Every "LinkedIn ads cost" page on the internet quotes a range ("$5 to $12 per click", "$30 to $70 CPM") with no date, no sample and no definition of a click. This one is built from Kiin Labs' LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks 2026: 944 B2B advertiser accounts, $31M of spend, 8 September 2025 to 7 September 2026, every figure the median account rather than a pooled average the biggest spenders drag around, and every "X costs more than Y" checked inside the same account. If you want the UK version in pounds, it is at LinkedIn ads cost UK.
The headline numbers
| What you pay for | Median account | Good (top 25%) | Exceptional (top 10%) | Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPM (per 1,000 impressions) | $36.23 | $20.34 | $9.38 | 944 |
| CPC, LinkedIn's definition (all clicks incl. reactions, comments, profile clicks) | $4.19 | $1.55 | $0.54 | 942 |
| Cost per landing page click (a real visit) | $17.54 | $9.18 | $4.40 | 899 |
| Cost per engagement | $2.71 | $1.15 | $0.43 | 942 |
| Cost per video view | $0.43 | $0.16 | $0.06 | 599 |
| Cost per send (message and conversation ads) | $0.42 | $0.23 | $0.11 | 242 |
| Cost per lead, content offer (lead gen form) | $164 | $67 | $28 | 217 |
| Cost per lead, demo request (lead gen form) | $343 | $131 | $67 | 115 |
| Cost per lead, conversation ad (all offers) | $200 | $85 | $32 | 149 |
| Cost per booked meeting (message ads to a calendar) | $221 (campaign median) | $130 | — | 8 accounts, 84 campaigns |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · The headline numbers
Two of those rows disagree by four times and both are "cost per click". LinkedIn's default CPC divides spend by every click, including reactions, comments, "see more" and profile visits; on thought leader ads 91% of those never reach a landing page. The number that means a visitor is cost per landing page click, and it is the one every comparison on this page uses. The reasoning is in what is a good CTR for LinkedIn ads.
How LinkedIn ads pricing works
Campaign Manager is free; you pay for media in a second-price auction against everyone else targeting the same members. Four things set the price:
- The audience. LinkedIn prices the person, not the slot. Senior titles at large companies in the US are the most contested inventory on any ad platform, which is why the same creative costs $84 per thousand in the US and $28 in Benelux.
- The objective. It decides what you are charged for: impressions (brand awareness, engagement, video views, lead generation by default), clicks (website visits, website conversions), views (video views on CPV) or sends (message ads). It also decides who LinkedIn shows the ad to, which is why the lead generation objective carries a 40% CPM premium over website visits in the same account.
- The bid. Manual, cost cap or maximum delivery. Manual and low is cheapest: the highest-bid campaigns paid 128% more per engagement than the lowest-bid campaigns in the same accounts, and 80% more per send on message ads.
- Relevance. Ads that earn engagement win auctions at lower bids; a cold single image with a demo form loses them.
Minimums: $10 a day per campaign, $100 lifetime, and a floor bid of roughly $2 (CPC or CPM) that rises with audience seniority. How every one of those settings is chosen is in the Campaign Manager tutorial.
CPM: cost per 1,000 impressions
$36.23 at the median account across everything; $48 for a company-page single image ad and $65 for a thought leader ad on the engagement objective (the format LinkedIn charges a premium for, because members read it). The ranges we manage to: over $40 is below average for a single image company ad, $20 to $40 average, under $20 strong. CPM moves most with region, audience size and seniority (tables below) and with the calendar: CPM rose 30% from Q1 to Q2 for the same advertisers, and December is up 16% while cost per lead stays flat. The full CPM page, with good and exceptional by format, is at LinkedIn CPM benchmarks.
CPC: cost per click, and the click that counts
| Cost per landing page click | Median | Accounts |
|---|---|---|
| Single image, website visits objective | $11.33 (the cheapest visit on LinkedIn) | 493 |
| Event ad, website visits | $11.14 | 20 |
| Video, website visits | $11.66 | 189 |
| Carousel, website visits | $13.19 | 65 |
| Single image, engagement | $19.23 | 385 |
| Thought leader ad, single image, engagement | $23.33 (panel) · $14.71 (212-account study) | 354 |
| Single image, brand awareness | $33.04 | 239 |
| Thought leader ad, video, engagement | $53.09 | 152 |
| Video, brand awareness | $142 | 119 |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · CPC: cost per click, and the click that counts
Paired within the same account, a thought leader ad costs 22% less per landing page click than the company-page version of the same ad on engagement (106 accounts), and 47% less on brand awareness, but 52 to 59% more than sponsored content on website visits. CPC versus CPM bidding was a tie on cost per landing page click. The longer piece, with the four settings that decide it, is what is a good cost per click on LinkedIn.
