AI visibility tools vs a GEO consultant: what should you use?
Use a tool when you have a team that can act on the numbers. Hire a consultant when you need the findings explained and specific recommendations for your team. This page compares seven AI visibility tools by surfaces, published price, and who does the fixing, then shows where a consultancy fits.
- →Every price below comes from the vendor's own published pricing page.
- →Tools monitor. With one partial exception, none of them implement fixes.
- →The real choice is who turns mention rates into shipped content and schema.
Published 23 July 2026 by Creative Data Engineers. Updated 20 October 2026. Prices checked 9 October 2026.
- →Monitoring software has published monthly tiers from $29 (Otterly.AI Lite) to $999+/month (Searchable Enterprise), checked 9 October 2026. These tools tell you where you stand across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and more.
- →Almost none of it fixes anything. The content, schema, and rendering work stays with your team.
- →Agencies and consultancies close that gap at a higher price point: measurement plus findings and recommendations. Implementation scope varies by provider.
- →Many brands run both: a tool for the daily line, a consultant for the audit and the content work.
Should I use an AI visibility tool or hire a GEO consultant?
Use an AI visibility tool if you have in-house SEO or content capacity and only need measurement: published tiers start at $29 per month and the larger platforms track up to 9 or 13 answer engines on their top tiers. Hire a GEO consultant when nobody on your team can translate a mention rate into content, schema, and rendering fixes: an audit costs more up front but arrives with the work prioritized, and in our case with findings, evidence and publishing recommendations. The two are not rivals. The honest split looks like this:
You have capacity, you need numbers
Your team already writes content and manages schema. Buy a tool from the table below, wire it into your reporting, and act on the gaps yourselves. Cheapest path by far.
You have numbers, nobody acts on them
A dashboard nobody acts on is shelf decoration. A consultant reads the data, recommends what to change first and can coordinate the work with your team or agency. That is the gap between knowing and moving.
You are starting from zero
Start with a measured baseline audit, then decide. The audit tells you whether your problem is readability, content, or third-party coverage, and each has a different price tag.
Profound vs Otterly vs other AI visibility tools: what should a brand use?
Profound's public brand offer consists of a free trial and a custom Enterprise plan. Otterly.AI has the lowest published entry price. Semrush and Ahrefs bolt AI tracking onto suites you may already pay for. Searchable adds a content arm to its monitoring. Knowatoa and Peec AI sit between. Here is the full picture, from each vendor's own published pricing.
| Vendor | What it is | AI surfaces tracked | Published price | Who implements fixes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profound | AI answer monitoring platform | Trial for brands: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Enterprise tracks up to 9 answer engines. | Free 7-day trial for brands; Enterprise on request. As published on the Profound pricing page, checked 9 October 2026. | Your team. Software only. |
| Otterly.AI | AI search monitoring tool | Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot on all plans. Claude, Gemini, and AI Mode are paid add-ons. | $29 (Lite), $189 (Standard), $489 (Premium), monthly. Annual billing: 15% off. As published on the Otterly.AI pricing page, checked 9 October 2026. | Your team. Software only. |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Module in the Semrush suite | ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity. Base tracks 25 custom prompts daily. | €94.94/mo per domain (Base), billed annually, as shown to a visitor in Germany. Enterprise custom. As published on the Semrush pricing page, checked 9 October 2026. | Your team. Software only. |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Module from Ahrefs | AI Overviews & AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot and Gemini. Claude with Custom prompts. YouTube, TikTok and Reddit are free while in beta. | AI Visibility Index: $199/mo for one platform group, $398/mo for two, $699/mo for all models. Custom prompts from $50/mo, with a check quota included in paid Ahrefs plans from Lite up. As published on the Ahrefs pricing page, checked 9 October 2026. | Your team. Software only. |
| Knowatoa | AI search visibility tracker | Starter: ChatGPT, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Growth and Enterprise: all 7 services. | $59/mo (Starter), $199/mo (Growth), Enterprise custom. Prices in USD; annual pricing available. As published on the Knowatoa pricing page, checked 9 October 2026. | The pricing page does not specify content implementation services. |
