AI visibility tools: what they offer and how they differ
This page will not end with a winner. There is no independent measurement comparing AI visibility tools with one another, and we have not performed one, so any ranking would be our opinion written in the shape of a fact. What we can write is how these tools are built, what they really measure and where they diverge.
Three classes of tools
The first class is broad search platforms that added AI answer tracking to an existing suite. Their advantage is that everything sits in one place and the search history is already collected. Their price is the price of the whole platform rather than of one feature, and the AI part is one card among many.
The second class are tools that do nothing but track AI answers. They cover several platforms, often offer daily frequency and are sold by the number of prompts in a plan. Their weak spot is that they tell you where you stand and not why; technical obstacles on your own site stay outside their view.
The third class are tools that, besides mentions, also measure how accessible the site is to crawlers and what content a model can actually read. Our service sits here: the score from 0 to 100 is forty per cent technical and sixty per cent presence in answers. This class usually has no daily frequency, because every run is a full measurement.
What we read at two vendors
So that the comparison is verifiable and not written from memory, on 14 September 2026 we read the price pages of two vendors and recorded their statements with source and date. In its AI toolkit Semrush lists a base plan at EUR 94.94 per month per domain billed annually, twenty-five custom prompts with daily updates and mentions from ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity. Otterly.AI has Lite at USD 29, Standard at USD 189 and Premium at USD 489 per month, with fifteen, one hundred and four hundred prompts and four listed search engines, while Claude and Gemini are listed as add-ons.
We do not list other vendors here, because we have not read them. A list of names from memory looks like a market overview but is in fact guesswork that ages fast. Anyone preparing a shortlist should read the price pages themselves on the day of the decision; in this market terms change faster than our notes.
What matters more than the vendor's name
- The language of the prompts. A tool that asks only in English will list different competitors for a Slovenian domain than a local buyer sees.
- Whether the price covers one domain or several. For agencies and companies with several brands this single line often doubles or triples the cost.
- Whether the report names competitors. A number without a list says you are absent; it does not say who is there instead.
- Whether a list of fixes comes with the measurement. Without it the measurement describes a state nobody knows how to change.
- Whether you can start without a card. The first measurement exists to answer whether this topic is relevant to you at all.
Frequently asked questions
Which tool is the best?
We do not answer that, because we have no measurable evidence for an answer. The same question on the same domain gives different results at different tools, and until somebody independent measures that, declaring a winner is advertising. Instead of an answer we offer seven questions with which you can check the tools yourself.
Why do you not list more vendors?
Because we state only what we read at the source and can put a date on. Two vendors appear here because we opened their price pages on 14 September 2026 and recorded what they say. We could add a third name from memory, but that would put a claim in the text we cannot show.
Is a more expensive tool more accurate?
Price usually rises with the number of prompts, platforms and seats, not with the accuracy of a single measurement. Accuracy comes from how many repetitions a prompt gets and whether answers are recorded so they can be reviewed later. A plan with many prompts and one repetition can be less reliable than a smaller one with several.
Measure before you choose
The free measurement asks eight questions on three models and runs a technical check. The result is a starting point for a conversation with any vendor.
Check AI visibility