Hiring an AEO agency and buying an AI True Score Full Report aren’t the same purchase. One is an ongoing service on a monthly retainer; the other is a one-time report that tells you where you stand and what to fix. (AEO, answer engine optimization, is the work of getting AI answers to name your business.) For most businesses the report comes first, and an agency comes later, if at all.
Disclosure: AI True Score is our product, and we’ll be clear about when an agency is the right call. If you haven’t yet, you can check whether ChatGPT recommends your business by hand before you spend anything.
How do AI True Score and an agency compare?
A report tells you the work; an agency does the work, every month.
| AI True Score | Hiring an AEO agency | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Free Glimpse, then a one-time report | Ongoing done-for-you service |
| Price | One time; see pricing | Monthly retainer (see below) |
| What you get | Who AI names, and the fixes in order | Strategy, content and outside work done for you, monthly |
| Who does the work | You, your web person, or us for a one-time price | The agency’s team |
| Commitment | None beyond the report | Monthly retainer, usually several months |
| Best for | Owners who want proof and a plan before spending more | Businesses with budget who want ongoing, hands-on work |
What does hiring an AEO agency mean?
It means paying a monthly retainer for a team to do the work on an ongoing basis: technical fixes, content, outside mentions and reporting. HubSpot’s guide to what AEO costs puts smaller agency retainers at around $1,500 a month and full-service managed programs at roughly $10,000 to $15,000 or more a month (checked September 2026). Prices vary widely with scope, so get a real quote.
What matters more than the price is scope: how much work happens off your site, and whether the reporting ties to real calls and leads or only to AI mentions. For a business with real budget and appetite for managed work, especially in a crowded category where building a reputation is a grind, a good agency is a strong choice. A one-time report doesn’t replace that.
What is AI True Score, and where does it fit?
AI True Score is the first step to take before you sign a retainer. The free AI True Score Glimpse asks AI real buyer questions and shows whether it names you, who it names instead, and your first fix. The paid AI True Score Full Report asks the questions your buyers ask, on every engine in our report, shows who each one names, runs the checks in our report on your site, and hands you the fixes in plain English, in order. Questions about it? Reply to the report email and a person answers. Every report includes one free follow-up check, with an email saying what changed.
The report is useful whether or not you hire anyone. You or your web person can work from the fix list; if you’d rather not, we can make the fixes inside your site, build a Companion site made for AI to read, or rebuild the site, each for a one-time price on our pricing page. What we don’t do is months of content and outreach on a retainer. And if you do hire an agency, you walk in with an independent read on where you stand, which is a far better brief than “I heard I should do AEO.”
Which one should I choose?
Get the report first; hire an agency after that if the scope calls for it.
- An agency does the work; you don’t. That’s the whole value and the whole cost. It’s worth it when you have budget, want managed strategy and content, and would rather buy back the time. Its weak spot for most businesses is price and commitment: a monthly bill, usually for months, before you know whether the basics were in place.
- AI True Score tells you the work, and can do the fixes once. It’s worth it when you want proof and a plan without a retainer. Its limit is the mirror image: no months of content and outreach.
These questions settle most of it:
- Do you know where you stand yet? If not, start with a report, not a retainer.
- Can the fixes be done in-house? Read the fix list before you assume you need to hire out work you could do yourself.
- Do you have budget and want it managed? If yes, and you’re in a crowded category, a reputable agency is a fair investment. Bring your report as the brief, so you’re paying for work, not for a diagnosis you already have.
The fix: Before you take an agency call, write down what you already know: who AI names for your main service, and your top three gaps. Ask the agency what they'd do about each one in the first month.
No agency and no tool can guarantee that AI will name you. For the software side of this decision, see our comparison of AI visibility tools.
Where do these numbers come from?
The agency retainer figures come from HubSpot’s guide to what AEO costs, checked September 2026; agency pricing varies widely by scope, so get a real quote before committing. AI True Score details come from our live pricing and how it works pages. This compares our own product with another path; we’ve written it to be useful even when an agency is your better move.
When you’re ready to compare costs, every step is on our pricing page.
Keep reading: How to check if ChatGPT recommends your business · AI visibility tools compared
