The Short Answer
Across $27.1 million in US Meta ad spend from mid-July to mid-October 2026, the typical large account paid:
- $17.46 per 1,000 impressions (CPM). Consumer brands paid a median of $17.27. Apps and service businesses paid $30.81.
- $2.18 per link click (CPC). Consumer brands paid $2.07, apps and services $3.31.
- 0.98% click-through rate. About one link click for every 100 impressions.
- $58 per purchase for ecommerce brands that optimize for purchases, with a range of $17 to $374.
- $40 per lead for lead-generation accounts.
Facebook and Instagram are bought together, in the same auction, so these numbers cover both. More on Instagram below.
Most pages that rank for this question quote CPMs of $4 to $15. That's an average across lots of small accounts. For US brands spending real money, $15 to $30 is a more honest planning range.
The Data
We pulled account totals from July 15 to October 14, 2026, for the US Meta ad accounts we have visibility into as a creative agency, keeping every account that spent at least $100,000 in that window. Together they spent $27.1 million. They fall into two groups:
- Consumer brands: food, beverage, supplement, pet, home, baby and beauty products
- Apps and services: software, streaming, telecom, finance, health and lead-generation businesses
We report medians, so one very large account can't skew the results. Brand names are anonymized. Cost per purchase only includes ecommerce brands that optimize for online purchases. Part of our Meta Ads Statistics report.
Facebook Ad Costs at a Glance
| All accounts | Consumer brands | Apps and services | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median CPM | $17.46 | $17.27 | $30.81 |
| Median cost per link click | $2.18 | $2.07 | $3.31 |
| Median link click-through rate | 0.98% | 0.98% | 1.00% |
| CPM range | $4.21 to $61.24 | $4.21 to $46.95 | $11.63 to $61.24 |
| CPC range | $0.24 to $8.63 | $0.24 to $3.92 | $0.67 to $8.63 |
What stands out:
- Apps and services pay almost twice as much to reach people. Their audiences are smaller and more competitive, and many optimize for deeper events like trials, applications or subscriptions, which Meta prices higher.
- The range is huge. The cheapest account paid $4.21 per 1,000 impressions and the most expensive paid $61.24, a gap of more than 14x. Budget doesn't explain it. Audience, optimization goal and creative do.
- The cheapest accounts reach the most people. The two lowest CPMs belonged to consumer brands reaching very large audiences. Creative that appeals to a wide range of people is one of the most reliable ways to keep CPMs down.
Cost Per Purchase
For the ecommerce brands that optimize for online purchases, the median cost per purchase was $58, with a median order value of about $86.
| Cost per purchase | |
|---|---|
| Median | $58 |
| Lowest | $17 |
| Highest | $374 |
The more useful number is cost per purchase as a share of order value. The median brand paid about 46% of its average order value to get a sale on Meta. Brands with high-priced products paid as little as 16% to 23%. Subscription brands paid more than their first order was worth, because they're paying for a customer they expect to keep, not a single sale.
That's why there's no single good cost per purchase. What you can afford depends on your margin and how often customers come back. Use our ROAS calculator to find your break-even cost per purchase from your own order value and margin.
Cost Per Lead
Lead-generation accounts, like telecom, health services and education offers, paid a median of $40 per lead, ranging from about $21 to $52. As with purchases, what counts as a good cost per lead depends on how many leads turn into customers and what a customer is worth.
How Much Do Instagram Ads Cost?
You don't buy Instagram ads separately. Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and the Audience Network are all sold through Meta's Ads Manager, in the same auction, and most advertisers run them together. With Advantage+ placements, Meta moves budget between Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, Reels, Stories and other placements to get the most results for the money.
So the numbers above are effectively Instagram costs too. Costs do differ by placement, but Meta decides the split for most campaigns, and the best way to lower costs on any of them is the same: ads made for each format, especially vertical video for Reels and Stories.
What Changes the Cost of Facebook Ads
Your Audience
Smaller, more competitive audiences cost more to reach. That's a big part of why apps and services pay almost twice what consumer brands do. Broad targeting usually brings CPMs down, as long as your creative speaks to a wide range of people.
Your Optimization Goal
Meta prices impressions based on the result you ask for. Optimizing for purchases, trials or applications costs more per impression than optimizing for clicks or views, but those clicks and views aren't worth as much.
