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Answer engine optimization tools, ranked by what they help you fix

SE Ranking leads when the job is acting on the data, not just watching it: recommendations, citations and sentiment on the entry plan.

Runner-up
Rankscale
$99/mo

Pro plan · read on Nov 14, 2026

Best for: buyers who want every engine without a per-engine upsell. 9.5/10

Check price at RankscaleRead the Rankscale review
Rankscale interface, official screenshot

Why it is here:

  • 17+ engines on every plan, Claude and Copilot included
  • You choose the schedule, from hourly to monthly, so credits go where they matter
  • Exports, sentiment, MCP and unlimited seats from the $99 plan
  • The catch: Everything runs on credits and engines burn them at different rates, so the real prompt count depends on your mix.

Free trial of Pro; its length is not stated on the pricing page

No. 1 for this need
SE Ranking AI Visibility Tracker
$89/mo

SE Visible Basic plan · read on Nov 14, 2026

Best for: getting the most tracked prompts per dollar on a daily schedule. 9.4/10

Check price at SE RankingRead the SE Ranking review
SE Ranking interface, official screenshot

Why it is here:

  • 75 daily prompts for $89, about 11,250 answers a month: the cheapest answer in this comparison
  • 14-day trial with no card, the longest here
  • AI Competitor Research measures any domain's presence, not only yours
  • The catch: Two products, one name: the tracker inside SE Ranking has 25 prompts, the standalone SE Visible has the plans above. And no Perplexity.

14-day free trial, no credit card

Third place
Otterly AI
$29/mo

Lite plan · read on Nov 14, 2026

Best for: solo marketers and small teams starting on a small budget. 9.2/10

Check price at OtterlyAIRead the Otterly review
Otterly interface, official screenshot

Why it is here:

  • $29 a month is the lowest monthly price with daily tracking in this comparison
  • Unlimited seats, brands, competitors and countries even on Lite
  • Sentiment, citation sources and a GEO audit are included from the first plan
  • The catch: Lite stops at 20 prompts and cannot buy extra credits. The next step up is $189.

7-day free trial, no credit card

An AEO tool earns its fee when it tells you what to change: which page to rewrite, which source to win, which claim to correct. So this ranking gives 35% of the weight to insight depth (citations, sentiment, competitor benchmarks, recommendations on the entry plan) and less to raw price.

Same data as the main AI visibility tools ranking, different weights. The score next to each tool is still its overall score: only the order changes.

By Nathan Price, editorial team · prices and limits read on official pages on November 14, 2026

Compare featuresScoreEntry priceCitations · sentiment · recsEngines on that planIncludedFree trialLink
SE Ranking interface, official screenshotSE Ranking
9.4/10$89/mo
SE Visible Basic · Nov 14		 ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot75 prompts tracked daily, about 11,250 answers a month14-day free trialCheck price
Rankscale interface, official screenshotRankscale
9.5/10$99/mo
Pro · Nov 14		 17+ engines1,200 credits a month, up to 4,800 answersFree trial (length not stated)Check price
Otterly interface, official screenshotOtterly
9.2/10$29/mo
Lite · Nov 14		 3 of 7 engines20 prompts on 3 engines (2,000 credits a month)7-day free trialCheck price
AthenaHQ interface, official screenshotAthenaHQ
8.9/10$295/mo
Starter · Nov 14		 11 engines3,600 credits a month, 1 credit = 1 AI responseFree planCheck price
Peec AI interface, official screenshotPeec AI
9.1/10$95/mo
Starter · Nov 14		 3 of 8 engines50 prompts on 3 models, 4,500 AI answers a monthFree trial (length not stated)Check price
Promptwatch interface, official screenshotPromptwatch
9.3/10$95/mo
Essential · Nov 14		 10 engines50 prompts, 6,000 responses a monthFree trial (length not stated)Check price
Profound interface, official screenshotProfound
8.6/10Price on request
Nov 14		 7 enginesCustom prompt plan on Enterprise (50 prompts on the 7-day trial)7-day free trialCheck price
Nightwatch interface, official screenshotNightwatch
8.7/10€99/mo
Starter · Nov 14		 ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews50 AI prompts, 1,500 AI answers a month, plus 500 keywords14-day free trialCheck price
Scrunch interface, official screenshotScrunch
8.2/10$250/mo
Core · Nov 14		 ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot125 unique prompts, 5,000 responses a month7-day free trialCheck price
LLMrefs interface, official screenshotLLMrefs
8.8/10$79/mo
All in One · Nov 14		 10 engines500 prompts, each keyword refreshed at least once a weekFree plan + 7-day trialCheck price

