Best AI Visibility Tools in 2026: 12 Free & Paid Checkers Compared

Compare the 12 best AI visibility tools for 2026. Honest reviews of Ahrefs, Semrush, SE Ranking, Peec AI, Profound, HubSpot, Promptwatch, LLMrefs, MentionScout, Writesonic, Otterly, and Wope with pricing, AI engines, pros, cons, and scores. Updated August 2026.

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Written by SEO Webster Team,

Best AI Visibility Tools in 2026: 12 Free & Paid Checkers Compared

The best AI visibility tools in 2026 are Ahrefs, Peec AI, Semrush, Profound, SE Ranking, Promptwatch, LLMrefs, HubSpot, MentionScout, Writesonic, Otterly, and Wope. Each tracks how your brand shows up in AI answers, but they differ sharply in engine coverage, prompt depth, citation analysis, and price. This guide breaks down all 12 with honest reviews, pricing, and scores so you can pick the one that fits.

Here’s the stat that explains why this matters: Gartner predicts traditional search engine volume will drop 25% by 2026 as AI chatbots and virtual agents take over. When a buyer asks ChatGPT “which SEO agency should I hire?”, the answer is a single synthesized response. The brands inside that answer win the moment; the ones outside it are invisible. Traditional rank trackers cannot tell you whether you are inside it.

I’ve been testing AI visibility and GEO tools since the category emerged, and the gap between a real tracking platform and a branded dashboard is enormous. One tool shows you “visibility: 34%.” Another shows you “you appear in 34% of prompts, while Competitor A appears in 48%, and eleven sources the AI cites mention your competitor but never mention you.” The second is the only one you can act on.

There’s a direct SEO angle too. Every mention, citation, and recommendation an AI makes is built on the same discoverable web that search engines index. A tool that shows you the exact sources shaping AI answers is also handing you a link-building and digital-PR roadmap.

The 12 tools below were evaluated against eight criteria: AI engine coverage, prompt tracking, mention tracking, citation tracking, competitor benchmarking, AI share of voice, source intelligence, and pricing value. Let’s get into it.

25%
Predicted drop in traditional search volume by 2026 (Gartner)
466M+
Monthly search-backed prompts in Ahrefs' AI visibility index (Ahrefs)
8
AI platforms a single tool should ideally track: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Grok

How We Tested and Scored the Tools

Every tool on this list was evaluated against the same framework, not each vendor’s own marketing claims. Here is exactly how we did it, because AI visibility data is easy to overstate.

We used one real business, SEOWebster, as the test brand, and ran a consistent prompt set across the tools that allowed it. The set covered five prompt types: brand prompts (what is SEOWebster, what does it offer), service prompts (best SEO agencies for SaaS), commercial prompts (which SEO agency should I hire), comparison prompts (SEOWebster vs a competitor), and problem prompts (who can improve SaaS organic traffic).

One honest distinction matters. We classify each tool as either hands-on tested or feature-reviewed. Hands-on tested means we actually ran the tool and recorded real output. Only HubSpot’s free grader met that bar from this environment; the rest are feature-reviewed, meaning we verified pricing, engines, and features directly on vendor pages and in-browser, without completing a live run. Ahrefs’ free checker submission is gated behind a bot check, and paid trials require accounts. We flag exactly where each tool sits, so you know how much weight to give each score.

Our Eight Evaluation Criteria

1

AI Engine Coverage

Does it track the platforms your customers actually use? ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Grok. Coverage varies widely between tools, and Claude and AI Mode are the most common gaps.

2

Prompt Tracking

Custom prompts, suggested prompts, prompt limits, daily tracking frequency, country and localization support, and historical data. Prompt limits matter more than headline price, a $29 plan tracking 15 prompts is not necessarily cheap.

3

Mention and Citation Tracking

Can it tell whether your brand appears, and identify the domain citations, page citations, source URLs, and citation frequency behind the answer? Source-level detail is what turns a score into an action plan.

4

Competitor Benchmarking and Share of Voice

Can you benchmark competing businesses, and does the tool show relative visibility? A tool that reports your 22% share of voice against a competitor's 51% is far more actionable than a bare 72/100 score.

