# Baker vs an in-house media buyer

> An in-house media buyer is the better choice when you need someone inside the business every day, in meetings with sales and product. Baker is the better choice when you want the work of the whole paid channel, from $500 a month instead of a full salary, and someone on your team can approve it.

Source: https://withbaker.com/compare/baker-vs-in-house · Updated 2026-10-28

## The short answer

An in-house media buyer is one person on your payroll who plans, launches and optimizes your campaigns. Baker is a paid media agent that does the work of the whole paid channel, from campaigns and creatives to landing pages, tracking and reports, and waits for someone on your team to approve it.

A hire costs a full salary and covers what one person can do in a week. Baker costs from $500 a month whatever you spend on ads, works around the clock, and still needs a person on your side to decide what goes live. That person can be the marketer you would have hired, which is why many teams end up with both.

## Baker vs an in-house hire at a glance

| | In-house media buyer | Baker |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | About $8,070 to $10,220 in the US with employer costs; about 4,020 to 4,300 euros in Spain | Plans from $500 a month, whatever you spend on ads |
| Time to start | Weeks to recruit and onboard | Starts with a call; Baker's team sets it up with you |
| Campaigns | Yes, on the channels the person knows | Yes, on Google, Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube, X and ChatGPT Ads |
| Creatives (images, video, UGC) | Depends on the person, plus design tools or a designer | Included, including video and UGC with AI avatars |
| Landing pages and forms | Usually needs a designer or developer | Included, with A/B tests |
| Tracking to the CRM | Depends on the person | Included: it connects your CRM or store and sends real sales back to the ad platforms |
| Hours | One person's working week, minus holidays and sick days | Around the clock, every day |
| If they leave | The account stops until you hire again | Your accounts, pages and Knowledge stay in your company |
| Inside the business | Joins meetings, knows people, builds relationships | Learns your business from your accounts, CRM and Knowledge, and reports to your team |
| Who decides | The hire, with their manager | Always a person on your team |

## What an in-house hire costs

**United States.** Indeed puts the average PPC specialist salary at $67,759 a year ([Indeed, October 2026](https://www.indeed.com/career/ppc-specialist/salaries)) and the average media manager at $85,868 ([Indeed, October 2026](https://www.indeed.com/career/media-manager/salaries)). Salary is not the whole cost: in private industry, wages are 70.0% of what employers pay in total ([BLS, September 2026](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm)). That puts the full cost at about $96,800 to $122,700 a year, or **$8,070 to $10,220 a month**.

**Spain.** Indeed España puts the average SEM specialist at 36,940 euros a year ([Indeed España](https://es.indeed.com/career/especialista-sem/salaries)) and the average marketing manager at 39,453 euros ([Indeed España](https://es.indeed.com/career/digital-marketing-manager/salaries)). Employer social security adds 30.65% in 2026 before workplace-accident cover ([Sage](https://www.sage.com/es-es/blog/las-cotizaciones-a-la-seguridad-social-conceptos-bases-y-porcentajes/)), so about **4,020 to 4,300 euros a month**.

On top of that come recruiting (SHRM's benchmarking put the average cost per hire at nearly $4,700, [SHRM, 2022](https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/talent-acquisition/real-costs-recruitment)), design and video tools, and the months of ramp-up. Our [cost breakdown](/blog/ai-paid-media-agent-vs-agency-vs-in-house-cost) has the full numbers.

## What Baker costs

- **Plans from $500 a month**, up to $3,000, sized by credits, with every feature and every channel in every plan.
- **No percentage of ad spend.** Your budget stays in your own ad accounts.
- **One company included**; each extra company adds $100 a month.
- **Monthly plans can be cancelled at any time.**

The right plan depends on how much work you want done. See [pricing](/pricing).

## The real difference: range

A media buyer's job is campaigns. But a paid channel is more than campaigns: the ads need new creatives, the click needs a page that converts, and the results need to be measured in sales, not form fills. One person rarely does strategy, media buying, video, landing pages and tracking equally well, so a single hire often comes with a designer, a developer and a stack of tools.

Baker covers that whole range in one place. It finds the ads that win and makes the next ones, builds a landing page for each campaign, runs the campaigns on [Google](/channels/google-ads), [Meta](/channels/meta-ads), [LinkedIn](/channels/linkedin-ads) and more, and connects your CRM or store so it optimizes for real sales. For lead-gen businesses such as education, B2B software, insurance and home services, that last part is often the one that matters most.

## When an in-house hire is the better choice

- **You need someone inside the business every day.** A person who sits with sales, hears what customers say on calls and pushes for changes in the product brings context no software has on day one.
- **Your spend is high and steady.** A fixed salary beats a percentage fee at high spend, and a senior hire can own the whole marketing plan, not only paid media.
- **You need more than paid media.** A marketer can also handle SEO, email or events. Baker does paid media only.
- **Nobody else on the team can approve work.** Baker needs a person to say yes. If you have no one, hire that person first.

## When Baker is the better choice

- **Your spend does not justify a full salary yet,** but you still want campaigns, creatives, landing pages and tracking done properly.
- **You want more range than one person.** Baker makes video and UGC, builds pages and runs A/B tests on top of running the campaigns.
- **You want cover around the clock.** Baker keeps watching the accounts at night, at weekends and during holidays, and flags what needs a decision.
- **You do not want the channel to depend on one person.** When someone leaves, the accounts, pages and Knowledge stay with your company.

## Both together

The strongest setup is often a marketer plus Baker. Baker does the work; your marketer sets direction, reviews it and approves it. One person then covers what used to take a small team, and spends their week on decisions rather than on building ads and pages by hand.

## How to decide

1. **Do you have someone who can approve work?** If yes, Baker can start now. If no, hire first or use an agency.
2. **What would one hire cost compared with your ad spend?** If the salary is a large share of spend, Baker leaves more of the budget for ads.
3. **What is your bottleneck?** If it is creatives, landing pages or tracking, a media buyer alone will not solve it.
4. **Do you need someone embedded in the business?** If that is the main need, hire, and let Baker do the work they approve.

Comparing other options too? Read [Baker vs a paid media agency](/compare/baker-vs-agency) and [Baker vs AI ad tools](/compare/baker-vs-ai-ad-tools).

Every company starts with a call. [Book a call](/contact) or see [pricing](/pricing).

## Questions

### How much does an in-house paid media specialist cost?

About $8,070 to $10,220 a month in the US once employer costs are added, based on Indeed's average salaries of $67,759 for a PPC specialist and $85,868 for a media manager. In Spain, about 4,020 to 4,300 euros a month with employer social security.

### Can an AI agent replace a media buyer?

It can do the media buyer's work, and more of the channel besides: campaigns, creatives, landing pages, tracking and reports. It does not replace the person who decides what goes live, because with Baker nothing is published until someone on your team approves it.

### Should I hire a media buyer or use Baker?

Hire when your spend is high and steady and you need someone embedded with sales and product every day. Use Baker when you want the whole channel covered for less than a salary. Many teams do both: their marketer approves what Baker prepares.

### Who approves the work if I use Baker instead of hiring?

Someone already on your team, usually the head of marketing or growth. Baker does the work all the way through and presents it; that person reviews it and publishes it, in Baker or in Slack.

### Does Baker work when my marketer is on holiday?

Yes. Baker watches the accounts around the clock, every day. Changes still wait for someone on your team to approve them, so name a second person who can approve while the first is away.