One company quotes you €300 a month to manage your social media. Another quotes €1,500. It sounds like the same job, so one of them is either overcharging you or planning to do it badly.
The hard part is working out which.
So we checked what social media management packages actually cost, using the prices agencies publish on their own websites. Ten Irish providers and five UK ones, all checked in September 2026.
The short answer? In Ireland, most published packages cost between €175 and €1,599 a month, and more than half the prices sit between €349 and €900, often before VAT. In the UK the spread is far wider: £99 to £5,999 a month.
The number of posts barely explains that gap. What you are really paying for is whose time you get, who makes the content, and whether anyone answers your comments.
Below is what each price buys, what is usually left out, and what to check before you sign. If you would rather have a price for your own business, that is what our social media management team is for.
How much does social media management cost in Ireland?
Going by published prices, most small Irish businesses would pay between about €350 and €900 a month for a managed package. That is often before VAT, and always before a cent is spent on ads.
These are the monthly prices we found, grouped by how many platforms each package covers.
| Package covers | Published monthly prices | What they typically include |
|---|---|---|
| One platform | €175, €199, €450, €600 | 8 to 20 posts a month, designed graphics, captions, a monthly report |
| Two platforms | from €99, €235, €299, €355, €500 to €900, €750, €899 | Anywhere from 8 to around 60 posts a month between them; some add stories and replies to comments |
| Three or more platforms | €399, €599, €645, €1,100, €1,200, €1,599 | More posts and, at the top end, short video, community management and ad management |
| Agreed with you | from €349, from €550, €900 | Strategy, content, scheduling and reporting across the platforms you choose |
A few things jump out.
Two budget plans sit below the rest, advertised from €49 and €99 a month. The €99 plan lists up to two platforms and 28 posts a month; what the €49 one includes isn’t published. After those, the cheapest package is €175, for one platform and eight posts a month.
At the other end, €1,599 buys three platforms, twelve posts a week, reports every fortnight, monthly strategy calls and management of your paid ads.
And several agencies ranking for these searches publish no price at all. That is normal enough. A lot of this work is quoted to the business in front of them, not sold off a shelf.
What’s in a social media management package?
At almost every price, you get the same basics: a monthly content plan, designed graphics, captions and hashtags, posts scheduled for you, and a report at the end of the month.
Spend more and the extras arrive. Stories. Replies to comments and messages. Short video for Reels and TikTok. Calls with the person running your account. Then, near the top, someone managing your paid ads.
But look closely at the post counts, because they are not counted the same way.
One Irish package gives you up to seven posts a week on each of two platforms for €299. Another gives you 20 posts a month on two platforms for €750. On paper, the cheaper one delivers more posts for less money.
The €750 package also includes custom graphics, stories, community management and a call every two weeks.
So which is better value? That depends entirely on what the posts are, and whether anyone is talking to your customers in between them. Which brings us to the UK, where the same pattern is even starker.
Social media management prices in the UK
UK packages run from £99 to £5,999 a month across the five providers we checked, and four of the five quote before VAT.
At the bottom, £99 a month buys three posts a week on up to two platforms, with custom graphics, on a rolling monthly plan.
At the top, £3,499 buys 16 posts a month on two platforms, 20 minutes of engagement every day, a monthly strategy, report and meeting, and out-of-hours support. £5,999 buys 30 posts a month on three platforms, five stories a week and 30 minutes of daily engagement.
That is 35 times the price for roughly the same number of posts.
In between, the prices we found were £195 (plus a £195 setup fee), £199, £299, £450, £800, £1,400, £2,200, £2,250, £3,500, £4,499 and £4,750 a month.
Nobody pays £3,499 for sixteen posts. They pay for the people and the time behind them.
Why social media management prices vary so much
Six things move a quote, and the number of posts is the least important of them.
Who makes the content. At the cheap end, posts are often built from templates and stock images.
At the other end, someone photographs your products, films your team and edits it into something that looks like your business and nobody else’s. One UK agency prices that production separately, from £750 up.
Time spent talking to your customers. Premium UK packages spell it out: 10, 20 or 30 minutes of engagement a day, replying to comments and messages. At the budget end, community management is an extra, charged from £35 an hour plus VAT by one provider.
Video. Short-form video takes far longer to make than a graphic. It is usually what separates a mid-priced package from a cheap one.
Strategy and senior time. A £2,250 package in the UK includes a three-month strategy, a content audit and a monthly meeting. A £99 package gives you a dashboard and an account manager on email.
Platforms. Each platform needs its own formats and its own attention. Most price lists add cost with every one.
Paid ads. Once someone is running your ads as well, the fee climbs. So does what’s at stake.
If I were spending my own money, I would pay for fewer posts made properly. Twelve posts a month that look like your business will beat sixty that look like everyone else’s.
Is ad spend included in a social media package?
Almost never.
