SEO & AI Search

10 Best AEO Tools for AI Product in 2026 (Free and Paid, Compared)

Looking for the best AEO tool for AI product teams? We compared 10 tools on price, engine coverage and daily tracking, with prices checked October 31, 2026.

Shamim Mia, Founder, SerpAstraLast verified October 31, 202612 min read

We compare pricing pages, documentation and public reviews. We never accept payment for rankings.

Key takeaways

  • Peec AI ($95/month), PromptWatch ($95/month) and Otterly.AI ($29/month) are the short list for most AI product teams: daily tracking, real prompt data and no sales call to start.
  • AthenaHQ is the only tool here with a genuinely free plan — Essential tracks 5 AI engines with 300 credits a month — while Profound now sells to brands only as a custom Enterprise contract.
  • The single most important buying factor is engine coverage on the plan you actually buy: several tools charge extra for Claude, Gemini or Google AI Mode, and Semrush covers no Claude at all.
  • Entry prices run from $29 to $295 a month for self-serve plans, with Profound custom-priced and Nightwatch billed in euros (EUR 99/month).
  • Every price below was checked on the vendor's own pricing page on October 31, 2026. Ratings are G2 with review counts shown; three tools have no rating because their G2 pages could not be verified.
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Quick comparison

Starting prices checked October 31, 2026 on each vendor's pricing page. Nightwatch is priced in euros.
ToolBest forStarting priceFree plan
Peec AIAI product teams that want readable daily visibility reports across ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews$95/moNo (7-day trial)
PromptWatchAI product teams that want every engine — including Claude and coding agents — tracked from the cheapest plan$95/moNo (7-day trial)
Otterly.AISolo founders and small AI product teams that want the cheapest daily AI visibility check$29/moNo (free trial)
AthenaHQAI product teams that want to test real tracking free before paying, then act on the gapsFree / $295/moYes (free Essential)
Goodie AIFunded AI product teams that want monitoring, fixes and revenue attribution in one subscription$354/moNo (7-day trial)
ProfoundLarger AI product companies that want the deepest prompt data and agents that act on itCustomNo (7-day trial)
Scrunch AIMid-market AI product teams that want audits and AI-agent traffic data next to monitoring$250/moNo (7-day trial)
Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitAI product teams already paying for Semrush who want AI visibility next to their SEO data$99/mo per domainNo
Ahrefs Brand RadarAI product teams that want to research a whole category before tracking their own prompts$199/mo per indexNo
NightwatchSEO-led AI product teams that want rankings and AI citations in one report€99/moNo (14-day trial)

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The best aeo tools for ai products

#1

Peec AI

Best for: AI product teams that want readable daily visibility reports across ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews

4.7/5 on G2 (21 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit peec.ai
Starting price$95/month (Starter, billed monthly; $80/month billed annually)
Free planNo — 7-day free trial

Peec AI is the easiest dedicated tracker in this list to read. Starter tracks 50 prompts daily across three models you choose, and the dashboard turns the results into visibility, position and sentiment. Unlimited users are included, so the whole team sees the same numbers, and source analysis shows which domains and URLs the AI answers cite.

The limit is model choice. Starter covers three models, Perplexity costs extra and Claude sits on Enterprise, so a team that needs Claude from day one should look at PromptWatch instead. The 50-prompt cap also fills fast once you track several use cases. For a small AI product team, Peec AI is the best starting point here.

What we like

  • Daily tracking on every plan — 50 prompts on Starter, producing 4,500 AI answers a month
  • Unlimited users and shareable dashboards on every plan, so the whole product team reads the same numbers
  • Source analysis shows which domains and URLs AI answers cite, with ranked recommended actions
  • MCP server included on every plan, so visibility data flows into Claude or ChatGPT

Watch out for

  • Only 3 models on Starter — Perplexity costs extra and Claude is Enterprise-only
  • 50 prompts is tight once you track a product across several use cases and competitors
  • G2 reviewers note there is no page-level AEO readiness check on Starter
#2

PromptWatch

Best for: AI product teams that want every engine — including Claude and coding agents — tracked from the cheapest plan

4.6/5 on G2 (22 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit promptwatch.com
Starting price$95/month (Essential, billed monthly)
Free planNo — 7-day free trial

PromptWatch is the broadest tracker at this price. The $95 Essential plan tracks 50 prompts daily across every supported model — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, Copilot, Meta AI, DeepSeek and Mistral — plus coding agents. For a developer-facing AI product, that coverage shows whether the tools your buyers use are recommending you.

