Google Ads management
10% of ad spend
Ad spend is paid directly to the platform and is not included.
AutoHive Digital Marketing sells four monthly packages for South African companies, from R3 500 to R30 000 excluding VAT: Hive Starter, Hive Growth, Hive Scale and Hive Enterprise. A GoHighLevel CRM is included with every marketing package. Paid media, where included, is billed at twenty percent of advertising spend. Once-off setup is Starter R4,999, Growth R6,999 and Scale R6,999, covering Google and Meta account architecture when paid advertising starts. Enterprise has no setup fee when signed on a 6-month SLA. Clients own every account and asset from day one.
Packages & pricing
Not the cheapest. Never the most expensive.
Four monthly retainers for South African companies, from R3 500 to R30 000. A GoHighLevel CRM is included with every marketing package. Cheap marketing is the most expensive thing you can buy. We publish the numbers because a supplier who hides pricing is negotiating against you.
Four ways in
Monthly packages, built for South African companies.
Each card names the company size it suits, the channels we manage, and the numbered monthly deliverables. Items marked proposed are draft figures we confirm on the honesty check. Prices exclude VAT.
Hive Starter
- Lighthouse Score of 90+ Guaranteed
- 3/3 search-summary visibility
Owner-run, typically 1 to 8 people. Monthly ad budget under R5 000, or none yet. proposed
R3 500/month
excl. VAT
Setup R4,999 once-off
2 channels: Google Business Profile + 1 social, chosen honestly.
- GoHighLevel CRM included with the package
- 8 GBP posts, plus photos and review responses proposed
- 16 social posts on the one platform proposed
- 4 boosted social posts proposed
- Reputation monitoring on your brand searches
- Monthly report you can read
- Reply within 2 business days proposed
- Paid campaigns not included; boosted posts are the paid allowance
Most popular
Hive Growth
- Lighthouse Score of 90+ Guaranteed
- 3/3 search-summary visibility
Growing SME, typically 8 to 25 people. Ad budget R5 000 to R25 000. proposed
R8 500/month proposed
excl. VAT
Setup R6,999 once-off
3 channels: GBP, Google Ads, Meta.
- Everything in Hive Starter
- 4 paid campaigns on Google and Meta, plus 20% of spend proposed
- 8 ad creatives or variants a month proposed
- 12 social posts a month proposed
- 1 landing-page path review proposed
- 2 HTML blog articles published on your website proposed
- Weekly advert report and monthly analysis
- 1 strategy call a month proposed
- Reply within 1 business day proposed
Hive Scale
- Lighthouse Score of 90+ Guaranteed
- 3/3 search-summary visibility
Established SME, typically 20 to 80 people. Ad budget R25 000 to R80 000. proposed
R17 500/month proposed
excl. VAT
Setup R6,999 once-off
5 channels: GBP, Google, Meta, LinkedIn, plus one of TikTok or Bing.
- Everything in Hive Growth
- 8 paid campaigns proposed
- 16 ad creatives or variants a month proposed
- 16 social posts a month proposed
- 1 landing page built or rebuilt proposed
- 4 HTML blog articles published on your website proposed
- 2 short-form videos proposed
- Weekly report + monthly named-changes analysis
- 2 strategy calls a month proposed
- Same-business-day reply proposed
Hive Enterprise
- Lighthouse Score of 90+ Guaranteed
- 3/3 search-summary visibility
Marketing as a growth engine, typically 50+ people. Ad budget R80 000+. proposed
R30 000/month
excl. VAT
No setup fee on a 6-month SLA
6 channels: Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Bing, GBP.
- Everything in Hive Scale
- 12 paid campaigns proposed
- 24 ad creatives or variants a month proposed
- 24 social posts a month proposed
- 2 landing pages proposed
- Monthly video plus short-form cadence
- Podcast guesting via The Think Tank studio
- Source-to-sale attribution in your CRM
- Weekly strategy call proposed
- Reply within 4 business hours proposed
Hive Enterprise can commission a custom in-house CRM to their own specifications, instead of or alongside GoHighLevel. Quoted separately. A GoHighLevel CRM is included with every marketing package.
Book this packageMonthly prices in South African rand, excluding VAT at 15%. Paid advertising, where the package includes it, is billed at twenty percent of spend on top of the retainer. Once-off setup is Starter R4,999, Growth R6,999 and Scale R6,999, covering Google and Meta account architecture when paid media starts. Enterprise has no setup fee when signed on a 6-month SLA.
On any package
Add-ons for any package
Add what your business needs, on any package. Prices exclude VAT.
Microsoft Advertising (Bing) management
10% of ad spend
Ad spend is paid directly to the platform and is not included.
Meta ads management (Facebook and Instagram)
10% of ad spend
Get more from every rand you spend on ads.
