How Much Do GEO Services Cost in 2026?

Generative engine optimisation (GEO) services usually cost between $1,500 and $50,000 or more per month when you hire an agency, and the median agency retainer in October 2026 was $6,850 per month. Small businesses typically pay $1,800 to $4,200 a month, mid-sized companies $4,500 to $11,000, and large enterprises $22,000 or more. One-off GEO audits run from about $1,500 to $12,000, and do-it-yourself AI visibility tools cost roughly $10 to $1,000 a month.

Those figures come from two recent pricing studies: First Page Sage's GEO and AEO pricing report (1,146 quotes from 214 agencies, published 7 October 2026) and WebFX's guide to GEO costs (published 15 October 2026). This guide explains what those prices buy, what pushes a quote up or down, and how to compare proposals so you pay for work that gets your brand cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.

How much does GEO cost per month?

Most agencies sell GEO as a monthly retainer, because AI answers change constantly and the work compounds over time. First Page Sage found that 68% of agencies price GEO and AEO as a retainer, either custom (41%) or tiered (27%). Its October 2026 data groups engagements into four tiers:

• Starter, for local and small businesses: $1,800 to $4,200 per month, median $2,950, typical minimum term three months.
• Growth, for mid-market companies: $4,500 to $11,000 per month, median $7,400, typical minimum term six months.
• Advanced, for upper mid-market companies: $11,000 to $22,000 per month, median $14,600, typical minimum term six months.
• Enterprise, for large organisations: $22,000 to $60,000 or more per month, median $31,500, typical minimum term twelve months.

WebFX gives a similar picture by business size: $1,500 to $5,000 a month for small businesses with a basic strategy, $5,000 to $25,000 or more for medium-sized businesses, and $25,000 to $50,000 or more for enterprise programmes.

Prices are rising. First Page Sage reports that the median GEO and AEO retainer grew 66% between the first quarter of 2024 and the third quarter of 2026, from $4,120 to $6,850, and that GEO retainers now cost 45% more than traditional SEO retainers (median $4,740).

What do one-off GEO projects and audits cost?

Not every business needs a retainer on day one. The main alternatives, with First Page Sage's October 2026 figures, are:

• One-time audit: $1,500 to $12,000, median $4,300, usually delivered in two to six weeks.
• Project or sprint: $5,000 to $40,000 per project, median $14,500, over 30 to 90 days. Buyers often use a sprint to test an agency before signing a retainer.
• Hourly consulting: $125 to $325 per hour, median $205.
• Performance-based: a base fee of $1,500 to $4,000 a month plus fees per result. Only 5% of agencies offer it, and buyers report difficulty agreeing on how results are counted.

WebFX quotes $5,000 to $50,000 for project work and $50 to $300 an hour for consultants.

What does DIY GEO cost?

If you have people in-house who can write, fix technical issues and read the data, you can start with software alone. WebFX puts AI visibility tracking tools at roughly $50 to $1,000 or more per month, depending on how many prompts and AI platforms you track, and general AI SEO tools at $10 to $250 or more per month.

The software is the cheap part. Someone still has to choose the buyer questions to track, decide why a competitor is cited instead of you, rewrite pages, fix schema and earn mentions on other sites. Budget that internal time honestly. First Page Sage modelled a single in-house GEO specialist at $146,028 a year including benefits, and found in-house teams took 13.6 to 17.9 weeks to publish their first deliverable, mostly because of hiring time.

You can also measure for free: our guide to tracking AEO with a weekly prompt panel shows a spreadsheet method, and the AEO and GEO KPI scorecard lists what to report.

What actually drives the price of a GEO quote?

