You can't compare the “cost per lead” of Zapyt, an SMM agency and paid ads directly: they're different leads. In Zapyt a lead is a public post by someone asking for a recommendation for a business like yours. With the limit fully used, it costs from $0.99 on Start to about $0.66 on Max. In ads and agency work a lead usually means an enquiry or a message, a step a Zapyt lead still has to reach. An honest comparison uses the cost of a conversation or an enquiry, worked out with your own numbers. Below are the formula, an example on real data and the limits of each approach.
Why does everyone mean something different by “lead”?
Before dividing money by leads, agree on what exactly you're counting.
| Approach | What's usually called a lead | What you pay for |
|---|---|---|
| Zapyt | A public post where someone asks for a recommendation, compares options or asks about price | A fixed monthly price for a lead limit |
| Paid ads | A form enquiry, a message or a click, depending on the setup | Impressions or clicks plus a specialist's work or your time |
| SMM agency | Often not counted separately: the agency runs your pages and content | People's work: a manager, a designer, a copywriter |
A Zapyt lead is someone who is already asking but doesn't know about you yet. To turn it into a conversation, you have to reply, and the person has to reply to you. An enquiry from an ad is someone who has already written to you. So $0.99 per post and the cost per enquiry from ads are numbers from different levels of the funnel.
What does a lead cost in Zapyt?
The plans are fixed: $99, $149 or $199 a month for up to 100, 200 or 300 leads. If the limit is fully used:
| Plan | Price per month | Lead limit | Cost per lead at the full limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $99 | up to 100 | $0.99 |
| Growth | $149 | up to 200 | about $0.75 |
| Max | $199 | up to 300 | about $0.66 |
Two caveats without which the table is misleading:
- The limit is a ceiling, not a promise. If people ask about your business less often than the plan allows, there will be fewer leads, and each will cost more. The trial week will show how many you'll get.
- Your time isn't free. Zapyt finds posts and drafts replies, but you have to review the card, pick an option and approve the reply, every day.
From lead to conversation: an example on real data
Cost of a conversation = monthly price / number of people who replied to you.
What this looks like in practice can be seen from the case of an online English school we work with. Among the leads for which the school tracked an outcome, 46 people out of 367 replied, roughly one in eight. Let's take that share as an assumption and do the maths for Growth:
- leads per month: 200, and you replied to all of them;
- roughly one in eight replies, as among the school's tracked leads: 200 × 46 / 367 ≈ 25 conversations;
- cost of a conversation: $149 / 25 ≈ $6.
Why this is an example, not a forecast:
- The share is someone else's. It depends on the business, the city, how you reply and how precisely the search is set up.
- We deliberately don't use the best month. In August the school sent 235 replies, and 42 people replied. That's a higher share, but calculating from the best month would be inflating it.
- Not all of the school's leads have a tracked outcome. The rest don't, so dividing by all leads would be wrong. Details on the case page.
- A conversation isn't a sale yet. How many conversations become clients is up to you.
How do you work out the cost of ads or an agency with your own numbers?
We don't quote ad or agency prices here: they vary widely, depend on the business, the city and the auction, and we have no verified data to compare. But the formula is the same:
Cost of a conversation = (ad spend + people's fees + your time) / number of conversations or enquiries in the same month.
Where to get the numbers:
- Ad spend from your ad account for last month.
- People's fees from the agency's or ad specialist's invoice. If the agency handles both content and ads, keep only the part that's about bringing in clients.
- Your time in hours spent approving creatives and reports or, with Zapyt, on daily replies.
- Conversations or enquiries from your CRM, spreadsheet or messengers, for the same month.
To keep the comparison fair:
- the same period for every approach;
- the same unit: a conversation with a person or an enquiry, not each one's own “lead”;
- your time counted everywhere, not only where it's most visible.
Where is each approach stronger?
Even if the cost of a conversation comes out lower with Zapyt, that doesn't make it better at everything.
- Ads are stronger on reach and where nobody asks about your product yet: they can show it to people who aren't looking. Zapyt won't find more people than those who ask for a recommendation themselves.
- An agency is stronger on visuals, strategy and community management. We don't do that, and well-kept pages matter for Zapyt too: the person you replied to will almost certainly visit your profile.
- Zapyt is stronger where clients already ask on Threads or Telegram, and where knowing the monthly cost in advance matters.
Detailed tables are on the pages Zapyt vs an SMM agency and Zapyt vs ads. How to count the funnel from lead to sale without fooling yourself is in Threads lead generation.
How to check it for your business?
The simplest way is to work out both sides on real data. Take the cost of a conversation or enquiry from your ads or agency for last month. Then try Zapyt free for 7 days: you'll see how many people ask for a recommendation for a business like yours and how many of them reply to your comments. Plan details are on the pricing page.
FAQ
Which is cheaper per lead: Zapyt, ads or an agency?
You can't compare it directly: a Zapyt lead is a post from someone asking for a recommendation, not an enquiry. Compare the cost of a conversation or enquiry over the same period, and the answer will depend on your numbers.
Is setup included in the Zapyt price?
Yes. Setup is included in the plan price, with no lock-in.
Can Zapyt replace an SMM agency?
Mostly not: it's different work. An agency designs your pages and runs content; Zapyt finds people who are already asking for a recommendation. If your pages aren't in order yet, start with an agency.
What if fewer leads are found than the limit?
You pay the same monthly price, so the cost per lead goes up. That's why we suggest the trial week first: it shows the real volume for you. If there are few requests, we'll tell you before you pay.