Bing Ads vs Facebook Ads for SaaS: Costs, Targeting & ROI

Customer acquisition remains one of the most significant expenses in SaaS companies' marketing strategies. In 2024, the median customer acquisition cost (CAC) in the B2B SaaS sector increased by 14%, reaching $2.00 for every dollar of new annual recurring revenue (ARR). For the top quartile of companies, this figure is $2.82. More broadly, CAC growth since 2023 is estimated at 40%-60%. Often, companies do not have the ability to increase their budgets. To stay on track and maintain performance, it's crucial to select the right platform to promote your products. Especially when evaluating Microsoft Ads vs Facebook Ads in a B2B SaaS environment.

Most SaaS teams typically work with the same default paid stack. Google is used for search demand and Facebook is used for awareness and retargeting. This model mirrors the logic described in our comparison of Google Ads vs Facebook Ads, where intent capture and demand creation follow different mechanics. Microsoft Ads is considered a secondary channel, and campaigns are often imported from Google without adapting the strategy. This often becomes visible during structured PPC audit services, where platform misallocation is identified.

At Aimers, we regularly analyze Microsoft vs Facebook Ads for SaaS performance data and see that this default setup needs to be revisited. For example, after we incorporated Microsoft Ads into ShipBob's strategy, their cost per lead (CPL) decreased by 60%, and the number of qualified leads increased by 2.5 times. At the same time, the overall budget remained the same. In 2023, Microsoft Ads launched LinkedIn Profile Targeting within search campaigns. Now, the platform allows you to target by job title and company size directly in search without LinkedIn CPC. However, Facebook is consistently reducing advertiser control in favor of automated delivery through Advantage+. For a narrow B2B ICP, this means a structural loss of accuracy.

Therefore, we conducted a detailed review of the two platforms, comparing their key performance indicators: cost, targeting, and lead quality. We are confident that the results of our assessment will be helpful if you are looking for ways to improve the effectiveness of your SaaS company's PPC strategy.

How the Two Platforms Work – and Why It Matters for SaaS

To understand the overall context, let's quickly review the key differences between the two platforms.

Microsoft Ads is a search platform where users formulate their own queries, and the platform simply displays ads in response to those queries. This traffic comes from users who already have an intention to solve a problem and are searching for that very solution. For SaaS, this means that you are intercepting existing demand rather than creating it. In addition, it is important to understand that Bing's audience is skewed toward the corporate segment. Bing is the default browser on corporate computers, where Windows is often used. This is standard practice for most companies in the enterprise environment. This partly explains why B2B conversions here are consistently higher than one might expect from a platform with 16% of the US search market. This positioning makes Bing advertising particularly relevant for enterprise-focused SaaS models.

Facebook/Meta is an interest-based platform that does not use search queries as a signal of intent. The algorithm analyzes user behavior, interests, and connections within the social network. Advertisements are shown to the most relevant audience. For a SaaS product, this implies a different entry point into the funnel. The platform creates demand rather than shaping it.

The differences in approach determine everything else, including Facebook ads vs Bing Ads cost, targeting depth, and downstream qualification quality.

Cost Comparison: CPC and CPL

Any comparison of Microsoft advertising vs Meta Ads must begin with CPC and CPL, since these metrics define the cost of entering the funnel. It should be noted that CPC and CPL are only metrics for evaluating entry into the funnel, not the final result. For SaaS, where the average transaction cycle is several months, low CPC or CPL figures do not show the actual cost of attracting a customer who has purchased the product.

CPC: Where the Cost Gap Narrows

According to Dreamdata data on the 2024 B2B sample, Microsoft Ads and Facebook CPC are in the same range: $2.03 versus $2.12, respectively. At the click level, there is almost no difference. But the nature of these clicks is fundamentally different. This is where discussions around Bing Ads vs Facebook Ads typically oversimplify the comparison.

As we mentioned, a click in Microsoft Ads is a response to a search query. The user has formulated an intention, and the platform has displayed an ad in response. This means that the person is most likely already in the active phase of evaluating solutions. A click on Facebook is a reaction to an ad that appeared in the feed; the user was not looking for the product. These are different points in the purchase cycle, which directly affects what happens after the click.

HockeyStack Labs recorded a CPC of $4.15 for Microsoft Ads in H1 2024 for a sample of B2B SaaS companies. This is higher than in cross-industry aggregates. The gap is easily explained: B2B SaaS competes for commercially valuable keywords, which have higher bids than the market average.

The Structural Limits of CPL Benchmarks

CPL is one of the most frequently mentioned metrics in the context of paid advertising, but it rarely appears in SaaS reports and is almost never published broken down by platform. This is because CPL is too heavily dependent on the type of offer, the length of the form, the quality of the landing page, and the definition of a lead in each specific company. This makes it difficult to compare metrics across different platforms.

For example, many agencies deliberately do not publish cost per MQL as a separate metric, explaining that a high CPL is not a negative signal in itself without the context of downstream conversion. This position is shared by most B2B SaaS analysts.

Nevertheless, there are benchmarks. The Powered by Search report for 2023 is one of the few publicly available SaaS-specific data sets on Facebook. It shows an average cost per lead (CPL) of $19.68. Since then, CPL on the platform has increased. According to WordStream, the average CPL in the B2B category is now $27.66, which is a 20% year-over-year increase. Although there is no publicly available SaaS-specific CPL data for Microsoft Ads, there is a general figure for the B2B sector of around $41. These numbers are often referenced in broader discussions around Bing advertising cost within B2B acquisition. 

