All four of these tools track whether ChatGPT, Google's AI answers and other AI engines mention your brand, and the price you see on the page rarely matches the price you pay. Otterly.AI meters prompts but sells Gemini, AI Mode and Claude as add-ons. Peec AI caps every plan at 3 active engines. Rankscale and AthenaHQ meter credits, with Rankscale covering 17+ engines on every plan and AthenaHQ starting at $295 a month.
ToolsGavel's top pick: Otterly.AI (4.1/5, from $29/mo) — Otterly.AI has the lowest monthly entry price of the four: Lite is $29 a month for 15 prompts, with a 7-day trial and no card. Every plan includes citation tracking, sentiment and unlimited brands, competitors and team members, and G2 shows about 4.8 on roughly 40-plus reviews, the largest base here. The catch is engine coverage: ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot come included, while Gemini and AI Mode cost $9 a month each on Lite and Claude costs $29, so a realistic Lite bill runs higher than $29.
All four tools run your questions against AI engines and report whether your brand appears. The unit they charge for differs, and so does the cost of the engines you actually care about.
Otterly.AI meters prompts: 15 on Lite, 100 on Standard, 400 on Premium. Four engines come included, and Gemini, AI Mode and Claude are paid add-ons whose price rises with the plan. Peec AI also meters prompts (50, 150 or 350) and adds a limit of 3 active engines you pick, plus monthly AI answer caps and project counts. Rankscale meters credits, at about 0.25 per engine per prompt, with 17+ engines on every plan and credit rollover. AthenaHQ meters credits at 1 per AI response, so a prompt run on all 11 Starter engines uses 11.
| Otterly.AI | Peec AI | Rankscale | AthenaHQ |
|---|
| Cheapest paid, monthly | $29 (Lite, 15 prompts) | $95 (Starter, 50 prompts) | $99 (Pro, 1,200 credits) | $295 (Starter, 3,600 credits) |
| Cheapest paid, annual per month | $25 (unlabeled on page, about 15% off) | Not shown (15% discount per FAQ) | $17 Essentials (annual-only); $84 Pro | Not shown (17% off toggle) |
| Metering unit | Prompts, plus engine add-ons | Prompts, 3 active engines, monthly AI answers | Credits, about 0.25 per engine per prompt | Credits, 1 per AI response |
| Engines included | 4 | Choose 3 of 6 | 17+ on every plan | 5 on Free, 11 on Starter |
| Extra engines | AI Mode and Gemini $9 each, Claude $29 (Lite, per month) | $30, $70 or $140 a month per extra model | None to buy; credit cost varies by engine | More on request |
| Free plan or trial | 7-day trial, no card (vendor FAQ) | Free trial button; length and card not stated | 7-day Pro trial; card unconfirmed; no free plan | Free Essential plan (300 credits, reportedly one-time) |
| Seats | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited on Pro and up | Unlimited on Starter |
| API and reporting | Data Studio, API and MCP from Standard ($189) | Looker Studio and API from Advanced ($495); CSV and MCP on all | Data Studio and CSV from Pro; REST API from Pro+ ($229) | CSV on Starter; API is a paid add-on; BI dashboards Enterprise |
| White-label or agency | Agency Partner status on Standard and Premium | Agency partner program, invite-only | White-label links from Growth ($385) | Agency pricing quoted (third-party) |
| G2 (approximate) | About 4.8, roughly 40-plus reviews | About 4.9, 10 to 11 reviews | 5.0, 1 to 2 reviews | About 4.9, roughly 31 reviews |
Prices are in USD and were checked on vendor pages on 2026-11-10. Rankscale’s page shows USD, though one third-party source lists euros.
What the sticker price leaves out
The cheapest paid plan is rarely the plan most buyers end up on, and each tool hides its extra costs in a different place.