Two quotes at the same monthly price can contain very different amounts of work. These five factors explain most of the difference:

1. Prompts tracked. How many buyer questions are tested each month, on how many AI engines. A panel of 20 prompts on one engine costs far less to run than 200 prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews.
2. Pages produced. The number of new or rewritten answer-first pages per month, and whether the agency writes them or your team does.
3. Markets and languages. Each market needs its own prompts and sources, and often native-language content.
4. Off-site work. Digital PR, directory and review programmes and community work take the most time. First Page Sage found digital PR included by 33% of agencies at the Growth tier but 71% at the Advanced tier, which is a large part of the price jump between them.
5. Competition for the answer. Crowded categories, where many brands fight for the same AI recommendation and each new customer is valuable, cost more to win than quiet ones.

How do you compare GEO proposals?

Put every proposal into the same units before comparing totals. Ask each agency to state:

• Which AI engines they test, and how many prompts per month. Ask who chooses the prompts and whether you can change them.
• Exactly how many pages they will write or rewrite each month, and who approves them.
• What technical work is included, such as crawler access, structured data and fixing pages that render only in JavaScript.
• Whether off-site work (digital PR, reviews, directory profiles) is included or extra.
• How they report results: citations and share of answer, plus leads and revenue from AI referrals in your CRM.
• The minimum term and notice period.
• Whether tracking software is bundled, so you do not pay for the same data twice.

Be wary of guaranteed placements in AI answers. No agency controls what an AI engine says,. A credible agency promises the work and the measurement, not a fixed outcome. Our list of AEO and GEO agencies covers more selection criteria.

Is GEO worth the cost?

GEO is worth paying for when buyers in your market ask AI assistants for recommendations before they contact a supplier, and when you can measure the leads that follow. WebFX reports that, in its analysis of 2.3 billion sessions, visitors from generative AI platforms converted about 1.2 times better than organic search visitors in 2025. Count enquiries and revenue from AI referrals, not just mentions, and judge the programme after at least a quarter: fixing errors can show within weeks, but new citations usually take a few months.

A sensible way to control cost is to start small: run a fixed-fee diagnostic, fix the technical blockers and the few pages that matter most, and only then decide on a monthly programme sized to the gaps you found.

How does Insyrge price GEO?

Insyrge quotes every engagement as a fixed fee, in writing, after a 30-minute scoping call. Work starts with a one-off diagnostic: a prompt panel and baseline across the major AI engines, a map of competitors and the sources they are cited from, a technical and schema review, and a prioritised 90-day plan. The diagnostic fee is credited against a monthly programme if you continue.

Monthly programmes are sized by the four things above: prompts tracked, pages produced, markets and off-site work. They run month to month after a three-month start, and your team can do the writing from our briefs to reduce the fee. Details are on our AEO and GEO pricing page and our generative engine optimisation service page.

Want to know what AI engines say about you before you spend anything? Get a free AI visibility check, or book a free consultation to get a written, fixed-fee quote.

Frequently asked questions about GEO costs

What is the average cost of GEO services?

The median GEO and AEO agency retainer was $6,850 per month in October 2026, according to First Page Sage's study of 214 agencies. Small-business engagements had a median of $2,950 a month.

Is GEO more expensive than SEO?

Yes, on average. First Page Sage found GEO and AEO retainers cost 45% more than traditional SEO retainers in 2026, with medians of $6,850 and $4,740 per month.

Can a small business afford GEO?

Yes. Starter engagements typically cost $1,800 to $4,200 a month, and a one-off audit or a small fix sprint is cheaper still. Many small businesses get most of the early gains from clear answer-first pages, consistent business details across the web and correct technical settings.

How long is a typical GEO contract?

Minimum terms usually range from three months for small engagements to twelve months for enterprise programmes. Some agencies, including Insyrge after a three-month start, work month to month.

Why do most GEO agencies not publish prices?

Scope varies widely with the number of prompts, pages, markets and off-site work. First Page Sage found that only 23% of agencies publish any GEO or AEO pricing. Ask for a written, itemised quote so you can compare like with like.

What is the difference between GEO and AEO pricing?

Very little in practice. Most agencies sell GEO (getting your brand described and cited in AI-generated answers) and AEO (being the source answer engines quote) together, and the studies above report them as one market.