Ya.Direct vs VK Ads vs Telegram Ads in 2026: comparison of CPL for 6 niches

“Where to upload the budget - Yandex Direct, VK Ads or Telegram Ads?” - the most common question at discovery calls in 2026. I answer the same: it depends on the niche, the deal cycle and what you consider a conversion. This article is an attempt to give a specific answer through the CPL table for 6 niches in which I am performing right now. Without “depends on goals” - with numbers and context.

Disclaimer: the numbers are taken from my 5 current projects plus 4 more that I led in 2024-2025. This is not the entire market - it is a cross-section of projects with a performance budget from 500K to 4M ₽/month. On budgets less than 200K, the economy works differently, on large enterprises (10M+) - also differently.

In 2026, performance in Russia is not choosing “between” Yandex Direct, VK Ads and Telegram Ads. All three are used, but each for its own purpose. Anyone who tries to “choose one best” loses competitors.

What's good for every office in 2026

Yandex Direct

Strengths: search results (no one left Yandex), YAN with a billion sites, neural network Campaign Wizard, which actually works on simple offers. Weaknesses: expensive cost for high-intent queries in competitive niches (dentistry, lawyers - 1,500+ ₽ per click), does not work well for a cold audience that has not yet formed a query.

VK Ads

Strengths: huge base of behavioral signals from VK, communities as a retargeting channel, look-alike 1% - the best in the Russian Federation. Works well for B2C with emotional choices. Weaknesses: the B2B audience “fell out” of VK after 2022 - serious B2B requires other channels.

Telegram Ads

Strengths: pure audience, low noise compared to VK, premium perception. Good for lead generation in luxury B2C and smart B2B products. Weaknesses: expensive minimum threshold (€2 per day per channel), CPM higher than VK, poor work with retargeting (only through bot funnels).

Summary table of CPL for 6 niches

The numbers are the median values for my projects for Q4 2025 - Q1 2026. CPL in rubles, lead = form / request / message depending on the niche.

The main conclusion from the table: VK Ads wins in B2C niches with emotional choice, Yandex Direct wins in high-intent niches (medicine, law), Telegram Ads wins in premium segments. This is the working logic of budget distribution.

Specific scenarios: where to budget in 2026

“I have an e-com and 500K ₽/month”

For e-commerce, distribute the budget between search, social platforms and tests only after assessing demand and cost of sale. ID Store materials confirm a 25% sales increase over nine months and work with multiple channels, but the exact budget split for them has not been published.

“I have MedTech, cycle 14–30 days”

70% Yandex Direct (search by symptoms + specific queries like “remove wisdom teeth price”), 25% VK Ads (retargeting FAQ visitors + look-alike for registered patients), 5% Telegram Ads on the clinic channel (for long-tail). Telegram here almost does not work for cold leads - the audience is too premium for routine medicine.

“I have a B2B SaaS, check 50K+ /month”

50% Telegram Ads (profile channels for the CTO/CMO audience), 30% Yandex Direct (narrow commercial queries + brand-keywords), 20% VK Ads (only retargeting site visitors). In a transaction cycle of 30–90 days, the first touch is most often in TG, conversion is through retargeting in Yandex Direct or direct visits.

“I have a gaming audience”

For a gaming project, first check the audience and the price of the result for each channel, then distribute the budget. B NEMIFIST case blogger placements, competitions and the Senler funnel are described; There is no exact distribution of the advertising budget by platform in the materials.

Where every office merges

Specific scenarios where I stopped using each of the three cabinets for certain tasks.

• Yandex Direct - for a cold B2C audience. If the user does not yet have a generated query, the search does not find it. YAN works, but is more expensive than VK for the same audience.
• VK Ads - for B2B enterprise level. The CTO/VP audience is almost non-existent on VK. There - TG, LinkedIn (via VPN), specialized media.
• Telegram Ads - for retargeting and low-cost B2C. The minimum CPM makes TG unprofitable for a check below 5K ₽. Also, retargeting in TG is limited - there is no full-fledged pixel-tracking.

The stack on which I run 3-cabinet campaigns

• Sheet with distribution. One Google Sheet - weekly budget distribution plan for offices and niches, updated on Mondays
• Ya.Metrica as a unified analytics. All three offices land traffic from UTM, everything is aggregated in Metrica (details in my attribution analysis 2026)
• Veo 3.1 + Nano Banana Pro for creatives. The same visual concept for three formats (vertical for VK, horizontal for Yandex Direct, banner for TG) - generated one day instead of the usual week
• n8n + Telegram bot for alerts: if CPL jumps 1.5× from the planned one, I receive a notification within an hour

What do I do when entering a new project?

1. Discovery-call. I understand the deal cycle, ICP, average bill, current budget distribution.
2. Quick analysis for 3 rooms. I look at what has already been spinning - usually one of the clients’ three offices is overfed, the other two are underinvested.
3. Distribution hypothesis. For month 1 - usually 50/30/20 in the direction of the niche (see table above).
4. Test phase 4 weeks. All three offices in parallel with a minimum working budget (from 50K ₽ per office per week - otherwise there is not enough data).
5. Rebalancing. After 4 weeks I decide where we increase, where we cut. At this stage, usually one of the three cabinets goes into pilot mode, the rest go into main circulation.

If you currently keep your entire budget in one office, this is almost always suboptimal. Not because of “diversification,” but because different points in the funnel operate through different channels. Would you like me to break down your current mix in 30 minutes? discovery-colle — I’ll show you where your budget is leaking and where the channels are underinvested.

Related materials: media plan template, CPC benchmarks in Yandex Direct, CTR benchmarks in VK Ads, a complete guide to performance marketing.