What is an excellent Cost Per Click?

An excellent Cost Per Click is $0.73 or lower (as low as the cheapest category average in the same table, Career & Employment at $0.73). The minimum acceptable tier is $5.70 or lower (the most expensive category average in the LocaliQ 2026 lead-campaign table, Dentists & Dental Services at $5.70).

Spend & Budget

What's a good Cost Per Click?

A good Cost Per Click is $1.80 or lower — at or below the LocaliQ 2026 all-industry average for Meta lead campaigns, $1.80. Average cost for each click on your ad. On Meta, LocaliQ puts the 2026 all-industry average at $1.80 for lead campaigns and $0.60 for traffic campaigns, and category averages run from $0.73 to $5.70 — so compare against your own category, not a single number. Excellent is $0.73 or lower (as low as the cheapest category average in the same table, Career & Employment at $0.73), and the minimum acceptable tier is $5.70 or lower (the most expensive category average in the LocaliQ 2026 lead-campaign table, Dentists & Dental Services at $5.70).

Last updated: September 27, 2026

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The three tiers Karbon grades against — and where each comes from

Tier	Value	What it means	Basis
Minimum	$5.70	The floor. Below this, something is broken.	The most expensive category average in the LocaliQ 2026 lead-campaign table, Dentists & Dental Services at $5.70
Recommended	$1.80	The tier a healthy campaign should hit.	At or below the LocaliQ 2026 all-industry average for Meta lead campaigns, $1.80
Excellent	$0.73	Top-tier performance worth defending.	As low as the cheapest category average in the same table, Career & Employment at $0.73
Published average	$1.80	LocaliQ 2026 all-industry average, Meta lead campaigns. Source (2026-09)

Lower is better for this metric.

How it's calculated

Total Spend / Total Clicks

Why Cost Per Click matters

CPC directly impacts how many visitors you can drive within a fixed budget. A lower CPC means more traffic per dollar, compounding into more conversions and lower acquisition costs.

Sources

The three tiers on this page are Karbon Agency's grading targets. These published figures are the outside reference points for Cost Per Click, so you can check our tiers against them.

LocaliQ / WordStream — Facebook Advertising Benchmarks for 2026 (September 23, 2026; read September 26, 2026)All-industry lead campaigns: $27.39 cost per lead, 8.54% conversion rate, $1.80 cost per click, 2.70% click-through rate. All-industry traffic campaigns: $0.60 cost per click, 1.93% click-through rate.
LocaliQ / WordStream — Search Advertising Benchmarks for Every Industry (2026) (June 1, 2026; read September 26, 2026)All-industry search averages: $5.42 cost per click, 6.64% click-through rate, 8.18% conversion rate, $66.69 cost per lead.

Definitions

Meta Business Help Center — CPC (cost per link click) (undated page; read September 26, 2026)Cost per link click is the amount spent divided by link clicks.