Written by Admin Alex · Fact-Checked by M.Ali · Info Verified October 2026
We review and update this article regularly as new information becomes available.
The best AI visibility tracking tool depends on budget: Otterly.AI is the cheapest real tracker at $29 a month, Semrush and Ahrefs suit teams already on those suites, and Profound or AthenaHQ cover the most AI engines.
TL;DR: AI visibility trackers send a fixed list of prompts to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and other engines, then record whether your brand is mentioned or cited. Published entry prices run from free (HubSpot AI Search Grader, a one-off check) to $295 a month (AthenaHQ). Otterly.AI starts at $29, Peec AI at $95, and Profound and the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit at $99. Ahrefs Brand Radar is a $199 add-on. Before you pay, check which engines the plan actually covers, because entry tiers often track only one to four. Every tool samples answers rather than seeing inside the engines, so treat the numbers as a trend, not a precise measurement.
Search is splitting in two. People still type queries into Google, but more of them now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini for a recommendation. Google itself shows AI Overviews on a growing share of results. If an AI assistant names your competitor and not you, your rank tracker will never tell you.
That gap created a new category of software: AI visibility tracking tools. This guide explains how they work, compares the main options with real published prices, and shows a free manual method you can use before you spend anything.
All prices below come from vendor pricing pages as compiled on August 26, 2026. Vendors in this young market change plans often, so confirm current pricing before you buy.
Key Terms in One Line Each
- AI visibility: how often and how favorably AI assistants mention or cite your brand in their answers.
- Generative engine optimization (GEO): work aimed at getting your brand mentioned and cited in AI-generated answers.
- Answer engine optimization (AEO): a close cousin of GEO, focused on being the source an AI answer draws from.
- Prompt: one tracked question, such as “best CRM for a small law firm.” Most tools charge by the number of prompts.
- Engine: the AI system a prompt runs against, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Claude or Google AI Overviews.
- Mention: your brand name appears in the answer text.
- Citation: the AI links to your page as a source for its answer. Mentions and citations are not the same thing.
- Share of voice: the percentage of tracked answers that mention you compared with named competitors.
- Agent analytics: analysis of AI crawlers, such as GPTBot and PerplexityBot, visiting your site, taken from your own server logs.
Why AI Visibility Matters in 2026
| Statistic | Figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| US adults who report using AI chatbots | About half (49%) | 2026 | Pew Research Center, February 2026 survey of 5,119 adults |
| Clicks on a regular result when an AI summary appeared | 8% of visits | 2025 | Pew Research Center, March 2025 browsing study |
| Clicks on a regular result with no AI summary | 15% of visits | 2025 | Pew Research Center, March 2025 browsing study |
| US desktop searches showing AI Overviews | 39.4% | Q2 2026 | Comscore AI Intelligence Report |
| Branded searches showing AI Overviews | About 80%, up from about 26% a month earlier | September 2026 | DemandSphere tracking data |
| Organic click-through drop on queries with AI Overviews | 61% | 2026 | Seer Interactive |
Put together, these numbers explain the demand. More people get answers without clicking, so being named inside the answer is becoming the new impression. We have covered this shift in detail, including how AI Overviews jumped to 80% of branded searches and what Seer found about AI Overviews cutting click-through rates.
AI Visibility Tracking Tools Compared
| Tool | Entry price | What the entry tier includes | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot AI Search Grader | Free | One-off brand check across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini | A free baseline |
| Otterly.AI | $29/month | 15 prompts, 4 base engines | Solo consultants and small sites |
| Peec AI | $95/month | 50 prompts, 1 project, 3 of 6 default models | European teams and boutique agencies |
| Profound | $99/month (yearly) | ChatGPT only; Growth at $399 adds 3 engines | In-house marketing teams |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99/month per domain (yearly) | 25 prompts; ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, Perplexity | Existing Semrush users |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | $199/month add-on | Select platforms; $699 for all platforms | Existing Ahrefs users |
| Scrunch AI | $250/month (yearly) | 3 seats, 350 custom prompts, page audits | Agencies and mid-market teams |
| AthenaHQ | $295/month | 3,600 credits, 10+ models; free tier with $25 credit | Widest engine list |
| Rankscale | Not published | States 17+ engines | Buyers happy to request a quote |
Prices from vendor pricing pages as compiled by AInora on August 26, 2026. “Yearly” means the price applies when billed annually.
