How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- AEO tools track how AI assistants answer shopping questions: which brands and products get named, cited and recommended when a buyer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Mode what to buy.
- Profound is the enterprise pick, with plans from 99 dollars per month and the deepest prompt and citation analysis in this group.
- Peec AI suits mid size stores and agencies at 95 dollars per month, with unlimited seats and clean daily tracking across a choice of models.
- Otterly.AI is the budget start at 29 dollars per month, and AthenaHQ is the only entry here with a genuinely free tier.
- No tool in this list can guarantee your products will be cited or recommended. Anyone who promises that is selling something the platforms do not offer.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Profound | Enterprise ecommerce AEO programmes | $99 per month | No |
 Peec AI | Mid market stores and agencies | $95 per month | No |
 Otterly.AI | Small stores on a budget | $29 per month | No |
 AthenaHQ | Teams wanting a free start plus action tools | Free | Yes |
 Evertune | Large advertisers measuring brand perception | See website | No |
 Goodie AI | Brands wanting agents and revenue attribution | See website | No |
 Brandlight | Enterprise CMO teams | See website | No |
 Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Stores already paying for Semrush | $99 per month per domain | No |
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#1Profound
Best for: Enterprise ecommerce AEO programmes4.6/5 on
G2 (640 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit tryprofound.com
Starting price$99 per month
Free planNo
Profound is the category reference point. For an ecommerce group, its value is the combination of prompt level detail and citation analysis: you can see which product pages and review sources the engines pull from when they recommend a rival, which tells your content team exactly what to build.
Pricing starts at 99 dollars per month for a starter tier and rises quickly with engines and prompt volume. Budget holders should model the tier they will actually need, because the entry plan is a taster for most retail catalogues.
What we like- The most complete prompt, citation and sentiment tracking in this category, covering up to nine AI engines on higher tiers, agent features that turn gaps into content tasks, strong shopping and category prompt analysis for retail brands, serious funding and enterprise adoption behind it
Watch out for- Full value sits on higher tiers, with multi engine Growth reported around 399 dollars per month, enterprise contracts are custom and priced accordingly, the depth can swamp a small team that only needs a monthly check
#2Peec AI
Best for: Mid market stores and agencies4.7/5 on
G2 (21 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit peec.ai
Starting price$95 per month
Free planNo
Peec AI is the sensible middle. A store team can track its brand and main rivals across a sensible prompt set, share the login with everyone, and pay a price that does not need board approval. Its named versus cited distinction matters for ecommerce: being mentioned is good, being the linked source is better.
Watch the prompt cap. Fifty prompts is roughly ten buying questions across five engines, so a store with many categories will step up a tier. Even so, the step ups are published and predictable.
What we like- Clear published pricing from 95 dollars per month, or about 80 dollars billed annually, unlimited seats make it cheap for whole teams, choose three models on the entry plan with more as add ons, named versus cited brand tracking is presented cleanly
Watch out for- Entry plan covers 50 prompts, which a large catalogue will outgrow, extra models and prompt volume are add ons that raise the real price, optimisation actions are lighter than AthenaHQ or Profound, Berlin based, with reporting conventions that suit European teams best
#3Otterly.AI
Best for: Small stores on a budget4.7/5 on
G2 (54 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit otterly.ai
Starting price$29 per month
Free planNo
Otterly is where a small store should start. At 29 dollars a month it answers the first question, are we in the AI answers for our main products at all, without a procurement process. Many stores will learn enough from that alone to fix titles, descriptions and review coverage.
Its limits are honest ones: few prompts, paid extras for some engines, reporting rather than optimisation. Graduate to Peec or Profound when the questions get bigger than the plan.
What we like- The cheapest working monitoring in this list at 29 dollars per month, covers four engines on the entry plan, includes an AEO audit of your site, simple reports a small team will actually read
Watch out for- Entry plan allows only 15 prompts, Gemini, AI Mode and Claude cost extra on lower tiers, analysis depth is thinner than Profound or Peec, no real action layer beyond recommendations
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
AthenaHQ is the try before you buy option, and the only free plan in this list that is a real tier rather than a trial. For a store testing whether AEO deserves budget, that matters: run the free tier for a month, look at where rivals appear, then decide.
The paid pitch is action: citation building and content recommendations inside the same tool. Judge it on whether your team uses those features, because the tracking alone is cheaper elsewhere.
What we like- A free tier lets a store measure its starting point at no cost, Starter at 295 dollars per month adds a credit based model across more engines, action features aim at fixing content, not just reporting mentions, analytics integrations include GA4 and Search Console
Watch out for- Credit based pricing makes costs harder to forecast than prompt plans, paid tiers jump quickly from the free tier, a younger product than Profound or Semrush, some advanced features sit on the highest plans
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Evertune measures how AI models perceive brands, at a sampling depth built for advertisers who need statistically serious answers. For a large retailer asking how the category is framed, that rigour is the product.
It is not a small store tool, and its pricing is the least clear in this group: 2026 sources disagree widely, so we will not print a figure. Treat it as an enterprise conversation.
