Conversion GemsConversion Gems

Cost per lead (CPL) benchmarks

Cost per lead (CPL) is what a business spends, on average, to generate one lead. Here is every published figure we can show, side by side, with what each one counts.

Compiled by the Conversion Gems editorial team · sources checked Oct 1, 2026
Published costs per lead, source by source

$84

Cost per lead varies by 10x or more depending on industry, not sloppy measurement: First Page Sage's blended (paid + organic) figures run from $91 (e-commerce) to $982 (higher education), because a bigger average deal size supports a bigger acquisition cost. HubSpot's own reporting puts an average B2B CPL of $84 across all channels blended; on LinkedIn specifically, Metadata's 2025/2026 analysis of 153 B2B advertisers found a $202 spend-weighted average CPL, but a $376 median — most advertisers pay well above the spend-weighted figure. Always compare within the same industry and channel, and check whether a number is blended, paid-only, or organic-only before using it as a target. 8 figures from 3 sources, grouped by what they count (single-platform cpl, b2b cpl by average contract value is charted too, but not part of the headline range). We never average them.

Published cost per lead (CPL) figures by way of counting, from $84 to $4,129. Every figure is listed in the source list below.

Blended CPL1 figure · 1 source
Single-platform CPL4 figures · 1 source
B2B CPL by average contract value3 figures · 1 source

Tap or hover a point to see its source.

Current figure Older, undated or a top-10% tierEvery figure is also in the source list below.

Source by source

Open any source for its definition, sample and method.

HubSpot2025 CPL and CAC Benchmarks · Updated 2026-08-04 (originally published 2022-07)$84blended cplGrade B
What counts
"Average B2B CPL across all channels": $84. Channel-specific ranges are also given (Email $25-75, Google Ads $100-175, LinkedIn Ads $150-250) but as ranges, not single figures.
Statistic
Average
Sample
Not disclosed for the $84 headline figure; the page's industry table separately cites First Page Sage's 2026 report and Market Research Future's 2025 report rather than an independent HubSpot sample
Data window
Not stated for HubSpot's own $84 headline figure
Method
Not disclosed for the $84 figure. The page's industry-by-industry table ($91 e-commerce, $237 B2B SaaS, $653 Financial Services, $649 Legal, $406 Cybersecurity) is explicitly the same data as First Page Sage's report, not an independent HubSpot dataset — treat those specific figures as First Page Sage's, not HubSpot's.
Published cuts
channel (own figure)
Limitations
  • Sample size and data window not disclosed for HubSpot's own $84 figure
  • The page's industry table re-publishes First Page Sage's numbers; don't count it as a second, independent source for those specific figures
  • Channel figures are given as ranges, not point estimates
Licence
HubSpot's Terms of Service (Section 6.1, Ownership) restricts copying "HubSpot Content" as part of the software service; it does not address citing published blog-post figures. Treated as quote-eligible for HubSpot's own distinct figures.
Checked
Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
Metadata.ioLinkedIn Ads Cost for B2B in 2026: CPL, CPC, CPM and the Full Distribution · 2025 data, published 2026$202single-platform cpl · B2B — spend-weighted average$376single-platform cpl · B2B — median advertiser$109single-platform cpl · B2B — 10th percentileGrade A
What counts
Cost per lead on LinkedIn Ads for B2B advertisers on the Metadata platform. "Lead" definition (form-fill vs. MQL) not further specified in the summary read this pass.
Statistic
Spend-weighted average, plus median and percentile distribution (p10, p25, median, p75, p90)
Sample
153 B2B advertisers running $57.6M of paid media through the Metadata platform in 2025
Data window
Calendar year 2025
Method
Metadata's own platform data across 153 B2B advertisers and $57.6M of 2025 ad spend, reported as a spend-weighted average alongside the full percentile distribution across individual advertisers.
Published cuts
platform (LinkedIn only) · percentile (p10 through p90)
Limitations
  • Metadata's own customers only, and only advertisers large enough to route spend through the platform
  • LinkedIn-only; not a blended, cross-channel CPL
  • "Lead" definition not independently confirmed this pass
Licence
Metadata's terms describe customer-data ownership, not a reproduction ban on Metadata's own published report content; treated as quote-eligible for this report's headline figures.
Checked
Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
Norwest2025 B2B Sales & Marketing Benchmark Report · 3rd annual, 2025$387b2b cpl by average contract value · <$50K ACV$1,365b2b cpl by average contract value · $50K-$100K ACV$4,129b2b cpl by average contract value · >$100K ACVGrade A
What counts
Self-reported B2B cost per lead, broken out by average contract value (ACV) band rather than by industry.
Statistic
Average, self-reported, broken out by average contract value (ACV) band
Sample
177 B2B sales and marketing leaders (77 Norwest portfolio respondents, 100 third-party North American respondents)
Data window
Survey fielded August 2025
Method
Survey of B2B sales and marketing leaders fielded August 2025, covering North America and Israel portfolio/third-party populations.
Published cuts
average contract value (ACV) band
Limitations
  • Self-reported survey; the report notes a substantial share of respondents answered "do not know" for this metric, so the effective respondent base is smaller than 177
  • ACV bands are not identical to this page's other sources' industry cuts, so compare by band, not by industry
Licence
Reported here as factual findings in our own wording and presentation, with attribution and a link to the source. This is not a claim that Norwest has granted a reproduction licence, and we do not copy its prose, charts, tables or page design. Its Terms of Use are generic sitewide boilerplate for the whole norwest.com domain; we read them as not specifically restricting citation of published figures. Flagged for review: the clause is broadly worded.
Checked
Oct 1, 2026 · Read the source
2 more publishers, linked but not quoted

