A solar lead from Meta ads in the US cost us $37 on average between July and September 2026. Over that period, $10,094 of ad spend produced 274 form submissions. That average hides two different products. Residential panel leads cost $46 in California and $45 in Florida, while solar carport leads cost $11.
In short:
- Meta-reported solar leads in the US cost $37 on average in Q3 2026, but residential panel leads ran at $45 to $46 and carport leads at $11.
- Monthly CPL in solar swung from $11 in September 2026 to $65 in August 2026, so one month of data tells you almost nothing.
- A solar company should budget on the CPL of its own offer and its worst month, not on a blended average.
The numbers come from our own Meta ad accounts. We earn money running ads on Meta, so we have an interest in the channel looking good. Read the figures with that in mind. We are publishing the expensive month next to the cheap one for the same reason.
How much does a residential solar panel lead cost in the US?
In our accounts, a residential solar panel lead cost $46 in California and $45 in Florida. California is the larger sample, with 143 leads. Florida had 48.
We get asked for "the solar CPL" all the time, and the honest answer is that there are at least two. If you sell rooftop panels to homeowners, $37 is not your number. Your number is in the mid forties. A business that plans on $37 and gets $46 has not been unlucky. It used the wrong benchmark.
These are leads from Meta lead forms: a homeowner saw an ad, opened the form and submitted it. That is a hand raised, not a signed contract. More on that below.
How much does a solar carport lead cost?
A solar carport lead cost $11 in our accounts, across 75 leads. That is roughly a quarter of what a residential panel lead cost.
We do not think the carport audience is more "eager". The offer is different. A carport is a narrower, more concrete product, and the form asks for less of a commitment than a full rooftop system. Cheaper leads usually mean the ad is easier to say yes to. That is good for volume. It also means you should check how many of those people actually want a quote before you celebrate the $11.
What we would not do is take the $11 carport figure and use it to sell panel campaigns. If anyone quotes you an $11 solar lead for rooftop panels, ask which product that number came from.
| Segment | Leads (Meta) | CPL (Meta-reported) |
|---|---|---|
| Residential panels, California | 143 | $46 |
| Residential panels, Florida | 48 | $45 |
| Solar carports | 75 | $11 |
| All solar accounts, 2026-07 to 2026-09 | 274 | $37 |
| Cheapest month (2026-09) | $11 | |
| Most expensive month (2026-08) | $65 |
Why does solar CPL swing so much from month to month?
Our solar CPL moved from $65 in August 2026 to $11 in September 2026, and in our reading the main driver is the offer mix, not the calendar.
Look at the two $11 figures in the table. The cheapest month and the carport CPL are the same number. When a cheap product makes up more of the volume, the blended monthly CPL falls. When panel campaigns dominate, or a campaign is still learning, it climbs. A $65 month and an $11 month in the same quarter does not mean the market changed twice in eight weeks. It means the average is mixing different things.
This is why we think month-on-month CPL reports are mostly noise for a single business. Compare the same product with itself across months. Do not compare one month's blended average with the next one.
Does the state change the cost of a solar lead?
In our data, barely. California panel leads cost $46 and Florida panel leads cost $45.
The industry likes to say that geography is the first thing that sets your lead price. For these two states, our accounts say otherwise. A $1 difference is smaller than the swing you get from changing the ad or the form. Florida's 48 leads are a small sample, so we would not bet that the gap stays at $1. We also would not move budget between these two states to chase it. The product you advertise moved CPL far more than the state did.
We do not have data for other US states in this period, so we are not going to guess.
Is the Meta-reported CPL the real cost of a lead?
No. Every CPL in this article is Meta-reported: the cost of a form submission before anyone called the person back.
Some submissions come with a wrong phone number. Some are renters who cannot install panels. Some people do not answer. Once you remove those, the cost per lead you can actually work with is higher than the number in Meta Ads Manager. How much higher depends on your qualification rules and how fast you call. In this data set we only have Meta-reported figures, so we are not publishing a verified CPL here. Any agency that shows you only the Meta number and calls it "cost per lead" is presenting the most flattering figure available. Ask for both.
How much should a solar company budget for Meta leads?
Budget on the CPL of your own product and on the worst month you are willing to live through. For residential panels, that means planning around $45 to $46 per Meta-reported lead, not $37.
Then add a buffer for the bad month. Our most expensive month came in at $65. If your cash flow only works at $37, one August like ours will make you switch the campaign off right when it is learning. That is the most expensive mistake we see. The money is already spent, and the data from the restart begins at zero.
Our practical rules:
- Commit to at least three months. Our sample covers three months, and a single month inside it ran anywhere from $11 to $65.
- Separate budgets for panels and carports, so the cheap product does not hide the expensive one.
- Count qualified leads, not form submissions, before you decide whether to scale.
When do Meta lead campaigns not make sense for solar?
They do not make sense if you cannot call a lead back quickly, if your budget only covers one month, or if your margin only works at carport-level CPL while you sell rooftop panels.
If you cannot follow up fast, fix your sales process first. Meta leads lose value with every hour they sit in a spreadsheet. If you can only afford one month, a single bad month can kill the test before you have learned anything. In that case, buy a fixed number of leads or rely on referrals until you can fund a proper test. If your model needs people who are already searching for installers, test search ads. We do not have Google figures in this data set, so we are not claiming it will be cheaper.
Here is what we are changing ourselves. We will stop quoting a single "solar CPL" to anyone. Panels and carports get separate numbers, separate budgets and separate reports. We will budget clients on the $65 month, not the $11 one. And we will show the verified cost next to the Meta number every time we have both.
FAQ
Why are solar carport leads cheaper than rooftop panel leads?
In our accounts, carport leads cost $11 and panel leads cost $45 to $46. The carport offer is narrower and asks the homeowner for a smaller commitment on the form. That means more submissions per dollar, which also means you need to check lead quality carefully.
Is $37 a good cost per lead for solar?
$37 is our blended Q3 2026 average across all solar accounts, not a target for any single product. For residential panels, $45 to $46 is the realistic Meta-reported figure from our data. A carport campaign at $37 would be expensive compared with our $11.
How many months does a solar lead campaign need before you judge it?
We would not judge it on less than three months. Our monthly CPL ranged from $11 to $65 within one quarter. One month can make a working campaign look broken, or a weak one look brilliant.
Are Facebook solar leads real homeowners?
Many are, but not all. A Meta lead is a form submission, and some will be renters, wrong numbers or people who do not answer. That is why the cost per verified lead is always higher than the Meta-reported CPL.