What we like- Built for large brands and advertisers, with very large sample sizes per prompt, measures perception and share of voice at model level, consumer panel data behind its method is published and explained, strong fit for category level questions like which brands an engine trusts
Watch out for- Pricing is not stated consistently across sources, reported from low monthly tiers to 800 dollars for Pro, so the field says See website and buyers must confirm directly, aimed at big advertisers rather than store teams, less focused on product page level fixes
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Goodie AI sells the step after measurement: agents and attribution. The attribution promise needs care. Tying AI mentions to revenue involves modelled estimates, and any vendor claiming exact numbers is overstating what the data can show.
Its prices have moved often enough that sources disagree. Confirm the current plan prices on its own pricing page before budgeting, and weigh it against Peec and Profound on the same prompt set.
What we like- Combines visibility tracking with agents that work on closing gaps, revenue attribution features speak the language ecommerce teams use, covers a wide set of AI models on higher tiers, positioned directly at brand and retail use cases
Watch out for- Published prices conflict across 2026 sources, reported between about 295 and 399 dollars per month, so the field says See website, attribution of AI driven revenue is inherently approximate, newer brand in a fast moving category
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Brandlight is the CMO dashboard option. It frames AI visibility as a brand health metric for large organisations, which suits a retail group reporting upward. It is less obviously built for a store team fixing product pages.
With no published prices, shortlisting Brandlight means a sales process. Do it only if the enterprise reporting angle is the thing you actually need.
What we like- Built for enterprise brand teams rather than SEO specialists, covers visibility, sentiment and source analysis across engines, quote only pricing reflects an enterprise sales model, used by large consumer brands for board level reporting
Watch out for- No published pricing at all, sales led process will be slow for a store team that wants to start this week, fewer ecommerce specific features than Profound, smaller public user base to learn from
#8
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
Best for: Stores already paying for Semrush
Visit semrush.com
Starting price$99 per month per domain
Free planNo
For a store already paying Semrush, the AI Visibility Toolkit is the path of least resistance: switch it on, and AI mentions sit beside the rankings and audits the team already reads.
Dedicated tools track more engines in more depth. The question is whether your team will open a second platform daily. If not, the add on you use beats the platform you ignore.
What we like- Sits inside the SEO suite many stores already use, so there is one less login and one less contract, priced clearly at 99 dollars per month per domain as an add on, backed by a very large prompt dataset, combines AI visibility with the classic rankings and site audit data in one place
Watch out for- Per domain pricing multiplies across a retail group with many storefronts, AI coverage is Google centric compared with the dedicated tools, depth on non Google engines is thinner than Profound, you need the base Semrush subscription to get value from the ecosystem
How we chose
We picked AEO tools an ecommerce team can buy in October 2026 that track brand and product visibility across several AI engines and can show which sources the engines cite. Prices come from vendor pricing pages and current October 2026 comparisons, and where sources conflicted, on Evertune and Goodie AI, the price field says See website rather than repeating an unstable figure. No vendor can guarantee citations or recommendations in AI answers, and no entry here is presented as able to. We did not run paid accounts for this guide; findings rest on published pricing, product documentation and comparison reporting.
Start with the buying questions, not the tool. Write down the twenty prompts a shopper would ask before buying your products, including the ones where rivals should win. A tool earns its fee by tracking those prompts honestly, not by covering the most engines in the abstract.
Compare cost per prompt and engines included, never the headline price. A 29 dollar plan with 15 prompts and a 95 dollar plan with 50 prompts are different products. Model the tier that covers your real prompt set across the engines your customers use.
Use the tool to fix product content. The reliable wins in this category are boring: clearer product titles and descriptions, structured data, review coverage, and pages that answer the comparison questions engines get asked. A tracker that does not change your content calendar is a reporting subscription.
Finally, measure in quarters. AI answer samples wobble week to week. Judge any tool, and any optimisation work, on a quarter of trend, and be suspicious of anyone, vendor or agency, who offers you a guaranteed position in an AI answer.
Frequently asked questions
What is AEO for an online store?
Answer engine optimisation means improving how AI assistants describe and recommend your products when shoppers ask buying questions. In practice it is tracking mentions and citations across engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Mode, then fixing the product content those engines draw from.
Can an AEO tool guarantee my products appear in AI answers?
No. AI answers are generated from models and sources no vendor controls, and they vary between users and days. A tool can measure visibility and guide fixes. Any guarantee of placement or recommendation is a claim the seller cannot back up.
How many prompts should a store track?
Enough to cover your money questions: the main category comparisons, your top product types, and branded versus unbranded versions. Small stores start with 15 to 50 prompts. Large catalogues need hundreds, which is why prompt caps decide the real price of a plan.
Is AEO different from SEO for ecommerce?
They overlap. The product pages, reviews and comparison content that engines cite are largely the pages good SEO already builds. AEO adds measurement of a new surface, AI answers, and some new habits, such as making product facts easy for a model to quote accurately.
Which engines matter most for shopping questions?
ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, Perplexity and Gemini cover most shopping queries in 2026 reporting, with Copilot and Claude behind them. Check which engines a plan includes before paying, because entry tiers often cover fewer.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.