These publishers' terms do not allow their figures to be reproduced without permission (or we could not confirm that they do), so we link to their reports instead of showing the numbers.

By industry

Selected figures, each with its source. Full tables live in each publisher's report.

By industry
LinkedIn Ads, B2B — spend-weighted averageMetadata.io · single-platform cpl$202
LinkedIn Ads, B2B — median advertiserMetadata.io · single-platform cpl$376
LinkedIn Ads, B2B — 10th percentileMetadata.io · single-platform cpl$109
LinkedIn Ads, B2B — 90th percentileMetadata.io · single-platform cpl$1,340

Why sources disagree

Each factor moves the number on its own.

Blended vs. paid-only vs. organic-only

First Page Sage publishes all three for every industry, and the spread is large: Higher Education is $982 blended but $1,261 paid-only and $705 organic-only. A CPL quoted without saying which of the three it is cannot be compared to anything.

One platform is not the whole funnel

A LinkedIn-only or Google-only CPL (Metadata's $202-376; WordStream's $66.69) measures spend on that platform divided by leads from that platform. It says nothing about a company's blended CPL across all channels, which is usually the number that matters for planning.

Average vs. spend-weighted vs. median

Metadata's own data shows why this matters: the spend-weighted average LinkedIn CPL ($202) sits at only the 26th percentile of individual advertisers, because a few big low-cost accounts pull the weighted average down. The median advertiser ($376) is a better "typical company" figure than the spend-weighted one.

Deal value drives the ceiling

Industries with high CPL (Higher Education $982, Legal Services $649, Oil & Gas $637 — First Page Sage) are also industries with high average deal or lifetime value; industries with low CPL (e-commerce $91, HVAC $92) have low per-customer value. A CPL benchmark is only useful next to that industry's typical deal size.

What is a good cost per lead (CPL)?

It depends on how your platform counts and who you send to.

If you're comparing a blended, industry-wide figure

First Page Sage's blended figures (data window January 2022-June 2025, published 2025-05-08) run from $91 (e-commerce) and $92 (HVAC) up to $637 (Oil & Gas), $649 (Legal Services) and $982 (Higher Education). HubSpot's own reporting separately states an average B2B CPL of $84 across all channels blended — a lower, more recent headline figure that is not broken out by industry on the page we read. Neither figure is comparable to a paid-search-only number.

