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Best AI Mode Checking Tools in 2026: 8 Tools Compared

Shihab MiaShihab Mia · Founder, Rankite •Last verified Oct 27, 2026•How we test•9 min read
Home / Software guides / SEO & AI Search Visibility / best ai mode checking tools

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.

Best AI Mode Checking Tools in 2026: 8 Tools Compared

Key takeaways

  • Otterly.AI is the cheapest way in, from $29 a month with a free trial.
  • Peec AI suits agencies with multi-brand reporting and shareable workspaces.
  • Profound and Brandlight lead for enterprise teams that need depth and action.
  • SE Ranking bundles AI visibility with full rank tracking from $99 a month.
  • Treat every visibility score as a trend, not an exact number.

Quick comparison

ToolBest forStarting priceFree plan
Otterly.AISmall teams testing AI visibilityFrom $29 per monthFree trial
Peec AIAgencies and multi-brand reportingFrom $95 per monthFree trial
ProfoundEnterprise AI marketingSee websiteFree trial
BrandlightEnterprise brands with expertsSee websiteDemo only
AthenaHQSource and URL intelligenceSee websiteSee website
SE RankingTeams that need all engines plus SEOFrom $99 per monthFree trial
Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitSemrush users and sentimentFrom $99 per month add-onFree trial
Ahrefs Brand RadarSEO teams already in AhrefsSee websiteSee website

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The best AI mode checking tools

#1

Otterly.AI

Best for: Small teams testing AI visibility
4.7/5 on G2 (54 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit otterly.ai
Starting priceFrom $29 per month
Free planFree trial

Otterly.AI is the cheap way into AI visibility. From $29 a month, it tracks daily prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, and Copilot, with a 7-day free trial to test it. Crawlability checks, content audits, and prediction scores show why AI skips a page, and content briefs turn invisible pages into citable sources.

Prompt allowances are small at entry, and Gemini and Claude cost extra as add-ons. Category-wide analysis stays light. For a small team that wants a first read on where it stands in AI answers, Otterly.AI is the best value start.

What we like
  • Cheapest entry
  • Covers ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, and Copilot
  • Crawlability audits and GEO briefs
Watch out for
  • Prompt allowances are small at entry
  • Gemini and Claude are add-ons
  • Light for category-wide analysis
#2

Peec AI

Best for: Agencies and multi-brand reporting
4.7/5 on G2 (21 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit peec.ai
Starting priceFrom $95 per month
Free planFree trial
Peec AI homepage

Peec AI is the agency pick. Starter runs about $95 a month for 50 daily prompts with unlimited seats, and higher tiers cover six engines across more than 115 languages with daily runs. Shareable workspaces make client reporting painless, and MCP and API access on most plans let teams build custom workflows.

The entry plan covers three models of your choice rather than all six, and the API is missing on Starter. For agencies and PR teams tracing recurring objections and ads in AI answers, Peec AI balances depth and reporting better than cheaper tools.

What we like
  • Six engines and 115+ languages
  • Shareable workspaces
  • MCP and API access on most plans
Watch out for
  • Entry plan covers three models of your choice
  • API missing on Starter
  • Euro pricing for US buyers
#3

Profound

Best for: Enterprise AI marketing
4.6/5 on G2 (640 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit tryprofound.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planFree trial
Profound homepage

Profound sits at the enterprise end of AI visibility. Its platform tracks brand visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and AI Overviews, and its AI Marketer agents go further, rewriting pages with citation decay and building pages for questions a brand has no answer for. That action loop separates it from pure trackers.

Prices are not published, and enterprise packages are the real product, though a 7-day trial lets teams test the core. For a large team that wants visibility data plus agents that act on it, Profound is the standard large brands tend to choose.

What we like
  • Up to 9 engines on Enterprise
  • AI agents that act on visibility data
  • Strong research and data science
Watch out for
  • No published prices
  • Enterprise packages only at scale
  • Trial covers fewer engines
#4

Brandlight

Best for: Enterprise brands with experts
Visit brandlight.ai
Starting priceSee website
Free planDemo only

Brandlight is an AI visibility platform for enterprise brands, pairing measurement with people. It tracks visibility, sentiment, and share of voice against every competitor across engines, then hands each team a ranked action list every week, with dedicated strategists and engineers who execute alongside the client. AI shopping and AI ads modules cover product picks and sponsored answers too.

There is no self-serve trial, only a demo, and pricing is enterprise. For a Fortune 500 brand that wants experts attached to the platform rather than a dashboard alone, Brandlight is built for that model.

What we like
  • Visibility, sentiment, and share of voice per engine
  • Dedicated AI experts
  • Ranked weekly actions per team
Watch out for
  • Demo only, no self-serve trial
  • Enterprise pricing
  • Needs a team to act on recommendations
#5

AthenaHQ

Best for: Source and URL intelligence
Visit athenahq.ai
Starting priceSee website
Free planSee website

AthenaHQ, built by former Google Search and DeepMind engineers, leans into source intelligence: which exact URLs the models reference for your prompts. Starter covers 11 models with GA4 and Search Console data alongside, so teams can tie AI visibility to traffic they already measure. That source-level detail helps content teams fix the pages AI actually cites.

Pricing runs on credits, one credit per AI response, which needs careful budgeting for large prompt sets, and the API is a paid add-on. For a single-market brand team that wants to know precisely which pages win citations, AthenaHQ is the deepest source tool here.

