Can You Run Ads On TikTok Without A Business Account?​ Complete Answer 2025

With over a billion monthly active users worldwide, TikTok has become one of the most powerful advertising platforms in the world. TikTok has unmatched engagement rates, and the popularity of TikTok has led to an increasing number of brands, creators, and even small business owners who are constantly looking for ways to boost their brand awareness as well as their revenues through TikTok Ads. However, there has always been one common question that still exists and makes many creators, as well as small business owners to ponder: Can you run ads on TikTok without a business account?. In this comprehensive guide, we will help you clarify that question. Let’s break it down!

Can You Run Ads On TikTok Without A Business Account?

Before we start the journey to explore the answer to our main question: Can you run ads on TikTok without a business account? Let’s take a quick look at the foundational understanding of TikTok ads first!

What are TikTok Ads?

TikTok Ads are paid advertisements created by businesses and creators with the aim of promoting their products, services, or brands to TikTok’s vast user base. These advertisements typically appear in users’ feeds and blend perfectly with TikTok’s organic content.

TikTok Ads provide an opportunity to reach a highly engaged audience, boost brand awareness, drive website traffic, and increase sales. With TikTok’s advanced targeting options, you can ensure your ads reach the right people at the right time. For more useful information related to TikTok Ads and TikTok ad accounts, don’t hesitate to check out our dedicated blog: What is A TikTok Ad Account? A Complete Guide for Businesses 2025 to explore more!

What Are The Benefits of Advertising on TikTok?

As one of the most powerful advertising platforms for social media marketers, the ability to customize your target audience, craft engaging campaigns to connect with desired audiences makes TikTok a great platform to reach new potential customers. Now we’ll go through the advantages and reasons why it is beneficial.

• Massive and Engaged Audience: TikTok has over 1 billion active users globally, with highly engaged audience rates that are higher than many other social platforms.
• Superior Reach with Younger Demographics: TikTok is now dominated by Gen Z and Millennials. Thus, if your target market includes younger consumers, TikTok provides unparalleled access to this demographic.
• Strong Creative Tools: TikTok provides a kit of creative tools, templates, and a Creative Center to help advertisers develop their ads.
• Advanced Targeting Options: TikTok offers robust targeting capabilities to help advertisers reach the right people at the right time.
• Diverse Ad Formats: TikTok provides multiple advertising format options like In-feed ads, top view ads,  Branded Hashtag Challenges, Branded Effects, and Spark Ads for diverse purposes of advertisers.
• Viral Potential: A well-set-up ad campaign has the potential to go viral, thanks to the algorithm of TikTok can boost your content to millions of viewers rapidly.
• Cost-Effective Options: TikTok offers accessible entry points for smaller businesses, with self-serve ad options that can fit various budget levels.

In short, as one of the most powerful advertising platforms, TikTok offers a lot of benefits for social marketing advertisers if you decide to advertise on this platform.

Do You Need A TikTok Business Account To Run Ads?

Unfortunately, you CAN NOT run ads on TikTok without a business account. TikTok accounts have been divided into two types: personal accounts and business accounts.

• Personal accounts are the default account type you get when you sign up on the platform for the first time.
• Business accounts are packed with management tools and features to help brands manage their TikTok activity.

You cannot run ads on TikTok without creating a TikTok Ads Manager account, which requires business information and a payment method, even if you use a personal account. Though personal accounts have access to many of the same features as business accounts, like filters, effects, and sound libraries, users still cannot run ads on their personal accounts because they do not have access to TikTok Ads Manager. TikTok Ads Manager is only open for Business accounts to access and run ads.

How To Set Up A TikTok Business Account?

As a leading digital marketing agency that successfully serves hundreds of international brands, in this section, GDT Agency will provide a detailed guide on how to set up a TikTok ads business account to help you create and set up a new TikTok business account.

• Go to the TikTok for Business Site: You need to open your web browser and navigate to the TikTok Ads Manager Sign Up Page to create your account.
• Create a Login: Create a new account by using your business email or your phone number and set up your password.
• Complete Business Details: Next, you need to provide basic information about your business, like country or region (to ensure you comply with local regulations), industry, legal business name (used for verification), timezone, phone number, and currency.
• Set Up Billing: Choose your payment method, selecting between automatic or manual payments, and provide the necessary billing information.
• Choose a Mode: Select either Custom Mode for more advanced targeting options and flexibility, or Simplified Mode for more basic features.
• Register Your Account: Complete the remaining steps and click Register to finalize your TikTok Ads Manager account. 

Once your account is created, you can access the TikTok Ads Manager dashboard to start creating campaigns.

Alternative Methods to Running TikTok Ads Without Creating A Business Account  

It’s true that using a TikTok Business account that is connected to TikTok Ads Manager is the only way to help advertisers have full control, advanced targeting, and professional campaign analytics. However, there are 3 alternative ways to promote your content on TikTok without using a business account. Let’s explore!

Use TikTok’s “Promote” Feature on a Personal Account

If you’re using a personal (creator) account, TikTok allows you to boost your posts using the built-in “Promote” button. This process is similar to the Boost Post feature on Instagram. Though it’s not used for a full ad campaign, it seems to be a simple way to increase visibility.

All you need to do is go to one of your TikTok videos, then tap the three dots and click on Promote (fire icon). Then choose your goal, set your budget and duration, and use TikTok Coins or your local currency to pay for that.

Using A Custom Identity

Custom Identity is a feature within TikTok Ads Manager that lets you run ads using a dummy profile with a custom image and name, effectively creating “dark ads” without linking them to an existing organic account.

After creating a TikTok Ads Manager Account with the steps I have shown you above, you design your ad creative content. Just keep in mind one thing: instead of a live organic account when setting up your ad in the Ads Manager, choose the custom identity option to run it from a temporary, ad-specific profile.

Rent A TikTok Agency Account

For many marketers and creators, creating and verifying a new business account can be time-consuming or lead to restrictions. Therefore, they consider an optimized method that is renting a TikTok Agency Account. These accounts have the ability to access high-trust instantly with a lower risk of ad rejection or suspension. Besides, when you rent a TikTok agency account, you also have dedicated support for your campaign setup and compliance.

Conclusion

We hope that our article on Can you run ads on TikTok without a business account can solve the problem that has existed and makes many creators, as well as small business owners to ponder. 

If you have any questions or need additional help, feel free to contact our awesome support team. We are here to assist you!

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