In brief: there is no universal TikTok advertising budget. A useful plan starts with an acceptable acquisition cost, the conversion rate of the destination and the number of creative variations required to learn something.
Work backwards from business economics
Start with margin, lead quality, close rate and repeat value. These determine what a qualified action can reasonably cost. A low cost per click is not success if the traffic cannot become a customer.
Separate test budget from scale budget
The test phase buys information. Its job is to compare clear hypotheses and collect enough data to make a decision. The scale phase follows only when creative and conversion signals remain stable across a meaningful window.
Avoid reacting to every short-term movement
Frequent changes can reset delivery and make results harder to interpret. Establish review times before launch, document what changed, and increase spend in controlled steps.
A disciplined budget is not necessarily small. It is a budget connected to a question, a time window and a decision rule.