Telegram Ads vs Facebook Ads: Which Platform Wins in 2026?

Quick Comparison Table

Telegram figures in this table are measured on accounts we operate. Facebook figures come from Meta’s own pages or from a named benchmark study; every source is linked in the sections below.

Feature	Telegram Ads	Facebook Ads
How you pay	CPM bid; the account is funded in euro, TON or Stars	Auction; charged per impression or per click, in your billing currency
Price with a source	€2.97 CPM, €0.34 per click (our Euro accounts, 3 Oct 2026)	$0.60 per click, US traffic campaigns (WordStream, 2026); $15.06 median CPM, e-commerce brands (Triple Whale, Aug 2025–Jul 2026)
CTR	0.85% Euro · 2.18% TON · 3.08% Stars	1.93%, US traffic campaigns (WordStream, 2026)
Minimum	0.1 TON minimum CPM on self-serve TON; Euro accounts through Adsly from a €500 ad budget	Set in Ads Manager by objective, bid strategy and currency
Audience	Over 1 billion monthly users (March 2025)	3.60 billion daily users across Meta’s apps (June 2026)
Targeting	Country, language, topic, device, subscribers of chosen channels, or specific channels, bots and search	Location down to postcode, age, gender, language, interests, behaviours, custom and lookalike audiences
Retargeting	No website-visitor or lookalike audiences	Meta Pixel, customer lists, lookalikes
Ad formats	160 characters of text and a button, optional photo or video	Image, video, carousel, collection — Feed, Stories, Reels, Marketplace
Crypto	Not a prohibited category; no licence upload	Exchanges, lending and staking need written permission and a licence
Gambling	Prohibited by Telegram’s guidelines	Only for authorised accounts with proof of a licence per territory
Ad review	Over 98% of campaigns decided within three hours (our accounts, September 2026)	“Most ads are reviewed within 24 hours” (Meta)
Reporting	Views, clicks, channel joins and bot starts; hourly analytics in Adsly Pro Panel	Ads Manager, with the Meta Pixel for website events

Audience figures: Telegram reported over 1 billion monthly active users in March 2025. Meta reported 3.60 billion daily active people across its family of apps for June 2026 and does not report Facebook on its own (Meta, second quarter 2026 results).

Cost Comparison — What the Numbers Can and Cannot Tell You

Most “Telegram is N times cheaper than Facebook” claims divide one platform’s dollar average by another’s, taken from different countries and different kinds of campaign. We do not do that. Below are the figures that have a source, side by side.

Telegram Ads: measured on our own accounts

All campaigns with spend on accounts we operate, as of 3 October 2026. Each account type is billed in its own currency, and the three are never converted into each other.

Account type	CPM	CTR	Cost per click	Impressions
Euro	€2.97	0.85%	€0.34	261.4M
TON	0.90 TON	2.18%	0.040 TON	862.5M
Stars	395 Stars	3.08%	12.8 Stars	10.4M

The country moves the price more than anything else. On Euro accounts a thousand impressions cost €0.20 in Uzbekistan, €0.25 in India, €1.42 in the UAE, €2.22 in Brazil, €2.68 in Russia and €2.92 in Turkey, and the Euro average is mostly Russia, our largest Euro market. Western Europe and the US we have measured only on TON accounts, in TON: Britain and Germany 0.27 TON per thousand impressions, the USA 0.39 TON (22 August–3 October 2026). Stars accounts are open only to channel and bot owners spending Stars their channel earned. Full tables are in the benchmark report and the CPM by country guide.

Facebook Ads: published benchmarks

Meta does not publish average prices, so these come from two studies that state their sample.

• Traffic campaigns: $0.60 per click and 1.93% CTR across 1,377 US campaigns that ran between April 2025 and June 2026 (WordStream Facebook Ads Benchmarks, 2026 edition). The study’s “averages” are medians. In finance and insurance it shows $0.86 per click and 1.46% CTR.
• Lead campaigns: $1.80 per click, 2.70% CTR, an 8.54% conversion rate and $27.39 per lead across 452 US campaigns in the same study.
• CPM: a $15.06 median for Meta ads, Facebook and Instagram together, across more than 40,000 e-commerce brands from August 2025 to July 2026, up 13.24% on the year before (Triple Whale).

Why this is not a price ratio

It is tempting to turn those two lists into a multiple. They do not support one.

• Different countries. Both Facebook samples are US-based advertisers. Our Euro figures are mostly Russia, and India or Uzbekistan cost a small fraction of that on the same account type.
• Different currencies. Euro, dollars, TON and Stars. We do not convert TON or Stars prices into money.
• Different campaigns. WordStream’s traffic campaigns send clicks to a website. On our Euro accounts in September 2026 a click cost €0.355 to a channel, €0.223 to a bot and €0.266 to a website.
• Different statistics. WordStream and Triple Whale report medians across advertisers. Ours are totals across every campaign.

