Marketing
Just like with Google Ads, "how much does Meta Ads cost" isn't a single number. There are still two separate costs, paid to two different recipients: the ad spend you pay to Meta, and the management fee you pay the person or agency building and optimizing your campaigns. If someone gives you one "all-inclusive" figure, you have no way of knowing how much actually goes into the platform and how much stays with them.
The difference from Google Ads matters more than that, though: Google captures demand that already exists, someone is actively searching for what you sell. Meta creates demand, it interrupts someone's scroll with a relevant ad even if they weren't looking for anything at that moment. They're not competing platforms, they're complementary, and that changes how you should read the numbers below.
What a Click and a Lead Actually Cost on Meta in Romania
Cost per click (CPC) on Meta in Romania sits somewhere between 0.5 and 3 lei, significantly lower than Google Search, where CPC starts at around 1.5 lei and climbs from there. Cost per lead varies far more widely depending on the niche, somewhere between 10 and 100 lei, with good cases landing below that range when the offer and creatives genuinely work.
The general rule: for classic B2C categories, retail, residential real estate, local services, online courses, cost per lead on Meta runs about 25-40% lower than on Google Ads, because you're not competing directly on expensive keywords, you're competing for attention.
Which Industries Are Cheap and Which Are Expensive
- Cheap: fashion ecommerce, HoReCa, impulse products under 500 lei, courses and info-products
- Medium: local services (hairdressers, salons, aesthetic clinics), education, events
- Expensive: real estate, insurance, financial services, any audience with high contract value, because more companies bid aggressively on the same audience
A higher cost per lead doesn't automatically mean a bad campaign. If a residential real estate client is worth several thousand euros in commission, an 80-100 lei lead is excellent, not expensive. What matters is cost per profitable client, not CPC in isolation.
Recommended Minimum Budget
Below a certain threshold, Meta's algorithm doesn't have enough data to deliver efficiently, no matter how good the creatives are. As a realistic benchmark for 2026:
- Local businesses, one service, one city: minimum 1,000 - 1,500 lei per month in ad spend
- Ecommerce or mid-ticket services: minimum 2,500 - 4,000 lei per month
- Competitive niches (real estate, finance, premium aesthetics): double the budget above
First results usually show up within 7-14 days, but the real optimization, the one that drives cost per lead below target, only kicks in around weeks 3-6, once the system has gathered enough data on which audience and which creative actually convert.
How Much Does Managing a Campaign Cost
The pricing structure follows the same logic described in our Google Ads guide: freelancer starting from a few hundred lei a month, small-to-medium agency around 500-1,500 lei, large agency with complex accounts above 1,500 lei. Always check that the Business Manager is under your company's name, with you as the primary admin, not the agency's account, so you don't lose your audiences and historical data if you switch providers.
Google Ads vs Meta Ads, Quickly
Google Ads captures people who are already actively searching for your solution, Meta creates demand among people who weren't even thinking about it five minutes ago. For most small businesses, the best strategy combines both: Meta for visibility and lead volume at a lower cost, Google Search for purchase intent at the decision moment.
If you want a real estimate for the right budget for your Meta Ads campaign, not a number pulled out of thin air, let's talk. We'll show you exactly what budget and cost per lead make sense for your niche.
