How much does AI SEO (AEO or GEO) cost per month in India?

What do vendors publish for India, in rupees and dollars?

No neutral body publishes AI SEO prices. One Indian agency's own guide says no authoritative body publishes agency rate cards in India, and that the available figures come from agency blogs quoting their own bands⁷. Everything below was written by a firm that sells the service. Dollar figures use about Rs 97 to the dollar, the XE mid-market rate on 12 October 2026².

An April 2026 benchmark from one Indian agency gives mid-market retainers of Rs 75,000 to 3,50,000 a month, about $775 to $3,600, and enterprise retainers above Rs 5,00,000, about $5,150. It prices one-time audits at Rs 1,50,000 to 8,00,000, about $1,550 to $8,250¹.

The same firm's page, updated in September 2026, widens the retainer range to Rs 1,50,000 to Rs 8,00,000 a month in three tiers. The starter tier, Rs 1,50,000 to 2,50,000 (about $1,550 to $2,580), covers one AI platform and three to four content pieces a month. The top tier, Rs 4,00,000 to 8,00,000 (about $4,120 to $8,250), covers content operations across several product lines³. Two pages from one publisher differ, which suggests the market is still finding its price.

What do dollar prices look like, and is India cheaper?

Global vendor guides are wide too, and each is written by a seller:

• Monitoring tools: about $29 to about $489 a month in a HubSpot guide, from a company that sells AEO tooling itself⁴.
• Agency retainers by tier: $1,000 to $3,500, $4,000 to $12,000, and $15,000 to $50,000 and above, per a US agency's guide⁵.
• A talent marketplace, which earns from placements, lists a freelancer or fractional AEO specialist at $2,500 to $8,000 a month, a boutique agency at $6,000 to $15,000 and a full-service firm at $15,000 to $25,000 and above. One-time audits are $3,000 to $10,000⁸.

Is an Indian agency cheaper than a US one?

One Indian agency says Indian pricing for Indian clients runs 40 to 60 percent below comparable US scope, and 25 to 40 percent below US agency rates when it serves US, UK or Dubai clients¹. That is a seller's claim, not a measurement.

For classic SEO there is a wider sample. An Ahrefs poll of 439 providers found that 85.7 percent of India-based SEOs charged $30 an hour or less⁹.

What changes the price?

A US agency guide names content volume, depth of schema markup, the number of AI platforms tracked, off-site authority work such as digital PR, site size, industry competition, languages and countries covered, and reporting depth. It says each extra AI platform adds roughly 20 to 40 percent to a retainer, a figure it takes from another source⁵.

The Indian benchmark gives two worked examples. At Rs 1,00,000 a month (about $1,030): tracking on 3 AI platforms, 4 articles, basic schema, one competitor benchmark a quarter and a monthly review. At Rs 2,00,000 (about $2,060): 5 platforms, 8 articles, technical SEO and schema, 2 to 3 PR placements and bi-weekly reviews. Regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare, legal and insurance carry a 20 to 35 percent premium¹.

Extras matter. The September page says design and development hours, paid media, tool subscriptions and one-time setup fees of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,50,000 are usually billed separately³. The benchmark says retainers typically carry a six-month minimum, and offers a three-month sprint at Rs 3,00,000 to 4,00,000 as a smaller start¹.

How do I compare two quotes?

A price per month means little without scope. A Bangalore agency makes the point for classic SEO: a Rs 20,000 quote and a Rs 60,000 quote for SEO can describe different services, because page counts, content volume and technical work differ¹⁰. Ask every agency to put these in writing:

• Which AI assistants are tracked, and how often.
• How many pages or articles a month, and who writes and checks them.
• What off-site work is included, such as reviews or PR, and what is not.
• What the report shows: named, cited and missed per question, or only a score.
• The minimum term, the notice period, and which costs are billed extra.
• Whether the quote includes GST, which is 18 percent on digital marketing services⁶.

Is there a benchmark from classic SEO?

Yes, with a caveat. Ahrefs' poll found agencies average $3,209 a month for SEO and freelancers $1,348. Ahrefs worked those averages out by assuming each provider charges the top of its tier, so read them as upper-end estimates⁹.