The crawler logs are the other reason to pick it. They show which AI agents visit your site and which visits turn into citations, so you can see the path from a read to a quote. The trade-off is scope: one seat and one project on Essential, and the content agents start on Professional.

What we like

  • All supported models on every plan, including Claude, Gemini, AI Mode, Meta AI, DeepSeek and coding agents Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode
  • Crawler logs show which AI agents read your pages and which of them end up cited
  • MCP and API access on Essential, so the data plugs into Claude or Cursor
  • Daily tracking on every plan with country-level tracking

Watch out for

  • Only 1 seat and 1 project on Essential, so a second product needs a higher tier
  • AEO articles start on Professional ($245/month) — Essential is monitoring only
  • G2 reviewers say the dashboard takes a few days to learn
#3

Otterly.AI

Best for: Solo founders and small AI product teams that want the cheapest daily AI visibility check

4.7/5 on G2 (54 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit otterly.ai
Starting price$29/month (Lite, billed monthly; $25/month billed annually)
Free planNo — free trial (no credit card required)

Otterly.AI is the cheapest honest start in this list. The $29 Lite plan tracks 15 prompts daily across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, with unlimited team members. The GEO Audit checks whether your pages are crawlable and citable by AI, with 1,000 checks a month on Lite.

Fifteen prompts is a small list, and that is the honest limit. A product with three use cases, five competitors and a handful of comparison questions will fill it in the first week. Claude, Gemini and AI Mode are also paid add-ons. Start here, and move up when the prompt list outgrows Lite.

What we like

  • Cheapest entry here at $29/month, with daily tracking on every plan
  • GEO Audit checks whether your pages are crawlable and citable by AI, with 1,000 checks a month on Lite
  • Unlimited team members on every plan
  • Brand Visibility Index and sentiment analysis included from Lite

Watch out for

  • Only 15 prompts on Lite — a real product with several use cases outgrows it fast
  • Claude, Gemini and Google AI Mode are paid add-ons on every plan ($9/month each on Lite for AI Mode and Gemini, $29 for Claude)
  • No API or MCP access below Standard ($189/month)
#4

AthenaHQ

Best for: AI product teams that want to test real tracking free before paying, then act on the gaps

4.9/5 on G2 (39 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit athenahq.ai
Starting price$295/month (Starter, billed monthly; $245/month billed annually)
Free planYes — free Essential plan (300 credits a month, 5 models)

AthenaHQ is the only tool in this list you can use for free without a time limit. Essential tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot with 300 credits a month — enough for a real baseline before spending anything. Starter moves to $295 a month for 3,600 credits across 11 models, including Claude and Grok, with unlimited seats.

What sets it apart is the action layer. Instead of stopping at a visibility score, it gives GEO actions, a content optimization agent and an Oracle engine that flags inaccurate claims AI makes about your brand. The catch is credit metering: one credit equals one AI response, so costs rise with every prompt and model you add.

What we like

  • The only genuine free tier here: Essential tracks 5 models with 300 credits a month and no time limit
  • Starter covers 11 models including Claude, Grok and Meta AI, with unlimited seats
  • Goes beyond monitoring — on-page and off-page GEO actions, a content optimization agent and hallucination detection (Oracle)
  • GA4 and Search Console integrations tie AI visibility to site traffic

Watch out for

  • Credit metering (1 credit = 1 AI response) makes costs hard to predict as prompt lists grow
  • API access and extra credits are paid add-ons on top of Starter
  • The jump from free to $295/month is steep for a small team
#5

Goodie AI

Best for: Funded AI product teams that want monitoring, fixes and revenue attribution in one subscription

4.9/5 on G2 (10 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit higoodie.com
Starting price$354/month (Core, billed monthly; $295/month billed annually)
Free planNo — 7-day free trial

Goodie AI is the only tool here that closes the loop in one subscription. Core tracks 110 prompts daily across five engines, then its agents research the gaps, write or optimize content, fix technical signals and run outreach — and revenue attribution ties the result back to money, including zero-click traffic Google Analytics cannot see.

Brand Command is the feature built for AI products: it checks every claim an AI engine makes about your product against the facts you set, so a wrong price, feature or comparison gets flagged instead of repeated. The barrier is price — $295 a month is three times the cheapest trackers — and 50 action credits a month means picking your battles.

