How much does an AI SEO agency cost?
A plain-English guide to how AI SEO and GEO agencies price their work, what drives the number, and what you should expect to get for it.
In one line: specialized AI SEO and GEO agencies work on monthly retainers scoped to your goals (ours are on our pricing page), and enterprise GEO agencies commonly charge $30,000 to $50,000 or more a month. What you’re paying for is results: for an industrial ground monitoring manufacturer, requests for quote grew 170% to 748 in three quarters, with 4,500 AI citations across just 18 pages in six months.
Most established AI SEO and GEO agencies work on monthly retainers priced by scope: the number of brands, channels, content and PR volume, and technical depth. Hourly and per-project pricing exist, but ongoing AI search visibility compounds over months, so retainers are the norm. Prices vary widely by tier: specialized agencies like AlchemyLeads start at $6,850 a month, with multi-brand engagements from $15,000 a month, while enterprise GEO agencies commonly charge $30,000 to $50,000 or more a month, and enterprise agency and AI search platform contracts can reach seven and eight figures a year. Compare any quote to the cost of building the same capability in-house: about $42,000 a month for a three-person SEO team with benefits.
How agencies charge
Most common for AI SEO and GEO
A fixed monthly fee for an ongoing program. It fits AI search best because visibility, citations and authority build over months, not weeks.
Good for defined one-off work
A fixed price for a scoped deliverable such as an audit, migration or site build. Useful, but it stops when the project ends.
Common with freelancers and consultants
You pay for time, not outcomes. It can work for small tasks, but it rewards hours spent rather than results.
Some agencies also experiment with performance-based pricing. Read the fine print: who defines the metric, and what happens when an algorithm update moves it?
What AI search costs at every tier
AI search spend ranges from a few hours of freelance help to multi-million-dollar enterprise programs. Here is how the market breaks down.
| Option | Typical pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Freelancers & consultants | Usually hourly or per project | Small, well-defined tasks with an internal owner |
| Specialized AI SEO agencies | AlchemyLeads: $6,850 to $10,888 a month; multi-brand from $15,000 a month | $5M to $150M companies that need AI search, SEO, content and PR working together |
| Enterprise GEO agencies | Commonly $30,000 to $50,000+ a month | Large enterprises with many brands, markets and stakeholders |
| AI search platforms | Software subscriptions; enterprise contracts vary widely | Teams that want software to track and optimize AI visibility, such as Scrunch (which AlchemyLeads uses) or AirOps |
| Enterprise programs | Combined agency and platform contracts can reach seven and eight figures a year | Global brands running AI search across many markets |
What to Compare in Any AI SEO Quote
Price only makes sense next to what’s included. Hold every quote up against the same four questions:
- Core scope: does it cover AI SEO and GEO, technical SEO, content and AI visibility tracking in a 24/7 real-time dashboard?
- Paid media: are Google and Meta ads run in the same program, or bought separately?
- Site and systems: are web development, email, AI automations and integrations included?
- Brands and markets: how many brands, sites or markets does the price cover?
Audits are separate: they’re paid, scoped per site, and take four to six weeks from onboarding, mostly digging into your own first-party data. Our plans and what each one includes are on our pricing page, and our SEO services page lays out the work itself.
Scope sets the number
- Number of brands, sites or marketsEach brand has its own search footprint, competitors and content plan.
- Channel mixAI SEO and GEO alone, or combined with traditional SEO, paid media, digital PR and integrations.
- Content and PR volumeHow much new content and how many editorial mentions and AI citations the plan targets.
- Technical depthMigrations, site performance, schema and development work beyond day-to-day optimization.
Compare against the real alternative
- Head of Search$177,770
- SEO & content specialist$78,760
- Web developer$99,520
Median annual pay, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025. Benefits estimated at the BLS private-industry average of about 30% of employer compensation costs.
- Bronze · Foundation$6,850/mo
- Silver · Acceleration$7,688/mo
- Gold · Market Dominance$10,888/mo
- Enterprise · Multi-brand$15,000+/mo
Priced on experience and outcomes, not hours. See what each plan includes.
