| Quick answer |
|---|
| The best AI tools for brand visibility across 2025 and 2026 are Otterly.AI at $29 a month for value, the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit at $99 per domain, and Profound for the widest engine coverage. Peec AI from 85 euros is the pick when daily refresh matters. |
| How we compare |
|---|
| Judged on engines included in the entry plan, published price and billing basis, refresh cadence, and how stable the vendor looks after a year of consolidation. Figures were read from the vendor pages linked below in September 2026. Every price was re-checked against the vendor’s own pricing page in September 2026, and figures available only from third-party trackers are marked as reported. No vendor paid for placement and no ranking here is affiliate-driven. We did not run a head-to-head test of detection accuracy across these platforms. |
Table of Contents
What changed between 2025 and 2026
This category did not exist in a recognisable form two years ago, and the past twelve months reshaped it twice. Industry round-ups count more than twenty platforms that launched or bolted on AI visibility features between mid-2025 and mid-2026. Four dated events matter when you are choosing today:
- October 2025: Semrush launched its AI Visibility Toolkit, covering ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini and Perplexity. The suite vendors arrived, and the price of a credible entry point fell.
- Through 2025: Peec AI raised roughly 7 million euros across a pre-seed in April and a seed round in July, funding the daily-refresh, per-engine pricing model that now defines the mid-market.
- February 2026: Profound reached a reported 1 billion dollar valuation on a 96 million dollar Series C, then moved to demo-led sales; by June 2026 it was publishing self-serve prices again.
- June 2026: Sitecore acquired Scrunch, announced on 3 June and reported by Bloomberg at 225 million dollars. Independent platforms are now acquisition targets for the experience-platform vendors.
The buying consequence is straightforward. Standalone trackers are cheap and improving, but two of the biggest names have either stopped publishing prices or become a module inside a larger suite. If a two-year contract is on the table, ask what happens to your data and your price if the vendor is acquired.
Best AI tools for brand visibility compared
| Tool | Listed entry price | Engines or limits on the entry plan | Status in 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | $29/mo Lite | 15 prompts, four engines; AI Mode and Gemini are add-ons | Independent, cheapest entry |
| Peec AI | 85 euros/mo Starter | 50 prompts, three models (reported); daily tracking | Independent, funded 2025 |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99/mo per domain | 25 prompts, five engines | Suite add-on, launched Oct 2025 |
| AthenaHQ | $295/mo Starter; free tier | Multi-engine, credit-metered, three seats | Independent, agency focus |
| Scrunch AI | About $300/mo Starter | Core engines plus AI crawler analytics | Acquired by Sitecore, June 2026 |
| Profound | $99/mo Starter, billed yearly | ChatGPT only; up to nine engines on Enterprise | Enterprise leader, self-serve again |
The six tools in detail
Otterly.AI
Otterly.AI is the cheapest credible entry point across both years. Otterly lists Lite at $29 per month with 15 prompts and four engines, Standard at $189 with 100 prompts and API access, and Premium at $489 with 400 prompts. AI Mode, Gemini and Claude are monthly add-ons on every tier.
Peec AI
Peec AI is a European tracker that raised roughly 7 million euros across a pre-seed in April 2025 and a seed round in July 2025. Trackers report Starter at 85 euros for 50 prompts and Pro at 205 euros for 150, with three AI models included and extra models from 30 euros each, across ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Copilot, Perplexity and Gemini; Advanced is listed at 425 euros. Its prices render in-browser, so confirm the model count for your tier. Tracking is daily and seats are unlimited.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit launched in October 2025 and is now the clearest suite play. Sold as a $99 per month add-on for one domain and 25 tracked prompts, covering ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini and Perplexity, with extra prompts at $60 for fifty more.
Profound
Profound is the enterprise leader, and reached a reported 1 billion dollar valuation on a 96 million dollar Series C in February 2026. Its pricing page lists Starter at $99 a month billed yearly for 50 prompts on ChatGPT, Growth at $399 for 100 prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews, and Enterprise covering up to nine engines including Gemini, Copilot, Claude, Grok and DeepSeek.
AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ is a credit-metered platform aimed at agencies and in-house marketing teams. Its pricing page lists a free Essential tier with 300 credits, Starter at $295 a month for 3,600 credits, and Enterprise quoted by sales. Because billing is credit-based, the real cost tracks prompt volume rather than headcount.
Scrunch AI
Scrunch AI was acquired by Sitecore in a deal announced on 3 June 2026, reported by Bloomberg at 225 million dollars. Listed near $300 per month for Starter and about $250 annually, with crawler analytics showing which AI bots fetched your pages as its distinguishing feature.
