The best AI visibility tool for you depends on your budget and on how much of the work you want the tool to do. Here is my short list by need, with prices as of October 2026:
- For the cheapest start, Otterly.AI checks 15 questions daily on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Microsoft Copilot for $29 a month.
- For analytics teams, Peec AI tracks three engines you choose, daily, from $95 a month.
- For high question volume, SE Visible tracks 200 questions daily from $99 a month.
- For enterprise, Profound covers up to nine engines on a custom contract.
- If you already pay for Ahrefs or HubSpot, start there: paid Ahrefs plans include daily custom prompts, and HubSpot AEO comes with Marketing Hub Professional.
- For small teams that want the fixes done, Writesonic writes 15 articles a month from $79 billed yearly, and InkieAI writes and publishes content after your approval from $99 a month.
I make InkieAI, so read its entry with that in mind. I read every vendor's pricing page and docs on October 24, 2026, with no hands-on testing. Prices here change often, so check the linked page before you buy.
What does an AI visibility tool do?
An AI visibility tool runs questions your buyers might ask, such as "best invoicing software for freelancers", through AI assistants on a schedule. It records what each answer says about your brand and your competitors, and which web pages it cites as sources. Over weeks, that becomes a trend you can act on.
The same category is sold as GEO tools (generative engine optimization), AEO tools (answer engine optimization), LLM SEO tools, AI visibility trackers and AI visibility checkers. They're one kind of product under different labels. I explain where the labels came from in GEO vs SEO vs AEO.
The market splits into four kinds of tool:
| Kind | What you get | Tools in this guide |
|---|---|---|
| Trackers | Daily answers, competitor share, cited sources and suggestions. You do the work. | Peec AI, Otterly.AI, Rankscale |
| AI modules from SEO and marketing suites | AI tracking next to your SEO or CRM data, usually with fewer questions. | Semrush, Ahrefs Brand Radar, SE Visible, HubSpot AEO |
| Trackers that also do the work | Tracking plus written content, page fixes or actions taken for you. | AthenaHQ, Writesonic, InkieAI |
| Enterprise platforms | Many engines, API access, SSO, security reviews and custom contracts. | Profound, Scrunch |
The lines blur, so I grouped each tool by what its entry plan does.
What to check before you buy
A headline price tells you little. At $99 a month, Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit tracks 25 questions and SE Visible tracks 200. These are the things I'd compare.
Which engines are included, and which cost extra
A homepage that lists nine engines may mean nine on the top plan, so check the entry plan. As of October 2026, Otterly.AI's $29 plan includes ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot, and charges $9 a month each for Gemini and Google AI Mode and $29 for Claude. Peec AI includes three models you pick and charges $35 a month for a fourth on Starter. Scrunch's $250 Core plan leaves out Gemini and AI Mode. Pick the engines your buyers use, and if you don't know which, ask your last ten customers.
How many questions, and how often
The number of questions, which vendors call prompts, sets how much of your market you can see. Fifteen covers one product and its main comparisons. Several products or countries need a few hundred.
Frequency matters because AI answers change between runs. In a SparkToro study run with Gumshoe, which sells AI tracking, 600 volunteers ran 12 prompts 2,961 times on ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI. The chance of getting the same list of brands twice was less than 1 in 100. Envoyra, which also sells AI visibility tracking, found that 79% of question and assistant pairs changed their brand list at least once over four weekly runs.
Presence was steadier than order: in Envoyra's data, HubSpot appeared in 305 of 368 answers about small-business CRMs. So the useful number is how often you appear across many runs, which takes frequent checks or several runs per check. Ask each vendor how many times it runs each question, and distrust any "AI rank". SparkToro's Rand Fishkin put it bluntly: "any tool that gives a 'ranking position in AI' is full of baloney."
Cost per tracked question
Divide the monthly price by the questions included. It ignores engines and frequency, but it cuts through plan names. My arithmetic from each entry plan, October 2026:
| Tool | Entry price a month | Questions | Cost per question |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE Visible | $99 | 200 | $0.50 |
| Writesonic | $79, billed yearly | 50 | $1.58 |
| Peec AI | $95 | 50 | $1.90 |
| Otterly.AI | $29 | 15 | $1.93 |
| HubSpot AEO | $50 | 25 | $2.00 |
| Scrunch | $250 | 125 | $2.00 |
| InkieAI | $99 | 30 | $3.30 |
| Semrush | $99 | 25 | $3.96 |
Credit-priced tools don't fit this table. Rankscale's $99 Pro plan allows unlimited questions within 1,200 credits, worth up to 4,800 answers a month, and AthenaHQ's $295 Starter plan buys 3,600 answers. For those, divide the price by answers.
