Short answer: Buy a tool if someone on your team will act on the dashboard. Otterly.AI starts at $29 a month, the cheapest option here. Peec AI suits marketing teams. Semrush or Ahrefs make sense if you already pay for them. For a business with one local location, look at BrightLocal, from $31 a month. Profound is built for big brands. If nobody has time to act on the numbers, you need a done-for-you service. We sell one, and it's marked clearly below.
What we tested
On October 28, 2026, we asked ChatGPT six questions about AI visibility tools, with web search on, from the United States. Five are the questions people search for most. The sixth asks about a small local business, the kind we work with. We recorded every brand ChatGPT named and every source it cited.
| What we asked | Named | Sources cited |
|---|---|---|
| What are the best AI visibility tools? | 6 tools | 5 "best tools" articles |
| Which platform excels in AI visibility metrics? | 5 tools | Comparison articles and the tools' own pages |
| Who are the best AI visibility service providers? | 5 agencies and 5 tools | Agency and tool round-ups |
| What generative engine optimization software do you recommend? | 5 tools | Buyer's guides and the tools' own pricing pages |
| What is the best AI visibility analytics for search optimization? | 5 tools | Comparison articles |
| What's the best AI visibility tool or service for a small local business? | 3 tools | BrightLocal's own pages and 2 round-ups |
What we found
1. Four brands came up in almost every answer
ChatGPT named Otterly.AI, Peec AI, Profound and Semrush in 5 of the 6 answers each. Ahrefs Brand Radar and Scrunch AI appeared in 3 each. Every other brand it named appeared once.
2. ChatGPT leans on "best tools" articles, including the vendors' own
All 6 answers drew on round-up articles. Several were written by companies selling the tools.
ChatGPT cited Semrush's own "best tools" lists in 3 answers and named Semrush in 5. For the local question, BrightLocal's own pages were the main source, and BrightLocal came first. The lesson from this test: AI reads and repeats honest comparison pages.
3. The small-business answer was completely different
Ask about a small local business and the list changes. Profound, Semrush, Peec and Ahrefs all dropped out. ChatGPT named BrightLocal, Local Falcon and Otterly.AI, tools that track results by location or cost less.
4. The agencies it named serve big companies
ChatGPT described iPullRank as a fit "for enterprise brands" and recommended Omniscient Digital and First Page Sage for B2B and software companies. None of the 6 answers named a service built for a small local business.
We weren't named either.
The options compared
We checked each published price on the company's own website on October 29, 2026. Profound and the agencies don't publish one.
| Option | Best for | Starting price | Who does the work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | Small teams on a budget | $29/month for 15 prompts ($25/month billed yearly) | You |
| Peec AI | Marketing teams and agencies | From €85/month for 50 prompts | You |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Teams already using Semrush | $99/month per domain, 25 prompts | You |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Teams already using Ahrefs | From $50/month for custom prompts; from $199/month for the full AI Visibility Index | You |
| Profound | Large brands | Free 7-day trial, then custom pricing | You |
| BrightLocal | Local businesses, tracked by location | From $31/month billed yearly ($41 billed monthly), AI tracking included | You |
| Agencies (iPullRank, First Page Sage and others) | Enterprise and B2B brands | Custom quote | The agency |
| Armitage (us) | Small businesses with no one to act on a dashboard | $495/month (report) or $995/month (report and fixes) | Us, with your approval |
A "prompt" is one question the tracking tool asks AI on your behalf, usually every day or week. Most tools charge by the number of prompts.
Each option in brief
Otterly.AI
At $29 a month, Otterly.AI is the cheapest of the well-known tools here. Lite covers 15 prompts on four AI tools, including ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews. Gemini and Google's AI Mode cost extra.
Best for: an owner or small team who wants to start tracking for little money. Not ideal if: 15 prompts aren't enough, or you need someone to make the fixes.
Peec AI
Peec AI is a dedicated tracking tool. Starter costs €85 a month for 50 prompts on 3 AI models of your choice.
Best for: marketing teams and agencies with time to work through the data. Not ideal if: you want to track more than 3 AI models on the cheapest plan, or you need someone to make the fixes.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
Semrush includes AI tracking inside its platform: 25 prompts and one domain for $99 a month. Each extra domain costs another $99.
