We Tested 8 AI Visibility Tools: What Actually Works in 2026

Key takeaways

• We ran 8 practical tests against each tool's own pricing page, product pages, docs and trial terms on 29 September 2026, a desk test, not hands-on use.
• Cituna and AthenaHQ tied for the most passes, 7 of 8 each, with Cituna the cheaper of the two at $39 a month.
• Only Cituna and AthenaHQ name a Google Search Console connection among the 8 tools tested.
• Profound passed the fewest tests, 3 of 8, mainly because it has no published self-serve price for ongoing tracking.
• Covering all 4 of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, naming a Search Console connection and writing the fix for you separated the tools most clearly.

If you want to see what a documented desk test found about the gaps in your own AI visibility, start a 3-day Cituna trial at cituna.com; a card is required.

This guide tests 8 AI visibility tools against 8 practical checks, using only what each vendor states on its own pages. We read every page on 29 September 2026, so every fact here carries that date unless stated otherwise. Where a vendor's own page did not say one way or the other, we marked that test "not published" rather than guessing, and we explain what each result meant for the tools involved further down.

For a broader roundup not built around a fixed test list, see the 10 best AI visibility tools in 2026, and for the honest-reviews take on tracking depth specifically, see the best AI visibility tracking tools in 2026.

How do the 8 tools compare in 2026?

Prices checked 29 September 2026.

How this list works: we ran the same 8 tests, described below, against each tool's own pricing page, product pages, docs and trial terms on 29 September 2026, ordered the 8 tools by how many tests they passed, and broke ties by the lower published entry price.

What did we actually test, and how?

"Tested" here means a documented desk test of each tool's published plans, docs and trial terms on 29 September 2026, not hands-on use. We did not create a paid account with any vendor, run a live dashboard, or see accuracy results firsthand; every line below comes from a vendor's own page, read on the date stated.

We scored each tool's cheapest self-serve plan (its free plan where one exists and there is no cheaper paid plan) against these 8 checks:

1. Can you buy the entry plan without a sales call, at a price the vendor publishes?
2. Does the entry plan cover all 4 of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude?
3. Does the tool name which URLs or sources the engines cite, not just that your brand was mentioned?
4. Does the entry plan cover both Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode?
5. Does the vendor name a Google Search Console connection anywhere on its own pages?
6. Does the entry plan write the fix for you, rather than only recommend one?
7. Is there a free trial or a free plan?
8. Is API or MCP access published on any self-serve plan, at a stated price?

Which tools passed our 8 tests?

Results checked 29 September 2026. "Not published" means the vendor's own pages do not state it either way. "Not scored" for Cituna means the test falls outside the short list of Cituna facts this guide uses.

Which AI visibility tools actually worked in our tests?

1. Cituna (best for passing the most tests at the lowest price)

Cituna checks 7 AI engines daily: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode, and passed 7 of our 8 tests.

Price: $39 a month, $119 a month or $399 a month (Starter, Pro, Max), with a 3-day free trial that requires a card.

Engines: all 7 named above are checked daily on the entry plan; Microsoft Copilot is not tracked.

Strength: it passed every test except naming cited URLs specifically, including Search Console, a free trial and writing the fix for each gap it finds rather than only listing it.

Limit: it does not track Microsoft Copilot, and our tests found no published statement that it names the exact URLs each engine cites.

Pick it if: you want the fix written for you, not only the gap reported, at a price you can see today. See Cituna's plans at cituna.com before you compare it against the rest of this list.

See Cituna in our directory.

2. AthenaHQ (best for the widest engine list among the top scorers)

AthenaHQ's free Essential plan and paid Starter plan both passed nearly every test we ran, missing only a clearly published price for API access.

Price: Essential is free ($25 of credit, about 300 AI responses). Starter costs $295 a month, or $245 a month billed annually (checked 29 September 2026); see AthenaHQ's plans page.

Engines: 11 on Starter, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Microsoft Copilot; 5 on the free Essential plan.

Strength: Starter passed our test for writing the fix for you, thanks to its content optimisation agent, and Search Console is named on the plans page.

Limit: API access is a paid add-on priced only on request, so we could not confirm a fixed price for it, and neither could we confirm MCP access anywhere on the page.

Pick it if: you want the widest engine list among the tools that also write fixes for you, and can afford the paid plan once the free credits run out, checked 29 September 2026.

See AthenaHQ in our directory.

3. SE Visible (best for naming the exact URLs each engine cites)

SE Visible collects AI answers through each platform's own interface and reports the domains and URLs cited most, by category, from its entry plan.

Price: Basic costs $99 a month, or $79 a month billed annually (checked 29 September 2026); see SE Visible.

Engines: 5 on Basic: ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Claude is not supported yet, per SE Visible's own FAQ.

Strength: it passed our cited-URLs test clearly, naming domains and pages cited by type, and covers both AI Overviews and AI Mode on the entry plan.

Limit: it failed our 4-core-engine test over Claude, and it does not name a Search Console connection or write fixes for you.

Pick it if: knowing exactly which pages AI engines cite matters more to you than the lowest price.

See SE Visible in our directory.

4. Otterly.AI (best for a cheap entry price that still names cited links)

Otterly.AI's Lite plan tracks a small set of prompts daily and names link citations as a feature, at the second-lowest entry price we tested.

Price: Lite costs $29 a month, or $25 a month billed annually (checked 29 September 2026); see Otterly.AI's pricing page.

