Otterly.AI costs $29 a month on its Lite plan ($25 billed annually), $189 on Standard and $489 on Premium, as of October 2026 on its pricing page. Those plans track 15, 100 and 400 prompts daily on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. Gemini, Google AI Mode and Claude are paid add-ons.
Those add-ons are the usual reason to look elsewhere, along with Lite's 15 prompts. Gemini and AI Mode take Lite to $47 a month, and Claude on top takes it to $76. The right alternative depends on what you're missing:
- HubSpot AEO if you already work in HubSpot: $50 for 25 prompts, Gemini included.
- SE Visible for volume: 200 prompts from $99, Gemini and AI Mode included, no Perplexity.
- Rankscale to pick engines and schedules yourself, Claude included, from $99.
- Peec AI for 50 daily prompts and source gap analysis, from $95.
- Writesonic for tracking plus AI-written articles, from $79 billed annually.
- AthenaHQ for 11 models and a content optimization agent, from $295.
- InkieAI for five engines on every plan, with content written and published after your approval, from $99.
I make InkieAI, so read my take on it with that in mind. I read every pricing page here on October 24, 2026, and tested none of these tools hands-on, Otterly included. This is a pricing comparison, not a review.
Otterly.AI pricing in October 2026
Otterly.AI is an AI search monitoring tool. You add the prompts your buyers type into AI assistants, and it checks the answers every day. These are its plans on otterly.ai/pricing as of October 24, 2026.
| Plan | Monthly | Billed annually, per month | Prompts | Included engines | Gemini or AI Mode add-on, each | Claude add-on | What the plan adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | $29 | $25 | 15 | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot | $9 a month | $29 a month | Daily tracking, unlimited team members, GEO audits, crawlability audit, 3 recommendations a week |
| Standard | $189 | $160 | 100 | Same 4 | $59 a month | $109 a month | API, MCP, Agent Analytics, unlimited recommendations |
| Premium | $489 | $422 | 400 | Same 4 | $149 a month | $439 a month | Four times Standard's prompts |
| Enterprise | Not listed | Not listed | From 1,000 | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Larger prompt volumes |
The GEO audits cover generative engine optimization (GEO), the work of shaping how AI assistants answer about a brand. Every plan includes those audits, and Otterly offers a free trial, with monthly billing you can cancel anytime. If you've seen Otterly quoted at $25 a month, that's Lite billed annually.
What Otterly costs with Gemini, AI Mode and Claude
These sums use the monthly prices on Otterly's pricing page.
| Plan | Base, 4 engines | With Gemini and AI Mode, 6 engines | With all three add-ons, 7 engines | Per prompt with Gemini and AI Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lite, 15 prompts | $29 | $47 | $76 | $3.13 |
| Standard, 100 prompts | $189 | $307 | $416 | $3.07 |
| Premium, 400 prompts | $489 | $787 | $1,226 | $1.97 |
Lite and Standard cost almost the same per prompt, so moving up buys volume, the API and unlimited recommendations, not a discount. On Premium, the two Google add-ons alone cost $298 a month, three times the price of SE Visible Basic, which includes both.
When is Otterly.AI the right choice?
Otterly fits if these sound like you:
- You want daily checks for the least money. Lite at $29 is the cheapest plan here that checks daily and bills month to month. Rankscale Essentials costs $20 but is sold yearly only.
- Your buyers use Copilot. Otterly includes it on every plan. HubSpot AEO, SE Visible, Writesonic Starter and InkieAI don't track it.
- Several people need logins. Otterly has unlimited team members, while Writesonic Starter allows 1 user and Semrush charges $99 per extra user license.
- You want audits from the first plan. GEO audits and a crawlability audit come with Lite. My guide to AI crawlers and robots.txt covers what crawler access means.
- You'd rather not sign a contract. Plans bill monthly and cancel anytime.
