Costs and pricing
Part of What do Facebook ads cost UK local businesses?
What do Facebook ads cost UK local businesses?
UK Facebook ads often cost £6 to £14 per 1,000 views, £0.40 to £1.20 per click and £12 to £45 per lead. See UK benchmarks, tools and budgets.
What to take away
- Meta publishes no rate card, but public UK benchmarks for local lead campaigns often sit at £6 to £14 CPM, £0.40 to £1.20 CPC and £12 to £45 per lead.
- Local auction pressure is heaviest in dense urban postcodes, so a lead in London can cost double the same lead in a Welsh or Northern Irish town.
- Facebook lead ads keep the enquiry on platform, but you are the data controller for every name, number and postcode under UK GDPR.
- Give a new campaign two to three weeks before judging cost per lead, because early delivery is unstable.
What Facebook ads actually cost in the UK
Meta does not publish a price per advert. The Facebook ads system sells impressions through an auction. Public UK benchmarks for local lead campaigns often put CPM at £6 to £14, CPC at £0.40 to £1.20 and cost per lead at £12 to £45.
UK Facebook ad cost benchmarks
- £6–£14 | per 1,000 views (CPM)
- £0.40–£1.20 | per click (CPC)
- £12–£45 | per lead
- £10–£35 | per lead ad result
These are ranges, not quotes. A boiler replacement lead in a city can reach £40 to £70, while a gutter clearing lead in a rural area can sit at £8 to £20. Your cost per booked job is the number that matters.
Lead ads with an instant form often cost £10 to £35 per result. Alternatives include Google Local Services Ads (pay per lead, Google Guaranteed badge), Checkatrade (annual memberships), MyBuilder (sells leads or connects homeowners), Bark (credits for homeowner enquiries), Rated People (sells leads by trade and postcode).
What drives the cost
| Factor | Pushes cost up | Pushes cost down |
|---|---|---|
| Town size | Dense urban postcodes | Rural radius |
| Trade | Boiler replacement, roofing, emergency call-out | Gutter clearing, odd jobs |
| Timing | Cold snaps, storm weeks, January | Quiet shoulder months |
| Objective | Reach and video views | Lead ads with an instant form |
| Follow-up | Enquiries left sitting for a day | A reply within minutes plus call tracking |
A lead ad with an instant form removes the landing page, so nobody drops out on the way. That usually lowers the cost per lead.
What pushes lead costs up or down
Pushes cost up
- Town size
- Dense urban
- Trade
- Boiler, roofing, emergency
- Timing
- Cold snaps, storms, January
- Objective
- Reach and video views
- Follow-up
- Left a day
Pushes cost down
- Town size
- Rural radius
- Trade
- Gutter clearing, odd jobs
- Timing
- Quiet shoulder months
- Objective
- Lead ads with instant form
- Follow-up
- Reply in minutes
A form fill answered within five minutes is far more likely to become a booked job. That gap decides your real cost per customer.
Facebook is not the only channel worth pricing. Trades often find that pay-per-lead platforms deliver cheaper quotes but thinner margins, and how Local Services Ads compare with Google Ads sets out the trade-offs before you commit a budget.
Setting up UK targeting and compliant lead forms
Set your radius to your real travel limit or Facebook will serve the whole of the UK.
Lead forms carry their own duty. A customer who sends a name, number and postcode through an instant form has given you personal data, and you become the controller of it. The ICO's direct marketing guidance explains what valid consent looks like.
Your advert copy also has to be honest. The advertising codes enforced by the ASA require claims to be substantiated, so a line about being the cheapest boiler fitter in Yorkshire needs evidence behind it.
A worked monthly budget for one trade
A worked monthly budget
- Set a daily budget of £15. Across a 30-day month that is £450.
- At £20 per lead, that buys about 22 leads. At £40 per lead, it buys about 11.
- Build one lead ad with three images and a single offer, such as a boiler service.
- Set the radius to your real travel limit and exclude postcodes you will not visit.
- Leave the campaign untouched for 14 days before you change budget or audience.
- Review cost per lead at week two, then add call tracking so phone enquiries are counted alongside form fills.
Call tracking matters more for trades than for shops, because a missed call is a lost job rather than a delayed one. The guide to call tracking for UK local services covers routing, recording and the data rules that apply.
Common questions
How much do Facebook ads cost local UK businesses?
Public UK benchmarks often put CPM at £6 to £14, CPC at £0.40 to £1.20 and cost per lead at £12 to £45. Your trade, town and season move those numbers.
Are Facebook lead ads worth it for tradesmen in the UK?
They work when the job is urgent and the customer is already scrolling on a phone. They work badly when nobody answers, because the lead cools within minutes.
Do I need consent wording on a Facebook lead form?
Yes. You are collecting personal data, so the form needs a clear statement of what the customer agrees to and who will make contact.
What should I check before increasing the budget?
Check cost per lead, how quickly each lead was answered, and how many turned into paid work. A cheap lead that never books is dearer than one that does.
