What is the difference between an AI visibility tool and a GEO agency?
An AI visibility tool measures how the engines answer about a brand for $29 to $500 a month; a GEO agency does the work to change those answers for $2,500 to $15,000 a month, usually using one of the tools underneath. In 2026 the line has blurred: tools now draft on-site fixes, and New Map sells measurement, the on-site work and the placements together from $299.
What the tools do
Peec, Otterly, Scrunch, Semrush and Profound ask the engines a set of prompts on a schedule and report mentions, share of voice, sentiment and cited sources. Profound and AthenaHQ also draft page rewrites and content. None of the six main vendors places a story, runs a creator campaign or works a community on the brand's behalf.
What the agencies do
Published GEO rate cards in 2026 run from about $1,000 to $2,500 a month for basic monitoring and reporting to $2,500 to $8,000 for mid-market programmes and $7,500 to $25,000 and above for full programmes with monthly audits, content, digital PR and community work (ShowUpWithAI from $2,800; RevenueZen $3,000 to $15,000; Etched $7,500 to $25,000+). Audits alone are quoted at $440 to $5,500. Most agencies resell a tool's white-label report as their measurement layer.
Where New Map sits
New Map is a platform priced like a tool ($299 and $499 per brand per month) that ships the work an agency would: 100 or 300 questions on seven engines every week, trust graded against the brand's own site, the on-site fixes and Answer Library pages drafted in strategic order, and, through its PR, SEO and creator network, the placements the engines cite (Amplify, from $5,000 a campaign). Agencies can also white-label its measurement per brand.
Frequently asked
Do I need both a tool and an agency?
If you hire an agency, it will bring a tool. If you buy a tool, you still need someone to do the work: your team, the vendor's agents where offered, or an agency for the off-site placements.
What should a GEO agency retainer include?
A weekly or monthly measurement across several engines with trust and visibility separated, the on-site fixes shipped, content aimed at the questions you lose, and off-site placements in the sources the engines cite, each tied to a question and re-measured.
Can an agency guarantee AI citations?
No. Treat any guarantee as a warning sign. Ask instead for the questions they will move, the sources they will earn, and how they measure it.
Published by New Map — the AI visibility OS. Updated 2026-09-16.