Short answer: most AI search visibility tools are monitoring layers. They show where your brand appears in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or AI Overviews, but they stop before revenue. If you need to defend spend, you need visibility plus AI traffic detection and attribution. This guide compares pricing, prompt limits, and platform coverage using vendor pages as of January 2026, then gives a checklist for choosing the right stack.
It also reflects what research says about what actually changes visibility. The Princeton GEO study accepted to KDD 2024 reports that Generative Engine Optimization can boost visibility by up to 40% in model responses, which is why citation and source coverage matter as much as dashboards (https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735). Kevin Indig's analysis of 1.2 million citations found that content with question-and-answer headings gets cited 2x more often and content with 15+ named entities gets 4.8x more citations (https://newsletter.seorevisor.com/p/how-to-get-cited-more-in-ai-search). Use this guide to narrow the list in minutes and then verify details through the linked sources.
Disclosure: I'm the founder of Loamly, which competes in this space. I've excluded Loamly from the comparison table and rankings to keep this guide credible. You'll find a transparent section about Loamly at the bottom. The comparison above stands on its own regardless of whether Loamly exists.
TL;DR: Best Fit by Need
Use this to shortlist fast. The categories are more important than feature lists: visibility-only tools track mentions and citations; attribution tools connect AI traffic to revenue; SEO suites add AI visibility as an add-on. If you are cost sensitive, focus on prompt limits and engine coverage.
- Enterprise visibility coverage: Profound or AthenaHQ.
- Budget multi-engine coverage: Rankscale.
- Team-friendly visibility with unlimited users: Peec AI or SE Visible.
- GEO audits + monitoring: Otterly or Scrunch.
- SEO-suite add-on: Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit or Ahrefs Brand Radar.
- Enterprise all-in-one: Conductor.
How This Guide Was Built
Every price and plan limit below comes from a public pricing page or vendor documentation. If a vendor uses annual billing, I note it. If pricing is custom, I say so. I do not use estimates, and I do not normalize currencies; the table shows each vendor's posted currency. For platform coverage, I only list engines explicitly named on the pricing page. If an engine requires an add-on, it is labeled that way.
This is a buyer's guide, not a marketing page, so it prioritizes verifiable numbers over feature claims. I also avoid affiliate links and do not rank based on marketing copy. If you spot a change, the source link next to each tool makes it easy to confirm and update.
What Actually Matters When Choosing a GEO Tool
Most teams over-index on UI. The real decision is fit:
- Engine coverage that matches your market
- Prompt volume and refresh cadence
- Seats and multi-brand support
- Source and citation visibility (not just mention counts)
- Attribution if revenue matters
Source visibility is not optional. Profound's citation analysis shows Reddit accounts for 46.7% of Perplexity's top cited sources, while Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT concentrate elsewhere, so you need to see which sources drive each platform (https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/ai-platform-citation-patterns). A tool that only counts mentions hides this. If a vendor cannot show citation sources or engine-specific coverage, treat the report as partial. For a practical GEO primer, see Generative Engine Optimization.
Why Do Citation Sources Matter More Than Mention Counts?
Mentions are a lagging indicator. What drives visibility is where models cite from. The platform citation patterns are not the same: Perplexity's top sources are heavily concentrated on Reddit (46.7% share of its top 10 sources), while Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT show very different source mixes (https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/ai-platform-citation-patterns).
If your tool only reports that you were mentioned, you cannot see which sources to invest in. The better question is: which sources did the model rely on, and do you have credible presence there? When you evaluate tools, look for citation source breakdowns, not just rankings. Distribution strategy matters as much as on-site structure.
Rand Fishkin's January 2026 study of 600+ participants found that AI brand lists are essentially random (less than 1 in 100 chance of the same list appearing twice), but visibility percentages are consistent (https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-ais-are-highly-inconsistent). This means any tool that sells you "AI rankings" is measuring noise. Look for tools that report visibility rates, not rank positions.
How Many Prompts Do You Actually Need?
Prompt limits are not a detail; they determine how many categories, products, and intents you can track. Compare a few common entry plans:
- Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: 25 prompts, 300 daily queries, one domain (https://www.semrush.com/kb/1493-ai-visibility-toolkit). Add 50 prompts for $60/month.
- Otterly Lite: 15 prompts. Standard: 100 prompts (https://otterly.ai/pricing).
- Peec Starter: 25 prompts. Pro: 100 prompts (https://peec.ai/pricing).
- Scrunch Explorer: 100 prompts. Growth: 700 prompts (https://scrunch.com/pricing/).
