Best of
Cheap AI visibility tools for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity
By Maya Ellison, content lead · Updated 3 October 2026
In short
MentionChecker is the cheapest AI visibility tool to start with: a pack is $9, bought once, and your first check is free. It scores 95 of 100 against fifteen other AI visibility tools at their cheapest paid tier, and a year of monthly checks of 25 questions on four AI engines is one $59 pack.
Know where you stand in AI search.Cheap AI visibility tools, scored out of 100
MentionChecker scores 95 of 100, and the next is Rankscale, a subscription AI visibility tracker, at 67. Each tool is scored at its cheapest paid tier, on the five criteria in the next section. Tools on the same score are ordered by name.
| Tool | Score | What it costs to start (30) | A year of monthly checks (25) | A month with no check (20) | AI engines on the cheapest step (15) | A free first look (10) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MentionChecker | 95 / 100 | $9 a pack, 30 of 30 | $59, one pack, 25 of 25 | Nothing, 20 of 20 | Six, 15 of 15 | Your first check, 5 of 10 |
| Rankscale | 67 / 100 | €20 a month on Essentials, 24 of 30 | €240 at least, 18 of 25 | €20, 10 of 20 | Six or more, 15 of 15 | None, 0 of 10 |
| Otterly | 60 / 100 | $29 a month on Lite, 24 of 30 | $348 at least, 18 of 25 | $29, 10 of 20 | 4, 8 of 15 | None, 0 of 10 |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | 45 / 100 | £99 a month on Lite, the cheapest Ahrefs plan carrying Custom Prompts, 12 of 30 | £1,188 at least, 7 of 25 | £99, 6 of 20 | Six or more, 15 of 15 | Free AI Visibility Checker, 5 of 10 |
| HubSpot AEO | 45 / 100 | $50 a month on HubSpot AEO on its own, 18 of 30 | $600 at least, 12 of 25 | $50, 6 of 20 | 3, 4 of 15 | AI Search Grader, 5 of 10 |
| Promptwatch | 38 / 100 | $95 a month on Essential, 12 of 30 | $1,140 at least, 7 of 25 | $95, 6 of 20 | 4, 8 of 15 | Explore, 5 of 10 |
| Profound | 34 / 100 | $99 a month on Agency Growth, 12 of 30 | $1,188 at least, 7 of 25 | $99, 6 of 20 | 3, 4 of 15 | Trial, 5 of 10 |
| Superlines | 34 / 100 | €79 a month on Starter, 12 of 30 | €948 at least, 12 of 25 | €79, 6 of 20 | 3, 4 of 15 | None, 0 of 10 |
| AskWatch | 31 / 100 | $100 a month on Monitor, 6 of 30 | $1,200 at least, 7 of 25 | $100, 3 of 20 | Six or more, 15 of 15 | None, 0 of 10 |
| Peec AI | 29 / 100 | €85 a month on Starter, 12 of 30 | €1,020 at least, 7 of 25 | €85, 6 of 20 | 3, 4 of 15 | None, 0 of 10 |
| Writesonic | 29 / 100 | $99 a month on Starter, 12 of 30 | $1,188 at least, 7 of 25 | $99, 6 of 20 | 3, 4 of 15 | None, 0 of 10 |
| Semrush | 26 / 100 | $99 a month on AI Visibility Toolkit, 12 of 30 | $1,188 at least, 7 of 25 | $99, 6 of 20 | 1, 1 of 15 | None, 0 of 10 |
| AthenaHQ | 25 / 100 | $295 a month on Starter, 2 of 30 | $3,540 at least, 3 of 25 | $295, 0 of 20 | Six or more, 15 of 15 | Essential, 5 of 10 |
| Searchable | 20 / 100 | $125 a month on Pro, 6 of 30 | $1,500 at least, 7 of 25 | $125, 3 of 20 | 3, 4 of 15 | None, 0 of 10 |
| Gauge | 18 / 100 | $599 a month on Growth, 2 of 30 | $7,188 at least, 1 of 25 | $599, 0 of 20 | Six or more, 15 of 15 | None, 0 of 10 |
| Scrunch AI | 13 / 100 | $250 a month on Core, 2 of 30 | $3,000 at least, 3 of 25 | $250, 0 of 20 | 4, 8 of 15 | None, 0 of 10 |
Prices as of 21 to 30 September 2026, each dated in its entry below, in the currency the tool's own page prints, with nothing converted.
