A qualitative comparison of the two platforms, plus the Google Search CPC benchmarks we actually measure. We do not publish TikTok or Meta cost data.
What CPC are you actually paying?
We publish measured cost-per-click data for Google Search only. We do not publish a TikTok median, a Meta median, or a savings percentage between platforms, because we do not have those measurements and will not estimate them.
This page used to carry exactly those numbers. They were removed in the July 2026 data audit, along with every other figure on the site that had been derived rather than measured. Our data supplier sells keyword-level cost data for Google Ads. It does not sell equivalent CPC data for TikTok or Meta at any price, so there is no honest way to fill that column. The methodology page documents what was removed and why.
What follows is a qualitative comparison of the two platforms, plus the Google Search figures we can stand behind. If you need TikTok cost data, take it from your own account or from TikTok's own reporting, not from a benchmark site that cannot measure it.
Median cost per click on Google Search across the 98 keywords in our dataset, July 2026:
| Industry | Median CPC | Typical range | Demand, 12 mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal Services | $89.55 | $44.64–$163.25 | +33.4% |
| Insurance | $50.36 | $24.21–$105.21 | -50.1% |
| B2B / Lead Gen | $49.92 | $48.70–$60.59 | -26.1% |
| SaaS / Software | $45.30 | $41.12–$76.36 | -58.5% |
| Education | $28.48 | $16.49–$41.23 | +71.6% |
| Home Services | $23.39 | $13.08–$32.79 | -13.9% |
| Healthcare | $9.51 | $5.09–$11.01 | -0.5% |
| Financial Services | $6.93 | $4.72–$21.20 | -42.6% |
| Automotive | $5.20 | $3.13–$6.27 | -17.0% |
| Beauty & Cosmetics | $3.15 | $2.44–$3.19 | -56.8% |
| E-commerce | $2.57 | $2.45–$2.76 | +49.2% |
| Travel & Tourism | $2.17 | $1.77–$2.55 | +56.1% |
| Real Estate | $1.36 | $1.22–$6.22 | -18.1% |
| Gaming | $1.26 | $0.65–$1.68 | -2.1% |
Social CPCs generally run below search CPCs, and the instinct on seeing that is to move budget. That instinct is usually wrong, and understanding why is the point of this comparison.
A Google search is a declaration of intent. Someone typing "hvac repair near me" has a problem right now. A TikTok impression interrupts someone who was not thinking about your category at all. Both can be valuable, but they are not interchangeable inventory, and any price difference between them reflects that before it reflects efficiency.
Comparing CPC across platforms tells you almost nothing on its own, because the click means different things. Compare cost per acquired customer instead, and hold the attribution window constant across both. A platform with triple the CPC and five times the conversion rate is the cheaper channel.
Run each platform's numbers through the same funnel model before deciding, using your own account data for the social side. The industry reports publish Google Search medians, interquartile ranges and 12-month demand trends for all 14 verticals, free and without signup.