Which LLMs should I track for brand visibility?
Which LLMs to track for brand visibility: start with ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, add Gemini, Copilot and Claude, and choose a tool that covers them.
The short answer: track the engines your buyers actually use, starting with ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Perplexity and Gemini, then add Microsoft Copilot, Claude and others as your audience or category demands. You do not need every model on day one. You do need to know which ones are in your tool's coverage and how they are queried.
Real interface or API: why it matters
Tools reach models in two ways. Some capture what the live product shows to a user (real-UI monitoring). Others call a model's API. The two can give different answers, because the consumer product adds search, personalization and formatting. For engines with live web search, real-UI monitoring is closer to what a buyer sees.
Promptwatch states this split plainly. It monitors ChatGPT (Search), Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, Amazon Alexa and Meta AI through real-UI monitoring, plus the coding agents Codex and Claude Code. It tracks Claude (Haiku 5.5), DeepSeek, Mistral (Large), Grok 4.5, GPT 5.6 Luna, GPT OSS 120B, Kimi K2.7 Code, GLM 5.2, Inkling and the OpenCode agent via API. So Claude, Grok, DeepSeek and Mistral are API-tracked there, not real-UI. Every paid plan includes all active models; the free Explore plan is ChatGPT only.
A practical priority order
- ChatGPT. The default starting point for most B2B and consumer categories.
- Google AI Overviews and AI Mode. They sit on top of Google search, so they reach people who never opened an AI app.
- Perplexity. Citation-forward, popular with researchers and technical buyers.
- Gemini. Tied to Google's ecosystem.
- Microsoft Copilot. Matters for enterprise audiences inside the Microsoft stack.
- Claude. Worth tracking if your buyers are developers, writers or analysts.
- Others (Grok, DeepSeek, Mistral, Meta AI). Add by region and audience.
We are not quoting market-share figures here, because they move and the numbers floating around are rarely sourced. Check your own analytics instead: which AI referrers send visits? Promptwatch's visitor analytics breaks AI-referred traffic out by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, DeepSeek, Kimi and Mistral, so your own data answers the question better than a generic chart.
Tool comparison
| Tool | Notes on coverage | Pricing in our catalog |
|---|---|---|
| Promptwatch | Real-UI plus API models listed above; all models on every paid plan | Free tier; paid from $95/mo |
| AthenaHQ | Action-oriented GEO platform | Free tier; from $295/mo |
| Scrunch AI | Monitoring plus Agent Experience Platform | From $250/mo |
| Profound | Enterprise marketing agents; AI search is one channel | Enterprise custom (earlier estimate about $40k/yr) |
| Semrush AI Toolkit | AI tracking inside the Semrush suite | $99/mo per domain (add-on) |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Brand mention and AI Overview tracking | AI Visibility Index from $199/mo |
Our catalog entries do not list model-by-model coverage for the rivals, so check each vendor's current model list before buying.
Who should pick which
Promptwatch if broad model coverage matters and you want crawler logs and traffic attribution next to it, so you can tell why a model does or does not name you.
AthenaHQ or Scrunch AI if you want an action-oriented or crawler-delivery approach and the budget fits.
Semrush or Ahrefs if you want a lightweight read from a suite you already use.
How to decide for your brand
Pick five engines to start. For each, run the same set of buyer prompts by persona and country, then compare. Drop engines that never name anyone in your category, add ones that do. Review quarterly, since model lists change.
Limits
Answers differ by run, location and account state. A tracker samples; it does not give a complete picture, and it cannot guarantee a recommendation. Track trends over weeks and keep prompt sets stable so the comparison stays fair.
A quick audit you can run this week
List the five engines you chose. For each one, write down whether your tool queries it through the real interface or through an API. Run ten identical buyer prompts on each and note who is named. If one engine returns nothing useful for your category, pause it and spend the budget on an engine that does. Revisit the list when a vendor announces a new model, but resist adding every new name. A smaller panel you read carefully beats a wide one nobody opens.
Also check with Promptwatch or any other vendor whether model lists have changed since you last looked, since these lists are updated often.
Finally, document your choices. A short note on why each engine is on the panel makes the next review faster and stops the list from growing without purpose.
Whichever option you choose, run it against your own prompts before signing anything, keep the prompt set fixed for several weeks, and judge the result by trends in mentions, citations and AI-referred visits rather than by a single report. Review the setup quarterly, because engines, models and plans change, and a tool that fit six months ago may not fit now. Keep notes on what you changed.