Prices checked 2026-09-08
Citation companies, compared
Several different things get sold under the same words. Here is what each model actually costs, who it suits, and when the right answer is to spend nothing.
We sell one of these — the last row. We have tried to write the page we would want to read before hiring anyone, which means being clear about the cases where the cheaper options win.
The options
The ways this gets bought
| Approach | Typical cost | Model | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | Free, plus your time | Manual submission | One location, under ~30 listings to create, and more time than budget. |
| Citation finder tools | Roughly $14–$40 / month | Subscription software | You want to find what exists and track it, but will do the submissions yourself. |
| Per-citation building | From about $2–$5 per listing, or ~$400 for a top-20 package | One-time, pay per build | A new or recently moved business that needs listings created once and does not need ongoing management. |
| Managed / syndication | Roughly $20–$50 / month per location, enterprise tiers far higher | Ongoing subscription | Multiple locations, or data that changes often enough that manual updates are impractical. |
| Done-for-you agency | Commonly $500–$5,000 / month as part of local SEO | Retainer | You want the outcome and not the project, and citations are one part of a wider local SEO effort. |
| Manual build, then maintained | $800–$1,500 once, then $59 / month | One-time build, small maintenance fee | A single location that wants the mess fixed properly once and then kept that way, without carrying an agency retainer to do it. |
Citation finder tools
Roughly $14–$40 / month
Managed / syndication
Roughly $20–$50 / month per location, enterprise tiers far higher
Done-for-you agency
Commonly $500–$5,000 / month as part of local SEO
Manual build, then maintainedwhere we sit
$800–$1,500 once, then $59 / month
Monthly cost
Not monthly, so not on the axis
- Do it yourselfFree, plus your time
- Per-citation buildingFrom about $2–$5 per listing, or ~$400 for a top-20 package
Published pricing, not estimates. The axis is logarithmic — each gridline is ten times the last — because the plotted range runs from $14 to $5,000 and a linear axis would flatten the cheaper tiers into the left margin. It plots the recurring cost only: where a tier also carries a one-time fee, that figure is in its label rather than hidden in the bar.
Do it yourself— what to watch
The building is easy. The audit and the duplicate cleanup are the slow parts, and they are where most people give up.
Citation finder tools— what to watch
A tool tells you what is wrong. It does not fix it. Budget the same hours you would have spent without it.
Per-citation building— what to watch
Cheap per unit, so it is tempting to buy volume. Thirty relevant listings beat two hundred irrelevant ones.
Managed / syndication— what to watch
Some syndication services hold the listings. Stop paying and they can revert. Ask what happens on cancellation before you sign.
Done-for-you agency— what to watch
Citations alone rarely justify a retainer. If that is genuinely all you need, one of the cheaper rows is the honest answer.
Manual build, then maintained— what to watch
The upfront is the bulk of it. If the audit finds your listings are already consistent there is nothing here worth buying, and we will tell you so.
Published pricing
What the main platforms publish
Checked 2026-09-08. Several vendors have moved plan pricing behind “price on request”, so treat anything here as a starting point and confirm on their own page — each name links to it.
BrightLocal
Citation Builder from $2 per citation, pay-as-you-go with no subscription required. Managed SEO from $1,299/month. Platform plan pricing is now shown as price on request.
Whitespark
Base package covering the top 20 citation sites at $400 one-time. Additional general listings around $4 each, industry or regional listings around $5 each. States it charges no recurring fees and audits a directory before building.
Moz Local
Widely reported around $14–$33 per month per location depending on tier — the lowest entry point of the major platforms. Confirm current tiers on Moz's own pricing page.
Yext
Quote-based and generally the most expensive option. Reported entry around $500 per location per year, frequently discounted. Historically a syndication model, so ask what happens to listings if you stop paying.
When you should not pay anyone
If any of these describe you, spend the money somewhere it will do more.
- You have fewer than about twenty listings to create and no duplicates. This is an afternoon of work, not a purchase.
- You have not claimed your Google Business Profile yet. Do that first — it outweighs every other listing combined, and it is free.
- Someone is selling you a package by directory count. Volume is the metric that is easiest to sell and least connected to results.
- You are being asked for a recurring fee to keep listings that a one-time build would make permanent. Ask directly whether the listings survive cancellation.
Our free citation checker will tell you how much work you are actually looking at before you decide — no account, no email.
Where we fit
We are the last row
And it is the one we had to add. The repair is a finite job, so it carries a one-time price — $800 for a clean start, $1,500 to untangle an existing profile. Keeping it right afterwards is $59 a month, because a quarterly sweep is not agency work and should not carry an agency price. Stop paying and the listings stay: they were built by hand, in accounts that are yours.