What we like

  • Full closed loop: prompt research, monitoring, optimization agents and revenue attribution in every plan, not just a dashboard
  • Brand Command checks every claim AI makes about your product against facts you set
  • Unlimited seats on every plan, with an AEO strategist on hand
  • Agent analytics show which AI bots visit your site and what they read

Watch out for

  • $295/month entry is three times the cheapest dedicated trackers here
  • Only 110 prompts and 50 action credits a month on Core — heavy users hit the cap fast
  • Only 10 G2 reviews so far, so the 4.9 score rests on a small base
#6

Profound

Best for: Larger AI product companies that want the deepest prompt data and agents that act on it

4.5/5 on G2 (1,133 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit tryprofound.com
Starting priceCustom quote (Enterprise; free 7-day trial)
Free planNo — 7-day free trial (50 prompts daily, 3 engines)

Profound is the benchmark this category is measured against. It holds the largest review base in this list — 1,133 G2 reviews — and a prompt dataset of 1.5 billion prompts and responses. The AI Marketer layer turns the data into work: agents that draft content, run outreach and report.

The buying process changed in September 2026, and buyers should know it. The old $99 Starter and $399 Growth plans are gone; brands now get a free 7-day trial and then a custom Enterprise quote. That makes Profound right for a larger AI company with budget, and wrong for a small team that wants a self-serve subscription.

What we like

  • Largest review base here — 1,133 G2 reviews at 4.5/5 — and a prompt dataset of 1.5 billion prompts and responses, per its G2 profile
  • AI Marketer agents turn visibility data into content, outreach and reporting work
  • Up to 9 answer engines on Enterprise, including Claude, DeepSeek and Copilot
  • Agent Analytics tracks AI-sourced traffic and attribution across your domains

Watch out for

  • No self-serve paid plan for brands since September 2026 — ongoing tracking needs a custom Enterprise quote after the trial
  • The free trial covers only 3 engines and keeps no history or exports
  • Agent work runs on credits, so heavy agent use adds variable cost on top of the contract
#7

Scrunch AI

Best for: Mid-market AI product teams that want audits and AI-agent traffic data next to monitoring

Visit scrunch.com
Starting price$250/month (Core)
Free planNo — 7-day free trial (no credit card required)

Scrunch AI pairs monitoring with the two things most trackers skip: site audits and agent traffic. Core includes five site audits a month, so you can see which pages AI crawlers struggle with alongside the visibility numbers, and it tracks AI agent and bot traffic to your site. On Enterprise, its Agent Experience Platform serves AI-optimized versions of your pages to bots.

The refresh cadence is the honest limitation. New prompts run daily for their first 14 days, then every 72 hours by default, so a change in how AI answers about your product can take three days to show up. Core also covers only four engines — Claude, Gemini, AI Mode, Meta and Grok need Enterprise.

What we like

  • Site audits (5 a month on Core) show which pages AI crawlers struggle with, next to the visibility data
  • Agent Experience Platform on Enterprise serves AI-optimized versions of your pages to AI bots
  • Sentiment analysis and citation and source tracking on every plan
  • Acquired by Sitecore in June 2026, so the roadmap now ties into a major digital experience platform

Watch out for

  • New prompts run daily for 14 days, then every 72 hours by default — slower than the daily trackers here
  • Core covers only 4 engines; Claude, Gemini, AI Mode, Meta and Grok need Enterprise
  • No free plan, and the $250 floor is the second-highest self-serve entry here
#8

Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit

Best for: AI product teams already paying for Semrush who want AI visibility next to their SEO data

Visit semrush.com
Starting price$99/month per domain (Base; same on monthly and annual billing)
Free planNo — no free trial

The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit is the path of least resistance for teams already inside Semrush. Base costs $99 a month per domain and tracks 25 custom prompts daily across ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity, with prompt research, competitor analysis and an AI-readiness audit of 100 pages. The AI numbers sit next to the keyword, backlink and audit data your team already reads.

The allowance is the smallest in this list, and that is the trade-off to price before you buy. Twenty-five prompts covers one product's core questions, but a product with several use cases needs the $60 add-on for 50 more, and each extra domain is another $99 a month. There is also no Claude, Grok or Copilot coverage.

