When someone asks ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews a question in your niche, does your brand get mentioned — or does a competitor? GEO tools (generative engine optimization tools) answer that: they track how often AI engines cite your brand, which prompts trigger mentions, and where rivals are winning.
This is a research-based comparison of the 7 best GEO tools in 2026, built from published pricing and feature lists as of October 2026 — not hands-on testing. Prices move fast here, so confirm every figure on the vendor’s site before buying.
Key Takeaways
- GEO tools track your brand’s mentions, citations, and share of voice across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.
- Otterly ($29/mo) is the cheapest credible start; Peec AI (from €85/mo) is the polished mid-market pick.
- Profound leads for enterprise (Starter $99/mo, Growth $399/mo, Enterprise custom) but pricing has shifted before — confirm on their site before budgeting. AthenaHQ ($295/mo) ties citations to revenue; Scrunch AI (from $300/mo) suits JS-heavy sites.
- Already on Ahrefs or Semrush? Their add-ons may cover you. And no tool earns citations — they measure. See how to rank in ChatGPT.
What does a GEO tool actually track?
Quick definition first — “GEO tool” gets slapped on very different products. A true AI search visibility tool tracks some combination of:
- Brand mentions — how often AI answers name your brand for your tracked prompts
- Citations — which specific pages or sources the AI links to (not just that you were mentioned)
- Share of voice — your visibility vs. competitors across the same prompts
- Sentiment — whether the AI frames your brand positively, neutrally, or negatively
- AI Overviews presence — whether you appear in Google’s AI-generated answers specifically
For the full distinction from classic SEO, see our SEO vs GEO breakdown — and note the overlap with ChatGPT rank tracking tools, which GEO tools extend with citations, sentiment, and share of voice.
The 7 best GEO tools compared
| Tool | Entry price (reported) | AI engines covered | Standout feature | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profound | Starter $99/mo, Growth $399/mo; Enterprise custom | Up to 9 (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Copilot) | Answer Engine Insights, prompt volumes, agent analytics | Enterprise teams |
| Otterly | $29/mo | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot (+ paid add-ons) | Brand Visibility Index, GEO audits | Small teams, tight budgets |
| Peec AI | From €85/mo | 3 of your choice (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Copilot) | Unlimited seats, clean reporting, Actions recommendations | Agencies, marketing teams |
| AthenaHQ | $295/mo | 11 models incl. Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI | Revenue attribution, content agents, free tier | Mid-market teams wanting ROI proof |
| Scrunch AI | From $300/mo | 8 listed (Starter covers 4) | AXP: CDN-level delivery for AI crawlers | JS-heavy / technical sites |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Add-on from $199/mo | AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok | Sits beside your backlink data | Existing Ahrefs users |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | From $99/mo per domain | ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, Perplexity | AI-crawler block detection, SEO+GEO in one | Existing Semrush users |
1. Profound — the enterprise standard
Profound is the most-cited name in enterprise AI visibility (a G2 Winter 2026 AEO leader). It monitors up to 9 answer engines, with Answer Engine Insights, prompt volume data, and agent analytics showing how AI crawlers interact with your site.
Pricing (reported, Oct 2026): Starter is listed at $99/month (ChatGPT only, 50 prompts) and Growth at $399/month (3 answer engines, 100 prompts) — both back on public rate cards after a late-September 2026 wobble when reviewers saw the pricing page shift toward trial-plus-Enterprise. October 2026 coverage reports no free trial currently, and self-serve signup is sales-gated. Enterprise plans are custom, third-party reported at $2,000+/month (up to $30K–$100K+/year for full deployments).
Best for: Enterprise marketing teams with dedicated analysts and serious GEO budgets.
Watch out for: The entry tier historically covered ChatGPT only, and there’s no free tier — just a trial.
2. Otterly — the budget starting point
Otterly is the cheapest credible entry point. It tracks Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot, with a Brand Visibility Index (mentions, sentiment, and citation frequency in one score) and a GEO audit covering 25+ on-page factors tied to citation patterns.
Pricing (reported): Lite $29/mo (15 prompts), Standard $189/mo (100 prompts), Premium $489/mo (400 prompts), Enterprise from $1,000/mo. Every tier includes unlimited team members. Gemini, Google AI Mode, and Claude are paid add-ons on all tiers.
Best for: Solo marketers and small teams validating whether AI search matters in their category.
Watch out for: 15 prompts on Lite is a trial-sized allowance, not a full monitoring setup. Read the pricing page carefully — three engines cost extra.
3. Peec AI — the agency-friendly tracker
Peec AI is built for marketers tracking AI search performance. Beyond visibility scores it shows which sources AI systems cite about your brand, plus sentiment and competitor benchmarking; its Actions feature scores citation opportunities like a to-do list.
Pricing (reported): Starter from €85/mo monthly (€70 annual, 50 prompts), Pro €205 (€180 annual, 150 prompts), Advanced €425 (€360 annual, 350 prompts), Enterprise custom. Every plan includes unlimited seats and daily tracking; you pick 3 engines from 6, with extras as paid add-ons. A free trial is advertised.
Best for: Agencies managing multiple client brands and marketing teams that need many seats.
