AI visibility tracking costs between $0 and $400 a month for most teams in 2026, and enterprise platforms move to custom quotes. On the official pricing pages we checked on 3 October 2026, entry plans start around $17 to $30 a month, the mid-market sits between €79 and $99, and full platforms like Scrunch or Goodie start at $300 to $400. The price that matters is what you get per prompt, per engine and per week.
Buyers now ask AI assistants which tool to pick before they ever open Google, so brands started paying to see whether ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity recommend them or their competitors. The market grew fast, and so did the price confusion: several "AI visibility pricing" roundups still quote prices that no longer exist on the vendors' own pages. So we went back to the source.
Every price below was read on the vendor's official pricing page on 3 October 2026, in the currency the vendor shows. When a price is not public, we say so.
How much does AI visibility tracking cost in 2026?
Most teams pay between $29 and $99 a month for a first plan, and $189 to $400 once they need more prompts or engines. Above that, vendors switch to annual contracts and custom quotes.
| Tool | Entry plan | Prompts included | AI engines on the entry plan | Next tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AthenaHQ | Free (300 credits) | Credit based | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot | $295/mo |
| Rankscale | $17/mo billed yearly | Not stated | Not stated on entry plan | $99/mo |
| Otterly.AI | $29/mo ($25 billed annually) | 15 | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot | $189/mo |
| AI Peekaboo | From $30/mo | 40, run every 2 days | 3 models of your choice | Scales with usage |
| Knowatoa | $59/mo | Not stated | 7 engines incl. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, AI Overviews, AI Mode | $199/mo |
| LLMrefs | $79/mo ("limited time") | 500 | 8 engines incl. ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode, Claude | Not shown |
| Howseen | €79/mo (€63 billed annually) | 50, every 3 days | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode | Custom |
| Peec AI | About €85/mo* | 50, daily | 3 models of your choice | About €205/mo* |
| PromptWatch | $95/mo | 50 | 4 models | $245/mo |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99/mo add-on | 25 | Not stated on the toolkit page | Semrush One from $199/mo |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Ahrefs plan (from $129/mo) + AI add-on from $199/mo | Custom prompts from $50/mo extra | AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot | Prompt packs up to $250/mo |
| Scrunch | $300/mo ($250 billed annually) | 350 | 7 incl. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode | $500/mo |
| Goodie AI | $399/mo | 120 | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, AI Mode, Copilot | $999/mo |
| Profound | Custom (7-day free trial) | Trial: 50 | Trial: ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews | Enterprise, contact sales |
*Peec AI loads its prices with a script, so we could not read them on the official page; these figures come from recent third-party reviews. Check peec.ai/pricing before you decide.
What actually drives the price of an AI visibility tool?
Four things decide the bill: how many prompts you track, how many AI engines, how often they run, and what the tool does with the result.
- Prompts. A prompt is one buyer question the tool asks the AI engines, like "best CRM for startups". Entry plans range from 15 prompts (Otterly Lite) to 500 (LLMrefs). Fifteen prompts is enough to test the idea, rarely enough to cover a real buying journey.
- Engines. ChatGPT alone is not the market. Google AI Overviews and AI Mode sit on top of Google search, and Gemini and Perplexity each answer differently. Several entry plans let you pick only 3 or 4 engines, and some charge the others as add-ons (Otterly sells Gemini, AI Mode and Claude separately).
- Frequency. AI answers move from one week to the next, so a single snapshot is a rumor. Plans run daily (Peec, Profound's trial), every 2 days (AI Peekaboo) or every 3 days (Howseen). Daily runs cost more and mostly matter for large brands and fast-moving categories.
- What happens after the data. Most trackers stop at a dashboard. Some add a technical audit, an action plan, or write and publish content. That last part is where the work is, and where price differences start to make sense.
Which tool fits which budget?
Pick the band that matches who will act on the data, not the longest feature list.
Under $50 a month: test the waters. Otterly Lite ($29) or AI Peekaboo (from $30) show whether AI mentions you at all on a short list of prompts. AthenaHQ's free plan is another way to start. Good for a founder checking the problem exists.