With Otterly.AI, the engines. Lite at $29 plus AI Mode, Gemini and Claude comes to $76 a month, and the same add-ons cost far more on Premium, where Claude alone is $439. Extra prompts cost $99 a month per 100. With Peec AI, the engine cap and the missing annual price: a fourth engine adds 28% to 32% on Starter and Advanced, and Looker Studio needs the $495 plan. Rankscale’s cost sits in the credits. A single prompt run on all 17 engines uses about 4.25 credits by our arithmetic, so Pro’s 1,200 credits cover about 280 such runs, and top-up prices aren’t published. AthenaHQ’s cost is the $295 floor, with API access and extra credits billed on top at prices the vendor doesn’t list.
Think about volume before you choose. Fifty prompts on three engines checked daily is the exact load Peec AI Starter is sized for (4,500 AI answers a month). The same load on Otterly.AI needs the Standard plan at $189 to get past 15 prompts, and the extra engines would add to that.
How to choose
If you want to test the category cheaply, start with the Otterly.AI trial or AthenaHQ’s free plan. If several people will share one workspace and you report to clients, Peec AI’s unlimited seats and dashboards fit, as does Rankscale’s white-label option from Growth. If breadth is the goal, Rankscale is the only one of the four that includes 17+ engines in every plan. If you want the tool to recommend and help produce the fixes, AthenaHQ is built for that, at a price. For hands-off help, Ranked AI is a done-for-you SEO service that also tracks AI mentions.
How we picked
Prices, limits and engine lists came from each vendor’s pricing page and FAQ, checked on 2026-11-10, and review scores from G2, OMR Reviews and Trustpilot. G2 figures come from secondary listings and are approximate. Every rating rests on thin evidence: Rankscale has 1 to 2 G2 reviews, and Trustpilot shows 0 to 2 reviews for all four tools. We haven’t run these products ourselves.
The order is our editorial call and isn’t a score table. We don’t earn a commission from any of these four tools today: Otterly.AI and Rankscale run affiliate programs we haven’t joined, and Peec AI and AthenaHQ have none that we found. None of that decided the order, and it does not change how we describe each tool’s catch. Each tool’s full review is linked above.
Deals & price changes
Price changes and deals for the tools in this guide
One short email when a tool in this guide changes its price or gets a verified deal. At most once a week.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to start tracking AI search visibility?
Rankscale Essentials is the lowest sticker price at $17 a month, but it is annual-only and leaves out sentiment, exports, Data Studio, the API and team workspaces. Otterly.AI Lite is $29 a month for 15 prompts on four engines and offers a 7-day trial with no card. AthenaHQ has a free Essential plan with 300 credits, which reviewers say is a one-time allowance. Peec AI starts at $95 a month and has no free plan. Add-ons change these numbers, so read the metering section above before you compare.
What does a prompt or credit actually mean in these tools?
A prompt is a question you want an AI engine to answer, such as best payroll software for startups. Otterly.AI and Peec AI price by prompts tracked (15 to 400 on Otterly.AI, 50 to 350 on Peec AI). Rankscale and AthenaHQ price by credits, where AthenaHQ charges 1 credit per AI response and Rankscale charges about 0.25 credit per engine per prompt. By our arithmetic, running one prompt across all 17 Rankscale engines costs about 4.25 credits, and across AthenaHQ's 11 Starter engines it costs 11 credits.
Do I need a tool that tracks every AI engine?
Not always. If your buyers mostly use ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, Otterly.AI's four included engines may be enough. If you want Gemini, AI Mode or Claude, Otterly.AI charges extra and Peec AI limits you to 3 active engines unless you pay $30 to $140 a month for each additional one. Rankscale includes 17+ engines on every plan, and AthenaHQ Starter covers 11. Check where your own customers ask questions before you pay for breadth.
Are the ratings on this page reliable?
They rest on thin evidence, and we say so for each tool. The G2 figures come from secondary listings and vary by date: about 4.8 on roughly 40-plus reviews for Otterly.AI, about 4.9 on 10 to 11 for Peec AI, 5.0 on 1 to 2 for Rankscale, and about 4.9 on roughly 31 for AthenaHQ. Trustpilot has 0 to 2 reviews for all four. We haven't run these products ourselves, so our scores weigh pricing clarity and review evidence.