The Best AI Visibility Trackers, Reviewed
1. Otterly.AI: best budget tracker
Otterly.AI is the cheapest credible tracker with public pricing. The Lite plan costs $29 a month for 15 prompts. Standard is $189 for 100 prompts, and Premium is $489 for 400 prompts. Base plans track ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. Google AI Mode, Gemini and Claude cost extra.
Watch out for: 15 prompts is enough to test the idea, not to cover a full product range.
2. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: best if you already use Semrush
Semrush sells its AI toolkit at $99 a month per domain, billed yearly. It tracks 25 custom prompts and reports mentions from ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity. Its real advantage is convenience, since the AI data sits next to the keyword and backlink reports your team already reads.
Watch out for: the prompt allowance is small compared with dedicated tools at a similar price.
3. Ahrefs Brand Radar: best for prompt research at scale
Brand Radar is an add-on to Ahrefs plans, at $199 a month for select platforms or $699 for all platforms with 2,500 custom checks. It covers AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Gemini. Ahrefs says its prompt database is built from real user queries rather than only made-up prompts, which helps you find questions you had not thought to track.
Watch out for: you pay for it on top of an existing Ahrefs subscription.
4. Profound: best for in-house marketing teams
Profound’s Starter plan costs $99 a month billed yearly but tracks ChatGPT only. Growth, at $399 a month, tracks three engines and 100 prompts. Enterprise covers up to nine engines. Beyond tracking, Profound sells prompt volume data and AI crawler analytics, which help explain why answers change.
Watch out for: the Starter tier’s single engine is a big limit. Most brands need at least ChatGPT plus Google’s AI features.
5. Peec AI: best for European and multi-country tracking
Peec AI is based in Berlin. Its Starter plan costs $95 a month for 50 prompts in one country. Pro is $245 and Advanced is $495, with more prompts, projects and countries. Self-serve plans let you pick three of six default models. Separate agency plans run $245 to $795 a month.
Watch out for: extra engines such as Claude and DeepSeek are paid upgrades.
6. Scrunch AI: best for agencies with several clients
Scrunch AI starts at $250 a month billed yearly, or $300 month to month. That buys three seats, 350 custom prompts and page audits. It monitors ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, and it states SOC 2 Type II compliance.
7. AthenaHQ: best engine coverage
AthenaHQ states coverage of more than 10 models, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek and Meta AI. It has a free tier with $25 of credit and a $295 Starter plan with 3,600 credits.
Watch out for: credit-based pricing makes monthly cost harder to predict.
8. HubSpot AI Search Grader: best free starting point
HubSpot’s grader is not a tracker. It runs a free, one-time check of what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini say about your brand and scores the result. No account is needed. Use it to see whether you have a problem before you pay to monitor it.
How AI Visibility Trackers Work (and Their Limits)
Every tool in this category works the same basic way. It re-asks a list of prompts on a schedule and records what comes back. None of them can see inside ChatGPT or Gemini, because no AI company publishes a citation report for brands. That leads to some honest limits.
| Limit | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Answers change between runs | Small week-to-week swings are usually noise. Look at trends over a month or more. |
| Your prompt list sets your score | Generous prompts make you look strong. Use real buyer questions instead. |
| Personalized answers are invisible | Logged-in users with chat history may see different answers than the tracker. |
| Location changes results | Track the country you actually sell in, not a default US panel. |
| Revenue attribution is weak | A mention does not prove a sale. Pair tracking with referral traffic data. |
The most reliable number a tracker gives you is agent analytics, because it comes from your own server logs rather than sampling. If a plan includes it, weight it heavily.
A Real Example: The Free Manual Method
Before buying a tool, run this simple test for a month. It costs nothing and shows you what a tracker actually does.