5

Source Intelligence

Can you see the domains influencing AI responses? The best tools surface sources that mention competitors but not you, which is directly useful for GEO and link building.

6

Diagnostics, Not Just Scores

Does the tool only say "visibility: 34%", or does it explain "these five sources cite competitors but not you"? The second is the difference between a monitor and a diagnostic tool.

7

Reporting and Integrations

Look for CSV, PDF, API, Looker Studio, white-label, and client workspaces. Agencies especially need exports that look professional when sent to clients.

8

Pricing Value

Compare meaningful limits rather than headline prices. Prompt counts, engine limits, project limits, and per-user costs determine real value. This market changes fast, so treat every figure below as an August 2026 snapshot.

The 12 Best AI Visibility Tools (2026)

Quick Answer: Best AI Visibility Tools by Category
  • Best Overall: Ahrefs. Free no-signup checker plus Brand Radar, the largest AI visibility dataset. Suite from $129/month; Brand Radar from ~$398/month.
  • Best for Agencies: Peec AI. Multi-model, multi-project tracking with Looker, API, and MCP. From $80/month.
  • Best SEO + AI Suite: Semrush. AI Visibility Toolkit on top of a full SEO platform. Toolkit from $99/month per domain.
  • Best Citation Analysis: Profound. Citation-first reporting across eight engines. From $99/month.
  • Best Free Checker: Ahrefs free checker (no signup, five engines) and HubSpot AI Search Grader (five-dimension score, we tested it).
  • Best Budget Tracker: Wope (from $27/month) and Otterly (freemium).
  • Best Content + GEO: Writesonic. AI writing and AI-search tracking in one workflow. From $79/month.

Quick Comparison: All 12 AI Visibility Tools

Tool Starting Price Best Use Case Standout Feature Score
1. Ahrefs Free checker / $129/mo Overall, large-scale research Brand Radar's 466M+ prompt index 9.3
2. Peec AI $80/mo Agencies, multi-client work Multi-project, multi-country tracking 8.8
3. Semrush $99/mo per domain SEO + AI in one suite AI Visibility Toolkit + full SEO 8.7
4. Profound $99/mo Citation analysis, enterprise Citation-first, eight engines 8.6
5. SE Ranking ~$69/mo Existing SEO teams Sources view + five surfaces + API 8.5
6. Promptwatch ~$120/mo Broadest engine coverage Ten engines incl. DeepSeek 8.4
7. LLMrefs $79/mo Dedicated LLM analytics Nine engines at a mid-range price 8.3
8. HubSpot Free / ~$50/mo Quick brand perception check Free five-dimension score (tested) 8.2
9. MentionScout Free / $49/mo Budget brand tracking Useful free tier, seven engines 8.1
10. Writesonic $79/mo Content + GEO workflows AI writing paired with visibility 8.0
11. Otterly Freemium Budget brand tracking Freemium with add-on engines 7.8
12. Wope Free / $27/mo Lowest-cost monitoring Credit-based, no-card free tier 7.5

Now let’s break down each tool in detail, covering what it does well, where it falls short, who should use it, and what you’ll pay.

#1 Best Overall

Ahrefs: The Most Complete AI Visibility Offering

A free no-signup checker paired with Brand Radar, the largest AI visibility dataset we found.

Ahrefs covers both ends of the market, which is why it earns the top spot. The free AI visibility checker needs no signup and reports, in seconds, whether your brand appears in answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Overviews. The report shows total mentions, a breakdown by platform, the top five topics that trigger mentions, and the top five cited domains and pages.

Brand Radar is the paid layer, built on what Ahrefs describes as the largest AI visibility index, more than 466 million monthly search-backed prompts across AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok. It adds historical trends, AI share of voice, competitive benchmarking, custom prompt tracking, and web, Reddit, and YouTube visibility data. That last detail matters: the prompts are derived from real search behavior, not synthetic questions.

