Every small business owner who types "facebook ads" into Google gets retargeted by agencies within the week. The pitch is always the same: this is too complicated to do yourself, let the experts handle it. One half of that is true — Ads Manager is more complicated than it should be. The conclusion doesn't follow, though, and whether an agency makes sense comes down to one number: your monthly ad budget.
The short answer
If you spend under about $2,000 a month on ads, an agency's minimum retainer costs about as much as your entire ad budget. Below that line, do it yourself — the real question is just which tool makes that easy.
What agencies actually charge
Small-business agencies typically price one of two ways: a flat monthly retainer of $500 to $2,000+, or 10–20% of ad spend with a monthly minimum that lands in the same range. Most want a 3–6 month commitment, because paid social takes a few weeks to tune. None of that is dishonest — managing ads is real work — but it means the maths only closes at scale.
Run the numbers at a typical local-business budget of $600 a month. With a $750 retainer, you are paying $1,350 for $600 of actual advertising — more than half of every dollar goes to management. The agency would need to more than double your results just to break even against you pressing the buttons yourself. Now run it at $8,000 a month: the same retainer is under 10% of budget, and a team that finds 15% better performance pays for itself. Same agency, same fee — the budget decides.
When an agency genuinely is the right call
- Your spend is well into four figures monthly. The retainer becomes a small percentage, and expert optimization compounds on a big base.
- You are advertising across several channels. Meta plus Google plus TikTok is genuinely more than one owner can learn well.
- Creative is your bottleneck. Agencies that produce fresh video and imagery monthly solve a problem no self-serve tool does.
- Nobody can own it. If even a five-minute launch flow won't get used, paying for hands-off management beats running nothing.
If two or more of those describe you, hire the agency — and vet them on reporting transparency and who owns the ad account (it should be you).
Below the line: your real options
| DIY Ads Manager | Agency | Five Minute Ads | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (at $600 spend) | $0 | $500–$2,000 retainer | $120 (20% of spend) |
| Time to first ad | Hours of learning | 1–2 weeks onboarding | Minutes |
| Campaign built by | You | Their media buyer | The tool, from one form |
| Contract | None | Usually 3–6 months | None |
| Ad account | Yours | Yours or theirs (check!) | Yours |
Doing it yourself in Ads Manager is free and completely viable if you have the hours and the interest — our guide to running ads without the Ads Manager maze explains what the interface is actually asking. If you would rather skip the learning curve, that is the gap a one-form launcher fills: campaign structure, targeting, preview, and spend caps handled for you, priced as a percentage of spend rather than a retainer. The full cost comparison puts numbers on all four options at your budget.
A 30-second decision checklist
- Under ~$2,000/mo of ad spend? Skip the agency. Use Ads Manager if you enjoy it, or a launcher if you don't.
- $2,000–$5,000/mo? Grey zone. A tool still wins on cost; an agency starts to make sense if creative or multi-channel is the bottleneck.
- Over $5,000/mo, or multiple channels? Interview agencies — and bring your account history so they price on facts.
Questions, answered
Do I need an agency to run Facebook ads?
Not at a typical small-business budget. Below roughly $2,000 a month in ad spend, an agency retainer usually costs as much as, or more than, the ads themselves. Agencies earn their fee at scale: bigger budgets, multiple channels, and constant creative testing. At a small spend you are better served doing it yourself with a tool that builds the campaign for you.
How much does a Facebook ads agency cost?
Typical small-business agencies charge a monthly retainer of $500 to $2,000 or more, or 10 to 20 percent of ad spend with a monthly minimum. Most also expect a 3 to 6 month commitment, so the real decision is a few thousand dollars, not one month’s fee.
What should I use instead of an agency for a small budget?
Either learn Meta Ads Manager (free, but a real time investment) or use a launcher that builds the campaign from one form. Five Minute Ads does the campaign structure, targeting, and preview for you and charges 20% of spend with no subscription or contract — on a $600 monthly budget that is $120 rather than a $750 retainer.
When is an agency actually worth it?
When your monthly spend is well into four figures, when ads run across several channels (Meta, Google, TikTok) that each need expertise, when you need fresh creative produced every month, or when nobody in the business can own marketing at all. At that point a good agency’s optimizations can genuinely outearn its retainer.