How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Google Ads is where buyers already searching for you are found, and LocaliQ puts its 2026 average search click at $5.42.
- Meta Ads is the cheapest reliable traffic for small budgets, with traffic clicks commonly under a dollar.
- Microsoft Advertising runs the same search model as Google at click prices often 30 to 50 percent lower.
- LinkedIn is the expensive outlier on purpose: clicks around $5.58 buy named job titles at named companies.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Google Ads | Capturing existing search demand | Pay per click, no minimum | No |
 Meta Ads | Cheap reach and retargeting | Pay per click, about $1 per day minimum | No |
 Microsoft Advertising | Lower cost search clicks | Pay per click, no minimum | No |
 TikTok Ads | Short video reach with younger buyers | Pay per click or per mille | No |
 YouTube Ads | Video views and product demos | Pay per view, no minimum | No |
 LinkedIn Ads | B2B targeting by job title | Pay per click, about $10 per day minimum | No |
 Amazon Ads | Product searches on Amazon | Pay per click, no minimum | No |
 Pinterest Ads | Visual products and planning shoppers | Pay per click, no minimum | No |
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#1Google Ads
Best for: Capturing existing search demand4.3/5 on
G2 (2,047 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit ads.google.com
Starting pricePay per click, no minimum
Free planNo
Google Ads is the default starting point because search intent is real demand. LocaliQ's 2026 benchmark puts the average search click at $5.42 across industries, with legal near $9.87 and arts near $1.63, a six to one spread that shows why averages mislead. The platform charges nothing to join and has no minimum budget, so the honest starting price is whatever a day of clicks in your trade costs locally.
For a small business, the working route is a tight search campaign on buying terms, a call extension, and a page that answers the search. Performance Max can widen reach once conversion tracking is proven. Start on search, measure cost per enquiry for a month, and only then let the automated formats spend real money.
What we like- The only platform where customers announce what they want to buy, Performance Max and search campaigns in one account, local service ads suit trades and clinics, conversion tracking shows which clicks turned into calls
Watch out for- The most expensive mass click in most benchmarks, competitive trades pay far above the average, automated campaign types hide detail a beginner cannot audit, a weak landing page wastes the whole spend
#2Meta Ads
Best for: Cheap reach and retargeting4.2/5 on
G2 (1,457 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit facebook.com
Starting pricePay per click, about $1 per day minimum
Free planNo
Meta runs Facebook and Instagram advertising from one manager, and its economics suit small budgets: pooled small business data from AdPlus in late 2026 shows a median click near $0.49 on Meta against $2.90 on Google Search. You are buying attention rather than intent, which makes Meta the natural home for offers, retargeting and local awareness.
The discipline is creative. A Meta campaign lives or dies on the first two seconds of a video or the first line of a post, and the same advert shown for a month stops working. Small advertisers who rotate creative every few weeks and cap frequency do fine here; those who set one advert and leave it usually conclude the platform does not work.
What we like- Cheapest reliable traffic for small budgets, with 2026 traffic clicks around $0.70 to $0.80 in benchmark data, targeting by interest, life event and lookalike audience, retargeting your own visitors is inexpensive, creative tools now draft variants automatically
Watch out for- Clicks are interruptions, not searches, so conversion rates run lower than Google, lead quality from broad targeting can be poor, account bans and ad rejections are common and support is thin, results decay as audiences tire of the same creative
Starting pricePay per click, no minimum
Free planNo
Microsoft Advertising sells search adverts on Bing and its partner network. The mechanics mirror Google Ads closely enough that campaigns import in minutes, and benchmark comparisons consistently price its clicks well below Google's for the same terms, around $2.71 median in one Q4 2026 set against $5.42 on Google.
Volume is the limit. Bing handles a small share of searches, so a campaign that would spend $1,000 a month on Google may spend a tenth of that here. Treat it as cheap extra reach layered over a Google campaign, especially for older, desktop heavy audiences, rather than as a primary channel.
