Free tool
What should you spend on ads?
Four numbers in, a clear target out: how many leads you need, and what you can afford to pay for each one.
Run the numbers
Start from what a client is worth.
Most ad budgets are picked out of the air. This one works backward from the result you want.
How to read it
Three numbers worth knowing.
What a lead is worth
The value of a new client multiplied by how often a lead becomes one. Pay more than this per lead and the campaign loses money.
What your budget buys
Your budget divided by the leads you need. This is the cost per lead a campaign has to hit for your goal to work.
Where the floor is
Most local and B2B campaigns need at least $1,000 to $2,500 a month in ad spend to produce reliable data.
The short answer
Enough data to learn from.
For most owner-led businesses, that means $1,000 to $2,500 a month in ad spend. Spend much less and a campaign rarely gathers enough data to learn what works.
How much is enough? Google recommends judging its automated bidding on at least 30 conversions over 30 days. In WordStream’s 2026 benchmarks, the typical US search ad lead cost $66.69. Thirty of those comes to about $2,000.
Your own number depends on what a client is worth to you, which is what the calculator works out.
2026 benchmarks
What a lead costs now.
Typical figures from the latest published benchmarks. Use them to sanity-check your own numbers, not to set them.
| Platform | Cost per click | Cost per lead |
|---|---|---|
| Google search, all industriesMedian of 13,474 US campaigns | $5.42 | $66.69 |
| Google search, business services | $5.87 | $93.69 |
| Google search, industrial and commercial | $5.87 | $75.19 |
| Facebook and Instagram lead adsMedian of 452 US campaigns | $1.80 | $27.39 |
| LinkedIn, B2B advertisersSpend-weighted, mostly tech companies | Not reported | $202 |
Google and Meta: WordStream, Google Ads Benchmarks 2026 (Google and Microsoft search ads, April 2025 to March 2026) and Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2026 (lead campaigns, April 2025 to June 2026). LinkedIn: Metadata, 2026 B2B Paid Media Benchmark Report (153 B2B advertisers, 2025 data). Checked November 2026.
The whole budget
What companies spend on marketing.
Ads are one line in a marketing budget. In 2026, companies reported spending this share of revenue on marketing overall.
Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey, as reported by Marketing Dive. The CMO Survey 2026 (Duke Fuqua, Deloitte and the American Marketing Association): highlights and firm breakouts.
FAQ
Questions about the numbers.
How much does Google Ads cost a month for a small business?
You set the budget, so there is no fixed price. To give automated bidding enough to learn from, plan for about 30 leads a month. At the 2026 median of $66.69 a lead (WordStream), that is roughly $2,000 a month in ad spend, before any management fee.
What percentage of revenue should go to marketing?
There is no single rule. In 2026, companies reported spending 7.8% of revenue on marketing (Gartner, mostly large firms) and 9.0% (The CMO Survey). Smaller companies in The CMO Survey reported a higher share. Start from what a client is worth, then check the total against your revenue.
Are Facebook leads cheaper than Google leads?
Per lead, usually: $27.39 against $66.69 in WordStream’s 2026 benchmarks. But someone searching on Google is already looking for what you do, while a Facebook lead was found mid-scroll. Compare what a client costs, not what a lead costs.
Why do LinkedIn leads cost so much more?
You are paying for precision: reaching people by job title, industry and company size. B2B advertisers paid about $202 a lead in 2025, according to Metadata’s benchmark report. That can still pay off when one client is worth many times that.
How long until I know if ads are working?
Give a new campaign at least two weeks without changes while it learns. Google suggests judging results over 30 days, with at least 30 conversions. On Meta, an ad set finishes learning after about 50 results in a week.
What if I do not know my close rate?
Count your last twenty serious inquiries and how many became clients. If you have no record, start at 20 percent and adjust as you learn.
Does the budget include management fees?
No. The calculator covers ad spend only, the money paid to Google, Meta or LinkedIn.
Which platform should I advertise on?
Google Search and Local Services Ads capture demand that already exists. Meta and LinkedIn build it. The right one depends on your customer.
Next step
Want a second opinion on the numbers?
Send us what you found. We will tell you honestly whether the budget is enough to work.