There’s no price list for Facebook and Instagram ads. You decide how much to spend, and Meta’s auction decides what each view, click or sale costs you. For most Canadian small businesses and e-commerce brands we work with, a useful starting budget for a retailer is about $1,000 a month in ad spend, and on one Quebec online store we manage, a sale from a brand-new customer costs about $20 to $26, while sales from past customers cost far less.
The rest of this guide explains where those numbers come from, what pushes them up or down, and how to work out your own budget before you spend anything.
How Meta decides what you pay
Every time someone opens Facebook or Instagram, Meta runs an auction for the ad slots in their feed, Stories and Reels. Your ad competes with every other advertiser trying to reach that person. Meta picks the winner based on three things:
- Your bid: how much you’re willing to pay. With the default settings, Meta bids for you based on your budget.
- Estimated action rate: how likely that person is to do what you asked for (click, buy, fill a form).
- Ad quality: how people react to your ad. Ads that people hide or report cost more to show.
So two businesses targeting the same people can pay very different prices. A strong ad that people actually want to click on wins auctions for less.
You’re charged as your ads run, not up front. Meta bills you each time your spending reaches a payment threshold (it starts low and goes up as your account builds a payment history), or on your monthly billing date, whichever comes first.
The four numbers that tell you what ads cost
When people ask “how much do Facebook ads cost”, they usually mean one of these:
| Metric | What it means | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) | What it costs to show your ad 1,000 times | How expensive your audience is to reach |
| CPC (cost per click) | What you pay, on average, for each click | How well your ad gets attention |
| Cost per lead | Spend divided by form fills, calls or bookings | What matters for service businesses |
| Cost per purchase | Spend divided by sales | What matters for online stores |
A low CPC means nothing if nobody buys. For an online store, the number to watch is cost per purchase, compared with what a customer is worth to you. For a service business, it’s cost per lead, compared with how many leads become clients.
What we see on real Canadian accounts
From our accounts
One of our clients, an online store that ships across Canada. 12 months of Meta ads, October 2025 to September 2026, about $52,000 in ad spend, average order around $48.
- CPM: $6.17 on average. Lowest in January ($4.17), highest in summer ($7.40 to $7.51).
- By province: Quebec $6.57, British Columbia $6.26, Ontario $5.40, Alberta $4.75. Ads shown in the US cost $11 to $17 per 1,000 views.
- Cost per click: $0.12 to $0.19.
- Cost per purchase, as Meta reports it: $2.63 across sales campaigns. Counting only people who clicked (7-day click), it’s $4.64, and $7.77 counting only purchases made the same day as the click.
- Cost per purchase from new customers only: about $19 to $26.
The gap between those numbers is the lesson. Meta counts anyone who saw an ad and bought within a day, including loyal customers who were going to buy anyway. We judge the account on total store revenue divided by total ad spend, and on what a new customer costs.
For local service businesses, where the goal is a form fill or a call rather than a sale, leads on our accounts usually cost around $25 to $30.
These are real numbers from one account, not promises. Your numbers depend on what you sell, your margins, your offer and how good your ads are. But they give you a realistic place to start, instead of the “$0.50 a click” figures you’ll see quoted from other countries.
What makes Meta ads cost more (or less)
The time of year. Costs often climb around Black Friday and the holidays, when every brand is bidding for the same people. It isn’t the same for every business, though. For that client, January was the cheapest month of the year and summer was the most expensive, while November and December sat in the middle. Look at your own CPM by month before planning around a “busy season”, and if you’re testing something new, January and February are often good months to do it.
Your audience. A narrow audience (one neighbourhood, a specific job title) usually costs more per person reached than a broad one. These days Meta’s broad targeting often works better than detailed interests, as long as your ad speaks clearly to the right buyer.
Your creative. The ad itself is the biggest lever you control. A new video or image that stops the scroll can cut your cost per sale more than any targeting change. We test new creative every month on every account for that reason.
French and English. In Quebec you need French ads (the Charter of the French Language requires French in commercial advertising). Running both languages means splitting your budget and testing in each. For that client, where we run the same campaigns side by side for French and English audiences, the difference was small: French audiences cost 2% to 4% more to reach (CPM), and the cost per purchase was about the same (around $18 for a new customer in French, $20 in English). Don’t expect French ads to be cheaper or more expensive by default. Expect a smaller audience, and write the French ad from scratch, not as a translation.
Your website. Meta can bring people to your store, but it can’t make them buy. A slow site, a confusing checkout or surprise shipping costs will raise your cost per purchase no matter how good the ads are.
How to set your first budget
Start from the result you want, not from a round number.
Step 1: Know what a sale or lead is worth. If your average order is $90 and your margin is 40%, each sale earns you $36 before ad costs. That’s the most you can pay per sale and still break even on the first order. If customers buy again, you can afford to pay a bit more.
Step 2: Give Meta enough data to learn. Meta’s system needs around 50 results per week in an ad set to leave its “learning phase” and stabilise. If your cost per purchase is around $40, that’s roughly $2,000 a week for one ad set to learn quickly on purchases. Most small businesses can’t do that, which is why we often start by optimising for an earlier step (like add to cart or leads) or by keeping the account to one or two campaigns so the data isn’t spread thin.
Example: these are illustration numbers, not benchmarks.
| Small test | Steady growth | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly ad spend | $1,000 | $3,000 |
| Cost per purchase (example) | $40 | $35 |
| Purchases per month | about 25 | about 85 |
Step 3: Commit to at least 4 to 8 weeks. The first weeks are for learning which audiences and ads work. Judging a campaign after five days usually means turning it off just before it would have improved.
Step 4: Watch the daily budget behaviour. Meta can spend more than your daily budget on a good day (up to 75% more) and less on a slow one, but it balances out over the week. If you need a hard cap, use a lifetime budget or an account spending limit.
What about the cost of an agency?
Ad spend and management are two separate costs. Ad spend goes to Meta. Management pays someone to plan, build, test and report on your campaigns.
At Nexa, ad management plans start at $899 a month, with a 3-month minimum, and your ad account stays in your name. We break down how agencies price their work, and what’s fair, in our guide to digital marketing agency pricing.
Whether you hire help or run ads yourself, the same rule applies: don’t judge Meta on clicks. Judge it on what it costs to get a customer, and on what that customer is worth.
Frequently asked questions
Is $500 a month enough for Facebook ads?
It’s enough to test an offer or promote a local event, but it’s tight for an online store. At $500 a month, Meta struggles to collect enough results to optimise for purchases. If that’s your budget, keep it to one campaign, one audience and a few strong ads, and judge it on leads or add-to-carts first.
Are Instagram ads more expensive than Facebook ads?
You usually don’t have to choose. When you run a campaign in Meta Ads Manager, the same ad can show on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and other placements, and Meta shifts your budget to where results are cheapest. Prices per placement vary by audience, so it’s better to let Meta decide at first and then check the placement report.
Why did Facebook charge me $25 (or another amount)?
That’s your payment threshold. Meta charges you each time your ad costs reach that amount, then raises the threshold over time. It’s not an extra fee.
Do I pay taxes on Facebook ads in Canada?
Sales taxes can be added to your Meta invoices depending on where your business is and how it’s registered. Check the billing section of your ad account and talk to your accountant about claiming them back.
Can I stop paying at any time?
Yes. You can pause or delete campaigns whenever you want. You only pay for what has already run.
Want a second opinion on your Meta ads? Tell us what you’re spending and what you’re getting back. We’ll tell you what we’d change first. See how we run Facebook and Instagram ads or book a free strategy call.
Related: 10 ways to get more from your Facebook ads · Paid media management in Montreal
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