10 Best Generative Engine Optimization Tools in 2026, Compared
10 best generative engine optimization tools compared on price, prompt limits and engines. Prices checked on vendor pages, November 1, 2026.
We compare pricing pages, documentation and public reviews. We never accept payment for rankings.

Key takeaways
- Peec AI is the best dedicated starting point at $95/month; SE Ranking is the best suite value at $129/month; Otterly.AI is the cheapest way in at $29/month.
- Entry prices run from $29 to $354 a month, plus one custom-quote enterprise tool — and the cheapest plan is rarely the cheapest tracking once prompts and models are counted.
- The single most important buying factor is what counts as a prompt: one prompt tracked across three models every day costs three times the prompt count, not once.
- Only AthenaHQ has a free plan; every other tool offers a trial or nothing at all. Ratings below are G2 scores with review counts, checked November 1, 2026.
On this page
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peec AI | Marketing teams and small agencies that want daily AI visibility tracking with source-level detail | $95/mo | No (free trial) |
| SE Ranking | Small teams that want GEO tracking inside a full SEO suite instead of a second subscription | $103.20/mo (annual) | No (14-day trial) |
| Scrunch | B2B teams that want prompt-level AI visibility plus site audits and AI agent-traffic data | $250/mo | No (free audit) |
| Goodie AI | Brands that want the tool to act on visibility gaps, not just report them | $295/mo (annual) | No |
| Otterly.AI | Solo marketers and small teams trying GEO on the smallest budget | $25/mo (annual) | No (7-day trial) |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Teams already paying for Semrush who want AI mentions beside their SEO data | $99/mo (annual) | No |
| Profound | Larger brands and agencies that need the deepest prompt data and agent workflows | Custom | No (7-day trial) |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | SEO teams already on Ahrefs who want AI mentions inside their existing toolkit | $129/mo | Yes (no Brand Radar) |
| Nightwatch | Small agencies that want rank tracking plus AI citation tracking in one login | €79/mo (annual) | No (14-day trial) |
| AthenaHQ | Growth teams that want AI agents to act on visibility gaps, and a free plan to start | $295/mo | Yes (free plan) |
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Request a listingThe best generative engine optimization tools
Peec AI
Best for: Marketing teams and small agencies that want daily AI visibility tracking with source-level detail
Peec AI is the dedicated tracker most small teams should start with, because the $95 Starter plan does not feel like a starter plan: 50 prompts tracked daily across three models of your choice, unlimited users, and source analytics that classify every citation as editorial, competitor, reference or user-generated content. Setup is self-serve, and the dashboard shows visibility, position and sentiment against competitors.
The limits are the model count and the prompt cap. Starter covers three models, and Claude, Grok and DeepSeek sit on the custom Enterprise plan, so teams that need the full model range will pay more. Fifty prompts covers one brand in one country; multi-country tracking starts on Pro at $245 a month. If your brand, your prompts and your models fit inside those limits, Peec AI is the cheapest way to get serious daily GEO data.
What we like
- Daily tracking with unlimited users on every plan, from the $95/month Starter
- Source analytics classify every citation as editorial, competitor, reference or UGC
- MCP server included on paid plans, so AI assistants can query your visibility data
- Prompt suggestions, fact-checking and recommended actions included from Starter
Watch out for
- Starter lets you pick only 3 models; Claude, Grok and DeepSeek are Enterprise-only
- 50 prompts covers one brand in one country — multi-country tracking needs Pro ($245/month)
- No white-label reporting on the brand plans; agencies buy separate credit pools
SE Ranking
Best for: Small teams that want GEO tracking inside a full SEO suite instead of a second subscription
SE Ranking is the value pick in this list because the Core plan bundles GEO tracking into a full SEO suite: 2,000 keywords tracked daily, site audits, backlink research and AI visibility across five engines, all from $103.20 a month billed annually. Brand mention tracking shows which prompts mention you and which ones surface competitors instead, so the GEO data sits next to the rank data it explains.
The catch is the AI prompt allowance. Core covers 25 prompts a day, which is enough for one brand's core questions but not for tracking a whole category or several clients. White-label reports need the $69-a-month Agency Pack add-on. Buy SE Ranking when you want one subscription for SEO and GEO together; buy a dedicated tracker when prompt volume is the job.
