Agency, tool or in-house? What each costs, and which one fits you.

For small and mid-size companies deciding how to get named in AI search. A tool shows you where AI search leaves you out and costs $29 to $354 a month, but your team does the work. An in-house SEO manager in the US costs about $90,010 a year in base pay. Strategi does the work for you, from $499 a month. Which is right depends on who you have to do the work.

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Updated 14 November 2026. Prices checked on each company's own site.

Which one fits you?

a tool or a hire fits if

A tool fits if you already have writers and a developer who can act on the data every week.
A hire fits if AI search is a full-time job for you and you want the expertise inside the company.
Either fits if you need full control over every page and every decision, day to day.

Strategi fits if

You do not have a team to act on the data, and do not want to build one yet.
You want pages written, reviewed and published for you every month.
You want to start within the hour, month to month, with prices on the page.

How do Strategi and a tool or a hire compare?

	a tool or a hire	Strategi
Monthly cost	Tool: $29 to $354 a month to start. Hire: about $90,010 a year base pay for a US SEO manager (Indeed), before benefits and tools	$499, $999 or $2,499 a month, work included
Who does the work	Tool: your team. Hire: your new employee	We do. Nothing goes live until you approve it
Time to the first change	Tool: as soon as your team acts. Hire: after recruiting and onboarding	Onboarded within the hour, roadmap within 24 hours
What you still need	Tool: writers and a developer. Hire: tools, and writers or developers for volume	Your approval, and access to your site and analytics
Measurement	Tool: AI answers on the prompts you track. Hire: whatever they set up	Daily AI answers plus your own Search Console, GA4, Bing and Clarity on one dashboard
Contract	Tool: monthly or yearly plans. Hire: employment	Month to month, cancel anytime, no setup fee

Is a tool enough?

A tool is enough when you have someone to do the work it points to.

AI visibility tools such as Peec AI, Otterly.AI, Scrunch and Profound run your buyer questions on AI engines and show where you are named, where a competitor is named instead and which pages get cited. They do that well, and cheaply: from $29 a month for Otterly.AI to custom enterprise pricing for Profound (prices checked 24 October 2026).

A tool does not change the answers. Someone still has to decide what to write, check the facts, publish the pages, fix what AI crawlers cannot read and earn mentions on the sites AI trusts. If that person exists, a tool is the cheapest option here. If not, the data waits.

When is an in-house hire the better choice?

AI search is core to your growth. If organic and AI search bring most of your pipeline, the expertise is worth having inside the company.
You have the budget. Indeed puts the average base pay of a US SEO manager at $90,010 a year (range $60,731 to $133,405, updated 18 October 2026). Benefits, tools and writers come on top.
You need daily control. An employee works on your priorities every day and knows your product as no outsider can.

When is a done-for-you plan the better choice?

Most buyers ask us first about quality: can software match the work of a specialist, and can one hire match the depth of a team? A done-for-you plan answers both. Our platform does the research and the drafting, a specialist reviews every page and fix, and you approve each one before it goes live.

Our own research behind the method: 72,712 AI answers about 40,147 businesses in 10 countries. It suits a company that wants the work done without building a team: pages written and published, the site fixed, every buyer question checked daily, for less than a month of an in-house salary. It suits you less if you want someone inside the company every day.

Nothing goes live without your yesEvery page and fix is reviewed by a specialist, then approved by you.
No shortcutsWe never post as you, buy reviews, use fake accounts or publish facts you have not approved.
You own everythingEvery page, fix, listing and account stays yours, including if you leave.
Month to monthNo setup fee, no minimum term. Cancel anytime; your plan runs to the end of the paid month.

Strategi vs a tool or a hire, answered.

Is an AI visibility tool enough to get recommended by AI search?

Only if someone acts on what it shows. A tool tracks where you are named and where you are not. Getting named takes pages that answer your buyers, a site AI crawlers can read and mentions on trusted sites. With a team to do that, a tool is enough.

Is an agency cheaper than hiring in-house?

Usually, for a small or mid-size company. A US SEO manager averages $90,010 a year in base pay (Indeed, October 2026), about $7,500 a month before benefits and tools. Strategi plans cost $499 to $2,499 a month with the work included.

Can a tool match the quality of an agency or a specialist?

A tool can match the data. It does not write, review or publish, so the quality of the work depends on your team. At Strategi our platform drafts each page and a specialist reviews it before you see it.

Can I start with a tool and move to a done-for-you plan later?

Yes. Nothing needs to migrate: we connect to your Search Console, GA4, Bing Webmaster Tools and Clarity at the start, and you can keep your tool running alongside, since tracking is included in every Strategi plan.

Sources: Indeed: SEO manager salary in the United States, Otterly.AI pricing, Profound pricing.