GEO vs AEO services have no separate price, because agencies sell them as one service. On October 7, 2026, First Page Sage published a study of 1,146 agency price quotes that prices GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization) as a single category, with a median retainer of $6,850 USD a month. We found no source that prices the two separately.
So a proposal with a GEO line and an AEO line may be billing the same work twice.
So the useful question is not which one costs more. It is whether a proposal that lists both is charging you twice for the same work.
Key facts
- The study: GEO & AEO Pricing Statistics: 2026 Report, First Page Sage, 2026-10-07. 1,146 quotes from 214 agencies, collected July 6 to October 2, 2026.
- Median retainer: $6,850 a month in Q3 2026, up 66% from $4,120 in Q1 2024.
- One-time audit: $1,500 to $12,000, median $4,300.
- Separate GEO and AEO prices: none in that report, or on any agency pricing page in our research.
- Who published it: First Page Sage is an agency that sells GEO/AEO itself. The report names no country or currency, so we read its figures as USD, and they are not Canada-specific.
We cover the money here. For what each term means, read our SEO vs AEO vs GEO explainer. For whether AI search needs its own budget line at all, start with the pillar: do you need extra budget for AEO?
Is GEO more expensive than AEO?
No published data shows GEO costing more than AEO, or less, because nobody prices them apart. First Page Sage's tables carry a single "GEO/AEO" label on every row: tiers, pricing models, industries and published agency rates.
Other price guides do the same. 310 Creative (last updated August 2026) treats AEO and GEO as one bucket, with audits of $1,500 to $5,000 and entry retainers of $1,000 to $3,500 a month. eSEOspace (2026-10-13) sells combined SEO, GEO and AEO plans at $750 to $4,000 a month and says it plainly: "There is no GEO-only plan."
What does move the price is scope, not the acronym. First Page Sage's tier table:
| Tier | Monthly range (USD) | Median | Minimum term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $1,800 to $4,200 | $2,950 | 3 months |
| Growth | $4,500 to $11,000 | $7,400 | 6 months |
| Advanced | $11,000 to $22,000 | $14,600 | not stated |
| Enterprise | $22,000 to $60,000+ | $31,500 | 12 months |
Source: First Page Sage, 2026-10-07.
If one proposal says "AEO" and costs $3,000 and another says "GEO" and costs $9,000, the gap is almost certainly the tier, not the label. Compare what each one delivers.
Are GEO and AEO the same service?
As something you buy, yes: agencies deliver them as one retainer with one set of deliverables. As goals, they point at slightly different results. AEO usually means being the answer a search engine or assistant gives. GEO usually means being cited inside an AI-generated answer. Our explainer covers that split.
The overlap in the work is what matters for your budget. Both rely on the same moves: pages that answer questions clearly, structured data, a crawlable site, and mentions of your business on other sites. A writer restructuring your service pages is doing AEO and GEO at once. An agency can't do half of that job for one acronym and the other half for the second.
One part of the work does differ in cost: earned mentions. Getting other sites to write about you is digital PR, and it is priced higher. First Page Sage found that 33% of agencies include digital PR at the Growth tier, against 71% at Advanced. Original research shows the same pattern: 29% at Growth, 64% at Advanced. When a "GEO" line on a proposal carries a real PR or research deliverable, it is a separate piece of work. When it repeats the AEO line's deliverables, it is a second invoice for the first job.
How do agencies price GEO and AEO (retainer, sprint, audit)?
Most agencies charge a monthly retainer; fewer sell a fixed-fee sprint or a one-time audit. First Page Sage found that 68% of agencies price GEO/AEO as a monthly retainer. Here is how the models break down in its data:
| Pricing model | Share of agencies | Typical price (USD) | What you are buying |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom retainer | 41% | Median $7,200/mo | Ongoing work scoped to your business |
| Tiered retainer | 27% | Median $6,300/mo | A fixed package (Starter, Growth and so on) |
| Project or sprint | 13% | $5,000 to $40,000, median $14,500 | A defined block of work with an end date |
| One-time audit | 8% | $1,500 to $12,000, median $4,300 | A diagnosis and a fix list, 2 to 6 weeks |
| Performance-based | 5% | $2,600/mo median base | A lower base fee plus payment tied to results |
Source: First Page Sage, 2026-10-07.