Ad spend is paid directly to the platform and is not included.
ChatGPT ads management
Not yet available in South Africa
30-second advert video
Priced on request
Cinematic 30-second adverts, made for your brand and cut for every platform.
Spoken podcast, 12 to 14 minutes, paired with your newsletter
Priced on request
Video podcast
Priced on request
Record your own voice or avatar at The Think Tank SA studio
Priced on request
Newsletter
Priced on request
Written, designed and sent through GoHighLevel to your approved client list.
AEO, SEO, SXO and GEO management
Priced on request
Answer engine, search, search experience and search-summary optimisation, managed together.
Everything included
On every package, before the extras.
GoHighLevel CRMIncluded with every marketing package
You own the accountsPixels, files and audiences, from day one
Honesty check firstWe refuse ads that would waste spend
POPIA on the booksConsent recorded with every enquiry
Month to monthAfter the first ninety days
Named humanA strategist signs the work
Audited against the market
Where these fees sit in South Africa: checked, not guessed.
We benchmarked our pricing against published South African agency rates (2025 to 2026 pricing guides from Syte, The Weblab, Digital Hippo, Growth Pulse Media and Chilli Media, checked August 2026). Full multi-channel retainers in South Africa run roughly R10 000 to R50 000+ per month; specialist agencies typically quote R25 000 to R45 000; household-name agencies reach R80 000. Basic social-only management runs R3 500 to R15 000. Our packages sit deliberately in the middle lane, and this table shows what each rand actually buys at each level of the market:
| Option | Typical monthly cost | What you actually get | Reporting | Who owns the accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freelancer | R2 500 to R6 500 | Content posting on one or two platforms; one person's hours and one person's skill ceiling; no cover when they are sick or leave | Ad hoc | Varies, often unclear |
| Boutique agency | R7 500 to R15 000 | Social management plus light ads; account reviewed weekly at best, monthly in practice | Monthly summary | Sometimes the agency |
| AutoHive (this page) | R3 500 to R30 000 | Daily reading of results and corrections; named human strategist; content, ads, reputation and GoHighLevel CRM in one operation; refusals when ads would waste your money | Weekly advert report from Hive Growth up, plus monthly named-changes analysis, verifiable in your own CRM | You, from day one, in writing |
| Specialist agency | R25 000 to R45 000 | Strong strategy and production; account managed by a team; pace still set by the monthly meeting cycle | Monthly deck | Usually you; check the pixel and audiences |
| Household-name agency | R50 000 to R80 000+ | Big-brand creative and media buying power; SME accounts serviced by the most junior team; you fund the office view | Monthly/quarterly | Contract-dependent |
Positioning check, honestly stated: Hive Starter (R3 500) sits at the floor of basic social-only packages, and still includes reputation management plus a GoHighLevel CRM. Hive Growth (R8 500, proposed) sits with boutique retainers while reporting weekly once paid ads start. Hive Scale (R17 500, proposed) sits in the lower-middle of the full-retainer range. Hive Enterprise (R30 000) sits inside the specialist band, below the household names. Not the cheapest. Never the most expensive. Exactly as promised.
What the work looks like
Leads, pipeline, channels. No invented numbers on the pictures.
Photographs from Pexels, free for commercial use. Full credits in CREDITS.md.
Rand for rand
The full comparison, hidden until you want it.
The cards above are the short version. Open the table if you want every numbered deliverable in one grid. Figures marked proposed are draft monthly scopes.
Show the full package comparison
| You get | Starter R3 500/m |
Growth R8 500/m proposed |
Scale R17 500/m proposed |
Enterprise R30 000/m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company size / monthly ad budget | 1 to 8 people; under R5 000 or none proposed | 8 to 25; R5 000 to R25 000 proposed | 20 to 80; R25 000 to R80 000 proposed | 50+; R80 000+ proposed |
| Once-off setup | R4,999 | R6,999 | R6,999 | None on a 6-month SLA |
| Channels managed | GBP + 1 social (2) | GBP, Google, Meta (3) | GBP, Google, Meta, LinkedIn, plus TikTok or Bing (5) | Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Bing, GBP (6) |
| GoHighLevel CRM | Included with the package | Included with the package | Included with the package | Included with the package, source-to-sale |
| Custom in-house CRM | Not included | Not included | Not included | Quoted separately, instead of or alongside GoHighLevel |
| Paid campaigns | Not included | 4 proposed + 20% of spend | 8 proposed + 20% of spend | 12 proposed + 20% of spend |
| Ad creatives / variants | 4 boosted posts proposed | 8 proposed | 16 proposed | 24 proposed |
| Social posts / month | 16 proposed | 12 proposed | 16 proposed | 24 proposed |
| GBP posts / month | 8 proposed | 8 proposed | 8 proposed | 12 proposed |
| Landing pages | Not included | 1 path review proposed | 1 built or rebuilt proposed | 2 proposed |
| HTML blog articles published on your website / month | Not included | 2 proposed | 4 proposed | 4 proposed |
| Reports | Monthly | Weekly ads + monthly analysis | Weekly + monthly named changes | Weekly + monthly named changes |
| Strategy calls | Async | 1 / month proposed | 2 / month proposed | Weekly proposed |
| Response time | 2 business days proposed | 1 business day proposed | Same business day proposed | 4 business hours proposed |
| Reputation monitoring | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Video & short-form | Not included | Not included | 2 shorts proposed | Monthly video + shorts |
| Podcast guesting via The Think Tank studio | Not included | Not included | Not included | ✓ |
| Quarterly brand review | Not included | Not included | Not included | ✓ |
| Named strategist | Shared | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ priority access |
If the numbers don't fit yet
Too early for these fees? The hive still has a place for you.
