| Service | Agency Price (Small) | Agency Price (Mid) | Agency Price (Enterprise) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog Posts | $150–400/post | $400–800/post | $800–1,500/post | Feedbird.com (Mar 2026), StoryChief.io (Dec 2025) |
| Content Retainer | $600/mo (1 post/mo) | $4,500/mo (3/week + newsletter) | $10,000+/mo (full-service) | Feedbird.com (Mar 2026) |
| Social Media Mgmt | $500–2,000/mo (8-12 posts) | $2,000–5,000/mo (20-30 posts) | $5,000–20,000+/mo (40+ posts) | SocialRails (Jan 2026), MySocial.io (Mar 2026), SocialChamp (Feb 2026) |
| SEO (monthly) | $1,000–5,000/mo | $3,000–8,000/mo | $5,000–25,000+/mo | Pricing report (agency rate cards, 2026) |
| WCAG Audit | $3,000–5,000 (one-time) | $5,000–15,000 (one-time) | $25,000–50,000+ (one-time) | Test Party AI (Mar 2025), A11Y Collective (Mar 2025), Accessibility.Works (Jan 2026) |
| WCAG Remediation | $5,000–15,000 | $15,000–50,000 | $50,000–100,000+ | Vervali (Mar 2026), Test Party AI (Mar 2025) |
| Role | Annual Salary | Fully Burdened Hourly | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copywriter / Content Writer | $99,063 | $85.73/hr | AMA Chicago / Robert Half (2026) |
| Social Media Manager | $98,438 | $85.19/hr | AMA Chicago / Robert Half (2026) |
| Content Strategist | $115,938 | $100.33/hr | AMA Chicago / Robert Half (2026) |
| SEO Specialist | ~$100,000 | $86.54/hr | MTHD Marketing, HawkSEM (2026) |
| Project Manager | $121,563 | $105.20/hr | AMA Chicago / Robert Half (2026) |
Formula used: (Annual Salary × 1.35 overhead) ÷ 1,560 billable hours (75% utilization)
Source: Agency cost-plus pricing model, 35% overhead factor — AMA Chicago / Robert Half (2026)
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Gross profit margin | 50–75% | HubSpot, Bonsai, TMetric, Dojo Business (2024–2026) |
| Net profit margin (typical) | 10–20% | HubSpot (2024–2025 reports) |
| Net profit margin (top performers) | 20–30% | HubSpot (2024–2025 reports) |
| Net profit margin (specialized agencies) | 20–40% | Multiple benchmarking sources (2026) |
| Labor cost as % of revenue | 40–60% (avg ~50%) | Multiple sources (2025–2026) |
| Overhead as % of revenue | ≤25% | Agency benchmarking (2025–2026) |
| Bill rate multiplier on burdened cost | 2x–4x (typical 3x) | o8.agency, Wolfpack, agency pricing models (2026) |
| Data Point | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Agency charges per blog post | $150–400 | Feedbird.com (Mar 2026), StoryChief.io (Dec 2025) |
| Content writer burdened hourly rate | $85.73/hr | AMA Chicago / Robert Half (2026) |
| Hours per blog post (writer) | Unknown — not in research | |
| Other roles touching each post (editor, PM, strategist) | Unknown — not in research | |
| Total labor cost per blog post | Unknown — cannot calculate without hours-per-post data |
| Metric | Agency (from research) | AISO Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Blog post price to client | $150–400/post | $24.75–29.95/post (at tier pricing) |
| Content retainer (4 posts/mo) | $600–1,600/mo | $99/mo (Starter tier) |
| Content retainer (8 posts/mo) | $1,500–3,200/mo | $249/mo (Pro tier) |
| Content retainer (20 posts/mo) | $4,500–10,000/mo | $599/mo (Agency tier) |
| Social media (20-30 posts/mo) | $2,000–5,000/mo | Unknown — social posting not automated yet |
| SEO content strategy | $1,000–5,000/mo | Included in all tiers |
| WCAG audit | $3,000–50,000 one-time | Included in Pro/Agency tiers |
| Labor cost per blog post | $85.73/hr × unknown hours | ~$0.85 API cost + 10 min your time |
| Time per blog post | Unknown — not in research | ~10 minutes (your estimate) |
| Delivery model | Human writer + strategist + PM | AI generation + human review |
| Tier | AISO Price | Agency Equivalent (from research) | Client Saves | % Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter (4 posts/mo) | $99/mo | $600–1,600/mo | $501–1,501/mo | 83–94% |
| Pro (8 posts/mo) | $249/mo | $1,500–3,200/mo | $1,251–2,951/mo | 83–92% |
| Agency (20 posts/mo) | $599/mo | $4,500–10,000/mo | $3,901–9,401/mo | 87–94% |
| Tier | Revenue | API Hard Cost | Your Time | Gross Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $99/mo | ~$3.40/mo | ~40 min/mo | $95.60 (96.6%) |
| Pro | $249/mo | ~$6.80/mo | ~80 min/mo | $242.20 (97.3%) |
| Agency | $599/mo | ~$17.00/mo | ~200 min/mo | $582.00 (97.2%) |
Note: Your time is not valued in dollars here because that rate is yours to set. The API hard costs are the only cash expense.
| Missing Data Point | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Hours per blog post (human writer) | Can't calculate exact agency labor cost per post without this |
| Number of roles per deliverable | Don't know if agencies use 1 person or 3 per blog post |
| Social media automation cost via AISO | Can't compare social media ROI until posting is automated |
| AISO time per post (verified) | 10 min is your estimate — needs to be timed for accuracy |
| Client retention rate at each tier | Lifetime value depends on how long clients stay |