Elmrank vs an SEO Agency: $2,000 vs $20,200 for 6 Months
Six months of WebFX's entry SEO package costs $20,200. With us it's $2,000, technical SEO and up to 30 articles a month included. When an agency still wins.
Elmrank editorial4 min readLast reviewed
On this page
| Line | Elmrank | WebFX Silver | Digital Elevator Foundation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $300 | $2,900 | $3,500 |
| First 6 months | $2,000 ($500, then 5 × $300) | $20,200 ($8,600 for the first two months, then 4 × $2,900) | $21,000 (6 × $3,500) |
| Content | Up to 30 articles a month | 6 content, outreach, UX or CRO assets a quarter | 2 content pieces a month |
| Technical SEO | Audit, then ongoing fixes to speed, indexing, schema and structure | Technical analysis, schema, sitemaps, canonicals | Technical SEO audit, listed as bi-annual on the entry tier |
| Link building | None | Within its quarterly assets | 4 placements a month |
| Site, hosting, domain | Included | Not listed in the package | Not listed; web design sold separately, from $6,000 |
| Contract | None, cancel any time | 6-month commitment | 12-month engagement, 30 days' notice |
| Who you talk to | Us, by email, replies within 12 hours | A dedicated internet marketer | An account manager and a monthly strategy call |
We picked WebFX and Digital Elevator because both publish full package prices. Their numbers are from their own pricing pages on October 14, 2026. They aren't the most expensive agencies around: Grow and Convert's base package is $10,000 a month, and the average monthly SEO project on Clutch is $3,199.
The $300, line by line against a retainer
The first month is $500. We audit your site for SEO and GEO, fix the technical problems (speed, indexing, schema, site structure), design the site and plan the content. If you don't have a site, we build one.
From month two, the $300 pays for the lines an agency spreads across a team:
- the writing: up to 30 articles a month, where WebFX Silver lists 6 assets a quarter and Digital Elevator 2 pieces a month
- technical upkeep, as new pages and updates bring problems up
- hosting and the domain, which neither package lists
- a monthly report with what we published, what we fixed, and your Search Console clicks and impressions
- the account manager's job, done by email, with replies within 12 hours
You don't need to know any SEO or touch any code. You share your Search Console and domain account, tell us about your product, and approve what matters to you. AI tools draft the articles, our pipeline fact-checks them, and a person approves each one before it goes live.
There's no contract, and the code, content and domain stay yours if you leave. The one result we promise is in our terms: after 6 paid months in a row, if your Google clicks in the sixth month aren't above your first month's in your own Search Console, we process a refund. The conditions are that Search Console stays shared with us for the whole period and the pages we published stay up.
Where the money goes at an agency
An agency retainer pays for more people. WebFX's Silver package lists a dedicated internet marketer, quarterly ranking reports, competitor reports and up to 30 optimized pages. Digital Elevator's Foundation tier pays for 4 link placements a month, an account manager and a monthly strategy call, alongside its 2 content pieces.
That's real work, and some of it we don't do. But look at what lands on your site each month. At Digital Elevator's entry tier you get 2 new pieces for $3,500. With us you can get up to 30 for $300. If what's holding your site back is that it doesn't have enough pages answering what your customers search for, the agency is charging you for things that won't fix it.
Ask who will work on your site, and how many other sites that person has. Someone who used to work at an agency described it on r/SEO: "I was in charge of 45 accounts when i was in agency. My month was basically meeting after meeting telling the clients what we are working on, while my team was putting off fires of older accounts." That doesn't describe every agency, and it's one person's account, but the question costs nothing on a first call.
Our own numbers
Agencies show client case studies. We don't have clients to show yet, so we show three sites we own and run on the same setup. Their names and domains stay hidden, which also means you can't open the properties yourself; the weekly numbers and charts are on our use cases page.
- Game news site
- 112,981 clicks
- 968 articles, Apr 10 to Oct 10, 2026
- Manhwa and anime site
- 63,398 clicks
- 504 articles, May 12 to Oct 10, 2026
- Card game site
- 26,919 clicks
- 372 articles, May 31 to Oct 10, 2026
The manhwa site above went from 21 clicks in its first week to a peak of 5,621 in the week of August 17. Not everything went up: the game news and card game sites are 18% and 20% below where they were ten weeks earlier, and our use cases page shows both. Those sites also published more than the plan's 30 articles a month, so treat them as evidence the setup works, not as a forecast for your site.
When an agency is the better choice
Pay for the retainer if one of these is true.
You're losing on links, not pages
If competitors outrank you with stronger backlink profiles, you need someone placing links. We don't do link building. Digital Elevator's entry tier includes 4 placements a month; that's what the extra $3,200 buys.
You want a person in your meetings
If you want monthly strategy calls, a named account manager and someone presenting to your team, agencies sell that. We work by email and reply within 12 hours.
You need a ranking promise in writing
Nobody can give you an honest one. Google's advice on hiring an SEO is direct: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." Our only promise is the clicks refund above. If an agency promises rankings, that's a reason to be careful, not a reason to pay more.
You're a large site with many teams
WebFX's packages go up to $9,200 a month after a $21,400 start, and they come with reporting tools built for companies with sales teams and call tracking. A company with that much at stake may want that machinery. A small business usually doesn't.
For everyone else, the math is simple: $2,000 for six months with us, against $20,200 or more for the published agency packages above. For a broader look at prices, see how much SEO costs per month for a small business.
Everything in our plan, technical and content, is on our SEO services for small business page.
How we know this
Written by Elmrank editorial. Every source below was read on the date shown; the page was last reviewed on Oct 14, 2026.
- WebFX, SEO Pricing (packages table), accessed Oct 14, 2026
- Digital Elevator, Managed AEO/SEO, accessed Oct 14, 2026
- Digital Elevator, pricing.md, accessed Oct 14, 2026
- Grow and Convert, content marketing service, accessed Oct 14, 2026
- Siege Media, How Much Does SEO Cost in 2026?, accessed Oct 14, 2026
- Clutch, SEO Agency Pricing Guide 2026, accessed Oct 14, 2026
- Google Search Central, Do you need an SEO?, accessed Oct 14, 2026
- r/SEO, In-house SEO vs agency. What's actually worked for you? (comment by u/mon-bot), accessed Oct 14, 2026
- Elmrank, Search Console data for three sites we own (snapshot Oct 13, 2026), accessed Oct 14, 2026
Email us your site.
We reply within 12 hours with what we'd fix first. Then we run it for you, technical SEO and content: $500 for the first month, then $300 a month for up to 30 articles. You don't need any technical knowledge, and you can cancel any time.