Inkie sits near the bottom on this measure, because Start checks weekly and the price includes written content. If tracking volume is all you need, other tools give you more for the money.
How answers are collected
Some tools read answers from the chat interface your buyers use. Others call the AI company's API. Your buyers see the app, so ask which a tool reads. SE Visible says it collects answers through the browser interface rather than APIs, and Peec AI says it reads the interface for most engines.
Whether it separates named, recommended and cited
Being named in a list of eight, being recommended for the buyer's situation and having your page cited as a source are different outcomes, and they don't always arrive together. In an Ahrefs experiment, 43% of the answers that cited Ahrefs' own conference pages never mentioned the conference.
Most pricing pages list mentions, citations and sentiment. Ask for a sample report and check whether a recommendation is counted apart from a mention, and whether you can see which pages were cited when you weren't.
Whether it helps you act
A tracker tells you a competitor appears and you don't. The work is what comes next. Ahrefs Brand Radar and SE Visible give you data. Peec AI, Otterly.AI, Rankscale and HubSpot AEO add recommendations. AthenaHQ, Writesonic, Profound and Inkie produce content or take actions.
If a tool writes for you, check that you approve what it publishes and that it confirms the change went live before it measures again. Walk away from any tool that promises a mention. Nobody can guarantee one.
Trial terms
Free starts range from a 28-day trial with no card at HubSpot to no trial at Semrush. Peec AI's pricing page doesn't state a free trial. The table below lists each tool's terms.
The 12 AI visibility tools compared
Each tool's entry plan as of October 24, 2026, from the pricing pages linked here and in each tool's section. Prices are monthly in US dollars unless noted, and the rows follow the order of the sections below.
| Tool | Entry price a month | Engines at entry | Questions at entry | Check frequency | Acts or only tracks | Free start |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peec AI | $95 | 3 you choose | 50 | Daily | Recommends actions; writes no content | Not stated |
| Otterly.AI | $29 ($25 billed yearly) | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot | 15 | Daily | Recommends and audits | Free trial |
| Rankscale | $99 Pro; $20 Essentials, yearly only | ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot, AI Mode, AI Overviews and more, paid in credits | Unlimited, within 1,200 credits | Hourly to monthly, you choose | Recommends and audits pages | 7-day Pro trial |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99 | Platforms such as ChatGPT and AI Mode | 25 | Daily | Reports and AI site audit | No trial |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Included in paid Ahrefs plans; add-ons from €47 | AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot; Claude on Custom Prompts | 5 a day on Lite | Daily, weekly or monthly | Data only | Free checker |
| SE Visible | $99 | ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews | 200 | Daily | Data only | 10-day trial |
| HubSpot AEO | $50 ($45 billed yearly) | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini | 25 | Daily | Recommends | 28-day trial, no card |
| AthenaHQ | $295 | 11 models | Unlimited, within 3,600 answers a month | Not stated | Suggests on-page and off-page actions; content agent | Free tier with $25 of credit |
| Writesonic | $79, billed yearly | ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews | 50 | Daily | Writes 15 articles a month | Free trial, no card |
| InkieAI | $99 ($79 billed yearly) | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode | 30 | Weekly | Writes and publishes after approval, page edits, site fixes; checks work is live | Free report, no card; paid trial needs a card |
| Profound | Custom; no self-serve plan | Trial: ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews. Enterprise: up to 9 | 50 on the trial | Daily | Agents that write content | 7-day trial |
| Scrunch | $250 | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Copilot | 125 | Not stated; 5,000 answers a month | 1 page optimization a month, basic content | 7-day trial |
Trackers that measure and suggest
These tools suggest what to do, and you or your writers do it.
