10 Best Profound Alternatives for 2026, Scored
By Anu Verma
The best Profound alternative for most teams is Cituna at $49 a month: it publishes its price, checks 7 AI engines daily and writes the fix, while Profound now sells only a 7-day trial and then a custom Enterprise contract. For 11 models on a self-serve plan pick AthenaHQ ($295), for 8 engines with articles Trakkr ($100), and for the lowest price Otterly.AI ($29).
Key takeaways
- Profound no longer sells a self-serve plan to brands: a free 7-day trial leads to a custom Enterprise contract with no published price.
- Cituna and AthenaHQ meet all five checks below; Trakkr meets four.
- Otterly.AI is the cheapest at $29, and AthenaHQ names the most models, at 11.
If you want a tool that finds the gap and writes the fix rather than a report you still have to act on, start a 3-day trial of Cituna at cituna.com; a card is required and Starter is $49 a month after the trial.
This guide scores ten tools you can buy today in place of Profound, using each vendor's own pricing and product pages on the dates shown. Every entry publishes a price you can pay without a sales call, which is the one thing Profound's brand offer no longer has. For the wider category, see how much an AI visibility platform costs in 2026 or whether an AI visibility tool is worth paying for at all.
How do the 10 Profound alternatives compare?
Entry prices are the cheapest plan billed monthly unless the vendor shows only an annual rate. The checks column counts how many of the five checks in the next section each entry plan meets.
| Tool | Best for | Entry price (billed monthly) | AI engines on the entry plan | Free plan or trial | Date read | Checks met |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cituna | Each gap fixed, not just reported | $49 Starter | 7: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, AI Overviews, AI Mode | 3-day trial, card required | 22 Oct 2026 | 5 |
| AthenaHQ | Profound-like breadth, self-serve | $295 Starter | 11, adding Copilot, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral | Free Essential plan | 1 Oct 2026 | 5 |
| Trakkr | 8 engines daily with articles | $100 Growth | 8: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI | 14-day trial, card required | 17 Oct 2026 | 4 |
| Promptwatch | Search Console and MCP at entry | $95 Essential | 4 you choose from 8 | 7-day trial | 8 Oct 2026 | 3 |
| Scrunch | Site audits beside tracking | $250 Core | 4: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Copilot | 7-day trial | 1 Oct 2026 | 3 |
| Otterly.AI | The lowest price | $29 Lite | 4: ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot | Free trial, length not stated | 7 Oct 2026 | 2 |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Teams in Ahrefs, billed by checks | $50 Custom Prompts | 7: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Claude | None | 2 Oct 2026 | 2 |
| Peec AI | Marketing teams with many users | $95 Starter | 3 you choose from 6 | Free trial, length not stated | 1 Oct 2026 | 2 |
| SE Visible | The most prompts under $100 | $99 Basic | 5: ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, Perplexity, AI Overviews | 10-day trial | 29 Sep 2026 | 2 |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Teams whose SEO lives in Semrush | $99 per domain, billed annually | 4: ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, Perplexity | None | 9 Oct 2026 | 1 |
For reference, Profound itself offers brands a free 7-day trial of 50 preset prompts a day on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, then a custom Enterprise contract on 9 engines (Profound pricing, read 1 October 2026).
How we scored these Profound alternatives
This is a desk comparison of published pages. We read each vendor's own pricing and plan pages on the dates in the table and scored the cheapest self-serve plan, or the free plan where a tool has no cheaper paid one, on five checks:
- Engines: 7 or more named AI engines on that plan.
- Price: a published price you can pay without a sales call.
- Trial: a free trial or a standing free plan.
- Search Console: a Google Search Console connection named on the vendor's pages.
- Writes: the plan writes the fix, articles or page changes, rather than only reporting or suggesting.
Entries are ordered by checks met, then by the lower entry price. We did not run paid trials for this update, and nothing here is a hands-on review. Cituna ranks first on that tie-break, and every rival fact links to the vendor's own page so you can check it.
Why do teams look for a Profound alternative?
The concrete trigger is Profound's pricing change. In mid-September 2026 it removed its $99 Starter and $399 Growth self-serve brand plans. A brand that wants to try Profound now gets a free 7-day trial with 50 preset prompts a day on 3 engines, and the prompts cannot be edited, so you see Profound's questions rather than your own. The trial keeps no history and has no exports or API (Profound pricing, read 1 October 2026).
After the trial, the only path is a custom Enterprise contract. It adds Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, DeepSeek and Exa Search, with all-time history, exports, an API, unlimited seats, SSO and SOC 2, but no price appears on the page. A team that needs a number for next month's budget, or that wants to track its own buyer questions next week without a procurement cycle, has to look elsewhere. Grok is not on Profound's list at any tier, and no Search Console connection is listed.
