Outreach Desk vs LinkBuilder.io: What a Link Actually Costs
LinkBuilder.io charges $2,999 a month for 8 links on its Startup package. Outreach Desk charges $350 per link, with monthly plans starting at 10 links and no long-term commitment. Both build editorial placements. The difference is the unit and the commitment.
Every LinkBuilder.io figure here was checked on linkbuilder.io in October 2026
Compare fifteen decision points
Apply a $3,500 monthly budget to each approach
| Head to head | LinkBuilder.io | Outreach Desk |
|---|---|---|
| Price per link | About $375 (Startup) | $350 (Foundation) |
| Entry package | $2,999 for 8 links | $3,500 for 10 links |
| Authority range (DA/DR) | 50 to 90 average | 40 to 95 |
| Contract | Six months, 90-day opt-out | No long-term commitment |
| Years operating | Over 7 years (its pricing page) | Founded in 2023 |
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Direct Answer
Difference Between Outreach Desk and LinkBuilder.io
LinkBuilder.io sells monthly packages on a six-month contract, while Outreach Desk prices per link, with monthly plans from 10 links and no long-term commitment. Its pricing runs from $2,999 for 8 links to $19,999 for 53 or more, with a 90-day opt-out. Ours run at $350, $300, and $250 per link, depending on monthly volume, with no long-term commitment.
DA/DR, short for Moz’s Domain Authority and Ahrefs’ Domain Rating, are 0 to 100 scores that estimate the strength of a site’s backlink profile. LinkBuilder.io lists its authority in DR.
Work the arithmetic, and their pricing is unusually consistent. Every tier lands between $375 and $385 per link.
$2,999 for 8 links, $5,999 for 16 links, $9,999 for 26 links, and $19,999 for 53 links.
That’s a deliberate, defensible way to price a managed service, and it makes their offer easy to compare. It also means volume never earns you a discount. Ours moves the other way. The rate drops as monthly volume rises, from $350 per link at 10 a month to $250 on custom volume. That suits a buyer who wants the same volume every month.
The second difference is commitment. Its pricing page describes a six-month contract with a 90-day opt-out window, and a refund minus costs it has accrued in the service period. Our services page states there is no long-term commitment, with monthly plans starting at 10 links.
Neither approach is wrong. A contract buys planning certainty for both sides, and no contract buys you the option to stop. The rest of this page explains that trade-off, including the six situations where LinkBuilder.io is the better purchase.
Side by Side Comparison
Outreach Desk vs LinkBuilder.io: Full Comparison
Fifteen decision points, taken from both companies’ published service and pricing pages.
| Factor | LinkBuilder.io |
|
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A monthly package with a guaranteed minimum link volume. |
Links priced per placement, in monthly plans that start at 10 links. |
| Price per link at entry | About $375 per link at Startup (our arithmetic: $2,999 divided by 8). | $350 for 10 links a month. |
| Entry package | Startup at $2,999 a month for 8 links. | Foundation at $3,500 a month for 10 links. |
| Published tiers | $2,999 for 8, $5,999 for 16+, $9,999 for 26+, $19,999 for 53+. |
Foundation, Growth, and Custom, priced per link rather than per package. |
| Contract | A six-month contract with a 90-day opt-out window. |
No long-term commitment (services page); 30 days’ notice to stop. |
| Money-back terms | A refund if you are unhappy, minus costs accrued in that service period. | No money-back guarantee. Placements carry a 6-month replacement instead. |
| Authority range (DA/DR) | An average of 50 to 90 on every package. An average is not a floor. | Averaging 40 to 95 with a floor of 40, reaching relevant smaller sites and a higher ceiling. |
| Traffic floor | Not published. | 1,000 monthly organic visits and above. |
| Ceiling on volume | Enterprise at 53 or more links a month, published openly. |
Custom volume agreed with your strategist rather than a published tier. |
| Toxic backlink audit | Included from the $9,999 Growth tier upward. |
Included on every plan, including the entry tier. |
| AI and language model visibility | Every package lists AI visibility benefits; dedicated AI packages cost $3,000 and $5,000 a month. | Listicle placements for AI visibility included on every plan. |
| Content and internal links | Content billed per article ($100). Link planning, gap analysis and a reporting dashboard in every package, target page planning and anchor optimization from Pro, internal linking from Growth ($9,999). | Content and internal link consulting is included in every plan. |
| Wider service menu | Technical SEO, review management, and earned media are all available. |
Link building and the work that makes links land. Nothing further. |
| Time to results | Their site advises expecting at least 6 months for significant results. |
First placements go live 2 to 4 weeks after kickoff, then on a monthly cadence. |
| Track record | Over 7 years per its pricing page; its About page says it launched in 2016. Offices in Edinburgh and St. Petersburg, Florida. | Founded in 2023, with offices in Brooklyn and Rosebery, Australia. |
LinkBuilder.io figures come from its public homepage, pricing page, AI pricing page and About page, read in October 2026. Per-link figures are our calculation based on its published package prices, not a rate it quotes. Outreach Desk figures come from our own prices and service pages, so confirm current rates before committing budget.
