Brief
A 629,000-campaign study says Meta leads got more expensive as TikTok’s fell
Metricool’s own 2026 ads report puts Meta cost-per-lead at $6, up 14 percent, and TikTok’s at $2.69, down 33 percent. It is one vendor’s panel, not your account.
Why it matters. If you buy Facebook or Instagram for a book, this is a current outside read on what those clicks are costing other advertisers — not a reason to move the whole budget.
On 21 September Metricool published a study of 628,969 paid campaigns from 44,355 advertisers on Meta and TikTok, covering more than $471 million in spend. Its press release says average spend per Meta campaign rose 47 percent year over year, from $489.53 to $718.45, while return on ad spend for Meta Sales campaigns fell from 5.48x in 2025 to 4.57x in 2026. TikTok’s reported cost per lead fell 33 percent to $2.69. Meta’s rose 14 percent to $6.00.
Ninety-one percent of the advertisers in the set ran Meta only. This is not an Amazon Ads rate card, and it is not the cost inside your own Ads Manager. Treat it as a benchmark: in this sample, Meta lead costs moved up while TikTok’s moved down. Do not rebuild a book-ad plan on a third-party average you have not checked against your last 30 days.