Peec AI
As of October 2026, Peec AI's plans cost $95 a month for 50 prompts, $245 for 150 and $495 for 350, with about 15% off billed annually. Every self-serve plan tracks three models you choose, daily, with unlimited users. The choice includes ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, with Claude, Grok, DeepSeek and others as upgrades or on Enterprise.
Peec suits teams that live in dashboards: it offers source gap analysis, crawl insights from server logs, an API, MCP access and agency plans from $245 a month. Its main limit is by design. Peec's AI instructions page says it "does not write or publish content itself", so its recommended actions are yours to carry out.
Best for analytics-minded teams and agencies with their own writers. I compare it with similar tools in Peec AI alternatives.
Otterly.AI
Otterly.AI has the lowest entry price you can pay month to month. As of October 2026, Lite costs $29 a month, or $25 billed annually, for 15 prompts checked daily on ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot. Standard is $189 for 100 prompts, and Premium is $489 for 400.
Plans include GEO audits, recommendations and unlimited team members, and monthly plans cancel anytime. The catch is the add-ons: Gemini and Google AI Mode cost $9 a month each on Lite, and Claude costs $29. Add all three and Lite goes from $29 to $76 a month.
Best for solo founders and small teams that want daily tracking on a small budget and can live without Gemini. I price its add-ons in Otterly.AI pricing and alternatives.
Rankscale
Rankscale charges in credits rather than per question. As of October 2026, Pro costs $99 a month for 1,200 credits, worth up to 4,800 answers, across up to 10 brand dashboards, with a 7-day free trial. Larger plans run up to $780, and a smaller Essentials plan is listed at $20 a month on yearly billing only.
The engine list is long: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini, DeepSeek, Mistral, Claude, Copilot and more. Most answers cost 0.25 credits, and Claude and DeepSeek cost more. You schedule checks anywhere from hourly to monthly, and the Scout feature adds recommendations and page audits. The trade-off is budgeting credits yourself.
Best for agencies and SEO people who want many brands and engines on one budget.
AI visibility from SEO and marketing suites
If you pay for one of these suites, check what's included first.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
Semrush sells AI tracking as a separate toolkit. Its knowledge base lists it at $99 a month as of October 2026, with no free trial, for one project and 25 prompts tracked daily on platforms "like Google AI Mode and ChatGPT". It adds competitor reports, prompt research and an AI search site audit of up to 100 pages. Another 50 prompts cost $60 a month, each extra user needs a $99 license, and Semrush One bundles the SEO and AI toolkits.
The strength is that AI tracking sits next to the keyword data your team already uses. The limits are 25 prompts, the highest cost per question in my table, and per-user licenses.
Best for teams that already run SEO in Semrush.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
Ahrefs Brand Radar has two parts. Custom Prompts are included in every paid Ahrefs plan: 5 daily prompts on Lite, 10 on Standard and 20 on Advanced, with packages from €47 a month for more. The AI Visibility Index, from €179 a month, models more than 496 million prompts from Ahrefs' keyword data across AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, re-tested monthly. Ahrefs showed me euro prices because I'm in Stockholm, so US prices may differ.
The index estimates your visibility across a huge set of questions you didn't have to write. Custom Prompts also cover Claude and run daily, weekly or monthly. The limits: Brand Radar gives data and citations, not content or fixes, and five prompts on Lite is a first look, not a market.
Best for teams already on Ahrefs, and anyone who wants market-wide data.
SE Visible
SE Visible is SE Ranking's AI visibility product. As of October 2026, Basic starts at $99 a month for 200 prompts, about 30,000 answers a month and 3 projects, with Core from $189 and Plus from $355. Annual billing takes 20% off, and there's a 10-day free trial.
It tracks ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode and AI Overviews daily, and says Claude will be added soon. At $0.50 per question at entry, it's the cheapest tracking volume I found. The limits: no Perplexity or Copilot, and it reports data, sources and sentiment without writing anything.
Best for SEO people and agencies who want volume and will do the work themselves.
HubSpot AEO
HubSpot AEO costs $50 a month, or $45 billed annually, after a 28-day free trial with no card. Per HubSpot's knowledge base, that buys 25 prompts run daily on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, 2,500 answers a month, with visibility, sentiment, competitor share of voice, citations and prioritized recommendations. It's included in Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise.
