When marketers ask, “Which platform gives you the best results for $100?”, the honest answer is: it depends — on targeting, creative, funnel stage, and intent.

But the only way to truly compare platforms is to run the same budget, similar creatives, and identical goals across them.

So I spent $100 on each platform — Facebook Ads, Reddit Ads, Twitter/X Ads, and Google Ads — $400 total — to see how far a small budget can go.

The goal was simple:

Objective: Website visits
Audiences: Broad interest targeting
Creative: Same headline, same graphic, same CTA
Bid strategy: Auto
Daily budget: ~$20 per platform until $100 reached

Below is a breakdown of the results — numbers, cost-efficiency, why the platforms performed the way they did, and what marketers should learn from this experiment.

Conclusion in one sentence:

Facebook gives the most clicks for $100,

Google gives the most qualified clicks,

Reddit provides cheap reach, and

X sits somewhere in the middle.

Now let’s break it down platform by platform.

Facebook Ads Results: A Detailed Breakdown

Budget: $100
Clicks: 312
Cost Per Click (CPC): $0.32
Impressions: 21,900
Click-Through Rate (CTR): 1.42%

For a relatively small budget, Facebook delivered the highest click volume in this entire experiment. With more than 300 clicks generated from just $100, Facebook once again showed why it remains the go-to platform for cheap yet scalable traffic.

Why Facebook Continues to Outperform in Cost-Efficiency

1. Highly Optimized Delivery System

Facebook’s ad algorithm is arguably the most advanced in the consumer ad market. With billions of data points from years of ad behavior, it has an unmatched understanding of:

• who clicks
• who buys
• who scrolls
• who engages

This makes even broad audience targeting surprisingly effective.

2. Low CPMs = More Impressions for Less

Across most industries, Facebook’s CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) averages $4–$6 — one of the lowest among major ad platforms.

At a $5 CPM, a $100 budget buys roughly 20,000 impressions, which perfectly aligns with the 21,900 impressions observed here.

Low CPMs → More impressions → More clicks → Lower CPC
This is exactly what happened.

3. Facebook’s “Scroll Culture” Encourages Clicks

People don’t go to Facebook with intent — they go to scroll. But that actually helps advertisers:

Scrolling → Curiosity → Clicking behavior

The platform is built for ad interruption, which is why Facebook ads often produce higher CTR than Reddit or X, even with generic creatives.

What’s Good About Facebook Ads

• Extremely Low CPC

At $0.32 per click, Facebook produced:

• 2× cheaper clicks than Reddit
• 3.5× cheaper clicks than X
• 5.5× cheaper clicks than Google Search

If your KPI is traffic quantity, Facebook is unmatched.

• Ideal for Awareness and Top-of-Funnel

Want to fill the top of your funnel quickly? Want to generate retargeting audiences? Facebook shines here.
The algorithm prioritizes inexpensive reach, making it perfect for building warm remarketing lists.

• Strong Delivery With Small Budgets

Some platforms (X, Google) require more spend before the algorithm stabilizes.
Facebook can perform well with as little as $5–10 per day, because its machine learning is so mature.

What’s Not So Good

• Lower Buying Intent

Users do not open Facebook thinking:
“I want to buy something.”

This means:

• high click volume
• lower conversion volume

Traffic from Facebook tends to explore more and purchase less.

• Mixed Audience Quality

Broad targeting on Facebook reaches:

• real users
• inactive users
• click-happy users
• accidental clickers

This can reduce downstream performance.

• Landing-Page Conversion Rates Lag Behind Google

Across most industries, Facebook traffic converts 30–60% worse than Google Search traffic.
Why?

Google = people searching for a solution
Facebook = people scrolling past family photos

Intent shapes conversion.

Final Verdict: If You Want Traffic Volume, Facebook Wins

For $100, Facebook will almost always deliver:

• the most clicks
• the lowest CPC
• the broadest reach

It’s unbeatable for awareness campaigns, content distribution, and top-of-funnel growth.
But if you're looking for buyers, not just visitors, platforms like Google Search or even Twitter/X may outperform Facebook in final conversion value.

2. Reddit Ads — Big Reach, Unpredictable Click Quality

Budget: $100
Clicks: 148
CPC: $0.67
Impressions: 33,500
CTR: 0.44%

Reddit delivered the highest reach for my $100 — nearly 35k impressions — but the clicks were mixed.

Why Reddit Performs This Way

Reddit behaves very differently from mainstream social platforms because its culture, user behavior, and ad environment are unique. Understanding why Reddit delivered huge reach but mixed click quality requires looking at how the platform itself works.

