What is Frequency Cap?
Also known as: Impression cap
What is a frequency cap?
A frequency cap is the numeric setting that limits how many times one user or household sees the same ad in a defined window. It is written as two numbers. Impressions over time. A cap of 3 per 7 days serves the ad three times per week per user, then stops.
The cap lives in a platform field. Buyers enter the number, the window, and the level. Google Ads, The Trade Desk, DV360, TikTok, and LinkedIn all expose a cap field. Meta exposes one only on Reach objectives. Per Meta's frequency guidance, Conversion campaigns optimize frequency automatically.
A cap and frequency capping are not the same thing. The cap is the lever. Frequency capping is the practice of pulling it.
Cap settings
Caps can count three different events. Each unit fits a different campaign goal.
| Cap unit | What it counts | Window options | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per impression | Times the ad rendered | Day, week, month, lifetime | Awareness, reach, brand |
| Per click | Times the user clicked | Day, week, lifetime | Performance, programmatic display |
| Per window | Total inside a rolling period | Rolling 7, 14, 30 days | Most platforms default here |
Per-impression caps are the platform default. They are the easiest to count and the most common field exposed in ad managers. Per-click caps run mostly on programmatic DSPs. Per-window caps are the rolling counter version of either.
The window is half the setting. A cap of 5 per day is loose. A cap of 5 per month is tight. Match the window to the buying cycle, not to the platform default.
Setting a starting cap
Start the cap one step below the fatigue band, not at it. The auction over-delivers by 10 to 20 percent on most platforms. A cap of 3 routinely lands users at 4 or 5 impressions. Set the field at 2 if the real-world target is 3.
Three inputs decide the starting number. Audience size. Creative count. Buying cycle. A cold prospecting pool of 4 million people fatigues fast at frequency 3. A warm retargeting pool of 30,000 holds frequency 8 because intent is already there.
Test the starting cap against the CPA curve. Frequency 1 to 2 usually under-delivers. Frequency 4 to 6 usually over-spends on repeat viewers. The sweet spot lives between, and it moves with the creative refresh rate.
Caps in major platforms
Each ad platform exposes the cap field in a different place, with different defaults.
| Platform | Cap field location | Default | Window options |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads (Display, Video) | Campaign settings | None set | Day, week, month |
| Meta (Reach objective) | Ad set, optimization | 1 per 7 days | Custom |
| Meta (Conversion objective) | Auto-optimized | No manual field | N/A |
| TikTok Ads | Reach and Frequency only | 1 per 7 days | 1 to 7 days |
| LinkedIn Ads | Account-level | 1 per 48 hours | Fixed |
| The Trade Desk | Line item, advertiser | None set | Stacked, multi-window |
| DV360 | Line item, insertion order | None set | Stacked, multi-window |
Per Google Ads frequency cap documentation, the field accepts caps at the campaign, ad group, or ad level. Programmatic DSPs allow stacked caps. A line item can run 2 per day plus 5 per week plus 15 per month at the same time, with the tightest constraint winning.
[INTERNAL-LINK: programmatic stacked caps - link to programmatic-advertising glossary entry]
Cookieless reality
The cap field still works. The counter behind it has changed. Third-party cookies used to identify the user across sites. Safari and Firefox blocked them years ago. Chrome finished the job in 2024. The platform now counts frequency through three paths.
First-party logged-in IDs inside walled gardens. Meta, Google, TikTok, and Amazon count against their own user. The cap is precise inside each garden, blind across them.
Universal IDs like UID 2.0 cover 40 to 60 percent of open web impressions. Household and IP-based caps anchor connected TV frequency. The cap setting accepts the same number. The match rate behind it has dropped.
Real-world example
A retail brand sets a Google Display cap of 3 per 7 days at the campaign level. Spend is 20,000 dollars per month. Audience is 2 million users in a five-state region.
Week 1 frequency lands at 2.4. CTR holds at 0.6 percent. CPA sits at 28 dollars. The cap is doing its job, the auction is spreading spend across unique users.
The team raises the cap to 5 per 7 days for a holiday push. Frequency climbs to 3.7. CTR drops to 0.4 percent. CPA rises to 41 dollars. Reach falls 28 percent on the same budget. They pull the cap back to 3. CPA recovers in 6 days.
The setting is small. The result is not. Two integers in a campaign field moved CPA by 32 percent.
In 2026
The frequency cap field still ships in every major platform. The counter behind it now runs on logged-in IDs, household IPs, or partial universal ID coverage. The number a buyer enters is the same. The precision behind it varies by channel.
Buyers should not expect one cap across every channel. Each platform runs its own counter, against its own identity graph. Cross-channel frequency control belongs in audience exclusion lists and post-campaign measurement, not a single field. Per Meta's frequency guidance, the platform recommends letting the system optimize frequency on Conversion objectives rather than forcing a manual cap.
The cap is a starting position. The campaign data tells you where to move it.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What does a frequency cap of 3 per 7 days mean?
It means the platform serves the ad to each user up to three times in any rolling seven-day window. Once a user hits three impressions, the platform stops showing them the ad until the window resets. Per Google Ads frequency cap documentation, the count is per unique user inside the campaign.
What is the default frequency cap on Meta?
Meta does not expose a manual cap on most objectives. Per Meta's frequency guidance, Reach campaigns let buyers set caps such as 1 per 7 days, while Conversion campaigns auto-optimize delivery. The system targets a frequency band rather than a hard ceiling.
Can you set a frequency cap on Google Search?
No. Search campaigns do not run frequency caps because the user triggers the impression by typing a query. Google Ads exposes the cap field on Display, Video, and Demand Gen only. Per Google's own help center, the cap setting accepts impressions per day, week, or month.
What is a household frequency cap?
A household frequency cap counts impressions across every device sharing one IP address. It is the standard unit on connected TV because the screen is shared. A 3 per household per 7 days cap means the household sees the ad three times that week, regardless of which device played it.
How is a frequency cap different from frequency capping?
A frequency cap is the setting, the number you enter in the platform field. Frequency capping is the practice of using that setting across a campaign or media plan. One is the lever, the other is the policy. See frequency capping for the full strategy.