To track AI search visibility, start with the free first-party reports: Google Search Console's generative AI performance report and Bing Webmaster Tools' AI Performance. Then, if you need to see how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and others describe your brand for specific prompts, add one paid prompt-tracking tool such as Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit, Ahrefs Brand Radar, Otterly.AI, Peec AI, Profound or Scrunch. Pick one based on the AI platforms you need, how many prompts you'll track, and your budget.
This is a fast-moving category. Everything below was checked on each vendor's official site as of October 2026, and plans change often, so confirm current details on each vendor's page before you buy.
How I chose these tools
- Real measurement, not just advice. Each tool reports data: impressions, citations, mentions or prompt-level answers.
- Platform coverage stated on the vendor's site. I only list the AI platforms each vendor names itself.
- Clear entry point. A free tier, a published price or at least a trial, so a small or mid-sized business can test before committing.
- Fit for different stages. Free first-party data for everyone, affordable prompt tracking for smaller teams, and enterprise platforms for larger brands.
One honest caveat: AI answers vary by user, location and phrasing. Prompt trackers run a sample of prompts and report what came back. That is useful for trends and comparison, not a precise count of how many people saw your brand.
Comparison table
| Tool | Type | AI platforms named by vendor | Entry point (as of October 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console (generative AI report) | First-party impressions | Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Discover AI features | Free |
| Bing Webmaster Tools (AI Performance) | First-party citations | Microsoft Copilot, Bing AI summaries, select partners | Free (public preview) |
| Microsoft Clarity | Behaviour analytics with AI visibility feature | Not specified per platform | Free |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Prompt tracking and brand analysis | ChatGPT, Google AI Mode | $99/month add-on, no free trial |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Prompt tracking and AI visibility index | AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot (Claude in the index) | Custom Prompts included in paid Ahrefs plans; standalone pricing listed |
| Otterly.AI | Prompt tracking | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot; add-ons for AI Mode, Gemini, Claude | From $29/month (Lite, 15 prompts); free trial |
| Peec AI | Prompt tracking and source analysis | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini; AI Mode tracker | Tiered plans; free trial |
| Profound | Enterprise AI visibility and content platform | Up to 9 answer engines on Enterprise | Free trial; Enterprise custom |
| Scrunch | Enterprise monitoring plus AI-agent site layer | "Major LLMs" (per site) | 7-day free trial; pricing page |
Free first-party reports
1. Google Search Console: generative AI performance report
What it is: Google announced these reports on its Search Central blog on 3 June 2026 and says they were rolled out to all websites worldwide by 31 August 2026. They show impressions for your URLs in generative AI features on Search, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, plus AI features in Discover, broken down by pages, countries, devices and dates.
Who it suits: Every site. This is Google's own data.
What it does well: Tells you which of your pages actually appear in Google's AI features, without guessing.
Limits: Impressions only, per Google's announcement. It does not show the prompt text or what the answer said about you.
Tip: Compare the pages listed here with your top pages in the normal Performance report. Pages that rank well but never appear in AI features are your first content review.
2. Bing Webmaster Tools: AI Performance
What it is: A public preview launched by Microsoft in February 2026. Bing's announcement lists total citations, average cited pages, grounding queries (a sample) and page-level citation activity across Microsoft Copilot, AI summaries in Bing and select partner integrations.
Who it suits: Every site, and especially B2B brands whose buyers work inside Microsoft tools.
What it does well: Grounding queries hint at the phrases AI used to retrieve your content. That is rare first-party insight.
Limits: Microsoft says it measures how often you are cited, not ranking or placement inside the answer. Partner integrations are not broken out.
Tip: Export grounding queries monthly and look for questions your site answers only partially.
3. Microsoft Clarity
What it is: A free behaviour analytics tool (heatmaps and recordings). Its site also describes an AI visibility feature that tracks when your content is cited in AI experiences and which bots, including AI bots, crawl your site.
Who it suits: Sites that want to see whether AI crawlers can reach them and how AI-referred visitors behave.
Limits: The site doesn't break the AI features down by platform, so treat it as a supporting signal.
Tip: Use it alongside GA4 referral data so you can see whether visitors from AI assistants actually enquire.
Paid prompt-tracking tools
4. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
What it is: A paid add-on in Semrush. Its knowledge base lists $99/month with no free trial, covering one project, 25 tracked prompts, prompt research, brand performance (share of voice, sentiment, narratives), competitor research and an AI search site audit. It names ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for prompt tracking.
Who it suits: Teams already using Semrush for SEO who want AI visibility in the same place.
What it does well: Prompt research works like keyword research for AI, which helps you choose what to track.
Limits: 25 prompts is a small sample, and extra prompts are a paid add-on. Platform coverage for tracking is narrower than some specialists.
Tip: Spend your 25 prompts on buying-stage questions ("best X for Y in India", "X vs Y"), not brand-name searches.
5. Ahrefs Brand Radar
What it is: Ahrefs' tool for tracking how your brand appears in AI answers, with Custom Prompts and an AI Visibility Index. The official page names AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, with Claude listed for the index. It says Custom Prompts are included free in paid Ahrefs plans from Lite upwards; standalone pricing was shown to me in euros.
