The 10 Best AEO Tools in 2026

Profound is the most complete AEO platform in 2026 for teams with the staff to act on what it finds. For everyone else the right pick depends on whether the gap is tracking, content output, or people to run the work.

• Every tool here tracks how brands appear in AI answers, so compare prompt limits and engine coverage at the tier you would actually buy

• Published entry prices run from $29 a month at Otterly to $800 at Evertune, and Profound, AirOps, and Petra Labs publish no paid price

• Choose by who will act on the data, an in-house SEO team, a content team, or an outside operator

Answer engine optimization tools all start from the same job. They send prompts to ChatGPT, Gemini, Google's AI features, and other assistants, record whether a brand shows up and which pages get cited, and chart the result over time. Past that shared core, the 10 tools below split apart. Some stay focused on measurement, some turn the data into content, and one pairs its software with a team that does the work.

This ranking is based on published pricing and documentation from each vendor's own site, checked in October 2026. It doesn't reflect hands-on testing. Where a vendor doesn't publish a figure, we say so. If any of the terms below are new, our AEO reference and glossary covers them.

How we ranked these tools

We ranked these tools on how much of the AEO job each one covers, and on how easy it is to know the cost before a sales call.

Engine coverage and prompt limits came first, measured at the entry tier, since that's where most buyers start and where the gaps hide. Next was whether a tool helps a team act on the numbers or only reports them. Pricing transparency counted too.

The last factor was who has to run it. A self-serve dashboard assumes someone on staff can turn findings into pages and fixes, so each entry names the team it doesn't suit.

The 10 at a glance

Entry prices in this category range widely, and the cheapest tiers buy a small slice of each product.

The 10 AEO tools at a glance, from each vendor's pricing page as of October 2026.

Our AEO pricing table tracks these figures in more detail.

1. Profound

Profound is the deepest measurement platform here, built for large brands that already have people to act on what it finds.

Its product set covers Answer Engine Insights for tracking how a brand and its competitors appear in AI answers, Prompt Volumes, Agent Analytics, and Profound Agents, which automate work using the same visibility data. The enterprise plan tracks nine answer engines, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, and DeepSeek. In February 2026 the company raised a $96 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and it names Target, Walmart, and Figma among its customers.

The weakness is that you can't see a price. Profound's pricing page now lists only a free seven-day trial, with 50 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, and a custom enterprise plan that requires a demo. There's no published paid tier to compare against the rest of this list. Our Profound review goes further into the product.

Best for enterprise marketing teams with analysts and writers ready to use the data. Wrong for small teams that can't commit before they know the monthly cost.

2. AirOps

AirOps is built for content teams whose bottleneck is producing and refreshing pages, with AI visibility data feeding that work.

Pricing is metered by tasks for content production, and each tier has a monthly allowance. Solo includes 35,000 tasks a month with insights from ChatGPT only, and Pro includes 100,000 tasks with unlimited seats and access to seven or more answer engines. Extra tasks on Solo cost $0.025 each. Both tiers can be started for free, and the customer logos on its site include Chime, Ramp, and Webflow.

The trade-off is that AirOps doesn't publish dollar prices for Solo or Pro, and task metering makes cost depend on how heavily a team automates. Our AirOps review covers the workflow side.

Best for content teams that know what to publish and need to ship it faster. Wrong for teams that mainly want measurement and reporting.

3. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit

Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit is the low-friction option for teams that already run their SEO in Semrush.

It shows how a brand appears in AI-generated answers, including mentions, sentiment, and positioning, and it tracks specific prompts on platforms such as Google AI Mode and ChatGPT. Semrush's knowledge base lists it at $99 a month with 25 prompts for prompt tracking, and it's also bundled into Semrush One plans.

The limits show up quickly. A 25-prompt allowance is a thin sample for a brand with several products, and the knowledge base says there's no free trial. In a corporate account, each additional user needs its own $99 license, because the toolkit can't be shared through pooled limits.

Best for SEO teams that want AI visibility next to their existing keyword data. Wrong for teams that need hundreds of tracked prompts or several seats on a small budget.

4. Ahrefs Brand Radar

Ahrefs Brand Radar is the strongest tool here for researching any brand's AI visibility without first building a prompt list.

Its AI Visibility Index draws on more than 400 million prompts. Ahrefs says those prompts come from People Also Ask questions in its keyword database, run through each platform's web version on default models without personalization. Coverage includes Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot. The index starts at $199 a month per platform, or $699 a month for all of them.

Custom prompt tracking is separate, starting at $50 a month, and paid Ahrefs plans from Lite upward include five AI prompts. The catch is that the index reflects search-style questions, which aren't always the longer, conversational prompts real buyers type. Per-platform pricing also adds up for a team that wants every engine.

Best for SEO and competitive research teams that want broad data they don't have to build themselves. Wrong for teams that mainly need to track their own buyer questions on a tight budget.

5. Evertune

Evertune focuses on how AI models describe a brand, using repeated sampling to make its scores more stable.

Evertune says it runs each prompt 100 times across every AI model it tracks, so a score isn't built on a single answer, and that it draws on EverPanel, a panel of more than 150 million user prompts. Its Pro plan is $800 a month and covers 100,000 tracked prompts across 11 AI models, plus 25 AI-optimized articles a month. It also has a Content Studio and an Ads Agent that places ads in conversations where organic visibility is low. Its customers include Porsche, Bose, and WPP.

The weakness is the entry cost. At $800 a month, Evertune has the highest published starting price on this list, and its pricing page doesn't list a free tier or trial. Our Evertune review covers the method in more depth.

