All Articles
    Tool ComparisonsUpdated October 10, 202613 min read

    The 12 Best Profound Alternatives for 2026, With Real Prices

    Profound is the enterprise standard for AI visibility, but it now sells a seven-day trial and custom contracts. These are the twelve best Profound alternatives for 2026, priced from their own pages, with a dated screenshot of each.

    Matiss Katanenko

    Matiss Katanenko

    Co-founder, Honeyb

    On this page
    The 12 Best Profound Alternatives for 2026, With Real Prices

    The best Profound alternatives in 2026 are Honeyb, Otterly, Peec AI, SE Visible and AthenaHQ for most teams, with Ahrefs Brand Radar and Semrush as the sensible picks if you already pay for one of those suites. Profound itself now sells a free seven-day trial and custom Enterprise terms, while eleven of the twelve alternatives below publish a price or a free tier you can test this afternoon.

    That is the argument in one line: Profound is a very good enterprise product, and most teams who leave it are leaving the buying process more than the software. So we judged each alternative on what it gives you without a sales call, using its own pricing page as the evidence. Honeyb, first on the list, is our own tool; it is assessed on the same terms as the rest, limits included, and our full Profound review covers the incumbent in depth.

    Why teams look for a Profound alternative

    Profound has earned its reputation. It raised a $96M Series C at a $1B valuation in February 2026, led by Lightspeed, which took total funding to roughly $155M after an earlier $35M Series B from Sequoia. Its Enterprise plan tracks up to nine answer engines with SSO, SOC 2 compliance and an AI Marketer agent that researches, writes and reports alongside the data. For a Fortune 500 brand with a procurement team, that is a strong offer.

    Profound pricing page with a free Trial and a custom Enterprise plan
    Profound's pricing page: a free trial (50 prompts daily for seven days on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews) and custom Enterprise terms. Captured 10 October 2026.

    The catch sits in that screenshot. The trial runs 50 prompts a day for seven days on three engines, and everything after it is a custom quote that begins with a demo. Teams look elsewhere for one of three reasons: they want to see a price before a call, they want to keep tracking after week one without signing a contract, or they want a tool sized to the question they actually have, which is usually whether AI names them and who it names instead.

    Entry price

    Entry-tier price of AI brand monitoring tools

    Entry-tier price of AI brand monitoring tools
    ItemUSD per month
    Honeyb29 $/mo
    Otterly29 $/mo
    LLM Pulse59 $/mo
    Peec AI95 $/mo
    SE Ranking129 $/mo
    Semrush199 $/mo
    Scrunch250 $/mo
    AthenaHQ295 $/mo
    Cheapest paid plan that tracks AI answers, in US dollars a month at the monthly rate, as each vendor shows it to a US visitor on 2 October 2026. LLM Pulse's figure is the vendor's own approximate conversion. Semrush is its SEO + AI Search Starter plan. Profound publishes no price (free trial and custom Enterprise only) and is excluded. Honeyb is our product.

    The question is worth answering well, because AI answers now shape the click. Pew Research Center found that Google users clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, against 15% when none did. Whatever you buy, it needs to tell you what the summary says about you.

    How we chose and checked these 12 tools

    We kept a tool only if it tracks how AI answer engines mention brands, sells to teams smaller than the Fortune 500, and describes itself clearly on its own website. Every price below was read from the vendor's live pricing page on 10 October 2026, and every screenshot was captured that day from the vendor's public site. Otterly, Peec AI and Semrush show euros to a European connection, so their dollar prices come from US-served copies of the same pricing pages. Brandlight publishes no price at all, and we say so.

    One caveat applies to every tool here. SparkToro and Gumshoe found less than a one in 100 chance that two runs of the same prompt return the same brand list, so a tool is only as good as how often and how widely it samples. Compare prompt allowances and cadence before you compare dashboards.

    Want to get recommended by AI?

    Check your AI search visibility, then let the Honeyb agent write, fix, and earn what gets you recommended. Free to start.