Otterly also publishes research. In a 90-day llms.txt experiment on one site, it recorded 84 requests for the file among more than 62,100 AI bot visits. It's one site and a vendor's own test, so it's a data point, not proof. My guide to llms.txt covers what else is documented.
Why teams look for an Otterly alternative
Gemini and AI Mode cost extra
If your buyers ask Gemini or Google's AI Mode, adding both costs $18 a month on Lite, $118 on Standard and $298 on Premium. SE Visible and InkieAI include both, and Rankscale charges for them per answer from one credit pool. Claude costs $29, $109 or $439 more, which on Premium nearly doubles the base price.
15 prompts is a thin sample
AI answers change from run to run. A SparkToro study with Gumshoe.ai, which sells AI tracking, found less than a 1 in 100 chance that ChatGPT or Google's AI returned the same brand list twice in 100 runs. Whether a brand appeared at all was steadier, so the share of answers that include you is the number to watch. That share needs volume.
With 15 prompts, one prompt flipping moves your total by almost 7 points. Checked daily on Lite's four engines, 15 prompts make about 1,800 answers a month: enough to watch your key questions, too few for a reliable share across a category.
Lite caps recommendations at 3 a week
Standard and Premium give unlimited recommendations, so more advice means paying $189 instead of $29. To be fair, a team with time for only a few changes a week may find 3 plenty.
Nobody writes the content
Otterly recommends and audits. When the fix for a gap is a new page, someone on your team writes it, publishes it and checks later whether the answers moved. Without that person, the recommendations wait.
Otterly.AI and 7 alternatives compared
Prices are monthly unless noted, read on October 24, 2026.
| Tool | Entry price | Engines included at entry | Gemini and AI Mode | Questions at entry | Check frequency | Content work |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | $29 ($25 billed annually) | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot | Add-ons, $9 each on Lite | 15 | Daily | Recommendations, GEO audits; no writing |
| HubSpot AEO | $50 ($45 billed annually) | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini | Gemini included; no AI Mode | 25 | Daily | Prioritized recommendations |
| Writesonic | $79, billed annually | ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews | Gemini included; AI Mode not listed | 50 | Daily | 15 AI articles a month, site audits |
| Peec AI | $95 (about 15% less billed annually) | 3 models you choose | Count toward the 3; extra models $35 each | 50 | Daily | Recommended actions; no writing |
| SE Visible | From $99 (20% off annually) | ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews | Both included | 200 | Daily | Data, sources, sentiment; no writing |
| Rankscale | $99 (Pro) | 9 or more, including Claude, Copilot and DeepSeek | Both, paid per answer in credits | Unlimited terms; 1,200 credits | Hourly to monthly, your choice | Scout recommendations, page audits |
| InkieAI | $99 ($79 billed annually) | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode | Both included | 30 | Weekly on Start; every 3 days on Grow and Scale | Writes and publishes after approval, page edits, site fixes; checks work is live |
| AthenaHQ | $295 (Starter); free tier | 11 models | Gemini on every tier | 3,600 answers a month, in credits | Not stated | On-page and off-page actions, content optimization agent |
The 7 Otterly.AI alternatives, one by one
They're in order of entry price.
HubSpot AEO
HubSpot AEO costs $50 a month ($45 billed annually) after a 28-day free trial with no card. Its knowledge base says it runs 25 prompts daily on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini and reports visibility, sentiment, competitor share of voice and citations with prioritized recommendations.
Against Otterly Lite with the Gemini add-on at $38, HubSpot costs $12 more for 10 more prompts, without AI Overviews, AI Mode or Copilot. It's for HubSpot teams, and Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise customers already have it.
Writesonic
Writesonic Starter costs $79 a month billed annually for 50 prompts tracked daily on ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews, plus 15 AI-written articles and 10 site audits a month, for 1 user. Basic costs $199 for 100 prompts. The free trial needs no card.