Weights for this ranking: insight depth 35%, engines covered 15%, entry price 10%, price per 1,000 answers 10%, data access 10%, try before you pay 10%, refresh schedule 5%, seats 5%. The score shown is each tool's overall score. How we score

AEO tools: the 10 tools in order

Best use, three strengths and the catch for each, with the price read on Nov 14, 2026.

No. 1 for this needSE Ranking interface, official screenshot

SE Ranking AI Visibility Tracker 9.4/10

Best for: getting the most tracked prompts per dollar on a daily schedule.

  • 75 daily prompts for $89, about 11,250 answers a month: the cheapest answer in this comparison
  • 14-day trial with no card, the longest here
  • AI Competitor Research measures any domain's presence, not only yours

The catch: Two products, one name: the tracker inside SE Ranking has 25 prompts, the standalone SE Visible has the plans above. And no Perplexity.

From $89/moRead on the official page on Nov 14, 2026Check price at SE RankingRead the SE Ranking review

14-day free trial, no credit card

Rankscale interface, official screenshot

Rankscale 9.5/10

Best for: buyers who want every engine without a per-engine upsell.

  • 17+ engines on every plan, Claude and Copilot included
  • You choose the schedule, from hourly to monthly, so credits go where they matter
  • Exports, sentiment, MCP and unlimited seats from the $99 plan

The catch: Everything runs on credits and engines burn them at different rates, so the real prompt count depends on your mix.

From $99/moRead on the official page on Nov 14, 2026Check price at RankscaleRead the Rankscale review

Free trial of Pro; its length is not stated on the pricing page

Otterly interface, official screenshot

Otterly AI 9.2/10

Best for: solo marketers and small teams starting on a small budget.

  • $29 a month is the lowest monthly price with daily tracking in this comparison
  • Unlimited seats, brands, competitors and countries even on Lite
  • Sentiment, citation sources and a GEO audit are included from the first plan

The catch: Lite stops at 20 prompts and cannot buy extra credits. The next step up is $189.

From $29/moRead on the official page on Nov 14, 2026Check price at OtterlyAIRead the Otterly review

7-day free trial, no credit card

AthenaHQ interface, official screenshot

AthenaHQ 8.9/10

Best for: teams that want every major engine and a content agent in one plan.

  • 11 models on the first paid plan, the widest named coverage at that level
  • A free plan lets you look at real data before paying
  • Unlimited prompts, topics, competitors and seats: only AI responses are metered

The catch: $295 a month buys 3,600 AI responses, and the API is a paid add-on on top.

From $295/moRead on the official page on Nov 14, 2026Check price at AthenaHQRead the AthenaHQ review

Free Essential plan with 300 credits

Peec AI interface, official screenshot

Peec AI 9.1/10

Best for: marketing teams who want a clean daily tracker with unlimited seats.

  • Unlimited users, competitors and languages from the $95 plan
  • Source analytics down to the URL: which pages the engines retrieved and cited
  • Recommended actions and gap analysis are not locked behind the top tier

The catch: Three models per plan. A fourth engine is a paid add-on, and Claude only comes with Enterprise.

From $95/moRead on the official page on Nov 14, 2026Check price at Peec AIRead the Peec AI review

Free trial offered; its length is not stated on the pricing page

Promptwatch interface, official screenshot

Promptwatch 9.3/10

Best for: small teams that want every model and an API at entry level.

  • All models, API and MCP from the $95 plan
  • 6,000 responses a month on 50 prompts
  • Unlimited seats

The catch: One project on Essential, and content tools start at $245.

