How to Stop an Instagram Ad
Running an Instagram ad that isn't performing as expected is frustrating, but knowing when to stop it is part of smart campaign management. Whether it's burning through your budget with zero results, has a glaring typo, or simply served its purpose, turning it off is simple. This guide will walk you through exactly how to stop your Instagram ad, explain the difference between pausing and deleting, and show you the best practices for both the app and Meta Ads Manager.
Reasons to Stop an Instagram Ad
Pulling the plug on an active ad isn't a sign of failure, it's a strategic move. Every digital marketer pauses campaigns to optimize performance and protect their budget. Here are the most common reasons why you might want to stop an Instagram ad:
Poor Performance: The most obvious reason. If the ad is generating a high cost per click (CPC), a low click-through rate (CTR), or isn't leading to any conversions (like sales or sign-ups), then it's time to stop the bleeding.
Budget Reallocation: You may have another ad or campaign that is performing exceptionally well. Pausing a low-performing ad allows you to redirect your budget toward the winner to maximize your return on ad spend (ROAS).
The Campaign Goal is Met: If your ad was for a limited-time offer, an event registration, or you've hit your lead quota for the month, there's no need to keep spending money on it.
The Offer is Outdated: Sometimes things change quickly. The product you're advertising might go out of stock, a discount code may have expired, or event details might have changed. You'll want to stop the ad immediately to prevent customer confusion and wasted clicks.
Testing Another Version: When you're A/B testing, you run multiple ad variations to see which one performs best. Once you have a clear winner, you'll stop the loser to focus your budget on the ad that resonates most with your audience.
Pause, Deactivate, or Delete? What's the Difference?
Before you take action, it's essential to understand the distinction between pausing, deactivating, and deleting an ad. Choosing the wrong one can lead to permanently losing valuable performance data.
Pausing or Deactivating an Ad (The Best Choice)
In Meta Ads Manager, pausing or deactivating simply means turning the ad off. This is almost always the correct choice. It stops your ad from being shown to users and, most importantly, stops you from being charged for any new impressions or clicks.
It's Temporary: You can turn the ad back on at any time.
Preserves Data: All of the ad’s performance metrics (reach, clicks, conversions, etc.) are saved. This data is invaluable for learning what works and what doesn't, allowing you to make smarter decisions in future campaigns.
Keeps Social Proof: If your ad creative has accumulated likes, comments, and shares, pausing it will keep all of that engagement intact if you decide to reactivate it later.
Essentially, "pausing" and "deactivating" are functionally the same thing — you flip a switch to turn it off. It stops spending but preserves everything.
Deleting an Ad (Use with Caution)
Deleting an ad is a permanent and irreversible action. Once you delete it, it's gone for good.
It's Permanent: You cannot recover the ad or turn it back on. You’d have to create it from scratch all over again.
Data is Lost: The detailed performance data and the engagement associated specifically with that ad are removed from your ad manager view. While this doesn't corrupt your top-line campaign numbers, it prevents you from analyzing that specific ad's history.
There are very few situations where deleting an ad is necessary. Typically, you should only delete an ad if it was created in error, contains sensitive information, or violates a policy. For pretty much all other cases, pausing is the better option.
Method 1: How to Stop an Ad in the Instagram App
If you promoted a post directly from the Instagram app (often called "boosting"), you can also stop it there. This method is quick and easy for simple promotions.
Step 1: Go to Your Profile
Open the Instagram app and navigate to your profile page by tapping your profile picture in the bottom-right corner.
Step 2: Tap on "Ad Tools"
Right below your bio and follower count, you'll see a button labeled "Ad Tools." Tap on it to manage any active or past promotions.
Step 3: Select the Ad You Want to Stop
You’ll see a list of your promotions. Find the ad that is currently "Active" and tap "View Insights."
Step 4: Pause or Delete the Ad
On the insights screen, scroll down to the bottom. You will see two buttons: a gray "Delete Ad" button and a blue "Pause Ad" button.
Tap "Pause Ad" to temporarily stop it. It will ask for confirmation. Once paused, your ad will no longer be shown or spend money, but you can resume it later. This is the recommended action.
If you are absolutely certain you want to remove it permanently and lose its data, you can tap "Delete Ad."
Method 2: How to Stop an Ad in Meta Ads Manager
For anyone serious about running paid campaigns on Instagram, Meta Ads Manager is the primary tool. It gives you far more granular control over your campaigns, ad sets, and individual ads. Stopping an ad here is a standard, everyday task.
Understanding the Ad Manager Hierarchy
First, it helps to know how Ads Manager is structured. There are three levels:
Campaigns: The top level where you set your advertising objective (e.g., website traffic, sales).
Ad Sets: This is where you define your targeting, budget, schedule, and placements (e.g., Target users in California, aged 25-34, on Instagram Feed and Stories).
Ads: The bottom level containing your actual creative — the image, video, caption, and call-to-action.
You can stop an ad at any of these three levels. If you turn off a Campaign, it deactivates all the Ad Sets and Ads within it. If you turn off an Ad Set, it deactivates all the Ads within that set but leaves other Ad Sets in the campaign running.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Go to Meta Ads Manager
On your computer, open a web browser and navigate to Meta Ads Manager. Make sure you are in the correct ad account.
Step 2: Locate your Ad
Use the tabs at the top of the dashboard to navigate to the "Campaigns," "Ad sets," or "Ads" tab, depending on what you want to turn off.
To stop just one specific ad creative, click the Ads tab.
To stop an entire targeting group, click the Ad sets tab.
To stop the entire campaign, stay on the Campaigns tab.
You may need to filter by date range or use the search bar to quickly find what you're looking for if you have many active campaigns.
Step 3: Deactivate the Ad with the Toggle Switch
To the left of your campaign, ad set, or ad name, you will see a toggle switch. If the ad is active, the toggle will be blue.
Click this toggle switch to turn it off. It will turn gray, and the delivery status will update to "Off."
That's it! Your ad is now stopped. It will no longer serve impressions or spend from your budget. To reactivate it, you simply click the toggle switch again to turn it blue.
What To Expect After You Stop an Ad
Stopping an ad is immediate, but there are a few things to keep in mind.
Final Billing: You will still be charged for all the engagement the ad received up until the moment you paused it. For example, if your ad spent $18.50 before you turned it off, you will see that charge on your next bill.
Access to Analytics: All your performance data from the ad will remain in your dashboard. You can (and should) analyze its performance later to understand what did or didn't work.
Reactivating Paused Ads: If you turn an ad back on after a short pause, it can often pick up right where it left off. However, if it has been paused for several days or you make significant changes upon restarting, it may have to re-enter a "learning phase" to re-optimize its delivery.
Final Thoughts
Knowing how and when to stop an Instagram ad is a fundamental skill for effective campaign management. Whether you use the simple method in the Instagram app or the more robust Meta Ads Manager, turning off underperforming assets is key to making your budget work harder. Always remember to pause or deactivate rather than delete, so you can learn from your historical data and improve your future advertising strategy.
Manually tracking campaigns and your ads across Instagram, Facebook, and Google to decide which ones to stop can quickly become a massive time-sink. Your campaign data is one piece, but understanding how those ads truly impact sales requires piecing together data from Google Analytics and your e-commerce platform. For this, we designed Graphed. We let you connect your marketing and sales data in one place, then use simple language like, "Build a dashboard showing ROAS by Instagram campaign for the past 30 days" to get instant clarity, enabling you to make smarter advertising decisions in a fraction of the time.