Platforms in this story
In short
- Taboola publishes no budget floor: it recommends at least $50↗ a day, or ten times your target CPA. Outbrain sets a real floor: $20↗ a day.
- Neither network publishes a minimum CPC on the help pages I read, so I give no estimated amount.
- On creative, the limits are close: headlines up to 60↗ characters at Taboola, 100↗ at Outbrain (60 recommended).
- Outbrain now operates under the Teads name; Taboola's advertiser platform and help center are called Realize.
Native advertising means the ad takes the shape of content in the feed of a media site. Two networks dominate this market for performance advertisers: Taboola and Outbrain. Here is what their help centers state in black and white, what they leave open, and what I would check before choosing between them. Budgets and caps quoted here come from the English help pages and are published in US dollars.
$50
Recommended daily budget per campaign: 10 times the CPA goal, or at least 50 US dollars
Realize (Taboola) · checked October 22, 2026↗
$20
Minimum daily budget: 20 US dollars
Outbrain (Teads) · checked October 22, 2026↗
60
Headline: 60 characters maximum (34 to 45 best)
Realize (Taboola) · checked October 22, 2026↗
100
Title: 100 characters maximum (60 recommended)
Outbrain (Teads) · checked October 22, 2026↗
Who is who: Taboola, Realize, Outbrain and Teads?
The names have changed. At Taboola, the advertiser help center is now called Realize, and campaigns are set up there↗. At Outbrain, the help center describes Outbrain Direct Response as a subsidiary of the new Teads↗; the buying tool is still presented there as Amplify. Outbrain shows no update date on its help pages: for them, the date given is the date I consulted them, 22 October 2026.
Which formats for which ads?
"In-Feed" and "Content Recommendation" are not labels used by either help center. Outbrain lists "Placement: In the Feed" for its native formats, and Taboola does not use those terms either on the pages I read. Here is what each network documents.
Taboola: an ad is made of an image (or a short video), a headline, branding text and, optionally, a description and a call-to-action button. Images go up to 5 MB; the page recommends 1200 x 674 px recommended, 400 x 350 px minimum↗↗. The headline is 60↗ characters at most, the branding text 30, and the description 250 at most (180 to 200 recommended). "Motion Ads" accept mp4, mov or gif, 15 seconds at most. Another, older help page mentions videos of up to 10 seconds: I give both figures↗, and I would check the limit in the interface before producing a video.
Outbrain: the catalog is more segmented↗. The standard native ad needs an image of 1200 x 800 px, 2.5 MB maximum↗, a headline of 100↗ characters at most (60 recommended), a brand name of 60 characters at most, and an optional 150-character description. On top come the "Clip" format (animated GIF or MP4, 15 seconds at most), app install (square 1:1 image), the carousel of 3 to 10 cards↗, plus pre-roll and outstream video and display.
My reading, to be taken as such: an advertiser starting in native mostly needs an image without overlaid text, a short headline and a landing page that keeps the promise; Outbrain's advanced formats only matter once that base is tested. Taboola itself advises against text-heavy visuals↗.
How is targeting set up?
Taboola offers targeting by location (country, down to region, city or postal code), by platform (desktop, mobile, tablet), then by connection, operating system and browser, and finally by audiences: your own, marketplace audiences and contextual targeting↗. Brand safety settings (site blocking, pre-bid filtering) sit apart. The official advice is counter-intuitive: for a first campaign, leave audiences empty, because narrow targeting "limits your reach" and pushes CPC bids up. The page also advises waiting 7 to 10 days ("7 to 10 days↗") before changing anything.
Outbrain goes into more detail↗: platform, operating system and browser, a Wi-Fi option for mobile, location (country, region, DMA or postal code, up to 7,000 postal codes per campaign), audience segments (retargeting, campaign clickers, lookalikes), interest targeting from Outbrain's "Interest Graph", attribute targeting, and contextual targeting by IAB categories. Two points to keep in mind: attribute targeting relies on third-party data and adds a fee on top of your CPC; and the page recommends a custom segment of at least 30,000 users↗ before using it.
What minimum budgets does each network publish?
This is where the two networks differ most.
Outbrain sets a floor. The help page on CPC and budget asks for a monthly budget of at least $600↗, which equals the minimum of $20↗ a day for the whole month↗. For a campaign budget with dates, the amount must exceed the equivalent of $20↗ a day for the number of days chosen: the system refuses to save it otherwise. One more detail worth reading: a day's spend can exceed the daily budget by 20%↗, and by 35%↗ for a daily target placed inside a monthly or campaign budget.
Taboola publishes a recommendation, not a floor. On the budget and pacing page, the network recommends a daily budget of ten times your CPA goal, or at least $50↗↗. For Maximize Conversions, the bid strategy page gives the example of a $25↗ CPA with a daily cap of at least $250↗↗. For Enhanced CPC and Fixed Bid, it advises starting at 5 times the CPA goal↗ a day and 150 times the CPA goal↗ a month; with no conversion goal, it aims for 100 to 200 clicks per day↗. On caps, the day's spend can reach up to 100%↗ more than the set cap (that is, double); beyond that, the overspend is not charged.
Neither of the two pages I read publishes a minimum CPC, so I give none. Amounts are in dollars, and I did not find the exact floor for an account in euros: I would read it in the interface when creating the campaign.
Billing differs too. At Taboola, three modes exist: automatic billing (typical increment of $100↗), monthly invoice on a credit line, or prepayment↗, and you pay per click or per thousand impressions. I did not read an equivalent page on the Outbrain side, so I do not compare.
Which bid strategies?
Taboola offers three: Maximize Conversions (automated), then Enhanced CPC and Fixed Bid (manual: they let you set the exact cost of bids or a range). The network recommends Maximize Conversions↗. It advises installing the Taboola Pixel or server-to-server tracking, and activating a target CPA only with 50 conversions in 7 consecutive days↗ of history; it advises against setting one in the first days.
Outbrain speaks of a "Conversion Bid Strategy" with four modes: Semi Manual, Max Conversions, Target CPA and Target ROAS↗. Max Conversions and Semi Manual can start without a conversion created; Target CPA and Target ROAS cannot, and Target ROAS requires a conversion value. The threshold to know: a pixel with a conversion rate of 40%↗ or more should not be used for optimization.
Taboola or Outbrain: how to choose?
My reading, to be taken as such, since neither network publishes a performance comparison:
- Limited budget and need for a clear floor: Outbrain shows a stated minimum, $20↗ a day, while Taboola's recommendation depends on your CPA. With a $25↗ target CPA, ten times the CPA is $250↗ a day: the gap in entry ticket can be large.
- Conversion tracking already in place: both networks recommend conversion tracking. Each lets you start Maximize Conversions without it, but without tracking the optimization does not aim at your conversions (Taboola says so explicitly); if you have none, install it before choosing.
- Need for fine targeting: Outbrain documents more options (interests, attributes, IAB categories); Taboola advises the opposite, starting wide.
- Format variety: Outbrain details carousel, clip, app install and video; Taboola highlights the image, Motion Ads and short video.
I do not pick one without knowing your CPA and your tracking: a test on each network, with equal budget and the same landing page, remains the only honest comparison.