What pricing models exist for services that improve AI answer placement?
Services in this area usually charge a monthly retainer, a software subscription, a one-off project fee, or a share tied to results. Nobody can guarantee a placement in an AI answer, so be careful with fixed promises. Sightline's prices are public, from free to $279 a month, with custom pricing for agencies.
What pricing models are there?
Four are common, and many vendors mix them.
Monthly retainer. A fixed fee for ongoing work, usually from an agency. Good when you want a person to own the work. Ask exactly what is included each month.
Software subscription. A monthly fee for a tool that measures and reports. Cheaper, but you do the fixing unless the plan says the work is done for you.
Project fee. A one-time price for an audit or a set of pages. Fine for a defined fix, weak for ongoing tracking, because answers keep changing.
Performance-based. Paying when you are named. This sounds attractive but is hard to run honestly, because answers vary run to run and no one controls them. Ask how a "placement" is defined, how many runs it must hold across, and who counts.
Can anyone guarantee placement?
No. OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic and Google document how their crawlers work but none promises that a page will be named. Google says indexing and serving in its AI features are not guaranteed (Google). A guarantee of a position in an AI answer is a red flag; a guarantee about work delivered or about a refund is something you can check.
What should be in the price?
- The questions and engines measured, and how often.
- What fixes are drafted and who publishes them.
- Reporting, with before and after.
- How to cancel, and what you keep.
How do I compare quotes fairly?
Put each quote on the same footing: price per month, number of questions and engines covered, how often they are re-checked, and who does the fixing. A cheap tool that only measures is not comparable to a service that also drafts and publishes fixes. Ask what the quote assumes about your site and who pays for developer time if robots rules or markup need changing. Ask for the cancellation terms in writing. Then estimate your own hours: a plan that costs less than the time you would spend measuring by hand each week is usually worth testing, if you can leave easily.
Frequently asked questions
Is a retainer or a subscription better?
A subscription suits you if you can apply fixes yourself. A retainer or a done-for-you plan suits you if you cannot.
Should I pay per mention?
Be cautious. Answers vary and a mention is hard to define fairly.
Is there a free option?
Sightline's first scan is free. Check what any vendor offers before paying.
Do prices include the content?
Ask. Some plans include drafting, others only measure.