Short answer
For a small business in Nepal, expect roughly NPR 20,000–45,000 a month in agency fees for a single channel, NPR 45,000–1,20,000 for multi-channel management, and NPR 1,50,000 or more for a full growth programme — with advertising spend on top of all three. One-off projects like a brand identity or a business website typically run from NPR 65,000 and NPR 95,000 respectively.
Marketing pricing in Nepal is mostly unpublished, which suits agencies and disadvantages buyers. Here are working ranges, why they vary, and the costs that tend to appear after the contract is signed.
Monthly retainers
| Scope | Typical range (NPR/month) | What it usually buys |
|---|---|---|
| Social media management only | 20,000 – 65,000 | Content calendar, 12–20 assets, community management |
| Single paid channel (Meta or Google) | 20,000 – 75,000 | Campaign management, creative iteration, monthly reporting |
| SEO | 40,000 – 1,50,000 | Technical work, content, links, local search |
| Multi-channel management | 45,000 – 1,60,000 | Paid, organic and search coordinated against one funnel |
| Full growth programme | 1,50,000 – 4,00,000+ | Strategy, creative production, media, technology and retention |
One-off projects
| Project | Typical range (NPR) |
|---|---|
| Logo only | 15,000 – 1,00,000 |
| Complete brand identity | 65,000 – 3,00,000 |
| Business website | 95,000 – 5,00,000 |
| Ecommerce website | 1,80,000 – 9,00,000+ |
| Mobile app | 4,50,000 – 20,00,000+ |
| Corporate film | 1,20,000 – 7,50,000 |
| Television commercial | 3,00,000 – 20,00,000+ |
How much advertising spend do you need?
Below roughly NPR 15,000 a month on a single platform, you will struggle to gather enough data to optimise — the campaign spends most of its life in the learning phase and every result is noise. NPR 30,000–60,000 a month across one or two channels is where most small Nepali businesses start seeing readable patterns.
Costs vary sharply by sector. Competitive categories — education consultancies, real estate, clinics — bid against each other for the same narrow audience, so cost per lead in those sectors can be several times what a local retail business pays.
The costs that surprise people
- 13% VAT, which is frequently quoted separately and forgotten in budgeting.
- TDS withholding, which affects your cash flow even though it is not an extra cost.
- Domain and hosting: NPR 2,000–25,000 a year depending on traffic and stack.
- Paid plugins, themes and API usage on a website build.
- Photography and video — a website quote rarely includes the images that fill it.
- Payment gateway fees, typically 2–4% per transaction on an ecommerce build.
- SMS and email sending costs once automation is live.
- Hoarding site rent and municipal permits, which are often several times the printing cost.
- Influencer fees, which sit outside campaign management fees.
Why the cheapest option usually costs more
An NPR 9,999 monthly package cannot fund experienced time. It funds a junior working from a template across many accounts, which produces activity — posts published, ads running — without diagnosis. The visible cost is low; the invisible cost is a year of spend against the wrong audience, and a rebuild later.
That does not mean expensive is safe. It means the question is not "how much" but "how many hours of whose time, doing what, and how will I see it?"
A sensible way to set a budget
- 01Work backwards from a target: how many customers do you need, and what is one worth over its lifetime?
- 02Estimate a realistic conversion rate from enquiry to customer — use your own history, not an industry average.
- 03That gives you a maximum acceptable cost per qualified lead.
- 04Allocate media spend against that number, then add the management fee as a percentage on top.
- 05Hold three months of budget in reserve. Stopping a campaign at week six because the money ran out wastes everything spent on learning.
If you cannot fund three months, fund one channel properly for three months rather than three channels for one.
Sources
- Nepal Telecommunications Authority — MIS reports on internet penetration — Nepal Telecommunications Authority
- About the Meta Ads learning phase — Meta Business Help Centre
