Comparison
How to compare PPC agencies.
Including us. Most comparison pages are written by one of the options – this one is too, so the parts that matter are the checkable ones: published rates, published terms, and questions you can put to everybody.
- Rates checked
- September 2026
- Publish pricing
- 2 of 6
- Our own rate
- from $2,500 / mo
Start with who publishes anything
Of six comparable agencies we checked in this market, four publish no pricing at all. That is not automatically a bad sign – scope genuinely varies – but it does mean the first call exists partly to work out what you can pay.
| Agency | Published rate | Model | Minimum spend |
|---|---|---|---|
| InvisiblePPC | $445/mo flat | White-label flat | not stated |
| E2M Solutions | $499–$1,999/mo, then 7–10% | Tiered, white label | not stated |
| Logical Position | from $749/mo, then 10–12% | Tiered by spend | not stated |
| Aclick | from $2,500/mo, then 10–15% above $25k | Flat, then percentage | None |
| Admiral Media | $3,000–$25,000/mo, or 10–20% | Retainer or percentage | $10,000–$30,000/mo |
| KlientBoost | Not published | Quote on request | not stated |
| ppc.co | Not published – explicitly declines | Quote on request | not stated |
| Clicks Geek | Not published | Quote on request | not stated |
Source: Each agency's own pricing page, checked September 2026. Rates change – verify before deciding.
Specialists and generalists are not competing for the same work
We ran the US search results for app user acquisition and for B2B SaaS PPC side by side. The two sets of agencies do not overlap at all – not one name appears in both.
That is not a coincidence or an SEO artefact. The buyers are different people with different metrics: one reports on ROAS, CAC payback and day-7 retention, the other on MQLs, pipeline and closed revenue. Different vocabulary, different tooling, different weekly rhythm.
So an agency claiming both is usually genuinely strong in one and adequate in the other. Worth asking which, and the honest ones will tell you.
Three questions that compare cleanly
Bespoke proposals are designed to be hard to compare. These three are not.
| Question | What a good answer sounds like | What should worry you |
|---|---|---|
| What does management cost at our spend level? | A number or a narrow range, immediately | It depends, with no follow-up question that would narrow it |
| Who works on the account day to day? | A named role, available on the first call | A team, an account director, or a vague "we" |
| How many accounts does that person carry? | A number – six, ten, whatever it is | Deflection, or a number that arrives slowly |
The third one is the least asked and the most revealing. Twenty accounts per manager and six are completely different products at the same headline fee, and the number determines whether anyone looks at your campaigns on an ordinary Tuesday.
What directories are actually telling you
A 2026 teardown of one major agency directory found 23 sponsored rows appearing before a single organic result in some categories, with no per-listing badge distinguishing them. Average ratings for sponsored and organic listings were near-identical – 4.89 against 4.88 – so the ordering carries no quality information at all.
Use directories to find candidates. Do not use the ranking as evidence.
The terms worth checking before the rate
- Account ownership. Ad accounts, analytics, tag containers and MMP dashboards in your name, agency added as a user. Never the reverse – the campaign history is what makes the algorithms work, and losing it costs months.
- Notice period. Rolling with 30 days is normal. A six-month lock-in is the agency protecting itself from months four through six.
- Where the fee comes from. Management fee and media budget as separate lines. Taking the fee out of spend means cutting budget cuts their income.
- Media markup and rebates. Ask directly whether they take either. Both exist and neither is always disclosed.
- What creative is included. Copy and briefs, or production too? This is where "full service" quietly differs between agencies.
Questions people actually ask
- How do I compare agencies that will not publish prices?
- Ask all of them the same three questions before any proposal arrives: what does management cost at our spend level, who works on the account, and how many other accounts does that person carry. Answers to those are comparable across agencies in a way that bespoke proposals deliberately are not.
- Are directory rankings trustworthy?
- Treat them as advertising. One 2026 teardown of a major directory found 23 sponsored rows appearing before a single organic result in some categories, with no per-listing sponsorship badge. Sponsored and organic listings had near-identical average ratings, so the ranking is telling you who paid, not who is better.
- Should I hire a specialist or a full-service agency?
- A specialist, if your problem is specific enough to name. No agency ranks in both app user acquisition and B2B SaaS PPC in the US market – we checked, and the two result sets do not overlap at all. That gap is real, and an agency claiming both is usually strong in one.
- How long should the first contract be?
- As short as the agency will accept, but go in knowing that month one is setup and cleanup, month two is when changes start showing, and month three is when numbers mean anything. A long lock-in protects them; leaving at week four wastes your own money.
- What is a genuine red flag?
- Guaranteed results, refusal to say who works on the account, ownership of the ad accounts sitting with the agency, and case studies with round percentages and no timeframe or methodology. The last one is the most common and the most revealing.
- Should the agency own our ad accounts?
- No, never. Ad accounts, analytics properties, tag containers and MMP dashboards stay in your name with the agency added as a user. If you part ways you keep the campaign history, which is what makes the bidding algorithms work – losing it costs months.
Compare us on work rather than on claims.
The free audit is our actual analysis of your actual account. Take it to whichever agency you end up choosing – including one that is not us.