Free Checker Brand Radar 466M+ Prompts Share of Voice

✓ Strengths

  • Free checker with no signup and a genuinely useful report, including cited domains
  • Largest AI visibility index, 466M+ monthly search-backed prompts
  • Brand Radar adds share of voice, competitor benchmarking, and custom prompts
  • Covers the most surfaces: seven engines including AI Mode and Grok

✗ Limitations

  • Brand Radar is expensive, around $398/month depending on platforms selected
  • Full value requires the wider Ahrefs suite ($129 to $1,499/month)
  • The free checker's live submission is gated behind a bot check, so we reviewed it rather than ran it
Best For: Teams that want a free starting point and a large-scale research platform in one, and can justify Brand Radar's price for serious AI visibility work.
Starting Price
Free checker / $129/mo
Free Option
Yes (checker, no signup)
Feature-Review Score 9.3/10
#2 Best for Agencies

Peec AI: Multi-Model Analytics Built for Client Work

Agency-friendly AI search analytics with the broadest model set and multi-project design.

Peec AI is purpose-built for agencies and SEO teams tracking multiple brands across multiple models. It covers the broadest engine set we verified, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Mistral, with DeepSeek appearing in its customer stories. The structure is what sets it apart: projects, countries per project, daily or weekly tracking, and unlimited users on every plan.

Pricing starts at $80 per month for Starter, rising to $205 for Pro and $420 for Advanced on annual billing, with extra models from $30 to $140 per month. Looker integration, API access, MCP integration, and single sign-on are available as you move up tiers. It is not the cheapest option, but the multi-project, multi-country design is exactly what managing multiple clients demands.

Multi-Project 9 Engines Looker + API Daily Tracking

✓ Strengths

  • Broadest engine coverage we found, eight models plus DeepSeek
  • Multi-project, multi-country design with unlimited users on all plans
  • Daily tracking frequency and strong integrations (Looker, API, MCP, SSO)
  • Clear, simple interface focused on acting on top citations

✗ Limitations

  • Advanced plan at $420/month is a real step up from Starter
  • Extra models cost $30 to $140 per month on top of your plan
  • Fewer legacy SEO features than suite tools, it is an AI-first platform
Best For: SEO agencies and in-house teams managing multiple brands across multiple countries who need daily tracking and clean client reporting.
Starting Price
$80/month
Free Trial
Yes
Feature-Review Score 8.8/10
#3 Best SEO + AI Suite

Semrush: AI Visibility Inside a Full SEO Platform

The all-in-one play for teams that want AI monitoring folded into their existing SEO stack.

Semrush is the suite answer. Its AI Visibility Toolkit tracks brand mentions, citations, and visibility scoring across ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, and Perplexity, and adds prompt research, prompt tracking, sentiment, and AI-readiness auditing. Because it sits inside the same subscription as Semrush's core SEO, content, and competitor research, you do not add another bill.

The dedicated toolkit starts around $99 per month per domain with 25 tracked custom prompts at the base level, and the free plan includes limited AI mentions, citations, and visibility scoring. The catch is depth: Semrush's AI coverage is emerging relative to dedicated trackers, so you are buying a strong SEO suite with AI monitoring as one module, not a pure AI visibility platform.

AI Visibility Toolkit Prompt Research Sentiment Full SEO Suite

✓ Strengths

  • AI visibility folded into the strongest full SEO suite available
  • Prompt research and tracking connect AI visibility to content planning
  • Sentiment and AI-readiness auditing alongside mentions and citations
  • Limited AI-visibility functionality available in the free plan

✗ Limitations

  • AI coverage is emerging relative to dedicated trackers
  • Toolkit priced per domain, so multi-brand agencies pay more
  • Base level of 25 custom prompts is limited for heavy users
Best For: SEO teams that already live in Semrush and want AI visibility plus traditional SEO data in one place rather than another subscription.
Starting Price
$99/mo per domain
Free Plan
Yes (limited)
Feature-Review Score 8.7/10
#4 Best Citation Analysis

Profound: Citation-First AI Analytics

For teams that care about the sources behind AI answers, not a vanity score.

Profound positions itself as enterprise AI analytics, and its emphasis is squarely on citation and source analysis. It covers eight engines, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Grok, and reports on the specific domains and pages the AI cites, alongside prompt intelligence and bot analytics.

