How much does GEO cost?
Published 2026 agency price guides put GEO retainers at roughly $2,500 to $12,000 a month, with enterprise programs reaching $25,000 a month or more, and one-time audits at about $2,500 to $5,000. GEO, generative engine optimization, is also sold as AI SEO and AEO. At Abovance, the AI visibility audit is complimentary for qualified brands, the Deep Audit is $5,000, the Foundation starts at $15,000, and retainers are quoted on scope.
What does GEO cost in 2026?
| What you buy | Typical published range |
|---|---|
| One-time GEO or AI SEO audit | $2,500 to $5,000 |
| Starter retainer | $2,500 to $6,000 a month |
| Growth or authority retainer | $3,500 to $12,000 a month |
| Enterprise or full-stack program | $12,000 to $25,000 a month and up; one guide cites up to $35,000 for full-stack programs |
| Freelancer | $125 to $250 an hour, or $3,500 to $6,000 a month |
Sources: Fuel Online, AI SEO Pricing 2026 (updated September 19, 2026); RevvGrowth, Generative Engine Optimization Pricing (April 21, 2026). Links below.
What drives the price?
Five things, roughly in order. First, how many buyer questions are tracked and won: ten questions in one category is a different job from three hundred across a product line. Second, whether the site has to be fixed first. If AI crawlers are blocked, the brand has no consistent entity record or the core pages are thin, that repair comes before any citation work. Third, content volume: how many answer pages, guides and study summaries get written each month. Fourth, off-site work: earning mentions on the publishers, review sites and journals the engines already cite. Fifth, review. In supplements, telehealth and other regulated categories, every claim needs a senior check against DSHEA, FTC and state rules, and that time is part of the price.
Why do some providers charge a one-time fee and others a retainer?
Because GEO has two kinds of work. Making a site readable and resolvable, meaning crawler access, schema, a clean entity record and rewritten core pages, is mostly done once. Being cited is ongoing: answers change from run to run, competitors publish, and the sources the engines trust shift. In our study of 537 AI citations, ChatGPT and Perplexity shared no source at all on 20 of 50 questions, which is why measurement has to keep running.
What does Abovance charge?
| Engagement | Fee | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| AI visibility audit | Complimentary | For qualified brands, by application. Who the assistants cite for your category today, whether AI crawlers can read your site, and a straight read on whether you need us. |
| Deep Audit and Roadmap | $5,000 | A full prompt panel across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, technical and entity review, and a written roadmap. Credited in full toward a Foundation started within 60 days. |
| Foundation | From $15,000, one time | The Answer Layer built once: crawler access, entity record, core pages with verified citations, measurement. |
| GEO Retainer | Quoted on scope | Ongoing pages, citations, entity work and reporting. |
| Abovance OS | Quoted on scope | GEO plus email, PR sourcing, paid search and social run as one system. Multi-brand and enterprise programs are quoted after the audit. |
Engagements begin at $15,000. Every number comes in writing from the roadmap, so the price is tied to the work the audit found, not to a package.
How do you tell if a GEO quote is fair?
Ask four questions. Which buyer questions will you track, and across which engines? Who writes and reviews the content, and who signs off on claims? What is done once and what is ongoing? And how will citation share be reported each month? A quote that cannot answer those is pricing activity, not results. Be wary of anyone who guarantees citations or a ranking in an AI answer. Nobody controls what the engines cite.
Common follow-up questions
How much does GEO cost per month?
Published 2026 agency price guides put most GEO and AI SEO retainers between about $2,500 and $12,000 a month, with enterprise programs running to $25,000 a month or more. The spread comes from scope: how many buyer questions are tracked, how much content is produced and whether PR and entity work are included.
How much does a GEO audit cost?
Published guides put a one-time GEO or AI SEO audit at roughly $2,500 to $5,000. Abovance runs a complimentary AI visibility audit for qualified brands and a $5,000 Deep Audit and Roadmap that is credited in full toward a Foundation started within 60 days.
What does Abovance charge?
The AI visibility audit is complimentary for qualified brands. The Deep Audit and Roadmap is $5,000. The Foundation is a one-time build from $15,000. The GEO Retainer and Abovance OS are quoted on scope. Engagements begin at $15,000.
Can anyone guarantee AI citations?
No. Nobody controls what an AI engine cites, and answers change from run to run. What a provider can do is make a brand readable, resolvable, citable and referenced, and report citation share against a fixed set of buyer questions so progress is measured, not promised.
Is GEO a one-time project or ongoing?
Both. Fixing crawler access, schema and the core pages is mostly one-time work. Earning citations is ongoing, because answers change and competitors publish. That is why many providers pair a one-time build with a monthly retainer.
Sources
- Fuel Online, AI SEO Pricing 2026: Cost of AEO, GEO and AI Search Strategy. Published April 22, 2026, updated September 19, 2026. https://fuelonline.com/ai-seo-geo/ai-seo-pricing-aeo-geo-cost-2026/
- RevvGrowth, Generative Engine Optimization Pricing: How Much GEO Services Cost in 2026. April 21, 2026. https://www.revvgrowth.com/geo/geo-agency-pricing
- Abovance, Who ChatGPT and Perplexity cite on 50 health questions, October 2026. https://abovance.com/research/ai-health-citations-2026/
Want to know where your brand stands?
The AI visibility audit shows which questions your buyers ask, who AI cites instead of you, and what to fix first. Complimentary for qualified brands.