TL;DR / Key Takeaways
- AI reputation management in 2026 splits into four price tiers: one-shot audits ($9–99), self-serve monitoring (~$3–30/mo), AEO monitoring platforms like Profound, Otterly and Peec ($89–499/mo), and full-service ORM agencies ($1,500–10,000/mo).
- The costliest mistake is buying the wrong tier — most small businesses should start with a one-shot report, not a retainer.
- Here's what each tier actually buys and who should pay for it.
Short answer: In 2026, AI reputation management costs whatever tier you actually need — and most buyers overpay by skipping the cheap tier. A one-shot audit runs $9–99 one-time. Self-serve monitoring is ~$3–30/month. Enterprise AEO monitoring platforms run $89–499/month (Profound, Otterly, Peec all sit here). Full-service ORM agencies charge $1,500–10,000/month. Nearly every small business should start with a one-shot report, not a retainer.
The single most expensive mistake in this category is buying the wrong tier. People who need a $29 snapshot get sold a $399/month platform they'll never fully use; people with a genuine reputational fire get pointed at a $19/month dashboard that can't do the PR work the crisis actually requires. Below is the real 2026 price map — what each tier costs, what it actually buys you, and who should pay for which. For the strategy behind the numbers, start with the pillar, AI Reputation Management in 2026.
→ **See what AI actually says about your brand** — a $29 one-time report, before you commit to any subscription.
The four price tiers at a glance
The market has stratified into four bands. The prices below are current 2026 list prices from the vendors' own pages and independent reviews:
| Tier | What you actually get | Typical price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-shot audit / report | A measured snapshot across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude & Grok: what AI says now, who it recommends instead of you, sources it cites, a prioritized fix list | $9–99 one-time | Almost everyone — start here |
| Self-serve monitoring | Scheduled re-checks + alerts on a handful of prompts for one brand | ~$3–30/mo | Solo founders, small brands tracking a baseline |
| AEO monitoring platforms | Dashboards, dozens–hundreds of prompts, multiple engines, competitor tracking, share-of-voice | $89–499/mo | Marketing teams & agencies with budget and time to act on data |
| Full-service ORM agency | Done-for-you PR, content, entity cleanup & link work over months | $1,500–10,000/mo | Real reputational crises or high-stakes brands |
Tier 1: One-shot audits ($9–99, one-time)
This is the diagnostic. You (or a tool) run the buyer's real questions across the major AI engines, capture the verbatim answers, note who gets named instead of you, and trace the sources the models cite. It's a snapshot, not a subscription — you pay once and walk away with a to-do list.
A one-shot report is the correct first purchase for the overwhelming majority of businesses because it answers the only question that matters at the start: does AI even mention me, and if so, what does it say? Until you know that, every subscription is a guess. Prices here range from free-but-shallow tools up to ~$99 for a thorough grounded run across five engines. Stork's own AI Reputation Report sits at $29, one-time — the measurement half done straight, with no retainer and no upsell to unlock the findings.
Tier 2: Self-serve monitoring (~$3–30/month)
Monitoring is the same measurement, run on a schedule, with alerts when your answers change. The entry tier is genuinely cheap: Otterly.ai's Lite plan is $29/month for 15 tracked prompts across the major engines (Otterly pricing), and several lighter tools sit in the single-digit-to-$30 range. Stork's $9/month monitoring upsell lives here too — a light, honest re-check on top of the one-shot report, for people who want to watch a baseline move without an enterprise contract.
Who should buy it: solo founders and small brands who've already run a baseline audit, found something worth watching, and want to know when it shifts. Who shouldn't: anyone who hasn't measured yet (buy the one-shot first), and anyone tracking hundreds of prompts across many engines (you'll outgrow the prompt caps fast and should price the next tier instead).
Tier 3: AEO monitoring platforms ($89–499/month)
This is where "AI visibility" became a software category. These platforms track dozens to hundreds of prompts across multiple engines, chart share-of-voice against competitors, and surface which sources feed the answers. The three names buyers compare most:
- 1Profound — Starter $99/month (ChatGPT-focused, ~50 prompts), Growth $399/month (three engines, ~100 prompts), plus custom enterprise that independent reviews put anywhere from $2,000 to $25,000+/month (G2 pricing).
- 2Otterly.ai — Lite $29/month, Standard $189/month (100 prompts), Premium $489/month (400 prompts); Gemini and Google AI Mode are paid add-ons (Otterly pricing).
- 3Peec AI — Starter ~$89–100/month, Pro ~$199–245/month, Advanced/Enterprise ~$495–505/month, with extra engines (Claude, Gemini, Grok) billed as per-model add-ons (Peec pricing).
Note the pattern: the headline price is rarely the real price. Per-engine and per-workspace add-ons are the norm and can quietly double your bill. If you're weighing these three head to head, we broke them down in Profound vs Otterly vs Peec; for the wider field, see the best AI reputation tools of 2026.
