- Of the 12 GEO, AEO and AI SEO agencies we checked, 7 publish a starting retainer or annual price, and 4 more give a budget guide or pricing rule on their site.
- The lowest published retainers are Arobis AI at $2,500 a month and Optimist and Digital Elevator at $3,000; Omniscient Digital starts at $120,000 a year.
- Minimum commitments differ more than prices: Optimist is month-to-month, Arobis AI asks for three months, and Victorious recommends a 12-month campaign at $6,000 a month or more.
- An in-house hire costs more than most entry retainers: the US median wage for marketing managers was $166,790 in May 2025, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Doing it yourself starts at $29 a month for a tracker (Otterly.AI Lite, 15 prompts), plus the hours to act on what it finds.
Searching "GEO pricing"? That phrase also means geographic pricing, charging different prices by location. This page is about generative engine optimization, the work of getting cited and recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google's AI features. Agencies sell the same work under GEO, AEO and AI SEO labels, so we treat their prices together; our GEO vs AEO vs SEO guide explains the naming.
What do GEO agencies charge? Every published price
These are the prices agencies publish themselves, checked on their live pricing or service pages. We left out every agency that quotes only after a call, and every number we couldn't trace to the agency's own site.
| Agency | Published price | Minimum term | What the entry tier includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arobis AI | $2,500/mo Foundation; $5,000/mo AI Search Growth; Enterprise custom; $399 audit | 3 months | Audit of 40 buyer prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and AI Overviews, gap map, page rewrites, monthly third-party placements |
| Optimist | $7,500 one-time Roadmap; Advisory from $3,000/mo; Full Service from $4,000/mo | Month-to-month | Advisory: briefs, weekly AI visibility tracking, Slack access |
| Digital Elevator | AI Visibility sprints from $3,000; AI Visibility Mentions from $3,495/mo; Managed AEO/SEO from $3,500/mo | 90-day sprint or program | A 90-day sprint; the full three-pillar program "typically runs $9,000 to $24,000+" |
| LoudFace | From $5,000/mo, scoped on a call | 3 months on fixed-scope work | Retainer tiers (Solo, Dual, Scale) with no per-tier prices |
| Discovered Labs | Establish €6,995/mo (6-month), €7,495 (3-month), €7,995 (monthly); Compete €10,995 to €12,995; Outlier from €15,995; €4,370 diagnostic | Month-to-month, 30 days' notice | Up to 20 content units and 10 Reddit mentions a month, four-person team |
| Powered by Search | SEO Consulting from $7,500 or $9,000/mo by billing term; Implementation $12,000 or $14,400; Promotion $18,000 or $21,600 | Not stated | Implementation tier includes "LLM and Answer Engine Optimization briefs" |
| Omniscient Digital | Full-service from $120,000/yr | Not stated | Full content and SEO program |
Four more publish a budget guide or pricing rule instead of a price. Victorious recommends "budgeting at least $6,000 a month" for SEO and "committing to a 12-month campaign"8. NoGood says its "average retainer is above $20,000/month"9. Thrive's AI SEO contact form starts at a $2,500 to $5,000 monthly budget band10. SimpleTiger says its packages start "at 5% of revenue or funding"11.
Sources for the table: Arobis AI1, Optimist2, Digital Elevator3, LoudFace4, Discovered Labs5, Powered by Search6 and Omniscient Digital7. For how these agencies compare on fit and proof rather than price, see our lists of the best GEO agencies, best AEO agencies and best AI SEO agencies.
How much does GEO cost per month?
