How much an ad on Facebook costs depends on several factors, which are important for marketers to understand in order to set realistic expectations and budgets? These include the objectives of your campaign (e.g., brand awareness, link clicks, or conversions), the bidding option you select (auto-bid or manual bid), and your desired business results.

When you create an ad, Facebook automatically places a bid on your behalf to get the most results possible for your budget. During the ad auction, Facebook evaluates the ads competing for space by looking at their bids, estimated action rates, and ad quality and relevance, which it then combines into a total value. The ad with the highest value wins the auction and gets shown to audiences.

Budgeting Wisdom: How Much Does an Ad on Facebook Cost

Another factor that influences your ad’s price is when it will run, with ads typically more expensive during peak times, when people are most active on Facebook. Hootsuite reports that the cheapest time to target Facebook ads is during nighttime and that the best times of day to advertise on Facebook are Wednesday through Friday between 8 and 9 am when many people start their workday.

You can also decide how far your advertising dollars will go by choosing a daily or lifetime budget for your ad set. With a daily budget, Facebook paces your spending throughout the day to ensure you don’t reach your entire budget in one day. With a lifetime budget, Facebook spends your budget evenly over the lifetime of the ad set, but there is a minimum of $1 a day for ad sets charged for impressions.