Most law firm marketing quotes hide their real price in three places: a percentage that grows with your budget, a setup or platform fee that only appears in the contract, and the cost of leaving. None of that is sinister on its own. It just makes quotes impossible to compare. The fix is to price every option the same way: what you’d pay each month at your actual spend, all in, and how many signed cases it would take to earn it back.
The three costs of law firm marketing
- Media. What the platforms charge: Google search clicks, Local Services leads, Meta and YouTube impressions, TV airtime. Legal has the highest average cost per click of any industry, $9.87 in one benchmark (LocaliQ). Media should be billed to your firm directly, on your payment method.
- Agency fees. What you pay for the work: strategy, setup, campaign management, SEO, content, reporting.
- Internal costs. The intake team or answering service that picks up, the CRM and call tracking, the attorney time to approve ads, and bar filing fees. Texas charges $100 per filed ad (State Bar of Texas); Florida $250, or $750 late, for ads filed from July 1, 2026 (Florida Bar).
Budgets are getting tighter, not looser: in a 2026 vendor survey, 57% of firms expected a bigger marketing budget, down from 86% the year before (CallRail). Every dollar of fee has to earn its place.
The fee models, compared
| Model | How it works | What it rewards | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of ad spend | 10% to 25% of what you spend, often with a minimum; the common rule of thumb is 10% to 20% (AgencyAnalytics) | Spending more | The fee rises with budget, not results; a stake in recommending more spend |
| Flat monthly retainer | One fixed fee for a defined scope | Doing the scope | Vague scopes; long terms |
| Flat fee by spend band | A fixed fee that steps up only when managed spend crosses a band | Doing the work well at your size | Check where the band edges sit |
| Per lead | A price for each lead delivered | Volume | Unusable or shared leads; guaranteed-lead contracts |
| Retainer plus percentage | A base fee plus a share of spend | Both | The percentage part has the same incentive problem |
| Per signed case or share of fees | A payment for each case or a cut of the fee | Cases, in theory | Generally barred: ABA Model Rule 5.4 bars sharing legal fees with nonlawyers (ABA) |
What percentage fees cost at five spend levels
The percentage model looks cheap at small budgets and expensive at large ones. Here is the arithmetic.
Computed by Probative
A 15% fee is $1,500 a month at $10,000 of spend and $30,000 at $200,000
| Monthly ad spend | 10% fee | 15% fee | 20% fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $1,000 | $1,500 | $2,000 |
| $25,000 | $2,500 | $3,750 | $5,000 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 | $7,500 | $10,000 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 | $20,000 |
| $200,000 | $20,000 | $30,000 | $40,000 |
Two things stand out. Below about $15,000 of spend, many percentage agencies charge their minimum instead, so the real share can be 25% or more. And above $50,000, the fee keeps climbing while the work grows far more slowly: managing a $200,000 account is not four times the work of a $50,000 one.
What published law-firm prices look like
Few agencies publish prices. Those that do give a useful map of the market (vendors’ own pages, read October 2026):
| Service | Published range | Examples cited |
|---|---|---|
| Small-firm and solo SEO | About $1,400 to $3,300 a month | Z Legal, Grow Law, FWD |
| Competitive and injury SEO | About $3,500 to $15,000+ a month | On The Map, Juris Digital |
| “Typical” SEO in vendor guides, by market size | Midpoints of about $3,750 (small), $6,500 (mid-size), $12,500 (major injury markets) | CIM, Legal Leads Lab, Sapphire |
| Search ad management | 12.5% to 25% of spend, minimums of about $450 to $1,450 | FWD, Grow Law |
| Local Services management | About $500 to $1,000 a month | WEBRIS |
| Setup or onboarding | About $1,000 to $10,000 | SocioSquares, secondary |
Many large legal marketing firms publish no prices at all, which makes any comparison start with a sales call.
The break-even test: how many signed cases pay for the fee?
Price means little on its own. Divide any monthly fee by your average net fee per signed case, and you get the number of extra signed cases a month the agency must produce to cover itself, before media.
