routes primarily through a small set of holding companies: Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP. This path makes the most sense for advertisers already spending through one of these agencies on other channels and who want ChatGPT ads folded into an existing relationship and reporting cadence, rather than standing up a new vendor.

The tradeoff is that you inherit that agency's pricing, minimums, and pace — enterprise deals through this route have historically started around $50,000 and sat behind a discretionary waitlist, which is a very different commitment than the zero-minimum self-serve tier. It's the right call when the relationship and reporting integration matter more than speed or cost.

3. Official Ad-Tech Partners

Sitting between the direct and agency paths, OpenAI also routes ChatGPT ad spend through a set of named ad-tech partners: Criteo, StackAdapt, Kargo, and Pacvue. Criteo in particular has reduced its ChatGPT campaign spending minimum to $10,000 — meaningfully more accessible than the enterprise agency tier, while still offering managed support and optimization rather than fully self-serve tooling.

This tier tends to fit mid-market advertisers who want a partner handling strategy and execution without the overhead of a full holding-company relationship. It's also worth noting as a category to watch: as these partners compete for the same mid-market budget, minimums are likely to keep compressing the way OpenAI's own self-serve minimum did earlier in 2026. For a fuller pricing picture across every tier, see what ChatGPT ads actually cost in 2026.

4. Independent Cross-Surface Networks

The fourth path doesn't route through OpenAI at all. A separate category of independent ad networks connects advertisers to ChatGPT alongside other AI surfaces — Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and a growing list of AI apps — from a single integration. Real options here include Thrad (self-serve with no spend minimum, or a managed service, spanning multiple AI apps and assistants), Surfacedd (its own SDK-based network across AI apps), and Nex.ad, whose Soku AI product is a self-serve, free-to-start autonomous ad agent spanning Google, Meta, TikTok, and ChatGPT Ads.

The appeal of this tier is reach beyond any single assistant — useful given how much of the AI conversation market sits outside ChatGPT specifically and is only growing. The tradeoff is that you're buying through a third party's targeting, creative, and reporting layer instead of OpenAI's own, so due diligence on measurement transparency matters more here than in the direct-access tier.

How to Choose

In practice, the decision usually comes down to three questions: how much budget you're starting with, how much of the work you want to own versus hand off, and whether ChatGPT alone is enough or you need reach across multiple AI surfaces. A team with in-house media buyers and a modest budget is usually best served going direct. A brand already spending six or seven figures through Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis, or WPP should fold ChatGPT in through that existing relationship rather than adding a new vendor. Mid-market advertisers who want managed support without enterprise minimums fit best with Criteo or one of the other named ad-tech partners. And anyone who wants their ChatGPT strategy to be one piece of a broader AI-advertising plan — rather than a single-platform bet — is the target user for an independent network like Thrad.

What's Likely to Change Next

Whichever tool you pick today, it's worth planning for this list to keep shifting. Minimums have compressed at every tier since February 2026 — OpenAI's own self-serve minimum went from $250,000 to zero in three months, and Criteo's enterprise minimum has followed the same direction — so the ad-tech-partner tier will likely keep getting more accessible to smaller advertisers over the next few quarters. On the product side, OpenAI has already shipped product feed ads and custom audience targeting in 2026, with multi-turn conversation retargeting — reaching users who had a relevant conversation but didn't convert — targeted for Q4 2026, and voice-enabled ad experiences expected by late 2026. Both would meaningfully change what "best tool" means for performance-focused advertisers, since retargeting and voice are exactly the capabilities self-serve direct access is best positioned to take advantage of first.

For a deeper look at how ChatGPT ads specifically work — targeting, formats, and the roadmap — see the full ChatGPT Ads guide. If cross-surface reach is what you're after, Thrad's self-serve platform has no spend minimum to start.