What we like

  • Sits inside Semrush, so AI visibility appears next to keyword, backlink and audit data with no new login
  • Prompt research and AI competitor analysis are included from Base, so you can find the questions buyers ask before you track them
  • AI-readiness site audit flags what stops AI crawlers reading your pages
  • $99/month per domain with no annual-billing premium — the same price either way

Watch out for

  • Only 25 prompts a day — the smallest allowance here — and 50 more cost $60/month
  • No Claude, Grok or Copilot coverage; Perplexity appears only in weekly brand reports
  • Each extra domain is another $99/month, so multi-product companies pay per product
#9

Ahrefs Brand Radar

Best for: AI product teams that want to research a whole category before tracking their own prompts

Visit ahrefs.com
Starting price$199/month (AI Visibility Index, per platform; custom prompt packages from $50/month)
Free planNo — no free trial (Ahrefs Free covers Site Explorer and Site Audit only)

Ahrefs Brand Radar takes a different approach from every other tool here: it starts with a database instead of your prompt list. The AI Visibility Index covers more than 519 million prompts, so you can look up how any brand or category is answered before tracking a single prompt of your own.

That research-first design is also the cost trap. The index is $199 a month per platform, so covering all six costs $699 a month, and it buys pre-collected data — your own tracked prompts are a separate package from $50 a month. Brand Radar is right when category research comes first; for day-to-day tracking, the dedicated trackers cost less.

What we like

  • AI Visibility Index covers 519 million-plus prompts, so you can research any brand or category without building a prompt list first
  • Visibility is weighted by prompt demand, so high-volume questions count more than rare ones
  • Custom prompts check daily on the platforms you select, including Claude
  • AI data sits next to Ahrefs' backlink and keyword data in the same project

Watch out for

  • The index is $199/month per platform — $699/month for all of them — and it buys pre-collected data, not your own tracked prompts
  • No free trial and no free tier for Brand Radar
  • The $199 index covers one platform only, so full multi-engine coverage costs $699/month
#10

Nightwatch

Best for: SEO-led AI product teams that want rankings and AI citations in one report

4.7/5 on G2 (64 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit nightwatch.io
Starting price€99/month (Starter, billed monthly; €79/month billed annually)
Free planNo — 14-day free trial (no credit card required)

Nightwatch is the only tool here that ties the two halves of search together. Its Citation Intelligence links each ranking change to the AI citations behind it, so when your product gains or loses a mention in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity, you can see which ranking moved with it. Starter tracks 500 keywords daily plus 50 AI prompts, with unlimited seats.

It is a rank tracker first, and the AI side shows it: 50 prompts is a small allowance next to the dedicated trackers, and white-label reports and API access sit on higher tiers. Prices are in euros, so US buyers should check the conversion. Pick Nightwatch when your team already lives in rank data.

What we like

  • Citation Intelligence links each ranking change to the AI citations behind it, across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity
  • Unlimited seats with no per-user fees on every plan
  • Tracks 500 keywords daily plus 50 AI prompts from €79/month billed annually
  • SEO MCP server on every plan, so Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT can query live rankings

Watch out for

  • Priced in euros, so US buyers pay the conversion on top of the listed price
  • 50 AI prompts is tight for a product with several use cases
  • White-label reports and API access are not on the Starter plan

Finding the best AEO tool for AI product teams is a different job from buying SEO software. You are tracking whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude mention your product when a buyer asks for a recommendation. Every price below was checked on the vendor's own pricing page on October 31, 2026.

What an AEO tool actually does

An AEO tool runs a set of prompts against AI engines on a schedule, then records whether your brand is mentioned, cited or recommended in the answers. You write the questions your buyers ask, and the tool asks them on a schedule across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google's AI features. That is the whole job: a repeatable read on whether AI assistants are sending buyers your way.

One number shows the scale of the data behind these tools: Ahrefs says its Brand Radar AI Visibility Index covers more than 519 million prompts, so you can research a whole category without writing a single prompt of your own. Our guide to what AEO is explains how answer engines decide what to cite.

What an AEO tool cannot do is make an assistant recommend you. It shows where you appear and what changed — the fixing is content, PR and product work. Visibility scores are trends: AI answers change with prompt wording, location and model version.

Dedicated trackers for AI product teams

Peec AI, PromptWatch, Otterly.AI and AthenaHQ all sell tracking as the product itself — no suite attached, no sales call to start — and all four update daily on their entry plans. The differences are price, engine breadth and action layers.

