12 AI Visibility Tools Compared (2026): What Each One Measures

The best AI visibility tool depends on the suite you already use and your budget. On a small budget, start with OtterlyAI at US$29 monthly or Rankscale from US$20 monthly.^[1][2] Teams already paying for Semrush or Ahrefs should try the tracking inside those suites first. Peec AI suits marketing teams wanting daily tracking, and Profound suits enterprise teams. I'm Brenden House, and I run Searchmaxxed, an agentic SEO service that fixes what these tools find. Weigh my picks with that in mind.

Which AI visibility tools made my list?

These are the 12 AI search visibility tools I compared, using each vendor's pricing and feature pages as they stood on 28 September 2026. This is my selection and my reading of published facts, with no survey, award or accuracy test behind it. Peec AI prices in euros and the rest in US dollars, and I haven't converted them.

What can an AI visibility tracker measure, and what can't it?

An AI visibility tracker measures how often AI answers mention or cite your brand across a fixed set of prompts, run on a schedule. Profound lists the usual outputs: visibility scores, share of voice, sentiment, citation sources and competitor rankings.^[7] ZipTie puts it plainly: "A single AI answer is a sample, not a fact - the same prompt can vary cycle to cycle."^[6] Trust the trend line over many checks.

Sampling costs money

Profound runs every tracked prompt daily.^[7] Peec AI counts monthly answers by multiplying tracked prompts by active models and tracking frequency.^[5] Its Starter plan comes to 4,500 answers a month from 50 prompts on 3 models.^[5] Ahrefs charges one check per prompt for each platform, location and update.^[8]

Personalisation and context

OtterlyAI explains that AI platforms store information on you and your search history, and use location to personalise answers.^[9] Goodie lets you segment results by geography, language, persona and topic.^[10]

Prompt choice

The score only covers the prompts in the tool. Ahrefs models its index on real user searches, and says the index works best once your brand already appears in AI search.^[11] With most other tools, you write the list. I start from the Google queries Search Console shows.

Google and access

Google says AI Mode and AI Overviews "may use different models and techniques", and that AI Overviews "often don't trigger".^[12] Search Console counts AI feature appearances inside overall Web search traffic.^[12] OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won't appear in ChatGPT search answers.^[13] Google says a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet to appear as a supporting link.^[12] Fix those basics first, and read what AI SEO is for the wider picture.

1. Profound: best for enterprise teams wanting browser-captured answers

Profound sells an AI marketing platform with answer tracking and agents. Profound says it captures answers from the browser, where other tools use the API.^[7] It says a third of the Fortune 100 trust its enterprise capabilities.^[14]

• What it does: Tracks visibility scores, share of voice, sentiment, citation sources and competitor rankings. It runs every tracked prompt daily.^[7]
• Engines tracked: The Trial covers ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Enterprise tracks up to nine answer engines.^[15]
• Starting price: The Trial is free. Enterprise uses tailored packages, with the price Not published on the pricing page we captured.^[15]
• Free trial: Yes. The Trial runs 50 prompts daily for 7 days.^[15]
• What it cannot do: The Trial stops after 7 days, and ongoing daily tracking needs Enterprise.^[15]
• Best for: Enterprise marketing teams that want wide engine coverage and browser-side capture.

2. Peec AI: best for marketing teams wanting daily tracking

Peec AI calls itself AI search analytics for marketing teams.^[16] It runs each prompt once every 24 hours on every model you select.^[16] It says more than 3,000 brands and agencies trust it.^[5]

• What it does: Tracks brand performance in AI answers, with query fan-outs, opportunity scoring, filters and recommendations in one place.^[17]
• Engines tracked: Starter lets you choose 3 models from ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI. Enterprise tracks up to 13.^[5]
• Starting price: Starter costs €85 monthly for 50 prompts, with unlimited users. Annual billing takes 15% off.^[5]
• Free trial: Yes, from the pricing page. My capture didn't state the length.^[5]
• What it cannot do: Starter covers three models and one project. Each extra model is a paid add-on.^[5]
• Best for: SEO and content teams that want a steady daily view across a few engines.