Which Profound alternative should you buy in 2026?
1. Cituna
Cituna checks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode every day for the prompts you choose. Where a rival is named and you are not, it writes the fix (schema, FAQ copy, llms.txt or an article), and AutoSEO publishes articles to WordPress, Shopify, Sanity, GitHub or any CMS by webhook. Paid plans join Google Search Console, and an MCP server lets Claude or ChatGPT read the data.
Price: Starter $49 a month (1 brand, 10 prompts), Pro $119 (3 brands, 30 prompts) and Max $399 (10 brands, 90 prompts), billed monthly. The 3-day free trial needs a card and moves to $49 unless cancelled (Cituna's plans, read 22 October 2026, at cituna.com).
Checks met: all 5.
Strength: a published price you can pay today, daily Grok and Claude checks that Profound lacks or keeps for Enterprise, and the written fix.
Limit: no Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek or Meta AI, no sentiment scoring, and a short trial. If your security team needs SOC 2 paperwork, ask before you buy.
Pick it if: you want your own prompts tracked from day one and the gaps closed at a flat monthly price.
See Cituna in our directory or the Cituna vs Profound comparison.
2. AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ is the closest self-serve match to Profound's scope: a long model list, Search Console and GA4, and a content optimization agent that acts on pages.
Price: Starter is $295 a month, or $245 a month billed annually, for 3,600 credits. The Essential plan is free with 300 credits on 5 engines (AthenaHQ plans, read 1 October 2026).
Engines: 11 on Starter: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral.
Checks met: all 5.
Strength: more models than Profound's Enterprise list, Grok included, on a plan you can buy with a card.
Limit: credits make the bill harder to predict than a prompt count, API access and extra credits are add-ons, and the step from free to $295 has nothing in between.
Pick it if: you want the widest engine list without a sales call and $295 fits the budget.
See AthenaHQ in our directory or Profound vs AthenaHQ.
3. Trakkr
Trakkr checks a fixed prompt list every day on 8 engines and writes articles from the gaps it finds, with an MCP server on its first plan.
Price: Growth is $100 a month, or $1,000 a year, for 1 brand, 50 prompts, 25 articles a month and 3 seats. Scale is $500. The 14-day trial needs a card and converts to $100 unless cancelled (Trakkr pricing, read 17 October 2026).
Engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Grok, DeepSeek and Meta AI.
Checks met: 4. Its pricing page did not list a Search Console connection on 17 October 2026.
Strength: DeepSeek, one of Profound's enterprise engines, plus Grok and Meta AI, which Profound does not list, on a $100 plan with articles.
Limit: no Microsoft Copilot or Google AI Mode, one brand on Growth, and the card trial converts automatically.
Pick it if: you want a wide model mix checked daily, with content, for a fixed fee.
4. Promptwatch
Promptwatch tracks prompts daily on models you choose and connects Search Console and an MCP server from its first plan. Its higher plan writes articles and reads AI crawler logs.
Price: Essential is $95 a month for 50 prompts and 6,000 responses. Professional is $245 for 150 prompts, 5 AEO articles a month and crawler logs (Promptwatch pricing, read 1 October and 8 October 2026). There is a 7-day trial.
Engines: 4 on Essential, chosen from OpenAI, Perplexity, Google, Claude, Gemini, Meta, DeepSeek and Grok.
Checks met: 3: price, trial and Search Console.
Strength: the most integrations on a $95 plan here, and a wide pool of models to pick from.
Limit: 4 models at once, and writing starts on the $245 plan.
Pick it if: you want Search Console and MCP now and content later.
5. Scrunch
Scrunch pairs tracking with monthly site audits and page optimization, for brands that care how AI crawlers read their site.
Price: Core is $250 a month for 125 prompts, 5,000 responses, 5 user licences, 5 site audits and 1 page optimization a month, with a 7-day trial (Scrunch pricing, read 1 October 2026).
Engines: 4 on Core: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Microsoft Copilot. The rest, Grok included, are on Enterprise.
Checks met: 3: price, trial and the monthly page optimization.
Strength: Copilot on the entry plan, site audits, and an enterprise path with SAML SSO and SOC 2 if you grow.
Limit: 1 brand, 1 country and 1 language on Core, 4 engines, and no Search Console listed.
Pick it if: you want a site audit tool with tracking and may need an enterprise contract later.
See Scrunch in our directory or Cituna vs Scrunch.
6. Otterly.AI
Otterly.AI is the cheapest way here to see which brands each engine names for your prompts, with unlimited team members on every plan.
