Most agency websites print no price. Of 40 read in October 2026, 16 print a figure, and those 16 measure different things: a monthly fee for search work, a day rate, a website package, an average retainer. A printed price tells you the order of magnitude and that the agency will talk about money before a call. It isn’t a quote. To compare agencies you need four things from each: the unit, what the fee buys, the tax and the shortest term.
Key points
- Of 40 agency sites, 16 print a figure, three ask for your budget in a form, two offer an estimate tool, and 19 show nothing.
- One SEO price “from £750 a month” is multiplied by up to two for harder markets, on the same page.
- Two of the 16 state a 12-month minimum term, so “from €1,000 a month” commits you to at least €12,000.
- In the United Kingdom, “plus VAT” adds 20% to the invoice.
What 40 agency sites print about price
Sixteen of the 40 sites print at least one figure, and 19 print nothing about price. The 40 are the sites read for the listings in this directory, so the count describes them and not the market. Each was read from its own pages in October 2026, and the pages that carry a price or a form were read again on 12 October.
| What the site does | Sites |
|---|---|
| Prints at least one figure | 16 |
| Asks for your budget in an enquiry form and prints no figure | 3 |
| Offers a calculator or an estimate form, with no figure printed | 2 |
| Prints nothing about price and asks nothing, on the pages read | 19 |
Close to half the sites give a buyer no number to react to. The three that ask for a budget first put the burden the other way: you name a figure to a business that hasn’t named its own.
What the 16 figures are
The 16 sites print six kinds of price, and each kind is a different way of charging. A figure is not always on the pricing page. Five of the 16 print theirs on a service page or in an answer to a common question. One of those has a pricing page with no figure on it, and one asks for your budget in its form on the same site. So read 16 as a floor: a figure can sit on a page nobody thought to open.
| Kind of figure | What is printed | What it leaves open |
|---|---|---|
| A starting monthly price | SEO plans at $380, $680 and $880 a month; SEO from £750 a month plus VAT for one or two territories and from £1,500 for three to five; SEO from €1,000 a month plus VAT; search marketing from £2,500 a month; retainers from AUD 2,000 a month; SEO and content plans from $2,450 a month; SEO and PPC from £500 a month; SEO plans from £350 and from £550 a month | How far above “from” you land, and what moves the price |
| A rate for time | £950 a day plus VAT, with two to eight days a month typical; £700 a day plus VAT; $180 an hour, or $350 an hour for rush work | How many days or hours the work takes |
| A price for a build or a package | Websites from $35,000; full websites from £21,000; bespoke projects from £5,000; website packages from $3,000; website packages at £189 and £279 a month plus VAT; hosting and support from £30 and £45 a month, with the build quoted | What sits outside the package, and what you pay after the term |
| A typical engagement | Retainers averaging above $20,000 a month; indicative monthly levels of £3,000, £5,000 and £10,000, after onboarding from £3,000; three-month programmes usually between £1,500 and £3,000 a month | The floor: an average says some clients pay less, and not how much less |
| A fee for managing ads | A percentage of ad spend with a minimum of 1,200 dollars; management from $475 a month per channel | The percentage, and how the fee moves when your ad budget does |
| A fixed-price workshop | A one-day discovery session for £5,000, taken off the first piece of work that follows; a planning stage at £2,000 to £3,500 | What the work that follows costs |
Currencies are as the sites print them, and none is converted. Sites outside the United States print a bare dollar sign on three of these figures, so ask which dollar.
What each way of charging puts at risk
Each kind puts a different risk on you. A monthly fee fixes your cost and leaves the amount of work to the contract. A time rate fixes the price of a day and leaves the number of days open, so an overrun is yours. A fixed build price puts the overrun on the agency, which makes the written scope the thing to read.
What a “from” price leaves out
A “from” price leaves out whatever moves it, and the page often says what that is. One agency prices SEO from £750 a month for one or two territories, then multiplies by 1.5 or 2 where competition is harder. The starting price of its lowest tier therefore runs from £750 to £1,500 a month before VAT.
A second agency says its fee depends on how challenging your market is. A third says its price varies with the strategy needed.
Plan prices state their limits more plainly. The $380 plan buys six keywords, on-page and technical work and two links a month, with no blog posts and no access to an adviser. The $880 plan buys 20 keywords, four posts and time with a senior consultant.
Before you set two “from” prices side by side, find the sentence that says what the lowest price buys. If there isn’t one, that’s your first question. For search work, what an SEO retainer should include lists the scope to ask for.