Facebook looks cheaper in terms of CPL. However, a significant portion of leads from Facebook are generated through native Lead Ads  a form within the platform that users fill out in two clicks without going to the website or reading the offer. This mechanically reduces CPL, but it also reduces awareness of the action. At this point, it is common to ask whether are Bing Ads cheaper than Facebook Ads, but CPL alone does not reflect downstream qualification or sales impact.

For a deeper breakdown of Meta benchmarks specifically in SaaS, see our analysis of Facebook ads cost for SaaS.

Targeting Capabilities: Reach and Targeting Depth

The two platforms differ in their targeting capabilities. This is especially important for SaaS. The product is purchased by a responsible company employee who clearly understands the need for it, not just any interested user. The more accurately the platform can describe this need, the less budget will be spent on irrelevant audiences.

Microsoft Ads: LinkedIn Profile Targeting Within Search

The key advantage of Microsoft Ads for B2B SaaS is combining search intent with professional LinkedIn data. LinkedIn Profile Targeting, which launched in 2023, enables you to apply filters to search campaigns based on job title, job function, industry, and company size. This means that ads can be shown to decision-makers who have already requested information. No other search platform offers this combination.

Additionally, Microsoft Ads offers in-market audiences for the software and SaaS category - segments of users that the platform identifies as actively researching solutions in this category. This works as an additional layer of qualification on top of keywords. Finally, Customer Match allows you to upload CRM lists to target existing contacts or build lookalike audiences based on them. However, there is one limitation that cannot be ignored: Bing's audience is significantly smaller than those of Google and Facebook. For SaaS with a very narrow ideal customer profile (ICP), the size of the available audience can limit campaign scaling.

Facebook/Meta Ads: Broad Reach, Lower Professional Targeting Precision

Facebook operates with a fundamentally different type of data. The platform knows what users are interested in, how they behave, and what content they interact with. However, it has a much poorer understanding of their professional identities. Although targeting by job title and employer is technically possible, it relies on data that users enter into their profiles and update irregularly. This data is significantly less accurate than that of LinkedIn or Microsoft with its LinkedIn integration.

Facebook excels in retargeting and PLG funnels for SaaS. If a company has a database of trial users, website visitors, or CRM contacts, Facebook can help build accurate audiences based on this data and reach them with relevant messages. Reviewing proven Facebook ad examples helps align messaging with the right funnel stage. One of the most effective use cases for the platform in a SaaS context is creating lookalike audiences from a CRM list of paying customers. There is no need to set up job titles here; reach and frequency of touchpoints are sufficient.

Following the iOS 14.5 changes and Meta's subsequent transition to Advantage+, the ability to manually target specific groups has decreased. The platform increasingly manages ad delivery on its own, leaving the decision of who to show ads to up to the algorithm. For narrow B2B ICPs, this means less control and a higher risk of showing ads to irrelevant audiences.

Lead Quality: Post-Click Conversion and Qualification

Lead quality determines how advertising costs translate into revenue. CPC and CPL reflect the cost of attracting a contact, but not its commercial value. Real effectiveness is demonstrated by the transition from MQL to SQL and further conversion to a customer. In B2B SaaS with a long sales cycle, differences in lead quality are not apparent at the application stage, but at the closing stage. Ultimately, this affects the final CAC.

The Conversion Data

HockeyStack Labs tracked the conversion of MQLs to SQLs on a sample of B2B SaaS companies over six quarters, from Q1 2023 to Q2 2024. Initially, the platforms showed nearly identical results: Microsoft Ads: 22.3%; Facebook: 22.7%. Then, the picture changed. By Q1 2024, Facebook's conversion rate had dropped to 13.93%. Meanwhile, the platform's budget more than doubled. Microsoft Ads remained stable during this time. Over the six quarters, the conversion spread for Microsoft Ads did not exceed 5%, whereas for Facebook, it exceeded 180%.

As Facebook's budget grew, its algorithm expanded the audience beyond the ideal customer profile (ICP), ensuring volume. Although there were more leads, the number reaching SQL decreased. In Microsoft Ads, the audience is limited by actual search demand; therefore, increasing the budget did not affect its quality. Consequently, we observe that Facebook has a quality ceiling that activates when the budget increases. Microsoft Ads has a volume ceiling due to the finite audience. The more critical limitation depends on your growth model.

Why This Happens

There is a structural explanation for Facebook's instability. The platform optimizes delivery based on engagement signals, such as clicks, form fills, and views. However, these signals do not equate to purchase intent in B2B SaaS. As the budget increases, the algorithm expands the audience beyond the ideal customer profile (ICP) to ensure the desired volume. Consequently, the quality of the lead decreases. This is not a bug in a specific campaign, but rather the logic of how the platform works.

Another factor is native Lead Ads. Users fill out a form on Facebook in two clicks without visiting the website. Although CPL decreases, the user has not seen the product, read the offer, or made an informed decision. In the context of SaaS, such a lead requires the sales team to spend significantly more time before it can be qualified.

Where Facebook Maintains Lead Quality

All of the above applies to cold targeting. Retargeting, however, is different. Users who have already visited the website, interacted with the product, or are in the CRM bring their own context. Facebook consistently demonstrates higher quality here: the platform effectively works with the volume and frequency of touches, which is critical for PLG funnels.

When and Which Platform Should You Choose?

The question is not simply which is better, Microsoft Ads or Facebook Ads, but which platform aligns with your funnel structure and growth model. Microsoft Ads is predictable and accurate in terms of ICP. It is effective where demand has already been established. Facebook is scalable and strong in retargeting. It is necessary where demand needs to be created or stimulated. There is no universal platform that can fulfill all the needs of SaaS teams. The choice depends on specific marketing objectives and budget. In practice, many SaaS companies work with a specialized Bing ads agency when scaling structured B2B acquisition. Others rely on structured Facebook ad services to scale retargeting and PLG acquisition flows.