Want the full breakdown? Read AlchemyLeads vs. hiring an in-house SEO team.
AI SEO Tools vs. an Agency: What Each Costs
AI visibility software and an agency solve different problems. Trackers tell you where you show up. An agency does the work that changes it: pages, technical fixes, schema and third-party mentions. Entry prices for the trackers we use (from each vendor’s pricing page, October 2026):
- Scrunch: from $250 a month, billed annually
- Searchable: from $125 a month for 100 tracked prompts
- GeoToolbox: from $99 a month
- QueryBurst: from $49 a month
We compare them side by side, with links to each pricing page, in AI SEO tools: the stack we use. For context on classic SEO pricing, Ahrefs’ survey of 439 SEO providers (updated August 2024) found agencies averaged $3,209 a month and 78.2% of providers charge a monthly retainer.
Can I do AI SEO myself?
Yes, to a point. With Search Console, GA4, one entry-level tracker and a few hours a week, you can run a prompt baseline and fix the obvious gaps. It usually stalls when competitors are entrenched, when your team can’t produce technical content fast enough, or when nobody has time to earn mentions on other sites. That’s when an agency pays for itself. If you’re in Southern California and want to talk it through face to face, here’s our Los Angeles SEO agency.
What a low price usually means
Guaranteed rankings or citations
No one controls Google or AI engines. Guarantees usually mean vanity metrics or risky tactics.
Cheap packages, junior teams
Low retainers are often delivered by junior staff with templated work and little strategy.
Activity counts with no revenue tie
If the deliverable is a list of tasks completed with no line to pipeline and revenue, you are paying for paperwork.
Straight answers
How much does an AI SEO agency cost per month?
It depends on scope. AlchemyLeads plans run from $6,850 to $10,888 a month, with multi-brand engagements from $15,000 a month. Pricing is driven by the number of brands, the channel mix, content and PR volume, and technical depth.
How much do enterprise GEO agencies cost?
Enterprise GEO agencies commonly charge $30,000 to $50,000 or more a month, and combined enterprise agency and AI search platform contracts can reach seven and eight figures a year. Specialized agencies like AlchemyLeads offer senior AI search teams from $6,850 a month for companies doing roughly $5M to $150M in revenue.
Is AI SEO more expensive than traditional SEO?
AI SEO and GEO build on strong SEO foundations, so most programs combine them. At AlchemyLeads every plan includes AI search and SEO technical optimization, AI prompt tracking and AI visibility dashboards.
Why do AI SEO agencies prefer monthly retainers?
AI visibility, citations and authority compound over months. A retainer funds the ongoing content, technical work and digital PR that AI engines reward.
Does AlchemyLeads bill by the hour?
No. Clients invest in experience and outcomes, not hours. Hourly billing only applies when it is specified for a specific development project.
What is AI SEO called now?
You’ll hear generative engine optimization (GEO), answer engine optimization (AEO) and AI search optimization. They describe the same goal: getting your brand cited and recommended in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. We call the full program AI SEO, because it sits on a classic SEO foundation.
Is SEO dead now with AI?
No. AI search retrieves pages from search indexes, so pages that can’t be crawled or trusted rarely get cited. Most brands need SEO and GEO together, which is why every AlchemyLeads plan covers both.
Do AI SEO audits cost extra?
At AlchemyLeads, yes. Audits are paid and scoped per site, and they take four to six weeks from onboarding because most of the work is analysis of your own first-party data.
Are AI visibility tools cheaper than hiring an agency?
Yes, and they do a different job. Trackers start around $49 to $250 a month and show where you appear in AI answers. They don’t write pages, fix technical issues or earn mentions, so they work best when someone on your team acts on the data every week.
Related guides
How AI search works
RAG, grounding and how AI assistants retrieve, rerank and cite sources.
AlchemyLeads vs. an in-house SEO team
Salary, benefits and tooling costs side by side with an agency plan.
AlchemyLeads vs. a freelancer or fractional lead
When a single specialist is enough and when it is not.
Scope your plan
Tell us about your brands, goals and current team. We will recommend the right plan and show you exactly what it includes.
