GEO pricing: compare setup fees, scope and minimum commitment

Compare the commitment, not the headline price

A monthly number is not a comparable price until you know the setup fee, minimum term and included work. A fixed audit, a monitoring retainer and a managed programme solve different operating problems, so the cheapest headline may not be the lowest-cost route to the decision or delivery you need.

Start by putting every proposal into the same five fields: setup fee; fixed or recurring fee; minimum term; included delivery; and exclusions. Ask the supplier to confirm whether the prices include VAT and which document defines the final scope. This is a buyer's comparison method, not an industry pricing standard.

• Setup fee
• Fixed or monthly fee
• Minimum term and notice after that term
• Included audit, content, page and technical delivery
• Exclusions and separately approved costs

Calculate the minimum commitment

For a retainer, use: setup fee + (monthly fee × minimum months). For a fixed project, record the total project fee and delivery window. Keep optional work outside the base calculation until it is actually required, then show it as a separate scenario rather than quietly adding it to one supplier's total.

Using the current SALIENS rate card, Visibility Intelligence is GBP 1,500 setup plus three months at GBP 1,500, giving a GBP 6,000 minimum commitment. Managed GEO Growth is GBP 3,000 setup plus six months at GBP 5,500, giving GBP 36,000. Enterprise & Multi-market starts at GBP 6,000 setup plus twelve months at GBP 12,000, giving a minimum from GBP 150,000. These figures exclude applicable VAT and are SALIENS fees, not market averages.

Normalise what each fee actually buys

For a diagnostic project, compare the brands and domains covered, market-language profiles, prompt and engine coverage, rounds, competitor review, pages reviewed, meetings and final outputs. SALIENS' GBP 3,000 Baseline Audit is a two-week project covering one brand, one primary domain and one market-language profile, with 30 prompts across three engines and three rounds, three competitors and up to 20 pages. It provides recommendations and a prioritised brief; production and implementation are not included.

For implementation, compare finished content, existing-page refinements, technical hours, revision allowances and closing measurement. The GBP 12,000 SALIENS Foundation Sprint runs for six to eight weeks and includes six long-form and six short-form assets, up to eight page refinements and up to 16 technical hours within the agreed scope. Those quantities explain why it should not be compared with an audit on price alone.

Separate monitoring from managed delivery

A monitoring service should state the total prompt allowance, engines, rounds, competitors, evidence fields and reporting rhythm. It may be the right choice when your internal team can make the changes. A managed service should also state the content, page and technical capacity included each month, plus the approvals needed from your team.

SALIENS Visibility Intelligence contains monitoring but no standard content assets, page refinements or technical implementation. Managed GEO Growth adds four long-form and eight short-form assets, four page refinements and eight technical hours per month within the base scope. Enterprise allowances are shared across the listed projects within one client organisation; they are not multiplied per project.

Identify exclusions, credits and capacity rules

Ask whether unused monthly production or technical capacity rolls over. Confirm how approval delays affect the schedule, what happens after the minimum term and which third-party costs require written approval. In SALIENS' current schedule, monthly capacity does not automatically roll over; paid media, publisher fees, domains, client-licensed software, major development, travel and specialist legal review are separately approved.

Credits can change a route's total, but only when their conditions are met. The current SALIENS schedule allows a qualifying recent Audit to receive either a GBP 1,500 Sprint credit or a credit against a managed-plan setup fee, while a qualifying recent Sprint can waive setup for a managed plan covering the same brand and scope. The formal rate card controls these conditions; a social post or article does not change them.

Use this final buying check

Before selecting a proposal, write one sentence describing the decision you are buying: establish a baseline, complete a defined improvement package, equip an internal team with monitoring, or add ongoing external delivery. Then compare the total commitment and scope against that sentence. Ask who will approve facts, who will implement recommendations and which evidence you retain at handover.

SALIENS helps brands become discoverable and accurately represented in search and AI-generated answers, giving potential customers the information they need to make informed enquiries. We provide GEO audits, AI visibility monitoring, content and technical improvements, and ongoing GEO delivery for UK and international organisations, including English and Chinese needs. Email info@oxfordintelligence.co.uk with your website, target market and language, and the decision you need the engagement to support. Rankings, AI citations and enquiries are not guaranteed.

• What minimum total will we commit before optional work?
• Which measurable checks and finished deliverables are included?
• What implementation capacity is included, and what is excluded?
• Which access and approvals must we provide?
• What evidence and completed work will we retain?