Published Australian management fees for small business Google Ads range from hundreds to low thousands a month. The ad spend is a separate payment to Google on top. The fee is only comparable once you know its scope, tax basis, setup charges and exit terms.
Below are our flat plans, the market fee bands, the fee model maths and the questions to ask.
What does Google Ads management cost
Our Google Ads management is a flat monthly fee, quoted excluding GST. Starter is $800 to $1,000, Growth is $1,000 to $1,500 and Scale is from $1,500. The fee runs month to month and is never a percentage of your spend.
Elev8d's Google Ads management plans pair each fee with a recommended media spend. That's $3,000 to $5,000 a month for Starter and $5,000 to $15,000 for Growth. For Scale, the recommended spend is $15,000 and above. The media is paid directly to Google rather than through us.
The fee is agreed up front and changes only if the scope changes. The scope, not the spend alone, decides which plan fits.
There is no separate setup fee on any plan. The first month's fee covers the account build.
We group the market into three bands:
about $800 to $1,250 a month for an entry account
$1,250 to $3,000 for a core small business account
$3,000 to $5,000 or more for a complex one
We checked two other Australian agencies' published price guides in October 2026. Their main ranges ran from about $800 to $5,000 or more a month. Budget providers started from about $400. Agencies that charge a percentage usually take 10% to 20% of spend.
Our guide to how much Google Ads cost covers what the media costs and what moves it. This page is about the fee.
Two neighbouring labels confuse the comparison. PPC management can mean Google Ads alone, or Google and Microsoft Ads together. That's how our PPC management across Google and Microsoft is scoped. A quote that covers both platforms is not dearer than one that covers one. It is a different scope.
SEM agency pricing often bundles paid search with SEO under one retainer. That makes the paid search share of the fee invisible. Ask for the paid search management fee on its own, for the platforms named. Only then compare it with anything on this page.
Compare the main fee models
The three main fee models behave very differently as the budget changes. The chart runs one example through each model, not our prices or anyone's average.
Every figure is in AUD excluding GST. Billed media spend, excluding GST and credits, is the fee base. The flat fee is $1,200 a month. The percentage fee is the greater of $750 and 15% of media. The hybrid fee is $600 plus 8% of media.
Chart data:
| Flat $1,200 | 15% with $750 minimum | $600 plus 8% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $3,000 media | $1,200 | $750 | $840 |
| $10,000 media | $1,200 | $1,500 | $1,400 |
| $20,000 media | $1,200 | $3,000 | $2,200 |
SourceExample calculations using the stated fee formulas
At $3,000 of media, the percentage model is cheapest at $750, its minimum. The hybrid is $840 and the flat fee $1,200. At $10,000 the three sit within $300 of each other. At $20,000 the flat fee is less than half the percentage fee's $3,000.
Flat fees
A flat fee is a fixed monthly amount for an agreed scope. It is predictable. It does not rise because the budget rose. When the workload changes, it can be rescoped. Rescoping is the honest way to handle a business that doubles its campaigns.
A flat fee's weakness is that it can underprice complex accounts if the scope was never defined. The underpricing then shows up as work that quietly stops happening.
Percentage fees
A percentage fee rises and falls with the media spend, usually with a minimum. It aligns the agency's revenue with a growing account. The model isn't unlawful or dishonest in itself.
Google's transparency requirements for third parties apply to any agency charging a management fee. The agency must tell customers in writing before the first purchase. The fee must be disclosed on every invoice.
The agency must also report the exact amount Google charged, exclusive of the agency's fees. Where the terms require a monthly report, that report shows costs, clicks and impressions at account level. The policy does not prescribe a fee model.
The questions to ask are:
what the fee base is
whether the minimum and the percentage can ever both apply
whether there is a ceiling
what happens to the fee when performance stalls but spend does not
A fee that grows with the budget needs a performance review built into the agreement.
Two related arrangements deserve the same questions. Some agencies bill the media themselves and recharge it. That isn't improper in itself and can be convenient, on two conditions. The invoice must show the exact Google charge separately from the fee. You must also be able to see the account's own billing.
Opaque billing means one number covers media and fee, with nobody able to tell you the split. It fails Google's disclosure requirement and should end the conversation.
And with a percentage fee, Google's promotional credits for a new account should reduce the fee base. That is worth confirming before the first invoice rather than after.
Hybrid and tiered fees
A hybrid fee adds a base retainer to a smaller percentage. It smooths both problems. But it can be opaque if nobody explains it. A tiered retainer is different again: a fixed fee for each spend band or complexity band.
Ask where the tier jumps. Then ask whether the new rate covers all the spend or only the increment above the threshold. Take a $14,900 account that crosses to $15,100. Its fee can move a long way for $200 of media.
Performance fees, pay per lead and revenue shares need written definitions of:
a qualified lead
duplicate handling
attribution
cancellations and refunds
any media fee charged separately
Otherwise the invoice becomes an argument.
What the fee should buy
A fee is meaningful only beside the deliverables. And "ongoing optimisation" is not a deliverable. $1,200 a month can buy a weekly search term review, tested tracking and a strategist you can ring. Or the same fee can buy a login once a month and a PDF. Make the proposal itemise the work by workstream.
