An honest comparison

Oracite, an agency,
or do it yourself?

Three real ways to get your clinic named by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI — what each costs, who does the work, and how you’d actually know it’s working. We’ll tell you when we’re not the right answer.

OraciteMed-spa GEO agencyDo it yourself
To start / ongoingFree audit, then $1,000/moPaid retainer ($1,295+/mo)1$0–$489/mo tool
Who does the workWe do, end to endAgency teamYou
Engines measuredAll 5, incl. Google AI ModeVaries; often 1–2Whatever the tool covers
Proof you can verifyTamper-evident receipt + same audit re-run monthlyA report you can’t independently checkYour own spot-checks
Tied to booked consultsYes — that’s the goalUsually visibility onlyUp to you
Medical complianceFTC/FDA/HIPAA, every claim sourcedVaries by agencyYour responsibility
Best forOwners who want it handled and provenClinics wanting all marketing in one placeTechnical owners with spare time

Oracite vs. a med-spa GEO agency

Agencies that do “GEO for med spas” exist, and the good ones do real work — treatment pages, Google Business Profile, listings, and the behind-the-scenes labels AI reads (schema). Three differences. Proof: we seal every audit with a tamper-evident receipt and re-run the identical questions monthly, so you verify the movement yourself instead of trusting a slide. Coverage: we measure all five major engines including Google AI Mode — the biggest local answer engine — where many shops check one or two. Outcome: we aim at booked consults, not just mentions. And a free audit to start, then $1,000/mo, below a typical agency retainer and with no contract.

Oracite vs. doing it yourself

You can absolutely do this yourself. The catch: tools like Profound, Peec, and Otterly ($29–$489/mo)2 mostly measure your AI visibility — a dashboard, not results. Getting named means fixing your listings, earning third-party citations, publishing answer pages with the labels AI reads, and keeping it all consistent — week after week, on top of running a clinic. Oracite does that work and proves it moved. If you’re technical and have the hours, a tracker plus elbow grease is legitimate; if you’d rather it be handled, that’s us.

What about just buying AI ads?

The newest alternative, and a fair question. In 2026 the engines started selling ads: ChatGPT began showing labeled “sponsored” results to its free users in February,3 and Google now places ads above, within, and below its AI Overviews and AI Mode answers.4 Buying them has since gotten much easier: OpenAI opened a self-serve ads manager with pay-per-click pricing and no minimum spend.6 So yes — you can pay to appear near an AI answer, and as of 2026 that now includes aesthetics: OpenAI’s current ad policy lists “minimally invasive cosmetic procedures” among the health categories approved advertisers may run, case by case, with proof of licensure.7

Three reasons it still doesn’t replace what we do. First, an ad buys a labeled slot next to the answer — OpenAI states plainly that ads “do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you.”8 The recommendation itself is not for sale. Second, ads are barred from the conversations that matter most in aesthetics: OpenAI blocks ad placement in “sensitive user contexts,” including personal-health and emotionally vulnerable conversations7 — which is exactly how patients talk when they’re deciding on a procedure. Third, ads only reach part of the audience: OpenAI shows them to Free and Go users only, and Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscribers stay ad-free.9 That skews the people you cannot reach with an ad toward the ones with money to spend on a procedure. Fourth, an ad stops the day you stop paying. A citation in a source AI trusts keeps working.

Put simply: you can rent the slot beside the answer. You can’t buy your way into the answer. That second part is the whole job.

When we’re honestly not the right call

If you want one team handling everything — paid ads, Instagram, website, email, AI visibility — a full-service med-spa agency fits better; we deliberately do one thing. If you’re hands-on and have time, DIY saves money. And if you run a 10+ location franchise or field-service brand with teams in the field, a platform like Cheers is built for that scale. Oracite is for the single clinic and the small operator — AI search handled by specialists, with proof you can verify, and a free look at where you stand first.

Whatever you choose, start by seeing the problem: ask ChatGPT or Google’s AI “best [your treatment] near me” and see whether your clinic is in the answer.

The full field — named, for the record

We’d rather you see the whole landscape than pretend we’re the only option. Who else works on AI visibility:

Enterprise measurement platforms — Profound (recently valued ~$1 billion5), Peec, Otterly, Scrunch
They measure how brands show up in AI; a dashboard, not the work, built for big marketing teams.
Done-for-you platforms for multi-location brands — e.g. Cheers (Y Combinator-backed)
The closest to us, and good — but built for franchises and field-service brands with 10+ locations and frontline review teams.
Med-spa SEO / GEO agencies — JH SEO, Logik Digital, The Med Spa Agency
Real work the traditional way, $1,295+/mo; usually no verifiable proof or booking tie-in.
Doing it yourself
A $0–$489/mo tracker plus your hours; legitimate if you’re technical and have the time.

So where’s our advantage?

We’re early, so we won’t claim “best results” we haven’t earned. Our edge is structural:

  • Built for your scale, not the 500-location chain. The platforms and agencies aim at big multi-location brands; we’re built for the single clinic and small operator they overlook — the same specialist work, sized for you.
  • Proof you can verify. Tamper-evident receipts and the same audit re-run every month — something we haven’t seen anyone else on this list put in your hands.
  • Done-for-you, no contract. $1,000/mo, under the $1,295+/mo agency retainer, and you can stop any month.
  • Aimed at bookings, not vanity. We tie visibility to booked consults, not just whether you were mentioned.
  • Built for aesthetics, compliance first. Every clinical claim sourced, nothing clinical publishes until your clinician approves it, and we never write fake reviews.

And you find all of it out — where you stand, and whether we’re worth it — with a free audit, before paying anything.

See where you stand — free.

We’ll run your AI-visibility audit and show you, word for word, what AI tells your patients today. No retainer to find out.

Sources

  1. Logik Digital — med-spa AI SEO plans listed from $1,295/mo (representative GEO/AEO agency retainer). logikdigital.com
  2. Otterly.ai — published pricing, Lite $29/mo to Premium $489/mo. otterly.ai
  3. Sarah Perez, “ChatGPT rolls out ads,” TechCrunch, Feb 9, 2026 — OpenAI began testing labeled “sponsored” ads for U.S. Free and Go users (paid tiers exempt); ads “will also always be clearly labeled as sponsored and separated from the organic content.” techcrunch.com
  4. Google Ads Help — “About ads and AI Overviews”: ads appear within Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, clearly labeled as Sponsored. support.google.com
  5. Fortune, “As AI threatens search, Profound raises $96 million to help brands stay visible,” Feb 24, 2026 — Series C at a $1 billion valuation. fortune.com
  6. OpenAI, “New ways to buy ChatGPT ads,” May 5, 2026 — beta self-serve Ads Manager, cost-per-click bidding, and conversion measurement, opened to “companies of all sizes, from SMBs and startups to global brands.” openai.com
  7. OpenAI, “Ad policies,” updated Aug 10, 2026 — health-services ads are restricted but may be approved case by case for listed categories including “minimally invasive cosmetic procedures,” with proof of licensure; separately, no ads are placed in “sensitive user contexts,” which OpenAI defines to include “mental and personal health conversations” and emotionally reliant contexts. openai.com
  8. OpenAI Help Center, “Ads in ChatGPT” — ads are “always clearly labeled as sponsored and visually separated from the organic answer” and “do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you.” openai.com
  9. OpenAI, “ChatGPT Ads expands across Europe,” Aug 18, 2026 — “ads will be shown only to users on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, and Enterprise subscriptions will remain ad-free.” openai.com