Microsoft Ditches Max CPC Bidding for New Campaigns

Microsoft Advertising has announced that Max CPC bidding will no longer be available for new campaigns starting October 1, 2026. The change affects non-portfolio campaigns, while existing campaigns and those using portfolio bid strategies can still use Max CPC. According to Microsoft, the decision is part of efforts to improve bidding and measurement capabilities.

Navah Hopkins, the Microsoft Ads Liaison, explained that advertisers who rely on legacy controls like Max CPC may experience spend pacing irregularities due to overridden goals. To simplify bidding and make it easier for advertisers to achieve success on the platform, Max CPC will be removed from stand-alone conversion/click-based bidding strategies. However, existing campaigns with Max CPC will retain the feature.

Microsoft encourages advertisers to run optimization experiments removing existing Max CPC to understand how their campaign may perform once the feature is no longer available. Target impression share, eCPC, and Portfolio bidding strategies will retain the ability to add a Max CPC. The company also emphasizes the importance of using conversion value rules as effective ways of communicating with the bidding algorithm.