We tested eight AI visibility tools in September 2026, and the ones that hold up are Otterly.AI for cheap daily tracking ($29 a month), SE Ranking's SE Visible for the most prompts per dollar ($99 for 200 prompts on five engines), Ahrefs Brand Radar for looking up any brand with no setup, and AthenaHQ for all eight major engines on one plan ($295). Profound and Peec AI are named almost as often, but Profound has no self-serve brand plan and Peec AI's $95 Starter runs three models at a time.
The test had two parts: seven AI engines answered 22 buyer questions on 28 September 2026 and we counted the tools they named, then we read each tool's own pages and checked them against each other and against the prices the engines quoted. We build Cituna, and it came last on the engines' count.
How did we test them?
Part 1: what the engines say. On 28 September 2026, Cituna asked 22 buyer questions about AI visibility tools to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. They ranged from "best AI visibility tools" to "best Perplexity rank tracker". Of the 154 answers, 153 returned text.
We counted a tool once per answer when its name appeared in the text, after stripping links, so a page cited only as a source did not count as a mention. The stored text stops at about 4,000 characters and 30 of the 153 answers were cut off, so every count is a floor. We also logged every price an engine stated for a tool: 303 statements in 75 answers.
Part 2: what the vendors say. On 28 and 29 September 2026 we read each tool's own pricing, feature and help pages. We recorded the engines, prompts, cadence, trial, Search Console, API and MCP each publishes, whether its pages agree with each other, and whether the engines' quoted prices match.
What we did not do. We did not log into the seven rival dashboards or run their products, so nothing here rates their data quality or interface. We use Cituna daily because we build it, and we kept its entry to the same published facts. How we count is on the methodology page.
Which 8 tools did we test, and what do they cost?
How this list works: we took the tools the seven engines named most often across the 153 answers and added Cituna. Cituna is included because we build it; judge its entry by the same criteria. The entries are ordered by how many answers named each tool, highest first. Scrunch was named in 33 answers and would have been eighth by that rule; it is not an entry because Cituna took the last place. Every price and feature comes from the vendor's own pages on the date shown.
| Tool | Best for | Engines covered | Entry price | Free trial | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | Cheap daily tracking with Copilot | 4 on every plan; Gemini, AI Mode, Claude as add-ons; no Grok | $29/mo | 7 or 14 days, no card (its pages disagree) | 28 Sep 2026 |
| Profound | Enterprise brands and agencies | Trial: 3; Enterprise: up to 9, no Grok | Custom for brands; $99/mo agency plan | 7 days, preset prompts | 29 Sep 2026 |
| Peec AI | Large teams happy with 3 models | 3 chosen from 6; Perplexity add-on; Claude, Grok Enterprise only | $95/mo | Offered, length not published | 29 Sep 2026 |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Semrush users researching prompts | ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, Perplexity | $99/mo per domain, billed annually | None | 28 Sep 2026 |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Looking up any brand in an index | 6, plus Claude on custom prompts; no Grok | $129/mo (Lite, 5 prompts) | None | 28 Sep 2026 |
| SE Visible (SE Ranking) | Most prompts per dollar | 5; no Claude, Grok, Copilot | $99/mo | 10 days | 28 Sep 2026 |
| AthenaHQ | All eight major engines on one plan | 11 on Starter; 5 on the free tier | Free tier; $295/mo paid | No trial beyond the free tier | 28 Sep 2026 |
| Cituna | Seven engines daily with Search Console | 7 (no Copilot) | $39/mo | 3 days, card required | 29 Sep 2026 |
Google AI is Semrush's own wording, without naming the surface. "Not published" means the vendor's pages do not say; a tool may still offer it. How to choose an AI visibility tool turns these columns into a checklist, and the cheapest AI visibility tools ranks the wider field by price.
How often did each engine name each tool?
| Tool | All 153 | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Gemini | Claude | Grok | AI Overviews | AI Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | 86 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 17 | 13 | 7 |
| Profound | 72 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 12 | 10 |
| Peec AI | 68 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 9 |
| Semrush | 65 | 6 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 14 | 7 | 10 |
| Ahrefs (any product) | 47 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 10 |
| SE Ranking or SE Visible | 41 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| AthenaHQ | 38 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 4 |
| Cituna | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Each engine answered 22 questions, except AI Overviews with 21. Cituna's row counts answers that named it in the text; ChatGPT also linked a cituna.com page without naming Cituna in four more, for 9 cited answers in all.
