From our free 60-second Findability Score (Tier 0) and human-verified Audits (Tier 1, 100% credited toward builds) to fixed-scope Semantic Search & Recommendation Builds (Tier 2) and Principal-supervised Resident AI/ML Engineers (Tier 3).
Tier 0 & Tier 1 · Diagnostics (100% Credited Toward Tier 2 Builds)
Start free with the Findability Score & Gap Snapshot (60s live check across 4 engineering sub-scores + 24h Principal-verified email snapshot + Talos Semantic Search preview.), or commission a human-verified Tier 1 Audit. In Advisory mode, 100% of your Tier 1 Audit fee is credited toward any Tier 2 build signed within 60 days.
Flagship Ready Now
On-site natural-language & constraint search
Save $1,000
On-site search + 5–6 AI shopping assistants
PDP similar items, complete-the-look, cart cross-sell
New
AI shopping assistants only
Design-Partner Rate: $2,500 design-partner rate available for the first 3 Tier 1 Search Audits in exchange for named before/after case study rights. · Enterprise stores over $50M: quoted from $30,000.
Tier 2 · Fixed-Scope AI & ML Engineering Builds
Milestone-billed engineering builds with zero open-ended hourly drift. Every Tier 2 build includes a before-and-after re-test on the frozen intent set.
| Tier 2 Engineering Build | Price (USD) | Scope & Architecture | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semantic & Hybrid Search Build (In-Stack Advisory) | $6,000–$12,000 | In-stack tuning of Algolia, Klevu, Constructor, Fast Simon or Shopify Search (attribute indexing, constraint rules, synonyms) + before/after re-test | 3–4 weeks |
| Semantic & Hybrid Search Build (Turnkey / Talos Layer) | $12,000–$35,000 build + $1,500–$3,500/mo | Turnkey hybrid BM25 + dense vector + constraint parser & cross-encoder reranker (or hosted Talos Semantic Engine layer); includes before/after re-test. 12-month minimum on hosted layer. If you exit, you keep all enriched catalog data and your site falls back cleanly to its platform search. | 4–8 weeks |
| Recommendation System Build / Upgrade | $15,000–$40,000 | Two-tower candidate generation, cross-encoder/LTR reranking, complete-the-look compatibility rules, and session-aware cart cross-sell with offline NDCG & online A/B harness | 4–8 weeks |
| Catalog Enrichment & AI Feed Fix | $6,000–$18,000 | Automated + human-QA attribute extraction from prose/images into structured fields, schema.org/Product JSON-LD, and Merchant Center / Shopify Catalog feeds | 3–6 weeks |
| Evaluation Harness & Experimentation Setup | $8,000–$18,000 | Golden query/intent sets (200–1,000 queries), automated NDCG@10 / MRR / Constraint Recall CI suite, LLM-as-judge calibration, and A/B interleaving setup | 2–4 weeks |
Tier 3 · Contract ML Engineering & Resident Teams
Embed vetted Senior Search, Recommendation, and Applied ML Engineers directly into your Slack, GitHub, and sprint ceremonies—supervised weekly by a RankTalos Principal Architect. Learn how residency works.
| Tier 3 Engagement | Rate (USD) | Scope & Supervision | Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fractional Principal ML / Search Architect | $4,000–$8,000/mo | Architecture design, evaluation review, model/prompt critique, search/recsys vendor governance, and mentoring in-house engineers | 3-month minimum (15–30 hrs/mo) |
| Resident AI / ML Engineer | $16,000–$26,000/mo FT ($100–$165/hr) · $9,000–$14,000/mo HT | Senior Search, Recsys or Applied ML Engineer embedded in your Slack/GitHub/sprints, supervised weekly by a RankTalos Principal Architect. Billed monthly upfront (Net-7); 20% first-year comp conversion buyout option after 6 months. | 3-month min, billed monthly upfront (Net-7) |
| Embedded Delivery Pod | $35,000–$55,000/mo | 1 Fractional Principal Architect + 1–2 Senior ML Engineers executing an end-to-end search, recommendation, or ranking roadmap | 8–12 week delivery sprints |
Advisory Mode vs. Independent Mode
Advisory Mode is standard for store audits: you get the full reproducible truth table and can credit 100% of the audit fee toward a Tier 2 build within 60 days. Independent Mode (12-month no-fix rule) is used for our $7,500 M&A Technical & Findability Due Diligence (5 business days) and formal vendor RFPs. Independence policy · M&A Due Diligence.
