Last updated: November 3, 2026
You can run ads from ChatGPT without opening any ad accounts, but launching depends on your ChatGPT plan. Adwave connects to ChatGPT as a custom MCP server, makes the ads from your website, and buys media on streaming TV, Meta, Google Search, YouTube, Reddit and the web from a prepaid wallet, starting at $30 a day. ChatGPT gives custom servers full write access only on Business and Enterprise workspaces, so the full flow needs one of those, or Codex.
This guide is about advertising with ChatGPT
Here, ChatGPT is the place you give instructions, and your ads run on TV, search and social. OpenAI also sells ad space inside ChatGPT through its own Ads Manager, which is a separate product. If you want your ad to appear in ChatGPT conversations, read advertising on ChatGPT vs advertising with ChatGPT.
What each ChatGPT plan can do
This table follows OpenAI’s help article on custom MCP servers, checked November 2, 2026.
| ChatGPT plan | What OpenAI documents | What that means with Adwave |
|---|---|---|
| Business | Full MCP support. Only admins and owners can create and publish custom servers | An admin or owner adds Adwave. It can build, launch and change campaigns |
| Enterprise or Edu | Full MCP support. Admins and owners can add servers and can grant permission to selected members | Same as Business, once someone with permission adds it |
| Pro | Custom MCP servers with read and fetch permissions only | It can read your account. It can’t launch or change campaigns |
| Other individual plans | Not listed for full MCP | Don’t plan on launching from chat |
As of the date above, Adwave isn’t listed in ChatGPT’s plugin directory, so ChatGPT won’t suggest it on its own. You add it yourself with the server URL.
How to connect Adwave to ChatGPT
The server URL is https://waverunner.adwave.com/api/mcp.
- In ChatGPT on the web, open Plugins and select the plus button, then Add custom MCP server.
- Enter a name, such as Adwave, and paste the server URL.
- Choose OAuth for authentication, review the risk warning, and create the plugin.
- Sign in to Adwave in the window that opens. If you’re new, create your account there with your email.
The ChatGPT setup page has the same steps with the details for admins.
What happens after you connect
Start with a request in your own words. For example: “Advertise my bakery from its website with $40 a day around Austin.”
- Adwave reads your website. It suggests the customers worth reaching and makes the ads for each channel. You don’t need a video or any creative of your own.
- You review the plan. Ask ChatGPT to show the ads, audience, locations, channels and daily budget, and to change anything you don’t like.
- You add money if the wallet is empty. New accounts start with an empty wallet. ChatGPT gives you a link to a hosted Stripe checkout page, and you pay there, never in the chat.
- You confirm the launch. Every tool that spends is marked destructive, which tells ChatGPT to ask you first. Before that, the assistant can check what launching would do without doing it.
- Your ads go to each channel for review. They usually start within a few hours.
Later you can ask how the ads are doing, or ask ChatGPT to pause or change a campaign. Everything also shows up in the Adwave app.
What it costs
Connecting ChatGPT to Adwave is free. Ads start at $30 a day from a prepaid wallet, with no contract.
- Launching or resuming a campaign sets the day’s budget aside from your wallet.
- The next morning you’re charged for what ran, never more than the amount set aside.
- Card top-ups add the processing fee shown at checkout.
- A daily budget repeats until you pause or end the campaign.
- Extra ads made through an assistant can be billed from the wallet at published prices. Ask for the quote before you approve.
See Adwave pricing for the current numbers.
If your plan can only read
You have three options.
- Use Codex. Codex can add Adwave with one command and use its write tools. It’s a tool for developers, so it’s a better fit if you’re comfortable in a terminal. See the Codex setup page.
- Use another assistant. Claude works as a custom connector, including one connector on its Free plan.
- Launch in the Adwave app and read in ChatGPT. Start from your website in the app, then use your read access in ChatGPT to ask how the campaigns are doing.
Limits
- Plans: on the plans OpenAI doesn’t list for full MCP, ChatGPT can’t launch through a custom server. Nothing on Adwave’s side changes that.
- Markets: campaigns run in the US and Canada only.
- Channels: streaming TV, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google Search, YouTube, Reddit and the web. TikTok is opt-in early access. Pinterest is coming soon.
- Channel mix: which channels a campaign uses depends on its budget, audience, creative and each channel’s advertising policy, so one campaign may not run everywhere.
- Not covered: Adwave doesn’t do organic social posting, email newsletters or SEO.
- Results: forecasts are estimates, and Adwave doesn’t guarantee sales or a return on spend.
If you’re weighing the risk of letting an assistant near your budget, read the guardrails to look for. All of our assistant guides are on the AI assistants page.
