"Custom pricing, book a call." You already know what that call ends with.
A number with no context, and you still won't know if it's fair. Here's what agencies actually charge, broken down by structure, so you walk into that call already knowing what's normal.
Flat monthly fee: $500–2,500/month.
Most common under $10K/month ad spend. Predictable, easy to budget against, but the number alone tells you nothing. A $500/month fee with 3 creatives and no landing page work is a different deal than $500/month with 10 creatives, funnel setup, and weekly reporting.
See exactly what's included in a real package →
Percentage of ad spend: 10–20%.
Common above $10K/month. Scales with your growth, and with the agency's incentive to keep your spend climbing, not necessarily your efficiency. Worth asking directly how they handle that tension.
Hourly or project-based: for one-time work.
Makes sense if you need a campaign built correctly once, then you'll run it yourself. Rarely used for ongoing management.
The red flag that costs you the most: no mention of creative production.
Targeting and budget matter, but stale, repetitive ad creative burns a budget faster than bad targeting ever will. If creative refresh isn't explicitly in the deliverables list, ask what's not included, because something usually is.
"So what should I actually expect to pay?"
For most businesses under $10K/month ad spend: a flat fee in the $500–1,500 range that explicitly lists creative volume, reporting cadence, and what happens if month one underperforms. Anything vaguer than that is a quote, not a plan.
Our packages list every deliverable before you sign.
Creative count, reporting cadence, and what changes if the first 30 days don't hit target. No "custom pricing" black box.