Price: Lite is $29 a month, or $25 billed annually, for 15 prompts. Standard is $189 for 100 prompts with an API and MCP (Otterly.AI pricing, read 7 October 2026).
Engines: 4 on Lite: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. Gemini and AI Mode are $9 add-ons and Claude is $29 (read 1 October 2026). Grok is not offered.
Checks met: 2: price and trial.
Strength: a low, predictable bill and Copilot included.
Limit: a short prompt list, add-on engines, and suggestions rather than written fixes.
Pick it if: you want to start tracking this week for the least money.
See Otterly.AI in our directory or Cituna vs Otterly.AI.
7. Ahrefs Brand Radar
Brand Radar gives market-wide AI data through its AI Visibility Index and tracks your own questions through Custom Prompts, all beside Ahrefs' SEO data.
Price: Custom Prompts from $50 a month for 2,500 checks; the AI Visibility Index is $199 a month per platform or $699 for all six. No paid Ahrefs plan is required (Ahrefs Brand Radar and Ahrefs pricing, read 2 October 2026).
Engines: 7 on Custom Prompts, including Claude at 8 checks per update. Grok is not named.
Checks met: 2: engines and price.
Strength: the Index is the nearest thing here to Profound's demand-level prompt data.
Limit: metered checks, no free trial, and no written fixes.
Pick it if: you liked Profound's market view and already work in Ahrefs.
See Ahrefs Brand Radar in our directory or Cituna vs Ahrefs Brand Radar.
8. Peec AI
Peec AI is a marketing dashboard with sentiment, share of voice and a list of sites that cite rivals but not you.
Price: Starter is $95 a month, or $80 billed annually, for 50 prompts; Pro is $245 and Advanced $495 (Peec AI pricing, read 1 October 2026). A free trial is offered, with length and card terms not stated on 9 October 2026.
Engines: 3 on Starter, chosen from ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI. Claude and Grok are on Enterprise.
Checks met: 2: price and trial.
Strength: unlimited users and an MCP server on paid plans.
Limit: 3 models at once, and actions are left to your team.
Pick it if: many people need one dashboard and sentiment matters to you.
See Peec AI in our directory or Profound vs Peec AI.
9. SE Visible
SE Visible is SE Ranking's standalone AI dashboard, with a large prompt allowance spread over several projects.
Price: Basic is $99 a month, or $79 billed annually, for 200 prompts across 3 projects, with a 10-day trial (SE Visible, read 29 September 2026).
Engines: 5: ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Claude was listed as coming soon.
Checks met: 2: price and trial.
Strength: 200 prompts for less than most entry plans here.
Limit: no Claude or Grok yet, no Search Console named, and reporting only. These are the oldest facts in the table, so check the live page.
Pick it if: you want many prompts across a few brands.
See SE Visible in our directory or Cituna vs SE Visible.
10. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
The toolkit puts AI rankings and mentions inside Semrush, so a team already paying for it can add AI data without a new login.
Price: $99 a month per domain, quoted on annual billing, for 25 custom prompts with daily rankings (Semrush AI pricing, read 1 October 2026). Semrush's help article says it has no free trial (Semrush knowledge base, read 9 October 2026).
Engines: 4: ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity.
Checks met: 1: price.
Strength: AI data beside Semrush's keyword and backlink tools.
Limit: $99 for each extra domain, a year's commitment and no Claude or Grok.
Pick it if: you track one or two domains and live in Semrush.
See the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit in our directory or Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit vs Ahrefs Brand Radar.
Which Profound alternative is best for agencies?
Profound's agency offer was priced per client workspace when we read it on 25 September 2026, without a public base price. Among the alternatives, Cituna Pro covers 3 brands and 5 seats for $119 a month, with shareable reports, and Max covers 10 brands and 15 seats for $399; neither is white-label. Semrush charges $99 for each domain, so ten clients cost $990 a month. Peec AI and Otterly.AI include unlimited users, which helps when clients log in themselves. See the best AI visibility tools for agencies for a fuller list.
Which Profound alternative is best on a small budget?
Otterly.AI Lite at $29 is the cheapest paid start, Cituna Starter at $49 adds Claude, Grok and Google AI Mode with the fix written, and Ahrefs Brand Radar at $50 suits teams that prefer to pay per check. AthenaHQ's free Essential plan costs nothing and has no end date, though it skips Claude and Grok. If you are not ready to pay, check whether ChatGPT recommends your business by hand first.
Which Profound alternative is best for enterprise teams?
If you truly need SSO, SOC 2 reports and all-time history on a signed contract, Profound Enterprise still fits, and the alternatives are other contracts rather than cheaper plans. Scrunch Enterprise adds SAML SSO, SOC 2, Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Google AI Mode and Grok, and its Agent Experience Platform. AthenaHQ has an Enterprise tier above Starter. Cituna offers a custom Enterprise plan with invoiced billing above Max. Ask each for its security documents before you shortlist; none of them publishes the price.
