Is pay-per-lead cheaper than a retainer?

Not always per unit, but it's lower risk — you only pay for results, so you never fund activity that doesn't produce meetings.

What affects lead generation pricing?

The seniority of the decision-makers targeted, the market and region, the channels used, and how tightly the leads are qualified.

How Much Does B2B Lead Generation Cost? A 2026 Pricing Guide

Q: How much does B2B lead generation cost?

Pricing varies widely — monthly retainers often run from a few thousand to tens of thousands, while pay-per-lead models charge per delivered lead or meeting. Kräfte charges $200 per qualified, BANT-verified meeting with no retainer.

TL;DR — B2B lead generation is priced three main ways: monthly retainer, cost per lead/meeting, or pay-per-qualified-result. Retainers cost the same whether or not they produce; pay-per-result ties your cost directly to booked meetings. Kräfte charges $200 per qualified, BANT-verified meeting.

Why lead gen pricing is so confusing

Ask five providers what B2B lead generation costs and you'll get five different answers — because they're pricing different things. Some sell hours, some sell leads, some sell qualified meetings. Comparing them on price alone is meaningless until you understand the model underneath.

The three main pricing models

Monthly retainer — a fixed fee (often a few thousand to tens of thousands) regardless of results. Predictable, but the risk sits entirely with you.
Cost per lead — you pay for each contact or "lead" delivered. Cheaper per unit, but "lead" can mean anything from a verified decision-maker to a scraped email.
Pay-per-qualified-result — you pay only when a genuinely qualified meeting is booked. The risk shifts to the provider, and your cost maps directly to pipeline.

What drives the price

Whatever the model, a few factors move the number: the seniority of the people you're targeting (C-suite costs more than managers), the market and region, the channels used, and — most importantly — how tightly leads are qualified before they reach you.

What you're really paying for

A cheap "lead" that has no budget, authority, need, or timeline is worse than no lead — it wastes your closers' time. The real question isn't "what does a lead cost?" but "what does a qualified meeting that could become revenue cost?" That's why we qualify every lead against BANT.

Our take: pay for outcomes, not activity

At Kräfte we charge $200 per qualified, BANT-verified meeting — no retainer, no setup fee — and replace any meeting that doesn't meet the agreed criteria. You always know exactly what a booked meeting costs, and you never pay for activity that doesn't produce one. For a deeper comparison, see Pay-Per-Lead vs Retainer.