How much do Facebook ads cost?
In 2026 the median Facebook lead campaign paid $1.80 a click and $27.39 a lead. For practices the 2026 cost per lead runs from $13.74 for real estate to $61.56 for dentists; law firms paid $104.58 in WordStream’s last reliable legal figure (2024). Put in your budget and what a new client is worth to see what it buys.
At the median for attorneys & legal services
- Cost per lead (median)
- $104.58
- Leads a month
- 29
- Clicks a month
- 353
- New clients or patients
- 2.9
- Ad cost per new client
- $1,046
- Revenue from them
- $8,606
- Revenue minus ad spend
- $5,606
- Clients needed to cover the spend
- 1.0
Medians from WordStream by LocaliQ’s 2024 Facebook ads benchmarks (US lead campaigns): half of campaigns did better, half did worse. Ad spend only; agency or production fees are extra. The 2025 edition prints $18.17 for attorneys, the same figure as Arts & Entertainment in the row above it, and the 2026 edition has no legal row, so this is the 2024 figure.
See sample video ads for your practiceFacebook lead ad costs by industry
Medians for US campaigns using the leads objective. Attorneys come from the 2024 edition. The 2025 edition prints $18.17 for attorneys, the same figure as Arts & Entertainment in the row above it, and the 2026 edition has no legal row, so this is the 2024 figure. The tables have other repeated cells too: every edition, checked.
| Industry | Cost per lead | Cost per click | Conversion rate | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dentists & Dental Services | $61.56 | $5.70 | 6.07% | 2026 |
| Beauty & Personal Care | $50.91 | $2.97 | 5.63% | 2026 |
| Physicians & Surgeons | $32.14 | $1.68 | 6.41% | 2026 |
| Health & Fitness | $27.11 | $1.84 | 7.98% | 2026 |
| Attorneys & Legal Services | $104.58 | $8.50 | 7.57% | 2024 |
| Real Estate | $13.74 | $1.27 | 9.95% | 2026 |
| All industries | $27.39 | $1.80 | 8.54% | 2026 |
Source: WordStream by LocaliQ, Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2026 (updated September 15, 2026; 452 lead campaigns, April 2025 to June 2026) and, for attorneys, 2024 (2,946 campaigns of every objective, February 2023 to April 2024). Chiropractors and therapists have no category of their own; the nearest is health and fitness. Med spas fall under beauty and personal care.
What the benchmarks leave out
- A lead is a form or a call, not a client. How fast your team calls back decides how many become clients.
- The creative changes the price. Meta’s auction weighs how likely people are to act on an ad and its quality, not only the bid, so ads people watch cost less to show.
- Health, legal and housing ads have extra rules on Meta that limit targeting, so the ad has to find its audience on its own.
Whether the spend pays depends on what a client is worth to you: the break-even math for each practice type.
By practice
- Video ads for law firms · $104.58 a lead
- Video ads for medical practices · $32.14 a lead
- Video ads for dental practices · $61.56 a lead
- Video ads for chiropractors · $27.11 a lead
- Video ads for med spas · $50.91 a lead
- Video ads for therapists · $27.11 a lead
- Video ads for real estate agents · $13.74 a lead
- Video ads for plastic surgeons · $32.14 a lead
- Video ads for dermatologists · $32.14 a lead
Questions
How much do Facebook ads cost in 2026?
Across industries, the median Facebook lead campaign paid $1.80 a click and $27.39 a lead, in WordStream by LocaliQ’s 2026 benchmarks (452 US campaigns, April 2025 to June 2026). You set the budget yourself; Meta charges only what you allow.
Do Instagram ads cost the same as Facebook ads?
Instagram ads are bought in the same Meta Ads Manager and the same auction as Facebook ads, and one campaign can run on both. The benchmarks here come from Facebook campaigns; costs on Instagram placements vary with the audience and the creative.
How much should a practice spend on Facebook ads?
Work back from what a new client is worth. If a new patient or client is worth $3,000 and one in ten leads becomes one, a $60 lead costs $600 per new client. The calculator above does that sum for your numbers.
Why are dental leads so expensive?
Dentists and dental services had the highest median cost per lead in the 2026 benchmarks, $61.56, and the highest cost per click, $5.70. Health ads also cannot target by condition, so the creative has to find the audience.