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The Best AEO Tools in 2026: An Honest Comparison (Pricing + Features)
AITechDad
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Updated August 2026
Every AEO tool claims to make you visible in ChatGPT. Almost all of them do the same thing: monitor and report.
Here's an honest breakdown of what each one actually costs, how many engines you really get, and — the part most comparisons skip — who's built to fix your visibility vs. just measure it.
How to actually choose an AEO tool
The AI-search-visibility market matured fast in 2026, and most tools now do a similar core job: track whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, and others mention your brand, and show you competitors' share of voice.
The real differences come down to four questions:
- How many AI engines do you actually get — and are the important ones (Claude, Google AI Mode) gated behind higher tiers or paid add-ons?
- What does it really cost once you add the engines you need?
- Does it just report, or does it help you fix things?
- Who's it built for — a solo founder, an agency, or an enterprise team?
Here's the honest breakdown.
The comparison at a glance
| Tool | Free option | Entry price/mo | Engines (entry → max) | Report or execute? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profound | Trial (Growth) | $99 (ChatGPT-only) | 1 → 9 | Report + agent actions | Enterprise analytics depth |
| Peec AI | 7-day trial | $95 | 3 of 7 (cap fixed) | Report only | Agencies, EU teams, UX |
| Otterly.ai | 7-day trial | $29 | 4 → +add-ons | Report + URL audits | Cheapest entry, small teams |
| Rankscale.ai | Free audit + trial | ~$20 | 9–17+ | Report + page audits | Widest coverage on a budget |
| Scrunch AI | 7-day trial | $300 | core → 8 | Report + persona/crawler | Enterprise, crawler insight |
| AthenaHQ | Free tier | Free → $295 | 5 → 9 | Report + content agent | Free start, action-oriented |
| ViralSpin | Free instant audit | Free → $99 | All engines | Done-for-you execution | Brands who want fixes shipped |
The tools, one by one
Profound — the enterprise leader
Profound is the category's heavyweight (it raised a ~$96M Series C at a ~$1B valuation in early 2026). Its Conversation Explorer shows the real prompts and citations driving your mentions, and Enterprise covers up to 9 engines. - Pricing: Starter $99/mo (ChatGPT only, 50 prompts), Growth $399/mo (3 engines), Enterprise custom (real deployments run ~$2,000–$5,000+/mo). - Genuine strength: The deepest data and largest engine set for big brands with budget. - Watch for: The entry tier is ChatGPT-only, and it's analytics-first — execution is on your team.
Peec AI — clean UX for agencies
A fast-growing, design-led analytics platform popular with European agencies. Unlimited users on every tier. - Pricing: Starter $95/mo, Pro $245, Advanced $495, Enterprise custom. Separate Agency plans ($245–$795). - Genuine strength: Best-in-class UX and team access at a low entry price. - Watch for: You pick only 3 of 7 engines and that cap doesn't rise with tier — a 4th engine is a $35–$165/mo add-on, and Claude is Enterprise-only. Analytics only; no audit or fix list.
Otterly.ai — the cheapest on-ramp
The most affordable credible entry point, with unlimited team members even on the $29 plan. - Pricing: Lite $29/mo (15 prompts), Standard $189, Premium $489, Enterprise custom. - Genuine strength: Lowest cost to start testing AEO, plus GEO URL audits and 50+ market tracking. - Watch for: Only 4 core engines included; Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Mode are paid add-ons ($9–$439/mo).
Rankscale.ai — the most engines for the money
An aggressive value play with the broadest engine coverage and a free, no-signup site audit. - Pricing: Essentials from ~$20/mo, Pro $99, Growth $385, Enterprise $780 (credit-based, with rollover). - Genuine strength: 9–17+ platforms accessible from the lowest tier — unmatched breadth per dollar. - Watch for: Engines burn credits at different rates (Claude costs 8× a ChatGPT query), so heavy multi-engine tracking gets pricier than the headline suggests.
Scrunch AI — the enterprise/technical angle
Enterprise-focused, with persona-based tracking and analytics on how AI crawlers actually see your site. - Pricing: Starter $300/mo, Growth $500 (8 engines), Enterprise ~$1,000+. - Genuine strength: Crawler/agent analytics and hallucination detection (Enterprise) — it flags when AI describes your brand inaccurately. - Watch for: No free tier and the highest entry price of the group; overkill for most SMBs.
AthenaHQ — the most action-oriented (and a real free tier)
The closest of the monitoring tools to execution, with a content agent, on/off-page "actions," and CMS integrations. - Pricing: Essential free (300 credits, 5 engines), Starter $295/mo (9 models), Enterprise custom. - Genuine strength: A genuine free tier to start, plus it recommends and helps ship content fixes rather than only reporting gaps. - Watch for: Even here, execution stops at content recommendations — not full hands-off delivery.
ViralSpin — the done-for-you option
- Pricing: Free instant audit (AEO + GEO score, no login) → Done-for-you: $250 to start, and you only pay the rest once you actually appear in AI answers (tracked in Monitor — don't show up, don't pay) → Monitor $99/mo to keep tracking → Enterprise custom.
- Genuine strength: The only option that implements the fixes — schema, answer-shaped content, crawler access — and re-audits to prove the lift, with every engine included rather than gated. Its free audit also gives you two scores (AEO for extraction, GEO for citation), not one.
- Watch for: If you want the deepest enterprise analytics dashboard, Profound or Scrunch will out-measure us. We're built for teams who'd rather have the gaps fixed than have another dashboard to watch.
So which should you pick?
- You're an enterprise brand that lives in dashboards: Profound (depth) or Scrunch (crawler/technical).
- You're an agency managing many clients: Peec (UX) or Rankscale (coverage/value).
- You're a small team testing the waters cheaply: Otterly ($29) or AthenaHQ (free tier).
- You want the most engines per dollar: Rankscale.
- You want the fixes actually done, not just measured: ViralSpin.
Most teams don't need another monitoring dashboard — they need their site to become AI-readable. If that's you, start with a free audit, fix the gaps (or have them fixed), then decide whether ongoing monitoring is worth a subscription.
Looking at one tool in particular? See our deep dives on alternatives to Profound, Peec AI, Otterly.ai, Rankscale, Scrunch AI, and AthenaHQ.
Not sure whether your gap is on the extraction side or the authority side? Read GEO vs AEO vs SEO to know which lever to pull first — or see how the top DTC brands scored.