If you have multiple products or regions, you will hit limits fast. Use prompt limits as your first filter before you compare features. If you want a zero-cost starting point, check your AI visibility score before committing to a paid tool. Kevin Indig's research shows content freshness matters too: content less than 30 days old gets 3.2x more citations, so monitoring cadence needs to match your update cycle.
How Do Seat and Multi-Brand Limits Change Total Cost?
Most buyers underestimate seat pricing. Some platforms are unlimited seats by default, others are tightly capped:
- Peec: Unlimited seats across plans (https://peec.ai/pricing)
- SE Visible: Unlimited users. Multi-brand: Core 5, Plus 10, Max 15 (https://visible.seranking.com/)
- Scrunch: Explorer: 1 user. Growth: 5 users (https://scrunch.com/pricing/)
If you are a team or an agency, this matters more than price per month. One platform at $99 with one seat can cost more than a $189 plan with unlimited seats once you add users. Use seat limits as a pricing multiplier, not a footnote.
AI Search Visibility Tools Comparison Table (Pricing + Platforms)
Use the table as a filter, not a final decision. Prices are monthly unless noted and shown in vendor currency. The table lists the minimum plan you can actually start with; add-ons for Gemini or AI Mode are called out in the snapshots.
| Tool | Starting price | Core platforms | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profound | From $99/mo (Starter, annual) | ChatGPT (Starter); 3 engines (Growth); 10 engines (Enterprise) | Enterprise AEO monitoring + workflows |
| Peec AI | EUR 89/mo | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews | Add Gemini/Claude/AI Mode for extra fee |
| Otterly | $29/mo | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot | AI Mode and Gemini are add-ons |
| Rankscale | $20/mo | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, AI Mode/Overviews | Credit-based multi-engine coverage |
| SE Visible | $189/mo | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews, AI Mode | Unlimited users, multi-brand |
| AthenaHQ | $295/mo | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews/Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok | Optimization + monitoring |
| Scrunch | $100/mo | ChatGPT (Explorer) / all LLMs (Growth) | Persona tracking + audits |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99/mo | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Mode | AI visibility inside Semrush |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | $199/mo per index | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Copilot | AI visibility inside Ahrefs |
| Conductor | Custom | AI Search Performance + SEO suite | Enterprise SEO + AEO in one |
Full-Funnel Attribution: The Gap Most Tools Don't Fill
Visibility alone cannot answer ROI. If you need to connect AI exposure to pipeline, here is what to look for:
- Verified AI bot detection (RFC 9421 signatures) to avoid false positives
- AI-referred human tracking via referrer or UTM
- Revenue attribution through billing or CRM
- A data handling policy you can pass to legal
Ask whether the product can map AI visits to closed-won revenue, not just traffic. If it cannot connect to Stripe or a CRM, the result is usually a dashboard, not an ROI story.
Most tools in this guide stop at visibility monitoring. Attribution is a different product category. If your primary goal is ROI measurement, you need an AI traffic analytics tool specifically built for AI traffic detection and revenue attribution, not just a visibility dashboard with traffic widgets bolted on.
Competitor Snapshots (Pricing + Strengths)
The snapshots below focus on what a buyer can verify on the vendor's own pricing or documentation. Each section highlights starting price, core coverage, and the practical fit. If a platform adds Gemini or AI Mode as a paid add-on, it is called out. If pricing is custom, it is labeled as custom. I only include claims that are visible on the cited pages.
Profound
Profound is built for enterprise visibility programs. Its pricing page lists Starter with ChatGPT only and 50 prompts, Growth with 3 engines and 100 prompts, and an Enterprise tier with 10 engines and custom pricing (https://www.tryprofound.com/pricing). The same page lists a 6-article monthly optimization workflow in Growth, and Enterprise adds SSO/SAML and wider engine coverage. A launch post states that Starter begins at $99 per month on annual billing (https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/making-answer-engine-optimization-accessible-to-every-business). Profound recently raised at a $1 billion valuation, which validates the market but also signals enterprise pricing pressure ahead. Best when you need broad engine coverage plus workflows for AEO teams and agencies.
Peec AI
Peec is a visibility-first platform with a clean workflow and unlimited seats. Starter is EUR 89 per month for 25 prompts and Pro is EUR 199 per month for 100 prompts (https://peec.ai/pricing). The same page lists 2,250 AI answers analyzed per month on Starter and 9,000 on Pro, with daily prompt runs. Enterprise lists 300+ prompts, SSO, and a dedicated account rep, and the page also lists unlimited countries across plans. It covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews as standard, and lists Gemini, Claude, and AI Mode as add-ons for an additional fee. Solid pick for teams that want visibility tracking without enterprise overhead.