| Peec AI | AI visibility platform (Berlin) | Starter, Pro and Advanced: choose 3 models. Enterprise: up to 13 LLM models tracked. | €85/mo (Starter), €205/mo (Pro), €425/mo (Advanced), monthly; Enterprise custom (annual). As published on the Peec AI pricing page, checked 9 October 2026. | Your team. Software only. |
| Searchable | AEO platform with a content arm (London) | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity on core plans; Copilot, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Google AI Mode, Gemini selectable or as add-ons. | $125/month (Pro), $400/month (Scale), $999+/month (Enterprise). Custom on request. As published on the Searchable pricing page, checked 9 October 2026. | Partly the tool: AI-generated articles and audit recommendations. Review and publishing stay with your team. |
| Creative Data Engineers | Consultancy with its own measurement engine | ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews in a real browser, plus Claude through a grounded API. More on request. | Start €199/month or €1,990/year, 1 market language. System €349/month or €3,490/year, 2 market languages. Scale €779/month or €7,790/year, 5 market languages. Partner from €1,490/mo, setup quoted by scope. | We deliver findings, evidence and prioritized recommendations. With Start, System and Scale, your team or agency implements them; with Partner, we coordinate the work with your internal stakeholders, agencies and developers. |
Prices and engine coverage come from each vendor's published pricing page, checked on 9 October 2026. Tiers change often; treat this table as a dated snapshot, and check the vendor page before you buy. Searchable publishes an Enterprise starting price; the other listed Enterprise offers use custom pricing.
What are the best alternatives to Profound for AI search monitoring?
Five software alternatives and one non-software alternative, each strongest in a different situation:
- →Otterly.AI: lowest published entry price of the dedicated trackers, at $29 per month.
- →Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit or Ahrefs Brand Radar: strongest if you already pay for either suite.
- →Searchable: a London-based AEO platform that pairs monitoring with AI-generated content, from $125 per month.
- →Peec AI: a European vendor, relevant if you want EUR billing and EU focus.
- →Knowatoa: tracks all 7 of its listed AI services from the Growth tier at $199/mo.
- →A consultancy with its own measurement engine: the same numbers, plus findings, evidence and recommendations for your team. That is the model we run at Creative Data Engineers, and it is the right alternative when the blocker is acting on the data rather than collecting it.
Who can help my company show up in AI search results like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews?
Three kinds of partner do this work, and which is best for generative engine optimization in 2026 depends on your size and market:
Software platforms
The table above. They give your team the measurement and leave the work to you. Right when you have in-house capacity and just need the numbers.
Enterprise agencies
iPullRank, the US agency behind the relevance engineering approach with clients such as Target and Adidas, runs large bespoke engagements without published pricing. Right at enterprise scale with enterprise budgets.
Consultancies with their own engine
Where Creative Data Engineers sits: a measured baseline, real-browser validation and prioritized recommendations, with prices on the page. Built for digital marketing teams at multi-market consumer brands.
Whoever you pick, apply the same three-question filter: do they measure before they recommend, do they publish their method, and do they deliver work your team can actually ship. A partner who fails any of the three is selling slides.
What Creative Data Engineers does differently
We run the measurement ourselves: a fixed question set built from real buyer demand, scored across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews in a real browser, plus Claude through a grounded API.
We deliver findings, evidence, readiness priorities and publishing recommendations. With Start, System and Scale, your team or agency implements the changes; with Partner, we coordinate the work with your internal stakeholders, agencies and developers. The method is public: how the measurement works, step by step.
And the honest counter-recommendation: if you only need a monthly number and your team can act on it, buy a tool. The table above is your shortlist, and Otterly.AI at $29 is a fine place to start. Come to us when the number needs to move and nobody has time to move it.
Further reading: what your website needs to appear in AI answers, the technical checklist behind the readiness scores, and GEO vs SEO, on where this work sits next to classic search.
Common questions
How much do AI visibility tools cost in 2026?