The management fee pays for the work. The ad spend is the money that goes to Meta, TikTok or LinkedIn to show your ads, and it is nearly always on top.
Of the Irish packages we found, only one included any ad money: €50 a month, inside a €599 plan. One Irish provider says ad budgets typically start from €300 a month.
Running the ads can be a separate fee too. One Irish price list charges €180 to €540 a month to manage social ads, on top of what you spend. To budget for the spend itself, see our guides to what Facebook ads cost and what Instagram ads cost.
Setup fees, minimum contracts and VAT
Three smaller costs catch people out.
Setup fees. Some providers charge to get started: €25 plus VAT for each account they create, a £195 one-off fee, or €1,000 for a full setup of profiles, bios and branding.
Minimum terms. Several providers let you cancel any month. Others ask for a three-month minimum, then 14 or 30 days’ notice. Neither is wrong, but know which you are signing.
VAT. Many prices are quoted before VAT, and in Ireland the standard rate is 23%. A €600 package is €738 once VAT is added. If your business is registered for VAT, you can usually reclaim it. If you aren’t, it’s a real cost.
Agency, freelancer or an in-house social media manager?
The package prices look different once you set them against a salary.
Recruiter Morgan McKinley’s 2026 salary guide puts a social media manager in Ireland at €55,000 to €65,000 with up to three years’ experience, and €65,000 to €75,000 with three to five. Salaries reported to Indeed average €39,231 a year, from 47 salaries.
Take the lower figure. Add employer PRSI at 11.25%, rising to 11.40% from 1 October 2026, and one person costs you more than €43,600 a year. That is about €3,600 a month, before software, a laptop, or anyone to cover their holidays.
That is more than twice the most expensive Irish package we found.
In-house still wins in one situation. If social media is where most of your sales start, and something worth posting happens every day, a person in the building will catch it. An agency won’t.
For everyone else, it’s a choice between a freelancer and an agency.
A freelancer is usually cheaper and you deal with one person, which is lovely until they are sick, on holiday or fully booked.
An agency costs more, but you get a designer, a videographer and someone who runs ads, and the work doesn’t stop when one person does.
Is it worth paying someone to manage your social media?
It depends on how your customers buy.
If they buy on how something looks, like a kitchen, a haircut, a wedding venue or a plate of food, social media is where they decide. Paying someone to do it properly is usually worth it.
If they need you urgently, they search. Nobody with a burst pipe scrolls Instagram first. For that, put the money into Google Ads and your website before social.
Either way, judge it on enquiries and sales, not likes. A package that grows your followers and never produces a phone call isn’t cheap at any price. Our guide on how to advertise a small business covers where each channel fits.
What to check before you sign a social media package
Ask these before you commit to anything. A good provider will answer every one without hesitating.
- Are the posts per platform or in total? Twenty posts a month across three platforms is fewer than seven each.
- Who makes the content? Templates and stock images, or photos and video made for your business?
- Who answers comments and messages? How quickly, and is it included or charged by the hour?
- How much video is included? Ask for a number each month.
- Is ad spend included? And is running the ads a separate fee?
- Who owns the accounts? Your pages and ad accounts should be in your business’s name, with the agency added to them. Never the other way round.
- What is the minimum term and notice period?
- Is the price with or without VAT?
- What gets reported? Enquiries, bookings and sales, not just reach and likes.
Questions people ask about social media management prices
How much does it cost to pay someone to manage your social media?
In Ireland, most published packages cost €175 to €1,599 a month, with more than half the prices between €349 and €900, often before VAT. In the UK, they run from £99 to £5,999. Ad spend is almost always extra.
How much does a social media manager earn in Ireland?
Morgan McKinley’s 2026 guide puts it at €55,000 to €65,000 with up to three years’ experience and €65,000 to €75,000 with three to five. Salaries reported to Indeed average €39,231.
How much should social media management cost for a small business?
For one or two platforms, done properly, expect roughly €350 to €900 a month in Ireland before VAT. Much cheaper usually means templated content and nobody answering comments.
Do I need to be on every platform?
No. Be where your customers already are, and do it well. Two platforms run properly beat five run badly, and they cost less.
What is the 70/20/10 rule for social media?
It’s a rule of thumb for the mix of posts: about 70% useful or entertaining, 20% sharing other people’s content, and 10% selling. It is a guide, not a law, but a package that is all selling will struggle.
Can I cancel a social media package?
Depending on the provider, yes. Some are monthly and can be cancelled any time, while others have a three-month minimum and a notice period. Check before you sign.
If you want a price for your own business
A price list can only tell you so much. What a package should cost depends on what you want social media to do: fill a restaurant on a Tuesday, sell kitchens, or get a phone ringing.
Our social media team runs Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn, with the video and design made in-house by our own videographers and designers, and paid social on Meta and LinkedIn when it’s worth running.
Tell us what you want it to achieve, and we will tell you straight what it would cost before any work starts.
