How Much Do Instagram Ads Cost in 2024? Answers Inside…

With Instagram ads becoming a key tool for businesses to reach their audience, understanding the costs involved is crucial for maximizing your return on investment.

While the platform offers powerful targeting and creative options, navigating how much you're spending can sometimes feel overwhelming.

In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know about Instagram ad costs, including:

• Instagram ad costs for 2024 
• Key factors that influence your ad spend
• Practical tips for lowering your ad costs

Ready to optimize your Instagram ad spend for maximum impact?

How do Instagram ads work?

Instagram ads are posts that businesses pay to show to specific people on Instagram. These ads can appear in various places, like your feed (the main screen where you scroll through posts), Instagram Stories, Explore, or even in Reels.

They look almost like regular posts but have a small "Sponsored" label, and they often include a button like "Shop Now," "Learn More," or "Download" to encourage you to take action.

Instagram is owned by Meta (the same company that owns Facebook and WhatsApp), so advertisers leverage Facebook's powerful targeting tools to show their ads to the right people on Instagram. Businesses can choose their audience based on things like:

• Demographics (age, gender, location)
• Interests (based on what people like, follow, or interact with on Instagram)
• Behaviors (shopping habits or other online activity)
• Custom audiences (like people who have visited their website or interacted with their Instagram profile)

Typically, advertisers use tools like the Meta Ad Manager (Or Madgicx 😉) to create and manage their ads. Note: You need to set up an Instagram Business account to use these features.

Et voilà—that's how the Instagram ad magic is made!

Is it worth it to pay for Instagram ads?

Let's face it—it's been a while since Instagram was the shiny new app on the block, especially with the recent rise of TikTok.

That being said, Instagram (and Instagram ads) remain a powerful tool for businesses due to the platform's vast reach and high engagement. With over 1.4 billion users, Instagram offers brands access to a massive audience. In fact, it's still beating out TikTok in terms of the number of monthly active users:

TLDR: In 2024, there isn't a reason why Instagram shouldn't be on your social media advertising to-do list.

[P.S. If you want to take your ad game to the next level, check out our Facebook Advertising 101 guide and add these to your social media plan!]

How much do Instagram ads cost?

There's no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to Instagram advertising costs. As we'll learn in this article, your costs are affected by a variety of factors, including your objective, audience, and even ad placement.

That being said, we've compiled a list of ad costs for the top 3 Instagram ad metrics every advertiser needs to track in 2024.

Instagram ads cost per thousand impressions (CPM)

CPM, or cost per mille, is the cost an advertiser pays for every 1,000 impressions their ad receives. The overall average CPM for Instagram ads is $10.81.

Instagram ads cost per click (CPC)

Next up is the cost per click—the average price paid for one click on your ad. In 2024, the cost for an Instagram click ranged from a low of $1.01 to a high of $1.73 for an average of $1.17.

Instagram ads cost per engagement (CPE)

The cost per engagement (or CPE) refers to the amount an advertiser pays for each user interaction or engagement with their ad. Engagements typically include actions like likes, comments, shares, saves, or any other form of interaction, depending on the ad format.

The average cost per engagement for Instagram ads in 2024 is $0.06.

Facebook vs. Instagram ads costs

If you're wondering how Instagram stacks up against its sibling Facebook, you're not alone! Here's a quick breakdown of the cost of Instagram ads vs the cost of Facebook ads in 2024:

Starting with the cost per impression, Instagram Ads are slightly more expensive at $10.81 compared to Facebook's $10.62, a minimal difference. However, when it comes to cost per click, Instagram charges $1.19, which is a little over double Facebook's $0.59. This trend continues with cost per engagement, where Instagram's $0.06 is marginally lower than Facebook's $0.07. 

Though there are some cost differences between Facebook and Instagram ads, they are similar enough to not pose too much risk for advertisers who want to expand on their current efforts.

