ThriveFinity vs Tilio for AI Search Optimisation (AEO and GEO)

Tilio suits a B2B company that wants a small AI search specialist to run an ongoing monthly programme for it, covering tracking, technical fixes, content and outreach, with the fee quoted to the scope. ThriveFinity, which is us, suits a company that wants a defined AI search project first, with a published starting price and a re-test of the same buyer questions at day 30, and then decides whether to keep going. Both firms do only AI search work and are wary of guarantees. The difference is mainly in how you buy.

If an AI tool put Tilio on your shortlist, that's not surprising. In our own test on 31 October 2026 it was one of the two firms named most often for UK AI visibility agencies. The method is further down.

Facts about Tilio come from its own website, as published on 31 October 2026. Services and terms change, so check its site before you decide. We have a commercial interest in this comparison and we're not affiliated with Tilio. Where its pages are silent, the table says "not published". That doesn't mean Tilio doesn't offer the thing. Ask.

Two Specialists, Two Ways to Buy

Tilio and ThriveFinity are both small and both focused on AI search, so the contrast here isn't agency size. It's the shape of the engagement.

Tilio's homepage opens with "Tilio is a UK AEO agency". AEO, answer engine optimisation, is another name for much the same work as GEO: getting a business named, cited and recommended in AI answers. Its About page says it's based near Exeter, works as a small specialist team and is a trading name of Luto Ventures Ltd. It sells four things: Gain, a monthly AEO programme, Fractional AEO, ChatGPT ads management, and training workshops.

ThriveFinity sells AI search optimisation (GEO) as a short ladder of defined jobs: a free Signal, a fixed-price AI Presence, an AI Visibility project priced by estimate from a published starting price, and an optional monthly AI Growth plan. We're a one-person company, and a named verifier signs every paid report.

So the practical question is whether you want to start with an ongoing programme or with a bounded project you can judge on its own before committing to more.

Side-by-Side Comparison

The table lines up what each firm publishes on the same twelve points. Tilio's column quotes or summarises its own pages.

"Not published" means the pages we checked didn't say. Our prices come from our published pricing and exclude tax.

What Tilio Publishes About Its AEO Work

Tilio publishes more about how it works than most firms in this market. Its AEO agency page sets out Gain in ten parts, from your buyers' questions through to a scope you approve, and a three-month rhythm. Month one finds the starting point, month two puts the plan to work, and month three reads the movement against the baseline.

Its pricing page is specific about what the monthly fee pays for, even though it gives no figure. Gain includes an initial AI search audit, a full technical audit of the agreed site, fixes made by Tilio within an agreed allowance, new and improved pages each month, outreach to the third-party sources AI answers draw on, and reports with review calls. Publishing content in your CMS and ongoing brand accuracy work are optional extras. The page says scope and fee are agreed in conversation, that there are "no packages and no published minimum", and that nothing starts until you approve it.

The one published price is for Fractional AEO: a senior AI search specialist inside your team for two to four days a month, from £1,450 a month, with a three-month minimum and then rolling. The page says content production isn't included.

On guarantees, Tilio is direct. Its pricing FAQ says publishers and answer engines decide what they show, "so we do not guarantee mentions, citations, coverage or corrected AI answers". We say the same. Google's own guidance on hiring search help points the same way:

What I couldn't find: a price for Gain, its minimum term or notice period, how many buyer questions a client programme tracks, or how many times each question is run. Tilio says those follow the scope, which is reasonable. It does mean they're the first things to get in writing.

How Each One Measures Results

AI tools rarely give the same answer twice, which makes measurement the hardest part of any AI search proposal to judge. In January 2026, SparkToro and Gumshoe had 600 volunteers run 12 prompts through ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI a combined 2,961 times. Rand Fishkin reported a chance of less than 1 in 100 that ChatGPT or Google's AI would give the same list of brands in any two responses to the same prompt.

So a useful measure is a rate across repeated runs, collected the same way before and after the work.

Tilio's measurement page defines five things it records for each answer: whether it names you, whether it recommends you for the buyer's need, whether it links to a source (yours or a third party's), how it describes you, and which competitors appear. It says the sample size "depends on your services, markets and scope", that missing responses should be flagged rather than counted as absence, and that comparisons only work on the same questions and conditions. That's a careful method statement. It doesn't publish the number of questions or runs for client work.

Its public Vantage index gives a sense of scale. It sends 100-plus buying questions per industry to ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode every week, across 16 UK industries, and analyses at least 300 answers per industry. Vantage is a public benchmark, though. Ask how a client programme's sample compares.

