Who should own your ad accounts?

By Moisés · Updated October 2026

You should. Your ad accounts, your pixel, and your data belong in your business's name, and the person running your ads should get access, not ownership. Whoever owns the account keeps its history when you part ways, and on Meta that choice is hard to undo.

Why does it matter who owns the account?

An ad account is more than a login. It holds your campaign history, your audiences, and what the platform has learned about who buys from you. Your pixel holds every visit and sale it has recorded.

If an agency builds all of that inside its own account, it stays with the agency when you leave. You start again with a new account and a pixel that knows nothing about your customers.

How does access work on Meta?

• Your own business portfolio (what used to be called Business Manager) should own the ad account, the pixel, and your Facebook and Instagram pages.
• You add your media buyer as a partner and give them access to those assets. You can remove that access at any time.
• Decide before the account exists. An ad account created inside a business portfolio stays in that portfolio. Meta doesn't let you move it to another one later.

How does access work on Google Ads?

• The Google Ads account should be yours, with you as an admin, paid with your own payment method.
• Your media buyer links it to their manager account. That link gives them access, and an admin on your account can remove it whenever you want.
• Check who pays Google. If the agency pays the platform and bills you, moving the billing later needs their admin to do it.

TikTok works the same way: the ad account and the pixel live in your own Business Center, and your media buyer gets access as a partner.

What should you check before you hire anyone?

• The ad accounts, the pixel, and the pages are created in your name, or already are.
• The platforms bill your card or your company directly.
• You are an admin on every account, not only a viewer.
• The contract says the accounts and the data are yours, during the work and after it.
• Leaving is simple: a notice period, and nothing to pay to keep what is already yours.

What if an agency already owns your account?

Ask for admin access first, and ask in writing. Then export your reports, because you will want that history later.

• On Google Ads: if the account is yours and only linked to their manager account, an admin on your account can remove the link.
• On Meta: if the ad account lives in the agency's business portfolio, you usually can't move it. Ask them to share the pixel with your portfolio, then build a new ad account in your own portfolio.