SEO Cost in India: Agency Prices Checked October 2026
I checked 24 Indian SEO agency pages on 16 October 2026: the 10 with rupee price lists put SEO cost in India at a Rs 16,250 median cheapest plan, and 12 have none.
Expert Web World’s Gold plan, BeTopSEO’s Growth plan and the bottom of Digital Braino’s Starter band each list about ₹15,000 a month on the pages I read on 16 October 2026, and each names keywords, on-page work and something different on top: 200 manual directory submissions at Expert Web World (up to 20 keywords, plus 18% GST); 5 blog posts and 50 backlinks at BeTopSEO (5 to 10 keywords, ₹14,999); and a one-time site audit and Google Business Profile setup at Digital Braino. Across the 10 agencies in my check that printed rupee prices for their own plans, SEO cost in India came to a median of ₹16,250 a month for the cheapest plan and ₹47,500 for the dearest.
Because the same list price can stand for such different work, I think SEO packages should be compared by their line items first and their price second, and checked against Google’s Do you need an SEO? page. This page covers monthly retainers; for a one-off audit, my breakdown of what an SEO audit costs has the numbers.
SEO charges in India started at ₹5,000 to ₹70,000 a month on the 10 agency pages in my check with rupee prices on 16 October 2026, with medians of ₹16,250 for the cheapest plan and ₹47,500 for the dearest. Only 3 of them say how tax applies, and 12 of the 24 agencies publish no price list of their own.
How Much Does SEO Cost per Month in India?
Eight of the ten agencies that print rupee prices start between ₹9,999 and ₹25,000 a month, and across all ten, the dearest plans start at ₹24,999 to ₹1,50,000. Every list as printed on 16 October 2026, cheapest plan first (prices change, so open the page before you rely on a number):
| Agency (page checked) | Cheapest plan, a month | Plans in between, a month | Dearest plan, a month | Tax wording | Term wording |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expert Web World | ₹5,000 offer (regular ₹5,999) | ₹9,000, ₹15,000 | ₹45,000 | ”+18% GST applicable on Indian prices." | "6 Months” (Recommended SEO Time Period row) |
| BeTopSEO | ₹9,999 | ₹14,999 | ₹24,999+ | none | ”No long-term contract” (Starter card); its FAQ recommends a minimum commitment of 3 to 6 months |
| Thanksweb | from ₹10,000 | ₹20,000 to ₹40,000 | from ₹40,000 | none | ”6 Months” (Contract Duration row) |
| Media Search Group | ₹12,999 | ₹20,999, ₹29,999, ₹45,999, ₹79,999 | ₹1,08,999 | none | billed monthly; “Plan for at least 6 to 12 months.” |
| Digital Braino | ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 | ₹25,000 to ₹45,000 | from ₹50,000 | none | not stated |
| Webnox | from 17,500 INR | from 22,000 INR | from 30,000 INR (two plans) | none | not stated |
| Ghosting Tech | 20,000 INR | 30,000 INR | 45,000 INR | ”EXCLUSIVE OF ALL TAXES” | not stated |
| RankON Technologies | ₹25,000 | ₹40,000 | ₹55,000 | none | not stated |
| Bloom Agency | 25,000 INR | 40,000 INR | 55,000 INR | ”EXCLUSIVE OF ALL TAXES” | not stated |
| Nico Digital | ₹70,000 to ₹1,50,000 | none | ₹1,50,000 to ₹2,00,000+ | none | says it does not “lock you into a long contract” |
| Median | ₹16,250 | ₹47,500 | 3 of 10 mention tax |
Five of the ten lists start at ₹15,000 or less. Nico Digital’s cheapest band starts at ₹70,000, above the starting price of the dearest plan at eight of the other nine agencies, and its page says “We do not work below ₹70,000/month.” Notes on reading the table:
- Expert Web World’s ₹5,000 is an “Offer Price” for “New Clients Only”, valid till 31 December 2026, against a regular price of ₹5,999.
- Thanksweb’s plan cards carry an “SEO Cost Calculator” button where a price would sit. The prices in its row above come from the page’s introduction and FAQ, and a budget table on the same page, headed “SEO Pricing in India 2026”, lists Entry Level at ₹10,000 to ₹20,000, Mid Range at ₹20,000 to ₹40,000 and Competitive at ₹40,000 to ₹75,000+ a month.
