AEO Pricing 2026: What AEO and GEO Services Cost

AEO pricing illustration: cost charts and an AI search panel on an isometric navy platform

If you have asked two or three agencies for an AEO or GEO proposal, you have probably seen very different numbers for what sounds like the same service. AEO pricing is hard to compare because the label covers anything from a one-off audit to a full content, PR and tracking programme.

This guide breaks AEO into the deliverables you actually pay for, shows published price benchmarks for tools and freelance work, and lists the red flags that should end a sales call. Every figure links to its source and was checked on 29 October 2026. We do not quote made-up “average agency rates”.

Key takeaways

Compare AEO proposals deliverable by deliverable: audit, content and technical fixes, entity work and digital PR, and tracking.
Upwork’s hiring guide lists GEO specialists at $15 to $35 an hour, with project ranges from $500 for an audit to $3,000 to $10,000 for ongoing management (Upwork).
Tracking tools have public prices, from $29 a month (Otterly Lite) to custom enterprise plans, so check what a retainer already includes.
Walk away from guaranteed rankings or citations. Google says “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google” (Google).

In this guide

What you are paying for
Published price benchmarks
Tool costs inside a retainer
Pricing models compared
How to judge a proposal
Red flags
FAQ

What you are paying for

AEO (answer engine optimisation) and GEO (generative engine optimisation) both aim to make your brand the source that AI answers cite or recommend. Google itself says SEO best practices still apply to its AI features and that no special optimisation is needed (Google Search Central), which is why good AEO work looks a lot like strong SEO, PR and content work. See AEO vs SEO vs GEO for the differences.

Four AEO deliverables you pay for: audit, content and technical fixes, entity and digital PR, tracking and reporting — Price an AEO proposal by its deliverables, not by the label on the invoice.

Audit: which prompts matter, where you appear in AI answers today, who gets cited instead, and why.
Content and technical fixes: rewriting key pages to answer questions directly, adding sources, fixing crawl access and structured data.
Entity and digital PR: consistent company information across directories and profiles, and earning mentions on sites AI systems cite.
Tracking and reporting: repeat prompt checks across engines, plus Search Console and Bing data.

Published price benchmarks

Few agencies publish AEO prices, so the most reliable public benchmark is Upwork’s hiring guide for GEO specialists. These are freelance figures, not agency rates.

Deliverable (Upwork category)	Published range	Typical level
AI visibility audit	$500 to $2,000 a project	Intermediate to expert
On-page and schema optimisation	$1,000 to $3,000 a project	Intermediate to expert
Entity and authority building	$1,500 to $5,000 a project	Expert
GEO content strategy	$2,000 to $5,000 a project	Expert
Ongoing GEO management	$3,000 to $10,000 a project	Expert
Hourly rate	$15 to $35 an hour	Varies by scope and experience

Source: Upwork, Hire GEO specialists, checked 29 Oct 2026.

Agencies usually price above freelancers because they bundle strategy, writing, development, PR and reporting. That can be good value if the bundle is real. Ask for a line-by-line scope and compare it with the table above. If you only need a starting point, our AI visibility audit guide shows how to do a basic audit yourself.

Comparing AEO proposals? Send us the scope you have been quoted. Eoxys will tell you what is missing and what we would charge for the same deliverables. Get a real project estimate within 24 hours. NDA on request.

Tool costs inside a retainer

Tracking tools are a real cost in any AEO programme, and their prices are public. Check whether a retainer includes them or bills them on top.

Tool	Entry price (published)	What the entry plan covers
Google Search Console	No charge	Generative AI report with impressions for AI Overviews and AI Mode (Google)
Otterly.AI	$29 a month (Lite)	15 prompts across ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit	$99 a month	1 project, 25 prompts
Ahrefs Brand Radar	AI Visibility Index from $199 a month	Custom prompts included with paid Ahrefs plans from Lite
Profound	Custom (enterprise)	Up to 9 engines on enterprise plans

Prices from each vendor’s pricing page, checked 29 Oct 2026. Taxes and add-ons extra.

Pricing models compared

Model	Works well for	Watch out for
One-off audit	Finding out where you stand before committing	An audit with no prioritised fix list
Fixed project	Rewriting a set of pages or fixing technical issues	Scope creep; agree page counts up front
Monthly retainer	Ongoing content, PR and tracking	Paying for reports instead of work
Hourly	Advice and small fixes	Hard to budget for larger work

Eoxys working view.

How to judge a proposal

Ask for named deliverables

Each month should list concrete outputs: pages rewritten, mentions earned, technical fixes shipped, prompts tracked. “AI optimisation” is not a deliverable.

Check the baseline

A good proposal starts with a measured baseline: a fixed prompt set, engines checked and current citation share. Without one, nobody can show progress.

Look at who does the work

Ask whether writers, developers and PR people are in-house or subcontracted, and who reviews quality. Our vendor vetting checklist applies to AEO agencies too.

Agree how results are reported

Expect reports that combine repeat prompt checks with first-party data from Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, plus leads or enquiries where you can track them.

Red flags

Guaranteed ChatGPT, Gemini or AI Overview placements. Google’s guidance on hiring an SEO says to beware of anyone who claims to guarantee rankings or a “special relationship” with Google.
Selling llms.txt files or special AI markup as the main deliverable, when Google says you do not need them for its AI features.
Fake reviews, paid listicles or spam mentions presented as “digital PR”.
Reports with no fixed prompt set, so the numbers cannot be compared month to month.
Long lock-in contracts before any audit has been done.

FAQ

How much does AEO cost?

It depends on scope. Upwork’s GEO hiring guide lists $500 to $2,000 for an AI visibility audit and $3,000 to $10,000 for ongoing management projects from freelancers. Agencies often charge more because they bundle content, development and PR, so compare proposals by deliverable.

Is AEO pricing different from SEO pricing?

The work overlaps heavily, so prices are similar in structure. AEO adds prompt tracking, citation analysis and more focus on brand mentions. Be wary of large premiums for relabelled SEO, and ask each agency to list what is new compared with its SEO retainer.

Should an AEO retainer include tracking tools?

Ask. Tool costs are public, from $29 a month for Otterly Lite to $99 a month for Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit, so you can check whether you are paying for them twice. A good proposal names the tool, the prompt set and how often results are reported.

What does Eoxys charge for AEO?

We price by deliverable after a short review of your site and goals, so you see exactly what each part of the work costs. Engagements can be fixed-cost projects, a dedicated team or hourly support. Get a real project estimate within 24 hours, with an NDA on request.

Work with Eoxys

Eoxys IT Solution LLP has built websites, apps and AI products since 2009, with 700+ projects delivered. See the work on our portfolio, or explore our AI and machine learning solutions.

Our AEO service covers audits, content and technical fixes, entity clean-up and tracking, priced by deliverable. Get a real project estimate within 24 hours. NDA on request. Prefer to talk? Call +91 96678 22661.

Related reading:

Sources

Checked on 29 Oct 2026 against Upwork’s GEO hiring guide, vendor pricing pages and Google Search Central. We do not publish estimated agency averages because no reliable public dataset exists.