THE SHORT ANSWER
An in-house marketer costs roughly EUR 45,000 to EUR 70,000 a year fully loaded plus ad budget, an agency EUR 1,000 to EUR 3,000 a month plus ad spend, and bought leads start around EUR 750 a month with no commitment. The right choice depends on volume: below roughly fifteen jobs a month, buying leads almost always wins on cost per acquired customer because the fixed costs have too little volume to spread over.
The three cost structures side by side
In-house marketer: EUR 45,000 to EUR 70,000 a year fully loaded, plus media budget, plus three to six months before they are productive in your specific market
Agency: EUR 1,000 to EUR 3,000 a month plus media budget, typically on a three to twelve month term, productive within weeks
Bought exclusive leads: from around EUR 750 a month, no term, no media budget, productive immediately
The comparison only becomes meaningful when you divide each by the customers it actually produces, which is the calculation most businesses skip.
Where the crossover sits
Fixed costs need volume to spread over. Below roughly fifteen jobs a month, an in-house salary or an agency retainer is a large fixed cost divided by a small number, and bought leads win on cost per customer almost regardless of the unit price. Above thirty or forty jobs a month the arithmetic reverses, because owned channels compound and bought leads do not.
In between, the deciding factor is usually not cost at all. It is whether anyone in the business has the attention to manage a channel properly.
What each option actually buys you
An in-house marketer buys accumulated knowledge of your market, which compounds and stays. An agency buys immediate competence across several channels without a hiring risk, and leaves when the contract ends. Bought leads buy volume with zero management overhead and build nothing you keep.
Framed that way, they are not really competitors. They solve different problems, and the mistake is choosing on price rather than on which problem you have.
The combination most growing businesses land on
Bought leads for the baseline, so capacity is never idle and cash flow is predictable. An agency or a specialist for the owned channels, so something compounds. And a person internally who owns the numbers, even if they do not execute, because a channel nobody owns drifts within two months.
How Flock Leads prices this
Flock Leads is the no-fixed-cost option in that comparison: fixed volume, no retainer, no term.
Starter - 10 leads for EUR 750, which is EUR 75 per lead
Growth - 25 leads for EUR 1,750, which is EUR 70 per lead
Scale - 45 leads for EUR 2,925, which is EUR 65 per lead
Pro - 70 leads for EUR 4,340, which is EUR 62 per lead
Max - 90 leads for EUR 5,400, which is EUR 60 per lead
No retainer, no contract term, and no lead sent to a second business. Unused volume rolls over under the Flock Lead Promise.
Related answers
Frequently asked questions
Is buying leads cheaper than hiring a marketer?
Below roughly fifteen jobs a month, almost always, because a salary is a large fixed cost divided by a small number of customers.
When does an agency make sense?
When you need competence across several channels quickly and do not want hiring risk. Expect EUR 1,000 to EUR 3,000 a month plus media budget.
Can I skip marketing entirely and only buy leads?
You can, and many profitable businesses do. The trade-off is that nothing compounds, so your cost per customer never falls.
What is the most common mistake here?
Choosing on monthly cost instead of on cost per acquired customer, and hiring or retaining before there is enough volume to spread the fixed cost.
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