AI agent or agency at a glance
RunAds comes out of Every Friday, a performance marketing agency, so we have sold both. The table compares a typical Google Ads agency with an AI agent that builds and launches campaigns. Agency terms vary a lot by shop; the agency column describes the common setup.
| Typical agency | AI agent (RunAds) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | An account manager and media buyer, split across clients | The agent researches, plans, writes ads and images, then waits for you |
| Approval | Monthly or weekly calls; changes often made between them | Approval mode by default on accounts you bring; launch cards need your OK |
| Speed of changes | Business hours, queued behind other clients | Watches the account around the clock and proposes budget moves as cards |
| Typical cost | 10% to 20% of spend or $1,000 to $3,000 a month1 | about 5% of Google ad spend at the base rate (4% above $10,000 a month), less with pack bonuses of up to 20%2 |
| Contract | Often a minimum term | None. Credits, or Unlimited billed every 4 weeks |
| Creative production | Yes, if you pay for it | Ad copy and images; no video shoots |
| Channels | Usually several | Google Ads: Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen, Local Service Ads |
| Account ownership | Varies; check the contract | Your Google Ads account; you pay Google directly |
Is an AI agent cheaper than an agency at my budget?
The bars below use three monthly ad budgets. The agency range is the 10% to 20% WebFX cites. The WebFX published fee is that agency's own table: $750 for spend up to $5,000, the higher of $975 or 15% from $5,000 to $30,000, and the higher of $4,500 or 12% above that. RunAds credits are 1 cent each, used at 5 per $1 of spend up to $10,000 a month and 4 per $1 above it.
Monthly management cost only. Ad spend is paid to Google either way. RunAds credit figures are before pack bonuses (up to 20% extra credits on the $1,000 pack). Unlimited is billed every 4 weeks and covers up to $10,000 a month of spend, so it is shown only at $8,000.
At $8,000 a month in spend, an agency at 10% to 20% costs $800 to $1,600. RunAds costs $400 in credits or $499 on Unlimited. Against $400 in credits, that is $400 to $1,200 a month, or $4,800 to $14,400 a year, left for ad budget or margin.
Do I lose control with an AI agent?
You get more control than most agency setups, because every change shows up as something you approve. In RunAds, each Google Ads account runs in one of three modes:
- Approval: new campaigns and changes come to you as cards. This is the default for accounts you connect.
- Autopilot: the agent applies changes inside your limits. This is the default only for accounts RunAds creates for you.
- Read-only: RunAds reports and recommends but changes nothing.
On top of the mode, you can set a daily spend cap, a maximum percentage change per budget edit, and protected campaigns the agent never touches. These limits apply to changes from the dashboard, from Caleb AI chat and from Claude or ChatGPT through the MCP connector.
- Emergency plumbing, Search$60/day
- Water heater repair, Search$40/day
- Brand terms, Search$10/day
Sample card for a demo account. Google dry-runs every campaign before the card reaches you.
When is an agency the better pick?
Every Friday still runs client accounts, and these are the cases where we would tell you to hire people:
- You need video, UGC or photo shoots made for you every month.
- You want one team to run Google, Meta, TikTok and email as one plan.
- You sell in a vertical where ad policy review takes human judgment, such as health claims or finance.
- You want a person on a weekly call who answers to you and to your board.
- Your account spends well over $100,000 a month and needs custom bidding and reporting work.
A middle option exists too. groas, for example, sells done-for-you Search Ads management at $1,499 a month per service with no spend cap5.
How RunAds runs an account
You give the agent a goal: more leads at a lower cost per lead, or more sales at a lower CAC. A mission reads your site and account, plans campaigns, writes the ads and images, and stops at Review. After you approve, it launches and watches the account for 14 days, sending budget and bid changes back to you as cards. The Bulk Launcher builds a full set of Search campaigns from your site in one pass, and Ad Grades gives every ad a letter grade with the reasons.
Pricing: 500 free credits (your first $100 of Google ad spend), then 5 credits per $1 of ad spend: 4 above $10,000 a month, 3.5 above $100,000, 3 above $1,000,000. AI is unlimited on every plan. Unlimited is $499 every 4 weeks, covering up to $10,000 a month of managed spend. Agencies pay from $999 a month for 5 to unlimited client accounts by tier. See pricing.
Method
Agency fee figures come from WebFX's PPC pricing page, the most specific public fee table we found from a large agency. RunAds figures come from our pricing and credit code. We did not use customer results, since those depend on the business, the offer and the budget. 1,500+ businesses have signed up for RunAds; we make no promise about the results any one account will get.