What the numbers do support: Telegram impressions are cheap in absolute terms in the countries we measured, and a US Facebook click from a traffic campaign is not expensive either. The decision turns on targeting, policy and where your product lives, not on a multiplier.

Entry cost

Telegram’s self-serve TON account sets a minimum CPM of 0.1 TON and accepts Telegram destinations only (Telegram). A Euro account is opened through a partner; through Adsly the ad budget starts at €500, or €1,000 for crypto and stocks. Meta sets its minimum inside Ads Manager, depending on objective, bid strategy and currency, and warns you when a budget is too low (Meta Business Help Center).

Targeting — Facebook Wins on Precision, Telegram Wins on Context

Facebook: who the person is

Meta lets you define an audience by location down to city and postcode, age, gender and language, plus “detailed targeting” by demographics, interests and behaviours. Custom audiences are built from a customer list, the Meta Pixel on your site, your app or engagement on Meta’s apps, and lookalike audiences find new people who resemble them (Meta Business Help Center). If the brief is “women aged 25–34 in Berlin who already visited the pricing page”, only Facebook can run it.

Telegram: what the person reads

Telegram has no age, gender or lookalike option. You target users by country (229 options), language (71), topic (41) and device, reach the subscribers of channels you name, or place the ad in specific channels, bots and search results. Since 22 August 2026 this form is the same on Euro, TON and Stars accounts. Telegram states that it does not use private chats or contact lists for ad targeting (Telegram Ads).

What still depends on the account type: only Euro accounts can link to an external website, use in-stream video and add a custom button. TON accounts link to channels, bots and Mini Apps, and TON-funded ads are not served in Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Palestine.

The Key Difference

Facebook finds people by profile and behaviour wherever they scroll. Telegram puts a message next to content the reader chose to follow. A niche product with an obvious set of channels does well on Telegram; a broad consumer product that needs age, gender and remarketing does better on Facebook.

Content Policies — Read Both Rulebooks

Neither platform is “anything goes”. This is what each one publishes, as of 3 October 2026.

Category	Telegram Ads (guidelines)	Facebook Ads (Meta Advertising Standards)
Crypto	Not listed as prohibited; guaranteed-return and get-rich-quick offers are (§5.7)	Exchanges, trading platforms, lending, staking and wallets with trading need prior written permission and a regulatory licence; initial coin offerings are not allowed
Gambling	Prohibited (§5.6), including betting, lotteries and tips or odds	Only for authorised ad accounts with proof of a licence in each targeted territory; never to under-18s
Forex, CFDs, binary options	Not named; deceptive financial products are prohibited (§5.7)	Binary options and CFD trading are not allowed
Payday loans	Prohibited (§5.7)	Not allowed
Dating	Prohibited (§5.1)	Only with prior written permission, 18+
Adult content	Prohibited (§5.1)	Not allowed
Dietary supplements	Prohibited (§5.8)	Weight-loss products allowed for 18+ under conditions
Political ads	Prohibited (§5.5)	Authorisation and a “Paid for by” disclaimer; not allowed in the EU

Crypto and Web3

This is the clearest gap between the two. Meta requires prior written permission to advertise crypto exchanges and trading platforms, lending and borrowing, and wallets that let users buy, sell, swap or stake, and asks for a licence or registration from a recognised regulator; education, news and storage-only wallets need no permission (Meta crypto policy). Telegram’s guidelines do not list crypto as a prohibited category and ask for no licence, although §5.7 still bans guaranteed returns and get-rich-quick promises. On our self-service Euro accounts the crypto vertical as a whole measures €1.91 CPM, 0.53% CTR and €0.358 per click (821k impressions, all countries blended, 3 October 2026).

Gambling, dating, adult and supplements

Do not move these to Telegram expecting looser rules. Telegram’s guidelines prohibit gambling (§5.6), dating services and sexual content (§5.1) and dietary supplements (§5.8) outright, while Meta has an approval route for licensed gambling and for dating advertisers. How gambling operators run on Telegram regardless, and the two launch formats Adsly offers, is covered in the gambling policy guide. Meta’s rules for adult content, weight-loss products and supplements and political ads are on their own pages.

Forex and binary options

Meta’s financial policy does not allow ads that promote binary options or contract-for-difference trading (Meta financial products policy). Telegram’s guidelines name neither; they prohibit deceptive financial products and offers of guaranteed returns. On our self-service Euro accounts forex measures €1.88 CPM and 1.89% CTR (418k impressions) and binary options €1.41 CPM and 0.38% CTR (1.35M impressions).

Moderation in practice

On our accounts 99.9% of reviewed Stars ads, 95.6% of Euro ads and 86.8% of TON ads end up approved (all niches, 3 October 2026), and over 98% of 13,199 campaigns created in September 2026 had a decision within three hours. Meta says most ads are reviewed within 24 hours and may be reviewed again after they go live (Meta Business Help Center). What gets a Telegram ad declined, rule by rule, is in the declined ads guide.

