Short answer. Ahrefs polled 439 SEO providers and reports that SEO costs $250 to $10,000 a month, with most businesses (63%, per Ahrefs) spending between $500 and $5,000, and an average retainer of $3,209 a month at agencies and $1,348.63 at freelancers. Local SEO averages $1,557.08 a month in the same poll. The software that SEO work leans on is a small fraction of that: Ahrefs Lite lists at $129 a month and Semrush Pro at $139 a month. We read both vendors' pricing pages on 10 November 2026, and the Ahrefs study is dated 15 August 2024 on its page.
Key numbers
| Item | Number |
|---|---|
| Providers polled by Ahrefs (study page updated 15 August 2024) | 439 |
| Typical monthly range (Ahrefs: 63% of businesses spend $500 to $5,000) | $250 to $10,000 |
| Average agency retainer (Ahrefs, top-of-band method) | $3,209 a month |
| Average freelancer retainer (Ahrefs, top-of-band method) | $1,348.63 a month |
| Average local SEO retainer (agencies $1,819, freelancers about $1,150) | $1,557.08 a month |
| Average hourly rate (90% charge $150 an hour or less) | $111 |
| Most popular per-project fee (charged by 21.2% of per-project providers) | $2,501 to $5,000 |
| Ahrefs Lite (Starter $29, Standard $249, Advanced $449) | $129 a month |
| Semrush Pro ($117.33 billed annually; Guru $249, Business $499) | $139 a month |
| Agency retainer against Ahrefs Lite ($3,209 divided by $129) | about 25 times |
Ahrefs SEO pricing study (439 providers, page updated 15 August 2024) and the Ahrefs and Semrush pricing pages read 10 November 2026; ratios are our arithmetic.
What the Ahrefs poll measured
The largest published price survey we found is the one Ahrefs ran: it polled 439 SEO service providers. The page was last updated on 15 August 2024 and does not state the fieldwork dates in the text we read.
Two cautions before you quote it. First, it asked providers what they charge, not what buyers paid. Second, Ahrefs sells SEO software, so it has a stake in SEO looking like a worthwhile spend. For its agency, freelancer and consultancy averages, Ahrefs assumed each provider charges the top of its price band, so those figures lean high, and we treat them as ceilings rather than midpoints.
Monthly retainer prices by type of provider
Ahrefs found that 78.2% of the providers charge a monthly retainer, 48.9% charge per project and 34.8% charge hourly. Some charge more than one way. The table shows the average monthly retainer for each type of provider, using Ahrefs's method.
| Provider type | Average monthly retainer | Per year (our arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|
| Freelancers | $1,348.63 | about $16,184 |
| Agencies | $3,209 | $38,508 |
| Consultancies | $3,250 | $39,000 |
| All providers | $2,917 | $35,004 |
| Local SEO, all providers | $1,557.08 | about $18,685 |
Agencies charged 138% more than freelancers on average, which matches $3,209 against $1,348.63. The most popular retainer band was $501 to $1,000 a month, charged by 20.4% of the retainer providers, and 68.8% of them charged $2,000 a month or less. Only 31.2% charged $2,001 or more. Experience moved the price: providers with two years or less in business averaged $1,540.52 a month, those with 5 to 10 years averaged $3,648.28, and those with more than two years averaged $2,023.13. Market mattered too: providers serving a worldwide market averaged $3,473.74 against $1,557.08 for a local market.
Hourly and per-project rates
For hourly work Ahrefs reports an average of $111, with 47% of hourly providers charging between $75 and $200 an hour and 90% charging $150 an hour or less. Using the top-of-band method, agencies averaged $98.90 an hour, freelancers $71.59 and consultancies $171.18.
For projects, the most popular fee was $2,501 to $5,000, charged by 21.2% of providers who price per project, and 60.6% of them charged $1,001 or more. A project fee suits a one-off job such as an audit or a migration. A retainer suits ongoing content and link work.
Where the provider sits changes the price a lot. Ahrefs found that 76% of India-based providers charged $1,000 or less, while in the US and Canada 79.1% charged at least $1,001 a month.
What a small or local business pays
Ahrefs found that about 42% of providers charge small businesses between $250 and $1,000 a month, and the poll's local SEO average was $1,557 a month. For local work the poll's agency average was $1,819 a month and its freelancer average was about $1,150.
Google's own guidance is more cautious about whether you need to pay at all. Its Search Central page on hiring an SEO says a small local business can probably do much of the work itself, and points to the SEO starter guide. It also says it costs nothing to appear in Google's organic results.
