Quick answer: the best AI search visibility tool depends on your budget and what you already use. Otterly.AI is the cheapest way to start ($29 a month). Peec AI suits marketing teams. Semrush and Ahrefs Brand Radar suit people who already use those SEO suites. Profound and Birdeye are aimed at large or multi-location brands and use custom pricing.
AI search visibility tools show whether your brand is mentioned, or your website is cited, when people ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews a question. This guide compares the main options on price, prompt limits, engines covered and free access, so you can shortlist quickly. Prices were checked on 5 November 2026 and are shown in US dollars, as the vendors list them. UK buyers may see VAT added at checkout.
Best AI Search Visibility Tools at a Glance
| Tool | Best for | Entry price | Free option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | Low-cost tracking | $29/month (15 prompts) | 7-day free trial, 50 prompts, no card |
| Peec AI | Marketing teams | $95/month (50 prompts) | Not publicly confirmed |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Existing Semrush users | $99/month per domain (25 prompts), billed annually | Limited features on free plan; no toolkit trial |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Large-scale prompt research | From $50/month (custom prompt checks); $199/month per index | Not publicly confirmed |
| Profound | Enterprise brands | Not publicly confirmed (contact sales) | Not publicly confirmed |
| Birdeye AI Search | Multi-location brands | Custom | Not publicly confirmed |
What Are AI Search Visibility Tools?
These tools run a list of prompts you choose (for example, “best project management software”) through AI search engines on a schedule. They then record whether your brand appears, whether your website is linked, who else is mentioned, and how the answer sounds.
They are different from normal rank trackers. A Google ranking is a fixed position for a keyword. An AI answer is written fresh each time, so the tools report how often you appear rather than where you rank.
GEO, AEO and LLM SEO in plain English
- AI search visibility: how often your brand shows up in AI-written answers.
- GEO (generative engine optimisation): the work you do to improve that visibility.
- AEO (answer engine optimisation): a very similar term, often used for answer-style results.
- LLM SEO: a marketing shorthand for the same idea. The tools in this article measure results; they do not do the optimising for you.
How We Chose These Tools
A tool made the list only if it met all of these points on 5 November 2026:
- It is on sale now and has an official product or pricing page.
- It tracks at least one major AI engine such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini or Perplexity.
- Its price, limits and engines can be checked, or it clearly says “contact sales”.
- It actually tracks visibility, rather than only helping you write content.
We did not run our own side-by-side tests, so we do not claim to have. Everything below comes from vendor pages. Where a vendor has not published a detail, we say “not publicly confirmed” instead of guessing. Most pages ranking for this topic also come from software vendors or marketing sites, so treat any “best tool” list, including this one, as a starting point and test before you pay.
Master Comparison: Price, Prompts and Engines
| Tool | Type | Entry plan | Base engines | Refresh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | Dedicated tracker | Lite: $29/month, 15 prompts | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot | Daily |
| Peec AI | Dedicated tracker | Starter: $95/month, 50 prompts | Any 3 of ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot | Daily (vendor claim) |
| Semrush | SEO-suite module | Base: $99/month per domain, 25 daily custom prompts | Varies by plan (see note below) | Daily for custom prompts |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | SEO-suite module | Custom prompts: $50/month for 2,500 checks | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Grok, Claude, AI Overviews (vendor claim) | Not publicly confirmed |
| Profound | Enterprise platform | Not publicly confirmed | Not publicly confirmed | Not publicly confirmed |
| Birdeye AI Search | Multi-location platform | Custom | Vendor claims broad coverage | Not publicly confirmed |
Entry-level monthly price (US dollars)
Ahrefs shows its $50 custom-prompt tier, which is not the same product as its $199 single-index plan.
Source: vendor pricing pages, checked 5 November 2026.
Detailed Reviews of the Best AI Search Visibility Tools
1. Otterly.AI: best low-cost starting point
Otterly.AI is a dedicated tool for tracking brand visibility across AI search engines. It has the lowest verified entry price on this list.
- Plans: Lite $29/month (15 prompts), Standard $109/month (100 prompts), Premium $439/month (400 prompts), plus custom Enterprise.