The Time of Year
Costs rise in the second half. In our Meta ads benchmarks, the median CPM rose 26% from June to August 2026. On Black Friday 2025, CPMs were 57% higher than October, but cost per purchase was 42% lower because shoppers converted so much more often. The cheapest stretch was late December to early January.
Your Creative
Creative is the input you control most. A stronger hook lifts click-through rate, which lowers cost per click. A clearer offer lifts conversion rate, which lowers cost per purchase. And a wider range of genuinely different ads helps Meta find cheaper people to show them to. Since Meta's Andromeda update, that variety matters more than ever. See creative diversity on Meta.
How Much Should You Spend on Facebook Ads?
Meta lets you start with a few dollars a day. Its own pricing page suggests starting with at least $5 and running for more than six days. That's enough to test, but not to learn much.
A more useful way to set a budget is to work backward from cost per purchase. Meta's delivery system works best with a steady flow of conversions, and an ad set generally needs about 50 in a week to get out of the learning phase. If your cost per purchase is around $58, every 50 purchases a week costs about $2,900 a week, or roughly $12,500 a month.
Plan for the ads, too. Large accounts in our data ran about one live creative per $1,000 of weekly spend. See how many ads to run on Meta.
What Facebook Ad Creative Costs
Ad spend is only half the cost. Someone has to make the ads, and on Meta you need a lot of them.
| Option | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Individual UGC creators | $200 to $500 per video |
| Budget freelancers and agencies | $3,000 to $5,000 a month |
| Specialist performance creative agency | $10,000+ a month |
| High-end production studio | $100,000+ per video |
As a rule of thumb, scaling brands often spend around 5% to 10% of their Meta budget on creative. More in what a creative agency for Meta ads costs.
How to Lower Your Facebook Ad Costs
- Go broad. Give Meta a large audience and let the creative do the targeting.
- Optimize for the result you actually want. Cheap clicks that don't buy aren't cheap.
- Raise your click-through rate. Test new hooks and angles. Doubling CTR roughly halves cost per click.
- Fix the landing page. A higher conversion rate lowers cost per purchase without touching the ads.
- Run more genuinely different ads. Variety helps Meta find cheaper buyers and keeps ads from wearing out.
- Plan around the calendar. Have holiday creative live by early November and use the cheap weeks after Christmas to test.
Get the Creative That Lowers These Numbers
Biddyco is a creative agency for Meta ads for brands spending $100K to $5M+/month. We make UGC, motion, static and hybrid ads with a US-based senior team, across 100+ accounts. Book an intro call to talk through your numbers, or see more data in our Meta Ads Statistics hub.
FAQ
How much do Facebook ads cost in 2026?
Across $27.1M in US Meta ad spend from July to October 2026, the median account paid $17.46 per 1,000 impressions, $2.18 per link click, $58 per purchase for ecommerce brands and $40 per lead for lead-generation accounts. Apps and service businesses paid more, with a median CPM of $30.81.
How much do Instagram ads cost?
About the same as Facebook ads, because they're bought together in the same Meta auction. Most advertisers run Facebook and Instagram placements together and let Meta shift budget between them. In our data, the median CPM across both was $17.46 and the median cost per link click was $2.18.
What is a good CPM for Facebook ads?
For US brands at scale, $15 to $30 is normal. In our data, consumer brands paid a median of $17.27 and apps and services $30.81. The cheapest accounts reached very large audiences with creative that appeals to a wide range of people.
What is a good cost per click on Facebook?
The median cost per link click in our data was $2.18, ranging from $0.24 to $8.63. Consumer brands paid a median of $2.07. Cost per click depends mostly on CPM and click-through rate, so better hooks bring it down.
How much does a Facebook ad cost per day?
You can start with as little as a few dollars a day, and Meta suggests at least $5. To learn what works, budget for a steady flow of conversions. At a $58 cost per purchase, 50 purchases a week is about $2,900 a week.
Why are my Facebook ads so expensive?
Usually it's a narrow or competitive audience, an expensive optimization goal, the time of year, or creative that doesn't hold attention. Late November and early December are the most expensive weeks to reach people. New, genuinely different creative is often the fastest fix.