What dictates Instagram ad costs

Like most things, the cost of Instagram ads is more complex than it appears on the surface. The cost of ads can be impacted by (but not limited to) the following:

• Audience targeting: The more specific your target audience (e.g., based on interests, location, or demographics), the more competitive the ad space becomes. Narrow targeting can increase costs due to higher competition for particular audiences. That being said, more targeted campaigns tend to lead to higher conversion rates—meaning you do need to pay more for quality.
• Bidding strategy: Given that the ad process is essentially a giant auction house, advertisers who are willing to pay more for their bids win the ad auction and have their ad displayed. The exact bidding strategies you use for your ads can increase (or decrease) your costs:

• Ad quality and relevance: Instagram wants users to come back for more—so it prioritizes showing high-quality, relevant ads to users. Ads with engaging visuals and clear messaging can have a lower cost, given that users typically engage with them and have more positive experiences than low-quality ads. Metrics like your business's customer feedback score also impact your overall CPM.
• Time and seasonality: Costs can fluctuate depending on when you're running the ads. During peak seasons (e.g., holidays or major events), more brands compete for the same audience, which can drive up prices​ across the board.

How to lower your Instagram ad costs

Now that we know what impacts ad costs, we can use this information to help us get the lowest ad cost possible.

Here are a couple of our top tips for reducing your Instagram advertising campaign costs.

Use high-quality imagery to convey your message

Looks matter—and that goes double for your ads.

After all, you can't say an ad like this wouldn't make you do a double-take:

Marketers today need to abide by the three-second rule. Your viewers decide within the first three seconds whether to keep engaging or scroll past your ads—making it crucial to capture their attention right away to avoid losing their interest (and increasing your costs as a result). The best way to do this is to create an ad that actually speaks to them.

And with tools like the Facebook Ad Library and a plethora of blogs about creative ad ideas, there's no reason why you can't create high-quality ads today.

While we have an entire guide on the best creative strategy, here are a few highlights that can get you on the right path:

• Incorporate bold images or videos that align with your brand identity, like the one above
• Showcase real customers and followers using your product with user-generated content
• Utilize motion graphics or interactive elements to make ads more engaging
• Offer special deals to specific audience segments
• Grab their attention with concise storytelling

Yet again, Madgicx has a powerful set of tools to help you create and implement your own design strategy—the Madgicx Creative Workflow.

1. Creative Insights: Monitor and analyze the performance of your ad creatives with AI to understand what messaging, style, and ad formats work best for you.
2. Ad Library: Explore the Madgicx Ad Library for creative inspiration. Use our AI-backed search features to sort the top ads by industry, brand, or format, and save ads to Pinterest-style boards you can share with coworkers or clients—even if they don't have a Madgicx account.
3. AI Ad Generator: Pick an ad from the Ad Library or upload your own photo, type in a design prompt, and the AI Ad Generator will create an ad for you in just a few seconds!

If you still need a design team to help bring your ad ideas to life, you can utilize our digital artists and get your ads designed in as little as 48 hours! Once your creatives are ready, launch them directly from Madgicx using the Ad Launcher in a snap.

If you're ready to simplify your ad creation (and reduce your monthly consumption of headache medication), you can test-drive these features during a 7-day free trial of Madgicx.

Refine your audience targeting

Before you ever launch any marketing campaign, you need to do some hard research on who you're trying to reach in the first place.

You could have the best ads the world has ever seen and the most compelling offer, but if you're advertising golf clubs to people who couldn't care less about the sport, you're going to have high costs and a low return.

In marketing, we typically create buyer personas and ideal customer profiles to help us define the people who would be best suited for what we have to offer.

Once you have a buyer persona in hand, you can then use this information to set up your audience targeting using some of the following options available inside Ads Manager:

Demographic and interest-based targeting: This is the most simplistic targeting option on the list and a great place to start for beginners. You can use these features to target based on demographics like age, gender, location, or language and then narrow down by specific interest. Meta's interest-based targeting works by identifying recurring themes that your audience seems to enjoy, like following certain pages, interacting with specific ads or shop products, etc.

Custom audiences: Custom audiences are a set of audience segments that can help you retarget users who have previously interacted with your brand through your website, app, or even Instagram profile to encourage further engagement or sales​. These are some of the most powerful targeting options available to you and should be a large part of your sales funnel. However, they can be difficult to set up as they require tools like the Meta Pixel to work properly.

Lookalike audiences: Lookalike audiences target new users who resemble your existing customers, helping you expand your audience while maintaining relevance​

Audience exclusion: While most people want to target as many people as possible, there's also a lot of power in excluding certain demographics. It's very unlikely that teenagers would be interested in retirement home pricing, so if you're trying to advertise your new luxury suites, that ad spend could be better spent elsewhere. Excluding specific audiences, like existing customers or those who would not be a good fit for your product, helps avoid redundant spending and focus on quality prospects.