Otterly
Otterly combines monitoring with GEO audits and add-ons. The pricing page lists Lite at $29 per month with 15 prompts, Standard at $189 per month with 100 prompts, and Premium at $489 per month with 400 prompts (https://otterly.ai/pricing). Core tracking includes ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot, while Gemini and AI Mode are add-ons. The same page lists Gemini and AI Mode add-ons at $9/$59/$149 per month (Lite/Standard/Premium), and 100 additional prompts at $99 per month on Standard and Premium. Good fit if you want a low starting price and built-in GEO audits, with the trade-off that broader engine coverage requires add-ons.
Rankscale
Rankscale uses a credit-based model and is the lowest-cost multi-engine option in this guide. Essentials is $20 per month for 120 credits and Pro is $99 per month for 1,200 credits (https://rankscale.ai/pricing). The pricing page also lists "up to 480 AI responses" for Essentials, which gives you a sense of usable volume at the entry tier. Essentials includes 10 free page audits per month and 5 brand dashboard slots. The engine list includes ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Overviews, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, and others. If your priority is coverage across many models at the lowest entry price, Rankscale is hard to beat. The trade-off is credit management and a less opinionated workflow.
SE Visible
SE Visible is SE Ranking's AI visibility product. Core starts at $189 per month and includes 450 prompts and 5 brands, Plus starts at $355 per month with 1,000 prompts and 10 brands, and Max starts at $519 per month with 1,500 prompts and 15 brands (https://visible.seranking.com/). All plans list unlimited users, and the page offers a 10-day free trial. Coverage includes ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews, and AI Mode, with multi-country monitoring. Designed for multi-brand teams and agencies that need larger prompt volumes.
AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ leans into optimization and multi-engine monitoring. The plans page lists Self-Serve at $295 per month and an Enterprise tier with custom credits and features (https://www.athenahq.ai/plans). Self-Serve includes 3,600 credits, and the page states that one credit equals one AI response. Coverage spans ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, and Grok, plus on- and off-page GEO analysis. The page advertises a 67% first-month discount on the Self-Serve plan and lists unlimited seats with role-based access control. Strong fit for teams that want monitoring plus optimization tooling at a higher entry price.
Scrunch
Scrunch focuses on personas and audits. Explorer is $100 per month with 100 prompts and ChatGPT only, while Growth is $500 per month with 700 prompts and all LLMs (https://scrunch.com/pricing/). Explorer includes one user license and Growth includes five. Growth lists 5 personas tracked and 10 page audits, and Enterprise adds SSO and API access. The pricing page also highlights citation analytics and sentiment analysis across plans. Best for teams that want persona-based monitoring and deeper auditing workflows.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
Semrush sells AI visibility as an add-on. The pricing section lists $99 per month and includes 1 domain, 300 daily queries, and 25 prompts for Prompt Tracking (https://www.semrush.com/kb/1493-ai-visibility-toolkit). The same page lists add-ons at $60 per month for 50 extra prompts and $99 per month for an additional Brand Performance domain. It covers platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Mode. Prompt Tracking is currently listed for regions like the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Spain, and India. Simplest option if your team already uses Semrush, but prompt limits are lower than most standalone tools.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
Ahrefs Brand Radar is an AI visibility add-on inside Ahrefs. The help center lists $199 per month per index or $699 per month for all indexes, plus custom prompt tracking tiers: $50 per month for 2,500 checks, $100 for 7,000 checks, and $250 for 25,000 checks (https://help.ahrefs.com/en/articles/11064852-about-brand-radar). Coverage includes ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Copilot, and notes that AI chatbot sources update monthly. Custom prompt tracking is billed by checks per month, not seats. Best if you already pay for Ahrefs and want AI visibility embedded in your existing workflows.
Conductor
Conductor is an enterprise SEO suite that includes AI Search Performance in its Intelligence product. The pricing page shows separate product lines for Creator, Intelligence, and Monitoring, and confirms that list pricing is not published (https://support.conductor.com/en_US/platform-faqs-and-more/pricing-for-conductors-products). Recently reported processing 3.3 billion data points across their AI Search Intelligence platform. If you need an all-in-one enterprise SEO platform with AI search features and can handle a sales-led process, Conductor fits that profile.
How Should You Choose Based on Use Case?
If you want a single-slide answer for your team, use the mapping below. It is deliberately conservative and uses the smallest plan that fits the job. Confirm plan limits on the vendor pages before purchase.
- Best enterprise multi-engine coverage: Profound or AthenaHQ.
- Best budget multi-engine coverage: Rankscale.
- Best GEO audits + monitoring: Otterly.
- Best persona-based tracking: Scrunch.
- Best unlimited-seats for agencies: Peec AI or SE Visible.
- Best SEO-suite add-on: Semrush or Ahrefs.
