Why Is My Instagram Ad Not Spending? How To Check & Fix It In 2025

With over 2 billion monthly active users, Instagram has evolved into a top advertising platform. More and more businesses leverage Instagram ads to promote their products/services and drive online sales. However, when setting up campaigns, many encounter a frustrating issue: ads are not spending. So, why is my Instagram ad not spending? How to check and fix this error effectively? Let’s find out with GDT Agency.

What Does Instagram Ad Not Spending Budget Meaning?

Not spending is a term used in Instagram ads when an ad campaign cannot use up its allocated budget. In the worst cases, it may even get $0 spent. This significantly prevents a business from reaching its revenue goals.

Example: Company A runs Instagram ads with a daily budget of $5 per day. They work stably and spend to budget. However, after scaling the budget to $50 per day, ads perform worse and spend only about $20 per day. 

Instagram ads not spending budget can directly hurt business results. It’s urgent to solve this problem, especially when you need to expand online sales or have too much inventory.

Thus, read on to identify the culprit behind it and learn how to fix it timely.

Why Is My Instagram Ad Not Spending? Causes And Solutions (2025)

The not spending status has been an actual concern among businesses that run Instagram ads. To combat this issue, let’s answer the question: why is my Instagram ad not spending?

Instagram re-reviews ads randomly

This has become a common cause since Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, periodically examines ads and accounts 2-3 times a year.

In April 2022, multiple business accounts, ad accounts, and pages were flagged down by Meta due to these random reviews, even without a notification of policy violations.

That’s why you need to keep yourself updated with the latest information about Instagram and Meta ads from advertising communities and blogs. You should also monitor your ads regularly to prevent your ad account disabled on Instagram.

→ Solution: Businesses should have several Instagram accounts and Meta ad accounts for backup to ensure seamless and stable campaigns.

There’s a time zone gap

If you schedule ads to a specific time and they don’t start running and spending, check your ad account time zone. Probably you’ve set a different time zone from your current location.

For instance, if your selected time zone is Pacific Standard Time (GMT-8) and you are in Chicago (GMT-6), the time zone gap is 2 hours. So you have to wait for 2 more hours for your ads to run and spend the budget.

→ Important note: Don’t attempt to change the time zone of your ad account. This will deactivate your current account and create a new one, interrupting your active campaigns and causing inconvenience.

Your cost cap or bid cap is too low

When creating Instagram ads in Ads Manager, businesses must set a bid strategy for each ad set. This determines how Instagram will bid for your ads.

However, by setting a low bid cap or cost cap, you might unintentionally tell the platform not to spend your budget if your ads cannot win an auction within this amount.

→ Solution: If your Instagram ad is approved but not spending, try setting the bid following the minimum amount suggested by Meta. Otherwise, you can use the auto-bidding strategy (highest volume).

You’ve reached your Instagram ad spending limit

The admin of an Instagram account can set a spending limit to control the maximum amount allowed for ads. When you reach this limit, Instagram will immediately stop spending. 

Normally, the platform will notify you in advance when you are near this limit and remind you to change or reset it to continue advertising. However, sometimes people forget to take action, so the Instagram ad not spending issue happens.

→ Solution: Reset, adjust, or remove your Instagram ad spending limit in the Billings & Payment section on the Meta Ads Manager page.

How To Check If Your Instagram Ad Is Spending Or Not?

There is no alert about the issue of an Instagram ad not spending. To check if your ad is experiencing this issue or not, you can try 2 methods below:

Recheck ad approval status

To check if your ad is already approved or still not yet, you can follow these steps:

• Step 1: In Meta Ads Manager, select Campaigns.
• Step 2: Choose a specific campaign, ad set, or ad that you need to check the status.
• Step 3: View the Delivery column to see if your assets are approved or not. Common statuses include: Rejected, Learning limited, Scheduled, In review, Processing, Preparing, Active, and Learning.
  • If it reads Scheduled, maybe there is a time zone gap. Wait until your ad is aired.
  • If the status is Rejected, you need to review the ad meticulously and remove violating elements before submitting it again.

Review spending limit

If you find your Instagram ad active but not spending, try adjusting your spending limit. 

• Step 1: In Ads Manager, go to Billing and Payment.
• Step 2: In the Account spending limit section, review how much you’ve spent to the limit.
• Step 3: Remove, change, or reset the limit if necessary.

Conclusion

Understanding why your Instagram ad is not spending is key to effectively solving this problem. Save our full guide to overcome this obstacle and unlock the full power of your Instagram campaigns.

Did this guide work for you? Feel free to let us know and return to GDT Agency for more useful Instagram ad tips and strategies.

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