- Digital Braino and Nico Digital publish bands, and Webnox gives a starting figure for each plan “Based on Competition”. The medians use the lower bound of every band and starting figure.
- Keyword caps, cheapest plan to dearest: Expert Web World up to 5 to 60; BeTopSEO 5 to 20+ on its plan cards (its comparison table says 8 to 12, 20 to 30 and 40 to 80+); Thanksweb up to 15 to 50 keywords or pages; Media Search Group 15 to 500; Ghosting Tech max 15 to 45; RankON and Bloom max 10 to 40. Digital Braino, Webnox and Nico Digital print no keyword cap.
- Two more agencies print a figure with no currency sign: ARE InfoTech (“8000”, “9000” and “12500”, each ”- 1 month”) and SocioLabs (“Starting from 29999/-”). Counting them leaves the cheapest-plan median at ₹16,250 and moves the dearest-plan median to ₹45,000.
SEO Cost in India: 12 of 24 Agencies Publish No Price List
Half the agencies I checked print no figure at all for their own SEO work. Five show plans with an enquiry button in place of a price, and seven have no plan or price page that I could find in their menus or sitemaps, which leaves 17 of the 24 with a plan page of some kind.
| Agency | What it shows instead of a price |
|---|---|
| Anirup Technologies | ”Custom quote” on each of its four plans (10 to 50 keywords), each with a “3 month contract” |
| PageTraffic | ”Get A Quote” on four plans of 30 to 100 keywords |
| EZ Rankings | three plan tracks (local, national and global, e-commerce) and a button for each |
| ShreyWebs | ”Enquiry Now” under three plans of up to 10, 30 and 50 keywords |
| Brainguru | AI marketing plans “Quoted per project”, with AI-powered SEO in the Starter plan |
| Media Sathi | an article with market ranges; the agency “does not work on pre-built SEO package plans” |
| Marko & Brando | an article with market ranges |
| 99Digital Service | an article with market ranges |
| Vercis Group | an article with market ranges |
| Team Tweaks | an article with market ranges |
| Wild Creek Web Studio | an article with market ranges and a pricing planner tool |
| The Digital Socialite | an article with market ranges |
Each of those seven articles gives ranges for the Indian market as a whole, and none presents them as the agency’s own price list, so a range from one of them is a starting point for a conversation rather than a quote.
How I Chose the 24 Agencies
I opened every page logged out on 16 October 2026 from an Indian connection (Cloudflare’s trace returned loc=IN). Where an agency’s ranking page was an article, I looked for its own price or plan page in its sitemap and menu.
| Where the agency came from | Search | Date | Agencies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google India, first page, in Semrush’s India database | seo cost in india | snapshot dated 31 August 2026 | 9 |
| Bing India, first page, fetched logged out | seo packages india | 16 October 2026 | 9 |
| DuckDuckGo India, first page, fetched logged out | seo cost in india, seo charges in india | 16 October 2026 | 6 not already listed |
I left out three results:
- a Quora question page on Google, because Quora is not an agency
- a freelance consultant’s guide on DuckDuckGo, for the same reason
- rankingbyseo.com on Bing, which answered a plain request with a JavaScript challenge instead of its page
A sample built from search results leans toward agencies that publish pricing content, so read the 24 as the pages a buyer meets first rather than a census of Indian agencies. Seven of the ten rupee price lists came from the Bing search for “seo packages india”, a query that names packages; on the 15 pages from the Google and DuckDuckGo searches alone, 10 publish no price list of their own.
What Does a Rs 5,000 SEO Package Include?
The one ₹5,000 plan in the check, Expert Web World’s Bronze, includes up to 5 keywords, title and meta tag work on 7 pages plus 11 other on-page and technical items, and 80 directory, bookmarking, classified and article submissions. The ₹5,000 is an offer price, and with 18% GST the bill comes to ₹5,900 a month. Every row where the Bronze column shows a number or YES, grouped:
- up to 5 keywords, with a recommended SEO time period of 6 months
- title tag and meta tag optimisation on 7 web pages, and competitor analysis for up to 2 competitors
- YES on 11 more on-page and technical rows: keyword management, H1/H2/H3 tags, anchor tags, image tags, SEO-friendly URLs, content optimisation, W3C validation, sitemap, robots.txt, GA4 setup and website speed analysis
- 50 manual directory submissions, 10 social bookmarking submissions (the row names Scoop.it and Diigo), 10 manual classified ad postings and 10 article submissions
- a Google local listing, and video optimisation marked “1 PM”
- Facebook fan page creation, page banner design and Like integration, and Twitter account creation and banner design
- a monthly work report, a monthly Google Analytics report and a Google Search Console report, with WhatsApp and email support
No search engine submission line appears anywhere on the page.
