How many cards can a carousel ad have?

On Facebook, Messenger, and Audience Network, Meta's Design Specifications page sets a minimum of 2 cards and a maximum of 10. Instagram splits that maximum by surface: up to 10 cards in Feed, but only 3 in Stories.

What is the character limit for carousel ad text?

It depends on which Meta page you read. The Design Specifications page lists hard maximums of 125 characters for text, 40 for the headline, and 25 for the link description on Facebook, Messenger, and Audience Network. The Ads Guide's own recommendation for Facebook Feed is shorter: about 80 characters of primary text, a 20 character headline, and an 18 character description.

Can each carousel card link to a different page?

Yes. Meta describes the format as each card having its own headline, description, link and call to action, so a 5-card carousel can send clicks to 5 different product pages if you want it to.

Will my carousel ad show as a video instead of cards?

It can. Meta says a carousel ad may appear as a slideshow video automatically when this format is likely to improve your ad performance, so the static cards you upload are a starting point Meta can convert, not always the final format people see.

Advertising Glossary

Carousel Ad

What is ?

A carousel ad is Meta's term for a single ad unit that shows 2 or more images and videos, each with its own headline, description, link and call to action; people swipe on mobile or click arrows on desktop to move between cards. Meta's Design Specifications page sets the hard limits: a minimum of 2 cards and a maximum of 10 on Facebook, Messenger, and Audience Network. Instagram splits the maximum by surface, up to 10 cards in Feed but only 3 in Stories. Meta also warns that your carousel ad may appear as a slideshow video automatically when this format is likely to improve your ad performance, so what you upload as still cards is not always what people end up seeing. The format is not just for product grids. Meta's own guidance lists several distinct uses: featuring multiple products that link to different landing pages, highlighting multiple features of a single product, using images and videos in succession to tell a story, walking people through how a business works step by step, and presenting one large image split across all the cards for an immersive effect. Text limits differ depending on whether you read the Ads Guide's recommendations or the Design Specifications page's hard maximums. For Facebook, Messenger, and Audience Network, the Design Specifications page lists a 125 character limit for text, a 40 character limit for the headline, and a 25 character limit for the link description. The Ads Guide's own recommendation for Facebook Feed is shorter than any of those maximums: about 80 characters of primary text, a 20 character headline, and an 18 character description, closer to what actually performs well than the ceiling Meta allows you to fill.

Example

A retailer builds a 5-card carousel for Facebook Feed: card 1 leads with the best-selling item, cards 2 through 4 show complementary products, and card 5 closes with a discount code and a Shop Now call to action. Each card links to its own product page, since Meta lets every card carry a separate link. Instead of writing to the 125 character text maximum, the advertiser follows the Ads Guide's own recommendation of roughly 80 characters, and keeps the headline near the recommended 20 characters rather than the 40 character maximum, so the message reads as a hook rather than a stuffed label. Because the minimum card count is 2 and the maximum is 10, the retailer also knows a 5-card sequence still leaves room to add seasonal cards later without rebuilding the ad.

Meta Carousel Specs (Design Specs + Ads Guide)

Platform / Segment	Value	Note
Cards, Facebook/Messenger/Audience Network	2 to 10	Design Specifications for Carousel Ads
Cards, Instagram	10 Feed, 3 Stories	Instagram splits the maximum by surface
Primary Text	80 recommended, 125 max	Ads Guide recommendation vs Design Specs maximum
Headline	20 recommended, 40 max	Ads Guide recommendation vs Design Specs maximum

Cards, Facebook/Messenger/Audience Network2 to 10

Design Specifications for Carousel Ads

Cards, Instagram10 Feed, 3 Stories

Instagram splits the maximum by surface

Primary Text80 recommended, 125 max

Ads Guide recommendation vs Design Specs maximum

Headline20 recommended, 40 max

Ads Guide recommendation vs Design Specs maximum

Facebook, Messenger, and Audience Network unless noted; Instagram caps differ by surface.

Optimization Tips

1
Lead with your strongest card. Meta still shows the first card by default in most placements, so the product, angle, or line most likely to stop a scroll belongs in position one.
2
Write to the Ads Guide's recommended lengths, not the Design Specifications maximum. Meta's own Feed recommendation is 80 characters of primary text and a 20 character headline, well under the 125 and 40 character ceilings the format technically allows.
3
Do not fill every card with a near-identical image just to reach the 10-card maximum. Meta's own use cases (multiple distinct products, a step-by-step process, a single story told across cards) all assume each card earns its place; padding with repeat crops of the same shot works against the format.
4
Expect Meta to sometimes render your carousel as a slideshow video instead of static cards. Meta states this happens automatically when it is likely to improve performance, so design each card so it still reads correctly if it plays back to back with the others.
5
Give every card its own destination link when you run a multi-product carousel, since each card can carry a different link, description, and call to action rather than funneling every click to the same page.