Pricing
How Much Does B2B Lead Generation Cost?
Published pricing in this industry is rare, so here are the actual numbers: what agencies charge, what a qualified meeting costs, what in-house really adds up to, and how to decide what you can afford.
KP
By Karolis Pečiūra · Founder, AREM Sales
Published August 5, 2026 · 8 min read
The four pricing models
| Model | Typical price | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | €3,000–€10,000/mo | Funded teams wanting volume and control |
| Per qualified meeting | €150–€400/meeting | Teams that want cost tied to output |
| Base + success fee | €500–€1,500 + €150–€400 | Most SMBs — low risk, aligned incentives |
| In-house SDR | €45k–€75k/yr loaded | Companies with a manager who has done the job |
What you actually pay for inside a retainer
- List building and data enrichment: €300–€800/month in tooling alone (Apollo, verification, direct dials)
- Sending infrastructure: €10–€15 per inbox per month, plus domains
- Copywriting and iteration: the single biggest driver of results, and the first thing cheap agencies cut
- Human calling time: the most expensive line item, and the reason call-inclusive offers cost more
- Reporting and CRM hygiene: cheap to do, expensive to skip
The only calculation that matters
Work backwards from your average contract value. Suppose ACV is €15,000, you close 20% of qualified meetings, and outbound delivers 8 meetings a month.
- 8 meetings × 20% close rate = 1.6 new customers per month
- 1.6 × €15,000 = €24,000 of new revenue per month
- At €3,000/month of outbound spend, that is an 8x return on spend
- Break-even sits at roughly €400 per meeting — anything below that is profitable
- If your ACV is under €3,000, outbound rarely pays; sell to bigger accounts or bundle first
In-house SDR: the full cost
- Salary + employer taxes: €35,000–€60,000 depending on market
- Tooling: €3,000–€6,000/year (data, sending, dialler, CRM seats)
- Management time: 3–5 hours a week from someone senior
- Ramp: 3–6 months before consistent meeting output
- Churn risk: average SDR tenure is around 18 months
Red flags in lead generation pricing
- Per-lead pricing under €50 — that is a list, not a meeting
- Guaranteed meeting counts quoted before anyone has seen your ICP
- 12-month contracts with no monthly performance gate
- No definition of 'qualified' written into the agreement
- No-show policy left unspecified
FAQ
- How much does B2B lead generation cost per month?
- Agency retainers typically run €3,000–€10,000 per month in Europe. Performance models charge €150–€400 per qualified meeting, and hybrid models pair a low base fee with a per-meeting success fee.
- What is a good cost per qualified meeting?
- €150–€400 is the normal band in B2B. If your average contract value is above €10,000 and you close 20% of first meetings, even €400 per meeting returns roughly 5x.
- Is an in-house SDR cheaper than an agency?
- Rarely in year one. A fully loaded in-house SDR costs €45,000–€75,000 per year plus €3,000–€6,000 of tooling and 3–6 months of ramp before the first consistent meetings appear.
- What should a B2B lead generation budget be?
- A practical rule is to budget the value of one won customer per quarter. If a customer is worth €20,000 in year-one revenue, €1,500–€2,500 per month of outbound spend is defensible from the first deal.
Related reading
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