AI Visibility Tracking Tools: What Each One Measures

TL;DR

AI visibility tools price by different units, so sticker prices can mislead. We compared the entry plans of seven tools in September 2026 and converted them to cost per 1,000 AI answers checked. Where vendors state the answer count, the range was US$3.30 to US$81.94. Semrush works out to about US$132 on our own estimate from its published limits. The cheapest plan to start isn't necessarily the cheapest per answer. All prices are in US dollars.

Most comparisons list sticker prices side by side. That misses the differences in what each plan actually tracks. This guide explains what each tool measures, how it collects its data and what you're actually paying for.

Disclosure: this post contains no affiliate links, and we have no commercial relationship with any vendor listed.

What an AI visibility tool measures

Every tool in this space runs questions through AI engines and records what comes back. The metrics are close to standard, even when the names differ.

Visibility (mention rate). The share of tracked answers that name your brand. If you track 50 questions and ChatGPT names you in 10, your mention rate on ChatGPT is 20%.

Share of voice. Your share of all brand mentions across those answers, measured against the competitors you track.

Average position. Where you appear in the answer when you're named. First in a list of five is worth more than fifth.

Citations. The URLs the engine links as sources. This shows which pages, yours or someone else's, the AI is drawing on.

Sentiment. Whether the answer describes you positively, neutrally or negatively. In our tracking, most answers are neutral, so presence is usually the bigger problem.

Three ways tools get their data

Tools collect AI answers in one of three ways, and each has a trade-off.

Tools that run your prompts on a schedule. You choose the questions, the tool runs them on a schedule (usually daily) on the engines you pick, and you watch the same questions over time. Peec AI, Otterly.AI, SE Visible, Rankscale and AthenaHQ work this way. You get clean trend data on the questions your buyers ask. You only see what you thought to ask.

Tools that sell a database of pre-run prompts. The vendor runs a huge set of prompts and lets you look up any brand in it. Ahrefs Brand Radar (448M+ prompts) and the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit work this way, and both also sell tracking of your own prompts. The database is good for competitor research and finding questions you hadn't thought of. The prompts are the vendor's, so they may not match how your buyers phrase things.

Free one-off checks. Run a question once and see who gets named. Our AI Visibility Checker and HubSpot's AEO Grader are examples. They're useful for a quick look, but they don't show trends.

What they actually cost per answer

We compared the entry plans of seven tools using their published pricing in September 2026. Where the pricing gave us enough information to calculate or estimate the number of AI answers, we converted the cost to the same unit: price per 1,000 answers.

Tool / plan	Price / month	What you get	AI answers / month	Per 1,000 answers
SE Visible (SE Ranking) Basic	US$99	200 prompts × 5 engines	30,000	US$3.30
Otterly.AI Lite	US$29	15 prompts × 4 engines, daily	1,800	US$16.11
Ahrefs prompt package (Basic)	US$50	2,500 checks	2,500	US$20.00
Rankscale Pro	US$99	1,200 credits	Up to 4,800*	From US$20.63*
Peec AI Starter	US$95	50 prompts × 3 models, daily	4,500	US$21.11
AthenaHQ Starter	US$295	3,600 credits	3,600	US$81.94
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit	US$99	25 prompts × 1 engine, daily	750**	US$132.00**

Rankscale says Pro tracks up to 4,800 answers, depending on the engines selected, so this is a best-case figure.

** Semrush tracks 25 custom prompts daily on one selected engine. We calculated 750 monthly answers as 25 × 1 × 30. Semrush doesn't state this as a monthly answer count, so the figure is our calculation from its published limits.

How we measured. Prices and limits came from each vendor's public pricing page or help centre as of September 2026, using monthly pricing in US dollars. One "answer" is one prompt run on one engine. For daily plans, AI answers = prompts × engines × 30 days. Ahrefs checks and AthenaHQ credits were counted as stated. For Rankscale, we used its maximum of 4,800 answers. Cost per 1,000 answers = monthly price ÷ answers × 1,000. Add-on engines and annual discounts are excluded.

Two well-known tools aren't in the table. Profound's pricing page lists a free seven-day trial and custom Enterprise pricing, with no published monthly plan. Scrunch publishes prices (Starter is US$300 a month, or US$250 a month billed annually, for 350 custom prompts) but doesn't say how often prompts run, so we can't count answers. Both are in the tool notes below.

Leaving out Semrush, whose answer count is our own estimate, SE Visible's Basic plan costs US$3.30 per 1,000 answers and AthenaHQ Starter costs US$81.94. That's a roughly 25-fold difference. Include Semrush's estimated US$132 and the spread reaches 40-fold.

The cheapest plan to start isn't the cheapest per answer. Otterly Lite is the cheapest way in at US$29, and works out to US$16.11 per 1,000 answers. SE Visible Basic costs US$70 more a month, but its 200 prompts run across five engines daily, giving it a much lower cost per answer.

Three tools sit within about a dollar of each other. Ahrefs' Basic package (US$20.00), Rankscale Pro (from US$20.63) and Peec Starter (US$21.11) cost almost the same per answer. The difference is the shape of what you get. Ahrefs' US$50 buys about 80 prompts a day on one platform. Peec Starter buys 50 prompts on three models. Rankscale lets you choose how often each prompt runs, from hourly to monthly, and charges credits for each run. Decide what you need more of before you compare prices.

The tools, one by one

The notes below come from each vendor's public documentation. We use Peec AI for our own client tracking and haven't used the others hands-on.