The trial is the longest I found, and $50 is a low price for three engines checked daily. The limits are 25 prompts and no Google AI Overviews or AI Mode.
Best for HubSpot customers and small teams that want a simple start.
Tools that also do the work
These tools also write content or carry out fixes, which saves time if you have no writer. Check what you approve before anything goes live.
AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ has a free tier with 300 credits, worth $25, on ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot. As of October 2026, Starter costs $295 a month for 3,600 credits across 11 models, where one credit is one AI response. Prompts and competitors are unlimited, so credits are the real cap. Annual billing takes 17% off.
Beyond tracking, AthenaHQ suggests on-page and off-page actions, has a content optimization agent, and connects to GA4 and Search Console. The limits are the jump from free to $295, the highest paid entry price here, and an API and extra credits that cost more.
Best for marketing teams with budget who want help acting on what they find.
Writesonic
Writesonic pairs AI visibility tracking with an AI writer. Its prices are per month, billed annually, as of October 2026. Starter is $79 for 50 prompts on ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews, 15 AI articles a month and one user. Growth is $399 for 200 prompts and 50 articles, plus a trial of its Action Center. Enterprise covers all 9 platforms it supports. The free trial needs no card.
Fifteen articles a month at $79 is the most content per dollar at entry. The limits are three engines, one user, and the full Action Center only on Enterprise. Volume helps only if each article answers a real buyer question, so plan time to edit.
Best for small teams that want a lot of content and have someone to edit it.
InkieAI
InkieAI is my product. Inkie checks how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode answer the buyer questions you choose. It records whether each answer names you, recommends you or cites a page you own, and which competitors and sources appear instead. Then it turns the gaps into four kinds of work: new articles or pages it writes, exact edits to existing pages, website fixes such as AI crawler access, and outside sources that AI already cites.
You approve the plan, then the finished copy, and Inkie publishes to WordPress, Ghost, Contentful or a signed webhook. You apply page edits yourself, because Inkie never edits a live site. Inkie then checks the work is live, re-checks the affected questions and reports what changed, without claiming it caused the change. It also reads Search Console and GA4, including visits from AI services.
Inkie's pricing as of October 2026: Start is $99 a month, or $79 billed annually, for 1 brand, 30 questions checked weekly and up to 10 new articles or pages a month. Grow is $299, or $239 annually, for 3 brands, 100 questions checked every 3 days and up to 24 pieces. Scale is $499, or $399 annually, for 10 brands, 300 questions every 3 days and up to 50 pieces. Every plan includes all five AI services.
The limits are real. Inkie doesn't track Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek or Meta AI. Start checks weekly, where most trackers check daily. You get fewer questions per dollar than with Rankscale, SE Visible or Scrunch, and no prompt-volume data or agency features. And it's new: I founded it in 2026 and run it alone from Stockholm, so the track record is short.
Best for small teams without a writer who want the work done and are fine with weekly checks.
Enterprise platforms
These are sold to large brands on custom contracts.
Profound
Profound now lists two plans. The free trial runs 50 prompts daily for 7 days on ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews, with limited "AI Marketer" credits and no history, exports or API. Enterprise is custom-priced and covers up to 9 engines, adding Perplexity, AI Mode, Copilot, DeepSeek, Claude and Exa Search to the trial's three, plus ChatGPT Shopping, all-time history, an API, SSO and SOC 2.
Many round-ups published this year still quote Profound at $99 a month for Starter and $399 for Growth. Those plans are not on its pricing page as of October 24, 2026. After the trial, expect an enterprise sales conversation.
Profound leads with AI Marketer, an agent that researches, writes and reports. The limits are the missing self-serve plan and a trial with three engines and no history.
Best for enterprise teams with procurement and security requirements. For cheaper options, see Profound alternatives.
Scrunch
Scrunch has one self-serve plan. As of October 2026, Core costs $250 a month for 125 prompts and 5,000 responses a month on ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews and Copilot, with 5 site audits, 1 page optimization a month, basic content generation and a 7-day free trial. Enterprise is custom and adds Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, AI Mode and Grok for 9 engines, plus its Agent Experience Platform (AXP), an API and SSO.
