The best acquisition & ads agencies in 2026
The agencies running ecom ad budgets — Meta, Google, TikTok — ranked by auction. Bids, clicks and cost per click are public: you see who invests in their own visibility.
How this leaderboard works
Every position is an auction: ecommerce ads agencies bid real money, starting at €5, and the highest bid takes first place. No jury, no sponsored reviews — the leaderboard moves the second someone bids more. Clicks sent to each site are counted and public. The full rules.
How to choose an acquisition agency
Judge an acquisition agency first on account transparency: direct access to your own Business Manager (the campaigns belong to you), reporting on your own analytics data rather than platform dashboards alone, and a history of accounts comparable to yours in budget and vertical. MER (total revenue / total ad spend) is a better judge than in-platform ROAS, which attribution inflates.
The billing model tells you a lot: a percentage of spend pushes to spend more, a flat fee pushes to under-staff, a fee plus performance bonus aligns better. In every case, demand ownership of your ad accounts and pixels — an agency running your campaigns from ITS accounts is holding you hostage.
What to compare
Fees usually start around €1,000-2,000/month for small budgets and switch to a percentage (8-15%) beyond that. Check: ownership of accounts and creatives, creative production frequency (the lifeblood of Meta), reporting on YOUR data, and the commitment length — beware of 12-month contracts imposed upfront.
Frequently asked questions
What minimum ad budget justifies an agency?
Below €3,000-5,000/month in ad spend, the agency fee weighs too much against the budget: a freelance media buyer or in-house management is usually more profitable. An agency makes sense when the budget justifies a dedicated creative + acquisition team.
ROAS or MER: which metric should I follow?
The ROAS shown by Meta or Google relies on their own attribution, which mechanically overvalues itself. MER (total revenue divided by total ad spend) and profit per order are more honest. A serious agency reasons in MER and margin, not ROAS screenshots.
How do I test an acquisition agency without risk?
Start with a paid audit of your accounts (a few hundred euros): the quality of the audit tells you everything about the team's level. Then a 3-month trial with numbers agreed upfront, your accounts remaining your property.
See also: CRO · SEO · Store setup · Shopify