To provide a sputtering apparatus and method, and a sputtering control program which are configured simply and can secure the uniformity of the film thickness from the beginning to the end of the use of a target. There are provided: a target 15 disposed so as to face an object to be treated 19; a permanent magnet unit M which generates a high-density plasma by means of a magnetic field and deposits a material of the target 15 on the object to be treated, in the form of a film; a rotational mechanism 9 which rotates the permanent magnet unit M; and a rotation number control apparatus 7 which gradually changes the number of rotations of the permanent magnet unit M rotated by the rotational mechanism 9. The rotation number control apparatus 7 has a rotation number setting section 702b for setting the number of rotations to be switched, a switching time setting section 702a for setting the time for switching, a detection section 703 for detecting the switching time, a selecting section 704 for selecting the number of rotations at the switching time, and a switching section 705 for outputting an instruction of switching to the selected number of rotations.