Writesonic fills Otterly's biggest gap, because it writes. The trade-offs are 1 user against Otterly's unlimited, no Perplexity or Copilot on Starter, and a yearly commitment. It suits small teams that want articles alongside tracking.
Peec AI
Peec AI Starter costs $95 a month for 50 prompts checked daily on 3 models you choose, with unlimited users. Each extra model costs $35 a month on Starter. Peec adds source gap analysis, crawl insights from server logs, an API and MCP, and says on its AI instructions page that it "does not write or publish content itself".
Peec Starter has more than three times Otterly Lite's prompts, but five engines there cost $165 a month, while six on Otterly Lite cost $47 for 15 prompts. It's for teams that want 50 or more daily prompts and will do the work themselves. My guide to Peec AI alternatives breaks down its pricing.
SE Visible
SE Visible, from SE Ranking, starts at $99 a month on Basic for 200 prompts, about 30,000 answers a month and 3 projects. Core starts at $189 for 450 prompts. It checks ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews daily through the browser interface, and has an API. There's a 10-day free trial, and annual billing takes 20% off.
At $189, Otterly Standard gives 100 prompts without Gemini or AI Mode, and SE Visible Core gives 450 with both. SE Visible doesn't track Perplexity or Copilot, says Claude "will be added soon", and writes no content. It's for SEO teams focused on Google and ChatGPT who want many prompts.
Rankscale
Rankscale Pro costs $99 a month for 1,200 credits, up to 4,800 answers, with 10 brand dashboards and a 7-day free trial. Most engines cost 0.25 credits an answer; Claude and DeepSeek cost more. You set how often each engine runs, from hourly to monthly. Essentials costs $20 a month ($17 billed yearly) and is sold yearly only.
On the six engines Otterly offers without Claude, checked daily, Pro covers about 26 prompts for $99, where Otterly Lite covers 15 for $47. Rankscale prices Claude per answer instead of as a flat add-on, and adds Scout recommendations, page audits and MCP. It lists no content writing. It's for SEO practitioners who want control over engines and timing.
InkieAI
InkieAI is the tool I make. Inkie checks how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode answer your buyer questions, on every plan. It records whether each answer names your brand, recommends it or cites a page you own, and who appears instead. The gaps become four kinds of work: new articles or pages, exact edits to existing pages, website fixes such as crawler access, and outside sources AI already cites.
You approve the plan, then the finished copy, and Inkie publishes to WordPress, Ghost, Contentful or a signed webhook. Edits to existing pages are yours to apply, since it never edits a live site. It then checks the work is live, re-checks the affected questions and reports what changed, without claiming it caused the change.
Start costs $99 a month ($79 billed annually) for 1 brand, 30 questions checked weekly and up to 10 new articles or pages a month. Grow costs $299 ($239 billed annually) for 3 brands and 100 questions checked every 3 days, and Scale $499 ($399 billed annually) for 10 brands and 300 questions.
The limits: weekly checks on Start give about 650 answers a month from 30 questions on five engines, against about 1,800 on Otterly Lite. Inkie doesn't track Copilot, which Otterly includes, or Claude, Grok, DeepSeek or Meta AI, and has no agency features. It's new, founded in 2026, and I run it alone from Stockholm. It's for small teams that see the gaps but lack the hours to close them.
AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ charges one credit per AI response. Its free Essential tier gives 300 credits, worth $25, on ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot. Starter costs $295 a month for 3,600 credits across 11 models, with unlimited prompts, on-page and off-page actions, a content optimization agent, and GA4 and Search Console integration. Annual billing takes 17% off.
At a similar price, Otterly Standard with Gemini and AI Mode ($307) produces about 18,000 answers a month, five times AthenaHQ Starter's 3,600. AthenaHQ's case is model breadth and an agent that works on content, and the free tier lets you compare before paying.