Worked example
IllustrativeAt about $9,400 of fee per case, a $5,000 monthly fee needs about half an extra case a month
| Monthly agency fee | Net fee per case: $4,000 (smaller cases) | $9,400 (average car case) | $25,000 (larger cases) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2,500 | 0.63 cases | 0.27 cases | 0.10 cases |
| $5,000 | 1.25 cases | 0.53 cases | 0.20 cases |
| $10,000 | 2.50 cases | 1.06 cases | 0.40 cases |
| $15,000 | 3.75 cases | 1.60 cases | 0.60 cases |
The test cuts both ways. A firm with small average cases needs a cheaper plan or a much better one. A firm with large cases can afford real measurement and senior people, and should demand them. The fee per case figure comes from the Insurance Information Institute average, which is a starting point, not your number.
Costs most quotes leave out
- Media markups. Some vendors buy media and resell it. Ask whether the platform bills your firm directly.
- Platform and software fees. Call tracking, CRM seats, website platforms, reporting tools.
- Hosting and the website. Who pays, and whether the site can leave with you.
- Spanish. Native writing and review, if your clients speak Spanish. Machine translation is cheaper and costs more later.
- Intake. An answering service or extra staff for the hours you advertise.
- Bar filings. Per-ad fees in filing states, and attorney time to approve each version.
- The exit. Buyouts, rebuilds, lost rankings when a proprietary site goes dark, and the months of history you can’t export.
Our prices, published
We think every legal marketing price should be public, so ours is. Flat monthly fees by the ad spend we manage; never a percentage of spend, never per lead or per case; media billed to your firm directly.
| Ad spend | Most firms start here Google + SEO | Search | Full Ads | Full Service |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to $15k | $8,750 | $3,750 | $6,500 | $11,500 |
| $15k–$30k | $9,500 | $4,500 | $7,500 | $12,500 |
| $30k–$60k | $10,500 | $5,500 | $9,000 | $14,000 |
| $60k–$100k | $11,500 | $6,500 | $11,000 | $16,000 |
| $100k–$200k | $13,000 | $8,000 | $15,000 | $20,000 |
- Most firms start here
Google + SEO
Google + SEO: monthly fee by ad spend Up to $15k $8,750 a month $15k–$30k $9,500 a month $30k–$60k $10,500 a month $60k–$100k $11,500 a month $100k–$200k $13,000 a month -
Search
Search: monthly fee by ad spend Up to $15k $3,750 a month $15k–$30k $4,500 a month $30k–$60k $5,500 a month $60k–$100k $6,500 a month $100k–$200k $8,000 a month -
Full Ads
Full Ads: monthly fee by ad spend Up to $15k $6,500 a month $15k–$30k $7,500 a month $30k–$60k $9,000 a month $60k–$100k $11,000 a month $100k–$200k $15,000 a month -
Full Service
Full Service: monthly fee by ad spend Up to $15k $11,500 a month $15k–$30k $12,500 a month $30k–$60k $14,000 a month $60k–$100k $16,000 a month $100k–$200k $20,000 a month
SEO by market size: Prices shown are for a metro of 1M–5M people. $1,500 less a month under 1M people; $2,000 more for 5M+ or a statewide practice.
Every individual service, from SEO alone to intake monitoring, is on the pricing page, with setup fees and terms. The terms in plain English explain the first 90 days and how to leave.
How to compare quotes fairly
- Put every quote on one sheet at your real monthly spend, all in: fee, setup spread over 12 months, software, markups.
- Read the term and exit clauses. A cheaper fee with a 12-month term and a buyout can cost more than a dearer one you can leave.
- Check the scope. Number of pages a month, campaigns, reports, meetings, who does the work.
- Ask what is measured. A quote that reports leads, not signed cases, is cheaper to deliver.
- Run the break-even test with your own fee per case.
What this means for your firm
- Separate media from fees in every quote, and pay media directly.
- Watch percentage fees as you grow. Ask for a flat fee once spend passes $50,000 a month.
- Price the exit before you sign.
- Use break-even cases as the common unit for comparing any two offers.
- Count intake as a marketing cost. Advertising more hours than you can answer is the most expensive line of all.
Probative is AI-first SEO and ads for law firms, with every service and price published. Start with the pricing page, see how we work, or read how to choose a law firm marketing agency before talking to anyone, us included.
Marketing information, not legal or financial advice. Fee arrangements with nonlawyers are governed by your state’s ethics rules; check with your bar and your own counsel.