Cross-channel compare

LinkedIn vs Facebook CPM

By Oliver Wakefield-Smith · updated October 2026

Benchmarks reviewed October 2026 · next review January 2027

The short answer

Only one side of this comparison has a dated benchmark: Meta averaged $10.02 per thousand in December 2025 on Gupta Media's public tracker table. LinkedIn publishes no rate and we found no public tracker we can cite, so read your LinkedIn CPM from Campaign Manager. Per thousand people who match a tight B2B target, the pricier impression routinely wins, and where it stops winning is arithmetic you can check.

LinkedInno published rateLinkedIn describes auction pricing and budget controls; it publishes no average CPMLinkedIn ads pricing pageretrieved July 2026

Facebook$10.02Meta (Facebook and Instagram combined) average CPM, December 2025, the latest month in the public tableGupta Media Social CPM Tracker, public monthly tableretrieved October 2026

Raw: what $2,000 buys on Facebook

$2,000 buys about 199,601 Facebook impressions at the December 2025 average. Divide $2,000 by your own LinkedIn CPM and multiply by 1,000 for the other side. If your buyer is everyone (consumer product, broad service), the comparison ends there and the bigger number wins on volume.

Qualified: the reframe that flips it

break-even LinkedIn CPM = Facebook CPM × (LinkedIn match ÷ Facebook match)

$10.02 × (0.75 title-targeted ÷ 0.10 interest-proxied) = $75.15

Match rates are explicit assumptions for the worked model, chosen to illustrate the mechanism. Substitute your own estimates; the crossover point is what to find.

Under those stated assumptions, any LinkedIn CPM below $75.15 costs less per qualified thousand than Facebook at its December 2025 average. The mechanism is targeting substance: LinkedIn sells first-party job title, seniority and company; Facebook approximates B2B intent through interest proxies. The honest caveat runs both directions, since a generous Facebook lookalike raises its match rate and lowers the break-even, and a sloppy LinkedIn audience wastes the premium.

Which objectives justify the premium

Justified: named-account coverage, niche-title reach, high-ACV pipelines where one deal repays a year of media.
Rarely justified: broad brand reach, retargeting warm traffic (the qualification already happened), anything a cheaper broad impression does equally well.

Depth: LinkedIn CPM · Facebook CPM · verdict logic at what is a good CPM · full table at /rates.