The agency or in-house question usually gets answered on a single comparison: the agency's monthly fee against the salary of a PPC manager. That comparison leaves out most of the cost on both sides. Agencies come with onboarding time, reporting overhead and fees that grow with spend. In-house comes with hiring, training, tools, management time and the risk of a single point of failure.
This comparison lists every cost on each side, shows an illustrative calculation, and covers the third option that sits between them. The goal is a number you can trust for your own account, not a general verdict.
The agency side: what you pay
Agency fees come in a few common shapes. A percentage of ad spend, which scales with your budget. A flat monthly retainer, which does not. A hybrid of a base retainer plus a percentage above a threshold. Some add setup fees or performance bonuses. Agency pricing models covers each in detail.
The fee structure matters as much as the level. A percentage fee that looks reasonable at today's spend can become your largest marketing cost after a good year. A flat retainer is predictable but may come with a cap on hours or scope.
The agency side: what you also pay
Your time. Someone in your business still has to brief the agency, approve changes, answer questions about stock and pricing, and read reports. Budget a few hours a week for this, more in the first months.
Onboarding. A new agency takes weeks to learn the account. Expect a ramp-up period where results are flat or noisy.
Context gaps. The agency sees the ad console. It may not see your margins, inventory plans or upcoming promotions unless you tell it. Decisions made without that context cost money in ways that do not appear on an invoice.
The in-house side: what you pay
Salary and benefits, or contractor fees for a part-time specialist. Recruiting costs and time to hire. Training, since even experienced hires need to learn your catalog. Software, which an in-house person needs to work efficiently: reporting, rules, scheduling and monitoring tools.
And management time. Someone has to set goals, review results and make sure the work happens. That is less than managing an agency relationship in some businesses and more in others.
The in-house side: what you gain and risk
The main gain is context. An in-house owner knows the margin on every product, when stock is arriving and what the business is trying to do this quarter. Decisions are faster because there is no handoff.
The main risk is depth and continuity. One person may not have the breadth an agency team brings across many accounts. If that person leaves, the knowledge leaves with them unless it is documented. A change log and clear naming conventions reduce this risk considerably.
An illustrative calculation
Take Sunhollow Supply, with illustrative numbers. Monthly ad spend: 40,000. One account, around sixty advertised products.
Agency option: a fee of 10 percent of spend, so 4,000 a month. Owner time to manage the relationship: about four hours a week. Total visible cost: 4,000 plus that time.
In-house option: a part-time specialist at 3,000 a month, plus tooling of around 150 a month for a flat-priced automation tool. Owner time to manage: about two hours a week. Total: about 3,150 plus that time.
At this spend level the two are close, and the decision turns on fit: do they want strategy depth from an agency or context and speed from an in-house owner? Double the spend and the agency fee doubles while the in-house cost barely moves. Halve it and the agency fee halves, which may make it the cheaper option. Run the same exercise with your own figures. The PPC cost guide covers what to include.
The middle option: in-house plus software
Many sellers end up between the two. A part-time owner, often someone already on the team, handles strategy, search term reviews and listing work. Software handles the repetitive execution: schedules, budget changes, routine bid moves and monitoring. This keeps context in-house and removes most of the hours that make in-house management expensive.
It suits accounts where the strategy is reasonably settled and the work is mostly keeping it running well. It suits less well when the account needs a major rebuild or the business has no one with PPC experience at all, in which case an agency or consultant for the first months can make sense. Consultant vs software covers that option. DIY PPC pros and cons covers the self-managed end.
Questions that decide it
How much of your spend growth do you expect over two years? Percentage fees compound with it.
Does anyone in the business have PPC experience, or the time to build it?
How fast do decisions need to happen? Seasonal and inventory-heavy businesses benefit from short decision loops.
How much of the work is strategy, and how much is execution? Execution is the part that automates. If you go the agency route, choosing an agency covers what to ask.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to hire an Amazon ads agency or do it in-house?
It depends on ad spend, catalog size and how much of your own time is available. At lower spend, in-house management with good tools often costs less. At higher spend or with complex catalogs, an agency can be cheaper than building a team. Run the comparison with your own numbers on every cost, not just fees and salary.
How do Amazon ad agencies usually charge?
Common structures are a percentage of ad spend, a flat monthly retainer, a hybrid of the two, and sometimes a performance component. Percentage fees rise as spend grows, which matters if you plan to scale. Ask exactly what is included and how the fee changes as spend changes.
Can software replace an agency or an in-house hire?
Software replaces repetitive execution: scheduling, budget changes, routine bid moves and monitoring. It does not replace strategy, listing work or judgment. Many sellers pair software with a part-time in-house owner, which covers execution cheaply and leaves decisions with someone who knows the business.
Off Hours handles the execution side for a flat $149 a month per account, with no percentage of ad spend, so an in-house owner can focus on decisions. Start a free 14-day trial.