Some businesses genuinely are not ready for R3 500 a month, and selling it to them anyway would break our own first rule. If that is you, we would rather route you honestly than lose you politely:
The Bee Agencies. Through the BeeHive Business Network, we refer smaller businesses to vetted partner agencies and specialists in the hive who work at earlier-stage budgets. You get a warm introduction, they get a client who has read this site, and when your business grows into our packages, you come back knowing exactly what you are buying. The hive keeps the work moving, and you with it.
And if even that is too early: the education on this site is free by design. Start with the glossary, claim your own Google Business Profile using the reputation page, and come back when the numbers fit. We will still be here, and you will be a sharper client.
The mechanics, without small print
Four rules that apply to every package.
Once-off setup: Starter R4,999, Growth R6,999, Scale R6,999
Enterprise: no setup fee when signed on a 6-month SLA. Google and Meta architecture done properly once: ad accounts in your name, pixel and Conversions API, conversion events that mean something, Google Business Profile claimed and completed, and a baseline audit of your website speed and conversion path. If the audit says your site will waste ad money, we say so before you spend it: the site-speed gate explained.
See the ownership standardPaid media: 20% of ad spend
Our management fee for paid advertising is twenty percent of what you spend. The incentive maths is deliberate: we only earn more when spending more is working, and the weekly report is where we prove it. When spend stops returning, we tell you to cut it, and our fee falls with it. An agency on a flat retainer has no such pressure.
Read the advertising mechanicsWeekly advert reporting
From Hive Growth up, every week you receive, in your CRM and your inbox: what ran, what it cost, what it returned, and what we changed. Hive Starter reports monthly. No login-to-a-dashboard homework, no quarterly surprise. If a week went badly, you read that too, and you could verify it yourself anyway.
See how you verify itMonthly deep analysis
Once a month your strategist writes the analysis a deck usually hides: what worked, what did not, what the data killed, and a named list of what changes next month and why. Adapt what works, adopt what is proven, change what the data kills, on a schedule, not in a panic.
Read how we adapt on scheduleFair questions
Asked before you had to ask.
Is the GoHighLevel CRM included with every marketing package?
Yes. A GoHighLevel CRM is included with every marketing package, wired to enquiries at onboarding. You can open it any hour. Add-on tools inside GoHighLevel are optional and billed by GoHighLevel if you choose them. A custom CRM build is offered on Hive Enterprise only, quoted separately. How the CRM lets you audit us.
What does the setup fee cover?
Starter R4,999, Growth R6,999 and Scale R6,999, once-off. Enterprise has no setup fee when signed on a 6-month SLA. The fee covers Google and Meta account architecture done properly once: ad accounts, pixels and Conversions API, conversion events, Google Business Profile, audience baselines and a baseline audit of your website speed and conversion path. The site-speed gate explained.
Is there a long contract?
Month to month after the first ninety days. The first ninety days are committed because paid platforms need a learning period before judging results is fair, to you or to us. Hive Enterprise can sign a 6-month SLA, which is when the setup fee is waived.
What happens to my accounts if I leave?
They were always yours. Every account, pixel, audience and creative file is owned by you from day one; we hold manager access only. Off-boarding is documented at onboarding: the full ownership standard is here.
When would you refuse to sell me advertising?
When your website is too slow to convert the clicks, when there is no working conversion path, or when your Google Business Profile would leak the trust the ads build. We fix the leak first; sometimes that means our web division before our ads. Selling you ads before that would be taking money to pour water into a cracked bucket.
Why are you not the cheapest?
Because the work is daily, human-supervised, and reported weekly. The cheapest quote you receive is priced for an agency that looks at your account once a month. We would rather lose the comparison on price and win it on the reporting.
One clear next step
Ask for the honesty check first.
Free, before any package: we audit your site speed, conversion path and Google Business Profile, and tell you plainly whether ads would work yet.