AI answer optimization agencies in 2026, compared on eight criteria a buyer can verify

An answer engine does not return a list. It returns a paragraph that names a few vendors and cites a few sources, and the buyer reads that paragraph instead of the results underneath it. That is why the unit of success in this category is a mention or a citation inside an answer, and why a report built on keyword positions does not describe what happened.

The engines also disagree with each other. Broadcastwell's cross engine divergence study, published with a DOI and open access under CC BY 4.0, and not peer reviewed, found that vendor sets diverge between engines on the same buyer question once answer length is controlled. A firm that folds five engines into one visibility score is hiding exactly the thing a buyer needs to see.

Every firm listed below uses the term AI answer optimization or AI answer optimization on its own website. Firms that do the same work under a different label are covered on the AI search visibility page and the AI search visibility page linked at the foot of this one.

Broadcastwell measures five engines and names them on every page: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. Three scheduled runs are taken for every question and engine pair, with up to two adaptive runs extra on any pair whose verdicts disagree, and the disagreement is reported rather than averaged away.

The eight criteria are not a ranking of quality. They are the eight things a buyer can check in an afternoon without talking to anyone, and they are the eight things that decide whether a claim can be argued with later. A firm that publishes its question set can be told it asked the wrong questions. A firm that publishes nothing can only be believed or not believed.

The single most useful question to ask any firm on this page is how the questions were written. AI answers to questions that already contain a company name will usually contain that name, so a mention count built on name seeded questions measures the prompt rather than the engine. Broadcastwell published that finding against its own category research, and it is the reason no question in a Category Audit names any brand.

The second most useful question is what happens when the runs disagree. AI answers vary between runs and shift as models update, so a single screenshot is not a measurement. Ask how many runs sit behind a figure, and whether the disagreement between them is reported or averaged away.

The table lists the recorded price and purchase route for each company, with its source and date. Unverified claims have been removed; no current market-wide total is asserted.

We offer two entries: Answer Repair, $490 for one buyer question and one source-backed page or fix, and Agency Deadline Audit, $490 for one white-label client report and one paste-ready change. Fix Sprint is $3,900 ($3,410 after the $490 entry is credited, once), for six contracted pages or rewrites over 30 days. Care is $490 a month after setup. Program is $5,500 a month. The 150-page build is $6,000 plus $250 a page, in batches of 25, after a 5-page paid trial. Read /pricing for each scope and /terms for its deadline and refund conditions.

Fix Sprint is $3,900 ($3,410 after the $490 entry is credited, once). Its six contracted pages or rewrites over 30 days include the credited entry page. One primary test is agreed before payment and re-measured at day 30. Measured gain on that test, or the full $3,900 back. You keep the work.