How much should I pay for meta ads?

The real answer: whatever generates 3x ROAS minimum. Not a dollar amount, a multiplier. $100 spend returning $300 revenue is good. $100 returning $150 is tight, might not cover overhead. Below $150 return? Unprofitable, kill.

But if you're starting cold, here's practical: minimum $300-500 first month testing. $100-200 insufficient data. $20/day ($600/month) learns patterns, shows early signal. Week one: CTR, CPC, conversion rate emerge. Week two: double down winners or pivot losers. Month two: scale proven campaigns or test new angles.

Scale progression: Month 1 test ($500), Month 2 scale winners ($1,000), Month 3-4 aggressive ($2,000-5,000 if ROAS holds). This patience builds skill, compounds returns.

Your specific budget depends three factors:

Factor 1: your acceptable CAC (customer acquisition cost). If product sells $100 with 50% margin ($50 profit), maximum CAC $25. Spend more? Lose money. If service sells $5,000 with 50% margin ($2,500 profit), CAC up to $800 fine. Bigger margin = higher CAC tolerance.

Factor 2: offer validation. Unproven offer? Test tiny ($200-300). Proven offer (selling 10 organically already)? Scale confidently ($1,000+). Validation risk premium real.

Factor 3: urgency timeline. Need cash month 1? Impossible (Meta takes weeks optimizing). Have 6 months? Scale patient (double monthly). Need one-year ROI? Aggressive spending (4x budget) realistic.

Budget math: $500/month typical testing phase. Yields 50-100 qualified leads if targeting right. If 10% convert sales, 5-10 customers. If product $500+ you're profitable. If product $50? Tight or unprofitable.

Industry-specific recommendations:

B2B/SaaS: $1,000-2,000/month minimum. Conversion rates low (1-3%), high CAC acceptable ($100-500). Need volume data. Monthly ARR (annual recurring revenue) $5,000+? Justify $2,000 ad spend easily.

E-commerce: $500-1,500/month. Conversion rates higher (2-5%), lower CAC tolerance ($10-50). Test products under $500 AOV (average order value) first with $500. Scale winners to $2,000.

Local services: $300-800/month. Geographic targeting tight, CAC $15-50. Small market focus, budget smaller than national.

Web dev/consulting: $500-1,000/month. B2B rates apply, service premium. Project average $3,000-10,000, CAC tolerance $200-800.

Music/creator: $200-600/month. Stream revenue low, promo for discovery play. Budget toward playlist adds, not pure monetization.

Coaching: $500-2,000/month depending course price. High margin business tolerates high CAC. $1,997 course? $500 CAC acceptable, scale aggressively.

Scaling strategy after proof: establish 2x ROAS baseline on 3 campaigns minimum (diversification). Then double budget. Hit 3x ROAS? Bump 50%. Only downside scales down (ROAS <2x, kill). Never bet farm single campaign.

Seasonal allocation: allocate 60% budget low-season testing, 40% high-season aggressive. Black Friday? Spike to $5,000-10,000 if baseline profitable. January? Pull back to $300 testing.

Paid versus organic hybrid: spend 60% paid (Meta ads), 40% organic (content creation, email, community). Paid scales predictably, organic builds asset (audience). Balanced grow fastest.

Real-world examples:

Web dev agency: 3 campaigns $300 each monthly = $900. Month 1: 5 leads, 1 sale ($5,000 project). Profitable, scale. Month 2: $1,500 budget, 10 leads, 2-3 sales. Aggressive scale month 3: $2,500, 20 leads, 5 sales ($25,000 revenue). Nine-month revenue $50,000 from $900+1,500+2,500+3,500+5,000+5,000+5,000+5,000+5,000 spend ($38,000) = 31% profit margin.

E-commerce: $500/month testing. Conversion 3%, AOV $40. 500k impressions (CPM $10), 5,000 clicks (CPC $0.10 nonsense, math off—recalc). 150 conversions at 3% = $6,000 revenue. ROAS 12x. Scale aggressively. Month 2: $2,000 spend. Month 3: $5,000. ROAS likely drops (audience saturation, bid wars) to 3-4x still profitable.

Music promo: $300/month, target 500k stream impressions, 100 Spotify adds, 20 playlist placements. Revenue? Minimal (Spotify pays $0.003/stream = $1.50 per 500 streams). Break-even play. Value in discovery, not monetization. ROI poor but brand building. Adjust mindset.

Pitfalls: gambling mentality ($100 hoping $1,000 return). Doesn't happen. Patience compound methodology wins. Spend too aggressive before proof (ROAS still unknown). Test 3-4 weeks, measure, scale.

Flex your budget: month slow (January, July)? Cut 30-50%. Month busy (December, September)? Increase 50-100%. Float money, don't dump fixed amounts.

Tools budget allocation: Ads Manager native auto-optimization handles allocation. Split Test feature compares audience/creative. Winner scales auto. Minimal manual input.

Contractor option: can't manage ads yourself? Hire contractor (Upwork, Facebook PMM agency). Cost $500-2,000/month. Handles setup, optimization, reporting. Profit split 60% you, 40% contractor reasonable. At $3,000 baseline ROI, contractor paying for itself.

Verdict: start $300-500/month testing. Measure ruthless (ROAS 3x minimum). Scale winners, kill losers fast. Double monthly if holding 3x ROAS. Cap at max you can afford losing (worst case ROAS tanks). Average healthy business 0.5-2% revenue invested in paid ads. $100k revenue? $500-2,000 ads. Spend less = slow growth, spend more = margin squeeze. Sweet spot middle, test find yours.