Understand how your CPC compares. Dive into benchmark data by industry, region, and campaign type
January 2025 - January 2026
Detailed observation of presented data
Across Facebook Ads benchmarks, Legal CPC stood out for both its price point and its pace. From a firm mid-year climb to a sharp late-year reset, CPC trends for the Legal industry across all countries moved well above the global market for most of 2025 before slipping below it in January 2026. The pattern shows a strong Q2 peak, a mixed Q3 with a notable August spike, and a pronounced Q4 cool-down.
This analysis is based on $3B worth of advertising data from our dataset, which provides strong directional benchmarks. This analysis explores ad performance trends for the Legal industry across all countries compared to the global benchmark.
Legal CPC opened 2025 at $2.40 and climbed steadily through spring, cresting at $3.51 in May and reaching the year’s high at $3.55 in August. From there, costs eased into fall and slid through Q4, landing at $1.76 in December before a sharp drop to $0.69 in January 2026. Over the full period, Legal CPC averaged $2.68 (2025 alone averaged $2.85), with a range from $0.69 (Jan 2026) to $3.55 (Aug 2025).
Monthly movements were pronounced. The biggest month-to-month lift came in July to August (+$0.82), while the steepest resets followed in December to January (−$1.07) and in October to November (−$0.70). On average, Legal CPC moved $0.47 per month in absolute terms—roughly 6–7 times more volatile than the global benchmark’s $0.07.
Within 2025, the arc is clear: +46% from January to May, a secondary surge into the August high, then a near 50% decline from May to December. November ($2.03) and December ($1.76) marked the softest months of 2025 before the January 2026 trough.
Seasonally, Legal showed a classic mid-year lift and late-year softening.
The global market moved in a much tighter band: around $1.10–$1.16 for most of the year with a brief November uptick ($1.32), a softer December ($1.05), and a low in January 2026 ($0.85).
Legal CPC priced materially above market. Over the full period, Legal averaged $2.68 versus the $1.11 global benchmark—about 140% higher. In 2025 alone, the spread was even wider (Legal $2.85 vs. global $1.13, roughly +152%). Month by month, the gap ranged from +114% in January 2025 to +215% at the August peak. The narrowest premium appeared in November (+55%). Only in January 2026 did Legal flip below the market, at 19% under the global CPC.
Trend-wise, the global benchmark drifted modestly lower into year-end (October to January −25%), while Legal retrenched far more sharply (−75% over the same window), underscoring higher sensitivity and larger swings in industry ad performance for Legal.
Facebook Ads CPC benchmarks for the Legal industry across all countries show a mid-year cost crest, pronounced Q4 easing, and a rare January 2026 dip below the global norm. Understanding these CPC trends helps situate country-spanning ad costs for Legal against broader market patterns.
Insights & analysis of Facebook advertising costs
Cost Per Click (CPC) is the amount advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their Facebook ad. In the Legal industry, Facebook ad costs can be influenced by seasonal trends and market competition. Geographic targeting affects ad costs based on market competition and user engagement in different regions. Different campaign objectives lead to varying costs based on how Facebook optimizes for your specific goals. The data shown represents median values across multiple campaigns, and individual results may vary based on ad quality, audience targeting, and campaign optimization.
We use the median CTR because the underlying distribution of click-through rates is highly skewed, with a small share of campaigns achieving extremely high CTRs. These outliers can inflate a simple average, making it less representative of what most advertisers actually experience. By using the median—which sits at the midpoint of all campaigns—we provide a more rigorous and realistic benchmark that reflects the true underlying data model and helps you set attainable performance expectations.
Note: This data represents industry median values and benchmarks. Your actual costs may vary based on specific targeting, ad creative quality, and campaign optimization.
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CPC (Cost Per Click) is what you pay each time someone clicks on your ad, on any Facebook Ads placement. It's calculated by dividing your total spend by the number of clicks received. Facebook Ads lists Clicks, Link Clicks and Outbound Clicks separately. The former is the sum of all types of clicks (including, for example, clicks to your profile page, to a link or to a comment).
The truth is that varies, so play with our tool to get some benchmarks that are relevant to you. CPC values are highly dependent on the region, industry and campaign objective. The US is one of the most expensive markets.
Several factors affect CPC: your audience targeting, competition in your industry, ad relevance score, and creative performance. If your ad isn't getting engagement or relevance is low, CPC tends to spike.
CPC spikes usually happen because of increased competition in your target audience, seasonal trends (like holidays), poor ad relevance scores, or algorithm changes. Check if your audience targeting has become too narrow or if your creative is showing fatigue.
Yes, there's a noticeable difference between platforms. Mobile CPCs often run lower than desktop. How many times do check Instagram on your phone and how often do you open it in your computer? There's simply much more mobile inventory. Tip: segment your performance data by placement to understand where your clicks are coming from. Spoiler: it's likely all mobile.
For most businesses, optimizing for conversions will deliver much better ROI than focusing purely on CPC. A low CPC is meaningless if those clicks don't convert. However, if you're running awareness campaigns or some kind content promotion, CPC optimization might potentially make sense, although most experts have switched to conversion optimization by now.
Your specific audience targeting, creative quality, bidding strategy, and account history all influence your CPC. Industry averages provide a reference point, but your historical performance is a more reliable benchmark for setting expectations and measuring improvement.
Instagram CPCs are generally slightly higher due to stronger purchase intent and higher competition among advertisers. But it depends on the audience and creative.
Discover detailed cost benchmarks for different Facebook advertising metrics:
Average cost per click benchmarks across industries
Cost per thousand impressions across different markets
Benchmark click-through rates for Facebook ads
Cost per lead across different markets
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