    Free AI visibility checker

    The 12 best Profound alternatives at a glance

    ToolBest Profound alternative forEntry price (as published, 10 Oct 2026)Free optionEngines on the entry plan
    Honeyb (ours)Profound-style breadth at a published price$23/mo billed annually ($276/yr)Free start and free check1 of 8; all 8 on Full Spectrum
    Otterly AIThe lightest way off Profound$29/mo; Lite has 15 promptsFree trial6, per its homepage
    Peec AIMarketing teams that share the readout$95/mo; Starter has 50 promptsFree trial3 of your choice
    SE VisibleMost prompts per dollar$99/mo, or $79/mo billed annually10-day trial5
    Semrush AI VisibilityExisting Semrush users$99/mo standalone toolkit (25 prompts)Free trialGoogle, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and more
    AthenaHQAn agent that acts on the dataFree tier; Starter $295/moFree Essential tier11 on Starter
    Ahrefs Brand RadarResearching any brand without setupBrand Radar AI from $199/moAhrefs Free account7 for tracked prompts
    ScrunchPreparing your site for AI agents$250/mo (Core)Free trial4
    ZipTie.devPaying only for the checks you runFrom $42.75/mo (usage-based)7-day trial, no cardUp to 7
    AirOpsTurning gaps into contentNo price publishedFree startChatGPT on Solo; 7+ on Pro
    Goodie AIA full-loop AEO programme$399/mo (Core)None listedNot stated
    BrandlightFortune 500 brand teamsNot published (demo only)NoneNot stated

    The 12 best Profound alternatives, reviewed

    1. Honeyb (our tool)

    Honeyb pricing page showing three plans with annual billing selected
    Honeyb's pricing page with annual billing selected: The Minimum at $23 a month, Multi-Model at $63 and Full Spectrum at $159. Captured 10 October 2026.

    If you liked Profound's all-engine tracking and citation analysis but not the contract, Honeyb is the closest fit. It covers up to eight engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot, Grok, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews) with sentiment, citations, competitor tracking and a recommendation attached to each finding.

    • Best for: teams that want Profound's breadth at a price they can see.
    • Starting price: $23 a month billed annually ($276 a year) for one engine and 10 daily prompts; Full Spectrum covers all eight engines with 100 daily prompts at $159 a month billed annually.
    • Strength: recommendations on what to fix, plus domain-level source tracking, from the cheapest plan up.
    • Limit: the entry plan watches one engine, and 100 daily prompts is a smaller sample than an enterprise Profound contract buys. Test it with a free AI visibility check or read the direct Honeyb vs Profound comparison.

    2. Otterly AI

    Otterly AI homepage with a brand report illustration
    Otterly AI's homepage, showing its G2 rating of 4.8/5 and Gartner Cool Vendor note above a brand report illustration. Captured 10 October 2026.

    Otterly is the lightest way off Profound: self-serve, quick to set up, and covering ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini and Copilot.

    • Best for: solo marketers and small teams who want a reading this week.
    • Starting price: $29 a month; the Lite plan covers 15 prompts, with Standard at 100 and Premium at 400.
    • Strength: a 4.8 rating on G2 and a Gartner Cool Vendor listing in AI in Marketing, with six engines at entry level.
    • Limit: 15 prompts is a thin sample given how much answers vary between runs, so most teams outgrow Lite quickly.

    3. Peec AI

    Peec AI homepage showing its product illustration with a competitor table
    Peec AI's homepage, whose product illustration shows visibility, sentiment and position against competitors. Captured 10 October 2026.

    Peec AI is the analytics tool marketing teams enjoy opening: visibility, position and sentiment against competitors, with gap analysis by domain and URL. Its site says more than 3,000 brands and agencies use it.

    • Best for: marketing teams that share the readout across departments.
    • Starting price: $95 a month; Starter includes 50 prompts on three models with daily tracking.
    • Strength: unlimited users on every plan, and a Looker Studio integration on Advanced.
    • Limit: paid plans track three models each, and multi-country tracking starts on Advanced.

    4. SE Visible (SE Ranking)

    SE Visible pricing section with Basic, Core and Plus plans
    SE Visible's pricing with annual billing selected: Basic at $79 a month (from $99 monthly), Core at $151 and Plus at $284. Captured 10 October 2026.

    SE Visible is SE Ranking's standalone AI visibility product, and it buys the most prompts per dollar of anything on this list.

    • Best for: SEO teams that want breadth of prompts in a familiar tracker.
    • Starting price: Basic at $99 a month, or $79 a month billed annually, with 200 prompts and three projects.
    • Strength: about 30,000 AI answers analysed a month on the entry plan across ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, Perplexity and AI Overviews.
    • Limit: strong on measurement, lighter on telling you what to do next.

    5. Semrush AI Visibility

    Semrush AI Visibility toolkit page with its analysis menu
    Semrush's AI Visibility toolkit, with Visibility Overview, Competitor Research, Perception and Prompt Tracking in the menu. Captured 10 October 2026.

    If you already pay for Semrush, its AI Visibility toolkit adds AI tracking to the suite you know, and Semrush publishes much of the citation research the category relies on.