Peec AI is the most readable, with the clearest reports and unlimited users. PromptWatch is the broadest, tracking every model including Claude and the coding agents from $95. Otterly.AI is the cheapest way in at $29 a month, with a GEO Audit that checks whether AI can read your pages. AthenaHQ is the only one with a genuinely free plan, and the only one whose paid plan pairs tracking with actions.

Full-loop platforms that also do the fixing

Some teams do not want another dashboard; they want the work done. Goodie AI, Profound and Scrunch AI all go past monitoring into actions: content agents, audits and outreach. Goodie AI is the most complete version at a published price — $354 a month buys the research, the monitoring, the fixes and the revenue attribution in one subscription.

Profound is the deepest and the most reviewed, but also the hardest to buy: since September 2026, brands get a free 7-day trial and then a custom Enterprise quote. Scrunch AI sits in the middle at $250 a month, with site audits and an Agent Experience Platform — but its prompts slow to a 72-hour cadence after the first 14 days.

Suite add-ons for teams already paying for SEO software

If you already pay for Semrush or Ahrefs, check their AI module before buying a separate tracker. The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit costs $99 a month per domain and sits next to the keyword, backlink and audit data your team already reads. Ahrefs Brand Radar starts at $199 a month per platform for its prompt index, or $50 a month for custom prompts.

Nightwatch is the most interesting of the three for an AI product company that also does SEO: its Citation Intelligence links each ranking change to the AI citations behind it. The catch is the same for every suite add-on — the pricing multiplies, with Semrush charging per domain and Ahrefs per index.

Bar chart of starting prices billed monthly: Otterly.AI $29, Peec AI and PromptWatch $95, Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit $99, Ahrefs Brand Radar $199, Scrunch AI $250, Goodie AI $354 and AthenaHQ $295
Starting prices, billed monthly. Profound is custom-priced and Nightwatch bills in euros, so neither appears here.

AI visibility: engines, prompts and refresh speed

Three details decide whether a tool fits your product. The first is engine coverage. PromptWatch tracks every supported model on its cheapest plan, including Claude, and AthenaHQ covers 11 on Starter. Peec AI covers three on Starter, with Perplexity as a paid extra and Claude on Enterprise only. Otterly.AI charges extra for Claude, Gemini and AI Mode on every plan, and Semrush has no Claude, Grok or Copilot coverage.

The second is how usage is counted. Peec AI, PromptWatch and Otterly.AI count prompts. Ahrefs counts checks — one prompt on one platform in one location is one check. AthenaHQ counts credits, where one credit equals one AI response. Compare the monthly allowance for your actual prompt list, not the headline number.

The third is refresh speed. Most tools here update daily, but Scrunch AI runs new prompts daily for 14 days and then every 72 hours by default. For the full picture, read our guide to getting cited in ChatGPT.

Matrix showing what each entry plan includes: daily updates, free plan, AI visibility and white-label reporting
What the entry plan includes, checked October 31, 2026. A dash means not included on the entry plan.

Quick comparison: tool type by need

BuyerBest pickWhy
Small AI product team, first trackerPeec AI$95/month, daily tracking, readable reports
Developer-facing AI productPromptWatchAll models including Claude from $95/month
Tightest budgetOtterly.AI$29/month, daily tracking, 4 engines
Want to try before payingAthenaHQFree Essential plan, 300 credits a month
Want the fixes done tooGoodie AIMonitoring, actions and revenue attribution, $354/month (billed monthly; $295 billed annually)
Already pay for SemrushSemrush AI Visibility Toolkit$99/month per domain
Researching a whole categoryAhrefs Brand Radar519M-prompt index, $199/month per platform
Rankings plus AI citations togetherNightwatchCitation Intelligence links rankings to citations, €99/month

How to choose the best AEO tool for AI product teams

  1. List your buyer questions first. Write the 20–50 questions your buyers actually ask AI assistants — comparisons, "best tool for X" queries, alternatives to competitors.
  2. Check which engines are on the plan you will buy. Claude, Gemini and Google AI Mode are often paid extras, and Semrush covers no Claude at all.
  3. Count prompts honestly. A product with three use cases, five competitors and a handful of comparison questions needs more than 15 or 25 prompts.
  4. Decide whether you need actions or just measurement. If someone in-house will do the content and PR work, a tracker is enough. If no one owns the follow-up, pay for a full-loop platform like Goodie AI or AthenaHQ.
  5. Trial your real prompt list for a week. Every tool here except Semrush and Ahrefs offers a free plan or trial. Run your actual questions and compare the numbers against what you see when you ask the assistants yourself.