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Pricing Reality
LinkBuilder.io Pricing vs Outreach Desk: What Each One Costs
They price by package and hold the per-link rate flat. We price per link and drop the rate as volume rises.
LinkBuilder.io
Priced per monthly package
Startup, 8 links a month
$2,999
Pro, 16+ links a month
$5,999
Growth, 26+ links a month
$9,999
Enterprise, 53+ links a month
$19,999
Every package lists an average DR of 50 to 90 on its links. A six-month contract applies, with a 90-day opt-out window, and its pricing page describes a refund minus costs already accrued in the service period.
Managed AI packages are priced separately at $3,000 and $5,000 a month. Content, technical work, and review management are add-ons.
Outreach Desk
Priced per link, by monthly volume
Foundation, 10 dofollow links a month
$350
Growth, 20 dofollow links a month
$300
Custom, volume set with your strategist
$250
Every tier includes placements averaging DA/DR 40 to 95 (floor of 40), sites with 1,000+ organic traffic, a dedicated account manager, a toxic backlink audit, listicle placements for AI visibility, and content plus internal link consulting.
There is no long-term commitment, and monthly plans start at 10 links. The rate falls as monthly volume rises rather than staying flat.
Worked Example
What $3,500 a Month Buys You
At LinkBuilder.io
Its pricing page lists an average of 50 to 90 on every package. An average is not a floor.
The six-month contract starts here, with a 90-day window to opt out.
A toxic backlink audit isn’t included until the $9,999 tier.
At Outreach Desk
Two more placements for $501 more, across DA/DR 40 to 95.
That price includes the audit, the AI visibility placements, and the internal link consulting.
No long-term commitment, so month two is a decision rather than an obligation.
At the entry tier, you get two more links at a lower rate per link and no contract. If you want a guaranteed monthly minimum and a published refund term, that’s theirs, and it’s worth paying for. If you need a hard floor of 50, ask them to state it in writing, because their pricing page lists an average.
Fair Assessment
When LinkBuilder.io Is the Better Buy
LinkBuilder.io launched in 2016 by its own About page and publishes its pricing, contract and refund terms. Here are six situations where that setup fits your needs.
You Want a Higher Average Authority
Their pricing page lists an average of 50 to 90 on every package. Ours averages 40 to 95, with a floor of 40. If a stakeholder wants a higher starting point, ask them to state a minimum in writing, because an average is not a floor.
You Want Money-Back Terms
Their pricing page describes a refund minus costs accrued in the service period, and a money-back guarantee through its payment system. We replace removed links for six months, which is a different promise and covers a different risk.
Length of Track Record Matters
Their pricing page says over 7 years in business (their About page says 2016), with offices in Edinburgh and St. Petersburg, Florida. We started in 2023. If years trading is a filter you apply, that’s a fair point against us.
You Need 50+ Links a Month, Published
Their Enterprise tier lists 53+ links monthly at a price you can read before you call. Ours is a custom conversation at that volume, which is slower if you already know the number.
