Most UK businesses that hire an agency for answer engine optimisation (AEO, also called GEO or AI search optimisation) pay a monthly retainer of roughly £1,500 to £6,000, with one-off audits typically costing £3,000 to £8,000. Larger programmes cost more. Below are the published figures we could verify, what drives the price, and what you get at each level.
A note on sources before the numbers. Few agencies publish prices, and most of the pricing surveys are written by agencies that sell the service themselves. We have linked every figure so you can check it, and dated them, because this market is moving quickly. Cited does not publish fixed prices, and we have not included our own.
Published UK prices
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| Whitehat SEO (London), pricing correct as of February 2026 | "Done-with-you" AEO from £1,967 a month; "done-for-you" AEO from £2,967 a month; individual AEO articles £90 to £250. Prices exclude VAT. |
| Gripped, B2B SaaS pricing guide (July 2026) | Most B2B SaaS companies spend £1,500 to £6,000 a month in total. Agency retainers £1,500 to £5,000 a month; standalone audits £3,000 to £8,000; content or entity projects £5,000 to £15,000; tools £200 to £1,500 a month. |
| ClickSlice (London) | GEO campaigns typically start around £1,500 a month for small and medium businesses. |
| POLARIS | No published price; each engagement is scoped from an AI visibility audit. |
What the wider market charges
US figures are useful as a reference point for scope, though they run higher than typical UK pricing.
- First Page Sage (October 2026, covering July to October 2026) reports a median GEO/AEO retainer of $6,850 a month, against $4,740 for SEO. Its tiers run from a $1,800 to $4,200 starter level up to $22,000 to $60,000 or more for enterprise programmes. The median one-off audit was $4,300.
- Digital Agency Network (January 2026) puts entry-level retainers at $2,000 to $4,000 a month, mid-market at $5,000 to $8,000 and enterprise at $8,000 to $15,000, with GEO added to an existing SEO retainer for around $1,500 to $3,000 a month more.
- HubSpot (September 2026) describes mid-range agency programmes at about $1,500 to $5,000 a month and full ongoing programmes at about $9,000 to $15,000 or more.
AI visibility tools
If you want to measure your own visibility before or alongside an agency, these were the entry prices on each vendor's pricing page in October 2026 (US dollars, monthly billing unless stated):
| Tool | Entry plan |
|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | Lite, $29 a month (15 prompts) |
| Peec AI | Starter, $95 a month (50 prompts, three AI models) |
| Semrush | AI Visibility Toolkit, $99 a month |
| Searchable | Pro, $125 a month |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar AI | From $199 a month, priced by number of checks |
| Scrunch | Starter, $300 a month |
| Profound | Free trial, then custom enterprise pricing |
Tools tell you where you stand. They do not fix your site, write the pages or earn the third-party mentions that change the answers.
What drives the price
- The state of your site. If AI crawlers are blocked, key content depends on JavaScript, or your company facts are inconsistent, the first months go on fixing that. Sites in good technical shape cost less to start.
- Who makes the changes. Some agencies hand over a list of recommendations; others make the changes in your codebase or CMS. The second costs more and gets done.
- Content volume. The number of answer pages, comparisons and guides produced each month is usually the largest variable.
- Third-party work. Getting accurately represented on the lists, directories, review sites and publications AI assistants cite takes time and relationships, and is often priced as a separate layer.
- Markets and languages. Each additional country or language needs its own question set, content and measurement.
- Competition. A category where large firms already dominate the answers needs more sustained effort than a niche one.
What you should get for the money
At the lower end (roughly £1,500 to £2,500 a month)
A baseline of where you are named today, technical fixes to the site, a small amount of answer-focused content each month and a monthly report. Suitable for smaller firms in less contested categories.
In the middle (roughly £2,500 to £5,000 a month)
All of the above with more content, active work on third-party sources and ongoing monitoring across several AI assistants.
Above that
Programmes covering several markets or product lines, digital PR, reputation work and more frequent reporting.
How to budget
- Start with a baseline. Whether you pay for an audit or run the questions yourself, know where you stand before committing to a retainer.
- Plan for months, not weeks. Technical fixes can show within weeks; content and third-party work usually take a few months to move the answers.
- Compare scope, not headline price. Ask what is included: how many pages, which assistants are measured, who implements changes, and whether third-party work is part of it.
- Be wary of very cheap offers. A few hundred pounds a month rarely covers more than an automated report.
How Cited prices
We work at three levels, Essential, Authority and Leadership, which differ in how much content, distribution and reporting follow the technical work. We recommend a level after a first call, once we have seen where you are named today. See the three levels or ask us for a quote.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does AEO cost per month in the UK?
Published UK figures put most agency retainers between about £1,500 and £5,000 a month, and total spend for B2B companies between about £1,500 and £6,000 a month including tools. Larger, multi-market programmes cost more.
How much does an AEO audit cost?
Standalone AEO or GEO audits in the UK typically cost £3,000 to £8,000, depending on the size of the site and how many questions and AI assistants are covered.
Is AEO more expensive than SEO?
Often slightly. First Page Sage's 2026 data shows a higher median retainer for GEO/AEO than for SEO, and Gripped reports that combined SEO and GEO packages run about 20 to 40% above SEO alone, because the work adds third-party presence and measurement across several AI assistants.
Can I do AEO myself?
The basics, yes: checking crawler access, making facts consistent, writing clear answer pages and running your buyers' questions through the main AI assistants. An agency adds a systematic question set, implementation capacity and third-party work.
References
- Whitehat SEO: Digital services pricing
- Gripped: How much does GEO cost? A B2B SaaS pricing guide
- ClickSlice: Best generative engine optimisation agencies in the UK
- POLARIS: AI search optimisation
- First Page Sage: GEO/AEO pricing statistics (October 2026)
- Digital Agency Network: GEO pricing (January 2026)
- HubSpot: How much does AEO cost? (September 2026)
- Otterly.AI pricing, Peec AI pricing, Semrush AI Toolkit, Searchable pricing, Ahrefs pricing, Scrunch pricing, Profound pricing