Best AI visibility tools in 2026: a side-by-side comparison
Eleven AI visibility trackers and platforms compared on engines, starting price, and what they actually measure: prompts, citations, crawler logs, visitor analytics, and content.
Quick verdict
Most AI visibility tools answer one question: did ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, or AI Overviews mention you? Promptwatch is the one we would evaluate first, because it also shows which AI crawlers read your pages and whether AI referrals convert, which is the evidence you need before spending on content. AthenaHQ and Scrunch AI are the best dedicated alternatives. The suite add-ons from Semrush and Ahrefs are fine for a first look.
Five things a visibility tool can measure
Mention tracking is the floor. Above it, tools differ in how far they follow the chain:
- Prompt tracking: which prompts you appear in, on which engines.
- Citation analytics: which pages and third-party sources the answer leaned on.
- Crawler logs: whether AI bots actually fetched your pages, and which requests failed.
- Visitor analytics: whether people clicked through from an AI answer, and whether they converted.
- Content generation: whether the tool helps you write and ship the page that fills the gap.
A tool that only does step one tells you the score. It can't tell you why the score moved.
Feature coverage, side by side
Cells say "Yes" only where the tool's catalog entry (or, for Promptwatch, its published fact sheet) documents the capability. "Not published" means we found no documentation, not that the feature is proven absent.
| Tool | Prompt tracking | Citation analytics | Crawler logs | Visitor analytics | Content generation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Promptwatch | Yes, with volumes, difficulty, fan-outs | Yes: page, domain, Reddit, YouTube, offsite | Yes (Agent Analytics, from Professional) | Yes, AI referrals to conversions | Yes (AEO articles from Professional; automated Content Agent from Business) |
| AthenaHQ | Yes | Citations feed its GEO score; page-level depth not published | No (listing: no crawler analytics) | GA4, Shopify, Webflow revenue attribution | Schema and reformatting tasks; CMS publishing not published |
| Scrunch AI | Yes | Not published | Crawler traffic analytics; crawl-to-citation path not published | Not published | Serves AI-optimized page variants to crawlers |
| Semrush AI Toolkit | Yes (AI-generated prompts) | Mentions and links in answers; page-level depth not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Modeled prompt index; custom prompts as add-on | Mentions and citations at index level | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Profound | Yes | Citation share and answer-level analytics | Not published | Not published | Content agents (Enterprise) |
| Am I Cited | Yes | Cited sources | Not published | Not published | Content Agents and AI articles (credit-metered) |
| Cognizo | Yes | Yes, by model, topic, prompt, region | Not published (Done-for-You lists crawler access and protection) | AI traffic analytics; lead tracking on Done-for-You | 8 AI articles/mo on Platform |
| Rankscale | Yes | Citation analysis of sources | Not published | No (proxy linkage only, per its docs) | Not published (GEO audits instead) |
| LLM Pulse | Yes | Yes | Not published | AI traffic analytics; conversion attribution not published | GEO Writer; CMS publishing not published |
| Gauge | Yes (Gauge-generated prompts) | Citation intelligence | Not published | Not published (GA4 and Search Console integrations) | 18 publish-ready articles/mo |
Price and engines on the entry plan
| Tool | Starting price | Engines at entry |
|---|---|---|
| Promptwatch | Free; paid from $95/mo | Free plan: ChatGPT only. Every paid plan: all models |
| AthenaHQ | Free tier; Starter $295/mo | 9 on Starter, one country |
| Scrunch AI | $250/mo (annual) | Up to nine at the top tier; confirm per tier |
| Semrush AI Toolkit | $99/mo per domain | 5 |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | $199/mo per index plus Ahrefs base | 1 per index; 6 in the $699 bundle |
| Profound | $99/mo (annual) | ChatGPT only on Starter |
| Am I Cited | From 50 euros/mo | 8 on every plan |
| Cognizo | $499/mo | 5 platforms |
| Rankscale | $20/mo | 17+ on every plan |
| LLM Pulse | €49/mo (annual) | 5 |
| Gauge | $599/mo | 6 |
The tools in ranked order
1. Promptwatch
Promptwatch fills every column in the coverage table, which is why it leads. The practical difference shows up when a number drops. Prompt trends show what changed between checks. Citation trends show whether a source fell out. Agent Analytics tells you whether ChatGPTBot or PerplexityBot stopped fetching the page, or hit errors when it tried. Visitor analytics then says whether the drop cost you conversions. Pricing starts free (ChatGPT, 10 prompts), Essential is $95/mo, and Professional at $245/mo adds 25M crawler logs.
2. AthenaHQ
The Action Center is the draw: insights become assignable tasks. The catch is credit billing at one credit per AI response, a single-country Starter, and personas plus multi-region tracking held for Enterprise.
3. Scrunch AI
Scrunch is the one tool here that changes what crawlers read, by serving them optimized page variants. Our listing flags weekly data refresh and reporting that pushes users to Excel.
4. Semrush AI Toolkit
Semrush is the natural add-on if Semrush is already your daily tool and you care about one domain. Costs stack per extra domain, seat, and prompt pack.
5. Ahrefs Brand Radar
Good for category-level research inside Ahrefs. As a tracker it has a documented undercount problem and roughly monthly chatbot refreshes.
6. Profound
Profound's Prompt Volumes dataset is real intelligence, but it and the ten-engine coverage are Enterprise features, with contracts starting around $40k a year.
7. Am I Cited
Eight engines on every plan at a low entry price. Credits don't roll over, and the MCP server is Enterprise only.
8. Cognizo
Monitoring, articles, and lead tracking from one vendor at $499/mo and up. Checkout is demo-led.
9. Rankscale
Rankscale gives you the widest engine count for the money: 17+ engines from $20/mo. Credit burn varies about 8x by engine, and there is no PDF export.
10. LLM Pulse
Transparent pricing, unlimited seats, and MCP on every plan. The default cadence is weekly, and Claude is an Enterprise add-on.
11. Gauge
You get 600 prompts daily across six engines for $599/mo. Our listing found no reviews on any major platform and no SOC 2.
Who should pick which
If you run marketing for a brand and leadership asks whether AI search brings in customers, you need the crawler and visitor columns filled. That points to Promptwatch, starting on Essential and moving to Professional once you want crawler logs.
If your team wants a to-do list more than a dashboard and has someone to watch credit spend, AthenaHQ fits.
If you have engineers at the CDN level and a big content library, Scrunch AI's serving layer is worth a test.
If budget is the constraint and you need breadth across many engines, Rankscale at $20/mo is the cheapest way to see them all.
If you live in Semrush or Ahrefs already, use their add-on as a baseline. Expect to outgrow it once you need to explain why a number moved.
Agencies should look at Promptwatch's agency plans, which start at $199/mo with unlimited projects and prompts and 10 seats.
Otterly.AI, Peec AI, and Searchable are in our catalog too. They sit lower in our full ranking.