Quick answer: published 2026 pricing from US agencies in this category runs from about $2,500 per month at entry level to $12,000+ per month for enterprise engagements. Most mid-market programmes land between $3,000 and $6,000. One-off audits are typically quoted separately, from a few hundred dollars to around $5,000 depending on depth.
Those are the numbers. The useful part is what sits inside each band and what actually moves a quote.
What each band typically buys
| Monthly retainer | Typically includes | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000–$2,500 | Schema and entity fixes, a small prompt set tracked, light content support | Single-market SMBs with a clean site already |
| $2,500–$6,000 | The above plus answer-ready content production and active citation outreach | Most mid-market B2B and eCommerce |
| $6,000–$12,000 | Multi-market or multi-brand, competitive prompt sets, dedicated strategist, integration with PR | Enterprise, or crowded categories |
| $12,000+ | Large catalogues, several countries, custom tracking infrastructure | Multi-national or large-catalogue retail |
The jump from the second band to the third is almost always citation intensity, not more content. Content scales cheaply; earning mentions in sources a model trusts does not.
The five variables that move a quote
- Category competition. Not how many competitors you have, but how many already have clean entity data and active citations. A category where nobody has done the work is dramatically cheaper to win.
- Entity condition at the start. A brand with contradictory records across its site, registers and directories needs remediation before anything else works. This is invisible in a proposal and expensive in practice — insist it is scoped explicitly.
- Number of markets. Each additional country is a separate citation problem with its own trusted sources. It is closer to additive than marginal.
- Language coverage. Native-language markets need native writers. Any agency quoting multi-language coverage at no premium is planning to translate, and translated pages rarely earn citations.
- Whether content production is included. The single largest swing factor. Agencies that advise while you write are much cheaper and much slower.
Pricing models, ranked by how well they align
- Monthly retainer with a defined scope — the norm, and the most honest fit for work that compounds over months. Insist the scope names deliverables, not hours.
- Project-based audit, then retainer — a good structure. You buy the diagnosis first, see the quality of thinking, and commit after.
- Performance-based on citations — appealing, rarely workable. Citation counts are gameable with low-quality sources, and you will get exactly what you incentivise.
- Priced per article — a warning sign. It reveals that content volume is the product, and content volume alone does not change what an assistant says about you.
What you should refuse to pay for
- Guaranteed placement in AI answers. Nobody controls a model's output. An agency guaranteeing this is either misinformed or counting on you not checking.
- "AI visibility scores" with no method. If the number cannot be reproduced from a stated prompt set and a stated engine list, it is decoration.
- Directory submission packages. Low-quality directories are not trusted sources and a wall of them is a negative signal.
- Rankings reporting sold as AI visibility. Different measurement, different outcome.
How to sanity-check a quote
Ask for the proposal to state three things in writing: the exact prompt set that will be tracked, the engines it will be tracked across, and the baseline as it stands today. A proposal that can answer those is describing real work. One that cannot is selling activity.
Then compare the retainer against the value of the outcome rather than against your old SEO invoice. In the US, agencies bid over $80 per click for the term "ai seo agency" — a rough proxy for what a single qualified enquiry is worth in this category. If being named in the answer replaces even part of that acquisition cost, the arithmetic usually works.
Frequently asked questions
How much does AI SEO cost per month?
Between roughly $2,500 and $12,000 a month with a specialist agency in the US, with most mid-market programmes quoted between $3,000 and $6,000. UK pricing tends to sit somewhat lower in absolute terms.
Is a one-off audit worth it before committing?
Usually yes. It gives you a documented baseline, and the quality of the audit is the most reliable predictor of the quality of the engagement. Many agencies, ours included, run the initial visibility audit at no cost.
How long before it pays back?
Entity and schema work shows up in how engines describe you within weeks. Being recommended ahead of competitors depends on citations and typically takes three to six months. Budget for at least two quarters.
Is it cheaper than traditional SEO?
Comparable, and often the same team. The difference is where the effort goes — less on link volume, more on entity accuracy and earning mentions in a smaller set of genuinely trusted sources.
Related reading: what an AI SEO agency actually does and what is in scope for GEO services. If you would rather see it priced against your own site, that is what our AI SEO and GEO services page sets out.