Profound Alternatives (November 2026): 10 Tools With Published Prices
The best Profound alternatives are Peec AI and Otterly.AI for self-serve tracking with published prices, Scrunch and AthenaHQ for mid-market teams that still want depth, and Semrush or Ahrefs if you already pay for one of those suites. Profound is built for large brands. If you are a small or mid-sized team, the first step is often not a cheaper tracker but a one-time check that tells you whether you have a problem worth tracking.
Profound is built for enterprise brands, and for a company with hundreds of prompts, many markets and an analyst team it is a strong choice. Most people searching for Profound alternatives are not that buyer. They hit the price or the sales call, or they need a smaller version of the same answer. This page covers what Profound costs today, the alternatives with prices checked against each vendor's own pricing page, and how to tell which kind of tool you need.
We sell a tool in this category too. LumenGEO is on the list, it is clearly marked, and it is not ranked first.
Reviewed & pricing current as of November 2026
Pick by the job. Enterprise scale, many markets, specialist support: stay with Profound. Same job, self-serve, published prices: Peec AI or Otterly.AI. Mid-market with content workflows: Scrunch or AthenaHQ. Already on Semrush or Ahrefs: their AI module first. Not sure you have a problem yet: a one-time multi-engine check before any subscription.
What does Profound cost in November 2026?
Profound has no published paid price for brands. Its pricing page lists a free 7-day trial (50 prompts run daily on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews) and an Enterprise plan with "tailored packages" quoted after a demo, tracking up to 9 answer engines. Agencies get a separate plan, with full client workspaces sold as a $399-a-month add-on.
That is the main reason most people search for alternatives: you can't see the price before the sales call, and the plan is built for companies running AI search at scale.
What do the AI engines themselves recommend?
When we asked ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude the same five buyer questions about AI visibility tools on 8 November 2026, Profound was named in 8 of the 20 answers, behind Semrush and Ahrefs (12 each), Otterly.AI (11) and Peec AI (10). LumenGEO was named in none.
| Tool | Named in (of 20 answers) |
|---|---|
| Semrush | 12 |
| Ahrefs | 12 |
| Otterly.AI | 11 |
| Peec AI | 10 |
| Profound | 8 |
| LumenGEO | 0 |
Method: 5 buyer questions (for example "What's the best AI visibility checker for small businesses?" and "Which are the top tools to check if ChatGPT recommends my brand?"), each asked once on each engine through DataForSEO's LLM API with web search on (GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Claude Sonnet 5.5). A tool counts as named if the answer mentions it by name. One run is a snapshot, not a ranking.
Several of the questions were phrased the way a small team asks them ("for small businesses", "my organic traffic is dropping"), which may be part of why Profound came fifth. Shortlist the same way: start from the buyer you are, not from the biggest name.
The answers cited 135 pages, none of them ours. Of the 54 we opened and classified, 38 were published by software companies, mostly AI-visibility and SEO vendors. Read any "Profound alternatives" list, including this one, with that in mind.
The best Profound alternatives, compared
These are the strongest alternatives, roughly ordered by entry price and fit. Every price was checked on the vendor's own pricing page on 8 November 2026.
Peec AI
Best for: marketing teams and agencies that want self-serve daily tracking with published prices.
Price: Starter $95 a month (50 prompts, 1 project), Pro $245 (150 prompts), Advanced $495 (350 prompts); 15% off on annual billing. Free trial.
Engines: pick 3 from ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Copilot, Gemini and Naver; Perplexity is an extra-cost add-on.
Versus Profound: published prices and self-serve setup; fewer markets and no dedicated specialist at the entry tier.
Otterly.AI
Best for: the same daily tracking job at a lower entry price.
Price: Lite $29 a month (15 prompts), Standard $189 (100 prompts), Premium $489 (400 prompts); about 15% less on annual billing. Free trial.
Engines: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot on every plan; Gemini, AI Mode and Claude are paid add-ons.
Versus Profound: a published price from $29 a month with Perplexity included; built for monitoring rather than enterprise analytics.
Scrunch
Best for: mid-market teams that want more prompts and site audits in one plan.
Price: Core $250 a month for 125 prompts and 5 site audits; Enterprise is custom. 7-day free trial.
Engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Copilot on Core; up to 9 on Enterprise.
Versus Profound: the closest mid-market option, with a published price and site audits included.
AthenaHQ
Best for: teams that want unlimited prompts and 11 engines on one self-serve plan.
Price: Starter $295 a month for 3,600 credits (one credit is one AI answer), with unlimited prompts; Enterprise is custom. A free tier gives a one-off batch of credits.
Engines: 11, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude and Copilot.
Versus Profound: a published price and 11 engines; less enterprise support.
Rankscale
Best for: the lowest entry price with broad engine coverage.
Price: Essentials is listed at $17 a month on yearly billing only, for 120 credits a month; Pro is $99 a month. 7-day trial of Pro.
Engines: 17 or more on every plan, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Copilot.
Versus Profound: the cheapest way to cover many engines; credits limit how many prompts you can run.