- Engines: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot are included. Gemini, Google AI Mode and Claude cost extra as add-ons.
- Free trial: 7 days, 50 search prompts, no credit card needed.
- Tracking: daily on all paid plans. Every active prompt counts towards your allowance.
Good: low price, easy to test. Watch out: add-on engines raise the real cost, and the 15-prompt limit on Lite is small. Best for: freelancers and small businesses testing the idea.
2. Peec AI: best for marketing teams
Peec AI focuses on prompt tracking, sentiment, gap analysis and AI referral visits (people who click through from AI assistants to your site).
- Plans: Starter $95/month (50 prompts), Pro $245/month (150 prompts), Advanced $495/month (350 prompts), plus custom Enterprise.
- Engines: you pick any three from ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot. More models, such as Claude, are listed for Enterprise.
- AI referrals: included on all listed plans.
- Limits: vendor comparison pages mention up to three countries and five projects before Enterprise. Confirm this on the pricing page.
Good: flexible engine choice and referral data. Watch out: only three engines on standard plans, and no free option is publicly confirmed. Best for: in-house teams and small agencies.
3. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: best for existing Semrush users
Semrush adds AI tracking to its wider SEO platform. It covers AI mentions, citations, sentiment, share of voice, prompt research and competitor gaps. If you are weighing it against other platforms, our guide to Semrush alternatives shows what else is available.
- Standalone price: Base plan is $99/month per domain, billed annually, with 25 custom prompts tracked daily.
- Bundle: Semrush One starts at $199/month and combines the AI Visibility and SEO toolkits.
- Free access: the free plan has limited AI Visibility features and no dedicated prompt quota. Semrush says the toolkit itself has no free trial.
Engine coverage note: Semrush’s own blog and its subscription help page describe the Starter engines slightly differently. Use the current pricing page as the final word before you buy. If you are comparing plans, check our Semrush promo code page for current offers.
Good: SEO and AI tracking in one login. Watch out: pricing is per domain and the bundle is dearer. Best for: teams already working inside Semrush.
4. Ahrefs Brand Radar: best for large-scale prompt research
Ahrefs Brand Radar tracks AI mentions, share of voice and sentiment, and lets you run your own prompts. It needs a paid Ahrefs plan.
- Index pricing: $199/month for one platform index, or $699/month for all platforms (includes 2,500 custom prompt checks a month).
- Custom prompt checks: Basic $50/month for 2,500, Growth $100/month for 7,000, Scale $250/month for 25,000.
- Prompt database: Ahrefs says it holds 531 million+ organic prompts. This is a vendor claim.
Ahrefs counts “checks”, not “tracked prompts”, so its numbers are not directly comparable with Otterly or Peec. Its marketing pages also quote $50, $199 and $699 in different places, so confirm which product you are buying. Best for: experienced SEO teams that want large data volumes.
5. Profound: best for enterprise brands
Profound appears on most comparison lists and is usually positioned for enterprise buyers. We could not confirm its pricing, engines, plan limits or free options from an official page. One third-party source says self-serve plans are no longer sold and that pricing is by quote. Treat that as unverified and ask Profound directly. Best for: large brands that expect a sales process.
6. Birdeye AI Search: best for multi-location brands
Birdeye AI Search is aimed at brands with many locations. Birdeye says pricing depends on queries tracked, locations and engines. It lists coverage of ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Claude and Grok, but this comes from Birdeye’s own blog, so confirm it on its product pages. Best for: franchises and local chains.
Free AI Visibility Options: Trial, Tier or Checker?
“Free” can mean different things, so we use four labels:
- Free tool: no payment needed for ongoing use.
- Free tier: a permanent plan with strict limits.
- Free trial: full access for a short time.
- Free checker: a one-off lookup, not ongoing monitoring.
| Tool | Free type | What you get | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | Free trial | 50 search prompts, no card | 7 days |
| Semrush | Free tier | Limited AI Visibility features | No dedicated prompt-tracking quota |
| Peec AI | Not publicly confirmed | — | — |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Not publicly confirmed | — | — |
| Profound | Not publicly confirmed | — | — |
| Birdeye | Not publicly confirmed | — | — |
There is no verified, fully free tool for ongoing AI visibility tracking in this research. The best no-cost route is the Otterly trial plus manual checks (covered below).