Tax, term and ad spend change the total
Three things sit outside most printed figures: tax, the minimum term and the advertising budget.
Tax
Five of the 16 print “plus VAT” beside the price. Six of the ten that price in pounds say nothing about VAT beside the figure, so ask.
UK VAT is 20% at the standard rate, which makes £750 plus VAT a £900 invoice. A VAT-registered business can usually reclaim VAT on business expenses. For a business that isn’t registered, the 20% is a cost. Outside the United Kingdom, ask the same question about the local sales tax.
Term
Eight of the 16 say something about how long you’re held. Two state a 12-month minimum: one for SEO from €1,000 a month, and one for website packages that then roll on with a two-month break clause. Two recommend six months as a minimum, and one of those says in the same breath that you can stop at any time.
Four say they don’t tie you in, in phrases such as cancel anytime, rolling monthly and no long contracts. Read the detail even there: one cancel-anytime plan allows up to 15 days for the cancellation to take effect and refunds nothing already paid.
A monthly price with a 12-month minimum is an annual price. At €1,000 a month, the least you can buy is €12,000 plus VAT. The guide to agency contracts covers notice periods and what leaving costs.
Ad spend
Five of the 40 sites say how they charge for managing ads. Two charge a percentage of the ad spend. One of those sets a minimum of 1,200 dollars and recommends a media budget of 2,000 to 3,000 dollars a month on top. Two charge a monthly fee beside the ad spend: one prints it, from $475 a month per channel, and one prints no fee. The fifth described charging for each lead or sale in a post from 2023. Under a percentage or a monthly fee, the ad budget is a separate cost.
How PPC agencies charge sets out the fee models and what each does when your budget changes.
What to budget for beyond the fee
Budget for four things the monthly figure doesn’t show. The first is a start cost. One agency prints onboarding from £3,000 before its monthly levels begin, and a second charges a separate one-time fee for planning and strategy without printing the amount.
The second is change. One plan charges $50 to swap a keyword, and one hourly rate rises from $180 to $350 for work needed within 24 business hours.
The third is what follows the term. A website package paid monthly for a year moves to a £99 a month support plan after it. The fourth is anything marked POA, price on application, as one rates page marks integrations.
Then add the ad budget and the tax, ask whether software licences are inside the fee, and ask for each as its own line in the proposal.
What budget forms ask you for
A budget form asks for a number and rarely says what the number covers. Six forms on the 40 sites show their options in the page: the three counted above, two on sites that also print a figure, and one estimate tool. Three name the period, two monthly and one annual. Three ask for a budget with no period at all.
One form says whether ad spend is inside the number. It asks for an all-in monthly figure, fees and advertising together.
The lowest options show whom each agency expects: $1,500 to $3,000 a month on one form, $5 million to $10 million a year on another. The rest start at up to £10,000, at £10,000 to £30,000, at AED 5K and at under $3,000 a month.
Before you fill one in, check whether the band is monthly, per project or per year, and whether it includes ad spend. Where the form doesn’t say, say it yourself in the message box. A lowest band hints at where the agency starts, but no form read here states it as a minimum.
One form offers “I don’t know” and “rather not say” as answers, and one says a ballpark is fine. How to write an agency brief covers stating a budget so that proposals can be compared.
How to turn any answer into a quote you can compare
Ask every agency for the same six facts in writing. Then work out two numbers from the replies: the first-year total, and the least you can spend before you’re free to leave.
| Ask | What it settles |
|---|---|
| What is the price a function of: days, keywords, territories, pages, spend? | The unit |
| What does the lowest price buy, and what moves it up? | Where you land above “from” |
| What is charged once, at the start? | Onboarding, set-up and planning fees |
| Is tax on top, and are ad spend and software inside the fee? | The total on the invoice |
| What is the shortest term, and what notice ends it? | The real commitment |
| Which accounts and files do I own at the end? | What you keep if you leave |
Say one agency quotes $3,000 a month on a 12-month term with $2,000 of onboarding. A second quotes $1,200 a day, expects three days a month and rolls monthly. The first-year totals are $38,000 and $43,200. The least you can spend is $38,000 with the first and $3,600 with the second.
Those figures are for illustration only. In that example the cheaper year is the bigger commitment, and only the two numbers together show it.
Ask three agencies for a first-year total
Pick three agencies from your shortlist and send each the same six questions in one message, before any call. Work out the first-year total and the least you can spend from each reply.
Start from the SEO agencies listed here, where a profile records any price the agency’s own site prints. The PPC Marketing agencies are set out the same way. A written answer to all six questions is also your first evidence of how an agency will handle the invoice.