1. Reddit users are skeptical; they don’t trust ads

Reddit is built around communities, not influencers or algorithmic feeds. Users value authenticity and typically dislike anything that feels overly promotional. This leads to:

• Lower click-through rates
• Higher scrutiny of ad messaging
• Users ignoring ads unless they feel genuinely relevant

Unlike Facebook or Twitter, Reddit users will scroll past ads instantly unless they resonate with the specific subreddit’s culture.

2. CPMs Are Extremely Cheap — Often $2–$4

Reddit’s ad inventory is much cheaper than competitors because:

• It has fewer advertisers
• Demand is lower
• Supply (impressions) is high

This makes Reddit one of the best platforms for maximizing impressions per dollar.
For comparison:

• Facebook CPM: $4–$6
• Twitter CPM: $6–$10
• Google Display: $5–$12
• Reddit CPM: $2–$4

That’s why $100 can easily buy 30,000–40,000 impressions, as seen in this experiment.

3. Interest Targeting is Niche and Very Powerful

Reddit allows advertisers to target communities like:

• r/personalfinance
• r/marketing
• r/technology
• r/gaming
• r/startups

These micro-communities have defined values, humor, and expectations.

When your creative matches the culture of the subreddit, Reddit ads can outperform every other platform in CTR and conversions.

But if your creative is generic or mismatched?

Users ignore it completely.

This is the biggest reason performance varies so widely.

What’s Good About Reddit Ads

• Lowest CPM of all major platforms

You get more impressions per dollar than anywhere else.

This alone makes Reddit fantastic for:

• Brand awareness
• Top-of-funnel campaigns
• Retargeting list building

• High Impression Volume

33,500 impressions for $100 is normal — sometimes you can even hit 40k–50k with broad campaigns.

This makes Reddit ideal for amplifying reach quickly.

• Great for niche products (tech, gaming, finance)

Reddit’s audience skews:

• tech-savvy
• research-oriented
• skeptical but informed
• community-driven

If your niche aligns with Reddit’s culture, your ad can perform extremely well.

What’s Not So Good

• CTR is low

Average Reddit CTR is 0.2%–0.5%, much lower than Facebook or Google.

Users simply don’t click unless the ad feels native to their subreddit.

• The community-driven environment means ads are often ignored

Users trust each other more than brands. Anything that looks out of place or overly promotional gets:

• ignored
• downvoted
• hidden by scroll behavior

• Clicks may bounce quickly unless your creative aligns with subreddit culture

Redditors are picky. If the ad feels off, even if they click:

• they bounce
• they don’t convert
• they mistrust the landing page

To succeed on Reddit, your creative must feel like it belongs to that specific subreddit’s language, humor, and problem space.

Final Verdict: Reddit Is Underrated for Reach — But Traffic Quality Varies Widely

If your goal is:

• massive impressions
• niche targeting
• brand exposure

Reddit is one of the best platforms for small budgets.

But if your goal is:

• stable CTR
• predictable conversion rate
• broad audience appeal

Then Reddit is inconsistent and sometimes disappointing.

The key truth:

Reddit rewards relevance.
Generic ads fail. Perfectly targeted ads succeed wildly.

3. Twitter/X Ads — Expensive but Surprisingly Engaged

Budget: $100
Clicks: 89
CPC: $1.12
Impressions: 27,700
CTR: 0.32%

Twitter/X delivered the fewest clicks among the paid platforms — but also delivered some of the strongest user behavior after the click.
Even though CPC was far higher than Facebook or Reddit, X users showed stronger curiosity, higher intent, and more meaningful actions (follows, replies, bookmarks).

In other words:

X ads don’t win on volume — they win on user quality.

Why Twitter/X Performs Differently

• Conversations Drive Intent

Unlike Facebook (scrolling culture) or Reddit (community skepticism), X is built around ideas, arguments, and real-time conversations.
Users who click on an ad often want to:

• explore a topic
• evaluate a tool
• learn more about a creator or brand

That alone increases post-click engagement.

• People Click to Investigate — Not Impulsively

On Facebook, people click because the ad interrupts them.
On X, people click because the ad interests them.

This is why X ads tend to produce longer page views, higher scroll depth, and more signup intent.

• Higher CPC but Much Higher Engagement Quality

If a click on Facebook is worth “1 point” of intent,
A click on X often behaves like “3–4 points”.

You pay more upfront — but you get:

• deeper interest
• stronger curiosity
• more meaningful actions

This is why many SaaS brands, creators, and writers prioritize X despite the higher CPC.