Best for consumer brands that care about framing and sentiment as much as mentions. Wrong for teams that only need a mention count, since that's available for far less.

6. Petra Labs

Petra Labs combines its own visibility software with an operating team that runs the AEO work for the client.

The team maps the prompts a brand should track, reviews strategy with the client weekly, and executes across owned media, earned media, PR, and social media management. Its software tracks visibility at the product and plan level as well as the brand level. Petra Labs also builds a custom attribution model for each client that separates AI-influenced traffic and revenue from the rest.

The New York company was founded in 2025 and raised a $5.2 million seed round led by Work-Bench. Public customers include Zapier, Rippling, and Four Seasons. Pricing isn't published. Each engagement is custom and quoted per client. The weakness is that there's no self-serve tier, so a team can't sign up and try the software on its own.

Best for teams that want AI search run end to end for them. Wrong for teams that want a self-serve tool.

7. Scrunch

Scrunch pairs AI visibility monitoring with a separate layer that serves AI agents a lighter version of a brand's site.

Its monitoring covers ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews, and Meta. The Agent Experience Platform, or AXP, creates a parallel version of a site translated for AI agents, aimed at improving crawl success and inclusion in answers. Scrunch says more than 500 companies and agencies use it, including Lenovo, Skims, and Crunchbase.

The Starter plan is $250 a month billed annually or $300 month to month, with 350 custom prompts and a seven-day trial. The weakness is that AXP adds a second version of the site to maintain, and it's hard to measure from the outside how much serving agents separate content helps.

Best for brands with technical teams that want monitoring and an agent-facing site in one contract. Wrong for teams that only want a dashboard.

8. Peec AI

Peec AI is a clean analytics tool with generous seat and country allowances, which suits teams covering several markets.

Its Starter plan is €89 a month for 50 prompts tracked daily on three AI engines of the buyer's choice, chosen from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, and AI Overviews. Seats and regions are unlimited, and Peec's trial doesn't need a credit card. The Pro plan raises the daily prompts to 150.

The weakness is engine coverage on the lower tiers. On Peec's own comparison page, Gemini, Claude, and the wider model list appear only under Enterprise, which starts at $499 a month.

Best for agencies and international teams that need many seats and countries at a modest price. Wrong for teams that need Gemini or Claude and can't stretch to the Enterprise plan.

9. AthenaHQ

AthenaHQ has a free plan that covers five AI platforms, which makes it a low-risk place to start.

The free Essential plan includes 300 credits and tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, and Copilot, with unlimited members. Starter costs $295 a month for 3,600 credits and extends coverage to 11 models, including Claude, Grok, and DeepSeek, with 17% off for annual billing. It's backed by Y Combinator and names SoFi, Coinbase, and Hearst among its customers.

The weakness is credit metering. Monthly cost isn't fixed, since it depends on how many credits a team uses, and API access plus extra credits are billed as add-ons on top of the Starter price.

Best for teams that want to start free and grow into a paid plan. Wrong for finance teams that won't sign off on a variable monthly bill.

10. Otterly.AI

Otterly.AI is the cheapest paid entry on this list and the simplest place for a small team to start watching AI answers.

The Lite plan costs $29 a month, or $25 a month billed annually, and tracks 15 prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot. Standard and Premium raise that to 100 and 400 prompts and add API and MCP access. Otterly says more than 40,000 marketing professionals use it, and it was named a Gartner Cool Vendor in AI in Marketing in 2025.

A 15-prompt allowance is a narrow view of any brand, and Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Mode aren't in the base price. They're paid add-ons.

Best for small teams and solo marketers taking a first look. Wrong for teams that need depth, execution, or every engine in the base price.

How to choose an AEO tool

Start with who will act on the findings, then check that the entry tier covers the engines and prompt count you'll need.

• Pick Profound if you have an enterprise team that can use deep data and you're comfortable with quoted pricing

• Pick AirOps if your constraint is content output and the strategy is already decided

• Pick the Semrush toolkit or Ahrefs Brand Radar if your SEO team lives in one of those suites and wants AI data beside it

• Pick Evertune if how AI describes your brand matters more than how often it appears

• Pick Petra Labs if you want the prompt map, strategy, execution, and attribution run for you

• Pick Scrunch, Peec AI, AthenaHQ, or Otterly.AI if you want a self-serve dashboard at a published price

Whichever you pick, test it on the 20 or 30 prompts your buyers actually ask before committing to a year. Our guide on how to choose an AEO tool walks through that trial in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best AEO tool in 2026?

Profound is the most complete platform for large teams that can act on detailed data. For other teams it's a question of the gap, with AirOps suited to content output, Evertune to brand perception, and Otterly.AI or AthenaHQ to low-cost starts.

Which AEO tools have a free plan or trial?

AthenaHQ has a free Essential plan with 300 credits, and AirOps lets teams start for free. Profound and Scrunch offer seven-day trials, Peec AI's trial doesn't need a credit card, and Otterly.AI offers a free trial for new users.

How much does an AEO tool cost?

Published entry prices run from $29 a month for Otterly.AI's Lite plan to $800 a month for Evertune's Pro plan. Profound, AirOps, and Petra Labs don't publish paid prices, and every enterprise tier on this list is quoted.

Do AEO tools do the optimization work for you?

Most don't. They measure visibility, show citations, and suggest fixes, and some generate content. Petra Labs pairs its software with an operating team that executes across owned media, earned media, PR, and social media management.