A focused GEO or AEO retainer costs $2,500 to $5,000 a month at the low end of published prices, $5,000 to $10,000 for a mid-sized program, and $10,000 to $20,000 or more for full-service work. Here's what the published numbers buy at each level:
| Monthly budget | Published options | What you typically get |
|---|---|---|
| Under $3,000 | Arobis AI Foundation ($2,500); Thrive's lowest budget band | A tracked prompt set, gap analysis, a few page rewrites a month, some third-party placements |
| $3,000 to $5,000 | Optimist Advisory and Full Service, Digital Elevator, Arobis AI Growth ($5,000), LoudFace (from $5,000) | Weekly tracking, new comparison and answer pages, entity cleanup, more placements |
| $5,000 to $10,000 | Discovered Labs Establish (€6,995 to €7,995), Victorious (at least $6,000 for SEO), Powered by Search consulting ($7,500 to $9,000) | A small content team, community work such as Reddit, technical SEO alongside AI work |
| $10,000 and up | Omniscient Digital ($120,000 a year), Discovered Labs Compete and Outlier, Powered by Search Implementation and Promotion, NoGood (average above $20,000) | Full content programs, PR and paid media bundled with AI search |
One-off work is cheaper to try. Arobis AI's single-domain audit is $399, credited against the first month if you start within 60 days1. Discovered Labs' diagnostic is €4,370, credited if you sign within 14 days5. Optimist's Roadmap is a $7,500 one-time engagement2.
What's the real first-year commitment?
Compare the minimum you must pay, not the monthly headline. This is our arithmetic from each agency's published entry price and term:
| Agency and entry option | Minimum you commit to | 12 months at entry price |
|---|---|---|
| Optimist Advisory | $3,000 (one month, month-to-month) | $36,000 |
| Arobis AI Foundation | $7,500 (3 months) | $30,000 |
| LoudFace, fixed-scope work | $15,000 (3 months at $5,000) | $60,000 |
| Discovered Labs Establish, monthly | €7,995 (one month, 30 days' notice) | €95,940 |
| Discovered Labs Establish, 6-month | €41,970 (6 months at €6,995) | €83,940 |
| Victorious, as recommended | $72,000 (12 months at $6,000) | $72,000 |
| Omniscient Digital | $120,000 (annual price) | $120,000 |
The spread is the point. A buyer comparing "$3,000 a month" with "$6,000 a month" is really choosing between a $3,000 test and a $72,000 commitment.
What makes GEO more expensive?
Four things move the price, and you can see each one in the published tiers above.
- Content volume. Discovered Labs' tiers scale from up to 20 to up to 30 content units a month5, and Optimist's Full Service ranges from 4 to 20+ deliverables a month2. Most of a GEO budget is writing.
- Off-site work. Placements, PR and community engagement cost more than on-page fixes. Digital Elevator prices its mentions program separately ($3,495 a month), and Discovered Labs counts Reddit mentions per tier35.
- Re-check frequency. Arobis AI's $5,000 tier adds weekly AI answer re-checks with same-week fixes over its $2,500 tier1. Weekly monitoring across several engines takes more tooling and more hours.
- Scope beyond AI search. The $10,000-plus tiers bundle SEO, content, PR or paid media. Powered by Search's AI briefs sit inside its $12,000 Implementation tier6, and Omniscient's price is for a full program.
Is it cheaper to do GEO in-house?
Usually not at first, because one hire costs more than most entry retainers. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median annual wage for marketing managers at $166,790 in May 202512, about $13,900 a month before benefits and tools. That's a broad category, not an AEO specialist, but it's the closest official benchmark. Scalerrs, an agency, estimates "$90 to 120K+ for a full-time AEO specialist" and $500 to $1,000 a month for a basic tool stack13. Treat that as an agency's own estimate.
In-house wins once the work is steady and you have writers already: the hire compounds, and you're not paying an agency margin. It loses when you need the playbook fast or can't fill the role.
What does it cost to do GEO yourself?
The tools are cheap; the hours aren't. Tracking starts low: Otterly.AI Lite is $29 a month for 15 prompts14, and Peec AI Starter is $95 a month for 50 prompts across three models15. Profound doesn't list a self-serve brand plan; it offers a free 7-day trial and custom Enterprise pricing16. Optimization tools such as Frase start at $49 a month (see our AEO tools comparison), and our AI visibility tools comparison covers trackers in depth.
A workable DIY stack is a tracker, a content tool and a few hours a week from someone who can rewrite pages and run outreach. Our GEO audit checklist and the guide to ranking in ChatGPT are the free version of what most agencies sell in month one.
Worked example: a Series A SaaS choosing an option
This is a hypothetical company: a 60-person B2B SaaS with one content marketer and a $5,000 monthly budget for AI search. The numbers come from the published prices above.
- DIY: Peec AI Starter ($95) plus Frase Starter ($49) is $144 a month. The real cost is the content marketer's time, roughly a day a week to track, rewrite and pitch. Fits if that person has the day.
