Pacing Console vs Performance Planner: a forecast for next month, or pace for this one

• Tracks the month as it happens, every hour, instead of forecasting a plan
• Covers Microsoft Ads and LinkedIn Ads next to Google Ads
• Works for every campaign, with no eligibility thresholds, including campaigns with few conversions
• Daily email lists only the campaigns that are off pace, with the budget to set
• Puts cost per lifecycle stage (Pro) and per dollar of pipeline (Enterprise) next to pace, beyond the conversions Google Ads sees
• Read-only live links for finance and clients

• Performance Planner has no separate fee, and it is already in your Google Ads account
• Its forecasts use Google’s own auction data and model how bid changes, not only budget changes, would affect results
• It is built for planning next month or next quarter, including seasonal opportunities
• For a single Google Ads account with stable, eligible campaigns, it may be all the forecasting you need

Performance Planner answers a planning question: if we spend this much on these Google Ads campaigns next month, what might we get. Its forecasts refresh daily from the last 7 to 10 days, cover monthly and quarterly periods and need campaigns that meet data thresholds, so low-volume B2B campaigns can fall outside it.

Pacing Console answers the in-month question: are we on track to spend the budget we planned, across Google, Microsoft and LinkedIn, and what did that spend produce in the CRM. A common setup is to agree the monthly budget with Performance Planner, enter it in Pacing Console as a budget plan, and let the hourly pace and daily email keep the month on target while lifecycle stages (Pro) or pipeline and revenue (Enterprise) show cost per opportunity.

• Create a Pacing Console workspace; the first month is free, no credit card.
• Paste the pre-filled scripts into Google Ads and Microsoft Ads (one per manager account), schedule them hourly and connect LinkedIn Ads.
• Enter the monthly budgets you agreed in Performance Planner as budget plans, with flight dates where campaigns start or stop mid-month.
• Keep using Performance Planner for next month’s plan, and compare its forecast with Pacing Console’s month-end forecast.

Every fact about Google Ads Performance Planner on this page comes from Google Ads Performance Planner’s own public pricing, product and help pages, checked on November 11, 2026, and listed under Sources. Prices are in USD as published that day and change over time, so confirm them with Google Ads Performance Planner before you buy. Where a feature is described as not listed, we did not find it on those pages; it may exist elsewhere.