Paid ads · · ether.
How much do Facebook ads cost?
Facebook ads cost whatever budget you set. You choose a daily or lifetime budget, and Meta's auction decides what each click, lead or booking costs inside it, based on your audience, your ads, the time of year and how many other advertisers want the same people. For a small business, the number that matters is the cost per enquiry: what you pay Meta for each form, booking or call, plus any fee to run the account. Work out what an enquiry is worth before you launch, track real enquiries from day one, and give Meta two to three weeks to learn before you judge the cost.
What you pay for
- Ad spend: paid to Meta directly from your card. Most campaigns are billed by impressions, and some objectives can be billed by clicks instead.
- Creative: the images, videos and copy, made by your team, a designer or an agency.
- Management: a monthly fee if someone else runs the account. Some agencies charge a flat fee, others a share of your ad spend.
- Tracking: the Meta Pixel and Conversions API, set up once so Meta can see which ads bring enquiries.
What sets the price in the auction
- Audience: a small audience that many advertisers want costs more to reach than a broad one.
- Your ads: Meta favours ads people engage with, so clear, relevant creative usually wins cheaper results.
- Objective: a campaign built for reach pays less per view than one built for leads or bookings, and each lead is worth more.
- Season: costs rise when more advertisers compete, such as the weeks before the holidays.
- Placement: Feed, Stories and Reels on Facebook and Instagram are priced separately inside the same auction.
How to set a first budget
- Work out what an enquiry is worth: your average sale multiplied by the share of enquiries that become customers.
- Decide the most you would pay for one enquiry and still come out ahead.
- Set a budget that can bring in several enquiries a week. Meta needs a steady flow of results to finish its learning phase, so a very small budget may never get there.
- Run the test for two to three weeks before making big changes, then compare your cost per enquiry with what an enquiry is worth.
How to keep the cost per enquiry down
- Send each ad to a page that matches its offer, with a tracked form or booking.
- Count only real enquiries as conversions, so Meta learns from the right people.
- Refresh your creative every month, since the same ads tire quickly on Meta.
- Add one qualifying question to lead forms, so fewer low quality leads get through.
Where to start
If you want a hand with this, see Meta Ads, browse examples of our work, or get a free AI Search Check to see where your business stands today.
Questions
What is the minimum budget for Facebook ads?
Meta sets a low daily minimum, so you can start small. A budget that is too small rarely brings enough results for Meta to learn, so plan for at least a few enquiries a week during the test.
Are Instagram ads cheaper than Facebook ads?
Both run from the same Meta account and auction. Costs vary by placement and audience, so let Meta spread the budget across both at first, then compare cost per enquiry by placement.
How much does it cost to have an agency run Facebook ads?
At ether., Meta ads management is C$700 a month, Google and Meta together are C$1,300 a month, and a pack of six ads is C$650. Ad spend is paid to Meta directly.