Last updated: November 4, 2026
Only about one SEO agency in five charges $5,000 a month or more. In a March 2026 survey of 73 SEO agencies published by an SEO software company, 12.3% said their retainers sit between $5,000 and $10,000 a month and 8.2% said they charge above $10,000.
Sitechecker agency growth report dated Mar 11, 2026, captured Oct 31, 2026
The sample is small and mixed, from solo consultants to firms with more than 200 staff, and software companies were the main focus for fewer than one respondent in ten. Read it as a view of SEO agencies in general. Very few of the people who answered sell to SaaS companies.
That gap is the useful part. When I collected the prices that SaaS-focused agencies post on their own sites, the typical entry point landed right on that $5,000 line. Four of the eight agencies with a published monthly price in US dollars start between $5,000 and $5,500 a month. The cheapest entry plan in the set is $2,250. At the other end, the top published tiers start at $15,000 and "$20,000+".
The published prices bunch together at the entry level, and what moves a plan higher is how much of the work it covers. Below you'll find where each number comes from, what each budget band gets you, and how to pick a level that fits the stage your company is at.
How we priced this
I only used two kinds of price. The first is text any visitor can read on an agency's own website. The second is a client review on Clutch, a B2B review directory, dated November 4, 2025 or later, where the client states a project size or what they spent. A profile's own minimum and hourly figures don't count. If a price only appeared in hidden page code, like structured data a browser never displays, I left it out. Prices are as of October 2026. I checked every page on October 25, then took dated screenshots of most of them on October 31, and where the two differed I used the October 31 capture.
When two pages from the same agency gave different figures, I describe the clash in words and skip the number. I ignored any agency's claims about what other agencies charge. Miraa publishes this guide, so its own prices appear once, at the end of the agency list, and stay out of the summary figures. Any summary range you see here, such as "most start at $5,000", comes only from the prices in this post. Treat it as a description of this sample. An agency that only quotes on a sales call could charge more or less than anything in the table.
Published prices, agency by agency
Each agency's price appears in its own currency. Prices are monthly unless the row notes otherwise.
Agency | Published price, as of October 2026 | Terms shown |
|---|---|---|
Embarque | Starter $2,500, Engine $4,995 and Managed $9,500+ a month | 3-month minimum, paid upfront and quarterly ($7,500, $14,985, from $28,500) |
Quoleady | Content: $2,250, $3,000 and $4,500. SEO and AI visibility: $3,500, $5,000 and $7,000. Links from $300, $350 or $400 per link by site DR, $1,500 minimum monthly budget | Lowest content plan is flexible monthly; the others have a 3-month minimum |
DerivateX | Series A card from $3,500 a month, pilot note from $5,000 (confirm which applies); Series B from $5,500 | 90-day pilot at Series A |
TripleDart | Standalone SEO/AEO from $5K a month | Not stated in the FAQ |
LoudFace | Engagements from $5k a month | Scoped on a call; fixed scopes run inside a 3-month minimum |
MADX Digital | Authority $5,500, Growth $9,500 and Scale $14,500 a month, plus Enterprise at $20,000+ | Prices shown are the 12-month term, 15% to 17% under rolling monthly |
Rock The Rankings | From $5,500, $8,650 and $15,000 a month; $500 one-time Power Hour | Prices shown are the 90-day rate; month-to-month is available at list price |
Grow and Convert | Base package $10k a month | Discount for a yearly contract |
Gripped (UK) | From £3,500 a month plus project fees; from £7,500; from £15,000 | Scoped per client; one-time onboarding fee |
Each agency gets a short read below.
Embarque prices by how much of your site it works on. Starter costs $2,500 a month to build out one subfolder at a time and keep the site technically healthy. Engine costs $4,995 for more pages across two subfolders, and Managed starts at $9,500 as a hands-on service with regular calls. Every plan carries a 3-month minimum paid upfront, so Starter means $7,500 on day one.
Embarque Starter, Engine and Managed plans, captured Oct 31, 2026
The page shows no month-to-month or longer-term option, only the 3-month minimum.
Quoleady runs two price lines, one for content and one for SEO plus AI visibility. Its $2,250 plan is content execution only, with no wider SEO work attached. Link building is priced per link, from $300 for Lite (Ahrefs DR 20 to 39), from $350 for Plus (DR 40 to 69) and from $400 for Pro (DR 70+), with a $1,500 minimum monthly budget. It's a good pick if you have a plan and need writers to carry it out. If your problems are mostly technical, look elsewhere, and keep an eye on how quickly per-link fees stack up.