- Entry agency: a $2,500 to $3,000 retainer (Arobis AI Foundation, Optimist Advisory, Digital Elevator) leaves budget for the tracker and a freelance writer. Fits if the team needs a playbook and some execution.
- Mid agency: a $5,000 tier (Arobis AI Growth, LoudFace) uses the whole budget. Fits if the company competes on many prompts and needs weekly re-checks or site work.
- Out of range: Victorious's recommended minimum, Discovered Labs and Omniscient sit above this budget. They're built for larger programs.
Our pick for this company: start with a one-off audit or a three-month entry retainer, measure mention rate and share of voice on a fixed prompt set, and decide on month four whether to bring it in-house. Our guide to measuring AI visibility sets up that test.
What should you ask before signing?
Ask for specifics a pricing page can't show. Most of them come down to how the agency does prompt tracking:
- Which prompts will you track, how many, and in which engines? Can I see the list in week one?
- How often do you re-check answers, and how many runs per prompt? A single run per prompt is noise.
- What ships each month: how many pages, placements or outreach contacts?
- What does the minimum term cost in total, and what's the notice period?
- Can I talk to a client whose results you've shown me?
Walk away from guaranteed rankings or guaranteed AI mentions. Google's own advice on hiring an SEO says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google"17, and AI answers are less stable than Google rankings.
Frequently asked questions
How much does GEO cost?
Published GEO and AEO agency retainers start at $2,500 to $3,000 a month, most entry tiers fall between $3,000 and $8,000, and full-service programs run $10,000 to $20,000 a month or more. One-off audits and roadmaps cost $399 to $7,500. Doing it yourself starts at about $29 a month for a tracker, plus staff time.
How much does AEO cost?
AEO is sold at the same prices as GEO, often by the same agencies. Optimist's AEO Advisory starts at $3,000 a month, Digital Elevator's managed AEO and SEO at $3,500, Arobis AI's plans at $2,500 and $5,000, and Discovered Labs at €6,995 a month on a six-month term. Most other agencies quote after a call.
Why do so few GEO agencies publish prices?
Scope varies a lot: content volume, off-site work and the number of engines tracked change the cost, so many agencies price after a call. Of the 12 agencies we checked, 7 publish a starting price and 4 more give a budget guide or pricing rule. Published pricing usually comes with published deliverables, which makes those agencies easier to compare.
Is a GEO agency worth it compared with hiring?
For most companies starting out, yes. The US median wage for marketing managers was $166,790 in May 2025, about $13,900 a month before benefits, while entry retainers start at $2,500 to $3,000. In-house becomes cheaper once the work is steady and you already have writers, because the knowledge stays with you.
What is the minimum contract for a GEO agency?
It ranges from none to a year. Optimist and Discovered Labs run month-to-month, Discovered Labs with 30 days' notice. Arobis AI asks for three months on its entry plan, LoudFace for three months on fixed-scope work, and Victorious recommends a 12-month campaign. Ask for the total minimum commitment in writing before you sign.
Does "GEO pricing" mean geographic pricing?
Often, yes. In general business use, geo pricing means charging different prices by location, and Google's results for that phrase mostly reflect that meaning. In AI search, GEO stands for generative engine optimization, and GEO pricing means what agencies charge to get brands cited and recommended in AI answers, which is what this page covers.
Sources
- Arobis AI. Pricing.
- Optimist. Homepage and pricing.
- Digital Elevator. AI Visibility.
- LoudFace. Pricing.
- Discovered Labs. Pricing.
- Powered by Search. Pricing.
- Omniscient Digital. Homepage.
- Victorious. Homepage and FAQ.
- NoGood. Homepage and FAQ.
- Thrive. AI SEO services.
- SimpleTiger. Pricing.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook: Advertising, promotions, and marketing managers.
- Scalerrs. SaaS AEO agency.
- Otterly.AI. Pricing.
- Peec AI. Pricing.
- Profound. Pricing.
- Google Search Central. "Do you need an SEO?"
AI Ranked Editorial. "GEO agency pricing: what GEO and AEO services actually cost." AI Ranked, October 11, 2026. https://airanked.ai/guides/geo-agency-pricing