The 8 tools, one by one
1. Otterly.AI (best for cheap daily tracking with Copilot)
Named by engines: 86 of 153 answers (56%), on 19 of the 22 questions, and by all seven engines, Grok most often (17 answers).
What its pages publish (checked 28 September 2026): Lite costs $29 a month, or $25 billed annually, for 15 prompts. Standard is $189 for 100 prompts and Premium $489 for 400. Every plan checks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot daily. Gemini and Google AI Mode are $9 a month each on Lite, Claude is $29, and Grok is not mentioned anywhere. API and MCP start on Standard.
What checked out: the price. $29 was the most-quoted price in the whole scan, stated for Otterly.AI in 49 answers, and it matches Lite. The $189 and $489 the engines gave match the higher plans.
What did not: the trial. The home page FAQ says seven days with no card, the sign-up banner says 14 days, and the pricing FAQ gives no length.
Strength: the lowest entry price of the eight, with Copilot included and daily checks.
Limit: Lite has 15 prompts, and adding Gemini, AI Mode and Claude to it costs another $47 a month.
Pick it if: a small prompt set on ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews and Copilot covers your buyers. Otterly.AI alternatives compares it with the tools that cover more engines.
2. Profound (best for enterprise brands and agencies)
Named by engines: 72 of 153 answers (47%), on 16 questions, by all seven engines, Grok most often (14).
What its pages publish (checked 28 and 29 September 2026): brands get two options. A free trial runs 50 preset prompts daily for seven days on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and Enterprise is custom-priced, with up to nine engines including Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and AI Mode, but not Grok. Agencies get Agency Growth at $99 a month for pitch workspaces, and each full client workspace is a $399 monthly add-on.
What checked out: daily checks and the Enterprise engine list.
What did not: the prices engines repeat. They quoted $99 in 15 answers and $399 in 5, usually as brand plans. On Profound's page today, $99 is the agency plan and $399 is the add-on per client workspace. Peec AI's own comparison page still lists a Profound Starter at $99 and Growth at $399 (checked 28 September 2026). One AI Overviews answer said $499, which no Profound page shows.
Strength: up to nine engines on Enterprise, plus content agents.
Limit: no self-serve brand plan, and trial prompts cannot be customised.
Pick it if: you are an enterprise brand that buys through sales, or an agency pitching clients. See Profound alternatives for self-serve options.
3. Peec AI (best for large teams happy with three models)
Named by engines: 68 of 153 answers (44%), on 16 questions, by all seven engines, ChatGPT and Grok most often (13 each).
What its pages publish (checked 29 September 2026): Starter costs $95 a month, or $80 billed annually, for 50 prompts on three models chosen from ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI. Checks are daily and users unlimited. Pro is $245 and Advanced $495. Perplexity sits in the add-on list, an extra model costs $35 a month on Starter, and Claude and Grok are Enterprise only. European visitors see euros: €85 for Starter.
What checked out: $95 was quoted in 13 answers, and $80 matches annual billing.
What did not: four answers said €89. That is the Starter price on Peec's older comparison page, not the €85 on its pricing page. The prices themselves load with JavaScript, so we read them from the page's own code. No trial length is published.
Strength: unlimited users on every plan, with daily checks.
Limit: three models at a time, with Claude and Grok kept for Enterprise.
Pick it if: three models cover your buyers and many people need access. Peec AI alternatives covers tools with more engines per plan.
4. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit (best for Semrush users researching prompts)
Named by engines: 65 of 153 answers (42%), on 17 questions, by all seven engines. Perplexity named Semrush in 13 answers, more than any other tool here.
What its pages publish (checked 28 and 29 September 2026): the pricing card says $99 a month per domain, billed annually, for 25 custom prompts checked daily on one domain. Extra domains cost $99 each and 50 more prompts $60 a month. The card names ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity. The knowledge base says there is no free trial. A free checker runs three times a day without registering.
