Software Comparison · Updated August 2026

Best Profound Alternatives in 2026

Profound is the enterprise benchmark for AI visibility analytics, and it is priced like one. If you want multi-engine tracking without a $399/mo floor, or a tool that does something with the gaps it finds, these are the alternatives worth your time.

Quick verdict

Best for startups
Sightivo
Tracks ChatGPT, Claude, and AI Overviews, then finds the pages and people that earn you citations. $99/mo, unlimited seats.
Cheapest multi-engine tracking
Otterly AI
Four engines and daily tracking from $29/mo. Monitoring only.
Closest like-for-like
Peec AI
Clean analytics, unlimited seats, and a lower entry price than Profound Growth.

What Profound does, and why people look elsewhere

Profound tracks how often and in what context brands appear in AI answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, and Meta AI. It adds citation analysis, a conversation explorer built on real prompt data, agent analytics for AI crawler traffic, and a Workflows product that drafts content. It is the most-reviewed tool in the category and the default choice for enterprise brand teams.

Pricing: Starter $99/mo tracks ChatGPT only with 50 prompts and 1 seat. Growth $399/mo tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews with 100 prompts and 3 seats. Nine-engine coverage is Enterprise, custom priced.

Where Profound is strong

Deepest citation and source analysis in the category
Conversation Explorer surfaces real prompts people use, not just ones you guess
Agent analytics shows which AI crawlers hit your site and what they read
Enterprise features: SSO, SOC2, multi-company, dedicated support

Why teams switch

The entry plan is ChatGPT-only
At $99/mo you see one engine. Seeing the three that matter jumps to $399/mo, and the full set is a sales conversation.
A lot of data, not much direction
Reviewers praise the depth and then say they are not sure what to do next. Profound shows where you are missing; it does not find the page or the person that fixes it.
Execution is thin
Workflows drafts a handful of articles per month on paid plans. There is no outreach, no contact data, and nothing that earns the off-site mentions AI engines weight most.
Built for enterprise teams
Prompt libraries, personas, and executive reporting assume a brand team. A founder doing this alone pays for scaffolding they will not use.

How we compared them

What happens after the dashboard

Monitoring tells you the score. We weighted tools that turn a low score into something you can do this week: a page to write, a site to get cited on, a person to email.

Engine coverage that matters

ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity drive most AI referral traffic. Nine engines is nice; three that your customers actually use is enough for most teams.

Real entry price

Starting prices hide prompt caps, per-engine add-ons, and per-seat fees. We looked at what a single brand pays to track a useful number of prompts across the engines it cares about.

Fit for the team size

A founder, an agency with twelve clients, and an enterprise brand team need different things. Each pick says who it is for.

Profound alternatives at a glance

Tool	Best for	Starting price	Coverage	Acts on the data?
SightivoOur pick	Startups and small teams that want to change the numbers, not just read them	$99/mo	ChatGPT, Claude, Google AI Overviews + Google rankings and backlinks	Yes
Peec AI	Agencies and marketing teams that want clean reporting and many seats	$80/mo	ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot (3 per plan)	Reports only
Otterly AI	Small teams that need a number on the dashboard for the least money	$29/mo	ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot (+ add-ons)	Reports only
Scrunch AI	Mid-market brand teams that want more engines than Profound Growth	$300/mo	ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode/Overviews, Meta	Partly
Athena HQ	Teams that want recommendations and can absorb the $295 step	Free; $295/mo	ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok	Partly
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit	Existing Semrush customers tracking one domain	$99/mo + Semrush	ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews	Reports only
Nightwatch	SEO teams that want LLM visibility bolted onto rank tracking cheaply	$32/mo	ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews + Google/Bing rankings	Reports only

Prices are list prices on monthly billing as of August 2026; check each vendor for current plans.

The best Profound alternatives in detail

1. SightivoOur pick

SEO and AI visibility platform for startups. Tracks how often ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI Overviews mention you, then turns the gaps into a ranked list of pages where you should be cited, the authors behind them, and a drafted pitch you send from a built-in inbox.

$99/mo

vs Profound: Profound ends at the report. Sightivo starts there: each prompt you are missing from becomes a list of the pages AI already cites for it, the people who wrote them, and a drafted pitch. You track fewer engines than Profound Enterprise, but every plan includes the part Profound leaves to you.

Pros

Measures and acts: every visibility gap becomes a specific page, author, and drafted outreach
Finds the real people behind citing pages, with verified contacts
Writes the pages your site is missing for the prompts you want to appear in
Unlimited seats on every plan; from $99/mo for two projects
Rankings, backlinks, and AI citations in one workspace

Cons

Three engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Google AI Overviews), not nine
Prompt volumes (40 to 200 checks a month) are sized for small teams, not enterprise prompt libraries
No white-label client reporting yet

Best for: Startups and small teams that want to change the numbers, not just read them

Coverage: ChatGPT, Claude, Google AI Overviews + Google rankings and backlinks

2. Peec AI

Berlin-built AI visibility analytics with a clean interface, daily tracking, and unlimited users. Popular with agencies and in-house teams that want Profound-style dashboards without the enterprise wrapper.

$80/mo

vs Profound: Similar analytics at a lower entry price, and seats are unlimited. You pick three models per plan; tracking all of them is Enterprise only.

Pros

Unlimited seats on every plan
Daily tracking, clean prompt and source views
Multi-country tracking on Pro and up
7-day free trial

Cons

Three models per plan; all 11 models is Enterprise only
Monitoring only, no content or outreach
Prompt caps are tight on Starter (50)

Best for: Agencies and marketing teams that want clean reporting and many seats

Coverage: ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot (3 per plan)

3. Otterly AI

The lowest-cost way to track AI search visibility. Turns existing keywords and URLs into prompts, tracks four engines daily, and includes GEO URL audits and ChatGPT ads tracking.

