There are two kinds of tool here, and most small businesses need at most one. Prompt trackers (Otterly.AI, Peec AI, Semrush, Ahrefs Brand Radar, Profound, Scrunch) ask assistants questions on a schedule and report whether you're named. Crawler analytics (cite-met, and the agent-traffic features in Profound and Scrunch) show which AI agents read your site. For a single small business, Otterly.AI Lite at $29/month is the cheapest way to start tracking mentions. Peec AI suits agencies tracking a few clients. If you already pay for Semrush or Ahrefs, try their add-on first. We run cite-met, which is a hosting platform with crawler analytics built in, so it only makes sense if you'd host your site with it.
We compared published pricing pages and documentation. We did not run each tool side by side for this edition, so this is a comparison of what vendors say they offer and charge, checked in October 2026. Prices are in US dollars per month on monthly billing unless noted.
The comparison
| Tool | Starting price | Tracked prompts at that price | Engines covered | What it measures | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | $29 (Lite) | 15 | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot; Gemini, AI Mode and Claude are add-ons | Brand mentions and citations from prompts | A single business starting out | otterly.ai/pricing |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99 | 25 | ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for prompt tracking | Mentions, prompt research, AI checks in Site Audit | Teams already on Semrush | Semrush KB |
| Peec AI | $95 (Starter) | 50 | Choose 3 models from a list including ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot | Visibility, position and sentiment by prompt | Agencies and growing brands | peec.ai/pricing |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | from $199 | Custom prompt packs from $50 extra | Not itemised on the pricing page | Brand mentions across AI answers | Teams already on Ahrefs, competitive research | ahrefs.com/pricing |
| Scrunch | $300 (Starter); $250 billed annually | 350 custom, 1,000 industry | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Meta | Prompt tracking plus agent traffic monitoring | Mid-size brands wanting both views | scrunch.com/pricing |
| Profound | Free trial; paid plans custom | 50 prompts for 7 days on the trial | Up to 9 on Enterprise, incl. ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Mode, Gemini, Copilot, Claude | Prompt tracking, agent analytics, citations | Enterprise and large brands | tryprofound.com/pricing |
| cite-met (ours) | $60 (Care) | None at this tier; mention tracking from $700 (Growth) | AI crawlers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Cohere and others | Which AI agents fetch each page, alongside human and search traffic; hosts the site | Small businesses that want hosting and AI crawler data in one place | cite-met.com/pricing |
Checked October 2026. Otterly's page also shows lower figures ($25, $160, $422) that appear to be its annual-billing prices; Peec's Pro is $245 for 150 prompts and Advanced $495 for 350; Otterly's Standard is $189 for 100 prompts and Premium $489 for 400.
Two kinds of tool, and why it matters
A prompt tracker answers "when someone asks ChatGPT for a plumber in my area, am I named?" It does this by sending that question (and dozens like it) to each assistant on a schedule and parsing the answer. The results move with how you phrase prompts, which assistant version answers, and where the question appears to come from, so treat them as a trend line, not a ranking.
Crawler analytics answer a different question: "which AI agents are reading my site, which pages, and how often?" It's closer to the ground truth about access, since it comes from your own server logs, but it can't tell you what an assistant said afterwards. Our Observatory is built from this kind of data, and it's how we know AI crawlers read small-business sites 4.4 times as often as Googlebot while sending back very few visits.
If you can only pick one, pick by the question you're trying to answer. If your worry is "AI can't see my site", fix access first (our free access checker covers it). If your worry is "AI recommends my competitor", you need a prompt tracker.
Tool by tool
Otterly.AI
The cheapest entry point we found, with a 15-prompt Lite plan that covers the four engines most customers use. Its add-on pricing for Gemini, AI Mode and Claude can more than double the cost on higher plans, so price the engines you care about before you commit. Pick it if you're one business tracking your own name and a few competitors.
Peec AI
Clear tiers from 50 to 350 prompts, and you choose three models per plan, with up to three countries from Pro upward. The per-prompt price is middle of the pack. Pick it if you manage several clients or locations and want projects kept separate.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
A $99 add-on (or standalone subscription) with 25 tracked prompts across ChatGPT and Google AI Mode, plus AI checks inside Semrush's Site Audit. The prompt allowance is small for the price, and each user needs their own licence. Pick it if your SEO already lives in Semrush.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
Available standalone from $199 a month (it comes with a free Ahrefs account), with custom prompt packs at $50, $100 or $250 a month on top. The pricing page doesn't list which AI platforms are covered, so confirm that before you buy. Pick it if you already use Ahrefs or want brand research alongside your SEO data.
Scrunch
The broadest engine coverage at its starting price, and it includes agent traffic monitoring on every plan, so it covers both kinds of tool in one. It starts at $300 a month, which is more than most single small businesses need. Pick it if you're a multi-location or mid-size brand.
Profound
The enterprise option. Its pricing page shows a free trial and custom pricing, with agent analytics and up to nine engines on Enterprise. Pick it if you're a large brand with a budget and an analytics team; for a small business it's more tool than the job needs.
cite-met (ours)
We build and run cite-met, so weigh this section accordingly. It's a hosting platform for small-business sites that shows which AI crawlers fetch each page, next to human and search traffic, from server-side logs. That's the data behind our Observatory.
Where it's strong
- AI crawler data from server logs, which a JavaScript-only analytics tag can't see
- Hosting, robots.txt and llms.txt controls and analytics in one bill from $60
- Built for small businesses, not enterprise teams
Where it's weaker
- Full crawler data needs your site hosted on cite-met; externally hosted sites get a beacon that can't see crawlers
- No prompt tracking below the $700 Growth plan, where Otterly or Peec cost far less
- A young product from a small team, with fewer integrations than Semrush or Ahrefs
Pick something else if you only want to know whether ChatGPT mentions you, if you're staying on your current host, or if you need mention tracking on a budget. Otterly or Peec will do that job for less.
How we compared
We read each vendor's pricing page and documentation in October 2026 and recorded the lowest self-serve plan, its prompt allowance and the engines it lists. We didn't take referral fees or affiliate commissions from any vendor. We own and operate cite-met, and we've said so above and in the box at the top of the page. Prices change often in this category, so check the vendor's page before you buy.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest AI visibility tracking tool?
Of the tools we compared, Otterly.AI's Lite plan is cheapest at $29 a month (October 2026) for 15 tracked prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot.
What's the difference between prompt tracking and AI crawler analytics?
Prompt trackers ask AI assistants a fixed set of questions on a schedule and record whether your brand is mentioned or cited. Crawler analytics read your own server logs to show which AI agents fetched which pages. The first shows outcomes, the second shows access.
Do small businesses need an AI visibility tool?
Most don't need one on day one. Asking ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google a handful of customer questions yourself each month covers the basics. A tool earns its cost when you want trends over time, competitors, or more prompts than you can check by hand.