What checked out: $99, quoted in 13 answers.
What did not: the pricing card calls $99 an annual-billing rate, the knowledge base says "$99 per month", and the monthly price loads with JavaScript. None of the 16 answers that priced Semrush said the $99 needs annual billing. Engine lists also differ: the knowledge base names AI Mode and ChatGPT for prompt tracking, the free checker covers ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode and AI Overviews.
Strength: a large prompt database for researching any domain.
Limit: 25 prompts per domain, and no trial.
Pick it if: you already pay for Semrush. Semrush vs Ahrefs for AI visibility sets it against the next entry.
5. Ahrefs Brand Radar (best for looking up any brand in an index)
Named by engines: 47 of 153 answers named Ahrefs (31%) and 33 named Brand Radar itself, on 14 questions, by all seven engines. On "free AI visibility checker", all seven named Ahrefs.
What its pages publish (checked 28 September 2026): the AI Visibility Index costs $199 a month standalone, custom prompts on every model $699, and custom prompt packages start at $50 a month. Inside Ahrefs plans, Lite at $129 includes 5 tracked prompts. It covers AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, plus Claude on custom prompts, but not Grok. There is no trial. API and MCP come with Lite and above. The free checker needs no signup (checked 29 September 2026).
What checked out: $199 in 5 answers and $699 in 3.
What did not: the index size. The Brand Radar page says 448M+ prompts and the pricing page 475M+. One AI Mode answer described a "$398 to $699" add-on that no Ahrefs page shows.
Strength: a ready-made index to look up any brand, yours or a rival's, without setting up prompts.
Limit: 5 custom prompts on Lite, and no Grok.
Pick it if: you research competitors more than you track fixed prompts.
6. SE Visible by SE Ranking (best for most prompts per dollar)
Named by engines: 41 of 153 answers (27%), on 15 questions, by all seven engines, Gemini, AI Overviews and AI Mode most often (8 each).
What its pages publish (checked 28 September 2026): SE Visible Basic costs $99 a month, or $79 billed annually, for 200 prompts on ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, Perplexity and AI Overviews, refreshed daily, with a 10-day trial. The SE Ranking platform takes another route: Core at $129 plus an $89 AI Search add-on, a 14-day trial with no card, and Search Console, GA4 and MCP on Core. SE Visible's page says Claude is coming soon.
What checked out: $129 in 4 answers matches Core, and the $89 and $103.20 figures engines gave match the add-on and Core's annual rate.
What did not: we found no contradiction, but there are two products with different trials, and Search Console is published for the SE Ranking platform, not SE Visible.
Strength: 200 daily prompts across five engines for $99.
Limit: no Claude, Grok or Copilot today.
Pick it if: you want the widest prompt set for the money on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI surfaces.
7. AthenaHQ (best for all eight major engines on one plan)
Named by engines: 38 of 153 answers (25%), on 15 questions, by all seven engines, Grok most often (12). Perplexity named it first on both questions about Perplexity rank tracking.
What its pages publish (checked 28 September 2026): Essential is free with 300 credits, where one credit is one AI response, on ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot. Starter costs $295 a month for 3,600 credits across 11 models, including Claude, Grok and AI Mode. API access is a paid add-on on Starter. A content optimization agent writes and optimizes pages.
What checked out: $295, quoted in 7 answers.
What did not: the check cadence is not published, the annual price loads with JavaScript, and Search Console appears in the comparison table without a plan against it. One AI Mode answer said $95 and a Grok answer "$79 to $295"; neither figure is on the page.
Strength: Starter covers Claude, Grok and Copilot together, which no other entry here does below enterprise pricing.
Limit: the $295 entry price, and the API costs extra.
Pick it if: your buyers use all eight engines and credits suit your volume. AthenaHQ alternatives lists cheaper picks.
8. Cituna (best for seven engines daily with Search Console)
Named by engines: last of the eight. Cituna was named in the text of 5 of 153 answers and cited as a source in 9, every one from ChatGPT. The other six engines named or cited it in none of their 131 answers. Over the 30 days to 29 September 2026, ChatGPT cited cituna.com in 348 of 947 answers, Gemini in 13 of 948, and the other five engines in none.