What we like
- AI visibility across 5 engines sits inside the same $103.20/month plan as rank tracking and audits
- 2,000 keywords tracked daily, 10 projects and a 250,000-page site audit allowance on Core
- Brand mention tracking shows which prompts mention you and which surface competitors
- Lowest cost per tracked prompt here once the full suite is counted
Watch out for
- AI visibility is capped at 25 prompts a day on Core — heavy GEO work needs a higher plan
- White-label reports need the $69/month Agency Pack add-on, not included on Core
- Some G2 reviewers report minor discrepancies in rank data and search-volume estimates
Scrunch
Best for: B2B teams that want prompt-level AI visibility plus site audits and AI agent-traffic data
Scrunch is built for teams that treat AI visibility as a pipeline, not a score. Core tracks 125 unique prompts across four large language models, collects 5,000 responses a month, and pairs the prompt data with citation analysis, site audits and AI agent-traffic monitoring. The insights feed reads like a work list: pages AI crawlers cannot reach, topics gaining demand, and prompts your competitors win.
Two honest limits. There is no free plan and no free trial — the free AI audit is the only way to see your baseline before paying — and the four-model Core plan excludes AI Mode, Claude, Gemini and Grok, which are Enterprise-only. One brand workspace and one country come with Core, so multi-brand agencies will need the custom plan. For a single B2B brand, it is the most complete $250 in this list.
What we like
- 125 unique prompts and 5,000 responses a month with citation and source analysis on Core
- Site audits and AI agent-traffic monitoring are built in, not a second product
- Query fan-out and AI Search Trends show which topics are gaining demand
- Free AI audit gives a visibility baseline before you pay anything
Watch out for
- No free plan and no free trial — entry is $250/month, and the page lists no annual discount
- AI Mode, Claude, Gemini and Grok are Enterprise-only; Core covers 4 LLMs
- Only 1 brand workspace and 1 country on Core, so multi-brand work needs Enterprise
Goodie AI
Best for: Brands that want the tool to act on visibility gaps, not just report them
Goodie AI is the only tool here that closes the loop between measuring and fixing. Core tracks 110 prompts a day across the major answer engines, then its agents research the gaps, write or optimize the content, fix technical signals and run outreach — and the revenue attribution report connects AI visibility to traffic that analytics tools cannot see. Brand Command checks every claim AI makes about you against facts you set.
The price is the barrier. Core costs $354 a month on monthly billing, the highest entry here, and 110 prompts is a small allowance for that money — Pro is $999 a month. There is no free plan or trial, and Core support is email-only. Goodie AI fits brands that already believe AI search drives revenue and want agents working the problem, not another dashboard.
What we like
- Full closed loop: prompt research, citation analysis and agents that write, optimize and fix pages
- Brand Command checks every claim AI makes about you against facts you set
- Revenue attribution connects AI visibility to traffic the analytics tools cannot see
- Daily tracking with unlimited seats on every plan
Watch out for
- Core is $354/month on monthly billing — the highest self-serve entry price here
- 110 prompts on Core is a small allowance for the price; Pro is $999/month
- No free plan or trial; support on Core is email-only with a 30-minute onboarding call
Otterly.AI
Best for: Solo marketers and small teams trying GEO on the smallest budget
Otterly.AI is the cheapest dedicated GEO tool in this list, and the Lite plan is honest about what it is: 15 search prompts tracked daily across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot, with brand visibility, sentiment and citation tracking, plus a GEO audit of your pages. Unlimited team members, brands and competitors come with every plan, so a small team never pays per seat.
Fifteen prompts is a small allowance, and the next step is big: Standard jumps to $189 a month. Claude, Google AI Mode and Gemini are paid add-ons on every plan, and Lite includes only three recommendations a week and one workspace. Otterly.AI is the right first GEO tool for a solo marketer testing whether AI answers matter — and the wrong tool once the prompt list grows past a dozen.
What we like
- Cheapest dedicated GEO tool here: $29/month for 15 prompts with daily tracking
- Tracks 4 engines on Lite — ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot
- Unlimited team members, brands and competitors even on the entry plan
- Built-in GEO audit, prompt research tool and 1,000 GEO URL audits a month on Lite
Watch out for
- Lite covers only 15 prompts — the smallest allowance here — and Standard jumps to $189/month
- Claude, Google AI Mode and Gemini are paid add-ons, not included on Lite
- Only 3 recommendations a week and 1 workspace on Lite
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
Best for: Teams already paying for Semrush who want AI mentions beside their SEO data
The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit makes sense for one buyer only: a team already paying for Semrush. It adds AI mentions, sentiment and share of voice across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews to the dashboard that already holds Position Tracking, keyword research and site audits. Base covers 25 prompts per domain, tracked daily, with competitor comparison built in.