Watch out for: It measures but doesn’t execute — acting on the gaps is still your job. Engine add-ons stack up quickly.
4. AthenaHQ — citations tied to revenue
AthenaHQ (Y Combinator-backed, founded by ex-Google/DeepMind engineers) connects AI citations to revenue via Shopify and GA4, so you can see whether ChatGPT mentions drive sales. It also offers content agents and hallucination detection for false AI claims about your brand.
Pricing (reported): Credit-based — 1 credit = 1 AI response. Starter $295/mo (3,600 credits, 11 models including Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI), Enterprise custom. There’s a free Essential tier (300 credits/month, 5 engines), which is rare in this category.
Best for: Mid-market brand and growth teams that need to justify GEO spend with revenue data.
Watch out for: The credit model punishes broad prompt coverage — map your prompt volume to the allowance before committing. No free trial on paid tiers.
5. Scrunch AI — the technical fixer’s pick
Scrunch is the only tool here that goes beyond monitoring into remediation. Its Agent Experience Platform (AXP) sits at your CDN layer, detects AI retrieval bots, and serves them a stripped-down structured version of your pages — valuable when JavaScript blocks AI crawlers. It also runs page-level Deep AI Audits for citation blockers.
Pricing (reported): Starter $300/mo monthly ($250 annual), Growth $500/mo ($417 annual), Enterprise custom. 7-day free trial. Note the Starter tier covers 4 engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Copilot); Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, and AI Mode need Enterprise.
Best for: Large ecommerce or SaaS sites with heavy JavaScript where crawlers struggle to extract content.
Watch out for: Highest entry price of the mid-market tools, and no in-platform content editor — recommendations ship elsewhere.
6. Ahrefs Brand Radar — for teams already in Ahrefs
If you already pay for Ahrefs, Brand Radar adds AI visibility inside a tool you know: brand mentions and AI citations across AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok, sitting right beside your backlink data.
Pricing (reported): Add-on from $199/mo for a single platform’s AI index, or $699/mo for all models, on top of a paid Ahrefs plan.
Best for: SEO teams living in Ahrefs who want citation data without a second subscription.
Watch out for: The all-platform price is steep, and it’s an add-on — not a standalone GEO platform.
7. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit — SEO + GEO in one bill
Semrush’s toolkit bundles AI visibility into its existing platform: mention tracking across ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, and Perplexity, plus genuinely useful AI-crawler block detection that tells you when your robots.txt or setup is locking AI bots out.
Pricing (reported): From $99/mo per domain (billed annually), 25 tracked prompts, or bundled in Semrush’s SEO + AI Search plans.
Best for: Teams already paying for Semrush who want GEO without new procurement.
Watch out for: 25 prompts is modest, and per-domain pricing adds up across properties.
Verdict: which GEO tool should you pick?
There’s no single winner — it depends on budget and what you’ll do with the data:
- Just getting started: Otterly ($29/mo) — enough to learn if AI search matters in your niche.
- Agency/marketing team: Peec AI — unlimited seats, clean reporting.
- Need ROI proof: AthenaHQ — unique revenue attribution, free tier to test.
- JS-heavy site: Scrunch AI — the only one fixing crawler access at the CDN layer.
- Enterprise: Profound — confirm current pricing first.
- On Ahrefs/Semrush: try their add-ons before buying standalone.
The honest footnote: these tools tell you where you stand. Getting cited is a content and authority job — structured answers, real data, schema markup, pages crawlers can read. Measure first, then do the work.
FAQ
What does GEO stand for?
GEO = Generative Engine Optimization: getting cited by AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews), not just ranking in classic search.
How do GEO tools track citations?
They run your chosen prompts through AI engines on a schedule (usually daily), then parse the answers to log brand mentions, linked sources, sentiment, and how you compare to competitors.
Can I track AI visibility for free?
Partially. AthenaHQ has a free tier (300 credits/month), and HubSpot’s AI Search Grader gives a one-off snapshot. But ongoing multi-engine tracking is paid — the cheapest real option is Otterly at $29/mo.
How is a GEO tool different from a rank tracker?
Rank trackers monitor positions in classic search results. GEO tools monitor mentions and citations inside AI-generated answers, plus sentiment and share of voice — metrics that don’t exist in traditional rank tracking.
Do I need a GEO tool if I already use Ahrefs or Semrush?
Maybe not. Ahrefs Brand Radar and the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit cover the basics inside tools you already pay for. Buy standalone only when you need deeper prompt coverage, more engines, or features like revenue attribution.
How do I actually get cited by ChatGPT?
Tools measure; content earns. What matters: direct answer blocks, schema markup, cited statistics, clear heading structure, and pages AI crawlers can access. The full playbook is in how to rank in ChatGPT.
Which GEO tool is best for agencies?
Peec AI is the most agency-shaped option: unlimited seats on every plan, white-label-friendly reporting, and per-client project structures. Otterly’s Standard tier also offers agency workspaces at a lower price point.
[…] and team fit side by side, so you can choose with confidence. In addition, our wider roundup of the best GEO tools for 2026 shows where both platforms sit inside the full […]
[…] reporting, and it also shows how both tools fit into the wider market covered in our guide to the best GEO tools in 2026. By the end, you will know which tool matches your budget, your current SEO stack, and your […]