By Nick at HighIntentPPC · October 24, 2026
Short answer: Facebook (Meta) ads get you cheaper solar leads. Google Search ads get you leads that answer, sit and sign more often. Per sat appointment the two land closer than the cost per lead suggests. If you can only run one channel well, start with Google Search, then add Meta once your tracking works.
Below are the numbers behind that, how solid they are, and how to decide for your market.
What each channel costs per lead
Here are the ranges published by agencies for 2025 and 2026. None of them show a dataset, so read them as rough guides.
| Channel | Cost per lead | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search | $80-130 | Ryze AI, cited by Elevarus |
| Google Search, competitive metros | $140-220 | Elevarus |
| Google Search | $150-400 | SurgePV, cited by Webtonic |
| Meta instant form | $25-55 | LeadGen Economy |
| Meta instant form | $40-70 | Elevarus |
| Meta to a landing page | $80-120 | Elevarus |
On cost per lead, Meta wins easily. A Meta instant form can cost a third or less of a Google Search lead.
That is the number most installers look at first. It is also the least useful one. We keep a longer, sourced table on our solar lead cost page.
What happens after the lead comes in
The gap closes once you follow the lead to the phone and the kitchen table.
Contact rate. LeadGen Economy estimates first-attempt contact at 55-70% for Google leads, 25-40% for Meta instant forms, and 40-55% for Meta traffic sent to a landing page. Those are unsourced estimates. Still, every source we read agrees on the direction.
Close rate. The same source puts lead-to-sale at 8-15% for Google, 3-6% for Meta instant forms and 5-9% for Meta landing pages.
Junk. Webtonic, citing SurgePV, says 50-70% of leads from Meta forms with no qualifying questions are junk. Adding two or three questions (homeowner, monthly bill, roof) cuts that down.
Cost per sat appointment. This is the number to judge on. Elevarus estimates:
- Google Search: about $230-370 per sat appointment
- Meta instant form: about $170-300
- Meta to a landing page: about $210 in one example
So by one agency's math, Meta can still come out a little cheaper per sit. Other sources say Google wins on cost per sale. LeadGen Economy's own cost-per-sale examples don't follow from its own rates, which tells you how loose these numbers are.
The honest summary: Google leads are better quality, Meta leads are cheaper, and the size of the gap in your market is unknown until you test it.
Why Google Search leads behave differently
Someone typing "solar installers near me" into Google is already shopping. They have a bill in mind and they want a quote. That is why the phone gets picked up.
Someone scrolling Facebook saw an ad about lower power bills and tapped a pre-filled form. Some of them meant it. Many forgot by the time you called.
There is a catch with Google. Get Green Leads, a solar lead vendor, says Google searchers often contact 3-5 installers. You are not the only call they get, which is why speed to lead matters so much on Search.
What Meta does better
Meta creates demand. It reaches homeowners who weren't searching yet. That matters in a shrinking market where fewer people search on their own.
The same vendor reports that generic "Go Solar" creative fails on Meta, and that a lease or PPA offer built around saving from day one works better. That lines up with what still sells in 2026 now that the homeowner tax credit is gone.
Meta also works for retargeting people who already visited your site from Google.
Where most solar Meta ads go wrong
PipelineOn audited 116 solar advertisers running 752 Meta ads in Q2 2026. What they found:
- 60% sent people to a website, 19% used instant forms, 9% used Call Now.
- 70% had no Meta pixel on the main landing page.
- 94% had no Conversions API.
- Median mobile load time was 8.7 seconds.
PipelineOn sells tracking tools, so keep that in mind. But if those numbers are even close, most solar Meta advertisers can't tell Meta which leads turned into sales. Meta then optimizes for whatever fills out a form.
The same problem hits Google if you only count form fills. The fix on both platforms is sending sat appointments and signed deals back as conversions.
A note on Meta ad categories
Agency sources say solar is not a special ad category on Meta by default. Financing copy like "$0 down, financing available" may get flagged as financial products and services, which strips zip code and age targeting. Whether solar counts as "housing repair services" is unresolved. Test it in your account before you build a campaign around tight targeting.
Which one to start with
Pick based on what you can handle:
- You can call every lead within minutes and you want quality. Start with Google Search.
- Your setters are good at working cold leads and you want volume. Meta can work, with qualifying questions and a landing page.
- You can't track a lead to a signed deal yet. Fix that first. Neither channel will tune itself to sales without it.
For most independent installers, roofers who add solar and battery installers, Google Search is the easier first channel. No video shoots. No creative fatigue. The homeowner is already looking.
Add Local Services Ads if Google offers the solar category in your area. Add Meta later, once you know your cost per sat appointment on Search and want more volume.
How we run it
We build and run Google Search ads for solar installers inside your own ad account. Leads text your phone and hit your inbox in real time. Sat appointments and signed deals go back to Google so it learns which clicks turn into sales.
We don't run Meta for solar clients today. We can add it later. If you want to see what Google could look like in your market, check your market here.