Facebook Ads can be one of the most cost-effective ways to generate leads and sales, but how much should you expect to spend?
The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The cost of Facebook Ads depends on several key factors - your audience, your objectives, how competitive your industry is, and how well your ads perform. And if you're not careful, those costs can creep up without delivering the return you need. In this guide, we’ll break it all down.
You’ll learn:
We’ll also compare Facebook Ads to other platforms like Google and LinkedIn, and share practical tips to help you get the best possible return on your investment.
If you’re running Facebook Ads - or thinking about it - this guide will help you spend smarter, avoid common mistakes, and generate better results from your budget.
Facebook Ads are one of the most powerful tools available to businesses looking to attract new customers online. But if you've ever tried to budget for them, you'll know that pricing can feel confusing at first.
Let’s simplify it.
Facebook runs on an auction system - every time there’s an opportunity to show someone an ad, different advertisers compete for that space. Whether your ad shows (and how much you pay) depends on three key factors:
Even if you're not the highest bidder, a well-crafted, relevant ad can win the auction and cost less.
There are a few ways Facebook charges for ads, depending on your goal:
The right model depends on what you want to achieve. At JDR, we help clients choose the best structure for their goals, whether that’s leads, sales, or long-term brand building.
You’ll also need to decide whether to use automatic bidding (Facebook manages bids to get the best results for your budget) or manual bidding (you control how much you’re willing to pay). Automatic bidding is often more efficient for most businesses, especially if you're just getting started.
And remember, your ad’s relevance score plays a huge role. If your ad is engaging and well-targeted, Facebook will reward you with lower costs. If it’s poorly targeted or low quality, you’ll pay more - and get less in return.
One of the most common questions we hear from business owners is: “How much do Facebook Ads actually cost?” The answer isn’t fixed, because Facebook Ads work on an auction system; your costs depend on a number of variables. But once you understand these key factors, you’ll be in a much better position to manage your spend and improve your return.
Let’s break down what really affects the cost of your Facebook Ads.
The more specific your audience, the more competitive - and often, the more expensive. Facebook allows incredibly precise targeting, but if you're trying to reach high-value decision-makers in B2B tech, for example, you're not the only one. Other advertisers are bidding for that same space.
You can target by:
While laser-focused targeting is powerful, it often increases costs. We help clients strike the right balance between reach, precision and affordability.
Some sectors simply cost more to advertise in. For example:
This is largely due to competition - industries with high customer values or high profit margins often invest more in advertising, driving prices up.
Facebook Ads aren’t one-size-fits-all - you choose an objective when you set up your campaign. Whether it’s generating leads, driving traffic, or building brand awareness, your goal affects how Facebook bids on your behalf.
Lower-cost objectives (like reach or awareness) often cost less per result, but may not deliver high-quality leads. Higher-cost objectives (like conversions or lead generation) tend to require bigger budgets, but they’re geared towards delivering tangible results.
We’ll always help you choose the right objective for your business goals, not just the cheapest.
Facebook rewards good ads. If your creative is engaging and relevant to your audience, your relevance score will be high, and your cost per click will be lower.
On the flip side, a poorly targeted or boring ad will get penalised with higher costs.
So if you want to reduce what you pay, focus on creating:
At JDR, we test and optimise every campaign to improve performance and reduce waste.
Your location matters. If you’re targeting London or major UK cities, expect to pay more than if you're running ads in less competitive regions. The more localised and in-demand your audience, the more it may cost to reach them.
Advertising costs can spike during busy seasons like Black Friday, Christmas, or peak summer months. Why? Because everyone is advertising, and demand drives up the auction price. If your industry is seasonal, you’ll want to plan and budget for these fluctuations.
Here are some typical ranges based on our experience and wider industry data (from platforms like Wordstream, AdEspresso and Hootsuite):
| Metric | Average UK Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cost Per Click (CPC) | £0.50 - £1.50 | Varies by industry, audience and ad quality |
| Cost Per 1,000 Impressions (CPM) | £5.00 - £9.00 | Often lower for broad brand awareness campaigns |
| Cost Per Lead (CPL) | £5 - £30+ | B2B campaigns tend to be higher than B2C |
| Click-Through Rate (CTR) | 0.90% - 1.5% | CTRs above 1% are a good benchmark to aim for |
These are general averages - your actual costs may be lower or higher depending on who you’re targeting, your offer, and the quality of your ads.
There’s no one-size-fits-all number, but here’s a guide to help you estimate:
Facebook Ads can be one of the most powerful ways to generate leads and drive growth, but if you’re not careful, they can quickly drain your budget without delivering results. We regularly see business owners fall into the same traps, often without realising where the hidden costs are coming from.
Here are the key pitfalls to avoid - and how to keep your ad spend working harder for your business.
Targeting too broadly wastes budget on people who’ll never buy. But over-targeting with too many filters can restrict reach and drive up costs. Striking the right balance is key - your audience needs to be specific enough to convert, but wide enough to give Facebook room to optimise.
Many businesses run the same image or message for weeks without testing. If your ad isn’t resonating with the audience, Facebook penalises it with higher costs. Without fresh creative, your ads fatigue - performance drops, and costs rise.
If you’re not tracking conversions - whether that’s leads, form fills, or purchases - you’re flying blind. Facebook’s algorithm can’t optimise without data, and you can’t tell what’s working.