    • Best for: existing Semrush customers.
    • Starting price: $99 a month per domain for the standalone toolkit with 25 prompts, or included from the Semrush One Starter plan with 50 prompts tracked daily.
    • Strength: AI and classic search data in one login, including perception and narrative-driver reports.
    • Limit: you buy the SEO suite to get the AI toolkit, and the prompt allowance stays modest until Advanced (200 a day).

    6. AthenaHQ

    AthenaHQ pricing page with Essential, Starter and Enterprise plans
    AthenaHQ's pricing page: a free Essential tier with $25 of credit, Starter at $295 a month and custom Enterprise. Captured 10 October 2026.

    AthenaHQ is for teams that want generative engine optimisation run as a workflow, with an agent that turns findings into on-page and off-page actions.

    • Best for: GEO teams that want the tool to propose and draft fixes.
    • Starting price: a free Essential tier with $25 of credit; Starter at $295 a month on monthly billing.
    • Strength: Starter covers 11 models, with content recommendations and an optimisation agent.
    • Limit: credit-based usage and a paid API add-on make the true cost depend on how hard you use it.

    7. Ahrefs Brand Radar

    Ahrefs pricing page in US dollars with Lite, Standard and Advanced plans
    Ahrefs pricing in US dollars: Lite at $129 a month with 5 tracked AI prompts included. Captured 10 October 2026.

    Brand Radar brings AI share of voice into Ahrefs and lets you research any brand across a database of more than 470 million prompts, with no setup.

    • Best for: Ahrefs users and anyone who wants to look up a rival's AI footprint on demand.
    • Starting price: Brand Radar AI from $199 a month as a standalone tool; Ahrefs Lite at $129 a month includes 5 tracked AI prompts.
    • Strength: the prompt database answers market questions instantly, next to backlink and keyword data.
    • Limit: tracked prompts bundled into the base plans are few (5 on Lite), so daily tracking of your own buying questions costs extra.

    8. Scrunch

    Scrunch pricing page with Core and Enterprise plans
    Scrunch's pricing page: Core at $250 a month with 125 prompts on four engines, and Enterprise. Captured 10 October 2026.

    Scrunch pairs AI visibility benchmarks with site audits, and its Enterprise tier adds an Agent Experience Platform for serving AI agents a version of your site.

    • Best for: brands preparing for AI agents as well as AI answers.
    • Starting price: $250 a month for Core: 125 prompts, 5,000 responses a month and five user licences.
    • Strength: five site audits a month alongside the benchmarks.
    • Limit: Core covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Copilot, so Gemini and Claude need Enterprise.

    9. ZipTie.dev

    ZipTie pricing page with a plan builder and presets
    ZipTie's usage-based pricing builder: a Starter preset from $42.75 a month. Captured 10 October 2026.

    ZipTie charges by the check and never for seats, projects or competitors, which suits teams who know exactly what they want to watch.

    • Best for: teams that want to pay only for the prompts and engines they run.
    • Starting price: a Starter preset from $42.75 a month; one prompt on one engine costs $0.01 a check.
    • Strength: a seven-day trial with 25 daily prompts and no card, plus a ranking of the third-party platforms the engines cite.
    • Limit: the bill scales with prompts, engines and cadence, so model the cost before you grow.

    10. AirOps

    AirOps pricing page with Solo, Pro and Enterprise plans
    AirOps' pricing page: Solo and Pro start free, Enterprise through sales; no plan prices are listed. Captured 10 October 2026.

    AirOps comes at the problem from content: visibility insights feed straight into a content production engine with brand kits, knowledge bases and CMS integrations.

    • Best for: content teams that want to close visibility gaps by publishing.
    • Starting price: not published; Solo and Pro both start free, and Enterprise is sold through sales.
    • Strength: 100,000 content production tasks on Pro, with insights across seven or more answer engines.
    • Limit: Solo covers ChatGPT insights only, and with no published prices you cannot budget the paid tiers in advance.

    11. Goodie AI

    Goodie pricing page with Core, Pro and Enterprise plans
    Goodie's pricing page: Core at $399 a month, Pro at $999 and Enterprise by demo. Captured 10 October 2026.

    Goodie sells answer engine optimisation as a closed loop, from research to revenue, on every plan.

    • Best for: teams buying an AEO programme more than a dashboard.
    • Starting price: Core at $399 a month, with two months free on annual billing.
    • Strength: every tier runs the full research-to-revenue loop, with no feature held back for upsell.
    • Limit: the highest self-serve entry price on this list, and no free trial is advertised.

