These two tools have similar names and are often confused, especially by people setting up Facebook advertising for the first time. Here is the difference in plain terms, along with when you actually need each one.
Ads Manager: running campaigns
Ads Manager is where the actual advertising work happens: building campaigns, setting budgets, choosing audiences, uploading creative, and reviewing results like reach, clicks and conversions. If your day-to-day task is “make an ad and see how it performs”, you are working inside Ads Manager, regardless of what account structure sits behind it.
Business Manager: managing the account
Business Manager, now part of Meta Business Suite, is the layer above Ads Manager, where you manage your Pages, ad accounts, product catalogs, and who on your team has access to what, without sharing personal passwords. It is less about any single campaign and more about the overall structure: who can do what, and where your assets live.
A simple analogy
Think of Business Manager as the office building and Ads Manager as one specific desk inside it. The building has a front door with keys handed out to specific people (Business Manager permissions), while the desk is where the actual daily work of building and running campaigns takes place (Ads Manager). A solo freelancer running one small ad campaign can often get by without setting up Business Manager formally, but any team larger than one person benefits from it almost immediately.
Do you need both?
If you are running ads for a business with more than one person involved, yes. Business Manager organizes the account and access, while Ads Manager is where you actually build and launch campaigns inside it. A solo advertiser can technically run limited ads by boosting a post directly from a personal Page without ever touching Business Manager, but loses the audience building, reporting depth and team features that come with the fuller setup.
Getting started with both
Most businesses set up Business Manager first, at business.facebook.com, then create or connect an ad account inside it, which becomes accessible through Ads Manager from that point on. For a full walkthrough of setting up an ad account and running your first campaign, see our complete guide to Facebook Ads Manager.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Ads Manager without Business Manager?
Yes, on a small scale through a personal ad account, but most features around team access and asset organization require Business Manager.
Is Business Manager free?
Yes, setting up and using Business Manager itself is free, you only pay for the ads you run through it.
Can multiple people share one Ads Manager account?
Yes, that is exactly what Business Manager is designed for, granting different permission levels to different team members on the same ad account.