The pricing catch is that the toolkit is an add-on. Base costs $99 a month per domain billed annually, but it sits on top of a Semrush plan that starts at $139.95 a month — so the real entry cost is about $239 a month before any discount. White-label reports are paid add-ons too. If you do not already pay for Semrush, Peec AI or SE Ranking give you GEO tracking for less.
What we like
- AI mentions, sentiment and share of voice tracked across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews
- Sits inside the Semrush dashboard teams already open, beside Position Tracking and keyword data
- Daily tracking with competitor comparison per domain
- Draws on Semrush's 27-billion-plus keyword database for prompt research
Watch out for
- The toolkit is an add-on: it sits on top of a Semrush plan from $139.95/month, so the real entry cost is higher
- Base covers 25 prompts per domain — small coverage for the combined price
- White-label reports are paid add-ons, not included with the toolkit
Profound
Best for: Larger brands and agencies that need the deepest prompt data and agent workflows
Profound is the best-known name in GEO, and its reviewer base shows it: 1,133 G2 reviews, more than any dedicated tool here. Its prompt dataset holds 1.5 billion answer-engine prompts drawn from real user conversations, and its agents turn visibility data into content, accuracy checks and outreach. Citation analysis shows exactly which domains and URLs the AI engines quote in answers to your buyers.
The price is the whole story for smaller buyers. The $99 Starter and $399 Growth plans were removed in 2026, so the live pricing page shows only a free 7-day trial and custom Enterprise pricing — agencies can ask about an Agency Growth plan, but it is not listed on the brand page. G2 reviewers call Profound expensive and note a learning curve. It fits larger brands that need depth and can pay for it.
What we like
- Largest reviewer base here (1,133 G2 reviews) and the most-cited dedicated GEO platform
- Prompt dataset of 1.5 billion answer-engine prompts drawn from real user conversations
- Agents that build content, check accuracy and run outreach from your visibility data
- Citation analysis shows exactly which domains and URLs the AI engines quote
Watch out for
- No published price — Enterprise is custom quote only, and self-serve plans were removed in 2026
- G2 reviewers call it expensive and note a learning curve before the dashboards feel natural
- No free plan; the free 7-day trial is the only way to test it before a sales conversation
Ahrefs Brand Radar
Best for: SEO teams already on Ahrefs who want AI mentions inside their existing toolkit
Ahrefs Brand Radar brings AI visibility into the SEO toolkit teams open every day. Lite at $129 a month includes five tracked AI prompts and 150 checks a month across seven platforms — AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Claude — and the data sits beside Site Explorer and Keywords Explorer, so a citation gap can be checked against the backlinks behind it.
The allowance is the limit. Five prompts and 150 checks cover a first look, not a program: ten prompts across six assistants daily would need roughly 1,800 checks a month, and extra prompt packages start at $50 a month. The full AI Visibility Index is a separate $199 a month per platform. Brand Radar fits teams already paying for Ahrefs; as a first GEO tool, the dedicated trackers give you more prompts for less.
What we like
- Custom prompts included from Lite: 5 prompts and 150 checks a month across 7 AI platforms
- AI Visibility Index draws on hundreds of millions of monthly prompts from real search behavior
- Sits on one of the largest backlink indexes and a 110-billion-keyword database
- API and MCP access from Lite, so prompt data flows into your own reporting
Watch out for
- Lite includes only 5 tracked prompts and 150 checks a month — real tracking needs $50/month prompt packages
- The full AI Visibility Index is a separate $199/month per platform ($699 for all platforms)
- No free trial, and the $29 Starter plan has no Brand Radar access at all
Nightwatch
Best for: Small agencies that want rank tracking plus AI citation tracking in one login
Nightwatch is the team pick in this list: unlimited seats come with every plan, and Starter pairs daily rank tracking for 500 keywords with Citation Intelligence, which links each ranking change to the AI citations behind it in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. Local tracking goes down to ZIP-code level across 107,000-plus locations, and the same subscription includes a site audit, backlink monitoring and keyword research.
The pricing curve needs attention. Starter costs €79 a month billed annually, but the jump to 7,500 keywords costs €499 a month, so a growing agency should price the next tier before committing. White-label reports start on Professional, not Starter, and keyword-research runs are capped at 100 a month. Nightwatch is priced in euros, which US buyers should note. Pick it when seats and AI citations matter more than raw keyword volume.
