Facebook and Instagram ads agency in Montreal: fees, ownership and Quebec rules

What Montreal agencies publish

The helloDarwin directory lists hourly rates of $45 to $150 for Montreal Facebook ads agencies, but none of the local agencies I checked posts a monthly fee. Here is what each one does publish, on pages consulted in October 2026:

Your ad budget comes on top in every case, paid to Meta. An hourly rate means little without the hours: at $150 an hour, 3 hours a month is $450, so ask for a written monthly estimate. For the budget itself, H1Site, an agency in Vaudreuil-Dorion, suggests $300 to $1,000 a month for local awareness and $1,000 to $5,000 for lead generation, on its page consulted in October 2026.

Who should own what

Everything your Meta ads run on should be in your name; give the agency partner access and nothing more. Keep the Facebook Page, the Instagram account, the ad account and the pixel in your company's own Meta business portfolio (formerly Business Manager). If an agency builds those inside its own portfolio, your campaign history, audiences and pixel data may stay with it when you leave.

Five questions to ask before you sign:

1. Who owns the business portfolio, ad account, Page and pixel? You should.
2. Whose card does Meta charge? Yours. The management fee comes on a separate invoice.
3. What is the term, and the notice period? Month to month, or 6 to 12 months in exchange for a discount. Get it in writing.
4. Who makes the photos, videos and French versions? They are not always included.
5. How do you measure results? In leads, calls or sales, with a pixel that respects Law 25.

A French version of every ad, even for English-speaking customers

In Quebec, a Facebook or Instagram ad must exist in French, and an English version is allowed only if the French one is accessible on terms at least as favourable. Section 52 of the Charter of the French Language requires catalogues, brochures, folders, commercial directories, order forms and similar documents available to the public to be in French, whatever the medium.

On March 27, 2025, the OQLF applied that rule to social media in a letter to a Montreal company that had drawn complaints about its Facebook and Instagram accounts. It wrote that it is "contraire à la loi" (against the law) to make a commercial post available on social media if it is not in French, or if its French version is not accessible on at least equivalent terms (OQLF letter, in French). The same letter confirms that this information may be written in French and in one or more other languages.

In Ads Manager, a bilingual setup looks like this:

• two versions of each ad, with the same offer, price and visuals;
• the French version points to a French page, the English version to an English page;
• the French version gets no less budget and no fewer placements than the English one. That is a cautious reading of "au moins aussi favorables" (at least as favourable), not a written rule.

The same logic applies to your landing pages; my page on web design in Montreal has a five-point French-language check.

Where your ads send people, and what Law 25 changes

A Meta ad can send people to your website, your booking page, your online store or a product listing on a marketplace such as Amazon; on your own site, the pixel that measures results has to wait for the visitor's consent.

The Commission d'accès à l'information states that technologies able to identify, locate or profile a person cannot be activated by default; it is up to the person to turn them on. Meta's developer documentation describes a consent command that pauses the pixel until the visitor agrees. My guide to Law 25 on a WordPress site shows how to set this up and test it in 15 minutes, and my French guide to Facebook ads for small businesses adds Quebec cost benchmarks.

On Amazon, the landing page is not yours, so sales are tracked differently. I cover that in Facebook ads for Amazon sellers in Canada.

This is general information, not legal advice.

The holiday season: be ready before Black Friday

Black Friday falls on November 27, 2026, and Cyber Monday on November 30: aim to have your ads ready by November 6. H1Site writes that in October and November "CPMs reach their annual peak" (CPM is the cost of 1,000 impressions).

Count backwards from Black Friday:

1. By November 6: partner access in place, pixel behind the consent banner, ads ready in French and English.
2. November 9 to 22: ads run on a modest budget, and you keep the ones that bring in leads or sales.
3. November 23 to 30: the budget goes to the ads that proved themselves.

Launching the day before Black Friday means paying peak prices without knowing which ad works.

How Always Booked works

Always Booked is a web studio based in Laval that also serves Montreal. Facebook and Instagram ads management costs from $900 for setup, then $450 a month, month to month, and you pay your ad budget directly to Meta. Fahad Rahman works with you directly, in English or French, from the first call; meetings happen by video or phone, and in person around Laval when that helps. If your customers search for you on Google rather than discover you in their feed, see Google Ads management in Montreal.

Questions