Measuring Brand Visibility in AI: Tools and Pricing

In our article "SEO in the Era of AI Search," we highlighted the ultimate shift: search has transitioned from the "ten blue links" to machine-generated responses, where only one thing truly matters — ensuring the AI cites your specific brand. However, a highly practical question immediately arises: how do you actually measure this?

Any standard SEO platform can show your website's positions in Google. But whether ChatGPT mentions you in a response to a potential client is something traditional tools cannot see. Let's break down which metrics matter now and which services can track them — featuring real pricing updated for early 2026.

New Metrics: Moving from Positions to Mentions

Classic SEO focused heavily on monitoring keyword-driven traffic. In AI search, you need to track entirely different parameters:

• Mention Rate — how frequently your brand appears overall in AI responses to relevant queries.

• Share of Voice — the proportion of total mentions your brand secures compared to your direct competitors for the same set of queries.

• Position within Response — whether your brand is named first or buried at the very end of a paragraph.

• Sentiment — the contextual tone of the mention: whether your brand is explicitly recommended, neutrally listed, or criticized.

• Source Attribution (citation) — whether the AI provides a direct hyperlink back to your website as the source of its answer.

None of these metrics are visible inside a conventional SEO dashboard — because this is no longer about a rank position on a page, but about the text of a dynamically generated response.

Why GA4 "Hides" AI-Driven Traffic

This is a major pitfall for managers. Referral traffic originating from AI assistants lands in Google Analytics 4 under the Direct or Unassigned categories by default. According to data from Digital Power, without setting up a custom regex filter, you simply will not see how many visitors are being driven to your site by ChatGPT or Perplexity.

Google Search Console does not save the day either: when clicks happen via AI Mode, these transitions are simply bundled into the general "Web" search type, with no dedicated filter available for the AI interface mode. Therefore, the practical takeaway is simple: before purchasing expensive tracking platforms, have your marketing team configure a custom Channel Grouping in GA4 specifically for AI referrals. This costs nothing and immediately provides a foundational baseline overview.

Ten Monitoring Tools: Overview and Pricing

All of these services operate on a similar logic: they send sets of queries to large language model APIs, analyze the generated outputs, and calculate mention frequency, citations, and sentiment. The differences lie in the list of supported platforms, depth of analytics, and pricing structures.

Budget Tier (Best for Getting Started):

• HubSpot AEO Grader — a free one-time audit tool that scores your visibility on a 100-point scale. Regular continuous monitoring within HubSpot starts at $50/mo.

• LLMrefs — the most affordable robust option: free for one keyword, with the Pro tier priced at $79/mo (covering over 10 different models).

• Frase AI Visibility — designed specifically for content teams, combining AI visibility tracking with text optimization features. Pricing starts at $39/mo.

Mid-Market Tier (Best for SMBs and Agencies):

• Peec AI — the most accessible of the "heavyweight" trackers: covers all primary platforms and offers unlimited user seats. Starter costs €85/mo, Pro is €205/mo.

• Otterly.AI — tailored for small businesses and agencies, featuring a specialized GEO audit with SWOT analysis and white-label reporting. Lite tier is $29/mo, Standard is $189/mo.

• SE Ranking (SE Visible) — blends traditional rank tracking with a dedicated AI tracker, making it convenient to maintain all your data within a single dashboard. Core tier starts at $103/mo when billed annually.

• Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit — an add-on module to the core Semrush platform priced at $99/mo per domain; the comprehensive Semrush One bundle starts at $199/mo.

Premium / Enterprise Tier:

• Ahrefs Brand Radar (Beta) — powered by a massive data panel tracking over 199 million queries. Priced at $199/mo per index or available as a $699/mo bundle on top of standard Ahrefs plans.

• AthenaHQ — founded by Google and DeepMind alumni, covering all major platforms (including Claude) and featuring direct conversion attribution via GA4 and Shopify. Self-Serve plans sit at $295/mo.

• Profound — the market leader in this segment: offers unique search volume data, conversational dialogue analysis, and comprehensive tracking across Google AI surfaces. Approximate pricing for the Growth tier is around $399/mo, with Enterprise starting at $2,000/mo. However, throughout 2026, Profound has been steadily shifting towards an enterprise-only model with sales managed exclusively via account representatives, so it is highly recommended to verify current availability and exact pricing directly. Notably, in February 2026, the company secured a $96 million investment round at a $1 billion valuation — a striking indicator of how rapidly this niche is expanding.

Which Tech Stack Should a Brand Choose?

For small and medium-sized businesses, there is absolutely no need to commit to enterprise solutions from day one. A logical progression structured around a $50–$300/mo budget looks like this:

1 Kickoff ($0): Run a scan using HubSpot AEO Grader to establish a basic baseline and determine whether AI engines notice your site at all.

2 First 3–6 Months: Subscribe to Peec AI (€85) or LLMrefs ($79) to run continuous tracking on your primary core queries.

3 Scaling Up: Transition to Otterly Standard ($189) or SE Ranking Pro as your tracked query database and competitor landscape expand.

4 Enterprise Tier: Migrate to Profound or AthenaHQ once the AI channel starts driving substantial revenue and your brand requires hyper-deep predictive analytics.

A crucial word of caution: the market for these tools is in its infancy; features, capabilities, and pricing packages change almost monthly, with platforms like Profound shifting their entire tier structures. All pricing metrics provided here serve as a benchmark for 2026; always verify current rates directly on the respective service's official website before committing to annual plans.

What’s Next

A tool can deliver raw numbers, but it won't answer the core question: what exactly are your clients asking the AI? This constitutes an entirely separate discipline — prompt research (the study of search intent inside conversational prompts) — which we will explore in the next piece of this series.

Raw data points from a dashboard are only half the battle: they must be interpreted accurately and converted into action-oriented priorities; otherwise, monitoring turns into a passive collection of metrics. That is why the optimal starting point isn't purchasing another subscription, but launching a comprehensive SEO Audit by MAS Agency. It will explicitly show where your brand stands within AI search right now and outline exactly what to tackle first. For a broader view of this architectural shift in search, read our detailed analysis in "SEO in the Era of AI Search: How Brands Can Avoid Vanishing from Google SERPs."

Sources Cited