What the SEO tools cost
A retainer is not a software bill. Two widely used SEO tools list these prices on their own pages, read on 10 November 2026.
| Tool and plan | List price | Notes from the vendor's page |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Starter | $29 a month | Entry plan |
| Ahrefs Lite | $129 a month | 1 user, 750 tracked keywords, 150 AI prompt checks |
| Ahrefs Standard | $249 a month | 2,000 tracked keywords, 300 AI prompt checks |
| Ahrefs Advanced | $449 a month | 5,000 tracked keywords, 600 AI prompt checks |
| Semrush Pro | $139 a month ($117.33 billed annually) | Up to 5 websites, 500 daily tracked keywords |
| Semrush Guru | $249 a month ($208.33 billed annually) | Up to 15 websites, 1,500 keywords |
| Semrush Business | $499 a month ($416.66 billed annually) | Up to 40 websites, 5,000 keywords, API access |
Ahrefs also lists a free plan that gives limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit, and its pricing page says it never runs discounts. Ahrefs adds that you can cancel at any time and that there are no contracts or setup fees.
What the arithmetic says
These figures are our arithmetic on the published numbers above. An agency's average retainer of $3,209 is about 25 times Ahrefs Lite at $129 and about 23 times Semrush Pro at $139. Over a year, Ahrefs Lite at its monthly price is $1,548 and Semrush Pro is $1,668, against $38,508 for the average agency retainer.
The gap is time and judgment, not software. As a hypothetical, if an agency billed its $3,209 average retainer at its $98.90 average hourly rate, that would buy about 32 hours of work a month. That mixes two averages, so treat it as an illustration. In our view it also explains why a $500 retainer, which buys about 5 hours at that rate, is likely to cover little beyond monitoring and small fixes.
How to read a quote with Google's checklist
Google's Search Central page on hiring an SEO is the most useful free filter. It tells site owners to ask for examples of previous work, to ask what results to expect and in what timeframe, and to ask whether the provider follows Google Search Essentials. It adds that if an SEO offers an audit you should grant only read access to Search Console.
The same page says no one can guarantee a first-place ranking on Google, that you should never have to link to an SEO, and that you should be wary of firms that email you out of the blue. It also says that if a provider offers advice on optimizing for generative AI (often called AEO or GEO), you should check whether that advice matches Google's official guidance.
We suggest asking each provider to price three things separately: the one-off setup or audit, the monthly work with the hours behind it, and any tools or content they pass through at cost. Then you can compare a $500 offer and a $3,000 offer on the same terms.
For related price breakdowns, see our guide to AEO agency pricing, our comparison of AEO and SEO, and a first-party look at how Perplexity's crawler behaves on our own site.
Which pricing model fits which job
The three pricing models in the poll answer different needs, and in our view mixing them up is how buyers overpay. We suggest matching the model to the job.
Hourly suits a question you want answered once, such as why a section of the site dropped out of Google. You pay for the hours used, and the poll's $75 to $200 band covers 47% of hourly providers.
Per project suits an audit, a migration or a content plan with a defined end. Ask for the deliverables in writing, because a fee in the $2,501 to $5,000 band can mean a short audit at one provider and a full technical rebuild plan at another.
Monthly retainer suits ongoing content, link work and reporting, where the value is in doing the same work every month for a year or more. It is also the model where the hours behind the price matter most, because a flat fee hides how much time you are buying.
Whatever you choose, ask what leaves the contract if you stop. A provider that owns your reports, your content calendar or your logins creates a switching cost that the price list never shows. Under Google's advice, you stay responsible for what an SEO does to your site, so keep ownership of your accounts.
How imisofts can help
We offer SEO services and an AI search optimization service aimed at being named in ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews. Our SEO page lists three monthly plans and says plans are monthly with no lock-in. We do not publish prices there, so we suggest asking for a written quote that follows the three-part split above, and holding us to the same questions Google recommends you ask anyone.
Prices in this guide were read on 10 November 2026 from the vendors' own pages, and the survey data is from the Ahrefs study dated 15 August 2024. Check current prices before you buy. This is general information, not financial advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ahrefs's poll of 439 SEO providers reports a range of $250 to $10,000 a month, with 63% of businesses, per Ahrefs, between $500 and $5,000. The average retainer was $3,209 at agencies, $3,250 at consultancies and $1,348.63 at freelancers. Ahrefs sells SEO software and used the top of each price band, so the averages lean high.
The same Ahrefs poll puts local SEO at an average of $1,557.08 a month: $1,819 for agencies and about $1,150 for freelancers.
Ahrefs reports an average hourly rate of $111 across providers, and 90% charge $150 an hour or less. Using its top-of-band method, consultancies averaged $171.18 an hour, agencies $98.90 and freelancers $71.59.
Ahrefs says about 42% of providers charge between $250 and $1,000 a month for small business SEO, and the local average is $1,557 a month. Google's Search Central page says a small local business can probably do much of the work itself, starting from the SEO starter guide.
No. Ahrefs lists a free plan with limited Site Explorer and Site Audit access, and paid plans start at $29 a month for Starter and $129 for Lite. Semrush lists Pro at $139 a month, or $117.33 billed annually. Google says it costs nothing to appear in its organic results.
No. Google's Search Central page says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. It also says to be wary of unsolicited email from SEO firms.