You Want One Supplier for Everything
They sell technical work, review management, copywriting, and earned media along with links. We only do link building and the work that makes links land. For a team consolidating vendors, that’s a real edge.
A Contract That Suits Your Planning
A six-month commitment locks scope for both sides and simplifies budgeting. Plenty of teams prefer that to an open arrangement, and it’s why they choose it.
Our case
When Outreach Desk Is the Better Buy
Six things a per-link model gives you that a fixed package structurally can’t.
Volume Actually Lowers the Rate
Our per-link price falls from $350 to $250 as monthly volume rises. Their price holds near $375 whether you buy 8 links or 53, so scale never earns you anything.
No Long-Term Commitment
Our services page states no long-term commitment, and campaigns run month to month after an initial period, with 30 days’ notice to stop. You don’t wait out a six-month term.
The Audit Comes First
A toxic backlink audit sits in every plan, including the entry tier. On their side, it arrives with the Growth package. Buying new links on a damaged profile wastes both budgets.
AI Visibility Placements Are Included
Listicle placements built for language model citation come with all three of our tiers. Every LinkBuilder.io package lists AI visibility benefits too, and it sells dedicated AI packages from $3,000 a month, so the difference is that our listicle work is not a separate product.
Content and Internal Links Included
Every plan includes content and internal link consulting. On their menu, they bill content per article and per page at every tier, and bundle in internal linking optimization only from their $9,999 Growth tier up. External links pointing to an unsupported page waste most of what you paid.
A Wider Band, Deliberately
A DA/DR range of 40 to 95 reaches the niche publication sitting at 46 that your buyers actually read, and a higher ceiling than their 90. A floor of 50, if you wanted one, would rule it out before anyone looks.
The Real Decision
A Package on Contract vs Links You Buy
Price isn’t the real fork here. What you’re committing to is.
Package on contract
Optimized for Certainty
A guaranteed monthly minimum, an average of 50 to 90 on every package, and a six-month term. Everyone knows what arrives and when.
The cost shows up in flexibility. The per-link rate doesn’t move with volume, the audit waits for a higher tier, and you’ve already committed to month two.
For a team with budget approved and a plan in place, that’s exactly right. Certainty is a real product.
Links you buy
Optimized for Control
You pay for placements at a rate that improves as you scale, and you decide each month whether to carry on.
The strategy work that makes links land, the audit, the internal linking, the AI visibility placements, sits inside the price rather than beside it.
The cost of that control is that nobody has locked in your capacity. If you want a guaranteed floor written into a contract, buy the contract.
Do the Per-Link Arithmetic on Any Package You’re Quoted
A package price tells you very little on its own. Divide it by the guaranteed link count to get the number that lets you compare two agencies honestly.
Run it on ours too. That’s the point of publishing both figures.
Pick one
Which One Should You Choose?
Match your situation to the row below and see which model fits.
Choose LinkBuilder.io If
A stakeholder wants a 50 to 90 average written into the plan
You want money-back terms written into the agreement
You need 50+ links a month at a published price
You’re consolidating link building, content, and technical work with one vendor
Years in business is a filter you apply to suppliers
Choose Outreach Desk If
You want the lowest cost per placement at volume
You aren’t ready to sign a six-month commitment
Your backlink profile has never been audited
You want listicle placements for AI visibility named in every plan
The best publications in your niche sit below 50
Using both is a real strategy, not a diplomatic answer. Buying a contracted floor for commercial pages and a flexible per-link arrangement for everything else is a sensible split.
Switching Over
Moving Across Without Losing What You Built
Four steps guide the switch. Steps one and two analyze your profile and competitors. Your existing links remain active when switching providers.
Check your contract dates first. Their agreement runs for six months with a 90-day opt-out, so plan the timing of a move rather than improvising.
If you resell, our white label link building services keep unbranded reporting under your logo, so your client sees no change in supplier.
An audit runs across everything you’ve built so far. It surfaces duplicate domains, unindexed pages, wrong anchors, and any placement already carrying too much weight.
A gap analysis against your three closest competitors shows which publishers link to them and not to you. We prioritize your revenue pages over keyword volume.
