Costs
What does marketing cost a small business: an agency, a freelancer, ChatGPT or an AI team?
An agency charges a business of up to ten people $50 to $500 a month, and one of eleven to fifty $500 to $1,500. A freelance marketer charges $50 to $300 an hour, or $3,000 to $20,000 a month on retainer. ChatGPT is free, or $20 a month for Plus. An AI marketing team like ours is $59 to $259. The price is the smaller difference. The bigger one is who does the work each week, and how much of it comes back to you.
I run AI CMO Studio, so read the last two sections knowing that. The first four are other people's numbers, linked where they come from and checked on 7 October 2026.
The four options, side by side
- A marketing agency: retainers typically $1,000–$12,000 a month, and 59% of businesses pay $50–$3,500 (WebFX).
- A freelance marketer: $50–$300 an hour, or $3,000–$20,000 a month on retainer (MarketerHire).
- ChatGPT on its own: free to start, or $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus (Factors.ai).
- An AI marketing team: AI CMO Studio is $59–$259 a month, $47–$207 a month paid yearly, or one specialist from $5 a month (pricing).
What a marketing agency costs
Agencies price by the size of the company hiring them. WebFX's bands, per month:
- 1–10 employees: $50–$500
- 11–50 employees: $500–$1,500
- 51–250 employees: $1,500–$5,000
- 251–500 employees: $5,000–$12,000
- 501 and more: $12,000–$30,000+
If you are a team of one and the quote opens in the thousands, you are being priced as a mid-sized company. Before comparing the number, ask what arrives each month: how many posts, articles, emails and reports, and who on their side writes them.
What a freelance marketer costs
MarketerHire puts freelance marketing consultants at $50–$300 an hour and $3,000–$20,000 a month on retainer. Its examples: a mid-level SEO consultant at around $125 an hour or $6,000 a month, and a fractional CMO with fifteen years behind them at $250 an hour or $15,000 a month.
The rate is not the whole cost. A freelancer needs a brief, your feedback on every draft, access to your accounts, and someone who notices when a deadline slips. That someone is you.
What ChatGPT costs
Nothing to start, or $20 a month for Plus. The real cost is your hours. It knows nothing about your prices, your buyers or what your competitors already say until you paste it in, every time. It writes the draft and stops: the editing, the picture, the posting and remembering what went out last week are yours.
For an owner with a free hour a day who likes to write, that is a good deal. For one without the hour, it is a tool that waits.
What an AI marketing team costs
Ours reads your site first — the offer, the prices, the buyers, the competitors — and writes from that: posts for each network in the way the best posts of your niche are written there, articles, the newsletter, replies on Reddit within each subreddit's rules. Each piece waits for your yes on its own page; connect an account and what you approve goes out on its day.
- Creator — $59 a month ($47 paid yearly), 3,000 credits a month.
- Business — $159 a month ($127 paid yearly), 8,000 credits a month.
- Studio — $259 a month ($207 paid yearly), 16,000 credits a month.
- One specialist on its own — from $5 a month, with credits only it spends.
Every button shows its price in credits before you press it. An article is 40 credits, a run of X posts 20, Instagram or LinkedIn 15, the weekly newsletter 20. A month of two articles a week, X three times a week, Instagram and LinkedIn weekly and the newsletter comes to about 760 credits — a quarter of Creator's month. A run that fails costs nothing.
Which one fits
01
Under $100 a month, an hour a day to spare
ChatGPT, if you will do the editing and the posting yourself. Keep one document with your prices, buyers and voice to paste in, or every draft starts from zero.
02
Under $300 a month, minutes a day
An AI marketing team: it drafts from your site every week and publishes what you approve.
03
$1,000 a month or more, and a person accountable
A freelancer or an agency. Ask for the month's deliverables in writing, and for the name of whoever does the work.
If you want to see what an AI team would write for your business before paying anything, the set-up is free and takes about ten minutes.
Next step
See which questions your site loses, and to whom.
Run the AI Visibility CheckFree · no account · about 30 seconds
Written by Yana — Founder, AI CMO Studio. She runs the studio on her own websites first.
Last updated: 7 October 2026.
Questions
Asked about this one
Do unused credits roll over?
A plan's credits renew every thirty days from the day it started, and what is left of a month does not carry over. Credits bought as a pack never expire.
Can I start with one specialist instead of a plan?
Yes. Each one can be hired on its own, from $5 a month, with a month of credits only it can spend. A plan puts the whole team to work.
What does the free set-up include?
A read of your website or social profile, a plan for the month, your brand documents — product, audience, competitors, strategy, voice — and the first posts written from them. No card.
