Dynamic creative on Meta: what replaced it, and how it differs from catalogue ads
Why dynamic creative is no longer available for Meta sales campaigns, how the Flexible format replaced it, and why neither is the same thing as dynamic product ads.
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People search “dynamic creative is no longer available” for a reason. Meta has changed how it mixes and matches ad creative several times, and the names overlap with a different product entirely: dynamic product ads. This post untangles the three things people mean by “dynamic” on Meta, and which one to use for what.
The short version
- Dynamic creative was Meta’s original way to upload several images, videos, headlines and texts and let Meta combine them. For sales and app promotion campaigns, it has been replaced by the Flexible format.
- The Flexible format does the same job at the ad level, and can turn your assets into a single image, a video or a carousel depending on the placement.
- Dynamic product ads, now called Advantage+ catalog ads, are a different thing. They build an ad from each product in your catalogue. Neither dynamic creative nor Flexible works with them.
If you sell products and want ads that change per product, the third one is what you want. The rest of this post explains why.
What dynamic creative was
Dynamic creative launched in 2017. You gave Meta a set of building blocks at the ad set level, and Meta tested combinations of them. Metricool’s guide lists the limits as up to 10 images or videos, 5 headlines, 5 primary texts and 5 calls to action.
It had two well-known weaknesses. Reporting showed how each asset did on its own, but not which combinations worked best. And because it ran at the ad set level, you couldn’t easily put a dynamic creative ad next to normal ads in the same ad set.
What replaced it: the Flexible format
Meta introduced the Flexible ad format in 2023, according to Jon Loomer. For sales and app promotion campaigns it’s now the option you’ll see in place of dynamic creative. Metricool’s guide, from November 2025, says plainly that dynamic creative is no longer available for those objectives.
What’s different:
- It lives at the ad level. You add up to 10 images or videos to one ad, alongside several primary texts, headlines and descriptions.
- Meta chooses the shape of the ad. Depending on the placement and the person, it can show one image, one video or a carousel built from your assets.
- Creative groups. Some accounts can split assets into groups that should only appear together, so a summer image doesn’t end up next to a winter headline. Jon Loomer notes that not every account has this option.
- Assets should be the same size. Meta crops them for each placement, so Jon Loomer recommends square images, or 4:5 and 9:16 images with the important content in the centre.
What hasn’t changed is the reporting problem. You still can’t see a clean breakdown of which combination or creative theme drove results. Flexible is built to let Meta pick the best version per placement, not to run a tidy split test.
Meta changes these settings often, and options vary by account and objective. If what you see in Ads Manager doesn’t match this, trust Ads Manager.
Why none of this works with catalogue ads
Both guides make the same point: the Flexible format can’t be used with Advantage+ catalog ads. If you switch the catalogue on, Flexible disappears.
That’s because catalogue ads already work dynamically, in a different way. Instead of mixing a fixed set of assets you upload, they pick products from your catalogue for each person and build the ad from that product’s data: its image, its title, its price. A catalogue of 5,000 products is 5,000 possible ads, without you uploading any of them. Our guide to what dynamic product ads are and how they work covers this in more detail.
So the choice is not “dynamic creative or catalogue ads” as if they were two versions of the same thing. They solve different problems:
| Flexible format (formerly dynamic creative) | Catalogue ads (dynamic product ads) | |
|---|---|---|
| What varies | Combinations of assets you upload | The product shown, chosen from your catalogue |
| Where the creative comes from | You upload up to 10 images or videos | Your product feed: images, titles, prices |
| Best for | Brand, launch and offer creative | Showing the right product to each person |
| Price shown | Whatever you typed into the creative | The current price from the feed |
Making catalogue ads less samey
The usual complaint about catalogue ads is the opposite of dynamic creative’s: every ad is just a product photo on white, and nothing about it says whose brand it is. There are three ways to deal with that.
- Meta’s own catalogue creative options. Advantage+ creative for catalog includes settings such as dynamic overlays, which add catalogue information like the price on top of product images, and image touch-ups, which fit images to the placement. Meta’s developer documentation lists what each one does. We compared these with designing your own in Meta catalogue ad frames and overlays.
- Mix catalogue ads with Flexible ads in the same campaign plan. Use Flexible for your brand and offer creative, and catalogue ads for products. They do different jobs.
- Design your own catalogue images. Render a branded image for each product from a template, and send those images to your catalogue. The ad stays fully dynamic, because the image is still made from each product’s data, but it looks like your brand. Our post on DPA templates goes through the main layouts.
Where Andromeda fits
Meta’s Andromeda retrieval system is part of why “more creative variety” has become the standard advice for all of these formats. We covered what Meta has actually said about it, and what it means for catalogue ads, in Meta Andromeda: what it means for catalogue ads and creative.
Summary
- Dynamic creative is the old name. For sales campaigns, the Flexible format replaced it.
- Flexible mixes assets you upload. It’s for brand and offer creative, and it can’t be combined with catalogue ads.
- Catalogue ads are the dynamic option for products. To make them look less generic, use Meta’s catalogue creative settings or design a template that renders for every product.
The DPA Creative Editor does the last of these: one template, laid out natively in square, portrait and story, rendered for every product in your feed.
Frequently asked questions
Is dynamic creative still available on Meta?
For sales and app promotion campaigns, Meta moved advertisers to the Flexible ad format, and new ad sets with those objectives can't use dynamic creative. Third-party guides from 2025 report that dynamic creative was still offered for some other objectives. Meta changes these options often, so check what Ads Manager shows in your own account.
What is the difference between dynamic creative and the Flexible format?
Both take several images, videos and text options and let Meta combine them. Flexible works at the ad level rather than the ad set, can show the result as a single image, a video or a carousel depending on the placement, and lets you group assets that belong together.
Is dynamic creative the same as dynamic product ads?
No. Dynamic creative and the Flexible format mix assets you upload by hand. Dynamic product ads, now Advantage+ catalog ads, build each ad from a product in your catalogue: its image, title and price. The Flexible format can't be used with catalogue ads.