You get the vetted publisher list with authority, organic traffic, niche category, and a content sample on every entry. This is where the wider band shows up, because relevant sites below 50 can appear.
Links start landing two to four weeks from kickoff, then settle into a monthly cadence at whatever volume you’ve set.
Common questions
Outreach Desk vs LinkBuilder.io FAQs
Straight answers on pricing, contracts, authority bands, and running both providers side by side.
Yes. They say they’ve been in business for over seven years, publish their full pricing ladder, list an average authority range, and describe a refund minus accrued costs. That’s more transparency than most agencies in this category offer.
The limitation lies in its structure rather than in its quality. The per-link cost stays near $375 whether you buy 8 links or 53, and the audit that tells you whether new links will even help sits behind the $9,999 tier.
LinkBuilder.io’s published packages run $2,999 a month for 8 links, $5,999 for 16 or more, $9,999 for 26 or more, and $19,999 for 53 or more. They price managed AI packages separately, at $3,000 and $5,000 a month.
Divide each package by its guaranteed link count, and the rate lands between $375 and $385 across every tier. That figure is our arithmetic based on their published numbers.
Yes. Their pricing page states a six-month contract with a 90-day opt-out window, and a refund less accrued costs.
Outreach Desk’s services page states no long-term commitment. That’s the clearest structural difference between the two offers, and which one suits you depends on whether you’d rather have certainty or an exit.
We sell links; they sell packages. Our link-building pricing is $350 per link at 10 a month, $300 at 20, and $250 at custom volume, with no long-term commitment.
This means the rate improves as you scale rather than staying flat, and the toxic backlink audit, AI visibility placements, and internal link consulting are included in every tier rather than gated behind a higher one.
Per link, yes, at every volume both companies publish. Our $350 entry rate compares with about $375 at their Startup tier, and our $250 custom rate compares with about $377 at their largest.
At the entry point, $3,500 buys 10 placements here. $2,999 buys 8 there. Their higher rate does buy a guaranteed monthly minimum and published refund terms, neither of which we offer.
Both sell white label, so it comes down to margin and commitment. A flat per-link cost makes their markup arithmetic simple and predictable across clients.
If your margin depends on unit cost or you don’t want a six-month commitment tied to shifting client work, choose our white label link building service. We charge $250 to $350 per link and provide unbranded reporting for campaigns ranging from 10 to 100+ placements a month.
They publish an average DR of 50 to 90 across all tiers. We publish an average of DA/DR 40 to 95, with a floor of 40 and a 1,000 monthly organic traffic floor.
Read those honestly, and the difference is the bottom of the range instead of the top. A higher average removes some judgment calls, but it does not set a floor. A wider band reaches the smaller niche publications that often carry the most relevant readers.
Yes, and it’s a sensible approach. Run a contracted package against the pages that earn revenue, and flexible per-link management across supporting content where the relevant sites are smaller.
Tell your account manager what you’re buying elsewhere. We’ll fold it into the anchor plan so the two sources don’t duplicate domains or stack the same anchor text.
We replace removed links for free for six months after placement, as set out in our terms. If a publisher removes, changes, or deletes your link during that period, we provide a new placement of equal quality.
LinkBuilder.io publishes money-back terms in the contract rather than a stated replacement window, which covers a different risk. Theirs protects the engagement, ours protects the individual placement, and it’s worth deciding which one you actually want covered.
Not on the pages I checked. Its pricing page lists “Average DR 50-90” on every package, and an average is not a minimum.
If a floor matters to you, ask them to state it in writing, and ask whether the average applies to the month, the package, or each link.
Yes, if you want built-for-you link building without a six-month contract. LinkBuilder.io sells monthly packages from $2,999 for 8 links; we charge $250 to $350 per link, with monthly plans from 10 links and no long-term commitment. It is the better choice if you want a guaranteed monthly minimum, published refund terms or a wider service menu.
Comparing other providers? See Outreach Desk vs FatJoe, Outreach Desk vs Editorial.Link, and Outreach Desk vs Stan Ventures.
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