Pricing and Plan Limits Compared
| Tool | Plan | Price | Key limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly | Lite | $29/month | 15 prompts |
| Otterly | Standard | $109/month | 100 prompts |
| Otterly | Premium | $439/month | 400 prompts |
| Peec AI | Starter | $95/month | 50 prompts, 3 engines |
| Peec AI | Pro | $245/month | 150 prompts, 3 engines |
| Peec AI | Advanced | $495/month | 350 prompts, 3 engines |
| Semrush | AI Visibility Base | $99/month per domain (annual billing) | 25 daily custom prompts |
| Semrush | Semrush One | From $199/month | Bundle; prompt quota varies |
| Ahrefs | Brand Radar, single index | $199/month per index | Depends on custom check tier |
| Ahrefs | Brand Radar, all platforms | $699/month | 2,500 custom checks/month |
Cost per tracked prompt (illustrative)
Dividing price by prompts gives a rough value check. This is a simple worked example, not a measure of quality. Do not compare it with Ahrefs, because Ahrefs sells “checks”, which are a different unit.
Cost per tracked prompt per month (US dollars, illustrative)
Calculated as monthly price ÷ prompts: $109 ÷ 100, $245 ÷ 150, $99 ÷ 25. Source: vendor pricing pages, 5 November 2026.
Which AI Engines Can Each Tool Track?
| Tool | ChatGPT | Gemini | AI Overviews | AI Mode | Perplexity | Copilot | Claude |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly | Base | Add-on | Base | Add-on | Base | Base | Add-on |
| Peec AI | Pick 3 | Pick 3 | Pick 3 | Pick 3 | Pick 3 | Pick 3 | Enterprise |
| Semrush | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | Not confirmed | Plan-dependent | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Ahrefs | Claimed | Claimed | Claimed | Not confirmed | Claimed | Claimed | Claimed |
| Profound | Not publicly confirmed | ||||||
Check engine support for your exact plan. A tool may list an engine on its homepage but only offer it as a paid add-on or on a higher tier.
UK, US and India Notes
Google launched AI Overviews in the UK and India in August 2024, with English and Hindi support in India. Google AI Mode launched in the UK on 28 July 2025. Google also says AI Overviews are available in more than 120 countries and territories and 11 languages.
What we could not confirm is how each tool handles UK or India location settings, language controls and local-currency pricing. The only detail found was that Peec’s comparison content mentions up to three countries before Enterprise. If you sell in the UK, ask each vendor whether it can run prompts from a UK location and whether prices are shown in pounds with VAT.
The Metrics These Tools Report
| Metric | What it shows | What it cannot show |
|---|---|---|
| Mention rate | Share of tracked answers that name your brand | Whether a real user saw the same answer |
| Citation rate | Share of answers that link to or credit your site | Guaranteed clicks or traffic |
| AI share of voice | Your mentions compared with tracked competitors | Your total market visibility |
| Position or prominence | Where you appear within a sampled answer | A stable, Google-style rank |
| Sentiment | The tone the tool assigns to mentions | Reliable nuance if the method is not disclosed |
| Visibility score | A vendor’s own combined number | Anything comparable between tools |
Visibility scores, share of voice and sentiment are calculated differently by each vendor. A score of 60 in one tool means nothing in another.
Are AI Visibility Tools Accurate?
We found no independent, transparent accuracy study for any of these tools, so accuracy is not publicly confirmed. What we do know is that AI answers vary. The same prompt can give different answers depending on wording, session, location and the model version in use. A single check is therefore a weak signal.
Why one run misleads (illustrative example)
One prompt run 10 times. Your brand appears in 4 runs.
Brand not mentioned: 6 of 10 runs
A single run would show either 0% or 100%, and both would be wrong.
Illustrative example only, not real tool data.
No tool can guarantee that your brand will appear in ChatGPT or any other engine. These tools measure; they do not control the answers. Because AI tools like ChatGPT are also used for writing, you may find our comparison of Grammarly vs ChatGPT useful for context on how people use them.