When to Choose Telegram Ads

• The product lives in Telegram. A channel, bot or Mini App is one tap from the ad, with no landing page in between. On our Euro accounts a click cost €0.355 to a channel and €0.223 to a bot (September 2026).

• Crypto and Web3 without Meta’s permission process. Telegram asks for no licence upload; Meta wants written permission and a regulator’s licence for exchanges, lending and staking.

• Cheap reach in markets we have measured. €0.20–0.25 per thousand impressions in Uzbekistan and India on Euro accounts; 0.27 TON in Britain and Germany and 0.39 TON in the USA on TON accounts.

• You know which channels your buyers read. Naming the channels, or targeting their subscribers across Telegram, is more exact than an interest category that approximates the same people.

• Fast text testing. An ad is 160 characters and a button, so ten variants are an hour of writing, and most get a moderation decision within three hours.

When to Choose Facebook Ads

• Demographic targeting. Age, gender and postcode do not exist in Telegram’s targeting form.

• Retargeting and lookalikes. Pixel audiences, customer lists and lookalike audiences are Meta’s home ground; Telegram has no equivalent.

• Visual selling. Carousel, collection, Stories and Reels placements give a product room that a 160-character message does not (Meta Ads Guide).

• Lead generation with a known benchmark. $27.39 per lead at an 8.54% conversion rate on US lead campaigns (WordStream, 2026). Telegram has no public conversion benchmark, because what happens after the click depends on your channel, bot or site.

• Licensed gambling and dating. Meta has an authorisation route for licensed operators; Telegram’s guidelines prohibit both categories.

Can You Use Both? Multi-Channel Strategy

The two overlap less than “versus” suggests, and most advertisers who run both give each a different job.

Telegram for the audience you keep. A subscriber to your channel or bot is someone you can reach again without paying for the impression. Use Telegram Ads to build that base in the communities where your buyers already read.

Facebook for scale and the second touch. Upload your customer list as a custom audience, build lookalikes from your best buyers, and retarget site visitors with the Meta Pixel — three things Telegram cannot do.

Carry the copy across. A line that wins in 160 characters on Telegram is a tested hook for Facebook, where Meta recommends a 27-character headline and 50–150 characters of primary text for a feed image ad (Meta Ads Guide).

On the Telegram side, Adsly Pro Panel adds what the native interface lacks: hourly analytics, IF/THEN automation rules, bulk editing and AI text generation. Every account also keeps its own login on ads.telegram.org.

Stop managing Telegram Ads manually. ADSLY runs Telegram Ads for 200+ advertisers — and a Euro cabinet opens for any country. All 3 cabinet types (TON, Euro, Stars). IF/THEN automation. Ad text optimization. Bulk edit 100+ campaigns in one click. Start free — 3-day Pro trial →

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Telegram Ads cheaper than Facebook Ads?

Per thousand impressions, in the markets we measured, Telegram is cheap in absolute terms: €2.97 on average on our Euro accounts and €0.25 in India. The one sourced Meta CPM we found is a $15.06 median for e-commerce brands (Triple Whale, August 2025–July 2026). Per click the two sit closer: €0.34 on our Euro accounts, $0.60 on US Facebook traffic campaigns (WordStream, 2026). The samples differ in country, currency and campaign type, so read them as two separate price lists, not as a ratio.

Can I advertise crypto on Facebook?

Only partly. Meta requires prior written permission and a regulatory licence to advertise exchanges, trading platforms, lending and staking, and does not allow initial coin offerings. Education, news and storage-only wallets need no permission. Telegram’s guidelines do not list crypto as a prohibited category, but they do prohibit guaranteed-return and get-rich-quick offers.

Which platform has better targeting?

Facebook, if you need to define people: age, gender, postcode, interests, custom and lookalike audiences. Telegram, if you can name where they read: country, language, topic, device, the subscribers of chosen channels, or specific channels, bots and search. Telegram has no age, gender or lookalike targeting.

What is the minimum budget for each platform?

Telegram’s self-serve TON account has a minimum CPM of 0.1 TON. A Euro account through Adsly starts from a €500 ad budget, or €1,000 for crypto and stocks. Meta does not publish one figure: Ads Manager sets the minimum from your objective, bid strategy and currency.

Which platform has higher CTR?

On the figures available, Facebook traffic campaigns: 1.93% in the US (WordStream, 2026) against 0.85% on our Euro accounts. Our TON accounts average 2.18% and Stars accounts 3.08%, but those are other markets and other currencies. The two numbers also measure different things: a Facebook traffic campaign is optimised for clicks, while a Telegram ad is bought per thousand impressions.

Can I use both platforms together?

Yes, and they complement each other. Use Telegram Ads to build a channel or bot audience in the communities your buyers read, and Facebook Ads for retargeting, lookalike audiences and visual formats. Budget follows where your product lives: a Telegram-native product leans on Telegram, a web shop leans on Facebook.