How AI visibility tool pricing is scored
Five criteria make 100 points, and 75 of them are price. A small business's volume here is one check a month of 25 questions on four AI engines, 100 credits a check. For a monthly plan, a year is twelve months of its cheapest fee. For MentionChecker it is the pack that covers twelve of those checks.
| Criterion | Weight | How the points are given |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs to start | 30 | Under 10, 30. 10 to 29, 24. 30 to 59, 18. 60 to 99, 12. 100 to 249, 6. 250 or more, 2 |
| A year of monthly checks | 25 | Under 100, 25. 100 to 499, 18. 500 to 999, 12. 1,000 to 1,999, 7. 2,000 to 4,999, 3. 5,000 or more, 1 |
| Owed in a month with no check | 20 | Nothing, 20. Under 50, 10. 50 to 99, 6. 100 to 249, 3. 250 or more, 0 |
| AI engines on the cheapest step | 15 | Six or more, 15. Four or five, 8. Three, 4. One or two, 1 |
| A free first look | 10 | A free check on all six AI engines, 10. A free check or a free tier on fewer of them, 5. Nothing free, 0 |
The year column is the least a year on each monthly plan can cost, because some entry tiers cover fewer questions than the check described here and a brand that outgrows one pays the tier above.
What is the cheapest AI visibility tool?
MentionChecker costs the least to start: $9 for 50 credits, bought once, after a first check that is free. That first pack can ask every one of the six AI engines, and none of them is held back for a dearer pack.
Among the fifteen other tools scored here, the cheapest paid tier is Essentials on Rankscale at 20 euros a month, read on 29 September 2026 on Rankscale's pricing page, and the next is Lite on Otterly at 29 dollars a month, read on 28 September 2026 on Otterly's pricing page. Of the 55 other tools in the directory of AI visibility tools with an entry price on record, none starts below $9.
What does a year of AI visibility checks cost?
For a small business checking once a month, a year of MentionChecker is $59: twelve checks of 100 credits fit in one pack of 3,000 credits. Each check asks 25 questions on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity, the credits last 12 months, and the ones left over run more checks inside the same year.
| Credits | What that runs, for example | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 50 credits | eight questions on all six AI engines, once | $9 |
| 100 credits | 25 questions on four AI engines, once | $17 |
| 250 credits | 25 questions on five AI engines, twice, with what moved between them | $25 |
| 1,000 credits | 25 questions on four AI engines, ten times | $45 |
| 3,000 credits | 25 questions on four AI engines, every month for a year, with credits left over | $59 |
On Rankscale's cheapest tier a year comes to 240 euros at least (20 euros a month, read on 29 September 2026 on Rankscale's pricing page), and on the cheapest tier of Gauge, a subscription AI visibility monitoring tool, to 7,188 dollars (599 dollars a month, read on 30 September 2026 on Gauge's pricing page). Eleven of the fifteen subscription tools cost 1,000 or more a year in their own currency.
Every pack is on the pricing page.
What do cheap AI visibility tools charge in a month with no check?
A MentionChecker account owes nothing in a month with no check, and every other tool scored here charges its monthly fee. Credits stay in the balance for 12 months from the day they are bought, and a check spends only what it asks: one question on one AI engine is one credit.
On a subscription, the least a quiet month costs is Rankscale's 20 euros a month, read on 29 September 2026 on Rankscale's pricing page, and five of the fifteen charge 100 or more a month in the currency their page prints, whether a report is opened or not. The pay as you go AI visibility tracker page says how the balance works.
What do cheap AI visibility tools charge on top of the price?
On a $9 MentionChecker pack nothing is extra: every one of the six AI engines is in every pack, and a check spends only the credits it asks for.
Otterly sells Gemini and Google AI Mode as paid add-ons on every tier, 9 dollars a month each on the cheapest, read on 28 September 2026 on Otterly's pricing page. Searchable sells the other six AI engines it lists as paid add-ons, read on 29 September 2026 on Searchable's pricing page. AskWatch bills answers over the allowance on top of the fee, read on 29 September 2026 on AskWatch's pricing page.
What should a cheap AI visibility tool still show?
A cheap AI visibility tool still has to show whether AI engines mention your brand, who they mention in your place and which websites they cite. A MentionChecker report shows all three from the first pack, on your own questions.
The report opens on three numbers. Mentioned is the share of answers with your brand in them, share of voice is your mentions as a share of every mention in the check, and average rank is your place in the answers that listed names in order. A mention is your brand's name inside the answer itself.
Competitor mentions come with every check. The standings rank every brand the answers mentioned by how often, without you naming anyone first.
A citation is a website the answer gives as its source, and the report lists every one the answers cited, with every answer kept word for word.