Workstream | Specify in the proposal | Common extra to clarify |
|---|---|---|
Campaign delivery | Channels, services, locations, languages and active tests | Additional market, campaign type or creative volume |
Tracking | Setup, testing, maintenance and the named owner | CRM integration, call tracking licence or development |
Landing pages | Advice, copy changes, builds and testing, each distinguished | Hosting, design, new pages or CRO implementation |
Ecommerce | Merchant Center, feed errors and product coverage | Feed tool, product data remediation or creative production |
Reporting | Qualified leads, clients or sales, margins and review cadence | Custom dashboards, forecasting or additional stakeholders |
Ongoing optimisation, landing pages and tracking included.
Named channels and review cadence. Landing page advice, edits and builds itemised. Tracking setup, maintenance, software fees and responsibility specified.
The meaningful ongoing work is unglamorous. It means reviewing search terms and adding negative keywords. We recommend a weekly review on an active account, as a practitioner habit, not a Google requirement. Our guide to Google Ads negative keywords covers the method. The work also means keeping conversion tracking working after every website change.
Then there's managing budgets and bids against the goal. Under Smart Bidding, that work means managing goals, data quality, budgets and experiments. It doesn't mean promising to hand adjust every keyword and device bid. Ad and asset tests are part of the work too, each with a result recorded.
So is reporting that shows qualified leads, clients or sales and the cost of each. The clicks and impressions are kept as the diagnostics they are.
A common mistake on both sides is to manufacture changes to prove activity. An account that needs no change this week should get no change this week. The report should say so.
Complexity moves the fee more than the budget does. Each of these adds hours:
several locations or services with separate budgets
Shopping feeds
more than one language
a long sales cycle that needs CRM imports
a regulated industry with claim reviews
A well structured account is cheaper to manage than a sprawling one. Our guide to Google Ads account structure shows why.
Three delivery models sit behind the quotes. A freelancer offers a named specialist. So ask about cover when they're away. An agency offers team capacity. With a team, the question is who actually works on the account.
In house means a salary plus employer costs, tools, training and cover. So weigh agency versus freelancer versus in house on the full cost of people, not base pay.
Setup costs and the first invoice
The first invoice is where comparisons break, because one provider's "setup included" is another's $800 line item. Setup can cover:
an audit of the existing account
the campaign build
conversion tracking setup and testing
a Merchant Center feed
ad creative
landing page work
The practical boundary is whether the item is one off work, a recurring licence or the media itself.
Our guide to Google Ads conversion tracking setup covers what the job has to include. Tracking is the setup item most worth checking, because every report that follows depends on it.
SourceExample, not an Elev8d quote
The first month in the chart has four lines:
$5,000 of media
$1,200 of management
$800 of setup
a $100 tracking licence
The total is $7,100 excluding GST. If every line is taxable at 10%, GST is $710 and the cash payable is $7,810. From the second month the setup drops out: $6,300 excluding GST, or $6,930 including it.
Confirm the tax treatment line by line. Google bills the media, the agency bills the fee and a software vendor bills the licence. Not every supplier is registered for GST. A GST credit on the next activity statement depends on eligibility. It's never an immediate discount on the cash.
Every displayed fee should say whether it includes or excludes GST, and so should every proposal. The ACCC's price display guidance requires a single total price including GST where prices are shown to consumers.
It says prices shown only to other businesses don't need GST included in the total. That's why agency price pages often say "plus GST".
Either basis is fine. Mixing them in one comparison is how a cheaper quote turns out to be dearer.
Compare the full commercial commitment
Compare proposals on the same scope, the same period and the same basis. Line up media and fee excluding GST. Add the setup and the recurring tools. Note the minimum term, the renewal date and any price change clauses. Then compare the total payable over the commitment rather than the smallest headline figure.
A $900 fee on a six month minimum is a $5,400 commitment. A $1,200 fee month to month is a $1,200 commitment.
Please separate media spend, management fees, one off setup and recurring tools.
Show the GST basis and the first month and ongoing total.
List included work, exclusions, fee change triggers and approval rules.
Confirm the minimum term, notice length and method, final charges and handover scope.
Name who manages the account and how results will be measured.
Send that to every provider you are considering and compare what comes back. A provider who cannot answer it in writing is telling you how the relationship will go.
Month to month does not necessarily mean you can leave today. Ours runs month to month with 30 days' written notice and no exit fee. The notice terms vary across providers. That's why the proposal request asks for the method as well as the length.
Notice periods and the cost of leaving
Leaving an agency costs something. The time to price it is before you sign. Get these five things in writing:
the minimum commitment and renewal date
the notice length and the accepted method
the final billing date
any early termination or handover fee
exactly what is handed over
The cost of an exit is the fees those terms commit you to. Add to that the cost of replacing what stays behind. Agency owned tools and call tracking numbers licensed in the agency's name may not transfer at all. The same goes for dashboards built on the agency's data warehouse. Price those before you give notice, not after.
Keep the Google Ads account itself in the business's name. Administrator access and billing should sit with the business too. Link the agency through its manager account. That link doesn't by itself mean you lose the account when you leave.