Who should buy it: marketing teams and agencies who will actually use a dashboard weekly — tracking many prompts, many competitors, reporting to stakeholders. Who shouldn't: a small business that just wants to know where it stands. A $399/month platform is a Ferrari for a trip to the corner shop.
Tier 4: Full-service ORM agencies ($1,500–10,000/month)
At the top, you're not buying software — you're buying people to do the slow work. Full-service online reputation management agencies typically charge $1,500 to $5,000/month for standard campaigns, and $2,500 to $10,000/month for comprehensive programs, usually on 6–12 month contracts (SurveySparrow breakdown, Reputation House). Enterprise and crisis work runs far higher.
What that money should buy is real assets: earned press, corrected entity data across the web, authoritative third-party coverage, and answer-shaped content — the things that genuinely move what AI says, done for you over months. What it must not buy is a guarantee. No agency can promise an AI ranking, "submit" you to ChatGPT, or sell "proprietary AI placement" — those don't exist, and Google now points businesses deceived by such pitches toward the FTC. If a five-figure retainer comes with a guaranteed-placement promise, the price isn't the problem; the offer is.
Who should buy it: brands with a real reputational crisis, a genuinely competitive niche, or the stakes to justify done-for-you work. Who shouldn't: almost everyone who hasn't first bought the $29 report and tried the honest to-do list themselves.
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So what should you actually spend?
Walk up the tiers, not down them. Start with a one-shot report to learn where you stand. If something's worth watching, add cheap self-serve monitoring. Only move to a $89–499/month platform when a team will use it weekly, and only hire a $1,500–10,000/month agency when the stakes are real and you've exhausted the DIY playbook. Most small businesses never need to leave the first two tiers. Buying top-down — retainer first, measurement never — is how people overpay by an order of magnitude for a problem they hadn't even measured.
→ **Get your $29 AI Reputation Report** and start at the right tier.
_Related reading: the pillar guide to AI reputation management in 2026, the best AI reputation tools of 2026, and our head-to-head, Profound vs Otterly vs Peec._
Related: What does AI say about your brand?
Frequently asked questions
How much does AI reputation management cost in 2026?
It depends entirely on tier. A one-time audit runs $9–99. Self-serve monitoring is roughly $3–30/month. Enterprise AEO monitoring platforms like Profound, Otterly and Peec run $89–499/month (before add-ons). Full-service ORM agencies charge $1,500–10,000/month. Most small businesses should begin with a one-shot report rather than any subscription or retainer.
How much does GEO or AEO software cost?
Purpose-built AEO monitoring platforms generally list between $89 and $499/month. Profound starts at $99/month, Otterly at $29/month, and Peec around $89–100/month, each scaling to roughly $400–500/month on higher tiers. Watch for per-engine and per-workspace add-ons, which frequently double the headline price.
Is a $29 AI reputation report enough, or do I need a monthly subscription?
For most businesses starting out, a one-shot report is enough — it tells you what AI says, who it recommends instead of you, and what to fix. Add a low-cost monitoring subscription (~$9–30/month) only once you have a baseline worth watching. Enterprise platforms and agencies make sense when the stakes and the workload justify them.
Why is there such a huge price range?
Because you're buying different things. The cheap end buys measurement — running your questions through AI engines and reporting the answers. The expensive end buys labor — people doing months of PR, content and entity-cleanup work to change the underlying web sources AI reads. Measurement is cheap and instant; changing what AI says is slow and staff-intensive, which is what a retainer pays for.
Can I do any of this myself for free?
Partly. You can manually ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Grok your own buyer questions and read the answers — that's a free, rough version of a Tier-1 audit. What you pay for is doing it systematically across engines and sessions, tracing the cited sources, and turning it into a prioritized fix list. The doing-the-fixes work is the same for everyone: consistent facts, credible coverage, clear pages.
Disclosure: Stork sells a $29 one-time AI Reputation Report and is launching $9/month monitoring, and we run an AI-tools directory. We've placed our own prices honestly inside the wider market above rather than pretending the cheap tiers don't exist — because the fastest way to lose your trust would be to hide them.
How much does it cost to check what AI says about you?
Checking manually is free but time-consuming and noisy. A one-time report runs $9–99 depending on how many engines it covers; Stork's AI Reputation Report is $29 for all five. Ongoing monitoring subscriptions run from a few dollars a month up to enterprise dashboards at $89–499/mo.
How do I change what AI says about my business?
Slowly and honestly — there is no submission form or paid placement for ChatGPT. What moves AI answers is consistent facts about you across the web, credible third-party coverage, and clear answer-shaped pages models can read. Any vendor guaranteeing AI rankings or “placement in ChatGPT” is selling something that doesn't exist.