An SEO audit can be free if you run a tool yourself. Paying someone to investigate the findings is a different purchase: the published examples below start at USD 500 for a scoped review, while one audit-and-implementation service starts at USD 2,500. These are individual offers, not a market average or a recommended budget for every website.
The useful question is what you will be able to do when the report arrives. If nobody can make the changes, a detailed report may leave you with the same website and a longer to-do list.
What are you paying for?
| Option | What you receive | What still needs doing |
|---|---|---|
| Free automated check | Issues the tool detects within its crawl and feature limits | Someone verifies the findings, decides their importance and makes changes |
| Manual SEO audit | Investigation of an agreed scope, evidence and prioritized recommendations | Your team or a separately hired provider implements the work |
| Audit and fixes | Diagnosis plus the specific changes agreed in the quote | Work outside that scope, and any ongoing monitoring not included |
For example, Screaming Frog's free crawler can crawl up to 500 URLs. That is a software allowance, not 500 pages reviewed by a consultant. A free scan can be useful; a paid report needs to explain more than what the scanner found.
Published SEO audit prices, with their scope
These prices were checked on 24 October 2026. They are one-time audit offers, not monthly SEO retainers. Confirm the current total, taxes and scope with the provider.
| Provider and offer | Published price | Scope that helps explain the price |
|---|---|---|
| PageSpeed Matters: Starter | From USD 500 | Crawl, indexing review and prioritized findings; aimed at sites up to about 100 pages |
| PageSpeed Matters: Full | From USD 1,250 | Adds manual template review, rendering checks and developer tickets |
| PageSpeed Matters: Audit and Implementation | From USD 2,500 | Adds agreed fixes and subsequent validation |
| AuditLabs: Starter | USD 1,199 advertised offer | Crawl allowance up to 25,000 URLs, diagnostic report and a 60-minute walkthrough |
A crawl allowance is not a promise of manual review for every URL. These packages also cover different investigations. Comparing their prices without those distinctions would be misleading.
Why two similarly sized websites get different quotes
Page count is only a starting point. A catalogue with many products sharing one layout may need a different investigation from a smaller site with several languages, a recent platform move and inconsistent page addresses.
Tell the provider what prompted the review: important pages missing from search, a traffic drop after a migration, unclear service pages, or a long list of warnings nobody has verified. Ask how their proposed work addresses that problem.
The cost of an SEO audit also depends on the evidence available. A public website review can examine published pages. With permission, account data can reveal more about indexing and previous search activity. If that history is unavailable, the report should explain the gap rather than invent a cause for poor performance.
Competitor research, content assessment and AI-answer checks can add work. If AI visibility is included, ask which buyer questions and engines will be checked, and whether the report distinguishes a brand mention from a linked citation. A single answer is a dated observation, not proof of consistent visibility.
Read a quote as a list of decisions
Before accepting, get these points in writing:
- Coverage: domains, markets, languages, page types and any sampling limits.
- Evidence: affected page addresses, reproducible findings and the reason each recommendation matters.
- Handover: report format, explanation session and who can answer follow-up questions.
- Implementation: which changes are included, who makes them and what happens when platform access is limited.
- Completion: delivery date, retesting and the boundary between included work and a new quote.
Ask to see a sample finding. “Improve titles” leaves your developer guessing. A useful finding identifies the page, shows the current title, explains the mismatch with its purpose and proposes a change that can be checked. It should also separate a confirmed problem from a hypothesis that needs more evidence.
For a smaller site, a targeted review can be reasonable when its limits are clear. Buying a bigger report solely because it lists more checks is not a reliable way to buy better decisions.
Where our audit fits
Our SEO Audit is USD 350 at the launch price; the standard price is USD 600. It covers an existing small English-language site aimed at one main market: the homepage, up to five category pages, up to nine product pages and one buying, shipping or service-information page, selected as needed. It includes a report, issue list, 30-minute explanation and one recheck within 14 days of delivery. Implementation is excluded.
Audit + Fix is USD 900 at launch, with a USD 1,400 standard price. It adds only the agreed changes we can access and safely carry out; inaccessible work is supplied as specifications for your developer. The quote distinguishes those items before work starts.
Our sample audit of our own website shows how findings are presented. It is not a client case study or evidence of ranking gains. If you only need an initial owner-led check, use the website audit checklist before commissioning a wider review.
Questions to settle before paying
Does an SEO audit include fixes?
Only if the agreement says so. Recommendations, implementation and verification are separate deliverables. A call explaining a repair is not the same as carrying it out.
Is a one-time audit enough?
It can answer a defined question or produce a repair plan. It does not maintain the site afterwards. Agree who handles later changes and whether you need another review after those changes.
Can an audit get my website into the top five?
An audit can identify issues and opportunities; it cannot promise a position. Agree how completed work will be verified, then measure search visibility and enquiries separately. A higher tool score alone does not establish either result.
