Facebook Ads · Cost per leadUpdated October 2026Data Jan 2025 – Sep 2026
Facebook Ads Cost Per Lead Benchmark 2026
From January to September 2026, the median Facebook ad account paid $37 per lead, down from $53 in 2025.
2025 and 2026 combined
- Average
- $119
- Most common
- $10–$20
- Median
- $40
What Facebook advertisers pay per lead
Across both years, the most common range is $10–$20, where 18% of ad accounts land. The average is $119, well above the median of $40, because the 13% paying $200 or more pull it up.
Facebook leads cost 13% less in 2026
Month by month, the median ad account's cost per lead from January to September 2026 was 13% lower than the same months of 2025.
Cost per lead by month
- 2025
- 2026 (to Sep)
Median ad account each month. Months with too few ad accounts are left blank. Source: HelloConversions, Meta Marketing API.
| Month | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | $33.10 | $29.92 | −10% |
| Feb | $37.08 | $32.08 | −13% |
| Mar | $45.73 | $39.77 | −13% |
| Apr | $38.32 | $33.63 | −12% |
| May | $37.07 | $28.47 | −23% |
| Jun | $40.75 | $25.39 | −38% |
| Jul | $54.34 | $26.66 | −51% |
| Aug | $33.96 | $34.37 | +1% |
| Sep | $34.36 | $37.68 | +10% |
| Oct | $35.45 | not yet | |
| Nov | $46.59 | not yet | |
| Dec | $46.87 | not yet |
— means too few ad accounts that month to report.
16% lower
Median business, CRM-verified cost per lead vs the Meta-reported figure for the same spend
HelloConversions customers see a cost per lead 16% lower than Ads Manager reports
Same ad spend, more of the real leads counted. Meta's pixel misses leads that iOS privacy settings, blocked cookies and in-app browsers hide from it; the CRM still records them. The free report shows the comparison business by business.
What counts, and how it's measured
- Cost per lead
- Ad spend divided by the leads Meta reports for the same ad account: lead events or completed registrations, whichever each ad recorded more of. This is the Ads Manager figure, before any CRM matching.
- Who's included
- Meta ad accounts connected to HelloConversions, Jan 2025 – Sep 2026, pulled from the ad platform's own API rather than a survey. Each ad account counts once per year, unweighted, so a large account counts the same as a small one. We don't publish names or how many accounts there are, so every chart shows shares.
- Minimums
- An ad account counts toward a year with at least $1,000 in spend and 10,000 impressions and 20 leads, and toward a month with $250 and 10 leads. A month with fewer than 5 qualifying ad accounts is left blank rather than shown from a handful.
- The monthly line
- Each month shows the median ad account rather than the average: a few very expensive accounts make a monthly average jump around without saying much about what's normal.
- Updated monthly
- Complete months only, refreshed early each month; this page uses data through September 2026. Year-over-year changes on the monthly charts compare the same months of 2026 and 2025.
Questions
What is a good cost per lead for Facebook ads in 2026?
Half of Facebook ad accounts paid less than $40 per lead across 2025 and 2026, and the most common range is $10–$20. Landing under the median puts you ahead of half of advertisers. Whether a lead cost is good for you depends on what a lead is worth to your business, so compare it with your close rate and order value too.
Is Facebook cost per lead going up or down?
Down. The median ad account paid $37 per lead in 2026 so far, down from $53 in 2025. Month by month, the median ad account's cost per lead from January to September 2026 was 13% lower than the same months of 2025.
Why is the cost per lead in Ads Manager different from my CRM?
Ads Manager can only count the leads Meta's pixel and attribution rules see. iOS privacy settings, blocked cookies and in-app browsers hide real leads from it, while the CRM records every contact. For HelloConversions customers, the cost per lead counted in the CRM came out 16% lower than Ads Manager's figure for the median business, on the same spend.
What counts as a lead in this benchmark?
A lead or a completed registration, as Meta reports it in Ads Manager: on each ad, whichever of the two it recorded more of. That is the same number your own Ads Manager cost per lead is built from, so the two compare directly.
Where does this data come from?
From Meta ad accounts connected to HelloConversions, pulled straight from the ad platform's API, and from the GoHighLevel CRMs they feed. It's measured data, not a survey. We don't publish names or how many accounts there are, so every chart shows the share of ad accounts rather than counts.
How often are these benchmarks updated?
Every month, as soon as the month is complete. The numbers here run through September 2026.
Put your cost per lead next to the benchmark
The full report adds cost per lead measured in the CRM, CAC, CPC, CTR and more, each with the spread and the year-over-year change. Free, and it opens as soon as you submit.