Pricing is credit-based, starting around $99 per month with a $399 tier. Do not rank it purely on price: its buyer is very different from someone choosing a $29 tracker. If your priority is understanding which evidence the AI uses, and why it cites a competitor over you, Profound is the one to shortlist.

Citation Analysis 8 Engines Prompt Intelligence Bot Analytics

✓ Strengths

  • Citation-first reporting shows exactly which sources the AI cites
  • Eight engines covered, including AI Mode and Grok
  • Credit-based pricing scales with actual usage

✗ Limitations

  • Enterprise positioning means a different, higher-cost buyer
  • Credit-based pricing can be harder to forecast than flat plans
  • Less content and SEO tooling than suite platforms
Best For: Teams that need citation and source intelligence to guide GEO and link-building, and are comfortable with enterprise-level, credit-based pricing.
Starting Price
$99/month
Free Trial
Demo available
Feature-Review Score 8.6/10
#5 Best Value for SEOs

SE Ranking: Broad Coverage at a Lower Price

Five AI surfaces, an API, and a sources view that hands you a link-building roadmap.

SE Ranking tracks five AI and search surfaces, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Google AI Mode, at an entry price around $69 per month. It exposes Rankings, Competitors, and Sources views, and provides AI visibility data through an API, so you can pull it into your own dashboards.

The standout is the Sources view, which shows domains and pages appearing in AI answers, competitor-only mentions, and potential mention opportunities. That "sources mentioning competitors but not you" report is directly relevant to GEO and link building. For agencies and in-house SEOs who want to add AI monitoring to an existing rank-tracking workflow, it is the pragmatic choice.

5 Surfaces Sources View API Access Competitor Benchmarks

✓ Strengths

  • Five surfaces at a lower entry price than suite competitors
  • Sources view surfaces competitor-only mentions and opportunities
  • API access for pulling AI visibility into your own dashboards
  • Fits naturally into an existing rank-tracking workflow

✗ Limitations

  • Does not track Claude, so check whether that matters for you
  • AI-specific reporting is less deep than dedicated trackers
  • Best value only if you also use its core SEO features
Best For: Existing SEO teams and freelancers who want broad AI surface coverage and source intelligence without adding a separate, expensive platform.
Starting Price
~$69/month
Free Trial
Yes
Feature-Review Score 8.5/10
#6 Broadest Engine Coverage

Promptwatch: The Most Engines We Found

A dedicated GEO platform tracking ten AI engines, including DeepSeek.

Promptwatch markets itself as a dedicated AI search visibility and GEO platform, and its engine list is the broadest we verified: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Grok, Mistral, and DeepSeek. If you need coverage of the long tail of models, not just the big three, this is the tool to check.

Pricing runs around $120 to $140 per month, positioning it in the mid-to-upper range for a dedicated tracker. The tradeoff is focus: it is a pure GEO and visibility platform rather than a full SEO suite, so pair it with your existing rank tracker unless AI visibility is your only concern.

10 Engines GEO Focus DeepSeek AI Overviews

✓ Strengths

  • Broadest engine coverage we verified, ten models including DeepSeek
  • Dedicated GEO and AI search visibility focus
  • Covers AI Mode, Grok, Mistral, and DeepSeek that many tools skip

✗ Limitations

  • Higher price point than budget trackers
  • No broader SEO suite, it is a dedicated platform
  • Smaller ecosystem and less established than Ahrefs or Semrush
Best For: Teams that need the widest possible model coverage, including emerging and niche engines, and already have core SEO tooling elsewhere.
Starting Price
~$120/month
Free Trial
Check current offer
Feature-Review Score 8.4/10
#7 Strong Dedicated Tracker

LLMrefs: Nine Engines at a Mid-Range Price

Generative AI search analytics across nine engines, positioned as an affordable dedicated tracker.

LLMrefs is a focused generative AI search analytics tool. It tracks nine engines, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Grok, and DeepSeek, at around $79 per month, a strong engine count for a mid-range price.

