Hourly rate
Rates climb with experience. This model suits ongoing account management, since weekly optimization and reporting take about the same time each month.
Facebook advertising pricing, split between Meta and the person running your ads
Ask ten business owners about facebook advertising pricing and most will quote the amount they load into Ads Manager. That's only half the bill. The other half is the specialist who plans the campaign, sets up tracking, builds the creatives and tunes results every week. Here's how the two differ and how each one gets billed.
Free, no obligation. A senior project manager walks you through the analysis.
Free analysis in 24 hours
Send us your website. Within 24 hours, you'll get a written analysis comparing your marketing with your competitors'.
Free marketing analysis
- PDF analysis
- 5 competitors
- Prioritized action list
Your analysis is prepared by a senior project manager with 15+ years of experience in marketing.
Key takeaways
The short version
Before you read on
- Your total cost is two separate bills: the ad budget you pay Meta and the fee for whoever plans and optimizes the campaigns.
- Specialists charge by the hour, by the project or on a monthly retainer. In the US, ongoing management usually runs $500 to $3,000 a month.
- Your ad budget goes straight from your card to Meta, and nobody should mark it up without telling you.
- A specialist who has already run Meta campaigns in your industry burns less of your budget on the learning curve.
- On every Meta account, a senior project manager with 15+ years in marketing defines the scope with you up front and compares cost per result with the plan at each milestone.
Good to know
One question about price, two separate bills
When people ask what Facebook ads cost, they usually mix up two unrelated budgets. The first is ad spend: what you pay Meta for impressions and clicks, charged to your card or ad account. The second is labor. Someone has to set objectives, install the pixel and the Conversions API, write and design the ads, and adjust audiences as the data comes in. Owners tend to forget that second line, yet it's what decides whether the first one gets wasted on the wrong people.
We don't work like a facebook ads agency that hands every account to the same in-house team, whatever the industry. A senior project manager with 15+ years in marketing reads your brief and, within 24 hours, matches you with a vetted Meta ads specialist who has worked in your field before. From then on, that manager tracks the scope and pace of the work for you.
Keep the two lines apart in every quote you get. The fee shows what the expertise costs. The ad budget, which you set yourself in Ads Manager, decides how many people see your ads. For what clicks and impressions cost, see our Facebook ads service overview or the guide on ad spend.
In short
Pricing at a glance
2
bills to plan for, one for ad spend and one for the specialist's fee
$500 to $3,000
typical monthly management fee in the US
24 hours
from your brief to meeting your Meta ads specialist
15+ years
in marketing for the project manager who oversees your account
How it works
How specialists charge for Facebook campaigns
Monthly retainer
A flat monthly fee for management, typically $500 to $3,000 in the US, depending on how many campaigns, creatives and markets you run.
One-time project
A fixed price set after a consultation and based on the hours the job will really take. It usually covers an account audit or a first launch with pixel and event setup.
Ad budget, always billed separately
You pay Meta directly, whatever the fee. We never touch that money or take a cut of it.
Side by side
Agency, freelancer or a matched specialist
An agency hands your campaign to whoever has time that week and scopes it from a fixed package
With us: a specialist picked for your ad budget and goal, with a scope you agree on directly
A freelancer from an ad, with no way to tell if they've handled your industry or budget size
With us: someone who has run Meta campaigns in your industry and was vetted on live accounts first
Hiring on your own means weeks of interviews and portfolio reviews
With us: one vetted person, introduced the next day
Working with a contractor directly, you check quality and pace by yourself
With us: a senior project manager reviews each milestone before it reaches you
Step by step
Getting a price for facebook ads management services
Step 1
A free first call
Tell us your goal, your industry and roughly what you plan to spend on ads. The call and the written analysis are free.
Step 2
A specialist within 24 hours
The project manager reads your brief and picks one Meta ads specialist whose past accounts look like yours.
Step 3
Quote and scope
The specialist proposes an hourly rate or a project price. The project manager makes sure the scope fits your goal and the ad budget you have in mind.
Step 4
Milestones you approve
You sign off on each milestone, from tracking setup through optimization. The project manager checks quality and pace, and goes over the results with you in a monthly report.