If you're finding this a tad overwhelming, know that you're not the first to think so. In fact, sometimes, these things can be a barrier that prevents you from launching campaigns at all. As we learned earlier, ignoring Instagram's reach and viability as a platform is truly a missed opportunity.

Luckily, your friends here at Madgicx have developed the Audience Launcher to help solve this problem for you. :)

Audience Launcher enables users to quickly launch pre-built audience segments across every stage of the funnel in just a few clicks.

These pre-built audiences include automatic exclusions, eliminating the need for manual adjustments and preventing costly audience overlaps.

Schedule your ads appropriately

All things ebb and flow with time, and Instagram ads costs are no exception to the rule. 

During Q4 (October-December) people around the globe are shopping for loved ones, and advertisers are cranking out ads as fast as possible. This always results in more competition, thus meaning higher ad costs for you.

For eCommerce advertisers, the increase in costs during Q4 is typically offset by the increased amount of sales. On the other hand, B2B advertisers who run lead generation campaigns might not be able to ‘weather the storm’ and might do better to hold off until the start of the new year. In contrast, running ads during less competitive times of the year can help lower costs due to reduced competition for ad placements (as long as you are still ROI-positive).

Aside from the time of year, the time of the day and week can also impact your campaigns. After all, what good are your ads if your audience isn’t online when they’re active?

According to 2024 data, here's a breakdown of the best times to post on Instagram:

For example, lunchtime on Mondays and Thursdays between 11 am and 12 pm is an ideal period to reach a more engaged audience. Tuesdays see higher engagement mid-morning, around 9 am to 10 am, as people ease into their day.

On Wednesdays, users tend to be more active at 11 am, likely taking a break or seeking mid-week inspiration. Fridays around 4 pm are also prime, as people start to wind down and plan for the weekend. Saturdays at 9 am capture a relaxed audience scrolling before starting their day, while Sunday evenings around 7 pm offer a chance to engage with users winding down and preparing for the week ahead. 

While these are some great figures to help you get started, the best time to post for you should be based on the interaction data you already have. This is where tools like Madgicx’s Auction Insights can really make a difference.

By leveraging Madgicx’s auction analytics, you can track how your ads are performing across different time slots and adjust your strategy accordingly. 

The tool breaks down key performance indicators—like impressions, clicks, and conversions—by day and time, providing you with a detailed overview of when your audience is most likely to engage with your ads. Instead of relying solely on general best practices, you can use this data to tailor your posting schedule for better results.

FAQs - Instagram ad cost

How much does it cost to get ads on Instagram?

The answer to costs is never a simple one, as there are several different costs to consider. In a general sense, you can determine how much your ad will cost you by looking at the specific outcomes you want.

Here is a breakdown of Instagram ad metrics and their average costs:

• Instagram ad cost per impression - $10.81
• Instagram ad cost per click - $1.19
• Instagram ad cost per engagement - $0.06

How much does Instagram shop cost?

Instagram Shops are free to set up. However, you may be subject to payment processing fees depending on your Shop's host.

If you have a Shopify account connected to Instagram/Facebook, you will not be charged a fee by Meta. Instead, your processing fees will be charged by Shopify according to your contract.

If you use any shop software other than Shopify (including Meta's own Commerce Manager), you will be charged processing fees based on the transaction's payment method:

These fees will be automatically deducted by Meta from your shop payout.

You can check out Meta's documentation on fees for sales using checkout to get more detailed fee information about Meta's processing fees.

How much are Instagram ads in 2024

In 2024, the average cost of Instagram ads ranged from $0.06 to $10.81, depending on the metrics you are measuring.

Conclusion

As we saw today, Instagram ad costs can vary based on a variety of factors and objectives. But by taking a snapshot of the landscape and understanding key metrics like CPM, CPC, and CPE, businesses everywhere can optimize their budgets for better results.

Ultimately, a cost-effective Instagram ad strategy will always balance cost with results. As they say, bad leads are a dime a dozen—but golden opportunities are worth waiting (and paying) for.