Google Ads: up to 2x a day, 30.4x a month
Google treats your daily budget as an average. On a given day a campaign can spend up to twice the average daily budget, and over a month you won't pay more than the daily budget times 30.4, the average number of days in a month. A $100 daily budget can spend $200 on a busy day, but no more than $3,040 across the month. The same rule applies to a shared budget, which is just an average daily budget used by several campaigns.
Meta: up to 75% over, 7x per week
Meta paces a daily budget across a calendar week that runs Sunday to Saturday. On days with better opportunities it may spend up to 75% over the daily budget, so no more than 175% in a day, and no more than 7 times the daily budget in a week. With ad set budget sharing on, Meta can also share up to 20% of the daily budget with other ad sets, which raises the daily ceiling to 210% and the weekly one to 8.4 times. These rules apply to ad set budgets and to Advantage+ campaign budget. Meta says it will consider refunds for spend above the daily or weekly limits.
LinkedIn: up to 100% over, 7x per week
LinkedIn paces a daily budget on a continuous schedule across a Monday to Sunday week. Daily spend can be up to 100% higher than the daily budget, but weekly spend won't exceed seven times it, so $100 a day allows up to $200 on one day and $700 in the week. On a set schedule, total spend won't exceed the daily budget times the number of days, and a lifetime budget is a hard ceiling. In our experience, a single day at double the budget is pacing working as designed. Judge spend over the week or month, and if a strict total matters, use a lifetime or total budget.
Common questions
Why did Google Ads spend more than my daily budget?
Google can spend up to twice your average daily budget on a given day. Over a month, it won't charge more than 30.4 times your average daily budget.
How much can Meta overspend a daily budget?
Up to 75% on a given day, so 175% of the daily budget, and no more than 7 times the daily budget across a Sunday to Saturday week. Ad set budget sharing can raise the daily ceiling to 210%.
Does LinkedIn spend more than the daily budget?
Yes. LinkedIn says daily spend can be up to 100% higher than the daily budget on a given day, while weekly spend on a continuous schedule won't exceed seven times the daily budget.
Will Meta refund spend above my daily budget?
Depending on the case, Meta will consider refunds for spend above 1.75 times the daily budget in a day or 7 times the daily budget in a Sunday to Saturday week.
How do I set a hard spending limit instead of a daily average?
Use a total budget. LinkedIn says total spend never exceeds a lifetime budget, and Google Ads offers campaign total budgets for Search, Standard Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen and YouTube campaigns with set start and end dates.