Checklist
Questions to ask before you accept a quote
Before you agree to a price, get the person and the scope in writing so nothing rests on assumptions.
Checklist
- Whether the price covers only the specialist's work or the ad budget too
- Whether each part of the scope is spelled out: audit, creatives, optimization, reporting
- Who keeps admin access to the ad account and the pixel if you part ways
- How often you'll see results, and in what format
- Whether the specialist has run Facebook campaigns in your industry at a similar budget
- Who bills you for the work, and whether that suits how you keep your books
Who it's for
How scope and fees shift as your business grows
The cost of running facebook ads with a specialist isn't one fixed number. It follows how much work your situation actually needs.
An online store new to paid social
Needs an account audit, Conversions API setup and a first round of test campaigns, usually priced as a project.
A service business with steady traffic
Does well with hourly management of lead campaigns and a budget rebalanced every month.
A brand whose existing account is slipping
Often just needs its campaign structure and audiences reviewed, a shorter one-time job.
A B2B company trying a new channel
Starts with a smaller ad budget, but the specialist's rate is the same as on larger accounts, so hourly billing usually fits.
What you can count on
What matching and oversight include
You don't have to vet freelancers yourself. We pick your specialist for your industry and budget, check them before they start and put a senior project manager over the account.
A Meta ads specialist who knows your industry
Someone who has run Facebook and Instagram campaigns in a similar field and at a similar budget, introduced within a day.
Vetted before day one
We review portfolios, references and live campaign results before anyone joins, so you don't have to.
A plan at kickoff and a report each month
The plan for your Meta campaigns is agreed at kickoff. Each month the project manager sends you a report on spend and results, with the plan for the next month.
Every milestone reviewed with you
The project manager walks you through each milestone and flags it when cost per result drifts off plan, before your budget goes to waste.
FAQ
Questions companies ask us
Short answers. The free analysis call covers anything specific to your company.
01What does a specialist charge to run Facebook campaigns?
In the US, ongoing management usually costs $500 to $3,000 a month, depending on how many campaigns and creatives you run. Larger accounts often pay 10 to 20 percent of ad spend instead. The fee covers planning, setup and optimization. Your ad budget with Meta is always extra.
02Does the specialist's fee include the budget for impressions?
No. The money you pay Meta to show your ads is always a separate cost. You set it yourself in Ads Manager, and it has nothing to do with the specialist's hourly rate or retainer.
03How does facebook ad agency pricing compare with an independent specialist?
Agencies tend to sell packages with a set scope, and your account shares a team with other clients. An independent specialist charges for the hours your account really needs. Both bill on top of the ad budget, so compare what work you get, not just the monthly number.
04Does a lower rate mean a weaker campaign?
Not necessarily. A rate mostly reflects experience and the industries someone usually works in. That's why we pick for fit with your brief, not for the lowest price.
05What makes up the total facebook marketing cost for a small business?
Three things: the ad budget you pay Meta, the fee for whoever manages your campaigns, and creative production if that fee doesn't cover it. Add them up and you have a realistic monthly figure to weigh against the revenue your ads bring in.
06How long does it take to find a Facebook ads specialist?
You'll meet your specialist within 24 hours of sending your brief. The first call, where you walk through your goal and budget, costs nothing. Your marketing analysis arrives as a PDF.
07Who keeps track of the results my Facebook ad budget brings?
The project manager tracks quality and pace from the start and measures cost per result against the plan at every milestone. Once a month they go through the numbers with you, so you always know what your ad spend is doing.
Free analysis
See where your marketing stands, then decide what to do next
Send us your website. Within 24 hours, you'll get a written analysis comparing your channels with your competitors', plus a call with a senior project manager who has run marketing for 15+ years.
- Analysis within 24 hours
- No obligation
- PDF covering 5 competitors
- Team picked by your PM
Free marketing analysis
- PDF analysis
- 5 competitors
- Prioritized action list
Your analysis is prepared by a senior project manager with 15+ years of experience in marketing.
Are you a marketer with experience in a specific industry? Join the team