Cost per lead, per send and per meeting
| Lead type and format | Content offer | Demo request | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Message ad with form | $56 (22) | $175 (23) | Cheapest lead on LinkedIn; 31 to 37% form completion |
| Conversation ad with form | $35 (9) | $365 (60) | $200 across all offers (149 accounts); 43 to 45% completion |
| Document ad with form | $180 (96) | withheld | −22% vs single image on content, same account |
| Single image with form | $189 (141) | $600 (46) | The most common setup and the worst on demo: 2.1% completion |
| Video with form | $119 (10) | $283 (9) | +60% vs single image paired |
| Thought leader ad with form | $94 (16) | $1,025 (8) | Not a form format |
| Landing page (website conversions objective) | $721 | Form beats landing page by 55% paired, 82% on content | |
| Booked meeting (message ad, calendar link, no form) | $221 campaign median · $536 account median | 8 accounts, 84 campaigns, directional | |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · Cost per lead, per send and per meeting
By what the form asks for: template $110, ebook $135, webinar $135, report $199, meeting $263, free trial $283, audit $295, demo $530. Never quote a blended cost per lead; a demo costs about twice a download at every percentile. Cost per send is $0.36 for content and $0.49 to $0.57 for demo offers, with a 42.6% open rate at the median. Everything behind these rows is in the lead gen forms guide, the conversation ads study and cost per booked meeting.
LinkedIn ads cost by ad format
| Format (all objectives except lead generation) | CPM | CPC (LinkedIn) | Cost per landing page click | Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text ad | $0.22 | $4.81 | $6.02 | 172 |
| Follower ad (dynamic) | $1.51 | $6.80 | — | 45 |
| Spotlight ad (dynamic) | $1.72 | $6.86 | $6.86 | 131 |
| Video | $40.93 | $8.89 | $33.68 | 504 |
| Single image | $48.02 | $6.32 | $13.63 | 774 |
| Event ad | $49.36 | $6.33 | $21.61 | 75 |
| Carousel | $54.01 | $11.48 | $14.01 | 106 |
| Thought leader ad, video | $60.02 | $2.91 | $73.56 | 203 |
| Document | $61.77 | $2.57 | $101 | 154 |
| Thought leader ad, single image | $62.62 | $1.58 | $25.02 | 408 |
| Message and conversation ads | $0.42 per send | clicks not synced | 242 | |
| Connected TV | $25.76 | no click · $0.026 per completed view | 31 | |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · LinkedIn ads cost by ad format
Read the CPC column against the landing page column and the LinkedIn click problem is visible: a document ad is the cheapest click on the platform at $2.57 and one of the dearest visits at $101, because opening the document is a click. On the lead generation objective the CPMs are higher again: single image $74, video $72, carousel $61, document $53. Sizes and limits for each format are on the ad specs page.
LinkedIn ads cost by objective
| Objective (all feed formats) | CPM | Cost per landing page click | Cost per engagement | Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Website visits | $33.00 | $10.52 | $4.79 | 626 |
| Brand awareness | $37.27 | $48.74 | $4.85 | 356 |
| Video views | $38.85 | $97.54 | $6.35 | 231 |
| Engagement | $53.14 | $27.95 | $1.75 | 651 |
| Website conversions | $57.80 | $12.43 | $5.90 | 183 |
| Lead generation | $65.62 | form opens in LinkedIn | $3.16 | 500 |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · LinkedIn ads cost by objective
The objective is a price list for a result: website visits buys the cheapest visit, engagement the cheapest engagement, video views the cheapest view (18% cheaper than brand awareness, paired), lead generation the cheapest form. Choosing brand awareness "because it is cheap" buys a $48 visit. Which to pick, by audience size, is in engagement vs brand awareness.