What we like- Same search intent model as Google with less auction competition, click prices commonly 30 to 50 percent below Google for similar terms, audience skews older and more desktop based, which suits B2B and home services, campaigns import directly from Google Ads
Watch out for- Far smaller search volume, so it rarely replaces Google on its own, fewer automation features and slower feature releases, local coverage is thinner outside the US
#4TikTok Ads
Best for: Short video reach with younger buyers4.2/5 on
G2 (144 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit ads.tiktok.com
Starting pricePay per click or per mille
Free planNo
TikTok sells attention in video form. Costs sit low: benchmark sets put its CPM near $4 and clicks under a dollar for conversion campaigns, and pooled small business data showed TikTok among the cheapest clicks of any network in late 2026. For consumer products, beauty, food, fashion and local experiences, that is a lot of reach for a small budget.
The platform punishes anything that looks like an advert. Content shot like a normal TikTok, by a person, in a real setting, outperforms polished brand film. A business that cannot produce two or three honest videos a week should spend its budget on Meta instead, where static images still work.
What we like- Low cost per thousand impressions, reported around $4 to $10 in 2026 guides, the audience skews young and buys inside the app through TikTok Shop, native looking creative is cheap to produce on a phone, strong for products that demo well in 15 seconds
Watch out for- Useless without genuine short video creative, audience age profile rules out many trades and professional services, brand safety controls are improving but still need watching, conversion data is noisier than on Google or Meta
Starting pricePay per view, no minimum
Free planNo
YouTube runs inside Google Ads and inherits its targeting, but the pricing model is gentler: a skippable in stream advert costs nothing when a viewer skips early. 2026 guides put typical costs between a few cents and $0.30 per view, cheap for the amount of explanation a view can carry.
This is the platform for purchases people research: home improvements, software, courses, vehicles, high ticket services. A two minute honest walkthrough of a job well done will outsell any banner. The trap is judging by views; connect the campaign to calls and form fills, or the cheap views are just cheap views.
What we like- Skippable adverts charge only when a viewer watches 30 seconds or engages, typical costs run a few cents to about $0.30 per view, targeting borrows all of Google's search and audience data, ideal for considered purchases that need explaining
Watch out for- Requires real video production effort up front, skips make the first five seconds carry the whole message, view counts flatter results if nobody clicks through, remarketing lists take time to build
Starting pricePay per click, about $10 per day minimum
Free planNo
LinkedIn is not a cheaper Google. It is a different purchase: fewer, dearer clicks from identifiable professionals. The B2B House pricing data put sponsored content clicks around $5.58 in 2026, rising toward $7.90 in IT audiences. For a firm selling a $20,000 service to operations managers, that maths works. For a cafe, it never will.
Small B2B advertisers get the best of LinkedIn with narrow targeting and a concrete offer, a report, a webinar, an assessment, rather than a generic brand advert. Keep audiences tight, expect small numbers, and judge on meetings booked rather than click rate.
What we like- Targeting by job title, seniority, company size and industry exists nowhere else at this precision, clicks convert to high value B2B leads when the offer fits, sponsored content and message formats reach people in a work mindset, campaign manager reporting ties spend to professional segments
Watch out for- The most expensive click here, benchmarked near $5.58 for sponsored content in 2026, small audiences burn out fast, consumer offers waste money entirely, creative needs a professional tone many small teams struggle to write
Starting pricePay per click, no minimum
Free planNo
For a business that sells physical products on Amazon, this is the closest thing to advertising at the shelf edge. Sponsored product adverts sit inside search results and on rival listings, charged per click with no minimum budget, and the sale is attributed inside the same console.
The honest cost line is the stack: click cost plus Amazon's referral fee plus fulfilment fees plus returns. Sellers who work backwards from margin per unit, rather than forwards from a monthly budget, survive here. If you do not sell on Amazon, skip this platform entirely and put the money into Google or Meta.
