Insights · Paid traffic · Facebook Ads
How much do Facebook ads cost in the UK?
By Tom O, Senior Performance Specialist
Published · 3 minute read
The short answer
There is no fixed price for Facebook ads. You set your own budget, and Meta charges through an auction based on how many people see or click your ads. What matters is cost per lead and cost per client: in our campaigns, Meta-led campaigns for UK service businesses have produced leads from around £22 to £89 each, depending on the sector and how qualified the lead needs to be.
"How much do Facebook ads cost?" is the wrong question, and also the right one. Wrong, because you choose your own budget and can spend £5 a day or £5,000. Right, because what you really want to know is what a client will cost you. Here is how to work that out.
How does Facebook ad pricing work?
Facebook and Instagram ads are sold through Meta's auction. Every time there is space for an ad, Meta chooses which ad to show based on your bid, how likely people are to respond, and how relevant and good quality your ad is. You set a daily or lifetime budget and Meta spends it. You never pay more than your budget.
What changes how much you pay?
- Who you target: competitive audiences, such as homeowners aged 35 to 65, cost more to reach.
- Where: London usually costs more than a market town.
- When: costs rise in busy periods such as November and December, when retailers bid hard.
- Your ad: ads people engage with are rewarded with cheaper delivery.
- Your goal: optimising for leads costs more per impression than optimising for reach, but brings far better results.
What does a lead cost?
This is the number to plan around. These are real results from our own client campaigns where Meta was a main channel.
| Client | Channels | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Aesthetics clinic, East London | Meta ads, online booking | £22 per booking |
| Dental practice, Surrey | Meta and Google, AI chatbot | £28 per lead |
| Financial adviser, North West | Google and Meta funnel, lead grading | £89 per qualified lead |
Lead Gems client campaigns. Each is published in full on our case studies page.
The pattern is clear. Consumer services with a simple, visual offer get cheaper leads. Higher-value, regulated services cost more per lead, but each client is worth far more.
How to set your budget
- Work out what a lead is worthAverage client value multiplied by the share of leads that become clients. A £1,800 treatment and a 1 in 5 conversion rate means a lead is worth up to £360.
- Pick a test budgetEnough for around 20 to 30 leads at your expected cost per lead, so you have real data to judge.
- Run for four weeksTest two or three audiences and a few ads. Switch off what does not work weekly.
- Scale what worksIncrease budget in steps of around 20% on the ad sets bringing booked appointments.
About the author
Tom O, Senior Performance Specialist. Tom runs campaigns across Google, Meta and LinkedIn and leads our landing page projects, making sure every pound a client spends has a clear commercial purpose.
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