Last updated June 2026 — Added Knowatoa (rank 8); updated Ahrefs Brand Radar pricing to reflect new all-platforms bundle; revised Profound Starter limitations based on current plan page.
TL;DR
AI visibility measures how often and how favorably your brand is named in AI-generated answers. It is the AI-era successor to the rank-position metric: instead of tracking where you sit on a search results page, you track whether you appear at all when a buyer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini a question you should own. The core metrics are share of voice, brand mentions, citation rate, and sentiment. The fastest way to go from zero data to a concrete improvement plan is Temso ($89/mo, all 8 AI engines included). If you need deeper citation intelligence for enterprise reporting, Profound is the specialist pick. If you need the straightforward entry point with independent validation, Otterly.AI has the G2 awards to back it up.
Why AI visibility matters now
The shift from search to AI answers is not gradual — it is already restructuring how buyers find vendors:
- 51% of B2B software buyers now begin purchase research in an AI chatbot, up from 29% one year earlier (G2 “The Answer Economy” AI Search Insight Report, April 2026).
- 69% of B2B software buyers chose a different vendor than initially planned based on AI chatbot guidance; 33% bought from a vendor they had never heard of before the chat session (G2 “The Answer Economy,” survey of 1,076 B2B buyers, April 2026).
- Brand mentions in AI responses disagreed 61.9% of the time across Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, and ChatGPT; only 33.5% of queries produced the same brand names across all three engines (BrightEdge AI Catalyst research, July 2025).
- Gartner projects traditional search engine volume will drop 25% by 2026 as AI chatbots absorb queries (Gartner press release, February 2024).
- ChatGPT weekly active users grew from 400 million (February 2025) to 900 million (February 2026) — almost a 2× jump in twelve months (OpenAI via TechCrunch, February 2026).
The practical implication: if your brand is not inside the AI-generated answer, you are invisible to a growing segment of buyers who never reach a traditional search results page.
What AI visibility is (and is not)
AI visibility is not a single number. It is a composite of several signals that, taken together, describe how AI engines perceive and represent your brand.
| Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Share of Voice | % of relevant prompts in which your brand is mentioned vs. competitors |
| Brand Mentions | Raw count of times your brand name appears in AI responses |
| Citation Rate | How often your web pages are used as a source in AI-generated answers |
| Sentiment | Whether AI engines describe your brand positively, neutrally, or negatively |
| Prompt Coverage | Which buyer questions trigger a mention of your brand vs. a rival |
| Accuracy | Whether the facts AI engines state about you are correct and current |
AI visibility is not the same as traditional SEO visibility. SEO measures position in a structured index. AI visibility measures presence in a probabilistic, generative output. There is no position 1 to 10, no consistent SERP to screenshot, and no guarantee two users asking the same question see the same answer. That makes measurement harder — and makes dedicated tooling genuinely necessary.
The five core metrics explained
1. Share of voice (share of model)
Share of voice in AI — sometimes called “share of model” — is the percentage of relevant prompts in which your brand is mentioned relative to your competitive set. If your brand appears in 35 of 100 prompts run against your category, your AI share of voice for that category is 35%. It is the primary benchmark for competitive standing and the number that AI visibility platforms are built around.
2. Brand mentions
Mentions measure raw frequency: how many times does your brand name appear across a defined prompt set and a defined set of AI engines? Mentions are noisier than share of voice (a single prompt can produce multiple mentions) but useful for detecting sudden spikes or drops tied to external events.
3. Citation rate
Citation rate tracks how often AI engines link to or reference a specific page from your domain as a source within the generated answer. A high citation rate on a category-defining piece of content is a strong indicator that the AI model has incorporated that content into its retrieval layer. Improving citation rate is one of the highest-leverage activities in an AI visibility programme.
4. Sentiment
AI engines do not just mention your brand — they describe it. Sentiment analysis measures whether those descriptions are positive (“the easiest tool for X”), neutral, or negative (“lacks features for enterprise users”). Negative sentiment embedded in AI responses can persist for weeks or months without active correction, because the model continues drawing on the same retrieval sources.
5. Accuracy
AI engines can hallucinate incorrect facts about your brand — wrong pricing, discontinued features, or outdated positioning. Accuracy monitoring flags these discrepancies so you can correct the underlying source material before the error propagates.