Also consider: Semrush, Ahrefs Brand Radar, Profound and Scrunch
If you already pay for Semrush or Ahrefs, check what's included first. The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit costs $99 a month, with no free trial, for 25 daily prompts. Ahrefs Brand Radar includes 5 daily custom prompts on Ahrefs Lite. At the larger end, Profound has a 7-day free trial, then a custom Enterprise plan with up to nine engines, covered in my guide to Profound alternatives. Scrunch Core costs $250 a month for 125 prompts on four engines.
How to choose an Otterly alternative
Price the engines your buyers use
List the assistants your buyers ask, then price each tool with exactly those engines. If the list is ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot, Otterly Lite at $29 is hard to beat. Once Gemini and AI Mode join it, SE Visible gives far more prompts per dollar, without Perplexity or Copilot. For Claude, Otterly and Rankscale track it today, Peec sells it as an upgrade, and HubSpot AEO and InkieAI don't track it.
Decide who does the work
Ask each vendor whether the tool writes the content, publishes it, and checks the change went live. Otterly, Peec and HubSpot AEO track and advise, and SE Visible reports data. Writesonic writes articles, AthenaHQ has a content optimization agent, and InkieAI writes, publishes after approval and re-checks.
Before you compare plans, check what ChatGPT says about you today. Inkie's free AI visibility report runs 5 buyer questions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews and AI Mode, with no card.
How to switch from Otterly without losing your baseline
Your Otterly history is the baseline you'll judge the new tool against, so keep it.
- Export before you cancel. Otterly lists API and MCP access on Standard and above, so pull your results per prompt and engine there. The pricing page lists neither for Lite, so ask Otterly how to export before your last billing date.
- Copy your prompts into the new tool word for word, and pick the same engines where it offers them.
- Run both tools in parallel for three or four weeks. Otterly bills monthly, so the overlap costs one more month: $29 on Lite or $189 on Standard, plus add-ons.
- Compare rates over the whole period, not day by day. In Envoyra's October 2026 report, 79% of question and assistant pairs changed their brand list at least once across four weekly runs, while leading brands held steady. Envoyra sells AI tracking, so this is vendor data.
- Cancel Otterly once both tools show the same trend, or once you know why they don't. Tools collect answers differently, so expect some gap even on the same day.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Otterly.AI cost?
As of October 2026, Otterly.AI costs $29 a month on Lite for 15 prompts, $189 on Standard for 100 and $489 on Premium for 400. Billed annually, those are $25, $160 and $422 a month. Gemini and Google AI Mode cost $9, $59 or $149 a month each depending on the plan, and Claude $29, $109 or $439.
Does Otterly.AI have a free trial?
Yes. Otterly's pricing page offers a free trial. After it, plans bill monthly and you can cancel anytime, or pay annually for a lower rate, such as $25 a month instead of $29 on Lite.
Does Otterly.AI track Gemini and Google AI Mode?
Yes, as paid add-ons. Each costs $9 a month on Lite, $59 on Standard and $149 on Premium, per Otterly's pricing page. The base plans cover ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, so Lite with both Google add-ons comes to $47 a month.
What are the best Otterly.AI alternatives?
It depends on what Otterly lacks for you. HubSpot AEO ($50) suits HubSpot users, SE Visible (from $99) gives the most prompts, Rankscale ($99 on Pro) lets you choose engines and schedules, and Peec AI ($95) checks 50 prompts daily. Writesonic, AthenaHQ and InkieAI also work on content.
How do I track brand mentions in AI search?
Write down the questions your buyers ask AI assistants, run them repeatedly on the assistants they use, and record separately whether each answer names your brand, recommends it, or cites a page you own. Answers vary between runs, so report the share of runs that include you rather than one result. My guide to AI share of voice shows how to calculate that share.
Your next step
Pick the 5 questions a buyer is most likely to ask an AI assistant before choosing a product like yours. Run them through Inkie's free AI visibility report to see how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews and AI Mode answer today, with no card. InkieAI's plans are on the pricing page. To compare more trackers, read my guides to Peec AI alternatives and the best AI visibility tools.