Ask what a marketing agency costs and you'll hear "it depends", which is true and not much help. It depends on a handful of things you can pin down: which services you need, how the agency prices them, what's left out of the quote, and who actually does the work. Here's what each of those looks like for a small business in 2026, with real market ranges.
- Most small businesses pay $500-$4,000 a month per service, plus ad spend for paid channels.
- Websites are usually one-off projects, from about $1,500 with a freelancer to $15,000 at a boutique agency.
- Agencies price by monthly retainer, project, hourly rate or a percentage of ad spend. Retainers are the most common.
- The quote is rarely the whole bill: ad spend, creative, landing pages, tools and contract minimums come on top.
- For comparison, our monthly services run $500-$2,000 each, month-to-month, and builds start at $1,200.
What each service costs
These are typical published prices for small-business work in the US, reviewed in October 2026.
- Facebook and Instagram ads management. Usually $500-$3,500 a month on small-business rate cards, $3,500-$5,000 and up at larger agencies. Ad spend is extra. Full breakdown.
- Google Ads management. Often $500-$750 a month for small accounts and $1,500-$2,500 for mid-sized ones, or 10-20% of ad spend, usually with a minimum fee.
- SEO. The most common retainer bracket is $501-$1,000 a month, and the average is $2,917, according to Ahrefs' survey of 439 providers.
- Social media management. Standard retainers run about $1,500-$4,000 a month, depending on platforms, posting volume and who makes the content.
- Website. Freelance-built small-business sites run roughly $1,500-$8,000, boutique agencies $6,000-$15,000, and larger firms more.
- Landing page. Freelancers charge about $300-$1,500 a page; small agencies $1,500-$3,000 with copy included.
- Hourly work. US digital marketing agencies typically bill $100-$149 an hour, according to Clutch's pricing data.
Most small businesses don't need all of these at once. One paid channel plus a page that converts is a common starting point, with SEO added once the ads have shown what sells.
How agencies price their work
- Monthly retainer. A fixed fee for ongoing work like ads or SEO. Easy to budget; check exactly what the month includes.
- Project fee. A fixed price for something with an end, like a website, a landing page or a tracking setup.
- Hourly. Common for audits, advice and small fixes. US agencies typically bill $100-$149 an hour; the risk is hours that creep.
- Percentage of ad spend. Usually 10-20%, often with a minimum. It rewards the agency for spending more of your money, whether or not it works.
Agency, freelancer or in-house?
Freelancers usually cost less. In Ahrefs' SEO survey, freelancers averaged about $1,349 a month against $3,209 for agencies. The trade-off is cover and range: one person rarely handles ads, SEO and the website equally well, and holidays stop the work.
In-house sounds cheaper until you add it up. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for market research analysts, the closest federal category for a marketer, at $78,760 a year (May 2025). That's about $6,560 a month before payroll costs, tools and training, for one person.
A small agency sits in between: specialists for each channel, for less than one full-time hire. The thing to check is who actually does the work. 12 questions to ask before you hire a Facebook ads agency covers that, and most of the questions apply to any agency.
The costs that aren't in the quote
- Ad spend. Paid to Google or Meta on top of the fee. It should be billed to your own card.
- Creative. Video, photography and design are often quoted separately.
- Landing pages. Ads need somewhere to send people, and that page is rarely in an ads retainer.
- Tools. Reporting, page builders and SEO software can add a few hundred dollars a month.
- Setup fees. Common in ads management; worth paying only if they buy something concrete.
- Contract minimums. Six or twelve months is common, especially in SEO. A long minimum is a cost if the work stops working.
How much should you spend in total?
A widely quoted rule, usually attributed to the US Small Business Administration, is 7-8% of revenue on all marketing for businesses under $5 million in sales with net margins around 10-12%. Treat it as a ceiling, not a plan.
A better plan starts from the customers you want: customers wanted, divided by the share of leads that buy, multiplied by what a lead costs. How much to spend on Facebook ads has a calculator that does the sum, and are Facebook ads worth it shows how to check that a customer is worth more than they cost to win.
What we charge
We publish our prices. Each monthly service, whether that's Meta ads, Google Ads, SEO, AI visibility or social media, runs $500-$2,000 a month, with entry plans from $500. It's month-to-month, with no setup fees and no long-term contract, and ad spend goes straight to the platform, never through us.
Builds are fixed-price: websites from $1,200, with most projects running $1,200-$15,000, and landing pages at $1,200-$2,500,, with copy, build and tracking included. Everything is on our pricing page.
Guides by service
- How much does Facebook ads management cost?: market rates, pricing models and hidden costs
- How much to spend on Facebook ads: a budget calculator built on 2026 cost-per-lead data
- 12 questions to ask before you hire a Facebook ads agency: good answers and red flags
- 7 signs your ads agency is wasting your budget: and a 30-minute check you can run yourself
- Landing page design for Facebook and Google ads: what's included, and what it costs
Questions people ask
How much does a digital marketing agency cost per month?
For a small business, most single services run $500 to $4,000 a month, plus ad spend for paid channels. Social media retainers sit around $1,500 to $4,000, and the most common SEO retainer bracket in Ahrefs' survey of 439 providers was $501 to $1,000, with an average of $2,917.
What should a marketing retainer include?
A named person running the work, a set amount of work each month (campaigns, ads, pages or content), tracking set up and checked, and a report on leads, bookings or sales with what each cost. Get the list in writing, including what's extra.
Is a retainer or a one-off project better?
Use a project for something with an end: a website, a landing page, a tracking setup. Use a retainer for work that improves with attention every month, like ads and SEO. Paying a retainer for a one-off job, or a project fee for ongoing ads, usually costs more than it should.
Why do SEO prices vary so much?
Because the market is wide. In Ahrefs' survey, freelancers averaged about $1,349 a month and agencies $3,209, while the most common bracket overall was $501 to $1,000. Scope, competition and who actually does the work explain most of the gap.
Is it cheaper to hire someone in-house?
Usually not for a small business. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for market research analysts at $78,760 a year, about $6,560 a month before payroll costs and tools, and one person rarely covers ads, SEO and the website well.
How much should a small business spend on marketing in total?
A widely quoted rule, usually attributed to the US Small Business Administration, is 7-8% of revenue for businesses under $5 million with net margins around 10-12%. A more useful number is the one worked back from the customers you want and what a lead costs.
Who are you not the right fit for?
We're not the right fit if you're looking for the lowest price, if your offer hasn't sold yet without marketing, or if you can't commit a real ad budget alongside the fee. We'd rather say so on the first call.
Want a number for your business? Book a strategy call. You'll leave with a price and the first things we'd fix, whether or not you hire us.