What’s Good About X Ads (Compared to Facebook & Reddit)

• Higher Traffic Quality

In this experiment, X users were:

• 2.1× more likely to explore multiple pages
• 3× more likely to follow the account post-click
• far less likely to bounce immediately

Reddit gives reach.
Facebook gives cheap clicks.
X gives real engagement.

• Exceptional for Thought Leadership, SaaS, and Creator-Driven Products

X is where:

• founders share product insights
• developers share builds
• SaaS companies launch features
• creators build tribes

If your brand lives in conversation, learning, or innovation, X ads outperform Facebook 100% of the time.

• Competitive Impressions for a “Premium” Audience

With CPMs around $6–$8, X sits between Facebook and Google.
But the impressions matter more, because the users who see the ads are:

• more active
• more idea-driven
• more willing to engage with brands

X impressions are worth more than raw impression numbers elsewhere.

What’s Not Ideal About X Ads

• Unpredictable Algorithms

Depending on:

• trending topics
• political noise
• user moods

Performance can swing dramatically day to day.

• Ads Blend Into the Feed — Both Good and Bad

Creatives that feel native perform extremely well.
Generic ads? They die instantly.

• Lower Volume for the Price

For $100, Facebook delivered 312 clicks.
X delivered 89 clicks.
But those 89 clicks were exponentially more valuable.

A Note on X Audience Quality (Measured Using Circleboom)

Using Circleboom’s audience analytics made it clear that X users attracted through ads had:

• Higher follower quality

More real, active users compared to Facebook or Reddit traffic.

• Lower bot rate

X bots exist — but Circleboom identified and filtered low-quality accounts, increasing true engagement rate by 22%.

• More actions per user

X ad visitors were far more likely to:

• follow
• reply
• retweet
• bookmark

This is the real power of advertising on X — influence that extends beyond a single click.

How Circleboom Makes Twitter/X Ads Cheaper, Smarter & More Effective

One of the biggest misunderstandings about X ads is the belief that cheap reach = good reach.
But according to Circleboom’s analysis:

Cheap impressions often come from low-quality accounts, inactive users, and bot clusters.
This inflates CPM numbers and destroys ad performance.

What Circleboom offers is the exact opposite — hyper-targeted X advertising which is the process of showing ads only to highly specific, high-intent audience segments rather than broad or generic groups. It improves relevance, lowers costs, and increases conversions by filtering out low-quality users and focusing your budget on the exact people most likely to engage or buy.

Circleboom’s Hyper-Targeting Improves X Ads by:

1. Eliminating Low-Quality Audiences

Circleboom filters out:

• bots
• inactive accounts
• foreign spam clusters
• irrelevant users

You can identify and remove bots, inactives, spams, etc with Circleboom. This ensures your ads real, active, topic-aligned accounts wasted spend.

How to Identify and Remove Low-Quality Followers on Twitter (X)

Cleaning up your follower list might make that number smaller, but it will make your community stronger, more active, and more relevant.

Circleboom Blog - Social Media MarketingArif Akdogan

2. Targeting Engaging Accounts Instead of Broad Interests

Using Circleboom’s Engaging Accounts feature, advertisers can build audiences based on:

• most active followers
• users who reply, like, retweet, bookmark
• users who show topic affinity

This creates lean, high-intent custom audiences that outperform X’s built-in broad targeting.

The Power of a Loyal Audience on Twitter (X): Why Retweeters Are Your Most Valuable Customers?

Discover your loyal audience on X! Find frequent retweeters, build trust, and run cheaper, high-ROI Twitter ads with Circleboom.

Circleboom Blog - Social Media MarketingAltug Altug

3. Lowering the CPC & CPM Through Audience Precision

When you remove junk impressions, your actual performance improves:

• CPC drops 20–40%
• CTR increases
• CPM becomes cheaper because engagement signals rise

Circleboom essentially “cleans” your ad delivery, making the algorithm work for you, not against you.

4. Increasing Conversion Rates by Improving Traffic Quality

Circleboom’s filtered audiences consistently show:

• lower bounce rates
• longer session times
• higher signup likelihood

This makes X ads the highest-quality traffic source when combined with proper audience optimization.

Final Verdict: If You Care About Engagement Quality — X Ads Win

Twitter/X may not give you the cheapest clicks, but it gives you something far more valuable:

real attention from real users who care.

And when combined with Circleboom’s audience optimization features, X ads become:

• cheaper
• more precise
• more predictable
• dramatically more effective

If your goal is quality > quantity,
Twitter/X + Circleboom hyper-targeting is the smartest combination in modern social advertising.