Core gives 125 questions at $2 each, more volume than most entry plans. The limits are no Gemini or AI Mode until Enterprise, and no stated check frequency, only a monthly cap on responses.
Best for mid-size teams that have outgrown small plans.
How to choose an AI visibility tool
Solo founder or small business
Begin free to learn whether AI assistants mention you at all. For tracking after that, Otterly.AI at $29 or HubSpot AEO at $50 covers the basics daily. If nobody has time to write, look at Writesonic, AthenaHQ or Inkie.
In-house marketing team
Peec AI, SE Visible and Scrunch suit teams with writers. AthenaHQ and Writesonic suit teams that want the tool to produce some of the work. Check per-user costs: Semrush charges $99 for each extra user, while Peec AI and Otterly.AI include unlimited users.
Agency
You need many brands on one bill. Peec AI's agency plans start at $245 a month for 10,000 credits. Rankscale's $99 Pro plan covers up to 10 brand dashboards, and SE Visible's Basic plan includes 3 projects. Inkie has no agency features, so I wouldn't pick it for client work at scale.
Enterprise
Start with Profound and Scrunch Enterprise for engine coverage, API access and SSO. Ahrefs' AI Visibility Index adds market-wide data.
Already paying for Semrush, Ahrefs or HubSpot
Use what you have first: Ahrefs Custom Prompts, HubSpot AEO in Marketing Hub Professional, or Semrush's $99 toolkit. Add a separate tool when you outgrow the prompt limits, need an engine your suite lacks, or want help doing the work.
Free ways to start
- HubSpot AEO has a 28-day free trial with no card.
- Ahrefs has a free AI visibility checker, and if you already pay for Ahrefs, Custom Prompts are in your plan.
- Otterly.AI offers a free trial, and AthenaHQ has a free tier with $25 of credit.
- Inkie's free report lets you check what ChatGPT and four other AI services say about you for 5 buyer questions, with no card.
- The manual method costs nothing but time: run your buyer questions yourself several times and log the results in a spreadsheet. I walk through it in how to get cited by ChatGPT.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI visibility platform is the best?
No single platform is best for everyone. As of October 2026, Otterly.AI is the cheapest monthly daily tracker at $29, SE Visible tracks the most questions for $99, Peec AI suits analytics teams and Profound suits enterprises. Writesonic and InkieAI suit small teams that want content written.
What are AI visibility tools?
AI visibility tools ask AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews your buyers' questions on a schedule. They record whether each answer names, recommends or cites your brand, and which competitors and sources appear. GEO, AEO and LLM SEO tools are the same products.
How do I check my AI visibility?
Write down the questions a buyer would ask, run each one several times in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google, and note whether each answer names, recommends or cites you. Answers vary between runs, so count how often you appear rather than trusting one result. A free report or a tool trial automates the same check.
How do I increase my AI visibility?
Make sure AI crawlers can reach your site, publish pages that answer your buyers' questions with specifics, and get accurate information about you onto the third-party pages AI assistants already cite. Then re-check over weeks. No tool or agency can guarantee a mention, so judge progress by how often you appear across many runs.
How much do AI visibility tools cost?
As of October 2026, entry plans run from $29 a month for Otterly.AI to $295 for AthenaHQ's Starter plan, and Profound sells only custom enterprise plans after its trial. Most self-serve tools in this guide start between $50 and $99 a month. Paid engine add-ons and per-user fees can raise the real price.
Are free AI visibility checkers accurate?
They're accurate about the answers they saw, but those answers are a small sample. A SparkToro study found less than a 1 in 100 chance that ChatGPT or Google's AI returned the same list of brands twice. Use a free check to see roughly where you stand, then repeat it before you make decisions.
Do I need an AI visibility tool if I already use Semrush, Ahrefs or HubSpot?
Maybe not at first. Paid Ahrefs plans include Custom Prompts, HubSpot AEO comes with Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise, and Semrush sells its AI Visibility Toolkit for $99 a month. Buy a separate tool when you need more questions, other engines or help doing the work.
Your next step
Before you compare dashboards, find out where you stand. Write down five questions your buyers ask, then get a free AI visibility report across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews and AI Mode, or run them yourself. If AI assistants already name you, a tracker helps you keep watch. If they don't, pick a tool for the work it helps you get done.