Before you pay, check that AI crawlers can reach your product pages — the free AI crawler robots.txt generator shows whether your robots.txt lets the AI bots in. Our best AI SEO tools guide covers the wider category.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Buying on the headline price without checking the engines. Claude, Gemini and Google AI Mode are paid extras at Peec AI and Otterly.AI, and absent at Semrush.
  • Comparing prompt counts across tools. A prompt, a check and a credit are different units. Compare the monthly allowance for your list, not the number on the pricing page.
  • Ignoring refresh speed. Scrunch AI slows to every 72 hours after the first 14 days.
  • Forgetting the multipliers. Semrush charges $99 a month per domain and Ahrefs $199 a month per index, so several products cost several times the headline price.
  • Trusting a directory price. Several directories still list Profound's old $99 Starter and $399 Growth plans. The live page shows a free trial and custom Enterprise pricing only.

How we chose

We checked each vendor's own pricing page on October 31, 2026 and recorded the starting price exactly as shown, including annual-billing figures where listed. Ratings come from G2 pages opened the same day; Scrunch AI has no rating because G2 lists a different product under that name, and Semrush and Ahrefs have none because their G2 review counts could not be verified. We ranked the tools by fit for an AI product company, not by brand size. No vendor paid for a place in this list.

What to do next

Start with the decision path above: list your buyer questions, check the engines, and count the prompts honestly. Then take the free plan or trial of your top pick — AthenaHQ's free Essential plan or the 7-day trials at Peec AI, PromptWatch and Otterly.AI — and run your real questions. If the numbers match what you see when you ask the assistants yourself, you have your tool. If you'd rather have a team run the whole program, our AI search optimization service covers it in one engagement. If you'd rather have this set up and read for you, request a free SEO + AI visibility audit and get a ranked fix list in 2 business days.

Rather not run the tools yourself?

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Sources we checked (17)
Shamim

Shamim

Founder of SerpAstra

A full-stack SEO and digital marketer who spends most days on Local SEO for dental practices, AI search visibility and lead generation.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best AEO tool for an AI product?

Peec AI is the best fit for most AI product teams: $95 a month, daily tracking, readable reports and source-level citation analysis. If you need Claude tracked from the cheapest plan, PromptWatch costs the same $95 and covers every model. Otterly.AI is the cheapest start at $29 a month, and AthenaHQ is the only one with a free plan.

How much does an AEO tool cost?

Self-serve plans run from $29 a month (Otterly.AI Lite) to $354 a month (Goodie AI Core, billed monthly). Profound is custom-priced for brands, and Nightwatch bills in euros at EUR 99 a month. The headline price is rarely the full cost: extra engines, extra prompts and extra domains all add up, so price the plan you will actually use.

Is there a free AEO tool?

AthenaHQ has the only genuinely free plan in this list: Essential tracks 5 AI engines with 300 credits a month and no time limit. The other tools offer trials instead — 7 days at Peec AI, PromptWatch, Goodie AI and Profound, and 14 days at Nightwatch. Semrush and Ahrefs offer no free trial for their AI visibility products.

Which AI engines should an AEO tool track?

At minimum ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, since those are where buyers ask for product recommendations today. Claude matters for developer-facing AI products, and Google AI Mode is becoming a primary search interface. Check which engines are included on the plan you buy: several tools charge extra for Claude, Gemini or AI Mode.

What is the difference between an AEO tool and an SEO tool?

An SEO tool tracks where your pages rank in Google and what links to them. An AEO tool tracks whether AI assistants mention, cite or recommend your product when buyers ask questions, and which sources the answers draw on. The two overlap — Nightwatch and the Semrush and Ahrefs add-ons do both — but only an AEO tool watches the answers themselves.

Can an AEO tool make ChatGPT recommend my product?

No. An AEO tool cannot make an AI assistant recommend you; it shows where you appear, which sources the answers cite and what changed. Getting recommended takes product, content and PR work: pages AI can read and cite, third-party coverage, reviews and comparisons. Tools like Goodie AI and AthenaHQ include action layers that do some of that work for you.

Do I need daily tracking or is weekly enough?

Daily if you are actively working on AI visibility — publishing, pitching or fixing pages — because AI answers change fast and you need to see what moved. Weekly is enough once the program is stable and you only check the trend. Most tools here update daily; Scrunch is the exception, slowing to every 72 hours after the first 14 days.

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