| Question | Advisory (Standard) | Independent (M&A & RFPs) |
|---|---|---|
| Who commissions it | The merchant or engineering team | An M&A acquirer, PE fund, broker, or board (with target store’s written consent) |
| Can we sell the fix | Yes — 100% of the Tier 1 Audit fee is credited toward a Tier 2 build | No Tier 2 or Tier 3 build sold to that store for 12 months |
| Fee credit | 100% credited within 60 days | None (strict neutrality) |
| Report shared with | The client team | The commissioning party and the target store |
| Typical trigger | Search/recsys upgrades, catalog projects, pre-peak readiness | M&A technical due diligence ($7,500), formal vendor RFPs |
Chosen before work starts and printed on the report cover. Both modes follow the published test standard, carry the same 30-day dispute window and correction process, and cap our liability at the fee paid.
Event-Triggered Re-Tests
The frozen intent set plus new requests, delivered as a dated before/after report. Bought when something changes, never as a passive subscription.
Comparison
Automated visibility trackers do not know what you stock and cannot build the retrieval or ranking fix. We verify every answer against catalog ground truth and engineer the production solution.
| Dimension | Automated Scanners & Dashboards | RankTalos Audit & Engineering |
|---|---|---|
| Knows what you stock | No: judges answers without your catalog truth | Yes: every result checked against your catalog by a person |
| Tests your own search & recsys | Rarely | Yes: desktop & mobile search plus PDP/cart recommendations |
| Builds the production fix | No: leaves you with a dashboard | Yes: Tier 2 Semantic Search & Recsys Builds + Tier 3 Resident ML Engineers |
| Handles assistant variance | Single-run daily prompts | Three runs per surface; ranges, never single runs |
| Report modes | Tied to a software subscription | Advisory (100% fee credit to Tier 2) or Independent (M&A / RFP 12-mo no-fix rule) |
Privacy & Tracking Check: $750 with any Tier 1 Audit, $950 standalone. Privacy Fix: $2,500 or $5,000. A technical record of what loads before and after a visitor’s choice, not legal advice. Details.
How does the 100% Tier 1 Audit fee credit work? In Advisory mode, 100% of your Tier 1 Audit fee is credited toward any Tier 2 engineering build signed within 60 days of the readout. Independent-mode reports (used for M&A due diligence and formal vendor RFPs) carry no credit because we sell no Tier 2 or Tier 3 work to that store for 12 months.
Is there a design-partner rate for early case studies? Yes. $2,500 design-partner rate available for the first 3 Tier 1 Search Audits in exchange for named before/after case study rights.
How are Tier 3 Resident AI/ML Engineers billed and can we hire them full-time? Resident Engineers ($16,000–$26,000/mo FT or $9,000–$14,000/mo HT) require a 3-month minimum commitment and are invoiced monthly upfront (Net-7). After 6 months of continuous placement, you may convert a Resident Engineer to a full-time employee for a 20% conversion fee on first-year base compensation.
Do you lock clients into monthly subscriptions for audits? No. Audits and fixed-scope builds are one-off engagements. Re-tests ($1,500 Search / $1,250 AI / $2,250 Both) are bought only when something changes—such as a vendor switch, theme replatform, or catalog enrichment launch.
What if our store is over $50M in online revenue? Enterprise and multi-banner catalogs over $50M are scoped custom starting from $30,000.
Next Step · Engineering Architecture & Diagnostics
A 30-minute engineering call: your store, your search & recsys stack, and whether a Tier 1 Audit, Tier 2 Build, or Resident ML Engineer fits best. No slides, no obligation.