Which Profound alternative is best for a SaaS team?
A SaaS team usually wants its own buyer questions, Claude in the list, Search Console data and an MCP server so the numbers can be asked from Claude or ChatGPT. Cituna covers all four from $49, with 31 MCP tools (22 read tools from Starter, 9 write tools on Pro) and AutoSEO that publishes to GitHub, Sanity or a webhook. Promptwatch has Search Console and MCP at $95. Trakkr and Peec AI ship MCP servers too. See AI visibility tools with an MCP server for setup steps.
What does Profound still do well?
Profound's Enterprise plan lists 9 engines, including Exa Search, which no other tool here names, plus all-time history, CSV and JSON exports, an API, unlimited seats, SSO and SOC 2 (Profound pricing, read 1 October 2026). Its AI Marketer agent ran on credits when we read the page on 29 September 2026. The free trial is also a fair way to see how a large vendor frames your category, even if the prompts are not yours.
How do you switch from Profound to another tool?
- If you only used the trial, there is no history to export, so start fresh.
- If you used Enterprise, ask your account team for a CSV or JSON export of tracked prompts and citations before the contract ends.
- Write your own buyer questions, since the trial's prompts were preset. Use the words your buyers use.
- Load the same questions into one or two alternatives' trials on the same day, with the same rivals.
- Compare which brands and pages each tool names for the same question, and note engines one covers and the other does not.
Which Profound alternative should you choose?
- You need a price you can see: Cituna, AthenaHQ and Trakkr publish one and meet four or five checks.
- You want the most models: AthenaHQ (11), then Trakkr (8).
- You want the fix written: Cituna on every plan; Trakkr writes articles; AthenaHQ has a content agent.
- You need a contract with SSO and SOC 2: stay with Profound or talk to Scrunch Enterprise.
Whichever tool you choose, compare its plans against Cituna's three at cituna.com before you commit to a year of billing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Profound alternative?
For most teams it is Cituna at $49 a month, one of two tools here that meet all five checks; AthenaHQ at $295 is the other (Cituna read 22 October 2026, AthenaHQ 1 October 2026). Cituna checks 7 engines daily and writes the fix for each gap.
Does Profound still have a Starter or Growth plan?
No. Profound removed its $99 Starter and $399 Growth self-serve brand plans in mid-September 2026. Its pricing page now offers brands a free 7-day trial and then a custom Enterprise contract (tryprofound.com/pricing, read 1 October 2026).
What is the cheapest Profound alternative?
Otterly.AI Lite, at $29 a month for 15 prompts on 4 engines (otterly.ai/pricing, read 7 October 2026). Cituna Starter is next at $49 on 7 engines, then Ahrefs Brand Radar Custom Prompts at $50 for 2,500 checks.
Which Profound alternative tracks the most AI engines?
AthenaHQ's $295 Starter names 11 models (read 1 October 2026), and Trakkr's $100 Growth plan checks 8 daily (read 17 October 2026). Cituna and Ahrefs Brand Radar each cover 7. Profound's Enterprise plan lists 9, including Microsoft Copilot and DeepSeek but not Grok.
Which Profound alternatives connect Google Search Console?
Cituna, AthenaHQ and Promptwatch name a Search Console connection on the pages we read. Trakkr's pricing page did not list one when re-read on 17 October 2026. Profound does not list a Search Console integration.
Can you keep your data from a Profound trial?
No. The 7-day trial runs preset prompts with no history, exports or API, so there is nothing to carry over (tryprofound.com/pricing, read 1 October 2026). If you used Profound Enterprise, ask your account team for a CSV or JSON export before the contract ends.
Make an AI or automation tool?
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Related guides
10 Best AthenaHQ Alternatives for 2026 (Cheaper Picks)Ten AthenaHQ alternatives that cost less than its $295-a-month Starter plan, ordered by price, with each vendor's page linked and dated.- 10 Best Scrunch AI Alternatives in 2026, by Engines CoveredScrunch Core tracks 4 AI engines for $250 a month. Ten alternatives ranked by the engines on their entry plan, with each vendor's page linked and dated.
- AI Visibility Tools With a Free Trial, and How to Get a Real Answer Before It Ends (2026)Every AI visibility tool's free trial or free plan, with length, card terms, allowance and read date, plus a day-by-day plan for a 3-day or 7-day trial.
Tools in this piece
Drafted with AI assistance from our own research, and reviewed by the Automate Basics team before publishing. Tools and prices change; check the linked official source before you act.
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