How much does Google Ads management cost? Fees, ad spend and what is easy to confuse
Separate media spend paid to Google from management fees. In our small November 2026 sample, published entry management fees began at £99, £145, £495 and £500 a month, while some higher tiers cost £1,000 or more. Scope, VAT, spend bands and contract terms vary widely: these examples are not a market average.
On this page
People searching for the cost of Google Ads are usually asking two questions at once. How much do the clicks cost, and how much does it cost to have someone run the account? They have different answers, they are paid to different people, and a quote that blurs them is a quote to read twice.
The two costs
- Ad spend. What Google charges for advertising delivery. For many Search campaigns this is primarily driven by clicks; other formats and bidding approaches differ. You set budgets within platform spending rules, not a guarantee of sales.
- Management fee. What a specialist or agency charges to plan, build, run and report on the account.
As a purely hypothetical example, a budget of £600 a month with a £300 management fee is a £900 monthly commitment. Only £600 is available for ad delivery; the £300 management fee is a separate business expense. That ratio matters, and the tool and article linked at the end let you test it.
What suppliers advertise
We first collected these public supplier prices on 8 November 2026 and checked the cited pages again on 10 November 2026. They were found through ordinary searches, not at random. This is a sample of advertised prices, not a market average, and the same caveats as in our SEO costs guide apply.
| Supplier | Advertised wording | Notes from the page |
|---|---|---|
| GetFound | £99/month entry; £199 and £349 tiers also listed | Entry covers one Search campaign; plans are month-to-month. Confirm VAT treatment before comparing. |
| DPOM | Starter £145; Lite £295; Standard £445; Elite £695; Premium from £1,500 a month, all + VAT | Fixed management tiers are linked to ad-spend bands. Starter covers up to £500/month in spend; 31 days’ cancellation notice. Premium is a custom higher scope. |
| RIOT | From £495/month for one platform; £795/month both; a separate £950/month multi-channel retainer also advertised | Different deliverables and offers share the same page; confirm the precise scope, VAT and whether an offer is a set-up or ongoing fee. Media spend is additional. |
| DC Digital | “From £500 a month plus VAT” | Three-month minimum. Management fee separate from Google’s charges. |
| PositionWorks | £295 Core; £595 Performance; £895 Growth; from £1,295 Strategic | Bands are up to £1,500, £1,500–£5,000, £5,000–£10,000 and £10,000+ media spend. Its site states it is not VAT-registered at the time of publication; confirm this remains true. |
What to take from the table
- A headline fee may cover one small campaign. A £99 entry plan and a £1,295 strategic service are different products; price alone does not make them comparable.
- Fees often track ad spend, openly or not. Some suppliers publish tiers by spend band, so a bigger budget moves you to a higher fee. Others quote a flat fee regardless. None of the pages we read described a percentage-of-spend fee, although that model exists elsewhere in the industry, so ask which one you are being offered.
- VAT treatment differs. Some suppliers explicitly add VAT, one reports not currently being VAT-registered and other pages are unclear. Compare the actual payable totals.
- Minimum terms range from none to three months. Lock-in is part of the price.
- The cheapest tiers are small. A one-campaign entry tier may suit a very small account. It will not suit an account that needs several campaign types, shopping feeds or a lot of attention.
What to check in a quote
- What is included each month? Campaign building, search-term reviews, ad testing, tracking, reporting, and how often.
- What is the ad-spend range the fee covers? What changes if you spend more or less?
- Who owns the account? It should be in your name, with you able to see everything.
- What counts as a conversion? If the answer is clicks or form-fills without any check on quality, the account will optimise for the wrong thing.
- What is the notice period? And what do you keep if you leave?
- What is not included? Landing pages, creative, shopping feeds and call tracking are often extra.
Is the budget big enough?
The most common mistake is not paying too much for management. It is a budget too small to learn from, with a fee that then dominates the real cost. Our Google Ads budget check lets you test what the economics would need to look like using your own figures.
What SMB does
SMB charges a flat monthly fee for each channel, with a three-month minimum to begin and ad spend paid separately. Unusually high budgets need a custom scope and fee. We do not publish a rate card, because scope varies and a headline price would mislead. That is a business choice, not a claim that it is cheaper than anyone above.
How this guide could be wrong
Five non-random supplier examples were checked on 10 November 2026. These are advertised packages, not verified transactions or typical UK fees. Confirm VAT, minimum terms, price and scope with the provider before relying on any line.
