You can rank on page one of Google and still be missing when a buyer asks ChatGPT which product to shortlist in your category, and most marketing teams have no reliable way to see it happening. The best AI visibility tools in 2026 fall into two camps: audit tools that check whether AI crawlers can actually reach and quote your pages, and monitoring tools that track how often AI engines mention your brand over time. This guide compares both on price, engine coverage and the type of team each one suits.
Best AI visibility tools compared (as of October 2026)
| Tool | Type | Engines tracked | Starting price | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Craft of Growth AEO & GEO Checker | Audit | 16 AI crawlers checked, live visits as GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot | Free | Yes, no signup | Checking AI crawler access before paying for monitoring |
| Profound | Monitoring | ChatGPT (Starter), up to 9 engines on Enterprise | $99/mo billed yearly | Not listed | Enterprise teams that need attribution and broad coverage |
| Peec AI | Monitoring | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, AI Overviews (some add-ons) | About $95/mo | 7-day trial, no card | In-house teams that want unlimited seats |
| Otterly | Monitoring + GEO audit | Core engines, with Gemini, AI Mode and Claude extra | $29/mo | Not listed | Solo marketers and budget-conscious agencies |
| Scrunch AI | Monitoring | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews | About $250/mo | Not listed | Brands preparing their site for AI agents |
| AthenaHQ | Monitoring | 8 engines incl. AI Mode and Grok | About $95/mo billed annually | Not listed | Teams that want optimization recommendations |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Monitoring + site audit | ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, Perplexity | $99/mo per domain | 7-day trial | Existing Semrush users |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Monitoring | AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Grok | From $199/mo | Small prompt allowance in Ahrefs plans | Ahrefs users who want wide platform coverage |
HubSpot AEO Grader | One-time brand check | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini | Free | Yes | A quick snapshot of what AI says about your brand
| LLMrefs | Monitoring | See pricing page | Free tier | Yes | Trying AI mention tracking without a budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rankscale | Monitoring + page audits | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews/AI Mode/Gemini, Claude, Copilot, DeepSeek, Mistral | $17/mo billed yearly | Not listed | Agencies that need white-label at a low price |
| Goodie AI | Monitoring + content | 10+ engines | About $399/mo | Not listed | Teams that want tracking and a built-in content writer |
Methodology: compiled from vendors’ public pricing pages and documentation, October 2026. Prices change often, so confirm on each vendor’s site before you buy.
The Best AI Visibility Tools in 2026
Every monitoring tool on this list works the same way at its core. It runs a set of buyer prompts across AI engines on a schedule, then tracks your mention rate, which competitors show up next to you and which sources the AI cites. Because these tools sample prompts instead of seeing every conversation, treat the numbers as directional. Audit tools answer an earlier question: can AI engines read your site at all?
The Craft of Growth AEO & GEO Checker: best for confirming AI crawlers can reach your site before you buy monitoring
Paying for mention tracking while your CDN quietly blocks GPTBot means you’re measuring a problem you could have fixed in an afternoon. The free AEO & GEO checker is built to catch exactly that kind of issue before you commit to a monthly subscription.
Paste in a URL and the checker reads your robots.txt rules for 16 AI crawlers, separated into training bots, search bots and bots that fetch pages when a user asks. It then runs a live visit as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot. That live visit matters because a robots.txt file can allow a crawler while your firewall or CDN still returns a block, and a rules-only check will never show it.
From there it checks indexability signals like noindex, nosnippet, canonical tags and sitemap, then looks at whether your pages lead with direct answers, whether you have schema, how fresh the content is, whether authorship is clear and whether you publish an llms.txt file. You get a score out of 100 and a fix list ranked by priority.
It’s free with no signup. It is an audit tool, so it won’t track how often ChatGPT or Perplexity mentions you over time. Run it first, fix what it finds, then pick a monitoring tool from the rest of this list if you need ongoing tracking.
Profound: best for enterprise marketing teams that need broad engine coverage and attribution
Profound is one of the most complete AI visibility platforms on the market, and its pricing reflects how much you want to see. As of October 2026, Starter is $99/mo billed yearly and covers ChatGPT only. Growth is $399/mo billed yearly and adds Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Enterprise is custom priced and covers up to 9 engines, including Claude, Gemini, Grok, Copilot and DeepSeek.
What sets Profound apart is the depth of its data. It shows prompt volumes drawn from real AI conversations, so you can prioritize the questions buyers actually ask. It also includes agent analytics that monitor AI crawler activity on your site, ChatGPT Shopping visibility, sentiment tracking and AI traffic attribution. It’s SOC 2 compliant, which helps when procurement gets involved.
The catch for most B2B SaaS teams is that the Starter plan only watches ChatGPT. If your buyers also use Perplexity or Google’s AI features, you’re realistically looking at the Growth plan or higher.
Peec AI: best for in-house teams that want unlimited seats
Peec AI runs from about $95 to $495 per month as of October 2026. It tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews, though some engines are sold as add-ons, so check which ones are included in the plan you’re looking at.