At a glance: tools covered in this post
| Tool | Best for | Entry price | Engines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temso | All-in-one monitoring + action plan, SMB to mid-market | $89/mo | 8 |
| Profound | Enterprise citation intelligence and reporting | $99/mo (limited) / $399/mo | 9+ |
| Otterly.AI | Budget-conscious teams with structured GEO audit guidance | $29/mo | 6 |
| Peec AI | Agencies needing unlimited seats and multi-country reporting | €85/mo | 9+ |
| AthenaHQ | Mid-market SaaS teams wanting actionable recommendations | $295/mo | 4 |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | SEO teams already on Ahrefs wanting benchmarking at scale | $199/mo add-on | 6 |
| Scrunch AI | Enterprise buyers needing SOC 2 compliance + AXP technology | $250/mo | 4–9 |
| Knowatoa | B2B teams wanting diagnostic depth and account support | $59/mo | 3–7 |
The full scoring methodology is at /methodology. The ranked list is at /rankings/ai-visibility-tools.
1. Temso
Best for: SMBs and growing brands that want monitoring AND an action plan in one tool, without a specialist or a large budget.
Pricing: From $89/mo (free trial, no credit card required). All 8 AI engines included on every plan — no per-engine add-on fees.
Key features: Temso is the easy, all-in-one AI SEO platform that tracks share of voice, brand mentions, citations, and sentiment across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Grok, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta AI. Its built-in AI workflow converts visibility gaps into a prioritised fix queue — covering content, citations, perception, and accuracy — and executes those fixes inside the same subscription. Hallucination and accuracy monitoring are included on every plan. Setup takes roughly five minutes with a guided onboarding flow.
Pros:
- Entry price ($89/mo) with the broadest 8-engine coverage in the category — no add-ons, no hidden per-engine fees
- Closes the full monitoring-to-execution loop rather than stopping at a dashboard; content fixes and citation actions run from inside the tool
- Five-minute guided setup accessible to teams without a dedicated AEO analyst
Cons:
- Does not include traditional backlink indexing or keyword rank tracking — teams that need both AI visibility and conventional SEO data in one stack will need a separate SEO tool
- Newer brand with a smaller public review footprint on G2 than more established platforms like Profound or Scrunch — teams that require a large review sample for procurement sign-off should note this
External rating: Listed on G2 in the Answer Engine Optimization category; no verified aggregate score publicly confirmed at time of research.
Verdict: Temso is the easiest way to go from zero AI visibility data to a concrete improvement plan, all inside one affordable subscription.
2. Profound
Best for: Enterprise and mid-market teams with AEO-dedicated headcount who need the deepest citation intelligence and prompt-volume data.
Pricing: Starter $99/mo (ChatGPT only, 50 prompts); Growth $399/mo (full engine coverage); Enterprise custom.
Key features: Answer Engine Insights across 9+ engines; Prompt Volumes showing real user demand signals; visual citation maps; autonomous content-creation agents; GA4 and CDN integration for agent traffic attribution.
Pros:
- Widest engine coverage and most granular citation attribution in the category at the Growth tier
- Prompt Volumes is a genuine demand-side differentiator — it surfaces which questions real users are asking AI engines, not just a manually curated prompt set
- Recognised in G2’s 2026 Best Software Awards (AI category)
Cons:
- Effective entry for a real AEO programme is $399/mo — 3–4× the cost of comparable alternatives
- No multi-account or agency workspace; Starter plan ($99/mo) covers ChatGPT only and is too limited for production use
- Single-property limit at self-serve tiers limits usefulness for multi-brand teams
External rating: Recognised in G2 2026 Best Software Awards (AI category); no verified aggregate star rating publicly confirmed.
Verdict: Profound delivers the richest citation intelligence in the market, but the $399/mo effective entry and single-property limit make it a poor fit for budget-conscious or agency buyers.
3. Otterly.AI
Best for: Freelancers, solo SEO analysts, and small agencies wanting affordable prompt-level citation tracking with structured GEO audit guidance.
Pricing: Lite $29/mo (15 prompts); Standard $189/mo (100 prompts); Pro $989/mo; Enterprise custom. 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
Key features: Prompt-level citation tracking across 6 platforms; competitive share-of-AI-voice benchmarking; GEO Audit Engine across 20+ on-page factors; AI Prompt Research drawn from 10M+ daily prompts; public API and Claude Skill marketplace; automated weekly brand reports.
