What a Google Ads click costs in Germany, the UK and the US
Google's bid estimates put the same click at about 3.6 times Romania's level in Germany, 5.9 times in the UK and 10 times in the US.
The same budget buys far fewer clicks abroad
A budget that runs a healthy Google Ads campaign in Romania buys roughly a quarter of the clicks in Germany, a sixth in the UK and a tenth in the US. That is what Google's own bid estimates show across nine everyday searches, from a sofa to accounting software, each typed the way people search for it in that country.
If you plan to sell in another country, this number decides how far your budget goes and how quickly you collect enough data to judge the results.
How much more a click costs, search by search
The table compares each market with Romania, where Romania is 1. A value of 3.6x means that, for the same product, advertisers bid 3.6 times as much to appear at the top of Google's results.
| What people search for | Germany | UK | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accounting software | 12.8x | 23.7x | 25.2x |
| CRM (customer relationship management) software | 2.6x | 6.1x | 10.2x |
| Lawyer | 3.6x | 5.9x | 20.8x |
| Car insurance | 8.6x | 7.8x | 110.1x |
| Web hosting | 3.9x | 6.7x | 10.9x |
| Laser cutting | 3.2x | 2.7x | 2.6x |
| Running shoes | 5.6x | 3.1x | 7.3x |
| Sofa | 2.0x | 4.0x | 4.2x |
| Perfume | 1.7x | 2.4x | 4.5x |
| Median of the nine | 3.6x | 5.9x | 10.2x |
Read across a row to compare any two markets. At the median, the US sits at about 1.7 times the UK and 2.6 times Germany, and the UK at about 1.7 times Germany. For how channels compare inside one market, see what a click and an impression cost in Romania.
Why the gap depends on what you sell
The widest gaps sit on searches where one customer is worth a lot. Accounting software costs almost 13 times the Romanian level in Germany and more than 23 times in the UK and the US. Car insurance in the US is the outlier of the set, at more than 100 times, and a lawyer costs about 21 times more in the US.
The narrowest gaps sit in everyday retail. A sofa costs 2 to 4 times the Romanian level across the three markets, and perfume between 1.7 and 4.5 times. Laser cutting, an industrial service, stays at around 3 times everywhere.
The pattern fits a simple explanation: advertisers bid up to what a new customer is worth to them. A software subscription or an insurance policy pays for years, and many companies chase the same buyer, so bids climb far above Romania's. A sofa or a bottle of perfume earns one margin, once, and that margin caps what any shop can bid, in Munich or in Cluj. Price levels add to it: most things cost more in Germany, the UK and the US, and bids follow what customers pay.
Where the gap is wide
- Software sold by subscription
- Insurance and financial products
- Professional services such as legal advice
- Markets where many companies chase the same buyer
Where the gap is narrow
- Everyday retail such as furniture and perfume
- Products sold once, on a single margin
- Some industrial services, such as laser cutting
What this means if you sell across borders
The price of a click belongs to the market you advertise in. A business selling in Germany pays German prices wherever its campaigns are managed from, so a comparison like this answers one question: what does it cost to reach customers in the country you want to sell in?
An online store expanding into Germany from Central or Eastern Europe
The gap is smaller than it looks. For furniture and perfume, Germany sits at about twice the Romanian level. Germany is also a far bigger market: in this set, a sofa is searched for about nine times as often in Germany as in Romania. The decision then rests on margin, delivery and returns more than on the price of a click.
A software or professional services firm entering the UK or the US
Here the gap is wide. A budget sized on the home market buys a fraction of the clicks in London or New York, and a test that looked generous at home can end before it has gathered enough data to judge. Size the test on the target market's prices from the start.
A business in Germany or the UK testing a new market
The same arithmetic runs the other way. A market like Romania reaches the same search for a fraction of the German or British price, which makes it an affordable place to test an offer, provided the demand is there and you can serve those customers. Laser cutting has searches in every market in the set. CRM software has very few in Romania.
If you are preparing campaigns in a new market, our page on international advertising shows how we build them.
How to find your own number before you launch
Open Keyword Planner
In Google Ads, open Keyword Planner, enter the searches your customers use and set the location and language to the target country. Use the words people type there, in their language, rather than a literal translation of the ones you use at home.
Read the bid range
For each search, Google shows a top-of-page bid range with a low and a high end. Take the middle of the range and compare it with the same searches in your current market. The ratio tells you how far your budget goes in the new country.
Check the demand
Monthly search volume tells you whether there is anyone to reach. A cheap click on a search nobody makes is worth nothing.
Run a small test
Estimates are a starting point. A few weeks of real spend show what you actually pay, which depends on your ads, the page people land on and your competitors' budgets.
Judge the test on the cost of a customer
Compare what a new customer costs with the margin they bring. Cost per click alone doesn't tell you whether you make money. The point at which a campaign turns profitable comes from your minimum profitable ROAS.
How we measured this
The source is Google Keyword Planner, on 15 September 2026, from a single Google Ads account, so every figure is in the same currency and the comparison needs no exchange rate.
For each product we took the search people use in each country, in that country's language: "program contabilitate" in Romania, "Buchhaltungssoftware" in Germany, "accounting software" in the UK and the US, and so on. We read Google's top-of-page bid range, the low and high end of what advertisers have historically paid to appear at the top, took the middle of the range and divided it by the middle of Romania's range for the same product.
The limits, stated plainly:
- These are Google's estimates of top-of-page bids, not the price you will pay. Your real cost depends on your ad, your page and the competition on the day.
- It is one snapshot. Bids move with the season, and competition usually rises in the weeks before Black Friday and Christmas.
- It is one search per product. A different wording of the same need can carry a different bid.
- A tenth search, for a dentist, was left out because Google returned no data for the exact wording in Romanian and German.
- Search volumes are Google's rounded monthly averages.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Ads more expensive in Germany than in Romania?
Yes. In Google's estimates for nine everyday searches, a click in Germany sits at about 3.6 times the Romanian level at the median. The gap varies a lot by product: about twice for furniture and perfume, almost 13 times for accounting software.
Why is Google Ads so expensive in the US?
In our set, the US is the most expensive of the four markets, about 10 times the Romanian level at the median and more than 100 times for car insurance. The pattern fits a market where many companies compete for the same customer and a new customer is worth more, and bids follow what a customer is worth.
Does a cheaper click mean a cheaper customer?
Not necessarily. What a customer costs depends on how many clicks it takes to make a sale, which comes down to the offer, the page and how well the search matches what you sell. Compare the cost of each new customer with the margin it brings.
How do I estimate Google Ads costs for a new country?
Open Keyword Planner, enter the searches your customers use, set the target country and language, and read the top-of-page bid range. Compare the middle of that range with the same searches in your current market, check the search volume, and confirm with a small test before committing the full budget.
Planning campaigns in a new country? Size the budget on the prices of the market you sell in.
We check demand and click costs in the target market, work out what a new customer costs against your margin, and build a test you can judge on real numbers. Send us a request and we'll look at the market you have in mind together.
Adela Mincea
Fondatoare și strateg în marketing de performanță · DAFE Digital · Formator ANC
Adela is a founder and performance marketing strategist with 10+ years of paid media across Europe, the US and Asia. She founded DAFE Digital in 2023 after agency roles in London and Hong Kong, in-house work inside client organisations, and independent consulting across 27+ industries.