The standout for in-house teams is unlimited seats. Content, SEO, product marketing and leadership can all log in without the bill growing every time someone new needs access. Competitor tracking and source tracking are included, which helps you see which publications and pages the AI leans on when it recommends a rival instead of you.
There’s a 7-day trial that doesn’t ask for a card, which makes it easy to load your real prompts and judge the data before committing.
Otterly: best for solo marketers and budget-conscious agencies
Otterly starts at $29/mo, with the Standard plan at $189/mo as of October 2026. Gemini, Google AI Mode and Claude cost extra, so the price climbs if you need full coverage.
Beyond prompt tracking, Otterly includes a GEO audit, query fan-out analysis to see the related searches an AI runs behind a single prompt, and Agent Analytics. It also offers an API and an MCP connection, which agencies can use to pull data into their own reporting or AI workflows.
That combination of a low entry price and developer-friendly access is why it’s popular with solo marketers and smaller agencies managing several clients.
Scrunch AI: best for brands preparing their site for AI agents
Scrunch AI starts from about $250/mo as of October 2026 and covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
Its monitoring is comparable to others in this price range, but Scrunch leans further into what happens when AI agents visit your site. Its agent-experience features serve machine-readable versions of your pages to AI agents, so they can parse your content without wading through scripts, layouts and pop-ups built for humans.
If your team is already thinking about how AI agents will browse and evaluate vendors on a buyer’s behalf, Scrunch is worth a close look.
AthenaHQ: best for teams that want optimization recommendations across many engines
AthenaHQ starts from about $95/mo billed annually as of October 2026. It tracks 8 engines, including Google AI Mode and Grok, which is wider coverage than many tools offer at that entry price.
Where AthenaHQ tries to go further than reporting is its optimization recommendations. Instead of handing you a mention rate and leaving you to work out what to do, it suggests changes aimed at improving how AI engines treat your brand. For lean teams without a dedicated GEO specialist, that guidance can be more valuable than another dashboard.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: best for teams already using Semrush
The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit costs $99/mo per domain as of October 2026. It includes 25 custom prompts with daily rankings across ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity.
You also get competitor analysis, prompt research to find the questions worth tracking and an AI-readiness site audit. If your SEO team already lives in Semrush, keeping AI visibility next to your keyword and backlink data saves a lot of context switching.
The per-domain pricing adds up for agencies or companies with multiple sites, and 25 prompts is a tight allowance for a broad category. A 7-day trial is available.
Ahrefs Brand Radar: best for Ahrefs users who want wide platform coverage
Ahrefs Brand Radar has two sets of numbers as of October 2026. The pricing page lists it from $199/mo, while the product page shows $398/mo for select platforms or $699/mo for all platforms. Ahrefs plans also include small prompt allowances, with Lite at $129 including 5 prompts.
Coverage is one of the widest here: Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Grok. For teams already paying for Ahrefs, the bundled prompts let you test AI tracking before deciding whether the full add-on is worth it. Confirm the current price with Ahrefs before you budget.
HubSpot AEO Grader: best for a quick free snapshot of what AI says about your brand
HubSpot’s AEO Grader is a free, one-time check of what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini say about your brand as of October 2026. For CRM users, HubSpot also offers a paid AEO product.
The free grader is useful for a quick read on brand perception, especially to show leadership why AI visibility deserves budget. Because it’s a single snapshot, it won’t show trends, and it looks at what AI engines say about you rather than whether crawlers can access your pages. Pair it with a technical audit for the full picture.
LLMrefs: best for trying AI mention tracking without a budget
LLMrefs offers a free tier plus a free query fan-out generator as of October 2026. Paid plans are listed on its pricing page.
The free tier makes it a sensible starting point if you want to see what ongoing mention tracking looks like before asking for budget. The fan-out generator is handy on its own for content planning, since it shows the related queries an AI may run when answering a buyer’s question.
Rankscale: best for agencies that need white-label reporting at a low price
Rankscale has one of the lowest entry points of any monitoring tool here. As of October 2026, Essentials is $17/mo billed yearly, Pro is $99/mo, Pro+ is $229 and Growth is $385 with white-label reporting.
Engine coverage is broad for the price: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini, Claude, Copilot, DeepSeek and Mistral. It also includes page audits. Agencies that want to resell AI visibility reporting under their own brand will find the Growth plan considerably cheaper than most alternatives.
Goodie AI: best for teams that want monitoring and content creation in one tool
Goodie AI is priced at about $399/mo for Pro and $799/mo for Agency as of October 2026. It tracks 10+ AI engines.
Its built-in content writer is the differentiator. Instead of exporting findings into a separate writing workflow, your team can act on what the monitoring shows inside the same platform. That suits teams who want one tool to cover both the diagnosis and the content response, and who have the budget for it.
Key Features of AI Visibility Tools
Engine coverage is the first thing to check, because entry plans often cover far less than the marketing page suggests. Profound’s Starter plan watches ChatGPT only, and Otterly charges extra for Gemini, AI Mode and Claude. Map where your buyers actually ask questions, then confirm those engines are in the plan you’re pricing.