How much does each cheap AI visibility tool cost?
MentionChecker costs least at $9 a pack and $59 for a year of monthly checks, and the dearest cheapest tier here is Growth on Gauge at 599 dollars a month, read on 30 September 2026 on Gauge's pricing page. The sixteen run from 95 of 100 down to 13, each with the limit or extra its own pricing page prints.
MentionChecker
95 of 100. A $9 pack can ask all six AI engines with nothing owed in a quiet month, and the free first check asks ChatGPT and Gemini with no card.
Rankscale
67 of 100. Rankscale prints a price on all four of its tiers, and credits roll over above the entry one. Essentials is 20 euros a month, read on 29 September 2026 on Rankscale's pricing page.
Otterly
60 of 100. Otterly's tiers ask ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. Lite is 29 dollars a month, read on 28 September 2026 on Otterly's pricing page.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
45 of 100. Ahrefs Brand Radar is part of the Ahrefs SEO suite, and its Custom Prompts come with a paid Ahrefs plan, 5 tracked questions checked daily on Lite with no separate fee. Lite, the cheapest Ahrefs plan carrying Custom Prompts is 99 pounds a month, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. Its Free AI Visibility Checker gives a one-off look without a plan, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page.
HubSpot AEO
45 of 100. HubSpot AEO is a tracker inside the HubSpot marketing suite, and its free grader gives one check and five scores out of 100, with the full report behind a second form. HubSpot AEO on its own is 50 dollars a month, read on 28 September 2026 on HubSpot's AEO product page.
Promptwatch
38 of 100. Promptwatch's free Explore tier tracks 10 questions on ChatGPT, and its plans are sized around agents that write content. Essential is 95 dollars a month, read on 29 September 2026 on Promptwatch's pricing page.
Profound
34 of 100. Profound's brand plan has no published price, only a free trial on ChatGPT and a demo, so it is scored on Agency Growth, the entry tier of its agency track, which asks ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Agency Growth is 99 dollars a month, read on 21 September 2026 on Profound's pricing page.
Superlines
34 of 100. Every Superlines package picks three AI engines of the ten it lists, and the entry one keeps one month of history. Starter is 79 euros a month, read on 29 September 2026 on Superlines' pricing page.
AskWatch
31 of 100. AskWatch puts all six AI engines on every plan. Monitor is 100 dollars a month, read on 29 September 2026 on AskWatch's pricing page.
Peec AI
29 of 100. Peec AI is an AI visibility tracker whose Starter tier picks three of the six AI engines its page lists. Starter is 85 euros a month, read on 21 September 2026 on Peec AI's pricing page.
Writesonic
29 of 100. Writesonic is a content platform whose brand plans include ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews and keep the other seven AI engines it lists for Enterprise. Starter is 99 dollars a month, read on 28 September 2026 on Writesonic's pricing page.
Semrush
26 of 100. Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit is an add-on to the Semrush SEO suite, priced per domain, and one tracking campaign covers one AI engine. AI Visibility Toolkit is 99 dollars a month, read on 28 September 2026 on Semrush's pricing page.
AthenaHQ
25 of 100. AthenaHQ's free Essential tier runs on a credit allowance, and its one tier with a price on it is Starter. Starter is 295 dollars a month, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page.
Searchable
20 of 100. Searchable includes ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity. Pro is 125 dollars a month, read on 29 September 2026 on Searchable's pricing page.
Gauge
18 of 100. Gauge carries one plan with a price on it, and the tier above is quoted after a demo. Growth is 599 dollars a month, read on 30 September 2026 on Gauge's pricing page.
Scrunch AI
13 of 100. Scrunch AI's Core tier covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Microsoft Copilot, in one country and for one brand workspace. Core is 250 dollars a month, read on 28 September 2026 on Scrunch's pricing page.
Each name opens a page of its own with that tool's whole plan list, and the best AI visibility tools scores the same tools on their paid tiers as a whole.
Why most cheap AI visibility tools are not ranked here
A tool is ranked here when this site has a comparison page holding its whole plan list, read off its own pricing page between 21 and 30 September 2026. That is true of sixteen of the 257 tools in the directory, MentionChecker among them.
The other 241 are listed there with what each one does, and 55 of them carry an entry price and the day it was read.
Which cheap AI visibility tool to pick
MentionChecker. One check a month for a year is one $59 pack, and a daily or weekly repeat is paid from the same balance with no monthly plan. The cheapest subscription here, Rankscale's Essentials, is 240 euros a year at 20 euros a month, read on 29 September 2026 on Rankscale's pricing page.