What we like
  • 11 models on Starter
  • Exact URLs AI cites
  • GA4 and Search Console data alongside
Watch out for
  • Credit model needs careful budgeting
  • API is a paid add-on
  • Price on request for some features
#6

SE Ranking

Best for: Teams that need all engines plus SEO
4.7/5 on G2 (1,606 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit seranking.com
Starting priceFrom $99 per month
Free planFree trial

SE Ranking Visible bundles AI visibility with a full SEO platform. Four engines, ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overviews, are included on every project with no add-ons, and every metric traces back to the stored source answer. API and CSV exports are included, and the Core plan at about $99 a month also covers rank tracking, audits, and backlinks.

AI features sit inside a larger suite, so teams that only want visibility pay for more than they use. For a team that already needs SEO tools and wants AI checking in the same account, SE Ranking is the most efficient bundle.

What we like
  • Four engines included on every project
  • Source answer behind metrics
  • Full SEO suite bundled
Watch out for
  • AI features sit inside a larger suite
  • Prompt limits by tier
  • Fewer enterprise services than Profound
#7

Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit

Best for: Semrush users and sentiment
Visit semrush.com
Starting priceFrom $99 per month add-on
Free planFree trial

Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit adds AI checking to the suite many SEO teams already pay for. At about $99 a month per domain billed annually, it tracks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and AI Overviews with a strong lean into sentiment and perception reporting, showing how AI describes a brand rather than only whether it mentions it. Strategic prompts surface the questions that shape category perception.

The add-on cost sits on top of the platform subscription, and per-domain pricing adds up for multi-brand teams. For a Semrush household that wants the "how are we described" angle inside a tool it knows, the toolkit is the natural extension.

What we like
  • Sentiment and perception reporting
  • Strategic prompts
  • Lives inside the Semrush suite
Watch out for
  • Add-on cost on top of platform
  • Per-domain pricing
  • Not included in SEO Classic plans
#8

Ahrefs Brand Radar

Best for: SEO teams already in Ahrefs
Visit ahrefs.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planSee website

Ahrefs Brand Radar checks brand mentions and citations against a database of real user prompts, and its big advantage is context: AI visibility sits beside the organic rankings and backlinks teams already trust. Volume-weighted prompts show which questions matter most, rather than treating every prompt equally.

It is an add-on, so budget for the platform cost on top, and pricing varies by tier. For an SEO team that lives in Ahrefs and wants AI checking without a second vendor, Brand Radar keeps the whole picture in one place.

What we like
  • Brand mentions beside organic data
  • Real user prompt database
  • Volume-weighted prompts
Watch out for
  • Add-on cost on top of platform
  • Pricing varies by platform tier
  • Enterprise depth needs higher plans

How we chose

We compared tools on engines covered, prompt allowances, source transparency, reporting, and pricing, using vendor pages and published comparisons from October 2026. We favored tools US teams can use today with a distinct strength. We did not claim hands-on testing, and where prices were unpublished we wrote See website. Scrunch was not listed because its site renders demo content rather than a working product homepage.

How to pick the right AI mode checking tool

Start with the prompts your buyers actually ask. A tracker is only as good as its prompt library, so list the questions prospects ask before buying, the comparison questions they ask against rivals, and the problem questions that surface your category. A tool with fifty well-chosen prompts beats one with five hundred generic ones. Check which engines matter for your audience: Google AI Mode and AI Overviews for search traffic, ChatGPT and Perplexity for research-driven buyers.

Then judge scores by their transparency. The best platforms trace every score back to a stored answer, a stated denominator, and a named engine, so you can tell a stable reading from noise. AI answers change with model updates and personalization, so a single-day swing means little; weekly trends and share of voice against competitors mean more. Finally, budget for action, not just measurement. A dashboard that shows you losing prompts helps only if someone fixes the pages AI cannot crawl or cite, earns coverage on the sources AI trusts, and writes source-first content that answers the question directly.

Common mistakes waste the subscription. Teams track their brand name alone and miss the category questions where buying decisions happen. Others compare scores across tools, which measure differently and will never match. Pick one tool, one prompt set, and one cadence, then review monthly against competitors and act on the pages that lose. Visibility improves when content changes, not when dashboards refresh.

Frequently asked questions

What is an AI mode checking tool?

It tracks how a brand appears in AI answers, including Google AI Mode, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot, measuring mentions, citations, sentiment, and share of voice.

Which tool is cheapest for a small team?

Otterly.AI, from $29 a month with a free trial. It covers the main engines at entry, though prompt allowances are small and some engines are add-ons.

How is AI visibility different from SEO rank tracking?

SEO tools track Google rankings. AI visibility tools track how generative models describe and cite your brand in answers, which traditional rank trackers do not show.

Do I need a dedicated tool if I already use Semrush or Ahrefs?

If AI answers drive traffic in your category, yes. Both suites offer AI add-ons, which keep visibility beside organic data, but standalone tools like Peec AI and Otterly.AI go deeper for the same spend.

Can these tools improve my AI visibility?

Only if you act on the data. Fix pages AI cannot crawl or cite, build source-first content, and earn coverage on cited sources. The tool shows where you lose; content changes win it back.

Why do scores differ between tools?

Tools use different prompt sets, engines, and scoring methods, and AI answers vary by model version and personalization. Compare trends within one tool, not scores across tools.

Sources we checked (8)
  1. https://otterly.ai
  2. https://peec.ai
  3. https://tryprofound.com
  4. https://brandlight.ai
  5. https://athenahq.ai
  6. https://seranking.com
  7. https://www.semrush.com
  8. https://ahrefs.com

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.

Request a listing
Shihab Mia
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.