Cost per engine, per prompt: the number nobody publishes
Headline prices in this category are not comparable, because a plan bundles two different things: how many prompts you may track, and how many engines each prompt is run against. Divide the price by both and the ranking changes. Using the allowances published or reported in September 2026:
| Plan | Listed price | Engines | Prompts | Cost per engine | Cost per prompt, per engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI Lite | $29 | 4 | 15 | 29 ÷ 4 = $7.25 | 29 ÷ (15×4) = $0.48 |
| Otterly.AI Standard | $189 | 4 | 100 | 189 ÷ 4 = $47.25 | 189 ÷ 400 = $0.47 |
| Otterly.AI Premium | $489 | 4 | 400 | 489 ÷ 4 = $122.25 | 489 ÷ 1,600 = $0.31 |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99 per domain | 5 | 25 | 99 ÷ 5 = $19.80 | 99 ÷ 125 = $0.79 |
| Peec AI Starter | €85 (about $96) | 3 (reported) | 50 (reported) | 85 ÷ 3 = €28.33 (about $32) | 85 ÷ 150 = €0.57 |
The headline gap between Otterly Lite and the Semrush toolkit is 3.4× ($99 ÷ $29). On what you actually receive it is 1.6× ($0.79 ÷ $0.48), and Semrush buys you a fifth engine and a place inside a suite your team already reports from. That is a materially different argument from the one the two sticker prices make, and it is the reason “cheapest tool” is the wrong question in this category.
Two more things fall out of the same table. Otterly’s per-prompt-per-engine rate barely moves between Lite and Standard ($0.48 to $0.47) and only improves at Premium ($0.31), so the middle tier is a capacity purchase rather than a discount. And Peec AI Starter, at a reported €85 (about $96) for 50 prompts on three models, works out near €0.57 per prompt per engine — in the same range as Otterly Lite, with daily refresh and unlimited seats on top. AthenaHQ, Scrunch and Profound meter in ways that do not reduce to the same unit, so no equivalent figure is offered for them here. For the wider tracking market, see our comparison of AI search monitoring platforms across eight vendors.
What to buy after a year of consolidation
- Buy monthly where you can. With one acquisition already closed and more than twenty platforms competing, annual lock-in is doing you a favour only if the price is materially better.
- Price the engines, not the plan. Otterly, Peec and Ahrefs all sell engines separately. Two tools with similar headline prices can differ by a factor of three once the engines your buyers use are added.
- Prefer vendors that publish a refresh cadence. It is the number that determines whether the tool can show the effect of a change you shipped, and most vendors still will not put it in writing.
- Check the exit. Ask whether you can export raw answer text per prompt run. If you cannot, a change of ownership takes your history with it.
Whichever tool you land on, the work it points at is the same. Our guide to generative engine optimization covers the page side, and AI search monitoring tools goes deeper on the tracking category itself. For the page-level work, ranking in Google AI Overviews and earning citations in ChatGPT are different jobs with different fixes, and our round-up of marketing AI tools places visibility tracking beside the rest of the stack.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best AI tools for brand visibility?
Otterly.AI at $29 a month is the best value, the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit at $99 per domain is the best suite option, and Profound has the widest engine coverage. Peec AI from 85 euros adds daily refresh. Scrunch now sits inside Sitecore following the June 2026 acquisition.
Is it safe to sign a long contract with an AI visibility vendor?
Only if the price is materially better. The category consolidated fast: Sitecore bought Scrunch in June 2026 for a reported $225 million, and more than twenty platforms now compete. Buy monthly where you can, and before any annual deal ask whether you can export the raw answer text for every prompt run, so a change of owner does not take your history with it.
What changed in AI visibility tools between 2025 and 2026?
Suites arrived and independents started being bought. Semrush launched its AI Visibility Toolkit in October 2025, Peec raised funding to build its daily-refresh model, Profound went sales-led and then republished self-serve prices, and Sitecore acquired Scrunch in June 2026. Over the same period the entry price of a credible tracker fell to about $29 a month.
Which AI visibility vendors publish their prices?
Otterly, Semrush, Profound and AthenaHQ publish self-serve prices on their own pages, and Scrunch lists its Starter and Growth tiers. Peec’s prices render only in the browser, so most comparisons quote tracker figures, and enterprise tiers everywhere are quoted by sales. Treat any figure you cannot see on the vendor’s own page as a starting point for a quote.
Which AI engines should brands track first?
Start with ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, then AI Mode, then Perplexity. Those four cover where most buyers ask. Gemini matters more if your audience works inside Google Workspace and Copilot if they work inside Microsoft 365. Grok and Meta AI coverage looks impressive on a feature grid and is usually what pushes you into a higher tier without changing a decision.
Conclusion
Two years in, the sensible purchase has not changed much: the cheapest tool that covers the engines your buyers actually use, bought monthly, with the refresh cadence confirmed in writing. That is Otterly.AI at $29 for most teams, the Semrush toolkit at $99 when the suite is already paid for, and Profound only when you can name the engine you are missing. What has changed is the risk profile. After the Sitecore acquisition of Scrunch and Profound’s move behind a sales team, vendor stability is now a real selection criterion rather than a footnote.