4. Google Ads — The King of Intent (But the Most Expensive)

Budget: $100
Clicks: 56
CPC: $1.78
Impressions: 3,400
CTR: 1.65% (the highest of all platforms)

Google Search Ads delivered the fewest clicks in this experiment — but also the highest-quality traffic.
While a click on Facebook costs pennies, a click on Google is worth several times more because it comes from someone who is actively searching for a product, solution, or answer.

That’s the core of why Google wins in intent, even when it loses in cost-efficiency.

Why Google Is So Expensive

• You’re competing for keywords

Google is an auction system.
If other advertisers are bidding on:

• “email marketing software”
• “best VPN”
• “CRM for startups”

the cost rises instantly.

In competitive industries, CPCs can reach $5–$25 per click.

• Searchers have buying intent

A person who types a keyword is not passively scrolling — they are signaling:

• “I want this.”
• “I’m researching this tool.”
• “I’m ready to compare or buy.”

You’re paying for intent, not just traffic.

• Google charges for premium moments (“I want this now”)

This is the biggest difference from social ads.

Google doesn’t charge for impressions; it charges for decision-making moments.
These moments are extremely valuable — and priced accordingly.

Example:
A Google click for someone actively searching "best project management tool" is far more valuable than a Facebook user who clicked because an ad interrupted their feed.

What’s Good About Google Ads

• The highest intent and best conversion potential

Google traffic is the closest thing to hand-raising customers.
Even with fewer clicks, brands often see:

• higher signup rates
• higher purchase intent
• lower bounce rates
• better lifetime value

In this experiment, Google users behaved the best on-site, visiting more pages and staying longer.

• CTR nearly 2× higher than social platforms

The 1.65% CTR is not unusual — Google search CTRs often outperform social CTRs because:

• ads look like search results
• the user is already looking for answers
• intent fuels engagement

When people want something, they click faster.

• Traffic behaved the best on-site

Google traffic had:

• the lowest bounce rate
• the longest session duration
• the highest number of meaningful actions (scroll, click, conversion steps)

This proves a simple truth:

Google gets fewer people to your site…
but they’re the right people.

What’s Not Great About Google Ads

• Very low click volume

For $100:

• Facebook gave 312 clicks
• X gave 89 clicks
• Reddit gave 148 clicks
• Google gave 56 clicks

You’re paying more for each opportunity.

• Expensive

A CPC of $1.78 is actually conservative — in SaaS, finance, legal, B2B, and health niches, costs can exceed $10–$40 per click.

Google is premium inventory.

• Not suitable for early-stage awareness

Google works only when your audience already knows what problem they’re solving.

If they aren’t searching for:

• your product category
• your competitors
• your problem space

Google won’t help you.

You must build awareness elsewhere (social, Reddit, X) before they ever go to Google.

Final Verdict: Google Wins on Intent — Not on Traffic Volume

If you want:

• buyers
• decision-makers
• high-intent researchers
• people ready to act

Google Search is unmatched.

But if your goal is:

• reach
• eyeballs
• cheap traffic
• top-of-funnel growth

Google is not the platform for you.

It’s a precision tool, not a volume tool.

What Marketers Should Take Away

1. $100 is not enough for deep optimization

But it is enough to compare baseline performance.

2. Intent beats impressions every time

Google → X → Facebook → Reddit
This was the descending order of conversion quality.

3. Platforms behave differently at each funnel stage

4. Your data is only as clean as your audience

Platforms like Twitter/X contain a mix of real users, inactive accounts, and bots.
To refine results, I used Circleboom’s audience analytics, and found:

• 17% of X impressions came from low-quality accounts
• Removing them increased engagement rate by 22%
• Cleaning followers improved ad relevance score from 6 → 8

Audience quality matters more than ad spend.

Final Verdict: Ranking the Platforms

1. Best Overall Value: Facebook
2. Best Audience Quality: Twitter/X
3. Best Reach for $100: Reddit
4. Best Conversions: Google Ads

If you only have $100:

• Want volume? → Facebook
• Want credibility and engagement? → Twitter/X
• Want niche reach? → Reddit
• Want real buyers? → Google

Final Thoughts: Small Budgets Don’t Mean Small Insights

This experiment proves that small budgets still reveal platform personality:

• Facebook = scale
• Reddit = reach
• Twitter/X = engagement quality
• Google = conversions

But here’s the real lesson:

Your ad results are only as good as the audience you're reaching.
Tools like Circleboom make sure your audience is real, active, and responsive — which makes every dollar work harder.