Understand how your CPC compares. Dive into benchmark data by industry, region, and campaign type
January 2025 - January 2026
Detailed observation of presented data
The clearest story in the data: SaaS & Cloud Platforms consistently paid more per click than the broader market, and the gap widened dramatically at the turn of the year. Through 2025, median Facebook Ads CPC for SaaS across all countries held well above the global benchmark, rising into a Q4 peak before easing in December. Then January 2026 broke pattern with a sharp spike for SaaS even as the overall market fell.
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 SaaS & Cloud Platforms across all countries compared to the global benchmark.
For SaaS & Cloud Platforms, median CPC started 2025 at $1.57, dipped to its yearly low in February ($1.48), and climbed into a May high of $2.00. After a mid-year plateau, costs surged again to an October peak of $2.22, remained elevated in November ($2.12), and cooled to $1.87 in December. The period average across January 2025–January 2026 was $1.97, with a 2025-only average of $1.82. The standout move came in January 2026, when SaaS CPC jumped to $3.70—its period high.
By contrast, the global benchmark averaged $1.11 over the same window. It held relatively steady through most of 2025, spiked in November ($1.32), dropped into December ($1.05), and fell further in January 2026 ($0.85).
Volatility was a defining characteristic for SaaS. Month-to-month absolute changes averaged $0.19 during 2025, rising to $0.33 when the January 2026 surge is included. The global benchmark was far steadier at $0.07 average monthly movement. From January to December 2025, SaaS CPC rose 19% ($1.57 to $1.87), while the global benchmark eased 6% ($1.12 to $1.05). Year over year, January 2026 diverged sharply: SaaS up 136% versus January 2025, the global market down 25%.
The SaaS pattern showed a spring lift into May, a softer mid-summer, and a renewed climb into Q4—typical pressure points when competition intensifies. October marked the 2025 high for SaaS, with only a mild step-down in November and a clearer reset in December. The January 2026 spike runs counter to broader seasonal softness, standing out against the global drop.
Globally, CPCs followed familiar seasonality: a mostly stable first three quarters, a pronounced November lift, then a December pullback and a softer January. This rhythm underscores how industry ad performance can decouple from market-wide CPC trends, especially around Q4 and the turn of the year.
SaaS & Cloud Platforms ran above-market every month. In 2025, the gap ranged from 31% higher than global in February to 98% higher in October, averaging 61% above the benchmark for the year. Across the full period, SaaS averaged $1.97 versus the global $1.11—about 77% higher. The spread widened dramatically in January 2026: SaaS CPC was 338% above the global median ($3.70 vs. $0.85), reflecting both an industry-specific surge and a market-wide dip.
Trend-wise, the global benchmark edged down across 2025 (−6%), while SaaS climbed (+19%) with more pronounced monthly swings. The SaaS volatility profile was notably higher than the market, especially around the Q4 peak and the January 2026 jump.
Understanding Facebook Ads CPC benchmarks for SaaS & Cloud Platforms across all countries highlights how industry ad performance can materially diverge from the global market. These CPC trends, grounded in median values from a $3B dataset, provide a clear read on country-specific ad costs at a global level and help contextualize SaaS CPC performance against broader Facebook Ads benchmarks and market seasonality.
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 SaaS & Cloud Platforms 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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All data is sourced from over $3B in Facebook ad spend, collected across thousands of ad accounts that use Superads daily to analyze and improve their campaigns. Every data point is fully anonymized and aggregated—no individual advertiser is ever exposed.
This dataset updates frequently as new ad data flows in. It will only get bigger and better.
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.
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