LinkedIn ads cost by country and region
| Region targeted | CPM | Cost per landing page click | Content lead (form) | Demo lead (form) | Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US and Canada | $89.68 | $38.73 | $311 | $559 | 149 |
| US | $84.21 | $40.07 | $210 | $376 | 354 |
| Canada | $65.36 | $27.36 | — | — | 40 |
| Australia and New Zealand | $56.41 | $40.61 | — | — | 31 |
| UK | $49.69 | $22.84 | $68 | $299 | 108 |
| Multi-region (US + Europe etc.) | $39.57 | $23.76 | — | — | 379 |
| DACH | $38.94 | $32.94 | $130 | — | 141 |
| Europe, multi-country | $36.79 | $21.20 | $144 | — | 42 |
| Europe, single country (FR, ES, IT, IE, PT, PL…) | $33.09 | $17.68 | — | — | 114 |
| Nordics | $30.72 | $21.86 | $126 | — | 79 |
| MENA and Africa | $29.06 | $14.59 | $26 | — | 65 |
| Benelux | $27.74 | $15.11 | $106 | — | 117 |
| APAC (incl. India, Singapore) | $16.60 | $9.19 | — | — | 39 |
| LATAM | $13.74 | $4.93 | $9 | — | 23 |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · LinkedIn ads cost by country and region
A US impression costs five times an APAC impression and six times a LATAM one. Most of that is who advertises where, not the auction: paired inside accounts that target both, the US is only 12% dearer than Europe per lead and not significantly so. India sits inside the APAC row; senior Indian audiences price closer to $20 to $30 CPM in our accounts. The UK page in pounds is here.
LinkedIn ads cost by industry
| Industry targeted (selection of 146) | CPM | Cost per landing page click | Content lead (form) | Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truck transportation | $27.26 | $29.64 | — | 30 |
| Professional training and coaching | $28.15 | $16.49 | — | 38 |
| IT services and IT consulting | $31.96 | $18.01 | $83 | 121 |
| Higher education | $31.96 | $25.24 | $20 | 49 |
| Data security software | $31.82 | $16.12 | — | 48 |
| Energy technology | $32.58 | $16.47 | — | 87 |
| Marketing services | $37.54 | $15.59 | — | 60 |
| Technology, information and internet | $37.61 | $19.55 | $102 | 167 |
| Manufacturing | $39.24 | $28.46 | $262 | 147 |
| Staffing and recruiting | $39.70 | $13.54 | — | 27 |
| Software development | $40.38 | $17.22 | $81 | 121 |
| Financial services | $41.23 | $23.11 | $85 | 206 |
| Telecommunications | $41.10 | $31.69 | — | 64 |
| Pharmaceutical manufacturing | $41.75 | $24.56 | — | 82 |
| Legal services | $43.26 | $13.72 | $67 | 58 |
| Retail | $44.88 | $34.05 | $304 | 132 |
| Insurance | $47.38 | $25.53 | $83 | 81 |
| Hospitals and health care | $48.07 | $21.19 | $90 | 120 |
| Retail health and personal care | $73.45 | $23.28 | — | 30 |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · LinkedIn ads cost by industry
The spread by industry is narrower than by region or seniority: most industries sit between $30 and $50 CPM, and the cost per landing page click ranges from $9 (mobile software) to $192 (semiconductors, where nobody clicks). These describe what advertisers targeting an industry pay, not what targeting it would do to your cost. All 146 rows are on the benchmarks page and cost per lead for 100+ industries at cost per lead by industry.
LinkedIn ads cost by audience
| Audience | CPM | Cost per landing page click | Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cold audience under 10,000 members | $73.45 | $34.91 | 236 |
| 10,000 to 30,000 | $53.76 | $24.67 | 296 |
| 30,000 to 100,000 | $37.44 | $19.93 | 430 |
| 100,000 to 300,000 | $33.69 | $16.25 | 314 |
| 300,000+ | $24.38 | $14.21 | 287 |
| Cold targeting | $36.44 | $21.64 | 793 |
| Retargeting | $46.02 | $17.66 | 593 |
| Uploaded list | $58.00 | $31.28 | 589 |
| Director and above only | $50.33 | $23.44 | 259 |
| Includes manager, senior or entry | $39.78 | $24.36 | 457 |
| Enterprise only (1,000+ employees) | $73.67 | $42.59 | 93 |
| SMB only (under 200) | $38.25 | $16.61 | 154 |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · LinkedIn ads cost by audience
Three things to take from it. Small audiences are expensive per impression and the cost per landing page click falls all the way down the size ladder, so size the budget to the audience rather than shrinking the audience to fit the budget. An uploaded list behaves like a cold audience with an 11% CPM premium on thought leader ads and a 31% cost per lead premium on forms. And senior-only targeting costs more per impression and nothing more per click: filter up. Per-audience cuts (HR, IT, finance, marketing, sales, C-suite, company size) are at benchmarks by audience.
