Agency Fee Benchmark Tool

Is My Agency Overcharging Me?

Agency management fees vary by spend, but not randomly. Enter your monthly ad spend, how many platforms you run, and what you're actually paying, and see how it stacks up against typical market rates.

Your numbers

$1K$500K
16+

Fee structure

1%35%

Your effective fee

12.0%
$4,800/mo
In range

Where you land vs. typical

You 12.0%
Lean feePremium fee
Your spend tier
Up to $100K
Typical %, this tier
9%–12%
Platform minimum
$3,000
Typical $ range
$4,000–$4,800
Your monthly fee
$4,800
Midpoint fee
$4,400
Monthly gap vs. typical
$0
Annualized gap
$0
Market position
In range
Fees run 9%–12% up to $100K/mo spend (with a roughly $4,000/mo floor), 7%–10% from $100K–$500K, and 4%–7% above $500K — most agencies also carry a floor of about $1,500/mo per platform managed.
At $4,800/mo on $40,000/mo in spend across 2 platforms, your fee sits inside the typical $4,000–$4,800 range for accounts your size. Nothing alarming here — the bigger question is what you're getting for it.

Illustrative benchmarks compiled from published agency-pricing surveys (AgencyAnalytics, HawkSEM, Databox, Digital Applied) and Zeller Media market experience — actual fees vary by scope, channel mix, and reporting overhead. Not a guarantee of what any specific agency should charge.

How this is calculated

Typical agency management fees scale down as a percentage the more you spend, but almost every agency also enforces a floor — a flat minimum fee, and often a separate minimum per ad platform they manage. This tool checks your actual dollar fee against both: the percentage-based range for your spend tier, and the platform-minimum floor, then shows you whichever number is higher — because that's the one your agency is actually charging you against.

What's a typical agency management fee?

For spend up to $100K/month, expect 9-12% with a roughly $4,000 monthly minimum. Between $100K and $500K, typical fees drop to 7-10%. Above $500K, most agencies charge 4-7% — the percentage shrinks because the work doesn't scale linearly with spend.

Why do agencies charge a minimum per platform?

Managing Google Ads, Meta, and TikTok each takes real setup and ongoing optimization time regardless of budget size. Most agencies charge around $1,500/month per platform as a floor — so running three platforms on a small budget can push your effective fee well above the standard percentage.

Does paying more mean I'm getting better service?

Not automatically. A higher fee should buy you senior hands-on-keyboard time, not junior account managers reading a dashboard back to you. Use this tool to check whether you're paying market rate — then judge the relationship on results and who's actually doing the work.

What should actually be included in that fee?

At minimum: active campaign management, testing, and reporting you can act on. If you're paying premium rates and getting templated reports and monthly check-ins, that's a scope mismatch worth raising directly.

Zeller Media

Want someone to actually look at what you're getting for that fee?

A fee benchmark tells you if the price is normal. A Truth Audit tells you if the work behind it is any good — Bradley Zeller will look at your real accounts and tell you straight.

Get a Truth Audit → Paid Search & Paid Social Consulting · zellermedia.com