$50 to $100 a month: track and act, for one brand. This is where most small businesses, SaaS founders and e-commerce brands land. Knowatoa ($59), LLMrefs ($79), Howseen (€79), Peec AI (about €85), PromptWatch ($95) and the Semrush toolkit ($99) all sit here, with different trade-offs:
- LLMrefs gives the most prompts for the money (500) at its current promotional price.
- Peec AI and PromptWatch run daily on 50 prompts, with a choice of models.
- Howseen covers the 5 surfaces buyers use on 50 prompts every 3 days, and includes a technical audit, an off-page action plan and 15 articles a month written from the pages AI already cites, published to your CMS.
$100 to $400 a month: more prompts, more brands. Otterly Standard ($189), PromptWatch Professional ($245), AthenaHQ Starter ($295), Scrunch ($300) and Goodie ($399) fit marketing teams tracking hundreds of prompts or several markets.
Custom: enterprise. Profound and the top tiers of most vendors move to annual contracts with SSO, more engines and dedicated support. For when you need it, see our guide to enterprise vs SMB AI visibility tools.
Is a cheap AI visibility tool enough?
A cheap tool is enough to confirm the problem, rarely enough to fix it. Tracking only shows the gap: which buyer questions you lose, and who AI recommends instead.
In our own tracking of Howseen on 50 buyer questions, across 5 engines, between 23 September and 2 October 2026, the brand was named in 0 of the 47 questions that don't contain its name. AI recommended Profound and Peec AI instead. On the money questions, it did not quote the vendors' sites at all: it quoted comparison and pricing pages written by others. That is the pattern a tracker reveals, and the reason we published this page.
What closes the gap is work outside the dashboard: getting listed on the pages AI already reads, and publishing pages that answer the exact question, in the shape AI likes to quote. If your plan stops at the chart, budget the time or the agency to do that part. If you want a free first look before paying anything, here is how to check if ChatGPT mentions your brand.
Red flags when comparing prices
- Old prices in roundups. Several popular comparison articles still list Profound at $499 a month or Semrush's AI tracking at $745. On 3 October 2026, Profound shows custom pricing only and Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit is a $99 add-on. Always check the vendor's page.
- Engines sold separately. A low entry price can exclude Gemini, AI Mode or Claude. Count the engines your buyers use before comparing.
- Prompt counts without frequency. 500 prompts run once a month and 50 prompts run every 3 days are not the same product.
- Seats. Some tools charge per user. Others (Otterly, Peec, Howseen, LLMrefs) include unlimited seats.
FAQ
How much does AI visibility tracking cost per month?
Entry plans start around $17 to $30 a month, the mid-market sits between €79 and $99, and full platforms start at $300 to $400. Enterprise tools like Profound use custom quotes. Prices checked on official pricing pages on 3 October 2026.
What is the cheapest AI visibility tracking tool?
AthenaHQ has a free plan, and Rankscale ($17/mo billed yearly), Otterly.AI ($29/mo) and AI Peekaboo (from $30/mo) are the cheapest paid entry plans. Check how many prompts and which AI engines each one includes before comparing.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Profound for small businesses?
Yes. Profound now uses custom pricing. Tools in the $50 to $100 range, like Knowatoa, LLMrefs, Howseen, Peec AI and PromptWatch, track 50 or more prompts across several AI engines for one brand.
Do I need daily AI visibility tracking?
Not always. AI answers change week to week, so a regular cadence matters more than daily runs for most small brands. Daily tracking makes sense for large brands, fast-moving categories and teams reporting weekly to clients.
Bottom line
For most teams, AI visibility tracking costs $29 to $99 a month to start. Compare on prompts, engines, frequency and what the tool does after the data, and check every price on the vendor's own page, because the market moves faster than the roundups.
Want to see where you stand before paying for anything? Run the free AI visibility scan: it shows which brands AI recommends instead of yours, in about 2 minutes.