From $95/moRead on the official page on Nov 14, 2026Check price at PromptwatchNo full review yet: facts from the official pricing page.

Free trial; its length is not stated on the pricing page

Profound interface, official screenshot

Profound 8.6/10

Best for: enterprise teams with a budget and a sales call to spare.

  • Up to 10 answer engines on one contract, including Claude, DeepSeek and Google AI Mode
  • Prompt Volumes shows what people actually ask the engines, not only what you guessed
  • Agent Analytics ties bot visits and AI-referred traffic to your own domains

The catch: No public price. After the 7-day trial the only paid plan is Enterprise, quoted by sales.

Price on requestRead on the official page on Nov 14, 2026 · free 7-day trialCheck price at ProfoundRead the Profound review

Free 7-day trial (50 prompts, 3 engines)

Nightwatch interface, official screenshot

Nightwatch AI Tracking 8.7/10

Best for: sEOs who want Google rankings and AI citations in the same report.

  • One subscription covers classic rank tracking (500 keywords) and 50 AI prompts
  • Citation Intelligence shows which URLs the engines cite next to how those URLs rank on Google
  • Perplexity is included from the first plan

The catch: Prices are listed in euros, and 1,500 AI answers a month is a small allowance for EUR 99.

From €99/moRead on the official page on Nov 14, 2026Check price at NightwatchRead the Nightwatch review

14-day free trial, no credit card

Scrunch interface, official screenshot

Scrunch AI 8.2/10

Best for: brands that want monitoring plus site fixes for AI crawlers.

  • 125 prompts on the first paid plan, more than most rivals at that tier
  • Site audits and AI bot traffic sit in the same product as monitoring
  • Personas and funnel stages let you see answers the way different buyers get them

The catch: $250 a month covers one brand and four engines; Gemini and Claude need the Enterprise plan.

From $250/moRead on the official page on Nov 14, 2026Check price at ScrunchRead the Scrunch review

7-day free trial on Core

LLMrefs interface, official screenshot

LLMrefs 8.8/10

Best for: sEOs who think in keywords, not prompts.

  • One $79 plan with every engine, API and CSV export
  • You track keywords and LLMrefs generates the prompts behind them
  • Unlimited seats and projects under one subscription

The catch: Weekly refresh, not daily, and the $79 price is flagged as limited-time.

From $79/moRead on the official page on Nov 14, 2026Check price at LLMrefsNo full review yet: facts from the official pricing page.

Free account, then a 7-day free trial of the paid plan

How is this ranking built?

Weights for this ranking: insight depth 35%, engines covered 15%, entry price 10%, price per 1,000 answers 10%, data access 10%, try before you pay 10%, refresh schedule 5%, seats 5%.

The data is the same as in the main AI visibility tools ranking: prices, plan limits and engine lists read on each vendor's official page. No vendor pays for its place, and a tool without an affiliate program is ranked like the others.

Where to go next

Frequently asked questions

What is an answer engine optimization tool?

It is software that runs prompts on answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews, records whether your brand is named and cited, and points to what you can change. The tracking part is the same as an AI visibility tool; the "optimization" part is the recommendations, audits and content actions on top.

Are AEO tools and GEO tools the same thing?

In practice, yes. Vendors use AEO (answer engine optimization), GEO (generative engine optimization) and AI visibility for the same products. We explain the vocabulary in GEO vs SEO.

Which AEO tool is the cheapest to start with?

Otterly AI at $29/mo is the lowest monthly price in this comparison with daily tracking, and it includes sentiment and citation sources. The catch is 20 prompts. See the Otterly AI review.

Do I need an AEO tool if I already have an SEO suite?

Check your suite first. Semrush sells an AI Visibility Toolkit at $99/mo and SE Ranking includes 25 daily prompts in its SEO plans. If you need more prompts or more engines than that, a dedicated tool costs less per prompt.

Prices checked. Read on official pricing pages on Nov 14, 2026.
Official sources. Plan limits and engine lists quoted from each vendor.
Public method. One formula, eight criteria, weights published.
Links flagged. Some links may be affiliate links; scores never depend on them.