What we like- Adverts appear inside product searches where buying already happens, sponsored products need no design work beyond the listing itself, retail data closes the loop from click to sale inside one report, brand registry members gain extra formats
Watch out for- Only works if you sell on Amazon, fees stack on top of referral and fulfilment charges, competition inside popular categories bids clicks up fast, no value at all for services or local businesses
Starting pricePay per click, no minimum
Free planNo
Pinterest is a search engine wearing a social feed's clothes. People open it to plan things they intend to buy, which is why its adverts, charged per click with no minimum spend, punch above their price for visual categories. A pin also keeps working organically after the spend stops, something no other platform here offers.
The fit test is simple. If your product photographs well and customers plan it weeks ahead, Pinterest deserves a test budget. If you sell emergency repairs or B2B services, it does not. Set expectations on a quarter, not a week, because the planning cycle that makes Pinterest valuable also makes it slow to prove.
What we like- Users arrive planning purchases, weddings, rooms, outfits, recipes, so intent is warmer than most social feeds, clicks are cheap, with guides putting them around $0.50 to $1.50, pins keep generating traffic long after the campaign ends, strong fit for home, food, fashion and craft categories
Watch out for- Weak for services, B2B and anything that cannot be photographed well, smaller audience than Meta or TikTok, conversion windows are long, which muddies short term measurement
How we chose
We picked the platforms a US small business can open today with a card and a small budget, covering search (Google, Microsoft), social (Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest), video (YouTube) and retail media (Amazon). Cost figures come from 2026 benchmark reporting by LocaliQ and WordStream, AdPlus small business campaign data and platform pricing guides; platforms do not publish rate cards, so ranges are stated as ranges. No platform guarantees a return on spend, and none was promised one here. We did not claim hands-on testing.
Budgets and measurement: how not to waste the first $500
Decide the job before the platform. A plumber who needs the phone to ring buys search clicks. A candle maker who needs to be discovered buys social reach. Splitting a small budget across five platforms usually means none of them gathers enough data to judge, so start with one platform matched to the job, run it for a month, and add a second only when the first is understood.
Set the budget from the value of a customer, not from what feels affordable. If a customer is worth $400 and one in twenty clicks becomes a customer, a $15 click loses money and a $5 click prints it. Work backwards: maximum click price equals customer value times conversion rate, with margin left over. Benchmarks help sanity check the maths (Google search clicks averaged $5.42 in LocaliQ's 2026 data; Meta clicks commonly land under $1), but your own conversion rate decides.
Measure at the level of the phone call, the form fill or the sale, and install that tracking before spending anything. Platform dashboards overstate success because each one credits itself for the same customer. Finally, kill losers on evidence, roughly after spend equal to twice the value of one customer with no result, and move the money to the platform that produced an actual enquiry.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a small business spend on ads per month?
Guides put typical small business PPC spend anywhere from a few hundred to $5,000 a month, but the right figure comes from your maths: customer value times conversion rate sets the click price you can afford, and the budget is that price times the clicks you need. Start with one platform for a month rather than spreading thin.
Which platform is cheapest per click?
Meta and TikTok are cheapest in 2026 benchmark data, with Meta traffic clicks around $0.70 and pooled small business medians under $0.50. Cheap clicks are interruptions, though. Google's dearer clicks convert better for urgent needs because the customer was already searching.
Is any platform guaranteed to bring customers?
No. Advertising buys chances, not customers, and platforms sell clicks and impressions, not sales. Any agency or tool promising a guaranteed return on ad spend is misrepresenting how auctions work. Judge platforms on cost per real enquiry in your own account.
Should I run Google Ads or Meta Ads first?
If people already search for what you sell by name or trade, start with Google and capture that demand. If your product needs to be discovered, or your customers cannot describe it in a search box, start with Meta. Many small businesses end up running both, with Meta feeding retargeting audiences that Google then closes.
Can I advertise with no budget for creative?
On Meta and Pinterest, a phone photo and honest copy can work. On TikTok and YouTube it cannot: video is the product there. Google search needs no creative beyond text adverts and a decent landing page, which is one reason it suits trades with no marketing staff.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.