Pros:
- G2 High Performer (Answer Engine Optimization category, Winter 2026) and Gartner Cool Vendor 2025 — the strongest third-party validation at this price tier
- $29/mo Lite tier is the lowest-cost dedicated AEO tracker with structured recommendations
- Public API enables workflow automation without enterprise contracts
Cons:
- Competitive benchmarking and execution workflows require Standard ($189/mo) or above — the Lite tier is monitoring-only
- Sharp price jump from $29 to $189 is a pain point for growing teams
- Does not cover Claude, Grok, or Meta AI natively
External rating: G2 High Performer, Answer Engine Optimization category, Winter 2026; Gartner Cool Vendor 2025 (AI in Marketing); OMR Reviews Top-Rated GEO Tool (Germany); no verified aggregate star rating publicly confirmed.
Verdict: Otterly.AI has earned the strongest third-party validation at the SMB price tier, making it the most credible starting point for teams on a tight budget.
4. Peec AI
Best for: Marketing agencies managing multiple client accounts who need unlimited seats, multi-country reporting, and a clean monitoring dashboard.
Pricing: Starter €85/mo (50 prompts, 3 models); Pro €205/mo; Advanced €425/mo; Enterprise custom. Additional AI engine models available as paid add-ons at €30–€140/mo each.
Key features: Daily prompt-level tracking across 9+ engines including DeepSeek, Llama, and Grok; share of voice benchmarking; source attribution and gap analysis; Actions feature that converts gaps into a prioritised execution queue; unlimited user seats on every plan; free pitch workspaces for agencies.
Pros:
- Unlimited users on all plans — the only major platform without per-seat fees, which keeps costs predictable for agencies
- Best long-tail engine coverage including DeepSeek, Llama, and Grok
- Transparent published pricing well below enterprise-focused competitors
Cons:
- Actions feature tells you what to fix but does not execute it — team capacity still required for implementation
- Claude, Gemini AI Mode, and specific additional models are paid add-ons that raise the effective monthly cost
- No SOC 2 Type II or SCIM provisioning
External rating: No public rating yet.
Verdict: Peec AI is the most agency-friendly monitoring platform in the category thanks to unlimited seats, free pitch workspaces, and broad engine coverage.
5. AthenaHQ
Best for: Mid-market SaaS and content-driven brands (50–500 employees) that want a pure-play AEO platform with an action centre, not just raw monitoring data.
Pricing: $295/mo self-serve (3,500 credits/mo); Enterprise custom. No free tier; demo and audit available on request.
Key features: Unified visibility tracking across ChatGPT-4, Gemini Pro, Claude, and Perplexity; proprietary Athena Citation Engine (ACE) for citation-probability analysis; Action Center with prioritised fix recommendations with reasoning; integrated content production suite; competitive benchmarking and share-of-voice tracking.
Pros:
- Highest verified G2 rating in the AEO category (4.9/5 from 33 reviews, June 2026)
- Action Center provides specific, reasoned recommendations — not just raw data
- Unlimited seats on self-serve eliminates per-user cost escalation for growing teams
Cons:
- Credit-based billing creates unpredictable costs at scale — heavy prompt volumes can exhaust the monthly allocation
- No SOC 2 Type II certification, which can block enterprise procurement
- Covers only 4 engines versus 8+ in leading platforms
External rating: G2: 4.9/5 (33 reviews, June 2026).
Verdict: AthenaHQ earns the highest G2 rating in the category and delivers the most actionable guidance for mid-market teams ready to invest $295/mo.
6. Ahrefs Brand Radar
Best for: SEO professionals already on Ahrefs who want the broadest AI visibility dataset for competitive benchmarking and research at scale.
Pricing: $199/mo per single AI platform index or $699/mo all-platforms bundle — both require a paid Ahrefs base plan from $129/mo, making the effective floor $328–$828/mo.
Key features: 405M+ search-backed prompts across 6 AI platforms; zero-setup competitor benchmarking (search any brand instantly); top cited pages and domains analysis; custom prompt tracking; historical data from August 2024; Looker Studio connector and API/MCP access; bonus YouTube, Reddit, and TikTok brand visibility signals.
Pros:
- Largest prompt database (405M+) derived from real search queries — not a synthetic prompt set
- Zero setup — benchmark any competitor without an onboarding flow
- Six AI platforms plus social signals in one dashboard for teams already inside Ahrefs
Cons:
- AI tracking is an add-on on top of an existing Ahrefs plan — total cost can exceed $800–900/mo for full coverage
- AI chatbot data refreshes monthly, not daily — unsuitable as a primary monitoring tool for fast-moving categories
- Monitoring-only: no built-in AEO fix recommendations or content execution workflows
External rating: G2: 4.5/5 (702 reviews); Capterra: 4.7/5 (575 reviews) — these figures reflect the Ahrefs platform overall, not Brand Radar specifically.