- Best enterprise all-in-one: Conductor.
FAQ
Which tool is best if I only need AI visibility monitoring?
Choose based on prompt volume, seat limits, and platform coverage rather than UI. If you need unlimited seats, Peec lists unlimited seats across tiers and tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews by default (https://peec.ai/pricing). SE Visible also lists unlimited users and multi-brand limits by tier, which makes it a strong agency fit (https://visible.seranking.com/). Scrunch is best if you need persona tracking and audits (https://scrunch.com/pricing/). Profound and AthenaHQ are heavier enterprise options when you need broader engine coverage (https://www.tryprofound.com/pricing, https://www.athenahq.ai/plans). Pick the tool that matches your prompt volume and seat count first, then compare engines.
Do these tools improve visibility or only measure it?
Most tools measure visibility; the lift comes from what you change after you see the data. The Princeton GEO study reports that GEO methods can boost visibility by up to 40% in model responses (https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735). Some platforms include optimization workflows or content recommendations, such as Profound's workflows and AthenaHQ's optimization tooling. Those features can speed up execution, but they do not replace the work of creating or updating content and citations. Treat the tool as the diagnostic layer and your content as the intervention.
Why do some tools exclude Gemini or AI Mode by default?
Gemini and AI Mode are often priced as add-ons because they increase prompt volume and compute cost. Otterly lists Gemini and AI Mode add-ons at $9/$59/$149 per month depending on plan tier (https://otterly.ai/pricing). Peec lists Gemini, Claude, and AI Mode as add-ons without publishing prices on the pricing page (https://peec.ai/pricing). If those engines matter to your category, ask for the add-on pricing before you compare plans. Treat Gemini and AI Mode as mandatory if those platforms drive your traffic. Engine coverage is a first-order requirement, not a nice-to-have.
What does a prompt limit actually mean?
A prompt limit is how many distinct queries a tool will track for your brand. If you sell multiple products, serve multiple regions, or need separate prompts for discovery vs comparison, 25 prompts disappears quickly. Semrush includes 25 by default (https://www.semrush.com/kb/1493-ai-visibility-toolkit). Peec Starter includes 25 and Pro includes 100 (https://peec.ai/pricing). Otterly Lite starts at 15 and Standard includes 100 (https://otterly.ai/pricing). A 25-prompt plan often covers only one category and a few competitors. Use these numbers to estimate whether you can cover your core intents without upgrading after the first month.
How important is content freshness for AI visibility?
Very. Kevin Indig's research found that content less than 30 days old gets 3.2x more AI citations than older content. Citation likelihood peaks under 3 months and drops sharply after 6 months. This means monitoring tools that refresh daily (Peec, Scrunch Growth) give you faster signal than monthly refreshes (Ahrefs Brand Radar, Semrush Visibility Overview). If you publish frequently, pick a tool with daily cadence. If you update quarterly, refresh speed matters less.
Disclosure: We Built Loamly
I'm Marco Di Cesare, and I built Loamly. In the interest of transparency, I excluded it from the comparison table and rankings above. Here is what Loamly does differently, so you can evaluate it on equal footing:
What Loamly is: An AI visibility platform that combines monitoring with AI traffic detection (RFC 9421 verified) and revenue attribution (Stripe, CRM). Free tier available; Grow plan starts at $89/month. All four major platforms (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini) included by default. Unlimited seats and workspaces.
Where Loamly falls short:
- Prompt volume: Our monitoring layer runs fewer prompts than Profound's Enterprise or SE Visible's Max tier. If you need 1,000+ tracked prompts, Loamly is not the right fit today.
- Engine breadth: We cover 4 platforms. AthenaHQ covers 7 including Grok. Rankscale covers 8+. If Grok or Copilot matter to your category, we do not cover them yet.
- Enterprise features: No SSO/SAML yet. No dedicated account rep. If you need enterprise procurement workflows, Profound or Conductor will be smoother.
- Maturity: We launched in 2025. Semrush and Ahrefs have decade-long data moats. Conductor processes 3.3 billion data points. We are smaller and newer.
Where Loamly is strong:
- Only platform that connects AI mentions to traffic to revenue in one tool
- AI traffic detection uses cryptographic verification (RFC 9421), not just user-agent sniffing
- Free tier is generous enough to evaluate on a real site with no credit card
- Professional audit product ($299-$2,490) with 4-platform coverage, 50-100 prompts, and PDF reports
If you want a baseline before buying any tool, run a free report at loamly.ai/check. It shows whether your brand appears in AI answers and which sources are cited. Then move from monitoring to attribution in AI Traffic Analytics to see which cited visibility is becoming revenue.
Last updated: February 25, 2026
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