What we like
- Unlimited seats on every plan, with daily rank tracking for 500 keywords on Starter
- Citation Intelligence links each ranking change to AI citations in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity
- ZIP-code-level local tracking across 107,000+ locations in 190+ countries
- Site audit, backlink monitoring and keyword research in the same subscription
Watch out for
- Price climbs steeply with keyword volume — €499/month for 7,500 keywords
- White-label reports start on Professional, not Starter
- Priced in euros, which US buyers should note, and keyword-research runs are capped at 100 a month on Starter
AthenaHQ
Best for: Growth teams that want AI agents to act on visibility gaps, and a free plan to start
AthenaHQ is the only tool here with a free plan worth using. Essential covers five models with 300 credits, so you can run real tracking with your own prompts before any budget conversation. Starter costs $295 a month for 3,600 credits across 11 models, including Claude, Grok and DeepSeek, with unlimited topics, prompts and competitors — and a content optimization agent that turns visibility gaps into specific fixes.
Understand the billing model before you pay. One credit equals one AI response, so 3,600 credits is not 3,600 prompts: tracking more prompts across more models burns credits faster than the headline. API access and extra credits are paid add-ons on Starter. And $295 a month is a steep jump from free. AthenaHQ fits growth teams that want to test free, then pay for agents that act — not just charts.
What we like
- Only tool here with a genuinely useful free plan: Essential covers 5 models with 300 credits
- Tracks visibility across 11 models on Starter, including Claude, Grok and DeepSeek
- Content optimization agent and recommendation engine turn gaps into specific fixes
- Unlimited topics, prompts and competitors on Starter, with country-level tracking
Watch out for
- Credit-based billing: 3,600 credits a month does not mean 3,600 prompts, since one credit is one AI response
- API access and extra credits are paid add-ons on Starter, not included
- Starter at $295/month is a steep jump from the free Essential plan
Generative engine optimization tools answer a question traditional SEO tools cannot: when someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews for a recommendation, does your brand appear in the answer — and what does the AI say about you? The best generative engine optimization tools track your brand across those AI answers, show which sources get cited, and tell you what to change. This guide compares 10 of them on price, prompt limits and engine coverage, organised by what you actually need: a cheap first tracker, a suite that covers SEO too, or an enterprise platform with agents that do the fixing.
What the best generative engine optimization tools actually do
A generative engine optimization tool — a GEO tool — watches what AI assistants say about your brand. You give it a list of prompts your buyers actually ask, such as "best CRM for a small law firm", and it runs those prompts through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and the other engines, then records whether your brand is mentioned, where it sits in the answer, how it is described, and which pages the AI cites as sources. Run daily, that becomes a trend line you can act on instead of a one-off screenshot.
The reason this matters now is that AI answers have moved from experiment to default. BrightEdge's Generative Parser research found AI Overviews on about 48% of tracked Google queries in February 2026, up from roughly 30% a year earlier — and only about 17% of the sources cited in those AI answers also ranked in Google's organic top 10. Ranking well and being cited are now two different outcomes, and a GEO tool measures the second one.
What the tools in this list have in common is prompt tracking, mention and sentiment measurement, citation analysis and competitor comparison. What differs is how many prompts and models the entry plan covers, whether the tool also fixes the gaps it finds, and whether it is a dedicated tracker or part of a wider SEO suite. The rest of this guide sorts the 10 tools by those differences.
Dedicated GEO trackers first
Five of the 10 tools here do one job: track AI visibility. Peec AI, Scrunch, Goodie AI, Otterly.AI and Profound were built for this channel from the start, and their entry plans show it: daily prompt tracking, citation and sentiment analysis, and competitor comparison without a rank tracker attached. They differ mainly in depth and price — Otterly.AI starts at $29 a month for 15 prompts, Peec AI at $95 for 50, Scrunch at $250 for 125, Goodie AI at $295 a month billed annually for 110 prompts plus agents that act, and Profound at a custom Enterprise price. If AI visibility is the whole job, start in this group; the suites below only win when you also need their other tools.