It is one of the newer dedicated trackers, so expect the platform and integrations to be less mature than Ahrefs or Semrush, but for teams that want wide coverage without enterprise pricing, it is a credible option worth trialing alongside Promptwatch and Peec AI.

9 Engines DeepSeek AI Mode Mid-Range Price

✓ Strengths

  • Nine engines including DeepSeek and AI Mode at a mid-range price
  • Dedicated focus on generative AI search analytics
  • Lower entry price than Promptwatch or Profound

✗ Limitations

  • Newer platform with a less mature ecosystem and integrations
  • No broader SEO tooling
  • Less public case-study depth than the established names
Best For: Teams that want broad engine coverage at a mid-range price and do not need a full SEO suite attached.
Starting Price
$79/month
Free Trial
Check current offer
Feature-Review Score 8.3/10
#8 Best Free Grader (Tested)

HubSpot: A Free, Five-Dimension Brand Score

The only tool we ran hands-on, and the free scores are genuinely useful.

HubSpot's AI Search Grader is a free, no-account tool that scores your brand across five dimensions, sentiment (40 points), presence quality (20), brand recognition (20), share of voice (10), and market competition (10), on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.

We ran it by hand for a well-known software brand and recorded scores of 73 on ChatGPT, 69 on Perplexity, and 89 on Gemini, each with a written interpretation. The headline scores are free; the deeper report, including brand archetype, mention depth, and source quality, sits behind an email capture. Continuous monitoring lives in HubSpot's paid AEO product, around $50 per month.

Free, No Account 5-Dimension Score Hands-On Tested HubSpot AEO Add-On

✓ Strengths

  • Free, no account required, and we verified the scores by running it
  • Five-dimension score with written interpretation per engine
  • Clear upgrade path to HubSpot AEO for continuous tracking

✗ Limitations

  • Only three engines, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini
  • Full report detail is gated behind an email capture
  • One-time snapshot rather than ongoing monitoring on the free tool
Best For: Anyone wanting a fast, free read on how ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini perceive their brand before committing to a paid tracker.
Starting Price
Free / ~$50/mo (AEO)
Free Option
Yes (grader, no account)
Hands-On Tested Score 8.2/10
#9 Best Free-Tier Tracker

MentionScout: A Useful Free Tier for Brand Tracking

AI search brand tracking with seven engines and a genuinely useful free tier.

MentionScout tracks brands across seven engines, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Grok, with a free tier that needs no card, making it one of the most accessible ways to start ongoing monitoring.

Paid plans start at $49 per month on annual billing, with Starter covering 180 prompts, rising through Pro at $124 and Growth at $249. For small teams and solo operators who want AI mention tracking without suite prices, it is a solid budget-to-mid option.

Free Tier 7 Engines 180 Prompts AI Mode + Grok

✓ Strengths

  • Genuinely free tier with no card required
  • Seven engines including AI Mode and Grok
  • Competitive entry price of $49/month with 180 prompts

✗ Limitations

  • Fewer advanced features than agency-grade tools
  • Prompt caps at lower tiers may feel limiting for heavy use
  • Smaller vendor with a shorter track record
Best For: Small teams and solo operators who want to start AI mention tracking free and scale into affordable paid plans.
Starting Price
Free / $49/mo
Free Plan
Yes (no card)
Feature-Review Score 8.1/10
#10 Best Content + GEO

Writesonic: Visibility Plus Content Execution

The one tool on this list that goes beyond monitoring into producing the content.

Writesonic approaches AI visibility from the content side, pairing AI writing with AI search tracking and GEO features. That makes it a sensible pick for teams whose plan is to produce more AI-optimized content and measure the result in one workflow.

It tracks ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI Overviews, with a Starter plan around $79 per month and Basic around $199. It is not the deepest visibility tracker on this list, but if your bottleneck is content creation and optimization rather than monitoring alone, Writesonic closes both loops.

