Free tools / Meta Ads cost calculator

Meta and Facebook Ads cost calculator

Work out the Facebook and Instagram ad budget you need from your target customers, cost per click and conversion rates. Free, and it runs in your browser.

Your target
Your rates

Monthly ad budget

–

in your currency

Clicks needed
–
Leads needed
–
Cost per lead
–
Cost per customer
–
Return on ad spend
–

Pre-filled with example figures, not benchmarks. Use the numbers from your own account and CRM.

How the calculator works

It works backwards from the customers you want. Leads needed = customers ÷ lead-to-customer rate. Clicks needed = leads ÷ click-to-lead rate. Budget = clicks × cost per click. Cost per customer = budget ÷ customers.

The most important input is the lead-to-customer rate, and it only comes from your CRM. Meta can tell you cost per click and cost per lead, but not how many of those leads became customers.

How Meta charges

Meta mostly charges by impressions (CPM), even when you optimise for clicks or leads. To use this calculator, take your effective cost per link click: spend divided by link clicks in Ads Manager.

  • Audience and competition. Narrow or contested audiences cost more per thousand impressions.
  • Creative. Ads people engage with are delivered more cheaply. Fatigued creative gets more expensive.
  • Optimisation event. Meta finds people likely to do what you optimise for, so optimise for a real lead, not a page view.

Meta's attribution windows include views, so it often claims conversions other platforms claim too. See how we run Meta Ads measured on closed revenue.

Questions people ask

How much should I spend on Facebook Ads?

Start from the customers you need and work back through your lead-to-customer and click-to-lead rates to the clicks needed, then multiply by your cost per link click.

Does Meta charge per click or per impression?

Mostly per thousand impressions. Cost per click is spend divided by clicks, which is the figure this calculator uses.

Why do Facebook leads cost little but rarely close?

Cheap leads can be low intent, especially from instant forms. Judge Meta on the leads that qualify and close in your CRM, not on cost per lead.

More free tools: all drop-b tools.

See what your Meta leads turned into.

The audit reconciles Meta's reported conversions with the leads and deals in your CRM.

Get the free audit