Two messages are waiting in your inbox. One offers a free AI visibility audit, and the other charges a flat fee for a report. Neither says what you'd be holding at the end. Our post on what an AI visibility audit is lists what you should get.
I can't give you a market price, and I'd distrust any page that quotes one without knowing your scope.
What makes one AI visibility audit cost more than another?
The work behind it. Five things move the price, and a quote that's silent on any of them has left something out.
- Who writes the questions. A list for "a contractor" takes minutes. Questions in your trade, your towns and your customers' words take longer, and they decide whether the audit tells you anything.
- How many assistants, and how many runs. Each assistant gives its own answers, and each run is another sample.
- Whether the answers are kept, with dates. A score with no answers behind it can't be checked, or compared with next month's.
- Whether a person reads the results. Software can run the questions and count who was named. Judging which findings matter for your jobs is where a person helps.
- Whether fixes are included. A list of problems and a repaired site are different products, priced differently.
Answers can differ each time you ask: OpenAI's help page on how ChatGPT is developed says the same question may yield different answers across different queries.[1] Its page on searching the web says ChatGPT may use an approximate location based on your IP address for local results.[2] Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode may use different models and techniques, so what they show will vary.[3]
Put those five in a row for each quote you hold. A blank box tells you why one is cheaper.
What does a do-it-yourself audit cost in time?
About an hour for the first assistant you check, by my estimate, and half an hour more for each one you add.
A do-it-yourself audit is simple: you write the questions your customers ask, put them to the assistants and log what comes back. Our plan for getting ready for AI search has the monthly version.
A first audit for a window company in Columbus, Ohio
- Write ten questions in your customers' words, each naming the town, such as "Who installs replacement windows in Columbus, Ohio?" About 15 minutes.
- In the first assistant, ask each one in a fresh chat. Log the date, who was named, which sources showed and whether your details were right. About 3 minutes a question, so 30.
- Tidy the log and pick the first three fixes. About 20 minutes.
- Total: about an hour, plus half an hour for each assistant you add. These are my estimates, not timings from a study.
Illustrative example
Do this hour before you talk to anyone selling an audit. Then you can judge their questions against yours.
What do our options cost, and when is each the wrong buy?
They run from a free check to a monthly plan starting at $750/mo, and each is the wrong buy for someone.
- Free AI visibility check. We review your website and Google Business Profile by hand and usually email your first fixes within two business days. Good for a first read before you spend anything. Wrong buy if you want to see who the assistants name for your trade and town: the report does that.
- Complete Visibility Report. An automated report: it asks the AI assistants we test (currently ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity) the questions your customers ask and shows who gets named. Every finding comes with its evidence, and the fixes are listed in priority order. Good for an owner who'll make the fixes or hand them to a web person. Wrong buy if nobody will act on a list. Its price is on our pricing page, and the audit page has the details.
- Expert Action Plan, $149. The same report plus a 30-minute consultation on what to fix first, and nothing more. Good for an owner who'll do the work or direct it. Wrong buy if you want us to make the changes.
- Found Sprint, $1,500 fixed. Up to 10 prioritized fixes from your report, done for you within 30 days of getting access and an agreed scope, with one round of revisions. Good for an owner with a report and no time. Wrong buy before you have the list, or if it runs past 10 fixes: a monthly plan or a written quote fits that better.
- Monthly plans, from $750/mo, month to month. Every month we run the same buyer questions across the AI assistants we test (currently ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity). We also ship fixes: pages, listings, profile work and review requests. Good for owners whose jobs are big enough that a few extra a month pay the fee. Wrong buy if your average job is under about five hundred dollars, or you'd rather do the work yourself. See AI search optimization.
If you can't tell which one fits, book a free 30-minute strategy call.
What should you ask before you pay anyone?
Ask for the scope in writing, because a price with no scope can't be compared with another. Google lists optimizing for generative AI among the useful services an SEO or agency may provide,[4] so I'm not telling you to avoid help. I'd send these questions to any provider, us included, and keep the reply:
- Who wrote the questions, and can I read them before I pay? Are they about my trade and my towns?
- Which assistants will you ask, how many times, and on which dates?
- Do I get who was named and the sources shown, or only a score?
- Who does the work: software, a person or both?
- What isn't included: fixes, a re-check, calls?
- Which official page backs each recommendation?
- What access do you need to my accounts?
Google's page on hiring an SEO suggests asking whether a provider cites official Google documentation as evidence. When someone offers an audit, it says to grant read access to Search Console only, not write access, at that stage.[4]
I'd stop at either of these:
- A promise of first place, or of a spot in ChatGPT. Google's page says no one can guarantee a first-place ranking,[4] and OpenAI says placement in ChatGPT search isn't guaranteed.[2]
- A company that's secretive. Google says to be careful if a company won't clearly explain what it intends to do.[4]
Check the company, too. The FTC's small-business guide says to search a new company's name online with "scam" or "complaint," and to ask people you trust for recommendations.[5]
What is not worth paying for?
A bare score, a template and any promise of a place in the answers.
- A score with nothing behind it. Google says third-party tools don't have access to its internal ranking data and can't guarantee performance, and that any predictions are their own.[6] Its list of third-party tools includes ones promising improvements for AI experiences.[6] That's about Google's results, but I'd read a bare score for any assistant as the maker's opinion, and pay only when the questions, assistants and dates come with it.
- A template. If swapping your company's name for a competitor's leaves the report unchanged, it's generic. Ask for a sample, and look for your trade, towns and customers' questions. Ours is the sample report, a fictional company labeled as an example.
- A way into the answers. Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. It adds that you don't need special optimizations, AI text files or new markup.[3] Our llms.txt post covers one such file.
If a quote leans on one of these three, ask what you'd still get without it.
When is an audit the wrong purchase?
When nobody will make the fixes, or when the basics are broken in ways you can already see.
An audit is a list, and a list pays only if the work behind it does. Our post on whether SEO is worth it shows the sum: divide the fee by what one extra job leaves you.
If your Google profile isn't verified or your site isn't on Google, I'd fix that first. Our Business Profile checklist takes 20 minutes and costs nothing.
An audit alone doesn't change what an assistant says; it tells you what to fix. Google says even a page that meets every requirement may not be crawled, indexed or served.[3] If a competitor is named and you aren't, compare the evidence first.
These sources were checked on October 15, 2026. OpenAI's two help pages show only a relative "Updated" label. Google's hiring page was last updated June 5, 2026, and its AI features page December 10, 2025. Re-read the pages you rely on before you act.