Quoleady content and SEO plan prices, captured Oct 31, 2026
Quoleady per-link prices from $300, $350, $400, captured Oct 31, 2026
DerivateX posts a different starting price for each funding stage. On the Series A page, the headline card puts the 90-day pilot at $3,500 a month and the pilot note puts it from $5,000, so confirm which applies.
DerivateX Series A: $3,500 card, $5,000 pilot note, captured Oct 31, 2026
The Series B page starts at $5,500 a month, on both the main card and the note beside it.
DerivateX Series B, from $5,500 a month, captured Oct 31, 2026
Venture-backed teams get an easy way to see where they fit. A bootstrapped company or a seed-stage team without a stage page to match will have to ask, and the floor creeps up as you raise.
TripleDart hides its number in an FAQ answer. Per that answer, standalone SEO and AEO start from $5K a month, and the agency also sells paid media and bundled GTM engineering, with no figure given for either.
TripleDart FAQ, SEO/AEO from $5K a month, captured Oct 31, 2026
That suits a team that wants search and ads under one roof. If you'd like to see exactly what $5K buys before a call, the site won't tell you, and it doesn't state contract terms.
LoudFace pitches itself as a web and growth partner for B2B SaaS, fintech and funded companies at Series A to C, so SEO is one of several tracks a retainer can include. It fits a funded team that wants site work and SEO from the same firm. Pre-seed founders sit outside its stated audience, and since every scope is set on the intro call, read $5k as the opening figure.
LoudFace engagements from $5k a month, captured Oct 31, 2026
A fixed scope still runs inside a retainer with a 3-month minimum.
LoudFace fixed scope inside a 3-month minimum retainer, captured Oct 31, 2026
MADX Digital builds its plans around getting a brand recommended in AI answers, with placements and articles as the monthly output. The 12-month prices run 15% to 17% under the rolling rate, depending on the tier.
MADX Digital plans on the 12-month term, captured Oct 31, 2026
The page is one of the clearest in the set about what each month delivers. The best price needs a 12-month commitment, though, so a team that wants to test the channel first will pay the rolling rate.
Rock The Rankings shows three monthly tiers, from $5,500, $8,650 and $15,000 at the 90-day rate, and notes under them that "most engagements land at $10K+, scaling with scope." Its 90-day rate is $500, $850 and $1,000 a month cheaper than month-to-month across the three tiers.
Rock The Rankings tiers at the 90-day rate, captured Oct 31, 2026
Its FAQ lists the teams it says it's wrong for: those that need leads next week, have no working sales motion, or can't give a channel 90 days. The $5,500 tier covers strategy while the client's team executes, and Done-for-You starts at $8,650. Outside the monthly tiers, it lists The Power Hour, a recorded 60-minute session at $500 one-time, and a 30-day AI search sprint from $10,000 one-time on its card.
Rock The Rankings Power Hour and 30-day sprint, captured Oct 31, 2026
Its FAQ prices the same 30-day sprint as an AI Search Audit at $15,000, so the card and the FAQ disagree by $5,000.
Rock The Rankings FAQ: AI Search Audit $15,000, captured Oct 31, 2026
Grow and Convert is a content-led agency, with technical SEO well outside its focus. Its base package grows with the number of keywords and articles you want each month. It's a strong match for a SaaS company whose real gap is bottom-of-funnel content that converts. At $10k it has the highest entry price here, so it's out of reach below that budget, and it's the wrong buy if your site has crawl or migration problems.
Grow and Convert base package and yearly discount, captured Oct 31, 2026
Gripped is a UK B2B demand generation agency. Its plans start from £3,500 a month plus project fees for Advisory or Execution, £7,500 for Performance, which can cover SEO as one of one or two channels, and £15,000 for Scale, which includes SEO alongside paid media and content.
Gripped engagement models from £3,500, £7,500 and £15,000, captured Oct 31, 2026
I haven't converted pounds to dollars, since exchange rates move and the agency doesn't publish a dollar price. Gripped makes sense if you want SEO run as part of wider demand generation. If all you need is SEO, you'll be paying for a bigger team than you'll use. Its FAQ also mentions a one-time onboarding fee for setup, audits and discovery, with no amount given.
Gripped FAQ on its one-time onboarding fee, captured Oct 31, 2026
Miraa sets out three monthly plans on its pricing page, where Basic Growth costs $2,500, Growth+ runs $3,500 and Hyper-Growth is $5,000.
What the numbers add up to
Take the eight agencies above that post a monthly entry price in dollars, and set Miraa aside. Their starting prices are $2,250, $2,500, $3,500, $5,000, $5,000, $5,500, $5,500 and $10,000. The middle of that list is $5,000. That counts DerivateX at its $3,500 headline, and the middle stays at $5,000 if you use its pilot note instead.