$29/mo

vs Profound: Costs a third of Profound Starter and tracks four engines instead of one. Far less depth: no conversation explorer, thinner citation analysis.

Pros

$29/mo for four engines
Unlimited team members on all plans
Converts SEO keywords to prompts automatically
Free trial

Cons

15 prompts on Lite; 100 prompts is $189/mo
Claude, Gemini, and AI Mode are add-ons
Reports only

Best for: Small teams that need a number on the dashboard for the least money

Coverage: ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot (+ add-ons)

4. Scrunch AI

Enterprise AI visibility platform with persona-based prompt sets, page audits, and a large library of industry prompts alongside your custom ones.

$300/mo

vs Profound: Comparable enterprise positioning with more prompts on the entry plan (350 custom plus 1,000 industry) and six engines, but a $250 to $300/mo floor and no cheaper tier.

Pros

Six engines on every plan, including Claude and Gemini
Persona-based prompt modelling
Page audits with on-page recommendations
7-day free trial, no card

Cons

Starts at $300/mo month-to-month
Multi-brand is Enterprise only
Execution is limited to on-page audits

Best for: Mid-market brand teams that want more engines than Profound Growth

Coverage: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode/Overviews, Meta

5. Athena HQ

GEO platform with a free credit-based tier, prompt and response analysis, competitor insights, and an agent that recommends content changes.

Free; $295/mo

vs Profound: Cheaper to try (free credits, nine engines on Starter) and closer to action with on-page and off-page recommendations, but the first paid plan is $295/mo with nothing in between.

Pros

Free tier with real data
Nine engines on Starter
Recommendations, not just scores
Unlimited seats

Cons

Free to $295/mo with no middle plan
Credit-based pricing is hard to forecast
Recommendations still leave the outreach to you

Best for: Teams that want recommendations and can absorb the $295 step

Coverage: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok

6. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit

Semrush’s AI tracking module, sold per domain alongside the main SEO suite. Tracks prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and AI Overviews and ties them to your existing keyword data.

$99/mo + Semrush

vs Profound: Better if you already live in Semrush and want AI data next to rankings. Weaker than Profound on citation depth, and prompt add-ons get expensive.

Pros

Lives next to your rank tracking and site audit
Familiar reporting for SEO teams
Share-of-voice trends per engine

Cons

$99/mo per domain on top of a Semrush plan
25 prompts included; more cost extra
A report inside a suite, not a workflow

Best for: Existing Semrush customers tracking one domain

Coverage: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews

7. Nightwatch

Rank tracker that added LLM tracking, AI Overviews monitoring, and citation sentiment to its traditional SERP tracking. No per-seat fees.

$32/mo

vs Profound: A fraction of Profound’s price with traditional rank tracking included. Less AI-specific depth; think of it as a rank tracker that also watches LLMs.

Pros

From $32/mo with a 14-day trial
Google rankings and LLM mentions in one tool
No per-seat pricing

Cons

AI tracking is a module, not the core product
Limited citation analysis
No action layer

Best for: SEO teams that want LLM visibility bolted onto rank tracking cheaply

Coverage: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews + Google/Bing rankings

When Profound is still the right choice

You are an enterprise brand team that needs nine engines, SSO, SOC2, and multi-company tracking
Prompt research at scale matters more than acting on any single prompt
You have a content and PR team already and just need the best measurement layer to point them at

Which Profound alternative should you pick?

Founder or small team, want to see the score and change it	Sightivo
Cheapest possible multi-engine dashboard	Otterly AI
Agency with many seats wanting clean client-facing analytics	Peec AI
Mid-market team, want more engines than Profound Growth at a similar price	Scrunch AI
Want recommendations and can pay $295/mo	Athena HQ
Already on Semrush, one domain	Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
Mostly a rank tracker, AI as a bonus	Nightwatch

Frequently asked questions

How much does Profound cost?

Profound Starter is $99/mo and tracks ChatGPT only with 50 prompts and one seat. Growth is $399/mo for ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews with 100 prompts and three seats. Tracking all nine supported engines requires an Enterprise plan with custom pricing.

What is the best free alternative to Profound?

Athena HQ has a free tier funded by a small credit balance, and Otterly AI, Peec AI, Scrunch, and Sightivo all offer trials. None of the free options act on the data. If you want the cheapest plan that does, Sightivo is $99/mo with unlimited seats and includes the outreach and drafted pages.

What is the cheapest Profound alternative?

Otterly AI at $29/mo is the cheapest tool that tracks more than one engine. Nightwatch at $32/mo includes Google rank tracking as well. Both are monitoring-only.

Does Profound help you improve AI visibility, or only measure it?

Mostly measure. Profound has a Workflows product that drafts a limited number of articles per month, but it does not find the third-party pages AI engines cite, identify the people who write them, or run outreach. That off-site layer is where Sightivo focuses.

Is Profound worth it for a startup?

Usually not at the Growth tier. A startup tracking one brand pays $399/mo for three engines and still has to do all the work of earning citations. Tools built for that stage, like Sightivo at $99/mo, track the engines that matter and spend the rest of the budget on writing the missing pages and winning placements.

Which AI engines should a Profound alternative track?

ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews account for most AI referral traffic, with Perplexity a distant third. Claude matters if your buyers are technical. Engine count past four is rarely the deciding factor; what you do with the gaps is.

See where you stand, then fix it

Sightivo shows how often ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI Overviews mention you, then finds the pages and people that will change that. From $99/mo, unlimited seats.

All comparisons · How Sightivo tracks AI visibility