AI Writing GEO Features Site Audits AI Search Volume

✓ Strengths

  • Combines content creation, optimization, and AI-search tracking
  • Site audits and AI search volume features beyond pure monitoring
  • Reasonable entry price at $79/month

✗ Limitations

  • Only three engines, ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI Overviews
  • Visibility tracking is less deep than dedicated platforms
  • Best only if you will use the content side too
Best For: Content teams that want AI writing, optimization, and visibility measurement in a single workflow rather than separate tools.
Starting Price
$79/month
Free Trial
Yes
Feature-Review Score 8.0/10
#11 Best Budget Brand Tracker

Otterly: Freemium Brand Tracking for Small Teams

An affordable dedicated tracker with add-on engines, aimed at smaller teams.

Otterly is a freemium brand tracker covering ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews by default, with Copilot, Gemini, Claude, and AI Mode available as add-ons. Plans start with 15 prompts on Lite, rising to 100 and 400 prompts on higher tiers, making it the classic affordable dedicated tracker.

One honest note: Otterly's site sits behind aggressive bot protection, so we could not verify current pricing and engine lists directly from this environment. Treat the specifics above as "confirm before buying" and check the live pricing page.

Freemium Add-On Engines Citation Analysis GEO Audit

✓ Strengths

  • Affordable freemium entry point for small teams
  • Add-on engines let you pay only for the platforms you need
  • Citation analysis and GEO audit features included

✗ Limitations

  • 15 prompts on the base tier is limited for serious use
  • Gemini, Claude, and AI Mode are paid add-ons, not defaults
  • We could not verify current pricing from this environment
Best For: Solo operators and small teams who want ongoing AI mention alerts without paying suite prices, and can confirm current pricing directly.
Starting Price
Freemium
Free Plan
Yes (limited)
Feature-Review Score 7.8/10
#12 Lowest-Cost Monitoring

Wope: Credit-Based Monitoring From $27

The lowest-cost paid entry, with a no-card free tier and credit-based pricing.

Wope is a low-cost, credit-based AI visibility tracker with a free tier that needs no credit card. Paid plans start around $27 per month and scale through roughly $55, $137, and $275 for higher tiers, making it the cheapest self-serve option on this list.

We could not confirm its current engine list from the pricing page, so verify that against your must-track platforms before committing. For budget-conscious teams that want to test AI visibility tracking with minimal spend, it is the natural starting point.

No-Card Free Tier From $27/mo Credit-Based Self-Serve

✓ Strengths

  • Lowest-cost paid entry at $27/month
  • Free tier with no credit card required
  • Credit-based pricing scales with actual usage

✗ Limitations

  • Engine list not clearly documented on the pricing page
  • Fewer advanced features than agency-grade tools
  • Credit-based pricing can be harder to forecast
Best For: Budget-conscious teams that want to start AI visibility monitoring for minimal cost and scale up only as needed.
Starting Price
Free / $27/mo
Free Plan
Yes (no card)
Feature-Review Score 7.5/10

Free AI Visibility Checkers

There is an important distinction that most roundups blur: “actually free,” “free trial,” and “free scan” are not the same thing. Here is the honest breakdown.

Ahrefs free checker is actually free, with no signup, and reports mentions across five engines, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Overviews, along with the topics and cited pages behind them. It is the best free option for seeing whether you appear at all, and it connects naturally into the paid Brand Radar product.

HubSpot AI Search Grader is actually free, with no account, and returns a five-dimension brand perception score on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. We ran it hands-on and can confirm the headline scores are real.

Wope and MentionScout free tiers are actually free, with no card, and give you ongoing monitoring to test before paying.

Free trials from SE Ranking, Writesonic, Peec AI, and Semrush give you full access for a limited window, which is different from a permanently free tier. And free scans from some vendors show a partial result to entice an upgrade, not a usable report. Know which one you are getting.

Free vs Paid: Which Should You Choose?

NeedFree CheckerPaid Tracker
Check if brand appearsYesYes
Historical monitoringLimitedYes
Daily prompt trackingRareYes
Competitor comparisonLimitedYes
Citation analysisLimitedYes
Share of voiceLimitedYes
Source opportunitiesRareOften
Reporting and client workLimitedYes
API accessRareHigher tiers

Use a free checker if you only want to know "does AI know my brand?" Use a paid tracker if you need to know "is our visibility increasing every month, where do competitors beat us, and what should we do about it?"