Otterly.AI. Runs your prompts daily across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot, with Claude, AI Mode and Gemini as add-ons. Lite is US$29 for 15 prompts, with Standard (US$189) and Premium (US$489) above it. It suits solo marketers and small teams on Lite, with larger plans aimed at SMEs and agencies.

Ahrefs Brand Radar. Brand Radar searches 448M+ pre-run prompts, with standalone access from US$199 a month for one platform or US$699 for all platforms. Separate custom prompt packages start at US$50 for 2,500 checks. It suits teams already using Ahrefs or those looking for large-scale AI visibility research.

Rankscale. Runs your prompts on selected engines and lets you control the tracking frequency. Pro is US$99 for 1,200 credits and tracks up to 4,800 answers, depending on the engines selected. It suits teams that want control over how often prompts are checked.

Peec AI. Runs your prompts daily, with three AI models included in Starter and more available as add-ons. We use Peec AI to track a fixed set of buyer questions for clients, including the data behind our AI search visibility and attribution posts. It suits SEO and content teams tracking a set list of buyer questions.

AthenaHQ. Runs prompts using credits, with one credit representing one AI response. Starter is US$295 for 3,600 credits and covers multiple AI engines. It suits brands that want broad engine coverage on a self-serve plan.

SE Visible (SE Ranking). SE Ranking's standalone AI visibility tool. Basic is US$99 a month for 200 prompts and about 30,000 AI answers a month across ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, Perplexity and AI Overviews. It suits teams that want a large prompt list across several engines.

Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit. Provides AI visibility reports plus 25 custom prompts tracked daily for US$99 a month. Prompt Tracking uses one selected engine per campaign, and another 50 prompts cost US$60 a month. It suits teams already using Semrush.

Profound. Runs prompts daily across up to nine engines, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Claude. Beyond a free seven-day trial (50 prompts on three engines), pricing is custom, so you'll need a sales call to compare costs. It suits enterprise brands that want broad engine coverage and a managed setup.

Scrunch. Starter is US$300 a month month-to-month, or US$250 a month on annual billing, for 350 custom prompts across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, and Meta AI. Its pricing page doesn't say how often prompts run. It suits teams that want a large prompt list and wide engine coverage.

What to decide before you compare

Three questions shape which plan fits. Answer them before you look at prices.

How many questions do you need to track? Entry plans in our table range from 15 prompts to 200.

On which engines? Some plans include a fixed set, some let you choose, and others charge extra for each engine you add.

How often? Most plans check daily. Some let you set the frequency, which affects how far your credits go.

Which tool to use

Based on the entry plans above, here's how we'd match tools to needs.

If you want to test AI tracking cheaply, start with Otterly Lite at US$29 for 15 prompts.

If you need a long prompt list across several engines, SE Visible Basic gives the lowest cost per answer we found.

If you already pay for Ahrefs or Semrush, try their prompt tracking first. You get their research databases alongside it.

If you want a fixed set of buyer questions tracked daily with competitor share of voice, Peec AI is the tool we use. Peec AI and Profound both run fixed prompt sets daily. The practical difference is that Peec publishes self-serve plans, while Profound's are custom.

If you're a large brand that needs many engines and a managed setup, talk to Profound or Scrunch, and expect to compare costs through sales rather than a pricing page.

How to track AI visibility without a tool

Pick 5 to 15 buyer questions. Run them weekly across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Gemini, and log who gets named.

Use our free AI Visibility Checker to check individual questions. A paid tool becomes useful when you need to track more questions or check them more often.

Look beyond the monthly price

A US$99 plan can cost far less per answer than a US$295 plan, and the US$29 plan isn't necessarily the cheapest per answer. Compare what you pay for each answer checked on the engines your buyers use. Choose the method, work out your answers per month, then compare.

For what to do with the numbers once you have them, see your AI SEO is working, your analytics can't see it, why most brands are invisible in AI search and why your competitors appear in AI search and you don't.

If you'd rather see where you stand before choosing a tool, start with a free AI visibility audit.

Frequently asked questions

How much do AI visibility tools cost?

Entry plans for the seven tools we compared ranged from US$29 to US$295 a month (last checked September 2026). Among plans with calculable figures, cost per 1,000 AI answers ranged from US$3.30 to US$81.94. Semrush works out at about US$132 based on its published limits. Comparing cost per answer gives a more consistent picture.

What is the cheapest AI visibility tracking tool?

Otterly.AI Lite is the cheapest entry plan at US$29 a month for 15 prompts across four engines. By cost per answer, SE Visible Basic was lowest at US$3.30 per 1,000 answers, based on 200 prompts across five engines daily. Free one-off checkers cost nothing but don't track trends.

Why do different AI visibility tools give different numbers?

They use different prompts, engines, timing and sampling. AI answers can change from run to run, so two tools won't necessarily report the same results. Compare a tool with itself over time rather than expecting different tools to match.

Is there a free way to track AI visibility?

Yes. Run 5 to 15 buyer questions weekly across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Gemini, and log who gets named. Free checkers like our AI Visibility Checker can handle individual questions.

How many prompts should I track?

Start with the 5 to 15 questions buyers ask most, and track them manually for a few weeks before choosing a tool. Add more as you find other questions worth tracking.

Can Google Analytics track AI search traffic?

Partly. GA4 can show referral visits from AI tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, but it can't show when an AI answer mentions your brand without generating a visit. Some of that influence may appear later as branded search or direct traffic.