Pricing & Services
How Much Does a Paid Media Agency Cost?
By Adedon · Updated 2026-08-14
How much does a paid media agency cost?
Paid media agencies typically charge a retainer or a percent of media, plus setup, for running channels like Meta Ads and Google Ads. Cost tracks complexity more honestly than vanity spend: two platforms, messy tracking, heavy creative, and sales-quality reporting cost more than a single Search campaign with a clean form. Adedon’s operated packages sit in a published band — Done With You setup $1,500–$5,000 then $1,000–$2,500/mo, Done For You setup $3,000–$8,000 then $2,000–$5,000/mo — scoped to the work, with you approving money moves.
Paid media is a labor product
Someone has to read search terms, refresh hooks, and write the weekly note. If the fee cannot cover that labor, the agency will automate the appearance of work. That is how recommendation-score retainers happen.
Media spend is the other invoice
Google and Meta bill the ad accounts. A $2,000 retainer on $1,000 of media may be the wrong shape. A $2,000 retainer on a demanding two-platform account can be cheap relative to waste. Compare total cost of a qualified result.
What inflates paid-media fees
Feeds and catalogs, multiple brands, regulated copy review, creative production in-house at the agency, and multilingual campaigns. What deflates them: one offer, one geo, you supplying all creative, Search-only.
How to read Adedon’s ranges
Lower end: collaborative or simpler scope. Higher end: hands-off DFY across Meta and Google with reporting a business can use. Ask for a scoped quote. We will not invent a fake national average to make the range look small.
Frequently asked questions
Is 10–20% of spend the going rate?+−
You will hear those numbers. They are a sales shorthand, not a law. A percent with no floor can under-serve small accounts; a percent with no cap can overcharge large calm ones.
Do you charge to onboard?+−
Yes, as setup, because tracking and structure are a project. The monthly fee assumes an account we can operate.
Are performance bonuses a good idea?+−
They can align incentives if the metric is qualified and not gameable. They can also encourage spending into junk conversions. Be careful what you bonus.
Related services
Paid Media Management
One operator cadence across Meta and Google: structure, tests, budgets you approve, and reporting that a business can use.
Discuss paid media →
Done For You
Adedon operates Meta and Google advertising end to end. You approve decisions that move money; we run the rest.
Get Done For You →
Done With You
We install the workflow with your team, train operators, then keep a lighter monthly hand on monitoring and reporting.
Talk about Done With You →
Related reading
Pricing & Services
How Much Does a Digital Advertising Agency Cost?
How digital advertising agency pricing works — retainers, percent of spend, setup — and how Adedon’s Done For You and Done With You packages are scoped.
Pricing & Services
Done For You vs Done With You Marketing
The difference between Done For You and Done With You advertising: who operates the weekly work, what you still approve, and who each model fits.
Pricing & Services
What Does a Done For You Advertising Agency Do?
What Done For You advertising includes at Adedon: implementation, weekly operation of Meta and Google, reporting, and human-approved spend changes.