New: The AI Answer Playbook, 10 plays to get named in AI answers. Read it for $7

How much does AEO cost, and is it worth it for a small business?

By Ramkumar Srinivasan, Founder, BoostAEO · Updated

BoostAEO's short answer: You can start AEO for free: check what AI says about you, fix your main pages and complete your listings yourself. Tracking tools cost a monthly fee (BoostAEO starts at $49 a month), and done-for-you work costs more. It is worth it when your customers already ask AI for recommendations in your category.

What can I do for free?

  • A free AI visibility check and page audit (BoostAEO offers both without an account).
  • Fixing crawler access, page answers, headings and structured data yourself.
  • Completing your Google Business Profile and the top directories in your field.
  • Asking happy customers for reviews.

What does it cost to track it properly?

Tracking means asking the same buyer questions on several AI engines every week and comparing results. BoostAEO's plans are $49 a month (Starter, 1 brand), $129 (Growth, 3 brands, daily runs, Perplexity and Claude) and $299 (Agency, 10 brands, white-label reports). Annual plans give two months free. The first tracker has a free trial. See pricing.

How do I decide if it is worth it?

  1. Run a free check on the questions your buyers ask.
  2. If competitors are named and you aren't, estimate what one extra customer a month is worth to you.
  3. Compare that with the cost of tracking and fixing for three months.
  4. Judge it on the trend in your mention rate, not on a single answer.

Quick questions

01

Is AEO a one-time job?

Partly. Page fixes and listings are mostly one-time; tracking and keeping reviews and listings fresh is ongoing because AI answers change.

02

Can my existing SEO agency do it?

Often yes, if they track AI answers and work on listings and reviews as well as rankings. Ask how they measure AI mentions.

03

Is there a cheaper way to learn it?

BoostAEO's AI Answer Playbook ($7) covers the 10 plays with checklists you can run yourself.

See what AI says about your business

BoostAEO asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews the questions your buyers ask, and shows who gets named and why. The first check is free.

Run the free check →

Related questions