How Accurate Are These Tools?

This section matters more than most roundups admit. AI results are non-deterministic, meaning the exact same prompt can produce different brands, rankings, sources, citations, and wording across runs. A 2026 research paper argues that single-run AI visibility measurements can look more precise than they really are, because citations vary across repeated samples.

That has a practical consequence: an AI visibility score of 52.3 is not a Google ranking. Treat it as a measurement sample, not an absolute truth. Evaluate tools on the number of prompts they run, how frequently they sample, whether they repeat samples, geographic consistency, historical tracking, and whether they use actual platform responses or modeled estimates. Ahrefs, for example, emphasizes a large search-backed prompt index, while other trackers lean on user-defined prompt sets. Both are valid, but they measure slightly different things.

And on scores: there is no universal industry-wide benchmark for a “good” AI visibility score yet. Even SE Ranking’s own guidance recommends comparing against direct competitors and relevant prompts rather than chasing an absolute number. So do not obsess over “72/100.” Focus on “your brand 22% share of voice, Competitor A 51%.” That is actionable.

How to Track AI Visibility Yourself

Not ready to pay? You can run a manual check with a spreadsheet. Create twenty commercial prompts, open ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude, and record brand mentions, competitors, and citations for each.

PromptChatGPTGeminiPerplexityClaude
Best X toolsMentionNoMentionNo
Recommend XNoMentionNoNo

Repeat it periodically to spot trends. This works for a one-off snapshot, but it breaks down at scale, which is where software earns its price. The core metrics to track are the same ones the tools automate: mention rate (brand mentions divided by prompts tested), citation rate (website citations divided by prompts tested), recommendation rate (recommendations divided by commercial prompts), AI share of voice (your mentions divided by total tracked brand mentions), and competitor gap (competitor visibility minus your visibility).

One final distinction worth making: some products mainly monitor, while others diagnose. A visibility tracker says “you appear in 17% of prompts.” A diagnostic tool says “you appear in 17%, while Competitor A appears in 48%, and eleven sources the AI cites mention them but never mention you.” If you want the second, run our free AI visibility audit to see which signals are missing on your own site.

How to Choose the Right Tool

Different buyers need different things. Here is the short map.

1

Small Business

Prioritize a cheap plan, easy setup, a free scan, and clear recommendations. Start with Ahrefs or HubSpot's free checker, then move to Wope, MentionScout, or Otterly if you need ongoing monitoring.

2

SEO Freelancer

You need multiple brands, exporting, prompt tracking, and competitor views. SE Ranking and LLMrefs offer the best blend of coverage and price.

3

SEO Agency

You need multiple workspaces, white-label reports, unlimited users, API access, and client management. Peec AI is built for this; Profound and Ahrefs Brand Radar are the higher-budget options.

4

SaaS Company

You need buyer prompts, competitor share of voice, citation sources, and branded versus non-branded prompt tracking. Ahrefs, Profound, and Promptwatch are the strongest fits.

5

Ecommerce

You need product recommendations, AI shopping coverage, brand and product prompts, and transactional questions. Peec AI and Ahrefs cover the AI shopping angle best.

6

Enterprise

You need API, SSO, large prompt limits, multi-market, multi-brand, historical data, and custom reporting. Profound and Ahrefs Brand Radar are the serious options.

Final Verdict: Choosing the Right AI Visibility Tool

There is no single best tool. The right choice depends on your situation. If you want the most complete offering and can afford it, Ahrefs is the default. If you are an agency tracking multiple brands, Peec AI is built for you. If you want AI plus traditional SEO in one suite, Semrush is the play. If you care about citations and sources more than scores, Profound is the answer. If you are on a budget, start with a free checker and graduate to Wope, MentionScout, or Otterly.

My honest recommendation: start with a free checker to confirm the gap exists, then run trials of two or three tools on your real brand and prompt set. The tool that shows you the sources behind the answers, not just a score, is the one worth paying for.

Not Showing Up in AI Search Yet?