HubSpot AEO
Best for: teams already on HubSpot who want AI visibility next to their CRM.
Price: $50 a month ($45 on annual billing) for 25 prompts. Free trial of 25 prompts with no credit card. The separate AI Search Grader is free.
Engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.
Versus Profound: much lighter and much cheaper; best if your marketing already runs on HubSpot.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
Best for: teams whose SEO already runs on Semrush.
Price: $99 a month per domain for 25 daily prompts. Semrush's SEO + AI Search plans also include AI tracking, from $139 a month (50 prompts).
Engines: ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity.
Versus Profound: cheap if you already pay for Semrush, but 25 prompts is a small daily set.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
Best for: existing Ahrefs customers.
Price: a small daily prompt allowance is included in paid Ahrefs plans (5 prompts a day on Lite). Custom prompt tracking starts at $50 a month and the AI Visibility Index at $199 a month, on top of an Ahrefs subscription.
Engines: AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, with Claude on custom prompts.
Versus Profound: good value only if you already pay for Ahrefs.
Writesonic GEO
Best for: teams that want tracking and an AI writing tool in one subscription.
Price: Starter $99 a month ($79 on annual billing) for 50 prompts; Basic $249 (100 prompts). Free trial.
Engines: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews on Starter.
Versus Profound: smaller tracking, plus an AI writing tool.
LumenGEO (ours)
Best for: finding out where you stand before you pay for any tracker.
Price: free check on ChatGPT and Perplexity; a one-time $19 AI Visibility Report (20 buyer answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, the lists they cite and your fixes written out); weekly tracking from $49 a month for 10 keywords.
Engines: 4 in the report; ChatGPT and Perplexity on the $49 plan.
Versus Profound: not a tracker. It answers "are we recommended, and by whom instead?" once, across four engines, for teams that are not ready for an enterprise contract.
Profound alternatives at a glance (prices checked November 2026)
| Tool | Entry price | At that price |
|---|---|---|
| Profound | Custom (enterprise) | Up to 9 engines |
| Peec AI | $95/mo | 50 prompts, 3 engines |
| Otterly.AI | $29/mo | 15 prompts, 4 engines |
| Scrunch | $250/mo | 125 prompts, 4 engines |
| AthenaHQ | $295/mo | 3,600 answers, 11 engines |
| Rankscale | $17/mo (yearly only) | 120 credits, 17+ engines |
| HubSpot AEO | $50/mo | 25 prompts, 3 engines |
| Semrush AI Visibility | $99/mo | 25 prompts, 4 engines |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | From $50/mo + Ahrefs plan | Custom prompts |
| Writesonic GEO | $99/mo ($79 annual) | 50 prompts, 3 engines |
| LumenGEO (ours) | Free; $19 once; $49/mo tracking | 20 answers, 4 engines (report) |
Prices are each vendor's own published entry price on the date above, before tax. Vendors in this category change plans often; check the vendor's page before you buy.
Do you need an enterprise tracker, or any tracker?
An enterprise tracker earns its price when you have many markets, many product lines and a team that acts on the data every week. A self-serve tracker earns its price when one person publishes, pitches or fixes something every week and wants to see it move. If neither describes you yet, start with a one-time answer.
The question a small team needs answered first is narrow: does AI recommend us today, who does it recommend instead, and which pages is it reading? A wide one-time check answers that better than a narrow daily one. Five buyer questions asked once on each of four engines (20 answers) show more about where you stand than a small daily prompt set on a few engines.
What a one-time check should give you:
- Several engines. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude cite different sources.
- Real buyer questions, including "alternatives to [competitor]" and "is [brand] legit", not just your brand name.
- The pages behind each answer, so you know which lists to pitch and which questions to answer with a page of your own.
- Who is named instead of you, and how often.
That is what our report does: 20 buyer answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, the lists those answers cite that you can get onto, and the fixes written out, for $19 once, starting from a free check. If it shows a problem worth watching every week, that is when a tracker earns its fee, whether it's Profound, Peec, Otterly or ours.
Know where you stand before you pay for tracking
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Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Profound?
For self-serve tracking with published prices, Peec AI and Otterly.AI. For mid-market depth, Scrunch or AthenaHQ. If you already pay for Semrush or Ahrefs, try their AI module first. If you don't yet know whether AI search matters for your brand, a one-time multi-engine check is the cheapest first step.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Profound?
Yes. With published prices, the self-serve entry points are Rankscale at $17 a month (yearly only), Otterly.AI at $29, HubSpot AEO at $50, Peec AI at $95 and Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit at $99 a month. If you only need one answer, LumenGEO's report is $19 once.
Is Profound worth it for a small business?
Usually not. Profound's strengths (scale, many markets, specialist support) matter to large brands. A small business gets most of the value from knowing whether it is named for its main buyer questions and which pages the engines read, which a self-serve tracker or a one-time check covers.
How is Profound different from Peec AI?
Profound is aimed at large brands with a sales-led enterprise plan and specialist support. Peec AI is self-serve with published prices from $95 a month, built for marketing teams and agencies. See our Peec AI alternatives page for that side of the market.
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