3. OtterlyAI: best for solo marketers and small teams

OtterlyAI aims its Lite plan at solo marketers and small teams.^[1] It calls itself the content intelligence platform for AI search.^[9]

• What it does: Offers a Brand Visibility Index, domain ranking, link citation analysis and a generative engine optimisation audit.^[1]
• Engines tracked: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot come included. Claude, Google AI Mode and Gemini cost extra.^[1]
• Starting price: Lite costs US$29 monthly, or US$25 monthly on annual billing, for 15 prompts.^[1]
• Free trial: Yes, for new users. My capture didn't state the length.^[1]
• What it cannot do: Lite covers 15 prompts. On Lite, Gemini adds US$9 monthly and Claude adds US$29 monthly.^[1]
• Best for: One marketer checking whether AI answers mention the brand at all.

4. Semrush: best for teams already paying for Semrush

Semrush folds AI visibility into its SEO suite, which it calls a platform that "unifies SEO authority and AI visibility".^[3]

• What it does: Gives daily AI visibility updates and prompt research. That research shows "which prompts and questions trigger brand mentions and citations in your category".^[18]
• Engines tracked: The Starter plan shows Google Search, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, followed by "& more".^[3]
• Starting price: The SEO plan costs US$139 monthly and includes AI search tracking and custom prompts. Starter costs US$199 monthly for 50 daily prompts.^[3]
• Free trial: Free 7-day access to its toolkits, plus a free plan that needs no credit card.^[18][3]
• What it cannot do: The pricing page names four engines and then says "& more", so confirm the full list first.^[3]
• Best for: Existing Semrush teams that want AI prompts beside their keywords.

5. Ahrefs Brand Radar: best for Ahrefs users and prompt research at scale

Ahrefs Brand Radar researches any brand across more than 449 million prompts, and it tracks your own prompts.^[4] Ahrefs says it models every index prompt on real user searches from its keyword database.^[11]

• What it does: Tracks brand mentions, citations and fan-out queries, with API access to AI share of voice.^[8]
• Engines tracked: The index covers AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot.^[11] Claude uses 8 checks per update on tracked prompts.^[8]
• Starting price: Brand Radar AI starts from US$199 monthly. The Lite plan costs US$129 monthly and includes 5 tracked AI prompts.^[4]
• Free trial: A free AI visibility preview, plus an Ahrefs Free tier.^[11][4]
• What it cannot do: Ahrefs says the index works best once your brand already appears in AI search.^[11]
• Best for: Ahrefs subscribers, since paid plans already include a tracked-prompt allowance.^[8]

6. Scrunch: best for monitoring plus AI bot traffic and site audits

Scrunch pairs AI search monitoring with reporting on how AI agents use your site. Its Core plan bundles prompts, monthly site audits and AI bot traffic reporting.^[19]

• What it does: Shows which domains and URLs AI answers cite most often across the prompts you track.^[20]
• Engines tracked: Core covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AIO and Copilot. Enterprise adds Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Google AI Mode and Grok.^[19]
• Starting price: Core costs US$250 monthly for 125 prompts, 5 site audits and 5 user licences.^[19]
• Free trial: Yes, a 7-day free trial.^[19]
• What it cannot do: Core tracks one country, one persona and one language.^[19]
• Best for: Brands that want monitoring plus a first technical read on how AI reaches the site.

7. AthenaHQ: best for self-guided SMBs paying per response

AthenaHQ bills in credits, and one credit equals one AI response.^[21] Its pricing table names self-guided SMBs as the Starter audience.^[21]

• What it does: Tracks brand visibility in AI answers and estimates how many searches AI platforms get for a topic.^[21]
• Engines tracked: Essential covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot. Starter covers 11 models, adding AI Mode, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral.^[21]
• Starting price: Essential is free and includes 300 credits. Starter costs US$295 monthly for 3,600 credits.^[21]
• Free trial: Essential works as a free tier, with US$25 of free credit.^[21]
• What it cannot do: API access and extra credits cost more on Starter. Their price is Not published on the pricing page we captured.^[21]
• Best for: Smaller teams that want to start free and pay per response.

8. Rankscale: best for wide engine coverage on a small budget

Rankscale lists ten engines on its plans and bills by credits.^[2] A query to one engine typically costs 0.25 credits.^[2]

• What it does: Tracks brand visibility over time, with page audits and ad analytics. You can schedule checks anywhere from hourly to monthly.^[2]
• Engines tracked: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini, DeepSeek, Mistral, Claude, Grok and Microsoft Copilot.^[2]
• Starting price: Essentials starts at US$20 monthly. Pro costs US$99 monthly for 1,200 credits.^[2]
• Free trial: Pro is free for 7 days.^[2]
• What it cannot do: Credits drain faster with every engine and every extra run.
• Best for: Budget buyers who want to test many engines before settling on a few.