- Write 15 to 20 questions a real buyer would ask, such as “best project management tool for a 10-person agency.”
- Ask each question in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google once a week, using a logged-out or private window.
- Record three things in a spreadsheet: whether your brand is mentioned, its position in the list, and which sources are cited.
- Note which competitor appears most and which pages get cited for them.
Picture a small accounting firm that runs this test. After four weeks, it finds that it is never mentioned, while a competitor appears in 11 of 20 answers. The cited sources are mostly review sites and one comparison article. That tells the firm where to act: get listed on those review sites and publish a clear comparison page. A $29 tracker can then keep score while the real work happens.
How to Choose an AI Visibility Tool
- Check the engines first. The plan must cover the assistants your buyers use. Entry tiers often leave out Gemini, Claude or Google AI Mode.
- Count your prompts. One brand with a few products needs 25 to 100 prompts. An agency needs far more.
- Use what you already pay for. If you live in Semrush or Ahrefs, their AI modules save you a separate login.
- Budget for the fix, not just the tracker. A tracker only measures. The money that changes results goes into content, reviews, structured data and digital PR.
How to Improve Your AI Visibility
Tracking shows the problem. These steps help fix it.
- Publish clear, factual pages that answer buyer questions directly, with tables and specific numbers.
- Get mentioned on the third-party sites that AI engines already cite in your niche, such as review platforms and industry publications.
- Keep your brand facts consistent across your site, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn and directories.
- Add structured data so engines can read your products, prices and FAQs.
- Check that your robots.txt does not block the AI crawlers you want to visit your site.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an AI visibility tracking tool?
It is software that sends a set list of prompts to AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini on a schedule. It then records whether your brand is mentioned or cited, where it appears, and how competitors compare.
What is the best AI visibility tool in 2026?
There is no single best tool. Otterly.AI is the best budget option at $29 a month. Semrush and Ahrefs suit teams already using those suites. AthenaHQ and Profound’s Enterprise tier offer the widest engine coverage.
How much does AI visibility tracking cost?
Published entry prices range from free to $295 a month. HubSpot’s grader is free, Otterly.AI starts at $29, Peec AI at $95, Profound and Semrush at $99, Ahrefs Brand Radar at $199 as an add-on, Scrunch AI at $250 and AthenaHQ at $295.
Do AI visibility tools see inside ChatGPT?
No. They re-run prompts and record the answers, because AI companies do not share citation data with brands. That makes the results a useful trend line rather than an exact measurement.
Is there a free AI visibility checker?
Yes. HubSpot’s AI Search Grader gives a free one-time check across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. AthenaHQ also offers a free tier with limited credit. You can also track a short prompt list by hand in a spreadsheet.
What is the difference between a mention and a citation?
A mention means the AI names your brand in its answer. A citation means it links to your page as a source. Some tools report these separately, and both are worth tracking.
Is AI visibility the same as SEO?
They overlap but are not the same. Strong SEO helps, since AI engines often cite pages that already rank. AI visibility also depends on third-party mentions, reviews and how clearly your brand facts appear across the web.
How long does it take to improve AI visibility?
Expect to judge results over a quarter, not a week. AI answers vary from run to run, and changes to content and mentions take time to show up in what engines say.
More AI tool guides: Best AI Accounting Software in 2026 · Best AI Translator in 2026 · DA vs PA Explained
Bottom Line
Start with the free HubSpot grader or a manual spreadsheet test to see whether you have a visibility problem. If you do, buy the cheapest plan that covers the engines your buyers actually use, and give it a full quarter. Most important, spend the bigger share of your budget on the content, reviews and digital PR that change what AI assistants say about you.
Sources
- AInora, “Best AI Visibility Tracking Tools 2026: Verified Pricing Compared,” August 26, 2026, compiled from vendor pricing pages
- Pew Research Center, AI chatbot use survey, February 2026, and Google search browsing study, March 2025
- Comscore, Q2 2026 AI Intelligence Report
- DemandSphere AI Overviews tracking data, September 2026
- Seer Interactive, 2026 AI Overviews click-through research
