Profound alternatives: 7 AI visibility tools, priced and compared
Profound is excellent for enterprises that want the deepest measurement. If you need a public price, a smaller budget, an add-on to your SEO suite, or proof that a fix worked, these seven alternatives are worth a look.
Profound is the best-funded name in AI search visibility, and for large enterprises it is often the right call. But its brand plans are sold through sales, its trial covers three engines, and plenty of teams want something they can buy today, cheaper, or built around a different job. This guide groups the alternatives by the reason you'd switch. Every fact comes from each vendor's own pages, checked on 26 September 2026.
Our bias, stated up front: Stellarcast is our product, and it is one of the options below. We've kept the others to what their own sites say.
Stellarcast checks six AI engines daily on every plan from $39 a month (Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Microsoft Copilot), ships approved fixes to WordPress from $89, and labels every lift claim MEASURED, LIKELY or TOO-EARLY, so a result is never reported with more confidence than the evidence supports.
Why teams look beyond Profound
- No public brand price. Beyond a free 7-day trial, Profound's brand plan is "Custom". Agencies get a listed plan at $99 a month, but each client workspace is $399 a month on top.
- Three engines below Enterprise. The trial tracks ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews; agency workspaces track ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews. The nine-engine list is an Enterprise feature.
- You need a specific job done. Some teams need a budget tracker, some need an add-on to an SEO suite they already pay for, some need proof that a change worked.
The alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Switch to it if you want | Entry price | Engines on entry plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stellarcast | Monitoring, fixes and confidence-labelled proof of lift, with public pricing | $39/mo | 6, daily |
| Peec AI | Clean competitive monitoring, strong for agencies | $95/mo | Pick 3 of 6 |
| Otterly.AI | The lowest-cost mainstream tracker | $29/mo | 4; AI Mode, Gemini, Claude are add-ons |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | AI visibility inside the SEO suite you already use | $99/mo per domain | 5 |
| AthenaHQ | A free way in, and publishing to many CMSs | Free tier; $295/mo Starter | Starter: 11 |
| Scrunch | AI-optimised pages served to AI agents at the edge | $250/mo | 4 |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | A huge pre-built index of AI answers alongside Ahrefs' SEO data | $129/mo with 5 custom prompts | 6 in its AI index |
| Rankscale | The most engines for the least money | $20/mo | 17+ |
Checked 26 September 2026 against each vendor's own pages. See the full pricing table for top-tier prices and trials.
Not sure which gaps matter for your brand? Get a free visibility audit first: no card, results by email.
If you want to fix gaps and prove the lift: Stellarcast
Stellarcast is built around a loop: monitor, diagnose, execute, prove. Every paid plan checks six engines daily, including both of Google's AI surfaces. From the $89 Starter plan it drafts fixes and, once you approve them, ships them to WordPress. From Growth ($249) every lift claim sits in a ledger with a confidence label, MEASURED, LIKELY or TOO-EARLY, so you never report a number you can't defend. Each market is measured with native-language prompts, and pricing is public. Choose it if Profound's analytics depth is more than you need and proof of results is what you're missing.
If you want focused monitoring for agencies: Peec AI
Peec's Starter plan is $95 a month (less on annual billing) and lets you pick three engines from ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI, with extra models sold individually. Its agency plans include unlimited client workspaces and free 7-day pitch projects. It does not publish changes to a CMS itself, and Starter covers one country.
If budget is the constraint: Otterly.AI or Rankscale
Otterly's Lite plan is $29 a month and includes ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot, with Gemini, AI Mode and Claude as paid add-ons; it offers a 14-day trial with no card. Rankscale starts at $20 a month and covers 17+ engines on every plan, though engines consume credits at different rates. Neither publishes fixes to your site; both are trackers first.
If you already pay for an SEO suite: Semrush or Ahrefs
Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit is $99 a month per domain for 25 prompts, covering ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity. Ahrefs Brand Radar combines a large pre-built index of AI answers ($199 a month per platform, $699 for all) with custom prompts on its paid plans. Both are strongest when you want AI visibility next to your existing SEO data; neither describes publishing fixes.
