Ad budget calculator.
How much should you spend on ads? Tell us how many sales or leads you want, and we'll work out the budget you need.
Small business? See how we run Google Ads for small businesses. Clicks needed = goal ÷ conversion rate. Budget = clicks × cost per click. Cost per sale = cost per click ÷ conversion rate. Check that cost per sale is profitable with our CPA and ROAS calculators.
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How to plan an ad budget.
Most businesses pick an ad budget by gut feel. A better way is to start from what you want, sales or leads, and work backwards through the numbers that connect spend to results.
The formula
- Clicks needed = sales or leads you want ÷ conversion rate.
- Monthly budget = clicks needed × cost per click.
- Cost per sale = cost per click ÷ conversion rate.
A worked example
You want 50 sales a month. Your website converts 3% of ad clicks, and clicks cost £1.50. You need 50 ÷ 3% = 1,667 clicks, so the budget is 1,667 × £1.50 ≈ £2,500 a month: about £82 a day. Each sale costs £1.50 ÷ 3% = £50. If the average sale is worth £80, that's £4,000 of revenue and a 1.6x ROAS.
Before you commit
- Check it's profitable. Compare cost per sale with your margin: a £50 cost per sale only works if each sale earns more than that in profit, or customers come back.
- Be cautious with new campaigns. Conversion rates often start lower while campaigns learn, so plan a test period before scaling.
- Improve the levers. A better landing page raises conversion rate; tighter targeting and stronger ads lower cost per click: both cut the budget you need. Our Google Ads quick wins are a good start.
- Keep spend on track through the month with our budget pacing calculator.
Keep calculating.
Budget pacing calculator
See if your spend is on track for the period and where your current run-rate will land by month-end.
Open tool →TrackingTracking checker
Enter your website and see which pixels and tags it runs, what fires before cookie consent, whether Consent Mode v2 and ad click IDs work, and if you have server-side tracking.
Open tool →TrackingUTM builder
Tag your links with presets for Meta, TikTok, Google, email and more, then see which GA4 channel each link lands in, and get dynamic URL parameters for your ad platforms.
Open tool →Ad budget questions.
01How much should I spend on Google Ads?
Work backwards from your goal: the number of sales or leads you want, divided by your conversion rate, gives the clicks you need; multiply by your average cost per click for the budget. Then check the cost per sale is profitable for your business.
02Where do I find my conversion rate and cost per click?
If you already advertise, use the last 30–90 days from Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager or GA4. If you are starting out, Google’s Keyword Planner shows estimated cost-per-click ranges, and a cautious conversion rate assumption keeps the plan realistic.
03Is it better to start with a small budget?
Start with enough budget for the platform to gather data, too little and campaigns struggle to learn. Many brands begin with a test budget for a few weeks, then scale what proves profitable.
04Does this work for Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn too?
Yes. The maths is the same for any platform that charges per click: target conversions ÷ conversion rate × cost per click. Costs and conversion rates vary a lot by platform, so use figures for the channel you are planning.
We build budgets and targets from your margins and goals, then manage paid search and paid social to hit them.