    12. Brandlight

    Brandlight homepage with its product illustration
    Brandlight's homepage, aimed at enterprise brands, with a product illustration of visibility by engine and sentiment. Captured 10 October 2026.

    Brandlight is the like-for-like enterprise alternative: built for Fortune 500 brand teams, with visibility by engine, sentiment, and filters for location and persona.

    • Best for: large brands that want an enterprise vendor other than Profound.
    • Starting price: not published; access is by demo.
    • Strength: enterprise brand reputation tracking across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot, with persona and location cuts.
    • Limit: it shares Profound's buying model, so it solves a fit problem and leaves the access problem in place.

    Which Profound alternative should you pick?

    Match the alternative to the reason you left. If it was price, start with Honeyb, Otterly or SE Visible, which all publish their plans. If your colleagues need to read the data, Peec AI. If you live in an SEO suite already, Semrush or Ahrefs keep everything in one login. If you want an agent to act on the findings, AthenaHQ; if you want content produced from them, AirOps. If you track many rivals on few prompts, ZipTie. And if you need an enterprise vendor and the demo process does not bother you, Brandlight is the closest like-for-like.

    The caveat that applies to all of them

    Whichever you pick, remember where AI answers come from. Reddit was the most-cited domain in Semrush's June 2025 study of about 150,000 AI citations, and Ahrefs found that AI visibility correlates most with third-party mentions and video. A tool tells you where you stand; the work of earning those mentions still falls to you, and the best tool is the one that points you to the right threads, reviews and comparison pages fastest.

    Sources cited in this report

    fortune.comprnewswire.compewresearch.orgsparktoro.comahrefs.com

    Frequently asked questions

    How much does Profound cost?

    Profound's pricing page lists two options: a free trial with 50 prompts a day for seven days on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and a custom Enterprise plan sold after a demo. It publishes no Enterprise price, so the cost depends on the prompts, engines and seats you negotiate.

    Is there a free alternative to Profound?

    Several tools let you start free and keep going past a week. AthenaHQ has a free Essential tier with $25 of credit, AirOps lets you start free, Ahrefs includes a free account with Brand Radar, and Honeyb offers a free start and a free visibility check. Otterly, Peec AI, SE Visible, Scrunch, Semrush and ZipTie offer trials.

    What is the cheapest Profound alternative?

    Among plans priced in dollars on 10 October 2026, Honeyb's entry plan is the cheapest at $23 a month billed annually, followed by ZipTie's usage-based Starter preset from $42.75 a month and SE Visible's Basic plan at $79 a month billed annually. Each covers fewer engines or prompts at that price than its top tier.

    What is the best Profound alternative for enterprises?

    Brandlight is the closest like-for-like enterprise vendor, sold by demo to Fortune 500 brands. If you want broad coverage at a published price, Honeyb's Full Spectrum plan covers eight engines, and Semrush's Advanced plan suits enterprises already standardised on Semrush.

    Can I use an AI visibility tool together with my SEO tools?

    Yes, and most teams do. Ahrefs, Semrush and SE Ranking build AI visibility into their suites, while dedicated tools such as Honeyb, Peec AI and Otterly sit alongside whatever SEO platform you already run. Classic rankings still matter, because AI engines lean on pages that already rank and get cited.

    Which AI engines should a Profound alternative track?

    At minimum ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Gemini, because that is where most buyers meet AI answers; Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google AI Mode matter more in some categories. Check the entry plan, since several tools limit engines there: Honeyb's entry plan covers one, Peec AI's plans three, and Scrunch's Core plan four.

    Matiss Katanenko

    About the author

    Matiss Katanenko

    Co-founder, Honeyb

    My name is Matiss Katanenko and I co-founded Honeyb, the AI visibility platform that tracks how ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and the other major AI engines talk about brands. Before Honeyb I ran SEO for fast-growing companies across the US and Europe, including one of America's 500 fastest-growing companies. The numbers I am proudest of: taking a site from zero to 200,000 monthly visitors in five months, and over $10M in client revenue attributed to organic search. I still run experiments across ten-plus of my own domains to test what actually works in SEO, programmatic SEO and AI search, and those experiments are what this blog reports on. My focus today is AI search visibility: how brands get retrieved, ranked and referenced by LLMs. I'm based in Riga, Latvia. In my free time I'm in the sauna, on a padel court, or behind a drum kit.

    Free to start

    Get recommended by AI search models.

    Run a free AI search visibility check, then let the Honeyb agent do the work that gets you into the answers.

    ChatGPTClaudeGeminiPerplexity