Pricing guide · updated July 2026

How much does an AI visibility audit cost?

A one-off AI visibility audit (GEO audit) costs between $99 and $1,500 in 2026. Low-end automated scans run $99–290; productized mid-market audits — the kind with competitor analysis and a roadmap — cluster at €900–1,500 (roughly $1,000–1,600); boutique and enterprise audits reach $1,500–10,000+. Ongoing monitoring is a separate line item at $99–800/month, and full done-for-you GEO retainers run $2,800–12,000/month.

The full price breakdown by tier

Service	Typical price	What's included
Automated scan	$99–290 one-off	A tool-generated snapshot of your AI mentions. No human interpretation.
Basic audit	$500–1,000 one-off	Scan plus a light manual review.
Productized mid-market audit	€900–1,500 (~$1,000–1,600)	Share-of-answers baseline, competitor citation mapping, prioritized roadmap. 5–10 business days.
Boutique / enterprise audit	$1,500–10,000+	Deeper scope, custom reporting, multi-market. 2–6 weeks.
Ongoing tracking	$99–800 / month	The same measurement re-run monthly, reported as a trend.
Done-for-you GEO retainer	$2,800–12,000 / month	Monitoring plus content, digital PR, and schema work.

Figures reflect published 2026 rates from productized GEO providers and agencies. Prices vary with the number of AI engines tracked, competitor depth, and whether implementation is included.

Why the range is so wide

A 15x spread between a $99 scan and a $1,500 audit sounds irrational until you see what's inside each. The cheap end is a fully automated tool run: it queries a few prompts, counts your mentions, and exports a PDF. Nobody reads it before it reaches you. The expensive end is mostly human hours — someone choosing the right buyer questions, measuring your competitors, reading who holds each slot, and writing a plan you can act on. You're not paying more for more data; you're paying for the judgment layered on top of it.

What actually drives the price

Human interpretation vs. a raw dashboard. The gap between a $99 scan and a $1,200 audit is judgment — a verdict on whether your niche is winnable and what to do, not just a number.
Competitor coverage. Measuring your top 3–5 rivals' share, not only your own, roughly doubles the work and the value.
Number of AI engines. ChatGPT and Perplexity are the baseline; adding Google AI Overviews, Gemini, and Copilot raises cost.
One-off vs. ongoing. AI citations are noisy — engines disagree with themselves run to run — so a single reading is a snapshot. Trend tracking costs more because it's the signal that actually matters.
Implementation. An audit ends at "here's the plan." A retainer executes it — content, digital PR, schema — which is why monthly programs jump into the thousands.

Is there a free AI visibility audit?

Sort of, with limits. You can ask ChatGPT or Perplexity your own buyer questions and note whether you appear — that costs nothing and is a reasonable first sniff test. Several tools also offer a free single scan. What "free" can't give you is the right question set, competitor benchmarking, filtering of the roughly one-third run-to-run engine disagreement, and a read on whether your share is early-and-climbing or structurally stuck. A free check tells you if you're cited; a paid audit tells you where you can win and how.

What you should get at each price point

Under $300: expect an automated snapshot. Fine for a first look; don't expect strategy.
$300–1,000: you should get competitor comparison, a per-question breakdown, and a written recommendation — not just charts.
$1,000–1,500: add a prioritized roadmap, a share-of-answers baseline you can track against, and a live readout call.
$1,500+: justified mainly by multi-market scope, many engines, or ongoing reporting — not by a fancier PDF.

Red flags worth avoiding

Some priced offers are worth less than their sticker regardless of tier. Be wary of any audit that guarantees citations or rankings — no one can, because engines disagree with themselves and pick their own sources. Be wary of a "custom enterprise quote" that won't name a range, of reports that are pure dashboard with no verdict, and of anyone who won't tell you when GEO won't work for your niche. The most valuable thing an honest audit can say is sometimes "don't spend on this yet."

Is an audit worth it before a retainer?

An audit is typically less than 1% of a quarterly GEO retainer ($2,800–12,000/month). Its job is to answer one question before you commit that money: can content even win in your niche, or is it locked up by Reddit, review sites, or funded incumbents? In saturated niches, no amount of content moves the needle — and finding that out for a few hundred dollars is cheaper than finding it out after a five-figure retainer.

The ROI math, worked through

Put concrete numbers on it. Say you're weighing a $4,000/month GEO retainer — $12,000 for a first quarter. Before signing, a $300 audit resolves one of two outcomes, and both pay for it many times over:

The niche is locked (Reddit and review sites hold your slots). The audit says "don't run content here yet." You've spent $300 to avoid a $12,000 quarter that would have moved nothing — a 40x return in avoided waste.
The niche is winnable. The audit hands you a per-question map of exactly which intents have open slots. The retainer now targets only those, instead of spreading budget across queries you can't win — so the same $12,000 produces more citations. The audit didn't just de-risk the spend; it sharpened it.

Either way, the audit's value comes from being the cheap step that aims the expensive one. That's the whole economic case for measuring before you build: the measurement costs a rounding error against the program it governs.

Frequently asked questions

How much should a small business pay for a GEO audit?

For most small businesses, a $300–1,000 one-off audit is the right range — enough to get competitor comparison and a real plan, without paying enterprise rates for multi-market scope you don't need.

One-time audit or monthly tracking — which first?

Always the one-time audit first. It tells you whether your niche is winnable at all. Only add monthly tracking once you have a plan worth watching; paying to monitor a niche you can't win is the common mistake.

Are the expensive audits actually better?

Only if the extra cost buys more engines, deeper competitor work, or ongoing reporting. A more expensive PDF with the same underlying analysis is not better. Judge by scope and the quality of the recommendation, not the price.

What does a $300 audit include versus a $1,500 one?

A well-run $300 audit covers the core: your share, competitor shares, a per-question map, and a recommended play across ChatGPT and Perplexity. A $1,500 audit typically adds more engines, more competitors, a formal roadmap, and multi-market coverage.

Do agencies charge more for the same thing?

Often, yes — the underlying measurement is similar; the price reflects overhead and brand. Productized and solo providers deliver comparable core analysis for less, which is why some agencies quietly white-label them.

Our audit is $300, delivered in 48 hours.

Deliberately priced at the bottom of the market — because the point is to prove the measurement is worth it before you spend on anything bigger. You get the full report and the raw data.

See what's included