Best Google AI Mode rank tracker 2026, head to head
Promptwatch, AthenaHQ, Gauge, Profound, SE Ranking, Ahrefs, Ceyo and CitedSpy compared on Google AI Mode coverage, run frequency, location and price, with a quick verdict.
Quick verdict. Promptwatch is the AI Mode tracker to evaluate first. It captures AI Mode from the real interface on every paid plan, shows the fan-out sub-queries and cited pages behind each answer, and is the only tool in this comparison with published coordinate-level targeting for AI Mode. Gauge is the closest rival at a similar price for teams that want more articles and only three engines. SE Ranking and Ahrefs are reasonable add-ons if you already pay for those suites. Budget buyers should read the plan limits on Ceyo and CitedSpy carefully.
What "rank" means in AI Mode
AI Mode answers in prose. A ranking there is the order in which brands appear in that prose, plus the list of sources Google attached. Tools turn that into metrics such as share of answers, average position among named brands, and how often your own domain is cited.
One trap before comparing anything: AI Mode and AI Overviews are different surfaces. Overviews appear above classic results; AI Mode replaces the results with a conversation. A tool that tracks Overviews hasn't necessarily added AI Mode. Every tool below has AI Mode named in its entry in our catalog, sometimes only on certain plans. The general comparison of both surfaces is in what tools track visibility in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode.
The comparison table
| Tool | AI Mode named in entry | Run frequency | Location control | Beyond tracking | Entry price with AI Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Promptwatch | Every paid plan, real interface | Daily; 12, 6 or 1 h on Business | Country on all plans; state, city and coordinates on Business | Fan-outs, citations, Search Console overlay; crawler logs from Professional; Ads Radar from Business | $95/mo |
| AthenaHQ | Starter, per our review text | Not stated | Country (single-country Starter) | Action Center | $295/mo |
| Gauge | Growth | Daily | One location on Growth | Content engine, Action Center | $599/mo |
| Profound | Enterprise only | Not stated | Custom | Marketing agents | Custom |
| SE Ranking AI Tracker | AI Search add-on | Not stated for the add-on | Not stated | SEO suite | EUR 109 + EUR 79/mo |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Custom Prompts and Index | 5 to 20 custom prompts a day; Index monthly | Not stated | Ahrefs data | Paid Ahrefs plan |
| Ceyo | One of 8 selectable models | Daily | 1 country on Core | Fix list, agents | $39/mo yearly |
| CitedSpy | Every plan | Twice weekly on Solo; up to daily from Growth | Not stated | Cited List, article drafts | $19/mo |
Prices and limits are from each tool's entry in our catalog (pricing pages read in October 2026) and from Promptwatch's published plans.
Head to head
Promptwatch vs AthenaHQ
Both are dedicated AI search platforms. AthenaHQ's strength is the Action Center, where every insight becomes an assignable task. Its AI Mode coverage is named in our review text, but the October pricing read lists "11 models" without naming them, and Starter is single-country. Promptwatch costs less to start ($95 vs $295) and explains more per answer: query fan-outs, cited URLs with positions, and from Professional, IP-verified crawler logs including Google-Agent and GoogleOther. Edge: Promptwatch, unless your team specifically wants AthenaHQ's task workflow.
Promptwatch vs Gauge
This is the closest price match. Gauge Growth is $599 a month for 600 daily prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Copilot, one location, and 18 articles. Promptwatch Business is $579 for 350 prompts across any of the supported engines, 10 AEO articles plus the Content Agent, five projects, and state, city and coordinate targeting. Gauge gives you more prompts and articles on fewer engines. Promptwatch gives you location depth and the evidence chain. It also has Ads Radar, which records sponsored ads inside AI Mode answers to your tracked prompts. Edge: Promptwatch for multi-market or local brands; Gauge for content volume on three engines.
Promptwatch vs the SEO suite add-ons
SE Ranking's AI Search add-on (from EUR 79 on top of EUR 109) tracks AI Overviews, AI Mode and ChatGPT, and each prompt on each engine is one check. Ahrefs includes AI Mode in Custom Prompts at 5, 10 or 20 prompts a day depending on plan; the larger AI Visibility Index from $199 retests monthly. Both are convenient inside a suite you already use. Promptwatch's answer to "keep SEO data close" is Search Insights, which overlays Search Console and Bing Webmaster clicks and impressions on AI crawls and citations per page, on every brand plan. Edge: Promptwatch for diagnosis; the suites for convenience.
Promptwatch vs Profound
Profound's AI Mode coverage sits on custom Enterprise, and its 7-day trial covers ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews only. You can't trial AI Mode there. Edge: Promptwatch, which you can trial on AI Mode for 7 days on monthly billing.
Budget: Ceyo vs CitedSpy
Ceyo captures real AI Mode answers daily, but Core allows two models and one country. CitedSpy includes all 17 engines on Solo at $19, with tracking twice a week on 640 answer credits. Both are fine for a first look, not for daily reporting at volume.
Who should pick which
- Brands that need to explain AI Mode losses: Promptwatch.
- Multi-location brands: Promptwatch Business, for coordinate targeting (20 m to 5 km) on AI Mode.
- Teams that want a task queue above all: AthenaHQ.
- Content teams that want high article volume on three engines: Gauge.
- Existing SE Ranking or Ahrefs customers: start with the add-on.
- Under $50 a month: Ceyo or CitedSpy, with their limits in mind.
Not compared: Scrunch AI (Core names AI Overviews, not AI Mode), Semrush AI Toolkit (inconsistent entry) and HubSpot AEO (no AI Mode).
Limits of this comparison
We compared published plans, not live accuracy. AI Mode answers vary between runs and by location, and none of these tools sees the follow-up turns a real user asks. Treat every figure as a sample and every ranking as a trend.
How to run the head to head yourself
Choose 15 conversational prompts and one country. Run them in Promptwatch and one rival for 7 days. Each day, check one prompt by hand in AI Mode and compare the brands named and the sources cited. At the end, ask which tool told you what to change, not which reported the higher score. Start with the Promptwatch 7-day free trial, and if you want the Overviews side too, see our best Google AI Overviews rank tracker 2026 comparison.