A good cost per lead is any cost below what a lead is worth to you. For reference, the US median across all industries was about US$28 a lead in 2025, from about US$17 in real estate to about US$77 for dentists1. Work out your own break-even with the method below.
Facebook cost per lead by industry
These are WordStream’s 2025 medians from 726 US lead campaigns1, shown in your currency. Treat them as a rough guide: your area, offer and the quality of your leads all move the number.
| Industry | Median cost per lead |
|---|---|
| All industries | US$27.66 |
| Real estate | US$16.61 |
| Personal services | US$30.57 |
| Home and home improvement | US$41.26 |
| Physicians and surgeons | US$47.47 |
| Beauty and personal care | US$51.42 |
| Health and fitness | US$52.98 |
| Dentists | US$76.71 |
Leads are also getting dearer. The average Facebook cost per lead rose about 21% in a year2. That makes leads that never become paying work more expensive every year.
Why the average doesn’t tell you if your ads work
Two businesses can pay exactly the same per lead and get completely different results. A roofer paying $60 a lead can make a fortune; a cleaner paying $60 a lead can lose money on every booking. The difference is what a lead is worth.
Cheap leads can also be the most expensive. An ad bringing $15 leads that never answer the phone costs more per paying customer than one bringing $50 leads that book. Ads Manager can’t see that; you can.
How to work out a good cost per lead for your business
Multiply three numbers you already know:
- What a job or new customer is worth: the average sale, or for repeat businesses, what a customer spends in their first year.
- Your margin: the share you keep after materials, wages and other costs.
- Your close rate: out of every 10 leads, how many become paying work.
Value × margin × close rate = what a lead is worth to you. That’s your break-even cost per lead. Anything below it makes money; anything above it loses money, however cheap it looks.
| Example | Job value | Margin | Close rate | A lead is worth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plumber | $450 | 50% | 30% | $68 |
| Roofer | $8,000 | 30% | 15% | $360 |
| Hair salon (first-year client) | $480 | 50% | 40% | $96 |
There’s a step-by-step version of this in what a lead is worth to your business, and industry-by-industry budget guides below.
What to do with ads above your number
- Turn off ads that have spent more than a lead is worth without bringing one, once they’ve had a fair chance.
- Give more budget to ads that bring leads well under your number, a step at a time.
- Track which ads bring paying work, not just leads. Ask new customers how they found you, or note it from the form.
Questions
Is a $5 lead good?
Only if those leads become customers. Very cheap leads often come from people who tap a form by accident or don’t remember filling it in. Judge on cost per paying customer.
Why did my cost per lead go up?
Common reasons are more competition, an ad people have seen too often, a smaller audience, or a change that reset Meta’s learning. See why Facebook ads stop working.
Are Instagram leads cheaper than Facebook leads?
It varies. Run both placements in the same campaign and let the results decide, judged on paying customers.
See what your own ads are worth
Tony checks every live ad each morning and tells you which to turn off, which to scale and why, using your numbers. The first audit is free and takes four minutes.
Sources. Dollar figures from studies are shown in your currency, converted at Reserve Bank of Australia rates for 9 October 2026 and rounded; each source has the original. Example amounts are the same number in your currency.
- WordStream (LocaliQ), Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2025: medians of 726 US lead campaigns, April 2024 – June 2025. www.wordstream.com/blog/facebook-ads-benchmarks-2025
- Search Engine Land, “Facebook ad costs jump 21% in 2025, but still beat Google”, September 2025 (WordStream LocaliQ data). searchengineland.com/facebook-ad-costs-jump-beat-google-461690