AEO agency or AEO tool?
An AEO tool tracks what AI answers say about you; an AEO agency changes those answers by fixing your pages, facts and feeds and earning a place in the sources AI reads. A tool is enough when your own team can ship the fixes and the tool asks each question several times on the real consumer apps. KailxLabs is an agency: a $1,500 baseline, then fixes measured against a control group of questions we never touch.
Tracker or agency?
A tracker is a thermometer. An agency is the treatment, and it should still take the temperature properly.
| Question | AEO tool | AEO agency |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Shows what AI answers say about you and your rivals | Changes what AI reads, then measures whether answers moved |
| Who ships the fixes | Your team | The agency, with your approval |
| Work off your site | Suggestions at most | Placements in the lists, reviews and directories AI cites |
| Measurement | Varies: often one run per question, sometimes through an API | Should be repeated runs on the real apps, with ranges and a control group |
| Price shape | A monthly subscription | A one time project or a monthly program |
| Best for | Teams with SEO, content and PR people in house | Teams without the hours or the know how to act on the data |
Published tracker plans we read on 26 Sep 2026 ran from free to $999 a month.
Siftly pricing page ($0 to $599 a month) and Searchable pricing page ($125 to $999 a month) · read 26 Sep 2026
When is a tool enough?
Buy a tool when the bottleneck is knowing. Hire an agency when the bottleneck is doing.
- You have people who can fix pages, feeds and listings every month
- Someone in house can pitch lists, reviewers and publishers
- You only need a watch on a few questions
- The dashboard shows rivals named and nobody has time to act
- AI gets your prices or details wrong in places you do not control
- You need proof a change worked, not just a new chart
What to check in any tool
Whether you buy a tool or hire an agency, the numbers are only as good as the method behind them.
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| App or API? | The ChatGPT API and the ChatGPT app shared only 12.0% of cited domains on the same questions. arXiv 2609.18729, academic audit · 1,536 answers · 16 Sep 2026 |
| How many runs per question? | The IAB says one response is not a measurement and asks for repeated runs, per platform results and ranges. IAB, "Measuring Visibility in the AI Era" · Industry framework · 3 Aug 2026 |
| Brands or sources? | Sources churn far faster than the brands named: 48% of cited URLs appeared only once across repeated runs. Otterly, AI search visibility stability · 252,407 answers, 520 prompts, 7 engines · 11 Sep 2026 · vendor data |
| One app or each app? | The brands Gemini and ChatGPT consistently recommend overlapped only 42%. One app is not a proxy for the rest. Searchable, Gemini and ChatGPT brand recommendations · 38,966 question sets, 8 Jul to 15 Sep 2026 · 22 Sep 2026 · vendor data |
| Free data connected? | Search Console's generative AI reports reached every site on 31 Aug 2026, and Merchant Center's AI performance insights went live on 16 Sep 2026 in five countries. Both are free.Google Search Central and Google Shopping announcements · 31 Aug and 16 Sep 2026 |
Measurement plus the work
AI visibility baseline
$1,500 one time. Repeated runs on four to six AI apps, one row per app, with the sources and the fix list.
About the baselineBrand facts
Prices, policies and details made consistent on your site and the profiles AI reads. Part of every program.
Brand factsGrowth program
$3,500 a month. Citation engineering on 50 questions, answer ready pages shipped monthly, brand fact fixes, and monthly proof against the untouched half.
Compare programsTools and agencies, answered.
Are AEO tools accurate?
No tool can be accurate in the strict sense, because an AI answer has no single true value. What you can ask for is precision: the same question asked several times on the real app, reported as a range, with the run count disclosed.
Do I need a tool if I hire an agency?
Not usually. A good agency measures for you and shows the raw answers. Free first party reports from Google Search Console, Merchant Center and Bing are worth connecting either way.
Why do tools and agencies show different numbers?
They often ask different questions, on different surfaces, a different number of times. An API answer is not the app answer, and one run is not a measurement. Compare methods before you compare numbers.
Does KailxLabs sell a tool?
No. KailxLabs is an agency. Measurement runs on our own instrument and is included in the $1,500 baseline and every program.
- 26 Sep 2026: page published with tracker prices read that day.
Talk to the founder.
20 minutes with Kailesk Khumar. You leave knowing where AI names you today, and what it would take to become the answer.
- A live look. We ask five of your buyer questions on ChatGPT, Google and Perplexity while you watch.
- The reasons. The three biggest reasons AI names a rival instead of you.
- The plan. A clear next step and its price, whether or not you hire us.
Pick a time that suits you. The calendar invite arrives straight away. Prefer a link? Book on Cal.com.