You can run Facebook ads from as little as $1 (about £1) a day, which is Meta’s minimum. Across US lead campaigns in 2026, the typical cost is around $27 per lead and $1.80 per click. But the number that matters is not the budget. It is what each lead costs you compared with what a customer is worth.
“How much should I spend on Facebook ads?” is the question I get asked most. The honest answer is that there is no single right budget. There is only the right cost per lead for your business. This guide shows you what ads cost right now, a real example running on £10 a day, and a simple way to work out your own number.
What Facebook ads cost in 2026
WordStream’s 2026 benchmarks looked at 452 US lead-generation campaigns that ran between April 2025 and June 2026. These are the typical (median) results:
| Industry | Cost per lead | Cost per click | Lead conversion rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| All industries | $27.39 | $1.80 | 8.54% |
| Real estate | $13.74 | $1.27 | 9.95% |
| Home & home improvement | $42.95 | $2.18 | 5.32% |
Source: WordStream Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2026. US campaigns, figures in USD.
Those are averages, and averages hide a huge range. Two businesses in the same town, selling the same thing, can pay £5 or £50 for a lead. The difference is almost never the budget. It is the offer, the ad, and the page the ad sends people to.
A real example: £10 a day
One of my clients has run the same campaign on £10 a day since October. It has never been raised. Straight from his Ads Manager:
- £3,209.70 total spend
- 742 enquiries
- £4.33 per enquiry
He closes about 9% of those enquiries, and his service is £3,000. That is roughly 66 customers and over £200,000 in sales from about £3,200 of ads. A small budget worked because almost nothing is wasted between the ad and the enquiry. You can read the full £10-a-day case study.
How to work out your own budget
Want the answer in 30 seconds? Use my free Facebook ads budget calculator. Or do it by hand:
Forget “what should I spend”. Work backwards from what a customer is worth:
- What is one customer worth to you? Use the profit from a typical job or sale, not the total price.
- How many enquiries do you close? If you win 1 in 10, your close rate is 10%.
- Multiply them. That is the most one lead is worth to you.
Example: a job makes you £1,000 profit and you close 1 in 10 enquiries. Each lead is worth £100 to you. If ads bring leads in at £20, every £1 you spend comes back as about £5. At that point the question is not “can I afford ads?” but “how many leads can I handle?”
Then set the budget from the number of leads you want: leads per month × cost per lead ÷ 30 = daily budget. Twenty leads a month at £15 each is £300 a month, or about £10 a day.
Want me to run these numbers for your business?
On a free 30-minute call I will work out your break-even cost per lead and the budget that makes sense. You keep the plan either way.
Book a free callWhat makes Facebook ads cheaper or more expensive
1. The page the ad sends people to
This is the biggest lever, and the one most people ignore. On a typical page, about 3 in every 100 people who click become an enquiry. Get that to 6 in 100 and you have halved your cost per lead without touching the ads. That is what funnel architecture is about.
2. The offer
“Get a free quote” is what everyone says. A clear, specific offer gets more people to put their hand up, which lowers the cost of every lead.
3. The ad itself
Real photos and short videos of your work usually beat polished stock images. Testing a few versions and switching off the losers is where most of the savings come from.
4. Tracking
Without the Meta Pixel and Conversions API set up properly, Meta cannot learn who your real customers are, so it keeps showing ads to the wrong people. Good tracking makes every pound work harder.
5. Competition and time of year
Ad prices go up when more businesses compete for the same people, especially in the run-up to Black Friday and Christmas.
Boosting posts vs running proper campaigns
The “Boost post” button is the most expensive way to advertise. It is built to get likes and comments, not enquiries. A proper campaign in Ads Manager lets you choose leads as the goal, test different ads, and send people to a page built to convert. Same money, very different results.
So, how much should you spend?
Start with a budget you are comfortable losing while you test, then let the numbers decide. If your cost per lead is well under what a lead is worth to you, put more behind it. If it is not, fix the ad, the offer or the page before spending more. A small budget with a good system beats a big budget with a leaky one, every time.
If you would rather have it done for you, that is exactly what I do: Facebook ads management, from the ad to the booked call.
Spending but not getting results? See why Facebook ads fail and how to fix them.
Frequently asked questions
Is £5 or $5 a day enough for Facebook ads?
It is enough to get a first test running. Results come more slowly on very small budgets because Meta has less data to learn from, so give it time before judging. One of my clients has run successfully on £10 a day for months.
How much does a Facebook lead cost?
Across US lead campaigns in 2026 the typical cost was about $27 per lead, from around $14 in real estate to about $43 in home improvement (WordStream). With a strong offer and landing page it can be far lower. One of my clients pays £4.33 per lead.
Do Facebook ads work for small businesses?
Yes, when they are set up to generate enquiries rather than likes. Small, local businesses often do well because they can target exactly the area they serve.
How long before Facebook ads work?
Ads can bring enquiries within days. The first few weeks are mainly for testing, and results usually improve as Meta learns who responds.
Should I hire someone to run my Facebook ads?
If your time is worth more than the fee, or your ads are not bringing profitable leads, it usually pays to have a specialist set it up properly. Either way, know your cost per lead and what a lead is worth to you.
Related guides
- Facebook lead ads vs landing pages: which gets better leads?
- Hiring a Facebook ads expert: freelancer vs agency, and what to ask
- Meta Pixel and Conversions API explained for small businesses
- Facebook ads for real estate agents: how to get seller and buyer leads
Pierce Tagle is a Facebook ads expert and AI automation specialist. He builds the ads, funnels and GoHighLevel follow-up systems that turn clicks into booked calls for businesses in the US and UK. More about Pierce