Minimum starting budget (beginner)
| Item | Amount ($) |
|---|---|
| 5-10 white pages (AI-generated) | $30-60 |
| 3-5 domains (.com / .net) | $30-60 |
| Hosting (Cloudflare Pages — free) | $0 |
| Cloaker (monthly subscription) | $50-100 |
| 2-3 Facebook accounts | $30-60 |
| Creatives (freelance) | $50-150 |
| Starting traffic budget | $200-500 |
| TOTAL | $390-930 |
Mid-range budget (experienced media-buyer)
| Item | Amount ($) |
|---|---|
| 50 white pages (bundle) | $128-150 |
| 20-30 domains | $200-300 |
| Hosting/CDN server | $50-100/mo |
| Premium cloaker (Adspect/Keitaro) | $100-300/mo |
| 10-15 FB/Google accounts | $300-700 |
| Creatives (3-5 bundles) | $300-800 |
| Traffic budget (testing) | $1500-5000 |
| TOTAL | $2578-7350 |
Operating cost (monthly, after launch)
| Item | $/mo |
|---|---|
| New white pages (replacing banned ones) | $50-200 |
| New domains (10-20/mo) | $100-200 |
| Cloaker subscription | $50-300 |
| Tracker (Keitaro etc.) | $50-200 |
| New accounts (replacing bans) | $100-300 |
| Hosting / CDN | $30-100 |
| Creatives / design | $100-500 |
| Traffic budget | $500-50000+ |
| OPERATING (excluding traffic) | $480-1800/mo |
Sample ROI calculation (Tier-1 dating)
- Traffic budget: $3000/mo
- CPL: $1.50 → 2000 leads
- EPC from the network: $3 per lead
- Revenue: $6000
- Operating costs: $1000
- Profit: $2000 (ROI 67%)
What a typical media-buyer actually spends
- Beginner (months 1-3): $500-2000/mo to get going, ROI often negative
- Mid-level (months 6-12): $2-10K/mo, ROI 20-80%
- Pro (1 year+): $20-100K/mo on traffic, ROI 30-150%
- Top teams: $200K-1M/mo, running campaigns across 100+ parallel offers
Where to save, where not to
Save on:
- White pages — AI generation is cheaper and often better than freelance
- Hosting (Cloudflare free works)
- Unnecessary tooling (you won't need most of a tracker's features)
Don't save on:
- Creatives — this is the fundamental ROI driver
- Quality aged accounts with history
- Testing budget — an under-tested campaign = money down the drain
Bottom line
Arbitrage in 2026 is no "free lunch." You need $500-2000 in starting capital plus the patience to ride out 3-6 months of negative ROI. Those who survive that stretch settle into a steady $5-50K/mo.