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PPC Agency, Freelancer or In-House? A UK Cost Guide
PPC company, freelance PPC consultant or an in-house hire? Compare true UK costs, cover and skills, with a decision tree and an ownership checklist.
You spend a few thousand pounds a month on Google Ads, and someone has to run it. The three options in front of you (a PPC company, a freelance consultant, a hire of your own) don’t compare like for like, because a salary hides costs that a monthly fee already includes. This guide puts the three on the same footing and gives you a decision tree and an ownership checklist to use before you sign anything.
What are you choosing between?
- A freelance PPC consultant: one specialist who runs your account for a day rate or a monthly fee. You talk to the person doing the work.
- A PPC company (agency): a team that runs your account for a monthly fee. You get several people and their combined skills, with one account manager as your contact.
- An in-house hire: an employee who runs paid media for you alone. You set their priorities and pay their full employment cost.
Many businesses mix them: an in-house marketer who owns the strategy and a freelancer or agency for the specialist work, such as tracking or a new country.
What does an in-house PPC manager cost in the UK?
The salary is the part of the bill you see first. On top of it, you pay employer National Insurance at 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (GOV.UK, rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027). Auto-enrolment adds a minimum employer pension contribution of 3% on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 (GOV.UK, workplace pensions).
Here is a hypothetical hire on a £40,000 salary:
| Cost | Per year |
|---|---|
| Salary (hypothetical) | £40,000 |
| Employer National Insurance: 15% × (£40,000 − £5,000) | £5,250 |
| Minimum employer pension: 3% × (£40,000 − £6,240) | £1,013 |
| Tools, courses and conference tickets (assumed) | £3,000 |
| Total | £49,263 |
That’s about £4,100 a month, 23% above the salary. It also buys fewer working days than it seems: a full-time employee on a five-day week gets at least 28 days of paid leave a year (GOV.UK, holiday entitlement). Recruitment fees, a laptop, management time and the months a new hire needs to learn your account come on top, and they vary too much to price here.
How do the three options compare on cost, cover and skills?
Say the freelancer charges £450 a day for four days a month, and the agency charges £2,000 a month. Both figures are hypothetical: get real quotes and put them in the same table.
| Freelance consultant | PPC company | In-house hire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost a year (hypothetical) | £21,600 | £24,000 | £49,263 |
| Time on your account | What you buy: 4 days a month here | Set in the contract | Full time |
| Cover for holidays and sickness | None, unless they arrange a backup | A team covers | None, unless you hire a second person |
| Skills | One person’s: deep in their speciality | Several people: ads, tracking, landing pages, other languages | One person’s, and they learn on your account |
| Knows your business | Well, after a few months | Through the account manager | Best, they work beside you |
| Notice to end it | Short, set in the contract | Set in the contract | Employment law and notice periods |
The hire costs twice as much as the freelancer here, and buys about five times the freelancer’s hours. If your account needs that many hours, the hire is the cheaper option per hour. If it needs four days a month, you pay for time your employee will fill with something else.
When does a freelance PPC consultant make sense?
A freelancer fits when you have one or two channels, one country and a steady account, and you want to talk to the person who does the work. A good one costs less than an agency for the same hours, because you aren’t paying for account management.
The risks sit in the single person. When they’re ill, on holiday or busy with a bigger client, your account waits. Ask who covers for them, and how fast they answer when a campaign breaks on a Friday.
When does a PPC company make sense?
An agency fits when the work needs more skills than one person has: Google Ads and Meta Ads together, server-side tracking, landing pages, or campaigns in several countries and languages. A team also covers holidays, so changes don’t stop for two weeks in August.
The risk is attention. Your small account can end up with the most junior person, or with less of the senior people’s time than the sales call promised. Ask who will run the account day to day and how many accounts that person runs. If you sell into more than one market, ask how they would split campaigns, budgets and languages per country; our international PPC service covers how we do it.
When should you build an in-house team?
Hire when the work fills a full week and keeps doing so: high spend across several channels, frequent launches, or a product your team has to explain to every new marketer. An employee learns the business in ways an outsider can’t, sits in your planning meetings and answers to you alone.
We wouldn’t make the first hire a junior working alone. A junior with nobody senior to check their work can run an account for months with broken conversion tracking, and Google’s bidding then chases the wrong goal. If you hire junior, pair them with an outside specialist for audits and conversion tracking until they’ve grown into the role. Our post on Google Ads conversion tracking shows what that check covers.
Which option fits you? A four-question decision tree
Copy this and answer it with your own numbers:
- Does your paid media work fill four or five days a week, every week? Yes: price an in-house hire with the table above. No: go to 2.
- Do you run more than one channel, country or language, or need tracking work? Yes: get quotes from PPC companies. No: go to 3.
- Can the business live with nobody touching the account for two weeks? No: get quotes from PPC companies. Yes: go to 4.
- Do you want to talk to the person doing the work, and keep the cost down? Yes: get quotes from freelance PPC consultants. No: get quotes from both.
Whatever comes out, compare the quotes by the hours and skills they buy, using the same table.
What should you own, whoever runs your ads?
Our position: the accounts belong in your company’s name, with you as the top-level admin, and the agency or freelancer gets access. We don’t take on accounts we’d have to own, and you shouldn’t accept that from anyone you hire. In Google Ads, only Admin access lets someone manage users and accept or remove a manager account link (Google Ads Help, access levels), so keep at least one Admin login inside your company.
Send this checklist before you sign:
- The Google Ads account sits under your company, with your own Admin user. The agency links it to their manager account.
- The Meta ad account, pixel and Page sit in your own Meta business portfolio. The agency gets partner access.
- You own the GA4 property and the Google Tag Manager containers, including any server-side container.
- Billing runs on your card or your invoice account, so you can see what the platforms charge.
- Ad copy, images, videos and landing pages made for you are yours to keep, in writing.
- The contract says how access is handed back and how long notice is.
Our agency audit guide covers what to check once someone is running the account.
If you’re weighing a PPC company for the UK or Europe, see how we work with UK and EU businesses or book a call and we’ll tell you which of the three options we’d pick in your place.
FAQ
Is a PPC agency cheaper than hiring in-house?
For the same hours, no: an employee costs less per hour once the work fills a full week. For an account that needs a few days a month, an agency or freelancer costs less, because you pay only for the time the account needs. Compare total cost against hours, using salary plus employer National Insurance, pension and tools for the hire.
What does a PPC consultant do?
A PPC consultant plans, builds and runs pay-per-click campaigns on platforms such as Google Ads and Meta Ads. Expect keyword and audience research, ad copy, bidding, conversion tracking checks and regular reports on leads or sales.
How do I choose a PPC company?
Ask who will run your account day to day and how many other accounts they run. Check that they set up the accounts in your name, that they report on leads, sales or profit, and how much notice the contract needs.
Should I give my agency admin access to Google Ads?
Give them the access they need to run the account, which is Standard for most day-to-day work, and keep Admin inside your company. If they need Admin, make sure at least one Admin user is someone on your own payroll.
Can I combine an in-house marketer with a freelancer or agency?
Yes, and many businesses do. Your marketer owns the strategy, budget and the link to sales, while the outside specialist handles the build work, tracking or extra countries.
