Free tool · PPC
Google Ads Budget Calculator
Work out roughly what you'd need to spend each month to get the number of leads you want.
Built by Talia Rhodes
Free, no sign-up
How it works
Put in how many leads or sales you want a month, what percentage of visitors you'd expect to enquire (your conversion rate; 2 to 5% is typical for a service business if you don't know), and what a click costs in your industry (the tool suggests a range). It works backwards: leads needed, divided by conversion rate, gives clicks needed; clicks times cost per click gives budget.
How to read the result
It's an estimate, and it's usually the floor rather than the ceiling. Real campaigns take a month or two to reach their best conversion rate, so budget a little more at the start. If the figure comes out under £500 a month, it's probably too low to produce enough data to improve on; that's the minimum we recommend.
What changes the answer
Your landing page, more than anything. The same budget on a page that converts at 5% produces more than twice the leads of one converting at 2%. Your industry's click costs. And how tightly the campaign is managed, because wasted clicks come straight out of the budget.
Questions people ask
How much does Google Ads cost for a small business?
There are two costs: the money you pay Google for clicks, and the fee for managing the account. The click cost depends on your industry, with competitive sectors like legal, finance and trades costing more per click than most. We recommend a starting ad budget of at least £500 a month, because below that there isn't enough data to improve the campaign.
What's a good conversion rate?
For a service business, 2 to 5% of visitors enquiring is typical. The landing page decides most of it: the same budget on a page that converts at 5% produces more than twice the leads of one converting at 2%.
Can I set a daily limit?
Yes. You set a monthly budget and Google won't spend beyond it. We'll recommend a figure that gives the campaign enough data to work with, and you stay in control of it.