Suites and add-ons: GEO inside a tool you already pay for
SE Ranking, Semrush and Ahrefs take the opposite approach: GEO is a module inside a wider SEO platform. SE Ranking folds AI visibility into its Core plan, so $103.20 a month billed annually buys 25 AI prompts a day alongside 2,000 tracked keywords, audits and backlink research. Semrush sells its AI Visibility Toolkit as a $99-a-month-per-domain add-on to a Semrush plan, and Ahrefs includes five tracked prompts in its $129-a-month Lite plan, with the fuller AI Visibility Index from $199 a month per platform. Nightwatch sits between the camps: a rank tracker first, with Citation Intelligence added on Starter. The rule is simple — if you already pay for the suite, use its GEO module; if you do not, a dedicated tracker costs less for the same prompt coverage.
Before you buy any of them, check whether AI crawlers can even read your site — our free llms.txt generator builds the file that tells AI assistants what your site contains. And if you want the work done for you rather than buying another subscription, our AI search optimization service runs this whole workflow for clients.
Free plans, trials and the agency question
Only one tool here has a free plan: AthenaHQ's Essential tier covers five models with 300 credits, which is enough to run real tracking with your own prompts before spending anything. Every other tool offers a trial instead — 14 days at SE Ranking and Nightwatch, 7 days at Otterly.AI, Semrush and Profound — or no trial at all, as with Scrunch's free AI audit and Goodie AI's self-serve start. Agencies should read the fine print twice: Peec AI sells separate agency credit pools, Scrunch has an Agency Core plan at $500 a month for 250 prompts, and Profound's agency pricing is not on the brand pricing page, so it needs a sales conversation. White-label reporting is an upgrade almost everywhere: Nightwatch adds it from Professional, SE Ranking sells it as a $69-a-month Agency Pack add-on, and no tool in this list includes it on the entry plan.
Quick comparison: tool type by need
| Buyer | Best pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solo marketer on the smallest budget | Otterly.AI | $29/month, 15 prompts, daily tracking |
| Small team that wants a dedicated tracker | Peec AI | $95/month, 50 prompts, unlimited users |
| Team that wants GEO inside a full SEO suite | SE Ranking | $129/month, 25 AI prompts a day plus rank tracking and audits |
| B2B team that wants audits and agent traffic too | Scrunch | $250/month, 125 prompts, 5 site audits a month |
| Brand that wants the tool to act, not just report | Goodie AI | $295/month billed annually, agents that write and optimize |
| Enterprise or agency with big prompt volume | Profound | Custom Enterprise, deepest prompt data and agent workflows |
How to choose: a short decision path
- Count your prompts first. List the questions your buyers actually ask, then multiply by the models you want to track. One prompt on three models tracked daily uses about 90 responses a month — that number, not the sticker price, decides which plan fits.
- Pick your engines. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews come standard almost everywhere; Claude, Gemini and AI Mode often cost extra or sit on higher plans. If your buyers use one engine most, make sure it is included on the entry plan.
- Decide tracker or suite. If you already pay for SE Ranking, Semrush or Ahrefs, use its GEO module. If you only need AI visibility, a dedicated tracker gives you more prompts for less money.
- Check the action layer. Most tools report; Goodie AI, AthenaHQ and Profound also act, with agents that write content, fix technical issues or run outreach. If nobody on your team will act on the reports, an acting tool is worth the higher price.
- Try before you pay. AthenaHQ's free Essential plan is the only free tier here, but every other tool except Goodie AI has a trial or a free audit. Run your real buyer questions for a week and compare the answers against what you see by asking the AI assistants yourself.
Read our guide to getting cited in ChatGPT before you start tracking, so you know which pages the AI engines are likely to quote — and our guide to ranking in AI Overviews explains what the Google side of the same problem looks like.
Mistakes to avoid
- Comparing monthly prices without checking what a prompt costs. A $29 plan with 15 prompts costs more per tracked question than a $95 plan with 50, and Claude can cost eight checks per update on Ahrefs.
- Assuming every model is included. Most entry plans cover three or four engines; Claude, Gemini, Grok and AI Mode are often paid add-ons or Enterprise-only, so check the model list before you buy.
- Tracking prompts nobody asks. Prompt counts are the budget, so spend them on real buyer questions, not on variations of your own brand name.
- Paying for a suite when you only need GEO. A dedicated tracker at $29–$95/month beats a $129 suite plus a $99 add-on when AI visibility is the only job.
- Trusting a directory price. AthenaHQ's Starter is $295 a month on its plans page, and Profound no longer lists self-serve prices at all — several directories still show old figures for both. Always check the vendor's own page.