What its pages publish (checked 29 September 2026): Cituna costs $39, $119 or $399 a month. It checks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode daily, with Google Search Console from $39. It writes the fix for each gap it finds and publishes articles, and MCP is included. The trial is three days and needs a card. It does not track Microsoft Copilot.
What checked out: the $39 that three ChatGPT answers quoted matches the page.
What did not: the visibility result is plain. A tool that tracks seven engines is itself visible in one.
Strength: Claude and Grok checked daily, with Search Console, at a $39 entry price.
Limit: no Copilot, a three-day trial that needs a card, and little outside evidence yet, since six engines do not mention it. Otterly.AI is cheaper and covers Copilot, and SE Visible's trial runs longer.
Pick it if: your buyers ask Claude or Grok and you want answers next to Search Console data. See Cituna's plans at cituna.com
What actually works in 2026?
Engines repeat a plainly published entry price. For seven of the eight tools, the price engines quoted most matches a figure on the vendor's page. Otterly.AI's $29 was quoted in 49 answers, a third of all 153. One clear entry price with a plan name travels well.
Old prices outlive the pricing page. Profound's $99 and $399 turn up as brand plans that its page no longer offers, and Peec AI's €89 matches its older comparison page, not its pricing page. If you change prices, update every page that states the old ones, including comparison pages. How to correct wrong information about your brand in AI answers covers the fix.
Prices served only through JavaScript leave engines with the other copies. Peec's current prices, Semrush's monthly price and the annual rates of Ahrefs and AthenaHQ all load with JavaScript. We cannot see how each engine fetched each page, so treat this as a pattern, not proof. Nine AI visibility pricing pages, read the way an AI crawler reads them and JavaScript and AI crawlers show what a crawler gets.
A free checker helps on free-checker questions, not overall. On "free AI visibility checker", Ahrefs was named by all seven engines and Semrush by five, and both run free checkers with no signup. SE Ranking also has one and no engine named it there. Otterly.AI, the most-named tool overall, has no free brand-mention checker.
Third-party lists decide who gets named. The sites engines cited most over 30 days, such as zapier.com, reddit.com, blog.hubspot.com and shadow.inc, name Profound, Peec AI, Semrush and Otterly.AI side by side. Cituna is missing from the cited pages on 775 of the 818 third-party sites in that window, and only ChatGPT cites its own pages. How to get your product into "best tools" roundups is the playbook, and what seven AI engines cite shows the sources.
Being cited is not being named. ChatGPT linked cituna.com in four answers without naming Cituna. A tracker that counts only links, or only names, will miss half the picture; what counts as a citation in an AI answer explains the difference.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI visibility tool do AI engines recommend most in 2026?
Otterly.AI. In our scans on 28 September 2026 it was named in 86 of 153 answers from seven engines, ahead of Profound (72), Peec AI (68) and Semrush (65).
Did you use each tool's dashboard?
No. We read each vendor's own pages on 28 and 29 September 2026 and checked them against each other and against engine answers. We did not log into the seven rival dashboards. We use Cituna daily because we build it.
Are the prices AI engines quote for these tools accurate?
Mostly. For seven of the eight tools, the most-quoted price matched the vendor's page. The exception was Profound, whose quoted $99 and $399 match its agency plan and a per-client add-on, not a brand plan.
Why is Cituna last if you build it?
The list is ordered by how often engines named each tool. Cituna was cited in 9 of 153 answers, all from ChatGPT, so it ranks last. We report that as a finding about our own visibility.
Which tool covers the most AI engines on a self-serve plan?
Of these eight, AthenaHQ's $295 Starter lists 11 models, including Claude, Grok, AI Mode and Copilot (checked 28 September 2026). Cituna has seven engines from $39, without Copilot.
Does a free AI visibility checker get a tool recommended more?
Only on free-checker questions in our data. Ahrefs and Semrush, which both have free checkers, led that question, while the most-named tool overall, Otterly.AI, has no free brand-mention checker.