The short version
- Every tool in this category works the same way: run a sample of prompts on a schedule and record what comes back. There is no first-party data source.
- Bundled options — Semrush and Surfer — are the cheapest entry if you already pay for them.
- Dedicated tools like Peec AI and Profound go deeper; neither publishes machine-readable pricing.
- All of them measure. None changes the pages that determine whether you get mentioned.
This is the newest tool category in SEO and the one where the gap between what is claimed and what is happening under the hood is widest. Before paying for one, it helps to know exactly what the thing is doing.
There is no equivalent of Search Console for AI assistants. No vendor provides first-party data on how often you are mentioned. So every tool in this category samples: it runs a set of prompts against a set of assistants on a schedule, records which brands and sources appear, and reports trends. That is a reasonable methodology, and it is sampling rather than measurement.
The options
Neither Peec AI nor Profound publishes plan prices in a machine-readable form, so we have not quoted figures we could not read. Surfer’s AI Search Analytics plan is priced at $82/mo billed annually. Semrush includes AI-visibility features within its platform plans.
Bundled: Semrush and Surfer
If you already pay for either, check what you have before buying anything dedicated. Semrush has pushed AI-visibility tracking into the core platform; Surfer sells an AI Search Analytics plan at $82/mo annually and includes prompt allowances on its content tiers. For most teams this is sufficient and marginal cost is zero or low.
Dedicated: Peec AI and Profound
Peec AI is purpose-built for answer engines, with prompt-level reporting showing which questions you surface for and competitor share of voice. Profound targets enterprise reporting, including which sources assistants draw on when describing your category — useful for comms teams as well as SEO. Both require a sales conversation to price.
The free proxy
Branded search volume in Search Console. If assistants are recommending you, some of those people will search your name afterwards. It is indirect and confounded by everything else you do, and it costs nothing. For many businesses it is enough to know whether something is happening before paying to measure it precisely.
What to ask before buying
- How many prompts, how often, from where? Sample size and frequency determine how much noise you are looking at.
- Which assistants and which model versions? Results vary between products and shift with model updates.
- Does it distinguish mention from citation? Being named and being linked are different outcomes.
- What will we do differently based on this? If the answer is "nothing yet", buy the capability to act first.
- Have we fixed our entity description? Measuring a problem you have not addressed is expensive telemetry.
Before committing to any of them, consider running the measurement manually for a month. Write down twenty prompts a customer might plausibly ask, run them against two or three assistants on the same day each week, and record whether you appear. It is tedious and it costs nothing, and it usually tells you within a month whether there is enough signal to justify automating the process.
Treat the numbers as directional
Prompt phrasing, region, timing and model version all change results. A visibility score that moves 15% month on month may reflect a model update rather than anything you did. These tools are useful for trend over quarters, not for attributing a change to a specific action.
What our own tool does and does not do here
We do not sell AI-visibility tracking and have no reporting dashboard for it. We work on the implementation side — entity clarity, structured data, extractable answers. If you want to measure AI visibility, buy one of the tools above; we are not an alternative.