None of these models splits GEO from AEO either. A retainer covers both. A sprint covers both. HubSpot's AEO cost guide (updated 2026-09-08) puts agency audits and sprints from about $3,000, and full programs at $9,000 to $15,000+ a month.
An audit is the cheapest way to find out what you need before you sign a retainer. Our post on AEO audit cost breaks down what a free, $1,500 and $12,000 audit each include.
Price transparency is thin. Only 23% of the 214 agencies in the study publish any GEO/AEO pricing. Among those that do, the median starting price is $4,500 a month. First Page Sage lists itself at $6,000 to $12,000 a month in its own table. Some published ranges, as the report records them:
| Agency | Published GEO/AEO price (USD) |
|---|---|
| WebFX | $3,000 to $68,250 |
| Rock The Rankings | $4,500 to $14,000 |
| DerivateX | $5,000 to $12,000 |
| Digital Elevator | $3,495 to $22,995 per 30-day campaign |
| RevenueZen | from $3,000 |
| Omniscient | from $10,000 |
Source: First Page Sage, 2026-10-07. Check each agency's own page before you compare; these are the report's figures.
How to compare two AI-search proposals side by side
Put both proposals into the same table, one row per deliverable, and ignore the headings each agency chose. Labels are marketing. Deliverables are what you pay for.
| Check | Proposal A | Proposal B |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price, in one currency (USD or CAD), before tax | ||
| Minimum term (3, 6 or 12 months) | ||
| Pages rewritten or created per month | ||
| Structured data (schema) work, and on which pages | ||
| Technical fixes (crawling, speed, AI crawler access) | ||
| Digital PR or third-party mentions, with a number | ||
| Original research or data pieces | ||
| How AI visibility is measured, and how often | ||
| Tool costs: included or billed on top | ||
| Which lines are labelled GEO, AEO or SEO |
Three steps make the table useful:
- Fill the deliverable rows first, the label row last. If both columns list the same deliverables, the proposals are the same service, whatever they call it.
- Convert to one currency. First Page Sage's figures and most US agency quotes are in USD. A Toronto agency may quote in CAD. On October 27, 2026 the Bank of Canada rate was 1.4038 CAD per USD, so the $6,850 median works out to about $9,616 CAD. An Ontario agency registered for HST then adds 13%.
- Ask how results get measured. A proposal that can't say how it will track citations in ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity is asking you to pay for work you can't check. Our guide on how to measure AI search visibility lists what to track.
For a wider market view of AEO pricing, see our AEO cost comparison.
Red flags: paying twice for one service
The clearest red flag is two line items, one called GEO and one called AEO, with the same deliverables under each. Most double-billing is less obvious. These are the patterns to look for:
- Two retainers, one work list. A "GEO retainer" and an "AEO retainer" that both list content rewrites, schema and monitoring. Ask the agency to name one deliverable that appears on only one of them.
- SEO plus an AI add-on that repeats the SEO. Answer-ready pages, structured data and technical fixes are already part of competent SEO. If the "AI" add-on lists the same three items, you are paying for them again.
- A GEO line with no earned mentions. If GEO is billed separately, the reasonable thing it could add is digital PR or third-party mentions. A separate GEO fee with no PR deliverable has nothing distinct to charge for.
- A tool fee on top of a tool the agency already uses. Ask whether the monitoring tool is included in the retainer or billed to you separately.
- A long minimum term on a Starter package. First Page Sage's Starter tier has a 3-month minimum and Growth has 6. A 12-month lock-in at Starter prices is four times the minimum the study records for that tier.
- No audit, straight to retainer. A proposal priced before anyone has looked at your site is priced from a template.
None of these proves bad faith. Agencies sometimes split lines to match how a client's budget is organized. The fix is the same either way: one deliverable list, one price.
What the data does not tell you
First Page Sage sells GEO/AEO services, so its study comes from a seller, not an independent survey. It names no geography or currency, so it is not a guide to Canadian prices. Its tables show what agencies charge, not what that work returns. And since no source prices GEO and AEO separately, this post can't tell you what a GEO-only service would cost. As far as published pricing goes, one doesn't exist.
Where Space & Story fits
We bill AI-search work as one line. AEO work is included in every one of our plans: Local at CA$300 a month, Growth at CA$700, and Authority from CA$2,000, in Canadian dollars plus HST. Prices are on our pricing page. Our free 24-page audit is delivered within 24 hours.