What US agencies charge in 2026
$800–1,500/mo — solo marketer or micro-studio. Usually one person plus a contractor designer. You get posting and basic reporting. Paid ads, video editing and strategy are typically extra. Fine for a local business testing the channel.
$1,500–3,000/mo — boutique agency. The most common tier for small and mid-size brands: a content manager, a designer, a media buyer, monthly strategy, weekly reporting. This is where full-scope management genuinely starts in the US market.
$3,000–5,000/mo — full-service agency. Adds production capacity: shoots, motion design, UGC creator management, multi-platform coverage, a dedicated account manager.
$5,000+/mo — senior or specialised shops. Named strategists, enterprise reporting stacks, brand-safety review. Typically justified by scale, not by better content.
Why the same scope costs half offshore
A US agency’s rate card is mostly overhead: office leases, US salaries, a sales team that has to close enough deals to cover both. A remote-first European team delivers the same deliverables — strategy, content, ads, reporting — without that cost structure.
That’s not a quality argument, it’s an arithmetic one. The test is whether the team can show outcomes in your niche: our own cases are measured in bookings and orders — 30 new clients a month for a permanent-makeup studio in Utrecht, 615K monthly views for a city bar, 14× organic growth for an Austrian streetwear brand with zero ad spend. Compare those, not the timezone. For the European side of the market, see our 2026 Europe pricing guide.
What is never included in the monthly fee
Ad spend. The management fee pays the team; the money Meta or TikTok charge to show your ads is separate. Budget $500–2,000/mo to start in a US market.
Production days. Studio, videographer, models and props are usually billed per shoot ($500–2,500 in the US). Teams that work from your phone footage, UGC creators or AI-assisted production keep this near zero.
Community management. Full DM and comment handling is often a separate line — ask explicitly, because for a service business this is where sales actually happen.
Landing pages and tracking setup. Frequently a one-off project fee on top of month one.
How to compare two quotes fairly
Put both offers on one page and normalise them: deliverable volumes (how many Reels, stories, ad creatives), who films, who answers DMs, what KPI is committed in writing, and what the reporting cadence is. A $3,000 quote with no KPI commitment is more expensive than a $1,400 quote that guarantees enquiry volume and reports weekly.
Then ask the question most agencies dodge: show me the last three clients in my niche and the business numbers they got. Our full checklist is here — 12 questions to ask before you sign.
What budget actually makes sense for you
For a local service business (salon, clinic, restaurant), the realistic entry point in 2026 is a management fee plus $500–1,000/mo of ad spend. Below that you are buying activity, not results. For e-commerce and fashion brands, content volume matters more than ad budget early on — that’s how our streetwear client grew 14× organically.
