Free calculator · Services and Quotes
Social Media Management Quote Builder.
Instagram video four times a week and LinkedIn static twice are different costs, so each platform gets its own frequency and format. Add paid ads management separately, and see the blended cost per post.
Sets the recommended prices below to this market's rates.
Pick your sector to start from the scope a brief like yours usually needs. Every input stays editable.
One row per platform, each at its own cadence and format. Posting the same asset everywhere is close to the cost of posting it once; producing video instead of graphics is roughly double on any platform. That is where the money goes, so it is set per platform rather than once for all of them.
Estimated monthly retainer
AED 1,790 - AED 2,527 / mo
In AED. Every price feeding this range was editable above.
An estimate, not a quote, reviewed August 2026. Ad spend is paid to the platform directly and never marked up here.
Estimate done
Want the real number for your project?
An estimate works from typical scope. A quotation works from yours. Send this breakdown over and you get a fixed price back, from the person who would do the work, within one business day.
What this tool measures
A social retainer is priced by production volume and format, not by the number of platforms on the logo strip. Posting the same asset to five networks is close to the cost of posting it to one. Producing video instead of graphics is roughly double the cost on any of them.
That is why this asks for posts per week and content type before it asks about platforms, and why the platform list adds a smaller amount per network than most quotes imply. It reflects where the work actually is.
How to use it
Pick platforms by where your buyers are, not by where you have accounts. An abandoned account is a worse signal than no account, and paying to maintain one nobody in your market uses is the most common waste in this category.
Set posting frequency by what you can sustain with something to say. Three considered posts a week beats seven that exist to meet a number, and the second is more expensive.
Content type is the real multiplier. Video-led is roughly twice static because it is filming, editing, captioning and versioning per platform, not one asset resized.
How to read the result
The monthly figure covers planning, production, scheduling, publishing and a monthly report. It does not include ad spend, which goes to the platform directly, and it does not include community management beyond replying to comments unless you add it as a line item.
Paid ads management is priced here as a management fee only. If a quote bundles management and spend into one number, ask for them separated: they are your money going to two different places, and only one of them is negotiable with the agency.
If the number is higher than expected, reduce frequency before reducing quality. A weekly post that is worth seeing outperforms a daily one that is not, and it costs less.
What to do next
Decide what social is for before you buy it. Reach, recruitment, credibility for people who already heard of you, and direct sales are four different jobs with four different content plans, and a retainer bought without choosing one tends to deliver none of them.
Then agree the approval loop. Social dies on approval latency more than on anything else: content that needs three sign-offs cannot be timely, and timeliness is most of what social offers.
Questions people ask
Do I need to be on every platform?
No, and trying is how quality drops everywhere at once. Two platforms done properly is the right starting point for almost every small business.
Should ad spend go through the agency?
The account should be yours regardless. Who pays the platform is an administrative question; who owns the ad account, the pixel and the audience data is the one that matters when the relationship ends.
Why is video so much more expensive?
A static post is a design task. A video is a shoot, an edit, captions, a thumbnail and usually three aspect ratios. It performs better on most platforms, and it costs what it costs for the same reason.
What does a report actually need to show?
Reach and engagement are the easy numbers and the least useful. Ask for what the channel sent to the site and what happened next. If that cannot be answered, the tracking is the first thing to fix.
Where to go from here
- Google and Meta Ads Budget Planner — prices the paid spend that sits alongside this retainer, separately from the management fee.
- Content Production Cost Calculator — for the long-form content social usually points at.
- Graphic Design Package Estimator — if what you need is the assets rather than someone running the accounts.
- Meta Pixel + Conversions API: the integration guide for accurate ad spend — how to make the tracking behind these reports accurate rather than approximate.
The guide behind this tool
Built by GoDesign FZE, who run social media and content programmes.
Get in touch
Want someone to just do this part?
The tool is free and stays free. If you would rather hand the work over, tell us what you are dealing with and you get a straight answer on scope, cost and timeline.
- You own everythingRepository, hosting and domain credentials sit in your name from day one, not handed over at the end.
- A written timelineMilestone dates are agreed in writing before work starts, so you always know what ships next.
- One business dayEvery enquiry gets a reply from the person who would scope the work, not a sales sequence.
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