MentionChecker is a pay-as-you-go AI visibility checker. It asks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot the questions people ask about what you do, and tells you whether your brand is mentioned in the answers.
Run the same check every month and you are doing AI visibility tracking for one pack a year. The guide to how to check ChatGPT visibility shows one AI engine end to end, and the AI visibility report page shows a whole report. Your first check is free.
Questions people ask about cheap AI visibility tools
Are there cheap AI visibility tools?
The cheapest is a MentionChecker pack at $9 for 50 credits, bought once, after a first check that is free, and it can ask all six AI engines. Among fifteen subscription AI visibility tools priced between 21 and 30 September 2026, the cheapest paid tier is Rankscale's at 20 euros a month, read 29 September 2026 on Rankscale's pricing page, and the dearest Gauge's at 599 dollars a month, read 30 September 2026 on Gauge's pricing page, each owed again every month.
How much does an AI visibility tool cost per month?
On MentionChecker a month costs what its checks ask for, and a month with no check costs nothing: one question on one AI engine is one credit, and packs start at $9. Every one of the fifteen subscription tools here charges its fee every month, whether a report is opened or not.
Is there an AI visibility tool with no monthly fee?
MentionChecker has none. Credits are bought once, from $9, spent on the checks you run, and they last 12 months, so a month with no check costs nothing. Every other one of the fifteen subscription AI visibility tools priced between 21 and 30 September 2026 is a monthly plan. A repeat runs the same check daily, weekly or monthly, each run paid from the balance, so regular checks need no monthly fee either.
What is the cheapest way to check ChatGPT visibility?
Run the free MentionChecker check: 5 questions about what you do, asked on ChatGPT and Gemini, with no card. The report shows every ChatGPT answer in full, whether your brand is mentioned, who is mentioned in your place and which websites ChatGPT cited. After it a pack from $9, bought once, asks ChatGPT and any of the other five AI engines. The guide to how to check ChatGPT visibility walks through the report.
What do you give up with a cheap AI visibility tool?
On a subscription, often AI engines, questions and history, and several sell the other AI engines as paid add-ons. A $9 MentionChecker pack gives up none of the report: it can ask all six AI engines, keeps every answer word for word, and shows the brands mentioned and the websites cited.
Do cheap AI visibility tools track fewer AI engines?
Often. Seven of the fifteen subscription AI visibility tools priced between 21 and 30 September 2026 ask three AI engines or fewer on their cheapest paid tier, and Otterly and Searchable sell the rest as paid add-ons, read on 28 September 2026 and 29 September 2026 on Otterly's pricing page and Searchable's pricing page. Every MentionChecker pack, the $9 one included, can ask all six: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. One question on one AI engine is one credit.
Are cheap AI visibility tools accurate?
Accuracy comes from how many answers a check reads. A MentionChecker check of 25 questions on four AI engines reads 100 answers, keeps every one word for word, and counts your brand and every other brand in them. Answers change from run to run, so running the same check again shows what moved.
Can a cheap AI visibility tool track competitors?
From the $9 pack up, every MentionChecker report ranks each brand the answers mentioned by how often, with your own row marked, and you do not have to name a competitor first, so ones you had not thought of appear too. Each name opens the answers it was counted from, and the largest pack shows nothing the $9 one does not.
Is there a budget AI visibility tool for a small business?
MentionChecker, from a $9 pack, bought once, after a first check that is free. A small business that checks once a month spends one $59 pack of 3,000 credits for the year, twelve checks of 25 questions on four AI engines, and the credits last 12 months. Nothing is owed in a month with no check.
Is there a free AI visibility tool?
Your first MentionChecker check is free, with no card: 5 questions on ChatGPT and Gemini, and the report keeps every answer, the brands mentioned and the websites cited. The list of the best free AI visibility tools scores what sixteen AI visibility tools give without paying. After the free check a pack is $9, bought once.
How often should I check AI visibility?
Once a month suits most brands, and a year of that is one $59 pack on MentionChecker. Check again sooner when something you control changes, such as a new page, a launch or news about you, and the next report says what moved since the last one.
What is the most affordable AI visibility tool?
MentionChecker is the most affordable AI visibility tool to start: a pack is $9, bought once, after a free first check, and a year of monthly checks of 25 questions on four AI engines is one $59 pack of 3,000 credits.
Know where you stand in AI search.Every name in this ranking is a trademark of its owner. MentionChecker is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them, and no tool here pays for its place. Keep reading: the best AI visibility tools, the best free AI visibility tools, AI visibility tools for small business, the directory of AI visibility tools and the AI visibility report page.