It’s tempting to “set and forget,” but Facebook Ads need ongoing optimisation. Poor-performing ads left unchecked will keep draining your budget.
Costs often rise around Black Friday, Christmas, or other key events. If you don’t adjust your strategy, you could pay more for the same results.
Sticking only to single-image ads or boosted posts limits performance. Facebook offers many formats - carousels, video, instant forms - and they don’t all cost the same.
Facebook Ads offer a powerful way to reach your ideal audience, but they’re just one piece of the paid advertising puzzle. To build a truly effective digital marketing strategy, you need to understand how Facebook compares to other major platforms, particularly Google Ads and LinkedIn, and when it makes sense to use each.
Google Ads and Facebook Ads serve different purposes, and often, the best results come when you use them together.
Google Ads target users based on search intent - people actively looking for your product or service. Facebook, on the other hand, is better at generating demand by targeting people based on interests, behaviours, demographics, and past activity - even if they’re not yet searching.
Facebook typically has a lower cost-per-click (CPC) than Google Ads, especially in highly competitive B2B sectors. This makes it ideal for brand awareness and top-of-funnel lead generation, where your cost per lead might be significantly lower.
Google is more text-based (with some display/video options), whereas Facebook offers highly visual ad formats - great for storytelling, showcasing offers, and building emotional engagement.
Use Facebook when you want to build brand awareness, run retargeting campaigns, or promote content to a specific audience. Use Google when users are actively searching for a service or solution like yours.
LinkedIn Ads are often seen as the go-to for B2B marketing, and in some industries, that’s justified. But that doesn’t mean Facebook can’t compete.
LinkedIn offers exceptional professional targeting - job titles, industries, and company size. But Facebook’s targeting is more granular on interests, behaviour, and life stages. Facebook also now supports job role targeting (via third-party data), so B2B targeting is still possible, often with lower costs.
LinkedIn Ads tend to be significantly more expensive. The average CPC on LinkedIn is often 3-5x higher than on Facebook, so your budget won’t go as far.
LinkedIn users are in a business mindset, making it great for thought leadership and high-value lead generation. Facebook, while more casual, offers greater reach and engagement potential at a lower cost, especially for promoting lead magnets like guides or webinars.
If you’re looking to get your brand in front of a B2B audience at scale, especially with gated content offers or video, Facebook often delivers a lower cost per lead. LinkedIn can be ideal for more senior roles or highly niche targeting, but it’s worth testing both.
Instagram is owned by Meta, meaning you can run both Facebook and Instagram Ads from one centralised dashboard. This is particularly useful for businesses with strong visual content or targeting younger demographics.
Campaigns can be run across both platforms simultaneously, with Meta’s algorithm optimising where to show the ad for best results.
Instagram favours strong creative - video, carousel, and story ads work well. If your product or service lends itself to bold visuals, Instagram can be an excellent complement to your Facebook campaigns.
Use Instagram when your audience skews under 45, or when you're promoting visually appealing offers, such as products, lifestyle services, events, or behind-the-scenes content.
| Platform | Best For | Average Cost | Targeting Strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead generation, retargeting, content promotion | Low-Medium | Interests, demographics, behaviours | |
| Google Ads | High-intent search traffic | Medium-High | Keywords, search intent |
| B2B, job-role specific campaigns | High | Job title, industry, company size | |
| Younger, visual-first audiences | Low-Medium | Visual storytelling, lifestyle products |
At JDR, we don’t believe in choosing one platform in isolation - instead, we help you build a multi-channel strategy that gets the most from each channel. We use Facebook and Instagram to generate leads at scale, then support that with Google Ads and LinkedIn, where needed, to capture search demand and reach senior decision-makers.
To get real results from Facebook Ads, you need more than just a budget and a nice graphic. You need a strategy. That means knowing exactly who you're targeting, what you want them to do, and how you’re going to measure success.
Start by defining your target audience in detail. Use Facebook’s powerful targeting tools to go beyond basic demographics and tap into interests, job roles, buying behaviours and more. The tighter the targeting, the more relevant your ads - and the more likely they are to convert.
Your ad creative also plays a huge role. If you want your audience to stop scrolling and take action, your ads need to stand out.
From there, test everything. Test different versions of your images, videos, headlines, text and even your offer. Small tweaks can lead to big improvements - but you only find them by testing.
Make sure your budget is controlled too - start small, scale up when you’re confident it’s working. And finally, don’t just guess - use Facebook’s reporting tools to see what’s working and why.
Getting Facebook Ads right is not just about pushing buttons - it’s about strategy, experience, and understanding how it all fits together. That’s where we come in.
At JDR, we’ve been running lead generation campaigns on Facebook and Instagram for over 15 years. We build campaigns around your business goals - whether that’s generating enquiries, increasing sales or nurturing leads into customers.
As a full-service digital marketing agency, we don’t just ‘boost posts’ or tick boxes. We handle everything - from strategy to creative, tracking, testing and day-to-day campaign management. That means you get:
If you're serious about using Facebook Ads to grow your business, we'll give you the expertise and structure to make it work.
Understanding how Facebook Ads work is a great start, but implementation is everything. If you’re looking to get better results, improve ROI, or just want to know if you’re on the right track, we can help.