Verdict: Ahrefs Brand Radar is the most data-rich benchmarking layer for teams already invested in Ahrefs, but the add-on cost and monthly refresh cycle limit its usefulness as a primary visibility tool.
7. Scrunch AI
Best for: Enterprise brands and agencies that need the broadest engine coverage, SOC 2 compliance, and the ability to serve AI-optimised content directly to LLM crawlers.
Pricing: Core $250/mo (4 LLMs, 125 prompts, 5 users); Agency Core $500/mo; Enterprise custom. 7-day free trial on Core.
Key features: Multi-LLM monitoring across up to 9 platforms on Enterprise; Agent Experience Platform (AXP) that serves AI-optimised content to LLM crawlers without modifying the human-facing site; site auditing; agent traffic analysis via CDN integration; SOC 2 Type II compliant with RBAC, SSO, and API access.
Pros:
- Broadest feature completeness in the market, covering all five major AEO pillars
- AXP is a genuine technical differentiator at the retrieval layer — no other self-serve platform offers it
- Strongest enterprise security credentials in the category: SOC 2 Type II, RBAC, SSO
Cons:
- Core plan covers only 4 LLMs — meaningful enterprise monitoring requires the custom Enterprise tier
- No general-purpose AI content generation as of June 2026
- A third-party reviewer scored actionable insights at 2/5, noting that optimisation features are still in beta
External rating: G2: 4.6/5 (72 reviews, June 2026).
Verdict: Scrunch AI is the most enterprise-complete platform in the category, with unique AXP technology, but self-serve buyers will hit its limits quickly at the $250/mo Core tier.
8. Knowatoa
Best for: B2B marketing teams and SEO consultants who want structured AI visibility tracking with dedicated account support and done-for-you content drafting at an accessible price.
Pricing: Starter $59/mo (30 questions, 3 engines, 7-day free trial, no credit card); Growth $199/mo (100 questions, 7 engines); Enterprise from $499/mo.
Key features: 7-engine tracking (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Perplexity) on Growth; proprietary BISCUIT Framework diagnosing why AI engines recommend competitors over you; AI Answer Snapshots with full cached responses and citation sources; done-for-you content drafting agents on Growth; daily data refreshes; dedicated account rep on all plans.
Pros:
- Dedicated account rep included at the $59/mo Starter tier — unusual at this price point
- Daily refreshes and the BISCUIT diagnostic framework on all plans
- Free AI visibility audit available with no sign-up required
Cons:
- Only 3 engines on Starter ($59/mo) — Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity require Growth ($199/mo)
- Question caps become a bottleneck for teams monitoring multiple brands or product lines
- No public third-party reviews on G2 or Capterra yet
External rating: No public G2/Capterra rating yet.
Verdict: Knowatoa’s BISCUIT Framework and included account rep make it a strong choice for teams that want diagnostic depth and hands-on support at a mid-market price.
How we ranked these
Decision guide
- Use Temso if you need monitoring + execution in one product and want a predictable total cost of ownership across all 8 major AI engines.
- Use Profound if your audience is the boardroom and the deliverable is a quarterly review with citation-level attribution.
- Use Otterly.AI if you want G2-validated prompt-level depth at a $29/mo entry and a structured GEO audit to go with it.
- Use Peec AI if you’re an agency running AI visibility as a billable line item and need unlimited seats without per-user cost escalation.
- Use AthenaHQ if you want the highest-rated product on G2 and an Action Center that gives you reasoned, prioritised recommendations.
- Use Ahrefs Brand Radar if you’re already an Ahrefs subscriber and want to layer AI benchmarking onto your existing SEO workflow.
- Use Scrunch AI if enterprise security requirements (SOC 2, RBAC, SSO) and the ability to serve AI-optimised content via AXP are non-negotiable.
- Use Knowatoa if you want a dedicated account rep, the BISCUIT diagnostic framework, and daily refreshes at a mid-market price.
What to read next
- Full tool ranking: /rankings/ai-visibility-tools
- For SaaS teams: /rankings/ai-visibility-tools/for/saas
- For ecommerce teams: /rankings/ai-visibility-tools/for/ecommerce
- For agencies: /rankings/ai-visibility-tools/for/agency
- Temso tool profile: /tools/temso
- Otterly.AI tool profile: /tools/otterly-ai
- AthenaHQ tool profile: /tools/athena-hq
- Peec AI tool profile: /tools/peec-ai
- Scrunch AI tool profile: /tools/scrunch
- Knowatoa tool profile: /tools/knowatoa
- Glossary: /glossary