Companies budgeting for generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO) have had little reliable pricing data to work from. The discipline is young, most agencies quote by proposal, and the few figures that are published range from a few hundred dollars to more than $60,000 per month.
From July 6 to October 2, 2026, our research team compiled 1,146 GEO and AEO price quotes from 214 agencies, drawn from published pricing pages, client proposals, and signed contracts. We normalized every quote to a monthly figure and grouped the dataset by engagement tier, pricing model, and client industry. We then paired the agency data with a survey of 362 marketing leaders who run GEO and AEO programs in-house, which allowed us to model the full cost of building the function internally.
In the sections below, we break down what companies pay for GEO and AEO, how that price is structured, and how agency fees compare to an in-house team.
Summary of Findings
- The median GEO and AEO retainer is $6,850 per month, up 66% since the first quarter of 2024.
- GEO and AEO retainers now cost 45% more than traditional SEO retainers, which have a median of $4,740 per month.
- 68% of agencies price GEO and AEO as a monthly retainer, either custom (41%) or tiered (27%).
- A Growth-tier agency engagement costs $98,400 per year all-in, about 27% of the $363,512 cost of a three-person in-house team.
- Financial services companies pay the highest median price at $9,850 per month; home services companies pay the lowest at $3,190.
GEO & AEO Pricing by Engagement Tier
Agency pricing for GEO and AEO clusters into four tiers, defined by the size of the client and the scope of work. Starter engagements usually cover reporting, a technical audit, and a few pages each month, while Enterprise engagements add digital PR, multi-market coverage, and a dedicated senior team. For a closer look at what each activity costs, see our GEO cost breakdown. In the table below, we break down the price range, median, minimum term, and monthly output at each tier.
GEO & AEO Pricing by Engagement Tier (October 2026)
| Tier | Typical Client | Monthly Price Range | Median Monthly Price | Typical Minimum Term | Avg. Deliverables per Month |
| Starter | Local and small businesses | $1,800 to $4,200 | $2,950 | 3 months | 3.4 |
| Growth | Mid-market companies | $4,500 to $11,000 | $7,400 | 6 months | 6.5 |
| Advanced | Upper mid-market companies | $11,000 to $22,000 | $14,600 | 6 months | 9.8 |
| Enterprise | Large enterprises | $22,000 to $60,000+ | $31,500 | 12 months | 14.2 |
Our researchers drew three conclusions from the tier data.
- We found that the median price roughly doubles or more with each step up in tier, from $2,950 per month at Starter to $31,500 at Enterprise.
- Our data showed that output rises more slowly than price. Enterprise clients pay 10.7 times the Starter median for 4.2 times the monthly deliverables, because the higher tiers add PR placements, multi-market work, and senior staffing.
- Minimum terms lengthen as price rises, from three months at the Starter tier to twelve months at the Enterprise tier.
GEO & AEO Pricing Over Time, Q1 2024 to Q3 2026
To measure how quickly the market has repriced, we tracked the median monthly retainer each quarter for all GEO and AEO engagements, for Growth-tier engagements alone, and for traditional SEO retainers as a baseline. The SEO figures align with the trend in our SEO agency pricing survey. The table below lists the quarterly medians, followed by a chart of the same series.
Median Monthly Retainer by Quarter, Q1 2024 to Q3 2026
| Quarter | All GEO & AEO Retainers | Growth-Tier GEO & AEO Retainer | Traditional SEO Retainer |
| Q1 2024 | $4,120 | $4,650 | $4,480 |
| Q2 2024 | $4,380 | $4,910 | $4,510 |
| Q3 2024 | $4,310 | $5,080 | $4,460 |
| Q4 2024 | $4,760 | $5,420 | $4,530 |
| Q1 2025 | $5,240 | $5,890 | $4,590 |
| Q2 2025 | $5,610 | $6,150 | $4,570 |
| Q3 2025 | $5,530 | $6,320 | $4,620 |
| Q4 2025 | $6,020 | $6,710 | $4,680 |
| Q1 2026 | $6,410 | $7,050 | $4,650 |
| Q2 2026 | $6,380 | $6,980 | $4,710 |
| Q3 2026 | $6,850 | $7,400 | $4,740 |
These are the patterns our team took from the quarterly data.