Engines: 4 on Lite: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. Gemini, Claude and Google AI Mode are paid add-ons.

Strength: link citation analysis is a named feature even on Lite, and its Standard plan publishes a fixed price for API and MCP access.

Limit: Lite failed our 4-core-engine and AI Overviews plus AI Mode tests, since Gemini, Claude and AI Mode all cost extra.

Pick it if: your buyers mostly use ChatGPT, Perplexity and Copilot, and citation detail matters more than covering every engine.

See Otterly.AI in our directory.

5. Ahrefs Brand Radar (best for bundling API and MCP access into a paid plan)

Ahrefs Brand Radar's Custom Prompts plans bill by the check, and its bundled Ahrefs Lite plan publishes a fixed price that includes both API and MCP access.

Price: Custom Prompts Basic costs $50 a month for 2,500 checks (checked 29 September 2026); see Ahrefs Brand Radar. API and MCP access are included from the $129 a month Lite plan.

Engines: 6 on Custom Prompts: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. Claude sits on a separate, far pricier tier.

Strength: it passed our cited-URLs test (brand mentions, citations and AI share of voice are named explicitly) and our API/MCP test.

Limit: it failed our free-trial test entirely, Ahrefs states plainly that it never runs discounts or trials for this product, and it does not write fixes for you.

Pick it if: you already pay for Ahrefs and want AI data with API access on the same account.

See Ahrefs Brand Radar in our directory.

6. Peec AI (best for covering AI Overviews and AI Mode together)

Peec AI's Starter plan lets you choose 3 engines to track daily, and Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode are both in that base choice.

Price: Starter costs $95 a month, or $80 a month billed annually (checked 29 September 2026); see Peec AI's pricing page.

Engines: 3 of 6 you choose: ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini or Naver AI. Perplexity is a paid add-on.

Strength: it passed our AI Overviews plus AI Mode test and our cited-URLs test, through gap analysis that names sources naming competitors instead of you.

Limit: it failed our 4-core-engine, Search Console and writes-the-fix tests; the page describes recommendations, not content it writes or publishes for you.

Pick it if: covering Google's two AI surfaces on a clean, unlimited-user dashboard matters more than covering Perplexity or Claude.

See Peec AI in our directory.

7. Scrunch (best for basic content generation on the entry plan)

Scrunch's Core plan includes basic content generation and a page optimisation each month, alongside its audits.

Price: Core costs $250 a month, with a 7-day free trial that automatically upgrades to paid unless cancelled (checked 29 September 2026); see Scrunch's pricing page.

Engines: 4 on Core: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Microsoft Copilot. Claude, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Grok all need the custom-priced Enterprise plan.

Strength: it passed our writes-the-fix test through its basic content generation and one page optimisation a month, plus our cited-URLs test.

Limit: it failed our 4-core-engine and AI Overviews plus AI Mode tests, and it names no Search Console connection.

Pick it if: you want a tool that also drafts a page fix and your budget matches its entry price, checked 29 September 2026.

See Scrunch in our directory.

8. Profound (best for enterprise scope once you are ready to buy)

Profound passed the fewest tests here, mostly because it sells no ongoing self-serve plan at all; the free Trial and quote-based Enterprise sit at opposite ends of its pricing page.

Price: not published for ongoing tracking. The free Trial runs for 7 days; Enterprise is priced by quote (checked 29 September 2026); see Profound's pricing page.

Engines: the Trial covers 3: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Enterprise names up to 9, including Perplexity, Claude and Microsoft Copilot.

Strength: it passed our cited-URLs and writes-the-fix tests, through Answer Engine Insights and its AI Marketer agent, and the Trial needs no sales call to start.

Limit: it failed our self-serve-price, 4-core-engine, AI Overviews plus AI Mode and Search Console tests, since ongoing tracking has no published price.

Pick it if: you need Profound's Enterprise-only engine list and are ready for a sales conversation rather than a self-serve signup.

See Profound in our directory.

What actually works for AI visibility tracking in 2026?

Across the 8 tools, 3 checks split the field the most: covering all 4 of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude on the entry plan (2 of 8 pass), naming a Search Console connection (2 of 8), and writing the fix for you rather than only recommending it (4 of 8: Cituna, AthenaHQ, Scrunch, and Profound through its trial's AI Marketer credits). Naming cited URLs, by contrast, is now common: all 7 tools scored on it state some form of citation detail.

A published, self-serve price mattered too: 7 of the 8 tools publish one, and Profound, the exception, also scored lowest overall. Search Console tied with core engine coverage as the rarest check passed: only Cituna and AthenaHQ name it, checked 29 September 2026.

A free trial or free plan turned out to be one of the easiest checks to pass: 7 of the 8 tools offer one, and only Ahrefs Brand Radar states plainly that it offers neither. That still left buyers needing to read past the trial to the ongoing price, since a generous trial and an affordable entry plan are not the same thing, as Profound's free 7-day Trial and unpublished ongoing price show most clearly.

Which AI visibility tool should you test first?

If you want the tool that passed the most tests at the lowest price, start with Cituna's $39 a month Starter plan. If you want a wider engine list on a free plan first, test AthenaHQ's Essential plan before you pay anything.

If citation detail, naming the exact pages an engine cites, matters most to you, SE Visible, Ahrefs Brand Radar or Peec AI each passed that test in our results grid above.

Whichever you shortlist, run your own 3-day trial of Cituna at cituna.com alongside it and compare the gaps each one finds on the same buyer questions.