That summary has real limits. Eight data points is a small set, and every one of those agencies chose to publish a number, so the list tells you nothing about firms that keep theirs private. It mixes content-led, AI-search-led and full-service shops. Entry prices are also floors. At Rock The Rankings most engagements land well above the lowest tier, and I'd expect the same at most of the others.
The pattern is still clear enough to plan around. Agencies that sell mainly to SaaS tend to set their floor near $5,000 a month, while the broad survey in the intro found most SEO agencies charging far less.
What you get at each price band
These bands come from the published prices above. The "what you get" column sums up what those agencies list at each level. No single agency promises all of it.
Monthly budget | Examples in this sample | What that level usually covers | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
Under $2,500 | Quoleady content execution ($2,250) | One track, such as a set number of articles with no wider SEO work | Teams that know exactly which gap they need filled |
$2,500 to $4,999 | Embarque Starter ($2,500) and Engine ($4,995), Quoleady Strategy ($3,000), Launch ($3,500) and Research ($4,500), DerivateX Series A card ($3,500), Gripped Advisory or Execution (£3,500 plus projects) | Strategy with some execution, or a set page volume in one or two parts of the site; often a 3-month minimum | Early teams with a marketer who can own the plan |
$5,000 to $9,999 | DerivateX pilot note and Series B, TripleDart, LoudFace, MADX Authority and Growth, Rock The Rankings Strategy and Done-for-You, Embarque Managed (from $9,500), Quoleady Growth and Scale | Strategy, content, technical fixes and some link or mention work, run as one program | Series A and B companies without a full in-house SEO team |
$10,000 and up | Grow and Convert base, MADX Scale and Enterprise, Rock The Rankings Authority, Gripped Scale (£15,000) | Higher content volume, digital PR or placements, AI visibility tracking, a dedicated team | Competitive categories and companies replacing a whole function |
One-time | Rock The Rankings Power Hour ($500) and 30-day AI search sprint (from $10,000 on the card, $15,000 in the FAQ) | A recorded 60-minute session, or a 30-day fixed-price, fixed-scope sprint | No fit claim; the only one-time prices in the sample come from one agency |
The step from the second band to the third changes what you're paying for. Under $5,000, you mostly buy deliverables. From $5,000 up, you start paying for a person who owns the plan and decides what ships each month. I'd only pay for that if nobody on your team can do it.
Agencies that don't publish a price: what Clutch shows
Plenty of well-known agencies that work with SaaS companies never post a monthly figure. Dated client reviews fill part of that gap, because many of them state a project size.
Agency | Review date and client | Cost stated in the review | Work covered |
|---|---|---|---|
SimpleTiger | Oct 20, 2026, IT company | Project size $10,000 to $49,999 | Search engine optimization, August to October 2026 |
SimpleTiger | Dec 23, 2025, real estate company | Project size $50,000 to $199,999 | SEO, content development, link earning and on-site optimization, January 2025 onward |
These are totals for a whole engagement, not monthly fees. The real estate client's engagement began in January 2025 and was still ongoing when it posted the review in December, so its band covers about a year of work.
SimpleTiger Clutch review dated Dec 23, 2025, captured Oct 31, 2026
The three-month IT project could sit almost anywhere in its band.
SimpleTiger Clutch review dated Oct 20, 2026, captured Oct 31, 2026
I use these reviews as a check on scale. Get a written quote before you budget off them.
Why SaaS SEO costs more than the market average
Sitechecker, the SEO software company behind the survey in the intro, found that about 69% of the agencies it asked charge under $2,500 a month.
Sitechecker retainer chart and bullets, captured Oct 31, 2026
That's well under the floor most SaaS specialists set, though it can be enough for a local business that needs a few pages and a business listing in shape.
A SaaS brief asks for a lot more, and I see four reasons why.
You compete nationally or globally from the first day. A project management tool has no corner shop for a rival. It's up against well-funded competitors and review sites that have been publishing for ten years.
The content needs subject knowledge. A page a technical buyer will trust, on integrations, security or one specific workflow, takes more research and more review than a generic blog post. You pay for that in the retainer.
Links and mentions are harder to earn. Several agencies in this sample price placements on their own or list them as the main monthly output, which shows you where the labor goes.
AI search is now part of the brief. Almost every agency above names AI visibility or AEO in its plans, and Quoleady sells SEO and AI visibility as one plan line. Agencies are charging for the extra work while they defend the core service, and SaaS buyers feel both sides of that.
You don't need to spend $10,000 because of any of this. You do need to accept that a $900 package built for a dentist won't work for a software company, however good the sales call sounds.