How we chose
We checked the vendor pricing pages for Peec AI, Scrunch, Goodie AI and Otterly.AI on November 1, 2026, and read the published October 2026 listings for SE Ranking, Nightwatch, Ahrefs, Semrush and AthenaHQ, whose pages do not always show prices directly; Profound's live page lists only a free trial and custom Enterprise pricing. Where a page loads with annual billing selected by default, we recorded both the monthly and the annual figure. Ratings come from G2, opened and recorded on November 1, 2026, with review counts shown. We ranked the tools by fit for the most common buyer — a small team or in-house SEO tracking one brand — not by brand size. No vendor paid for a place in this list, and none of the links here are affiliate links.
What to do next
Start with the decision path above: count your prompts, pick your engines, and decide tracker or suite. Then take the free plan or trial of your top pick — AthenaHQ's free Essential plan or Peec AI's trial — and run your real buyer questions for a week. If your brand appears in the answers and the reports make sense to a client, you have your tool. 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?
Tools show you the data. SerpAstra turns it into higher rankings, more map-pack calls and citations in AI answers.
Get a free SEO + AI visibility audit→Sources we checked (21)
- Peec AI pricing — peec.ai/pricing (checked November 1, 2026)
- Peec AI on G2 — 4.7/5, 21 reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- SE Ranking pricing — seranking.com/subscription.html (checked November 1, 2026)
- SE Ranking on G2 — 4.7/5, 1,619 reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- Scrunch pricing — scrunch.com/pricing (checked November 1, 2026)
- Scrunch on G2 — 4.6/5, 74 reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- Goodie AI pricing — higoodie.com/pricing (checked November 1, 2026)
- Goodie AI on G2 — 4.9/5, 10 reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- Otterly.AI pricing — otterly.ai/pricing (checked November 1, 2026)
- Otterly.AI on G2 — 4.7/5, 54 reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit pricing — semrush.com/pricing/ai (checked November 1, 2026)
- Semrush on G2 — 4.4/5, 4,304 reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- Profound pricing — tryprofound.com/pricing (checked November 1, 2026)
- Profound on G2 — 4.5/5, 1,133 reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- Ahrefs pricing — ahrefs.com/pricing (checked November 1, 2026)
- Ahrefs on G2 — 4.5/5, 723 reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- Nightwatch pricing — nightwatch.io/pricing (checked November 1, 2026)
- Nightwatch on G2 — 4.7/5, 64 reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- AthenaHQ plans — athenahq.ai/plans (checked November 1, 2026)
- AthenaHQ on G2 — 4.9/5, 39 reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- BrightEdge Generative Parser research, February 2026 — AI Overviews on about 48% of tracked queries (reported by MarTech Asia)
Frequently asked questions
What is the best generative engine optimization tool in 2026?
Peec AI is the best dedicated starting point at $95/month for most small teams, and SE Ranking is the best value when you also need rank tracking and audits. Otterly.AI is the cheapest way in at $29/month. Enterprises that need the deepest data should talk to Profound, which is custom-priced.
How much does a generative engine optimization tool cost?
Between $29 and $354 a month at the entry level, plus one custom-quote enterprise tool. Otterly.AI starts at $29, Peec AI at $95, SE Ranking at $129 and Scrunch at $250. But the sticker price is not the whole cost: check how many prompts and models the plan includes, because extra prompts and engines are usually paid add-ons.
Is there a free generative engine optimization tool?
Only one in this list has a real free plan: AthenaHQ's Essential tier covers five models with 300 credits. The rest offer free trials — 14 days at SE Ranking and Nightwatch, 7 days at Otterly.AI, Semrush and Profound — or a free audit, as with Scrunch. Free plans work for testing; serious tracking needs a paid plan.
What is the difference between GEO and SEO tools?
SEO tools measure where your pages rank in search results. GEO tools measure whether AI assistants mention your brand in their answers, what they say about you, and which sources they cite. The two overlap — SE Ranking, Semrush and Ahrefs now do both — but a rank tracker cannot tell you what ChatGPT says about your brand.
How many prompts do I need to track?
Start with the questions your buyers actually ask before they buy: your core services, your main comparisons and your top competitors. Most small brands find 15 to 50 prompts cover it, which is why Otterly.AI's 15 and Peec AI's 50 are sensible starting points. Count prompts times models times days: one prompt on three models tracked daily uses about 90 responses a month.
What should I check before paying for a GEO tool?
Four things: how many prompts the plan includes and what counts as one, which AI models are covered on the entry plan and which cost extra, whether updates are daily, and whether the price is monthly or annual billing. All four vary widely — the comparison table at the top of this guide shows the starting price and free plan for each tool.
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