How Much Does It Cost to Do an Ad on Facebook?

If you’re a local service business thinking about running Facebook (Meta) ads, one of the first questions you’ll ask is:

“How much does it cost to run Facebook ads?”

The honest answer is: Facebook ads can be very affordable — but the real cost depends on your goals, your industry, and how well your campaign is built.

This article breaks down real numbers from real campaigns, what actually determines cost, and what results you can realistically expect.

The Real Cost of Facebook Ads

Technically, you can run Facebook ads for almost any budget. Facebook does not require a minimum spend. You could run ads for $5 a day if you wanted to.

But in the real world — especially for local service businesses — results usually become consistent once you reach a certain threshold.

From real campaign experience, here’s what that looks like:

Most businesses start seeing stable and predictable results around $30 per day, with $50 per day being the ideal starting point.

That equals roughly $1,500 per month in ad spend.

For businesses working with a professional agency, the total monthly investment typically lands around $3,500 per month, which includes ad spend plus campaign management, optimization, and ongoing testing.

But cost alone doesn’t tell the full story. The more important question is:

What do you actually get for that investment?

What Results Can You Expect?

For most local service businesses — especially in home improvement, professional services, and agency-style businesses — once campaigns are optimized, we commonly see:

Cost per lead typically falls between $20 and $50.

With about $1,500 in monthly ad spend, that usually produces 30 to 75 leads per month, depending on the industry, competition, and quality of the creative.

From a business perspective, most service companies only need one or two closed jobs to fully recover their ad investment. Many campaigns go on to generate $5,000 to $10,000+ in monthly revenue once optimized.

So while Facebook ads do have a cost, the real focus should always be return on investment — not just ad spend.

What Actually Determines Facebook Ad Cost?

Most people believe targeting is the biggest factor in Facebook ad costs. It’s not.

From real campaign data, the single biggest factor affecting cost and performance is creative quality.

Your creative — the video, message, hook, and offer — determines:

Who stops scrolling
Who watches your ad
Who engages
Who the algorithm shows your ad to next

In other words:

Your creative does the targeting for you.

When the right audience watches and engages, Facebook automatically finds more people like them. This lowers your cost per lead and improves lead quality over time.

Strong creative makes ads cheaper. Weak creative makes ads expensive.

Why Spending Slightly More Often Lowers Your Cost

One of the most misunderstood aspects of Facebook ads is budget.

Many businesses assume spending less saves money. In reality, spending slightly more often improves efficiency and lowers cost per lead.

For example, we’ve seen nearly identical campaigns where the only difference was budget:

One campaign ran at $30 per day and generated leads around $45 each.
The other ran at $50 per day and dropped to around $30 per lead.

Nothing else changed — just the budget.

Higher spend allows the algorithm to gather more data, learn faster, optimize better, and deliver more consistently. That’s why $50 per day tends to outperform $30 per day in both stability and cost efficiency.

The Biggest Mistake Businesses Make With Facebook Ads

Most Facebook ad campaigns don’t fail because Facebook ads don’t work.

They fail because businesses:

Run too few creatives
Stop too early
Expect instant results

Facebook ads require both testing and time.

The algorithm needs time to optimize, and you need time to identify which creatives actually perform. Many campaigns begin producing their best results after optimization kicks in — not immediately after launch.

If a business isn’t prepared to run ads for at least three to four months, it’s often too early to judge performance.

Consistency and testing are what turn ads into a predictable growth system.

The Framework We Use to Control Costs and Generate Results

Instead of guessing which ad might work, we structure campaigns to force data and results through testing.

A typical campaign structure we use includes:

One campaign
Two ad sets — one warm audience and one cold audience
Ten ads running simultaneously

This approach allows multiple creatives to compete, quickly identifies winners, and naturally lowers cost as the algorithm learns who responds best.

Most businesses fail because they launch one or two ads and hope for results. Effective campaigns rely on structured testing, not guesswork.

So… How Much Does It Cost to Run Facebook Ads?

Here’s the realistic answer based on real-world experience:

You can start with around $30 per day, but most businesses see stronger, more efficient results around $50 per day. That usually equals about $1,500 per month in ad spend.

With proper management, testing, and optimization, total monthly investment often lands around $3,500 — and for many service businesses, just one or two closed deals can cover that cost entirely.

Facebook ads are not just an expense. When done correctly, they become a predictable lead generation system that scales your business over time.

If you’re considering Facebook ads, the real question isn’t just how much they cost — it’s how much revenue they can generate when built and optimized correctly.

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