What moves the price up or down
Commitment length is the easiest saving in the sample. Rock The Rankings takes $500 to $1,000 a month off for a 90-day commitment. MADX Digital's 12-month rate sits 15% to 17% under rolling monthly. Grow and Convert discounts yearly contracts, and Embarque bills its 3-month minimum upfront. If you trust the agency, a longer term gets you a cheaper month. If you don't yet, pay the higher rate and keep your exit.
Scope matters too. Embarque prices by page volume and the number of subfolders, and Quoleady prices content and SEO separately. If you already have writers, you may only need strategy and technical work, which sits lower on most menus.
Links and placements add up quickly when they're priced one at a time. At Quoleady's lowest rate, from $300 per link, ten links a month comes to at least $3,000 on top of any retainer. Ask whether links are included, how many you get, and from what kind of site.
Who does the work changes the bill. Rock The Rankings sells a cheaper tier where your team executes and the agency runs strategy, and a pricier one where the agency does everything. In this sample, that's the cleanest look at what execution costs: $3,150 a month between its two lower 90-day tiers.
Currency and location shift things as well. Gripped prices in pounds. A UK or European agency can look cheaper or pricier depending on that week's exchange rate, so compare in your own currency on the day you sign.
How to choose, based on your situation
Skip picking a budget first. Start with what your company already has in place.
You're pre-seed or seed, with no marketer
You probably don't need a $5,000 retainer yet. A one-time paid strategy session can help a founder or first hire set priorities. If you want ongoing help, the cheapest published entry plans here run $2,250 to $2,500 a month; point that budget at the pages buyers search for before they book a demo. Our B2B SaaS SEO guide covers which pages to build first.
You have a marketer and in-house writers
Spend on strategy and technical oversight, and leave content volume to your writers. Strategy-led tiers in this sample start around $3,000 to $5,500 a month. Paying an agency to write when you already employ writers is an easy way for a SaaS team to overspend.
You're Series A or B with no SEO team
This is where the $5,000 to $10,000 band pays off. You need one owner for the plan who ships content and fixes technical issues, so you aren't managing three freelancers. Expect a 3-month minimum or a 90-day pilot at this level, and ask what will be live by day 90. For scale, at Rock The Rankings' published 90-day rate, a quarter of Done-for-You comes to $25,950. A DerivateX Series A pilot runs $10,500 or $15,000 over the same 90 days, based on which of its two figures applies, and at Embarque's published Managed rate the first three months cost at least $28,500 upfront.
You're in a crowded category and need to win share fast
At $10,000 and up, you're buying volume: more articles, more placements and closer tracking of AI answers. Before you sign, ask the agency to walk you through its plan for your three toughest competitors, and check that the extra money pays for output you can see on the site.
Your problem is mostly technical or mostly links
A full retainer might be the wrong product for you. Specialists in technical SEO for SaaS or SaaS link building often price by project or by placement, which can cost less than a program that bundles work you don't need.
You're based in the UK
Most agencies in the sample price in dollars, while Gripped prices in pounds. Get every quote in one currency and compare scope line by line, because a lower monthly figure often hides fewer deliverables.
You want a shortlist as well as prices
Price shows you the level an agency works at. It tells you nothing about whether the work is good. Our roundup of B2B SaaS SEO agencies compares firms on fit and track record, so go there once you know your budget band.
Red flags in a SaaS SEO quote
A guaranteed number of rankings. Nobody controls Google's results or what an AI answer recommends on a given day. A guarantee usually points to easy keywords that nobody searches for.
A price far under the band for the scope promised. If someone offers a full program with content, links and technical work at $1,000 a month, something is missing or being done on the cheap.
Links with no detail. Ask where they come from and what a typical placement looks like. A vague answer here is the biggest risk in the whole proposal.
AI search sold as a separate mystery line. An agency that charges extra for AEO or GEO should say what it does and how it measures it. Old work with a new label doesn't deserve a higher fee.
A long lock-in with no exit. A discount for a longer term is fair. A 12-month contract you can't leave when nothing ships is a bad deal.
Reports full of traffic and light on pipeline. For a SaaS company, the numbers worth reading are sign-ups, demos and revenue from organic search. Session counts on their own prove very little.
Should you trust agencies that don't publish prices?
Keeping prices private is fine on its own. Custom scopes are real, and a firm doing enterprise migrations can't fit that on a menu. It does push the work onto you, though, because you can't compare anything until you've sat through a call. Software companies weigh the same trade-off when they decide whether to publish their own pricing.
If an agency won't share even a starting figure by email, I'd assume it sits at or above the top of the band you'd expect for its size, and ask for a written range before you agree to a second meeting.