Who it suits: Existing Ahrefs customers, and brands that want broad platform coverage.
What it does well: Wide platform list and daily updates on all tiers, per the page.
Limits: Prompt counts on the lower tiers are small (the page lists 5 prompts on Lite), and the index is priced separately.
Tip: If you already pay for Ahrefs, switch on the included prompts before buying any other tool.
6. Otterly.AI
What it is: A dedicated AI search monitoring tool with public pricing. As of October 2026 its pricing page lists Lite at $29/month (15 prompts), Standard at $189/month (100 prompts) and Premium at $489/month (400 prompts), with annual billing discounts. ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot are included; AI Mode, Gemini and Claude are paid add-ons.
Who it suits: Small teams and consultants who want a low-cost start with transparent pricing.
What it does well: Clear plans, a free trial, and API and MCP access from Standard upwards.
Limits: Some platforms cost extra, which adds up if you need all of them.
Tip: Start on the lowest plan with your 15 most commercial prompts for two months before deciding whether you need more.
7. Peec AI
What it is: An AI search analytics platform for marketing teams. Its site names ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, plus an AI Mode visibility tracker, and features prompt organisation, competitor benchmarking, source discovery, recommendations, a Looker Studio connector, an API and an MCP integration.
Who it suits: Marketing teams that want to know which sources AI relies on, so they can target PR and review sites.
What it does well: Source discovery turns visibility data into an outreach list.
Limits: The pricing page lists Starter, Pro, Advanced and Enterprise tiers, but when I checked, prices and prompt limits were not clear in the page text. Confirm in the app before you buy.
Tip: Use the trial to check whether your category's most-cited sources are ones you can realistically influence.
Enterprise platforms
8. Profound
What it is: An AI marketing platform with monitoring (answer engine insights, prompt volumes, shopping visibility, agent analytics) and an "AI Marketer" for content work. Its pricing page lists a free trial (50 preset prompts for 7 days on ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews) and an Enterprise plan covering up to nine answer engines, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Mode, Gemini, Copilot, DeepSeek, Claude, AI Overviews and Exa Search.
Who it suits: Larger brands and agencies with multiple markets and a budget for an enterprise contract.
What it does well: Breadth of platforms and enterprise controls (the site lists RBAC, SCIM and SOC 2).
Limits: Enterprise pricing is custom, and the trial prompts can't be customised.
Tip: Before a demo, write down the 30–50 prompts you care about so you evaluate on your questions, not theirs.
9. Scrunch
What it is: An AI search visibility platform with monitoring (prompts, topics, AI bot crawl traffic, benchmarking by competitor, persona and geography), citation analysis and an Agent Experience Platform that serves a machine-readable version of your site to AI agents.
Who it suits: Enterprises with complex sites, multiple regions or crawlability problems.
What it does well: Combines monitoring with a technical layer aimed at AI crawlers.
Limits: No prices on the homepage; there is a 7-day free trial and a separate pricing page. A site-level layer needs technical review before rollout.
Tip: Check crawl errors it flags against your own server logs before changing anything.
How to choose
- Turn on the free reports first. Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools cost nothing and are first-party. Give them a month.
- Decide which platforms matter. If your buyers use ChatGPT and Google, you don't need nine engines.
- Write your prompt list before choosing a tool. 15–50 real buyer questions is enough for most businesses.
- Prefer tools you already pay for. If you have Semrush or Ahrefs, test their AI features before adding another subscription.
- Measure outcomes, not just mentions. Track AI referral traffic and enquiries in GA4 with clean UTM and channel rules (see my UTM guide).
A tool shows you the gap; it doesn't close it. Closing it means content, structure and authority work, which I cover in the AEO and GEO checklist. If you want help choosing a tool, setting up a prompt list or reading the results, that is part of my AI search visibility work; see also what those services include.
Frequently asked questions
Can I track ChatGPT visibility for free?
Not comprehensively with a first-party report as of October 2026. You can manually test prompts and check referral traffic from ChatGPT in GA4. Several paid tools offer free trials if you want structured tracking.
How many prompts should I track?
It depends on how many products, locations and buyer questions you have. Most small and mid-sized businesses can start with 15–50 prompts focused on buying decisions and expand once they see which ones move.
Are AI visibility scores reliable?
They are useful for trends and competitor comparison, not as exact numbers. AI answers change with phrasing, location and time, so look at direction over several weeks rather than single readings.
What is the difference between AEO and GEO tools?
The terms overlap. AEO usually means being the direct answer; GEO means being cited in generative AI answers. Most tools here measure both: whether you are mentioned, cited or linked. My post on why AEO and GEO matter explains the difference.
Do I still need SEO tools?
Yes. AI features draw heavily on pages that are crawlable, indexed and trusted, which is classic SEO. AI visibility tools sit on top of that foundation, not in place of it.
Next step
If you want a second opinion on whether you need a paid tool at all, or which prompts to track, book a 30-minute strategy session (₹2,999 + GST). We'll look at your free reports first and decide from there.