Prompt allowance and prompt research decide whether your data means anything. Semrush includes 25 prompts, Ahrefs Lite includes 5. A narrow prompt set gives you a narrow view, so tools that suggest prompts based on real demand, like Profound’s prompt volumes or Semrush’s prompt research, help you track the questions that lead to pipeline.
Competitor and source tracking show why a rival gets recommended instead of you. Knowing which pages and publications an AI cites gives your content and PR team a clear list of places to earn coverage.
Crawler and technical checks are the part many monitoring tools treat as secondary. If AI bots are blocked by robots.txt, a firewall or a CDN, no amount of content work will move your mention rate. The Craft of Growth checker, Otterly’s GEO audit, Semrush’s AI-readiness audit, Rankscale’s page audits and Profound’s agent analytics each cover parts of this.
Attribution matters once you’re reporting to leadership. Profound’s AI traffic attribution connects visibility to visits, which is the step that turns an interesting dashboard into a budget line.
How to Choose the Right AI Visibility Tool for Your Team
For an in-house B2B SaaS marketing team, start by running a free audit to confirm AI crawlers can reach and quote your pages. Then choose monitoring based on who needs access and where your buyers search. Peec AI’s unlimited seats work well when several teams want visibility. Semrush or Ahrefs Brand Radar make sense if your SEO stack already runs on one of them. Profound fits when you need enterprise coverage, attribution and SOC 2.
For agencies, the numbers that matter are cost per client and reporting. Rankscale’s Growth plan includes white-label at $385/mo, and Otterly’s API and MCP access make it easier to build client dashboards. Goodie AI’s Agency plan suits shops that also produce content for clients. Whatever you choose, run a technical audit on each new client’s site during onboarding, since crawler blocks are one of the fastest wins you can show.
For a solo marketer or an early-stage team without budget, combine the free tools. Use The Craft of Growth checker for crawler access and on-page readiness, HubSpot AEO Grader for a brand snapshot and LLMrefs’ free tier to get a feel for ongoing tracking.
Free vs Paid AI Visibility Tools
Free AI visibility tools answer whether you’re set up to be found and what AI engines say about you right now. The Craft of Growth checker handles the technical side, from AI crawler access and live bot visits to indexability, schema and llms.txt. HubSpot AEO Grader gives a one-time read on brand mentions, and LLMrefs offers a free tier for light tracking.
Paid AI visibility tools answer how your visibility changes over time and how you compare to competitors. Prices as of October 2026 range from $17/mo for Rankscale Essentials to $699/mo for Ahrefs Brand Radar on all platforms, with Profound Enterprise priced on request.
Most teams need both, in that order. Spending $99 to $700 a month on mention tracking before confirming AI crawlers can reach your pages means paying to watch a number that a configuration fix could have changed.
FAQ About AI Visibility Tools
What is the best free AI visibility tool?
It depends on the question you need answered. For technical readiness, The Craft of Growth AEO & GEO checker is free with no signup and checks 16 AI crawlers, live bot access, indexability, schema and llms.txt. For a snapshot of what AI says about your brand, HubSpot AEO Grader is free. LLMrefs offers a free tier for light tracking.
Is Profound worth it?
Profound is worth it for teams that need broad engine coverage, prompt volumes from real AI conversations, AI traffic attribution and SOC 2 compliance. As of October 2026, Starter is $99/mo billed yearly but covers ChatGPT only. Most B2B SaaS teams tracking several engines will need Growth at $399/mo billed yearly or a custom Enterprise plan.
What’s the difference between AEO and GEO tools?
AEO (answer engine optimization) and GEO (generative engine optimization) tools target the same goal: getting your brand cited in AI-generated answers. In practice, the more useful split is between audit tools, which check whether AI engines can access and quote your pages, and monitoring tools, which track how often AI engines mention you over time.
How do I check if ChatGPT can crawl my site?
Run your URL through the free checker. It reads your robots.txt rules for GPTBot and 15 other AI crawlers, then performs a live visit as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot to catch firewall or CDN blocks that robots.txt alone won’t reveal. You get a score out of 100 and ranked fixes.
How much do AI visibility tools cost?
As of October 2026, prices range widely. Free options include The Craft of Growth checker, HubSpot AEO Grader and LLMrefs’ free tier. Paid monitoring starts at $17/mo with Rankscale Essentials and $29/mo with Otterly, while Semrush is $99/mo per domain, Goodie AI Pro is about $399/mo and Ahrefs Brand Radar reaches $699/mo.
What is the best AI visibility tool for agencies?
Rankscale is a strong choice for agencies on a budget, with white-label reporting on its $385/mo Growth plan as of October 2026. Otterly suits smaller agencies thanks to its low entry price, API and MCP access. Goodie AI’s $799/mo Agency plan fits agencies that also produce client content. Audit each client’s AI crawler access first.