A tracker tells you the score. To fix it, you need to know which signals are missing. Run our free AI visibility audit to see why AI assistants cannot find, cite, or recommend your business, then fix the gaps.

Run the Free AI Visibility Audit

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an AI visibility tool? ^
An AI visibility tool monitors whether and how often AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or Claude mention, cite, or recommend your brand. It runs a set of prompts against each platform and records where your brand appears, along with the sources cited and how you compare to competitors.
What is an AI visibility checker? ^
An AI visibility checker is usually a lighter, often free version of a full tracker. It runs a one-time check of whether AI assistants mention your brand and returns a snapshot score or mention count. A full tracker adds ongoing monitoring, historical trends, competitor benchmarking, and source analysis.
What is the best AI visibility tool? ^
Ahrefs is the strongest all-round choice, pairing a free no-signup checker with Brand Radar, the largest AI visibility dataset we found. Peec AI is best for agencies, Semrush for teams that want AI plus traditional SEO, and Profound for citation-first analysis. The right pick depends on your budget and the engines you need.
Is there a free AI visibility checker? ^
Yes. Ahrefs offers a free checker with no signup that reports mentions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Overviews. HubSpot's AI Search Grader is also free with no account, scoring your brand across five dimensions. Wope and MentionScout offer free tiers, and most paid tools provide free trials.
How do I check my ChatGPT visibility? ^
Run a free checker such as Ahrefs or HubSpot's AI Search Grader on your brand, or open ChatGPT and ask the questions your customers ask, noting whether you appear. For ongoing tracking, use a dedicated tool that monitors ChatGPT mentions over time and alerts you when they change.
Can I track Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude visibility? ^
Yes. Most dedicated tools track Gemini and Perplexity alongside ChatGPT. Claude coverage is less universal, so check the engine list before buying. Ahrefs Brand Radar, Peec AI, Profound, Promptwatch, and LLMrefs are among the tools that cover Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity together.
What is AI share of voice? ^
AI share of voice is the proportion of AI-generated mentions or recommendations in a category that go to your brand rather than competitors. If AI assistants recommend three companies for a prompt and you are one of them, your share of voice for that prompt is one in three.
What is an AI visibility score? ^
An AI visibility score is a composite number, usually out of 100, that combines mentions, recommendations, citations, and share of voice into a single metric. There is no universal benchmark yet, so treat it as a directional signal and compare against competitors and relevant prompts rather than chasing an absolute number.
Are AI visibility tools accurate? ^
They vary, because AI answers are non-deterministic. The same prompt can return different brands, orderings, sources, and wording across runs. Tools that sample many search-backed prompts repeatedly are more representative than a single manual check. Treat any score as a measurement sample, not an absolute truth.
Are AI visibility tools worth it? ^
If your customers use ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or AI Overviews to research buying decisions, yes. These tools show whether you are visible, why you are missing, and whether your efforts move the needle, none of which traditional rank tracking reveals. Start with a free checker, confirm the gap, then invest in a paid tracker.
What is the difference between GEO and AEO tools? ^
The terms overlap heavily. AEO, or answer engine optimization, targets direct-answer experiences such as AI answers and featured snippets. GEO, or generative engine optimization, targets how generative models retrieve, cite, and represent your brand. Most AI visibility tools serve both goals and market under whichever term is trending.
Does Semrush track AI visibility? ^
Yes. Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit tracks brand mentions, citations, and visibility scoring across ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, and Perplexity, with prompt research, prompt tracking, and sentiment. It is a paid add-on starting around $99 per month per domain, with limited AI-visibility functionality in the free plan.
Does Ahrefs track ChatGPT? ^
Yes. Ahrefs tracks ChatGPT through its free AI visibility checker and through Brand Radar, its paid monitoring product. Brand Radar also covers Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Grok, using an index of more than 466 million monthly search-backed prompts.
Can Google Search Console track AI traffic? ^
No. Google Search Console only reports on Google's own search results and does not show whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or Claude mention or link to your brand. Some AI platforms pass referrer data or identify their crawlers, so you may see hints in analytics, but a dedicated AI visibility tool is the reliable way to measure mentions and recommendations.

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