Meta ads cost $13 to $14 per thousand impressions at the 2026 median, $0.70 to $0.80 per click on traffic campaigns and $1.40 to $1.90 blended, and about $38 per purchase on ecommerce panels. Minimum budgets are a few dollars a day; a campaign optimizing to purchases needs roughly 50 conversions a week per ad set to exit the learning phase, which sets the practical floor.
What moves it
Costs rise in the fourth quarter, for narrow audiences, and for accounts with tired creative. Advantage+ setups and fresh creative are the main cost levers, since targeting is largely automated.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram) benchmarks, September 17, 2026
| Average CPM | $13 to $14 median in H1 2026, up roughly 20 percent year over year; wide spread from under $3 to over $60 by account and objective |
| Average CPC | $0.70 to $0.80 for traffic campaigns; $1.40 to $1.90 blended and for lead campaigns; $3 or more in SaaS |
| Average CTR | 1.0 to 2.2 percent; 0.6 percent in SaaS, 1.5 percent in pet products |
| Conversion rate | About 1.6 percent (click-based) |
| CPA | About $38 median for ecommerce panels |
| ROAS | About 1.9x median across large ecommerce panels |
Sources and every other channel: Meta (Facebook and Instagram) benchmarks.
Run your own numbers with the CPM calculator.
Cite this page:
Agency Echelon. "How much do Facebook and Instagram ads cost?" Agency Echelon Reference, reviewed September 2026. https://agencyechelon.com/reference/questions/how-much-do-facebook-ads-cost/