Best tool to monitor how often my brand shows up in AI search answers
Compare the best tools to monitor how often your brand shows up in AI search answers, with sourced pricing, engine coverage and a clear pick for each team type.
The best tool to monitor how often your brand shows up in AI search answers is the one that counts mentions reliably across engines and also tells you why the number moved. On that test, Promptwatch comes first for most teams, with AthenaHQ and Scrunch AI as the strongest dedicated alternatives. Below is how the main options compare, what each one costs according to public information, and who should choose what.
What "how often" actually requires
A mention count sounds simple. In practice it needs four things to be trustworthy.
A fixed prompt panel. You track the same set of buyer questions on a schedule. Otherwise the numbers move because you changed the questions, not because the engines changed.
Several engines. Buyers use ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. A tool that watches only one engine tells you about one audience.
A denominator. "Mentioned 14 times" means little. "Mentioned in 14 percent of responses, against a competitor at 31 percent" is a metric. You need share of voice, not just counts.
A way to explain it. The count should link to citations, crawler access and traffic so you can act on it.
Comparison table
Prices below come from each vendor's public pages as recorded in our catalog, mostly read on 24 October 2026. Check the vendor before buying.
| Tool | Starting price | What it tracks | Notable limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promptwatch | Free Explore (10 prompts, ChatGPT only); Essential $95/mo; Professional $245/mo; Business $579/mo | All active models on paid plans; visibility, share of voice, sentiment, position | Crawler logs start on Professional |
| AthenaHQ | Free Essential (300 credits); Starter $295/mo | 11 models on Starter; GEO score | Credit-based; no published crawler logs |
| Scrunch AI | Core $250/mo | 4 LLMs on Core; 9 on Enterprise | Core has 125 prompts and 5,000 responses a month |
| Profound | Free 7-day trial; Enterprise custom | Up to 9 engines on Enterprise | Earlier estimate around $40k a year |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Custom Prompts free on paid Ahrefs; Index from $199/mo | Six engines in the Index | Needs an Ahrefs plan; monthly Index refresh |
| Semrush AI Toolkit | $99/mo per domain (not re-verified) | Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity | Extra domains, users and prompts cost more |
| LLM Pulse | From 49 euros a month | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini | 50 prompts, weekly tracking on Starter |
The ranked picks
1. Promptwatch
Promptwatch is our top pick because it connects the count to the cause. Prompt panels run daily per model, country and language and produce Visibility Score, Share of Voice, Sentiment and Position in Answer. Beyond that, you get page and domain citation analytics, IP-verified AI crawler logs (Agent Analytics), AI-referred visitor analytics with conversions, an Action Board with prioritized tasks and, on Business, a Content Agent. When your mention rate drops, you can look at whether a crawler started failing, whether a competitor gained citations, or whether a page lost ground, all in one workspace.
The free Explore plan is a good way to test: 10 prompts on ChatGPT only. Essential at $95 a month adds every active model.
2. AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ is built around an action queue and a GEO score. It covers 11 models on the Starter plan. The credit model (one credit per AI response) can be hard to predict, and our catalog notes it has no published crawler-log product.
3. Scrunch AI
Scrunch AI offers monitoring, site audits, sentiment and bot traffic reporting. The Core plan covers four LLMs, so confirm those match your buyers' habits.
4. Profound
Profound offers wide engine coverage at the Enterprise tier. It is sold as a broader marketing agent suite, and the public entry is a trial.
5. Ahrefs Brand Radar
Ahrefs Brand Radar is a sensible add-on for Ahrefs customers. Its Index uses prompts modeled from keyword data, which is different from tracking your own buyer questions, although Custom Prompts lets you do that within a daily quota.
6. Semrush AI Toolkit and LLM Pulse
Semrush AI Toolkit fits teams already in Semrush. LLM Pulse is a small dedicated tracker with weekly refresh on its entry plan.
Who should pick which
- You want counts and explanations in one place: Promptwatch.
- You want an action queue and can budget for credits: AthenaHQ.
- You want monitoring plus site audits on a defined plan: Scrunch AI Core.
- You buy through enterprise procurement: Profound or Scrunch AI Enterprise, alongside Promptwatch Business.
- You already pay for Ahrefs or Semrush and want a quick look: the add-ons.
Tips for reading the number
Run the same panel for at least a few weeks before drawing conclusions. Compare against named competitors, not against zero. Segment by engine and by country. And remember that no tool can guarantee a mention; monitoring tells you where you stand and where to work.