SEO Charges for a Small Business in India
For a small business, the cheapest plan on each list is the number to look at, and nine of the ten rupee price lists start at ₹25,000 a month or less. Among the lines each of those cheapest plans names (Expert Web World’s Bronze is broken down above):
| Cheapest plan | Price a month | Among the lines it lists |
|---|---|---|
| BeTopSEO Starter | ₹9,999 | Google Business Profile setup, local keyword research, NAP fixes, 5 keywords |
| Thanksweb Professional | from ₹10,000 | up to 15 keywords or pages, on a 6-month contract |
| Media Search Group Basic | ₹12,999 | 15 keywords, 5 business listings, 5 classifieds, 1 article submission |
| Digital Braino Starter | ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 | one-time site audit, on-page SEO, technical fixes, Google Business Profile setup |
| Webnox Local | from 17,500 INR | Google business listing, local citation building, local search engine submission |
| Ghosting Tech Small Business | 20,000 INR | max 15 keywords, 5 local citations, 2 local classifieds |
| RankON Basic and Bloom Small Business | ₹25,000 and 25,000 INR | max 10 keywords, 5 local citations, 2 local classifieds |
Google’s hiring page has a line for exactly this reader: “If you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the work yourself.” It points to its SEO Starter Guide first. The Google Business Profile, citation and NAP items in these plans are all steps in my local SEO checklist, and if a plan opens with a site audit, as Digital Braino’s does, this SEO audit checklist shows what one should cover.
Does SEO Pricing in India Include GST?
Not on the pages that say: every price or plan page in the check that states how tax applies adds it on top of the price, and most of the price lists say nothing either way.
| Page | Tax wording, as printed |
|---|---|
| Expert Web World | ”+18% GST applicable on Indian prices.” |
| PageTraffic (prints no prices) | “Note: An additional GST of 18% will be applicable on all the services.” |
| Bloom Agency | ”EXCLUSIVE OF ALL TAXES” |
| Ghosting Tech | ”EXCLUSIVE OF ALL TAXES” |
| Brainguru (AI marketing plans) | “quotes are exclusive of applicable taxes” |
| The other seven rupee price lists | nothing about tax |
One ranking article in the check, SocioLabs’ cost guide, tells buyers to clarify whether a quotation includes taxes, along with minimum contract terms and cancellation conditions. Compare quotes after GST. At Expert Web World the 18% turns the ₹45,000 Platinum plan into ₹53,100 a month. A list that is silent on tax could be quoting either way.
Checking the Plans Against Google’s Hiring Page
Google’s hiring page, last updated 5 June 2026, lists eight questions to ask an SEO and a set of warnings. The four that bear on a price list, next to what the plan pages in the check print:
| What Google’s hiring page says | What the plan pages print |
|---|---|
| ”No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings…” | Anirup: “No responsible SEO company can guarantee exact Google rankings.” Media Search Group’s menu links to a guaranteed SEO page that notes Google says nobody can guarantee the #1 position, writes agreed “top 10 first page ranking targets” into the contract and refunds you if you are “not satisfied within the first 30 days”. PageTraffic: “We guarantee that the services we offer will give you actual benefits”, a guarantee of benefits, not of rankings. |
| ”Avoid SEOs that talk about link popularity schemes or submitting your site to thousands of search engines.” | 9 of 17 plan pages list directory, bookmarking, classified, article, slide or search engine submissions as line items, and 8 of them print a count for at least one submission line (all but Webnox; at Thanksweb and ShreyWebs the only count is on a Q and A submission line). Media Search Group, Webnox and ShreyWebs each list a search engine submission line, with no number of engines; Expert Web World lists 50 to 300 manual directory submissions; BeTopSEO’s Growth and Premium plans list 50 and 100 “High-authority backlinks”. |
| ”What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe?” | Some pages state a timeframe: Thanksweb’s plan table says progress starts showing “After 2 Months”, Media Search Group says rankings usually “start moving in 2-3 months”, and EZ Rankings’ comparison table gives “Visible improvements from month 2 to 3”. The terms: a “3 month contract” (Anirup), a 6-month contract (Thanksweb, ShreyWebs), 6 months recommended (Expert Web World, EZ Rankings), 3 to 6 months recommended (BeTopSEO), “MONTH TO MONTH” (PageTraffic), and no lock-ins “longer than 90 days” (Brainguru’s pricing guide). |
| ”What’s your experience in my country/city?” | BeTopSEO sizes its plans by city: 1 city, 2 to 4 cities, or pan-India. |
Whether link building belongs in a plan at all is a separate decision, and here is what SEO without link building produced on this site.
