How much does SEO cost? Most answers give a single range and move on. The better evidence says there is no single market. There are three pricing models, three kinds of provider, and a spread wide enough that the “average” figure describes almost nobody’s actual quote.
The most useful public dataset is Ahrefs’ pricing survey, written by Joshua Hardwick and last updated on 15 August 2024. Ahrefs polled 439 SEO service providers and checked their websites manually. Every figure below comes from that survey. It is the most recent solid data we can cite, so treat it as a 2024 baseline rather than a 2026 price list.
How much does SEO cost per month?
Monthly retainers are the most familiar model. According to Ahrefs’ survey, the most popular retainer band is $501 to $1,000 per month. The averages sit much higher: $3,209 a month for agencies, $3,250 for consultants and $1,348 for freelancers.
Read those two kinds of figure together. When the most common band is under $1,000 but the agency average is above $3,000, a minority of high-priced retainers is pulling the average up. So the average agency figure is not what a typical small business is quoted, and it is not a fair benchmark for one. The most popular band is closer to what most buyers will actually see.
| Pricing model | Most popular band | Averages by provider |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | $501–$1,000 per month | Agency $3,209 · Consultant $3,250 · Freelancer $1,348 |
| Hourly | $75–$100 per hour | Consultant $171.18 · Agency $98.90 · Freelancer $71.59 |
| Per project | $2,501–$5,000 | 60.6% charge $1,001 or more |
Source for every figure in the table: Ahrefs’ survey of 439 SEO providers, updated 15 August 2024.
Hourly and per-project SEO pricing
Hourly billing suits audits, advice and fixed pieces of technical work. In the Ahrefs survey the most popular hourly band is $75 to $100, and 47% of providers charge between $75 and $200 an hour. By provider type, the averages are $171.18 an hour for consultants, $98.90 for agencies and $71.59 for freelancers.
Note the order. On monthly retainers, consultants and agencies average almost the same. On hourly rates, consultants average well above agencies. That fits how consultants tend to work: fewer hours, more senior advice, with the implementation left to someone else. An hourly comparison between a consultant and an agency is rarely a like-for-like comparison of the same work.
Hourly rates are also a useful way to read a retainer. Divide the monthly fee by the hourly rate and you get a rough idea of the time you are buying. At the popular $75 to $100 band, a $1,000 retainer works out at roughly ten to thirteen hours a month. That is enough for steady content and on-page work on a small site, and not much more. If a quote promises a full technical overhaul, content production and link building inside that figure, ask how the hours add up.
Per-project pricing covers defined jobs such as a site audit or a migration. The most popular band in the survey is $2,501 to $5,000, and 60.6% of providers charge $1,001 or more per project. A project quote is easier to compare than a retainer because the deliverable is fixed. Ask what exactly is delivered, and whether implementation is included or left to you.
A project is often the better first purchase. An audit priced in the popular band gives you a fixed cost, a written list of problems and a sense of how the provider works, before you commit to months of retainer fees. If the audit is weak, you have learned that cheaply.
Freelancer, agency or consultant?
The provider type changes the price more than almost anything else in the data. On retainers, freelancers average less than half of what agencies and consultants charge. That gap is not simply a discount for the same thing. An agency retainer usually buys a team, and a consultant’s time usually buys strategy rather than execution.
Experience matters too. Ahrefs found that SEOs with 5 to 10 years’ experience charge roughly double those with 2 or fewer years. If two quotes for similar work differ by a factor of two, experience may explain the whole difference, and it is worth asking about before assuming one provider is overpriced.
A sensible way to choose is to start from the work rather than the provider. If you need hands to write and fix pages, a freelancer is often enough. If you need several skills at once, an agency makes sense. If you need someone to set direction for an in-house team, a consultant is the better fit.
How much does SEO cost for a small business?
A cheap quote is not automatically a bad one, and an expensive one is not proof of quality. The question for a small business is not “what is the going rate?” but “what will this spend return, and how will I know?”. The data above tells you whether a quote is in the normal range. It cannot tell you whether the work will pay off.
That is a separate calculation. Our guide to SEO ROI shows how to set expected returns against cost, and the comparison of SEO vs PPC helps when you are deciding whether the budget belongs in search engine optimisation at all. Before signing, agree the SEO KPIs that will define success.
Then check how progress will be shown to you. A provider who cannot explain what their monthly report will contain is hard to hold to account at any price. Our piece on SEO reporting sets out what a useful report includes, which doubles as a checklist for the proposal stage.
Three questions separate most good quotes from weak ones. What is included each month, in hours or in deliverables? Who does the work, and how experienced are they? And what will be measured, and when should results be visible? A provider at the popular $501 to $1,000 band who answers all three clearly can be a better buy than a $3,000 retainer that answers none of them.
What the survey cannot tell you
The main limitation is age. The survey was last updated in August 2024, and prices in 2026 may have moved; we have not adjusted the figures, because guessing at an inflation factor would be inventing data. The rates are what providers say they charge, in US dollars, not what clients ended up paying. And a price band says nothing about the quality of the work behind it. Use the figures to judge whether a quote is unusual, not to decide whether it is good.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average SEO cost per month?
In Ahrefs’ 2024 survey, the average monthly retainer was $3,209 for agencies, $3,250 for consultants and $1,348 for freelancers. The most popular band was $501 to $1,000 per month.
How much do SEO services typically cost per hour?
The most popular hourly band in the survey was $75 to $100, and 47% of providers charge $75 to $200 an hour. Consultants averaged $171.18 an hour.
How much does an SEO project cost?
The most popular per-project band was $2,501 to $5,000, and 60.6% of providers in the survey charge $1,001 or more per project.
Does experience change SEO pricing?
Yes. Ahrefs found that SEOs with 5 to 10 years’ experience charge roughly double those with 2 or fewer years.
The takeaway Most SEO retainers fall between $501 and $1,000 a month, while agency averages run above $3,000. Judge a quote by what it includes, who does the work and how results will be measured, not against a single going rate.