If you want many CMS integrations: AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ has a free Essential tier and a $295 Starter plan tracking 11 engines, and it can publish to eight CMSs including Shopify, WordPress, Webflow and Wix. Its Starter plan covers a single market, and multiple countries are an Enterprise feature.
If you want AI agents to see an optimised site: Scrunch
Scrunch Core is $250 a month for 125 prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews and Copilot. Its distinctive idea, on Enterprise, is serving an AI-optimised copy of your site to AI agents at the edge without changing the site people see.
If you want an automated content pipeline: Profound alternatives that draft and publish
Profound's answer to content pipeline automation is its Agents: they generate briefs and optimised assets, every run stops at an approval step, and approved work publishes to one of ten CMSs, including WordPress, Contentful, Webflow and Sanity. Agents run on credits: the brand plan is custom-priced, and agencies get 400 agent credits a month with each $399 client workspace.
If what you want is that pipeline without a sales-led contract, three alternatives do the same job at a listed price:
- Stellarcast drafts each fix from a diagnosed gap, meaning a specific buyer question where a competitor is named and you are not, so the pipeline works on what is losing you answers rather than on a generic content calendar. Nothing publishes until you approve it, every approval is recorded with the change it made, and approved fixes ship to WordPress from the $89 Starter plan. From Growth ($249), the lift from each shipped fix is tracked with a MEASURED, LIKELY or TOO-EARLY label.
- AthenaHQ publishes to eight CMSs, including Shopify, WordPress, Webflow and Wix, from its $295 Starter plan.
- Writesonic and Goodie also publish approved changes to a CMS, usually on their higher tiers, and Knowatoa from its $59 Starter plan.
The efficiency question to ask any of them: does the pipeline start from the prompts you are losing, and can it show afterwards whether a published change moved anything? Drafting and publishing are the easy half.
How to choose
- Stay with Profound if you need nine engines, 30+ languages, log-level crawler analytics and enterprise security, and a sales-led contract suits you.
- Pick a budget tracker if you only need to know whether AI mentions you.
- Pick an SEO-suite add-on if your team already lives in Semrush or Ahrefs.
- Pick Stellarcast if you need gaps fixed and the lift proven, at a price you can see.
See what AI says about you today
The free audit asks Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the questions buyers in your market ask, and shows where a competitor is named instead of you. No card, no commitment.
Get your free visibility auditFrequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Profound?
It depends on why you're switching. For monitoring plus fixes and confidence-labelled proof of lift with public pricing, Stellarcast. For agency-focused monitoring, Peec AI. For the lowest cost, Otterly.AI or Rankscale. If you already use an SEO suite, Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit or Ahrefs Brand Radar.
How much does Profound cost?
As of 26 September 2026, Profound's pricing page lists a free 7-day trial and a custom-priced Enterprise plan for brands, and Agency Growth at $99 a month plus add-ons such as $399 a month per client workspace.
Is there a cheaper Profound alternative?
Yes. Rankscale starts at $20 a month, Otterly.AI at $29, and Stellarcast at $39. Stellarcast's $39 plan checks six engines daily, including Google AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Which Profound alternatives can publish fixes to my site?
AthenaHQ, Writesonic, Knowatoa, Goodie and Stellarcast can publish approved changes to a CMS, often only on higher tiers. Stellarcast ships fixes to WordPress from its $89 Starter plan. Profound's own agents also publish to CMSs.
Which Profound alternatives automate the content pipeline?
Profound's Agents draft content, stop for approval and publish to ten CMSs, on credits included with a custom-priced brand plan or a $399-a-month agency client workspace. Alternatives with a listed price: Stellarcast drafts fixes from the specific buyer questions you are losing, publishes approved fixes to WordPress from $89 a month, and tracks the lift of each fix from its Growth plan; AthenaHQ publishes to eight CMSs from $295; Writesonic and Goodie also publish approved changes, usually on higher tiers, and Knowatoa from its $59 Starter plan.