Best for: teams already using Semrush for SEO. Not ideal if: you'd be buying Semrush only for this, or you track several brands.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
Ahrefs Brand Radar starts at $50 a month for tracking your own custom prompts. The full AI Visibility Index starts at $199 a month and draws on a large database of AI prompts.
Best for: SEO teams already using Ahrefs who want to research competitors. Not ideal if: you only need to track a few questions about one business.
Profound
ChatGPT pitched Profound at large brands. It offers a free 7-day trial, then a custom quote.
Best for: large brands with marketing teams. Not ideal if: you're a small business. ChatGPT left Profound out of its small-business answer.
BrightLocal
BrightLocal includes AI tracking on every plan: up to 20 prompts per location across ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Best for: local businesses that want AI tracking alongside rankings, reviews and listings. Not ideal if: you sell online rather than to a local area.
The agencies
ChatGPT named iPullRank, First Page Sage, Omniscient Digital, Siege Media and NoGood when we asked for service providers. It pitched them at enterprise brands and B2B companies. None of the five publish a price.
Best for: larger companies that want strategy, content and PR done for them. Not ideal if: you're a single-location business.
Tool or service: which do you need?
A tool such as Otterly.AI tells you where you stand. It doesn't make the fixes. Someone on your team still has to do the work.
Where Armitage fits
Disclosure: Armitage is our service, so weigh this section with that in mind. We're new. We're signing our first five clients now. ChatGPT didn't name us in any of the six answers above.
We built Armitage for the business owner who has no marketer and no agency budget. Each month, we check the questions your customers ask in ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews. You get a plain-English report showing whether you're named, whether you're linked, what AI says about you, and how you compare with competitors.
- Monitor, $495 a month: 20 customer questions and a comparison with up to 3 competitors.
- Improve, $995 a month: 40 questions, a prioritized list of fixes every month, and structured data set up on your website (or exact instructions for your web person).
Both plans are month to month. Our first five clients get 50% off their first 3 months. In return, we publish their before-and-after results.
If you have someone who'll act on a dashboard, a $29 tool will do more for less. We'd tell you that on a call. Don't take our word for Armitage's service. Run the free check and see your own results first.
See where you stand before you buy anything
Our free AI visibility check tests whether AI tools can read your website. Then it emails you a report showing what ChatGPT and Google's AI say when asked for a business like yours, including who they name.
What to ask before you buy
- Which AI tools does it check? ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews are the minimum.
- How many questions does it track, and do you choose them?
- Does it show which websites AI cites as sources? Those are where the fixes start.
- Can it compare you with your own competitors?
- Who makes the fixes?
- Does it promise rankings in AI answers? No one can promise that. Walk away.
New to AI visibility? Start with what AI visibility is and how to check yours, or see how to rank in ChatGPT.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best AI visibility tools?
ChatGPT named Otterly.AI, Peec AI, Profound and Semrush most often in our test, each in 5 of 6 answers. Otterly.AI is the cheapest at $29 a month. Peec AI suits marketing teams, Semrush suits existing Semrush users, and Profound suits large brands.
Which platform excels in AI visibility metrics?
For depth, ChatGPT pointed large brands to Profound. It recommended Semrush and Ahrefs for AI tracking inside an SEO suite. For a single local business, BrightLocal tracks visibility by location. Choose based on who will use the data.
Who are the best AI visibility service providers?
ChatGPT named iPullRank, First Page Sage, Omniscient Digital, Siege Media and NoGood, all aimed at enterprise or B2B companies. Small businesses without a marketer can use a done-for-you service such as Armitage, which runs month to month from $495.
What generative engine optimization software do you recommend?
Start with what you'll use. Otterly.AI is the low-cost entry at $29 a month. Peec AI is a dedicated tracker for marketing teams. Semrush adds GEO to an existing SEO workflow. Check that the software tracks your customers' real questions and shows which sources AI cites.
What is the best AI visibility analytics for search optimization?
If you already use Semrush or Ahrefs, their AI tools keep your SEO and AI data in one place. Otherwise, a dedicated tracker such as Peec AI or Otterly.AI costs less. Measure how often you're mentioned and linked, along with your share of voice against competitors.