If you're comparing a single ad platform

On LinkedIn specifically, Metadata's analysis of 153 B2B advertisers running $57.6M of paid media in 2025 found a $202 spend-weighted average CPL, a $376 median, and a right-skewed distribution (10th percentile $109; 90th percentile $1,340) — most advertisers pay more than the spend-weighted average suggests. On Google Search specifically, WordStream's analysis of 13,000+ campaigns (April 2025-March 2026) found a $66.69 average across 23 industries, with Attorneys & Legal Services ($131.63) and Apparel/Fashion & Jewelry ($97.51) the most expensive, and Arts & Entertainment ($26.84) and Automotive Repair ($29.96) the cheapest. Facebook Ads leads campaigns averaged $27.39 across industries in the same 2026 report.

B2B SaaS

First Page Sage's B2B SaaS figure is $237 blended ($310 paid, $164 organic). Treat this as one vendor's dataset, not an industry census.

Before you compare

  • Cost per lead varies by an order of magnitude with deal size/contract value, not just industry — a single company-wide average can be misleading if your own average contract value sits far from the benchmark's blended population.
  • Self-reported survey figures (including deal-size-banded ones) often have a meaningful "don't know" or non-response share for cost metrics specifically — check a source's own stated response rate before treating its average as precise.

How to calculate cost per lead (CPL)

Cost per lead = total lead-generation spend ÷ number of leads generated
  • State whether spend includes paid channels only, organic/content cost only, or both (blended) — First Page Sage publishes all three separately because they differ by 2-4x within the same industry.
  • A single-platform CPL (LinkedIn, Google, Facebook) is a channel metric, not a company-wide benchmark.
  • Compare a spend-weighted average against a spend-weighted average, and a median against a median — Metadata's LinkedIn data shows these can differ by nearly 2x for the same dataset.

Questions about costs per lead

Tools to measure and improve it

Chosen for what they do, not ranked.

Sources and licence notes5 sources · 3 quoted · 2 linked only · checked Oct 1, 2026
  1. HubSpot, 2025 CPL and CAC Benchmarks · Updated 2026-08-04 (originally published 2022-07) · last checked Sep 30, 2026
    HubSpot's Terms of Service (Section 6.1, Ownership) restricts copying "HubSpot Content" as part of the software service; it does not address citing published blog-post figures. Treated as quote-eligible for HubSpot's own distinct figures.
  2. Metadata.io, LinkedIn Ads Cost for B2B in 2026: CPL, CPC, CPM and the Full Distribution · 2025 data, published 2026 · last checked Sep 30, 2026
    Metadata's terms describe customer-data ownership, not a reproduction ban on Metadata's own published report content; treated as quote-eligible for this report's headline figures.
  3. First Page Sage, Average Cost Per Lead by Industry · 2026 report, last updated 2025-05-08 · last checked Sep 30, 2026
    Linked only. PENDING: a terms-of-use page was not located at firstpagesage.com this pass (guessed URLs returned 404). Link only until the terms are read; cited here by name and figure only, not reproduced as a full table beyond the FAQ's plain-text listing of the same 27 published numbers.
  4. WordStream (a LocaliQ company), Google Ads Benchmarks 2026 / Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2026 · 2026 edition · last checked Sep 30, 2026
    Linked only. PENDING: wordstream.com/legal returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch this pass, so the terms could not be read. Link only until confirmed; cited here by name and figure only.
  5. Norwest, 2025 B2B Sales & Marketing Benchmark Report · 3rd annual, 2025 · last checked Oct 1, 2026
    Reported here as factual findings in our own wording and presentation, with attribution and a link to the source. This is not a claim that Norwest has granted a reproduction licence, and we do not copy its prose, charts, tables or page design. Its Terms of Use are generic sitewide boilerplate for the whole norwest.com domain; we read them as not specifically restricting citation of published figures. Flagged for review: the clause is broadly worded.

These are figures reported by the platforms themselves about their own customers; we do not measure them ourselves. Found an error or a newer edition? Tell us