In short. In France, an SMB monthly SEO retainer most often runs between 800 and 2,000 € excl. VAT according to published market data. In Germany the KMU average sits between 1,000 and 3,000 € a month. Freelance day rates average around 570 € in France, agencies 800 to 1,500 €. Below 300 € a month you are not buying search work. My own rate starts at 1,200 € a month, in the lower half of that range, with no separate GEO charge, and I explain below why I don't bill it separately.
It's the first question any owner asks, and almost nobody answers it straight.
You request three quotes and get 600 €, 1,800 € and 4,500 € a month for line items that read almost identically. There's no way to tell whether the first is a bargain or a scam, or whether the third is genuinely worth five times more.
Here are the real market numbers, what each budget level buys, and how to compare two quotes.
What the market charges
A French barometer built on 683 real SEO project budgets puts the median project at 5,000 €, ranging from 2,500 € for a one-off engagement to over 35,000 € for a large account across a year. Reduced to a monthly figure for an SMB, the subscription most often lands between 800 and 2,000 € excl. VAT.
Close to six agencies in ten offer a recurring monthly retainer. Search work suits that format: positions move, competitors publish, and an audit delivered once goes stale quickly.
On day rates, the 2026 figures converge. A junior freelancer with under three years charges 300 to 500 € a day; a senior consultant or established agency 700 to 1,500 €. The average French freelance SEO day rate sits around 570 €. Paris agencies charge on average 15 to 25% more than regional ones for comparable scope.
In Germany, published figures put the KMU average at 1,000 to 3,000 € a month, with a professional minimum around 1,500 to 2,000 €. Local service businesses can work with 600 to 2,000 €; nationally active KMU should expect 2,000 to 5,000 €. German hourly rates run 80 to 180 €, with Austria and Switzerland higher.
What each level buys
Under 300 € a month. Market sources estimate nine out of ten offers in this bracket are backlink spam or automated reporting. You are paying to receive a PDF. If that is your ceiling, spend it once on a serious audit and apply the recommendations yourself.
600 to 1,200 € a month. The experienced independent consultant working a defined scope. Technical fixes, optimising the pages that matter, some content, tracking. Realistic for a local business or an SMB already producing its own content. My Essentials plan, at 1,200 € a month, sits at the top of this bracket.
1,500 to 2,500 € a month. Regular production: several pieces of content monthly, active link building, continuous technical work. The format for SMBs genuinely competing on national queries. My Growth plan, at 2,400 € a month, is built for this level.
Above 3,000 €. Large-catalogue ecommerce, multiple markets, highly competitive sectors, where a multi-skilled team becomes necessary.
The GEO question, and why I don't bill it separately
A new line has appeared on quotes over the past year: visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI answers. Market observers estimate the surcharge at 20 to 35% above classic SEO pricing. Some specialist GEO agencies advertise monthly packages between 2,500 and 8,000 €, with SMB entry packs around 1,500 €.
I don't charge that line. Here's why.
A site that loads fast, serves its content as HTML, has structured data, and answers questions directly satisfies Google and the generative engines at the same time. Same work. I have a client cited first by Google's AI Overview and by ChatGPT in three languages, and that came out of the same work as their conventional search visibility, not a separate service.
Billing GEO as a separate product means charging you twice for one job. Be sceptical of any quote that splits the two lines without explaining precisely what changes in the execution.
How to compare two quotes
Four questions settle most cases.
Who does the work? Not who sells it. Ask for the first name of the person who will open your Search Console. With a freelancer that's simple. With an agency the answer can be a junior who appears after the sales phase.
What exactly is in scope, in writing? How many pieces of content monthly, how many technical hours, link building or not. A quote saying "SEO support" with no detail leaves you with no recourse.
Which metrics get tracked? If the answer is "traffic", push harder. Traffic rises beautifully on articles nobody buys from. I know because my own blog did exactly that for a year. Ask to track positions on your commercial queries and inbound enquiries.
What commitment length? Six to twelve months is the market norm, because that's the timescale search work operates on. A 24 month commitment with no exit clause is a signal.
What I charge
Two plans, GEO included in both and no long lock-in: Essentials at 1,200 € a month, Growth at 2,400 € a month. My prices are public: see pricing.
Essentials sits in the lower half of the French range and below the professional minimum reported in Germany, and I'd rather say so than dress it up as a promotion. It works because I work alone with no structure to fund, and because I build the technical fixes myself instead of subcontracting them.
Month one exists to check there's anything to win: I test your real queries on Google, ChatGPT and Perplexity, check whether AI crawlers can read your site, and tell you honestly what I think. If your sector isn't affected yet, I say so and we don't start.
Detail of the service: SEO and GEO services. Examples of work: my case studies.
Sources
Price ranges gathered in September 2026 from published French and German market barometers, including a French barometer built on 683 real SEO project budgets and an analysis of 32 published German agency prices from Q1 2026. GEO surcharge figures are industry estimates rather than an official schedule. Prices move: check with each provider.
Got a quote and don't know what to make of it? Send it to me with your site address. I'll tell you honestly whether it's fair, underpriced or inflated, even if you don't work with me. Write to me here, I reply within 24 hours.