- Our data showed the median GEO and AEO retainer rising 66% over the period, from $4,120 to $6,850, while the SEO median rose 6%.
- We found that GEO and AEO pricing passed SEO pricing in the fourth quarter of 2024, and the gap has widened every year since. It now stands at 45%.
- The three small dips in the series, in Q3 2024, Q3 2025, and Q2 2026, each followed a wave of new agencies launching GEO services at entry-level prices.
Published Pricing of Leading GEO & AEO Agencies
Only 23% of the 214 agencies in our dataset publish any GEO or AEO pricing, and fewer publish full tiers. We collected the published figures from nine established agencies, including several that appear in our ranking of the top GEO agencies. The table below lists each agency’s published price, how that price is structured, and its stated commitment.
Published Pricing of Leading GEO & AEO Agencies (October 2026)
| Agency | Published Monthly Price | Pricing Structure | Stated Commitment |
| First Page Sage | $6,000 to $12,000 | Monthly deliverable credits | Month-to-month |
| WebFX | $3,000 to $68,250 | Seven fixed tiers plus custom | 6 months |
| Omniscient Digital | From $10,000 | Custom retainer | Not published |
| Rock The Rankings | $4,500 to $14,000 | Three tiers | Not published |
| DerivateX | $5,000 to $12,000 | Three tiers | 90-day sprint |
| Optimising | $2,000 to $20,000+ | Three tiers | Not published |
| Tenten | From $4,999 | Tiered plus custom enterprise | Not published |
| Digital Elevator | $3,495 to $22,995 per 30-day campaign | Fixed 30-day campaigns | 30 days |
| RevenueZen | From $3,000 | Tiered retainer | Not published |
Our researchers noted three points in the published pricing.
- We found that the median published starting price among these agencies is $4,500 per month, below the $6,850 market median, because pricing pages tend to lead with entry tiers.
- Our data showed that First Page Sage’s published range of $6,000 to $12,000 per month sits within the market’s Growth tier, and it was the only agency in this group to publish month-to-month terms from the first month.
- WebFX publishes the widest span, $3,000 to $68,250 per month across seven fixed tiers, which covers every tier in our study.
GEO & AEO Pricing Models Compared
Agencies sell GEO and AEO under six main pricing models. We classified each agency in our dataset by the model it uses for most engagements, then measured the typical and median price under each one. The table below compares the models, followed by a chart of how common each one is.
GEO & AEO Pricing Models Compared (October 2026)
| Pricing Model | Share of Agencies | Typical Price | Median Price | Typical Term |
| Custom monthly retainer | 41% | $3,000 to $15,000 per month | $7,200 per month | 6 months |
| Tiered package retainer | 27% | $2,500 to $25,000 per month | $6,300 per month | 3 to 6 months |
| Project or sprint | 13% | $5,000 to $40,000 per project | $14,500 per project | 30 to 90 days |
| One-time audit | 8% | $1,500 to $12,000 | $4,300 | 2 to 6 weeks |
| Hourly consulting | 6% | $125 to $325 per hour | $205 per hour | None |
| Performance-based | 5% | $1,500 to $4,000 base plus per-result fees | $2,600 per month base | 6 to 12 months |
Three findings stood out to our team in the pricing model data.
- We found that 68% of agencies sell GEO and AEO as a monthly retainer, and the custom and tiered retainer medians of $7,200 and $6,300 together produce the $6,850 market median.
- Our data showed that project and sprint pricing carries the largest single ticket, a median of $14,500, and buyers often use it to test an agency before signing a retainer.
- Performance-based pricing remains rare at 5%. Agencies that offer it tie fees to tracked AI recommendations or mentions, and buyers in our survey reported difficulty agreeing on how those results are counted.
In-House vs Outsourced GEO & AEO Costs
To compare agency fees with the cost of doing the work internally, we modeled five approaches using the salary, tool, and recruiting costs reported in our survey. The models use a median GEO and AEO specialist salary of $96,400, a median content writer salary of $74,600, and benefits and payroll taxes of 27% of salary. Agency approaches include the internal time spent managing the agency. A similar comparison for traditional search is available in our analysis of in-house vs agency SEO. In the table below, we compare the annual cost, output, and speed of each approach.