Minimum budget, and what to actually spend
| Level | Amount | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn's minimum | $10 a day per campaign · $100 lifetime · about $2 minimum bid | Under one landing page visit a day at the median cost. A test of nothing. |
| One content lead gen campaign | $25 to $50 a day | First lead in about 3 days at $10 to $25 a day; a lead by day 30 in 77% of campaigns. |
| One demo campaign | $100 a day | First lead in about 12 days at lower spend, and 36% never get one; even at $100 to $250 a day only 46% of campaign-months get a lead a week. |
| Full-funnel test | about $4,000 a month (UK £3,000) | Three campaigns (cold thought leader ads, retargeting, a bottom-of-funnel offer) long enough to read. |
| Working programme | $10,000 a month | Where most of our clients start; enough for two audiences, three formats and creative refresh. |
| Scaled B2B account | $30,000 to $100,000+ a month | Multiple regions, CTV, and the attribution to prove it. |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · Minimum budget, and what to actually spend
Rule of thumb for a cold feed campaign: $1 to $2 a day per 1,000 members in the audience, and widen the audience before raising the daily budget. LinkedIn can spend up to 50% over the daily figure on any one day and evens it out across the week, which surprises finance teams. The longer version, with the budget by stage, is how much should you budget for LinkedIn ads.
What drives the cost up, and how to bring it down
Paired within the same account, so these are effects, not descriptions:
| Change | Effect | Accounts |
|---|---|---|
| Highest-bid vs lowest-bid campaign, manual bidding | +128% cost per engagement (thought leader ads) · +80% cost per send, +44% cost per lead (conversation ads) · +90% cost per view (video) | 464 / 119 / 73 |
| Doubling daily spend on the same audience | +26% cost per landing page click for +59% clicks | ★★★ |
| Q1 to Q2, same advertisers | +30% CPM, +47% cost per landing page click | 153 |
| Uploaded list vs cold | +31% cost per lead (forms) · +21% cost per send (conversation ads) · +11% CPM (thought leader ads) | 30 / 35 / ★★ |
| Demo form vs content form, feed | −80% completion, roughly 2× cost per lead | 48 |
| Message ad vs single image lead gen form | −33% cost per lead | 65 |
| Document vs single image, content offer | −22% cost per lead | 46 |
| Lead gen form vs landing page | −55% cost per lead, −82% on content | 20 / 15 |
| Thought leader ad vs company-page ad, engagement | −22% cost per landing page click | 106 |
| Video views vs brand awareness objective | −18% cost per view, −32% cost per completion | 54 |
| Auto "maximise views" vs manual CPV bid | −21% CPM | 29 |
| Weekend vs weekday | −1 to 4% CPM, +9 to 10% landing page CTR | ★★★ |
| Phone number field on a form | +135% cost per lead | 23 |
| Audience Network on | $274,000 of spend off-platform across 107 accounts audited; up to 99% of a budget in the worst case | 107 |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · What drives the cost up, and how to bring it down
In order of what to do: bid manually and low; turn off the Audience Network and Audience Expansion; move demo asks to the inbox; use documents for content; run cold before lists; refresh creative on completion or frequency, every two weeks under 10,000 members; and report landing page clicks so the thing you optimise is the thing you pay for. Why the report often shows the opposite is in why is my LinkedIn CPL so high.
What an agency adds to the cost
Media is the number above; management is on top. Freelancers charge $1,000 to $3,000 a month, specialist agencies $2,500 to $10,000 a month as a flat fee by spend tier, and enterprise agencies 15 to 20% of spend. Kiin's LinkedIn Ads tiers start at $2,500 a month for up to $10,000 a month in media and step up by spend band, never a percentage, with pricing on the pricing page and the comparison in how much does a LinkedIn ads agency cost. The honest test for a fee is whether it moves the numbers on this page by more than it costs: at a $17.54 median landing page click, an account that gets to the good column ($9.18) on $10,000 a month of media has bought 470 extra visits a month, which is what the fee has to beat.
All figures are the median advertiser account in Kiin Labs' panel: 944 accounts, $31M, 8 September 2025 to 7 September 2026, USD, LinkedIn Audience Network excluded, paired comparisons inside one account where stated. Refreshed each quarter with the benchmarks page; the date in the header is the last refresh. Cite as: Ilic, P. (2026). LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks 2026. Kiin Labs.