Unlinking a manager account stops the manager's conversion tag and shared audiences working in your account. An account on the agency's monthly invoicing also stops serving unless billing is changed first. Planning that exit is part of choosing a Google Ads agency. Don't leave it until the relationship sours.
When you do leave, give notice the way the agreement says. Then get the final numbers back in writing.
Please take this as our written notice to end the management agreement under [clause].
Our last day of service will be [date], in line with the [length] notice period.
Please confirm the amount and date of the final invoice, and any exit or handover fee.
List any tools, licences or call tracking numbers in your name that our account relies on.
Confirm the date administrator access and billing will sit fully with us.
On the legal side, the ACCC's contracts guidance explains the unfair contract term protections. A long agreement is not automatically unfair. So read the termination, renewal and variation clauses rather than the page count. This guide is not a legal finding about any provider.
When a lower fee is good value
Judge the fee against business outcomes, not against other fees. Use the ad only cost per lead to see media efficiency. Then label the all in cost per customer separately with the fee, setup and tools included. Compare proposals on the same qualified lead definition, the same sales lag and the same date window.
A decision model keeps it honest. An extra $500 a month in fees needs one extra sale each month to cover it. That sale must contribute more than $500 before acquisition costs, assuming nothing else changes. The model is a test to apply, not proof that the agency caused the sale.
Expensive mistakes are the case for paying for proper work. We can show the pattern rather than assert it. Our audit sample is 180 Google Ads account audits from August 2021 to September 2026.
One finding keeps coming up: spend on search terms outside the services the business offers. In the middle half of those accounts, it was 8% to 15% of the previous 90 days' spend.
Negative keywords are the mechanism that stops that spend. Google's About negative keywords page explains how exclusions work. The percentage is our observation of the accounts we audited, not a saving anyone is promised. Our Google Ads waste risk check asks the ten questions behind that pattern. It is a qualitative check and does not measure wasted spend.
None of that means a low fee buys poor work. Click reports aren't useless either. Reliable reporting needs the diagnostic clicks and impressions as well as the commercial results.
A lower fee is good value when four things hold. The scope is simple and clearly stated. The account needs little ongoing work. The provider shows the work in the report. The all in cost per customer sits comfortably inside the margin.
Bottom line Yes, if an itemised quote fits your margins and delivery capacity.
Doing it yourself makes sense for a single service in a single area with a modest budget. The owner also needs to be willing to learn the search term report. Our guide to whether Google Ads is worth it for a small business covers that decision. It works from the economics up.
We'll audit it free and show you which work is worth paying for.
Agency proposal checklist
Run every proposal through these eight checks before you sign. Each one names the document or answer that settles it.
Total payable is clear
Itemised quote with media, fee, setup, tools and GST basis, first month and ongoing
Scope is written down
Workstreams, channels, review cadence and exclusions named in the proposal
Tracking has an owner
Setup, testing and maintenance assigned, with the conversion actions listed
Fee changes are predictable
Fee base, minimum, ceiling, tier thresholds and rescoping triggers stated
You own the account
Business holds the customer account, administrator access and billing, agency linked by manager account
Exit terms are known
Minimum term, notice length and method, final invoice date and any handover fee in the agreement
Handover is defined
Inventory of tools, licences and data with portability and export formats
Results are defined
Qualified lead or sale definition, attribution window and report contents agreed
If you already run an account, score its setup first. The weak areas it flags are the ones each proposal's scope should name.
What we recommend at Elev8d
Pay for the work, not the spend. We charge a flat monthly fee for a written scope. We never take a percentage of your media.
A percentage pays the agency more whenever your budget rises, whether or not the account needed more work. It also gives the person advising you on budget a reason to push it up. A flat fee keeps that advice clean.
When the work genuinely grows, say a second location or a Shopping feed, we rewrite the scope. The fee changes with it, in writing.
When you compare proposals, we'd work in this order:
Confirm you'll own the account and know what leaving costs. A cheap fee on an account you can't take with you is the dearest option on the table.
Get the scope in writing, workstream by workstream.
Compare the all in cost per customer, with the fee counted as part of the investment. That's how our guide to Google Ads ROI counts it.
Only then compare the fees.
We'd only take a percentage or hybrid model seriously for a large account. Its spend and workload would have to genuinely rise together. Even then, the agreement would need a cap, a defined fee base and a review date.
A minimum term can be fair if it pays for something you can name, such as a build. Otherwise month to month keeps everyone honest.
Next steps
Send the itemised proposal request to every shortlisted provider
Copy the proposal request into one email and send it to each provider on the same day. Compare the written answers on total payable, scope and exit terms before you compare personalities.
Model the media before you compare the fees
Work out the media spend your customer goal needs. Then you can judge the fee against the right budget. Setting a monthly Google Ads budget starts from the customers you need. Our Google Ads budget estimator runs the scenarios from your own numbers.
Audit the current account if you already have one
A self assessment shows where to look. But an audit checks inside the account. Get one before you change managers. That way the next provider's scope is written against the real problems. Our free account audit covers search terms and waste as well as tracking and structure.