We publish our numbers. AI Visibility asks each of 100 to 150 buyer questions 3 times in each of five AI tools, against 3 to 5 named competitors, then runs the same set again at day 30. How a named verifier checks and signs each report is on our methodology page, and the arithmetic is in measuring AI share of voice.

One more difference sits at the free end. Tilio's AI checker reads up to four of your pages and scores technical and content readiness out of 100. Its FAQ says it "does not query live AI answers". Our free Signal does the opposite. It asks four AI tools 12 buyer questions and scores whether they name you. The two checks answer different questions, and running both costs nothing.

When Tilio Is the Better Choice

Tilio is the better choice when you already know you want AI search as a continuing monthly programme and you'd like the firm to do the content and outreach as well as the tracking.

• You want content and off-site outreach every month. Gain includes new pages, improved pages and outreach to third-party sources. Our AI Visibility fixes pages and writes briefs, and our AI Growth plan adds 4 priority pages, 2 content pieces and 3 authority placements a month.
• You need a part-time specialist inside your team. Fractional AEO puts someone in your team for two to four days a month from £1,450, with a three-month minimum. We don't sell embedded days.
• You want to run ChatGPT ads. Tilio lists ChatGPT ads setup, testing and management. We don't manage ads.
• You sell into Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium or Switzerland. Tilio lists those markets alongside the UK and US.
• You want staff trained. Tilio runs AI search workshops.
• You value a public benchmark. Vantage is published weekly, and you can read it before you speak to anyone.

The trade-off is the same as for any scoped retainer. You won't see a figure until the proposal, so ask for the fee, the minimum commitment and the notice period together.

Questions to Ask Any Provider

Ask both firms the same questions and get the answers in writing.

1. Which buyer questions will you track, and can I see the full list before we start?
2. Which AI tools do you test, and how many times do you run each question?
3. When is the re-test, and will it use exactly the same questions and settings as the baseline?
4. What exactly will you change, and who does it: you, or my team from your list?
5. What does it cost, what's the minimum term and what's the notice period?
6. If I stop, do I keep the question set and the raw answers?
7. What happens if a report contains a factual error?

The longer list, with red flags, is in our GEO agency buyer's guide. If you want a baseline before either call, my guide to running an AI visibility check shows how to do it in an afternoon.

How We Wrote This Comparison

This page names a competitor, so UK advertising rules apply. Rule 3.33 of the CAP Code says a comparison with an identifiable competitor must "compare products meeting the same needs or intended for the same purpose", and rule 3.34 says it must objectively compare material, relevant, verifiable and representative features.

So every fact about Tilio links to the page it came from and is dated 31 October 2026. I haven't repeated its client results, testimonials or Vantage rankings of other companies, because I can't verify them and they aren't about the service you'd be buying.

Why Tilio? When we asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity best AI visibility agencies in the UK three times each on 31 October 2026, Tilio was named in 5 of 12 answers. ThriveFinity was named in none of those 12. The count shows how often the tools named each firm on one day. It doesn't rank quality, and a rerun next week could differ.

Spotted something out of date or wrong? Email om@thrivefinity.uk. We respond within 5 working days, and corrections are logged on our errata page. The next scheduled recheck of every fact here is due by 29 January 2027.

Where ThriveFinity Fits

We fit when you want to see a measured before and after on a defined piece of work before you commit to anything monthly. All prices exclude tax.

• AI Presence Signal (free, under an hour): 12 buyer questions across GPT (OpenAI), Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, scored 0 to 100. It's automated and unsigned, and you can run the free AI Presence Signal today.
• AI Presence (£849, 5 working days): a signed fact sheet, a scored audit of the places AI tools learn who you are, and up to 10 profiles created or aligned. Credited to AI Visibility if you book it within 30 days.
• AI Visibility (from £2,250, 10 working days): 100 to 150 buyer questions across five AI tools, your 10 highest-value pages fixed, 5 briefs for new pages and a re-test at day 30. A scoped estimate within one business day, then 50% in advance once scope is agreed.
• AI Growth (from £2,250 a month) or Quarterly Re-measurement (£595): ongoing work or tracking after AI Visibility. AI Growth has a 3-month minimum, then 30 days' notice.

We're not the right choice if you want someone embedded in your team each month, ChatGPT ads managed, or staff training. Tilio covers all three. We don't buy links, and like Tilio we won't promise that any AI tool will name you. Our sample AI visibility report shows what the AI Visibility report looks like.

Weighing a different kind of firm? Our comparison with Exposure Ninja covers a full-service agency. Every page is listed on the comparisons hub.

Pranav Unni

Founder · ThriveFinity Connect on LinkedIn →

Pranav Unni is the founder and lead verifier of ThriveFinity. He reads and signs every paid deliverable personally, and writes about go-to-market decisions for established B2B companies.