What Ahrefs’ Survey Says About SEO Prices in India
Ahrefs polled 439 SEO service providers for an article updated on 15 August 2024 and wrote that “India is a clear outlier”. It does not say how many respondents were based in India, and it adds a caveat: “We didn’t have much data for some regions, so take the results with a pinch of salt.”
| Ahrefs’ India figure | In rupees, my arithmetic |
|---|---|
| 76% charge $1,000 or less a month; the other 24% charge $2,001 to $10,000 | about ₹95,000 or less; about ₹1.9 lakh to ₹9.5 lakh |
| 85.7% charge $30 or less an hour; the other 14.3% charge $51 to $60 | about ₹2,850 or less; about ₹4,850 to ₹5,700 |
| 93.75% charge $1,500 or less a project; the other 6.25% charge $2,001 to $2,500 | about ₹1.43 lakh or less; about ₹1.9 lakh to ₹2.4 lakh |
The rupee column uses the European Central Bank’s euro reference rates for 15 October 2026, US$1.1208 and ₹106.5408 per euro, which works out to about ₹95.06 per dollar.
Set against the check, all ten cheapest plans start under about ₹95,000 a month, though the top of Nico Digital’s cheapest band is ₹1,50,000. Eight of the ten dearest plans also start under it; the two that start above it are Media Search Group’s ₹1,08,999 Platinum plan and Nico Digital’s enterprise band from ₹1,50,000. The survey records what SEOs say they charge and the check records what agencies print, so treat the two as separate readings.
How to Compare SEO Cost in India Before You Sign
- Shortlist agencies that print their plans and prices, so you can read the line items before any sales call.
- Ask for the price with GST stated in writing.
- Ask what every line item is: which directories, which classified sites, and what a submission puts on your site.
- Before you accept a 3-month or 6-month contract, put Google’s timeframe question to the agency.
- Match the keyword cap to the pages you need to rank. The caps printed on these pages run from 5 keywords to 500.
- If the plan names a monthly report, request a sample and check it against what a useful SEO report contains.
- Note the date: an SEO package price in India can change between checks. These prices were read on 16 October 2026, and Expert Web World’s ₹5,000 offer ends on 31 December 2026.
The rupee figure is the last thing to compare, after the line items and the term. Take the questions on Google’s hiring page to the first call.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does SEO cost per month in India?
On 16 October 2026, the 10 agencies in my check that print rupee prices started their cheapest plan at ₹5,000 to ₹70,000 a month (the lower end of any band), with a median of ₹16,250, and their dearest plans had a median of ₹47,500. Half of the 24 agencies I checked printed no price for their own SEO work.
Is GST charged on SEO services in India?
On every price or plan page in my check that states how tax applies, tax comes on top of the quoted price: Expert Web World adds 18% GST to Indian prices, PageTraffic says an additional 18% GST applies to all its services, Bloom Agency and Ghosting Tech print 'EXCLUSIVE OF ALL TAXES', and Brainguru says its quotes are exclusive of applicable taxes. Seven of the ten rupee price lists say nothing about tax, so ask for the price with GST in writing.
What does a cheap SEO package include?
The cheapest published plan I found was Expert Web World's Bronze at ₹5,000 a month plus 18% GST, an offer price for new clients valid till 31 December 2026 (regular ₹5,999). It covers up to 5 keywords, title and meta tags on 7 pages and 11 other on-page and technical items such as H1 to H3 tags, a sitemap and GA4 setup, plus 50 manual directory submissions and 10 each of social bookmarking, classified ad and article submissions.
Can an SEO agency guarantee rankings?
Google's Do you need an SEO? page says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google and tells readers to beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings. Among the agencies I checked, Anirup Technologies says no responsible SEO company can guarantee exact Google rankings, while Media Search Group's guaranteed SEO page notes that Google says nobody can guarantee the #1 position, writes agreed top 10 ranking targets into the contract and offers a refund if you are not satisfied within the first 30 days.