As published on the vendors' pricing pages and checked on 9 October 2026, monthly tiers run from $29 (Otterly.AI Lite, 15 prompts) to $999+/month (Searchable Enterprise). Profound offers a free 7-day trial for brands and Enterprise on request. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit Base shows €94.94/mo per domain, billed annually, as shown to a visitor in Germany. Ahrefs Brand Radar AI Visibility Index is $199/mo for one platform group or $699/mo for all models; custom prompts from $50/mo. Knowatoa lists $59/mo (Starter) and $199/mo (Growth), in USD. Peec AI lists €85/mo (Starter), €205/mo (Pro) and €425/mo (Advanced), monthly. Searchable Pro is $125/month and Scale is $400/month. A consultant-run baseline audit is a different shape of spend: you can run a free Inspector page check. Start is €199/month or €1,990/year for 1 market language, System is €349/month or €3,490/year for 2 and Scale is €779/month or €7,790/year for 5, each with up to 100 buyer questions per market language. Each further market language costs €149/month or €1,490/year in every tier. A market language is one country in one language. Partner starts at €1,490/month, with setup quoted by scope. No setup fee, cancel monthly. No human review or calls are included in Start, System or Scale.
Can I check my AI search visibility for free?
Yes, at page level. Our free AI Visibility Inspector scans any URL and shows what AI crawlers actually read from it, up to 5 scans a day. Semrush also offers a free AI visibility checker on its site. Free checks tell you whether a page is readable and structured for AI engines; they do not track whether AI assistants mention your brand over time, which is what the paid tools and consultant monitoring measure.
Do AI visibility tools implement the fixes they recommend?
Mostly no. Profound, Otterly.AI, Semrush, Ahrefs Brand Radar, and Peec AI are monitoring software: they report where you stand and leave the content, schema, and rendering work to your team. Searchable is a partial exception, with AI-generated articles your team still reviews and publishes. Consultancies work the other way around: the measurement exists to drive the fixes. Start, System, Scale and Partner deliver results, evidence, priorities and publishing recommendations. With Start, System and Scale, your team or agency acts on them; with Partner, we coordinate the work with your internal stakeholders, agencies and developers.
What is the best GEO agency or consultant for generative engine optimization in 2026?
The best GEO partner depends on your size, your markets and your goals, above all how much your team wants to do itself and how much you want delivered as a full service. Enterprise brands, especially in the US, often work with iPullRank, the agency behind the relevance engineering approach, with clients like Target and Adidas and no published pricing. We built the Creative Data Engineers AI Search Visibility service for digital marketing teams at multi-market consumer brands that need measurement and prioritized recommendations: you can run a free Inspector page check. Start is €199/month or €1,990/year for 1 market language, System is €349/month or €3,490/year for 2 and Scale is €779/month or €7,790/year for 5, each with up to 100 buyer questions per market language. Each further market language costs €149/month or €1,490/year in every tier. A market language is one country in one language. Partner starts at €1,490/month, with setup quoted by scope. No setup fee, cancel monthly. No human review or calls are included in Start, System or Scale. Judge any GEO partner on three things: do they measure before they recommend, do they show their method, and do they give your team recommendations supported by evidence.
How is Creative Data Engineers different from tools like Profound or Otterly?
Profound and Otterly.AI are software subscriptions you operate yourself. Creative Data Engineers measures AI visibility and readiness, then delivers results, evidence, priorities and publishing recommendations. ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews are measured every three days, Claude monthly. A dashboard, an MCP connector and a monthly content plan are included: pages to update and schema drafts, from AI answers and social media comments. Your team or agency publishes the changes. Partner includes monthly human review and a working call. We coordinate the work with your internal stakeholders, agencies and developers. If you only need the numbers and have a team to act on them, a tool is the cheaper choice.
Want the baseline before you pick anything?
You can run a free Inspector page check. Start is €199/month or €1,990/year for 1 market language, System is €349/month or €3,490/year for 2 and Scale is €779/month or €7,790/year for 5, each with up to 100 buyer questions per market language. Each further market language costs €149/month or €1,490/year in every tier. A market language is one country in one language. Partner starts at €1,490/month, with setup quoted by scope. No setup fee, cancel monthly. No human review or calls are included in Start, System or Scale.