How to Choose the Right Tool
| Your situation | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Small budget, just testing | Otterly Lite | $29/month, four engines, 7-day trial |
| Marketing team needing referral data | Peec AI | 50 to 150 prompts, choice of three engines, AI referrals included |
| Already pay for Semrush | Semrush AI Visibility or Semrush One | Same login as your SEO work |
| Heavy SEO team, large prompt volume | Ahrefs Brand Radar | High check allowances (2,500 to 25,000) |
| Enterprise | Profound | Built for large brands; confirm details with sales |
| Many local branches | Birdeye AI Search | Location-based focus |
If you also need a traditional SEO platform, it is worth reading our SE Ranking vs Moz comparison, since SE Ranking is another suite adding AI tracking. SaaS and tech firms planning wider campaigns may also like our guide to B2B marketing for technology companies.
How to Start Tracking: A Simple 5-Step Plan
- Pick your engines. Start with ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, then add others later.
- Write your prompt list. Use the split in the chart below.
- Add your brand and competitors.
- Run for several weeks. Look at mention rate and citations over time, not single days.
- Export and compare. Check that the tool lets you export data before you commit.
Example 100-prompt set for a UK software brand
Illustrative split, not vendor data. Fits the Otterly Standard or Peec Pro tiers.
Comparison, “[Brand] vs [Competitor]”: 25
Problem-based, “how to solve [problem]”: 25
Brand-specific, “What is [Brand]?”: 15
UK-specific, “best [category] software UK”: 10
Can You Track AI Visibility Without Paid Tools?
Yes, for a small test. Use a private browser window, set your location to the UK, and run the same prompt in each engine. Record these fields in a spreadsheet:
- Date and time, engine, and exact prompt
- Country, language and whether you were logged in
- Brand mentioned (yes or no) and brand linked (yes or no)
- Competitors mentioned and source websites cited
Repeat each prompt on different days. Manual tracking takes a lot of time, cannot cover many prompts, and is affected by personalisation, so use it only to sanity-check a paid tool.
A fair way to test free trials
- Use the same brand and 20 to 50 prompts in every tool.
- Run the same prompts by hand on the same day.
- Repeat on at least two different days.
- Test the CSV or data export.
- Note differences without assuming either side is correct.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best AI search visibility tool?
There is no single best. Otterly.AI is the cheapest verified starting point, Peec AI suits teams, Semrush and Ahrefs suit existing users, and Profound and Birdeye suit large brands.
Is there a free AI visibility tool?
Otterly offers a 7-day trial with 50 prompts and no card. Semrush’s free plan includes limited AI Visibility features. We found no verified, fully free tool for ongoing tracking.
How do I track my brand in ChatGPT?
Use a tracker with a fixed prompt list, or test prompts manually and log the results. Neither shows exactly what every user sees.
Can I track Google AI Overviews?
Yes. Otterly and Peec list AI Overviews coverage, and Ahrefs claims it too. Semrush coverage depends on your plan.
Can I see traffic from ChatGPT?
Peec says it includes AI referral visits on all listed plans. Other tools did not confirm this. You can also tag and monitor inbound links with a tracking tool, and our ClickMagick alternative guide covers options for that.
How many prompts should I track?
There is no official number. Many small brands can start with 25 to 100 prompts that cover discovery, comparison, problem and brand questions.
Do these tools improve my rankings?
No. They report visibility. Improving it is a separate job, usually called GEO or AEO.
Final Verdict
If you are new to this, start with the Otterly trial and a small manual check, then decide whether a paid plan is worth it. If you already use Semrush or Ahrefs, try their AI modules first to keep everything in one place. If you run a large or multi-location brand, ask Profound and Birdeye for a quote and a demo.
Whichever you choose, compare plans by tracked prompts, not by marketing labels, and remember that “prompts”, “prompt checks” and “responses” are different units. Prices, limits and engine lists change often, so check the vendor’s pricing page on the day you buy.
Last updated: 5 November 2026. Data checked against official vendor and Google pages. We review this article every 30 days.