9. Goodie: best for tracking plus optimisation actions

Goodie sells a full-stack AEO platform: monitoring, optimisation actions, an AEO writer and revenue attribution.^[22] It says it measures visibility daily "through scaled, intentional prompting across leading platforms".^[22]

• What it does: Tracks citation frequency, ranking position, sentiment and share of voice.^[22] It segments results by geography, language, persona and topic.^[10]
• Engines tracked: Core tracks 5 models: ChatGPT, AI Overview, Perplexity, AI Mode and Copilot. Pro tracks 8.^[22]
• Starting price: Core costs US$399 monthly for 120 prompts. Pro costs US$999 monthly for 250 prompts.^[22]
• Free trial: Yes, 7 days on Core.^[22]
• What it cannot do: Agency Growth costs US$275 a month, billed quarterly or annually. Each client workspace on it tracks only ChatGPT, AI Overview and Perplexity.^[22]
• Best for: Brands that want tracking and content actions under one contract.

10. Writesonic: best for tracking plus AI articles

Writesonic combines AI visibility tracking with an AI writer and site audits. Its Starter plan includes 15 AI articles a month and 10 site audits.^[23]

• What it does: Tracks your brand in AI answers, monitors ads, and produces articles and audits "to fix visibility gaps".^[23]
• Engines tracked: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews on Starter, Basic and Growth.^[23]
• Starting price: Starter costs US$79 a month, billed annually, for 50 prompts tracked daily.^[23]
• Free trial: You can start free with no credit card.^[23]
• What it cannot do: Every self-serve plan tracks the same three engines. Sentiment analysis needs Growth, at US$399 a month billed annually.^[23]
• Best for: Small content teams that want to publish from the same tool they track in.

11. SE Ranking: best for rankings and AI answers in one tool

SE Ranking is an SEO platform with AI search tracking inside its plans. Its Core plan tracks 100 prompts daily alongside 2,000 keywords.^[24]

• What it does: The AI Search add-on runs an AI Results Tracker and unlimited AI competitor research.^[24]
• Engines tracked: The add-on names AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity and ChatGPT. The plan table lists 5 LLMs to track on Core.^[24]
• Starting price: Core costs US$129.00 monthly, or US$103.20 on annual billing. The AI Search add-on costs US$89.00 monthly for 200 prompts.^[24]
• Free trial: 14 days, with no credit card.^[24]
• What it cannot do: The page names four engines but counts five LLMs, so confirm the fifth before you buy.^[24]
• Best for: SEO teams and agencies that want keywords and prompts in one tool.

12. ZipTie: best for configurable, usage-based tracking

ZipTie builds each plan in a configurator, where engines, cadence and add-ons all stay editable.^[25] Its Google AI Overviews checks also capture Google's top-10 organic results.^[25]

• What it does: Tracks prompts, responses, mentions, citations, sentiment and competitor metrics, with optional content generation.^[25]
• Engines tracked: Seven engines: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot, Bing AI Overview and Google Gemini. The trial covers the first three.^[25]
• Starting price: The Starter preset starts from US$42.75 a month. API and MCP access adds US$10 a month.^[25]
• Free trial: 7 days, 25 daily prompts, no card and no auto-billing.^[25]
• What it cannot do: ZipTie says the preset names are starting points, so your final bill depends on the engines and cadence you choose.^[25]
• Best for: Teams that want to tune engines and cadence to their own budget.

How should you choose an AI visibility tool?

Choose by the suite you already pay for, the engines your market uses and who will act on the report.

1. Start with your current suite. Semrush, Ahrefs and SE Ranking all include some prompt tracking in their plans.^[3][8][24]
2. Write the prompt list from real questions. Use Search Console queries and sales calls.
3. Match engines to your market. Check which engines the entry plan covers and which cost extra. OtterlyAI and Peec AI show how far those can differ.^[1][5]
4. Price the answers you'll run. Multiply prompts by engines by checks per month. Credit-based tools like AthenaHQ and Rankscale make this maths visible.^[21][2]
5. Set the context. Check how many countries and languages the plan allows, since Scrunch Core allows one of each.^[19]
6. Trial two tools on the same prompts. Every tool here offers a free trial, free tier or free preview.
7. Decide who acts on the report. A dashboard alone leaves the gap where it is.

