TikTok ads cost: what a small business really pays

TikTok ads cost at least 20 dollar a day per ad group, and more than 50 dollar a day if you set a budget at campaign level, according to the TikTok Ads Manager help page. On top of that you pay around 4.80 dollar per 1,000 impressions on average, according to 2026 measurements across online shops, a little less than on Facebook and Instagram in Belgium. With 500 euro that buys roughly 100,000 impressions and a few hundred clicks. What people forget is the material: an ad on TikTok is a video, and someone has to make it.

This guide lists the minimum budgets and what they mean per month, works 500 euro through next to the same amount on Meta, and says when TikTok makes sense for a small business, and when Meta or Google comes first. What you pay per 1,000 impressions is the CPM; the price per click is the CPC.

The TikTok minimum budget

TikTok sets a minimum at two levels: the campaign and the ad groups inside it. You choose a daily budget or a lifetime budget for the run. These are TikTok's own rules, in October 2026:

A campaign's lifetime budget can be small, but the ad group below it still needs 20 dollar for every day it runs. Advertising every day for a month therefore starts at about 600 dollar.

Raising your budget without losing results

In the first days TikTok learns who responds to your ad. Big jumps in budget disrupt that. TikTok itself advises:

• During the learning phase: raise by at most 40 percent per adjustment.
• After the learning phase: at most 30 percent per adjustment.
• No more often than every two days, and keep the campaign budget no lower than the ad group budget.

Going from 25 to 100 euro a day therefore takes at least four steps and more than a week.

Worked example: 500 euro over three weeks

500 euro may not cover the minimum for an ad group running a full month, 600 dollar, depending on the exchange rate. So run it for three weeks: 21 days times 20 dollar is 420 dollar, leaving you about 24 euro a day.

The TikTok figures are global averages across online shops from Lebesgue, published in September 2026; the Meta figures are Belgian monthly medians from October 2025 to June 2026. TikTok gives more impressions for the money, Meta more clicks. What counts is what happens next: according to the same measurement about 1.9 percent of TikTok clickers complete a purchase in an online shop. Work out what a sale may cost with the ROAS calculator.

What the videos cost

An ad on TikTok is a short vertical video that looks like it belongs on TikTok. A polished commercial often does worse there than a video shot on a phone. That makes each video cheaper, but you need more of them: the same video wears out quickly with the same audience.

Plan on at least one new video a week if you advertise continuously. What managing your channels costs is in social media management pricing.

Setting up a first TikTok campaign

1. Create an account in TikTok Ads Manager and link your TikTok business account.
2. Put the TikTok pixel on your site, so TikTok sees who enquires or buys, not just who clicks.
3. Choose a goal that matches what you want: traffic to your site, leads or sales.
4. Create an ad group with a daily budget above 20 dollar and an audience by age, region and interests.
5. Upload three to five videos, so TikTok can learn which one works.
6. Let the campaign run for at least a week, then raise the budget in steps of at most 30 to 40 percent, no more often than every two days.

After two weeks, look not at views but at what an enquiry or sale cost. Stop the videos that return nothing and make new ones in the style of the one that worked.

A video that works opens in the first seconds with what the viewer sees or gains, shows your product or work in use, and ends with a clear next step. Subtitles help, because many people watch without sound. What works well as a normal post on your TikTok account can often run as an ad too, which saves a shoot.

When TikTok makes sense for a small business

• Choose TikTok ifyour customers are there, your product or work shows well on video, and you can keep making new videos. If you sell online, since June 2026 you can also sell in Belgium through TikTok Shop.
• Choose Meta first ifyou want to reach a broad audience with images you already have; see Facebook and Instagram ads.
• Choose Google first ifyour customers search for what you do: people who search buy sooner. See Google Ads cost.
• Wait ifyour site is slow on a phone or does not track what a visit returns. Almost every click on TikTok comes from a phone.

If you sell to businesses, LinkedIn often fits better despite the higher click price; see LinkedIn ads cost. Split a budget across channels with the marketing budget calculator.

Do it yourself or hire help?

You can set up a campaign in TikTok Ads Manager yourself: an account, a goal, an audience, a budget and a video. Most of the work is in videos that keep coming, and in tracking: the TikTok pixel on your site, so TikTok learns who buys rather than who clicks. If someone on your team enjoys filming, start yourself with a small budget. If you want video, campaign and tracking handled, choose a partner who does all three.

How we work

We set up ads with a landing page that loads fast on a phone and tracking that shows per channel what a sale or enquiry costs. We work with a fixed price per project after a first call, and we say so when another channel should come first. See what we do in social media management and the Business Centrum case, where the site went from 220 to 10,200 impressions a day in Google in five weeks, without an ad budget.