ScaleyScaley vs a Media-Buying Agency
When to hire an agency, when to plug in Scaley, and the honest tradeoffs between them.
A good media-buying agency is a team of people who run your Google Ads for a monthly retainer. Scaley is software that runs your Google Ads for 4% of ad spend. Both can work. They just win in different situations.
| Feature | Agency retainer | Scaley AI |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | 4-8 weeks | Under 5 minutes |
| Monthly cost | €3-8k retainer | From $199/mo |
| Scales with spend | Limited by how many people they have | Handles any account size |
| Transparency | Varies by agency | Every change logged + explained |
| Lock-in | Often 3-6 month contracts | Cancel anytime, pay your final invoice |
| Speed of iteration | Weekly cadence | 24/7 continuous |
| Account ownership | Varies - some keep the setup | Yours, always. Revoke access in one click. |
When an Agency Is Underperforming
A good agency is worth every euro. An underperforming one costs you twice: once in retainer, once in the account. These are the habits to watch for. It's the habits, not the category.
- A monthly PDF instead of a weekly decision. If you can't tell what changed in the account, usually nothing did.
- Negative keywords added once a quarter. Bad search terms spend money every single day in between.
- One Target ROAS across the whole catalog. Your 60%-margin bestseller and your 12%-margin filler get bid the same.
- No breakout by margin. ROAS looks healthy on the report and the account still loses money.
- Junior buyers doing the work, senior names on the pitch deck.
If none of that sounds like your agency, keep them. Scaley runs the grunt work underneath and their retainer usually drops, because they stop billing you for it.
Pick Scaley If
- You spend €5K/month or more on Google Ads and the account needs daily attention
- You want every change logged, explained, and reversible
- You don't want a 3-6 month contract or a migration clause
- You value owning your account (no writes until you approve each change)
- You'd rather pay a flat 4% of spend than a €3-8k/mo retainer
Pick an Agency If
- You want a strategic partner, not an operator - someone to set catalog-wide direction
- You need creative strategy, brand positioning, or media planning beyond Google Ads
- You prefer a weekly call with a human over a written digest
- You don't have anyone in-house to review what an AI suggests
Most brands end up using both, not one instead of the other. Scaley handles the operator work (setup, scaling, exclusions, reporting). A senior marketer or fractional agency handles strategy and creative. The retainer tends to drop when the operator work gets automated.
From Operators Who Left Their Agency
Scaley found €4K/month of wasted spend in our first audit. The auto-scaling rules have been better than our old agency. Honestly wild.
We stopped hiring junior buyers. Scaley handles the account and our lead just reviews the suggestions. Saves us like 15 hours a week.
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