When does a managed service fit better than a tool?

A managed service fits when you already know the gap and nobody in-house has time to close it. Searchmaxxed does agentic SEO. We build AI agents that plug into your whole Search Console and GA4. Every week they scrape your competitors' sites and read the Google results. They also check what AI answers say about you.

That data feeds our Managed Search Loop. The loop checks it against your plan and picks the next best job. We ship on-page work on your Agentic Website, which lives on GitHub and Vercel and which you own. Off-page work runs through our Off-Page Source Layer: links, reviews, citations, press and mentions. A person checks every change before it goes live. The agents then measure the result, and the loop picks the next job.

Our Growth System includes AI visibility tracking. Agentic Search Engineering adds AI answer tracking across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and AI Overviews. See how AI search optimisation, GEO and AEO fit together.

I ran these same steps by hand at Radiant Roof Repairs. I took it from zero to more than A$1 million a year in revenue, with SEO as its only marketing channel. The agents now run those steps every week. By my own count across our client book, our work has generated more than A$10 million in revenue through search.

Searchmaxxed is a Queensland team. We work with companies across Australia and take on companies beyond it. A tool on its own is the right call when your team ships pages every week. To hand the whole loop to one team, compare our packages. Let's talk pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google visibility the same as AI visibility?

No. Google says a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode.^[12] AI Mode and AI Overviews may use different models, so the links they show vary.^[12] A page can rank first and still miss the answer above it.

How do you get AI visibility?

Make your site easy for engines to reach, then earn mentions on sites they trust. Allow the crawlers first, since opting out of OAI-SearchBot keeps you out of ChatGPT search answers.^[13] At Searchmaxxed, the Managed Search Loop picks that work each week. Read how to get cited by ChatGPT.

What are the big 3 AI tools?

In AI visibility tracking, the three engines most often treated as core are ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity. Goodie calls those three its core models on Agency Growth.^[22] ZipTie's free trial covers the same three.^[25]

What are the 5 most popular AI tools?

I didn't capture usage figures, so I won't rank engines by popularity. Five engines recur across the entry plans in my table: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. AthenaHQ's free Essential plan covers exactly those five.^[21]

How much do AI visibility tools cost?

They run from free tiers to custom enterprise contracts. AthenaHQ's Essential plan is free, and Rankscale starts at US$20 monthly.^[21][2] Semrush Starter costs US$199 monthly, and Goodie Core costs US$399 monthly.^[3][22] Profound's Enterprise price is Not published on the pricing page we captured.^[15]

Why does my own ChatGPT search show different results from the tool?

Your own account personalises answers, while the tool aims for a neutral one. OtterlyAI explains that AI platforms store information on you and your search history, and use location to personalise results.^[9] Answers also vary between runs of the same prompt.^[6] Compare trends over several weeks.

How many prompts should I track?

Track the questions that lead to a sale, and no more than you'll act on. Plans here range from 15 prompts on OtterlyAI Lite to 400 on OtterlyAI Premium.^[1] Goodie recommends a starting set at onboarding, and you can swap prompts up to your plan's limit.^[22]

Can an AI visibility tool improve my visibility?

A tracker shows the gap, and a few add tools to help close it. Writesonic includes AI articles and site audits, and Goodie includes an AEO writer.^[23][22] Our Managed Search Loop runs that work every week, through your Agentic Website and our Off-Page Source Layer.

Does Search Console show AI Overview traffic?

Yes, inside the totals. Search Console counts AI Overview and AI Mode appearances inside overall Web search traffic in its Performance report.^[12] Google also suggests tracking conversions in tools like Google Analytics.^[12] Our agents read both Search Console and GA4 every week.

Do I need a separate AI visibility tool if I work with Searchmaxxed?

Usually not. Our Growth System includes AI visibility tracking, and Agentic Search Engineering tracks AI answers across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and AI Overviews. The results feed the Managed Search Loop, so tracking leads straight to the next page or source we build. See the packages.

Can I block AI training crawlers and still appear in ChatGPT?

Yes. OpenAI treats each of its crawler settings as independent. You can allow OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search while disallowing GPTBot, which covers training for OpenAI's foundation models.^[13]