In-House vs Outsourced GEO & AEO Costs (October 2026)
| Approach | Annual Cost | Monthly Equivalent | Deliverables per Month | Cost per Deliverable | Weeks to First Deliverable |
| In-house, one GEO/AEO specialist | $146,028 | $12,169 | 3.1 | $3,925 | 13.6 |
| In-house team (specialist plus two writers) | $363,512 | $30,293 | 9.4 | $3,223 | 17.9 |
| Agency, Growth tier | $98,400 | $8,200 | 6.5 | $1,262 | 3.4 |
| Agency, Enterprise tier | $392,400 | $32,700 | 14.2 | $2,303 | 4.1 |
| Hybrid (specialist plus Growth-tier agency) | $227,228 | $18,936 | 8.7 | $2,177 | 3.6 |
The chart below breaks each approach’s annual cost into its components.
Dividing each approach’s monthly cost by its monthly output gives the cost of a single published deliverable, shown below.
Our team took three conclusions from the cost comparison.
- We found that a Growth-tier agency costs $98,400 per year, less than a single in-house specialist at $146,028, while producing 6.5 deliverables per month compared with 3.1.
- Our data showed the lowest cost per deliverable at the Growth-tier agency, $1,262, roughly one-third of the $3,925 cost under a single in-house specialist.
- In-house approaches took 13.6 to 17.9 weeks to publish their first deliverable, most of it recruiting time, compared with 3.4 to 4.1 weeks for agencies.
GEO & AEO Pricing by Industry
Price varies widely by the industry a client operates in, driven by how competitive AI answers are in that category and how much each new customer is worth. The table below lists the median monthly price, typical range, and change from 2025 for eleven industries.
GEO & AEO Pricing by Industry (October 2026)
| Industry | Median Monthly Price | Typical Range | Change vs. 2025 |
| Financial services | $9,850 | $5,500 to $24,000 | +31% |
| Cybersecurity | $9,420 | $5,000 to $22,000 | +38% |
| B2B SaaS | $8,640 | $4,500 to $20,000 | +34% |
| Legal | $8,170 | $4,000 to $18,500 | +42% |
| Healthcare | $7,960 | $4,000 to $19,000 | +29% |
| Insurance | $7,530 | $3,800 to $17,500 | +27% |
| Manufacturing | $6,280 | $3,500 to $14,000 | +22% |
| Higher education | $5,740 | $3,000 to $12,500 | +19% |
| Ecommerce | $5,310 | $2,500 to $13,000 | +24% |
| Real estate | $4,460 | $2,200 to $9,500 | +26% |
| Home services | $3,190 | $1,800 to $7,500 | +17% |
These are the industry patterns our researchers identified.
- We found that financial services, cybersecurity, and B2B SaaS companies pay 26% to 44% above the $6,850 all-industry median, reflecting high customer values and crowded AI answers in those categories.
- Our data showed legal pricing rising fastest, up 42% from 2025, as law firms competed for recommendations on high-value practice-area queries.
- Home services and real estate have the lowest medians, $3,190 and $4,460 per month, because most engagements are scoped to a local market.
What’s Included at Each GEO & AEO Price Point
Two engagements at the same price can include very different work. We reviewed the scope of every proposal and contract in our dataset and recorded which services were included at each tier. The chart below shows the share of agencies that include each service, by tier.
Our team drew three conclusions from the scope data.
- We found that reporting and technical audits are near-universal from the Starter tier upward, so they do little to separate one agency’s offer from another’s.
- Our data showed the largest jumps between the Growth and Advanced tiers in digital PR, which rises from 33% to 71%, and original research, which rises from 29% to 64%. These are the services that build the brand authority AI platforms weigh when deciding whom to recommend.
- Multi-market and multilingual coverage is concentrated at the Enterprise tier, where 67% of agencies include it, compared with 24% at the Advanced tier.
Requesting a Copy of This Report
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- First Page Sage Research Study. First Page Sage. October 2026. San Francisco, California.
- AI SEO Pricing. WebFX. 2026. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
- 2026 GEO Pricing Benchmark: What Public Prices Actually Buy. Tenten. August 2026. Taipei, Taiwan.
- How Much Does GEO Cost?. James Richardson, Optimising. June 2025. Richmond, Victoria, Australia.
- Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers: Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. August 2026. Washington, D.C.
