Google Ads Budget Calculator
How much should you invest in Google Ads? Enter your campaign goal, industry, and average CPC — we’ll calculate your exact budget, cost per lead, and ROI using real industry conversion benchmarks.
Google Ads Budget — Common Questions
Everything you need to know about planning, calculating, and optimizing your Google Ads budget — whether you're starting out or scaling up.
How do I calculate a Google Ads budget?
The formula is: Budget = (Desired Conversions ÷ Conversion Rate) × Average CPC. For lead gen, apply two rates in sequence — divide target clients by your lead-close rate to find raw leads needed, then divide by your landing page CVR to get required clicks. Multiply clicks × CPC. This calculator does all of that automatically.
How much should I invest in Google Ads?
Your ideal budget = target cost per acquisition × monthly conversion goal. Most small businesses start with $500–$2,000/month. Competitive verticals like legal, insurance, or B2B SaaS often require $3,000–$10,000+/month to build enough volume and data to optimize effectively. Start from your revenue goal and work backwards.
What's a good conversion rate for Google Ads?
Click-to-lead benchmarks: Home Services 7–8%, Legal 6–7%, Insurance 4–5%, Financial Services 5%, Healthcare 3.5–4%, Real Estate 3%, B2B/SaaS 2.5–3%. For e-commerce: Food & Beverage 3.8%, Health & Beauty 3.5%, Fashion 2%, Electronics 1.5%. Adjust the pre-filled rates in this tool if you have your own data.
What is ROAS and why does it matter?
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) = Revenue ÷ Ad Spend. A 4× ROAS means every $1 spent returns $4. Most businesses need at least 3–4× ROAS to cover costs and profit, but this depends heavily on your margin. Enter your sale value and lifetime orders in Step 5 to project your ROAS before you launch.
How do I find my average CPC?
Use Google Keyword Planner (free with a Google Ads account). Enter your target keywords and check the "Top of page bid (high range)" column — that's a realistic CPC for competitive auctions. Average across your core keyword list for a working estimate.
What's the minimum budget to start Google Ads?
Google has no enforced minimum, but statistically you need 30–50 clicks per conversion to gather meaningful data. At a $3 CPC, that's $90–$150 per data point. Most practitioners recommend at least $500–$1,000/month to collect enough conversions to optimize. Budget below that and your campaigns may never have enough signal to improve.