Profound vs Rankscale (2026): pricing, engines, verdict
Rankscale sells the most engines for the least money. Profound sells enterprise depth by contract. Both cover many engines; only one publishes a price.
Stellarcast is our product, so read this knowing our bias. Every vendor fact below was read from the vendor's own pages on 17 October 2026; anything a vendor does not state is marked "not published".
The short answer
Rankscale starts at $17 a month for Essentials (billed yearly only, limits not itemized) and $99 for Pro, which buys 1,200 credits across 21 engines in all regions, with a 7-day trial and 15% off yearly. Profound offers a free 7-day trial of 50 prompts on three engines, then an Enterprise contract for up to nine engines, an AI Marketer that stages page rewrites in your CMS, and agent analytics. Pick Rankscale for breadth per dollar and self-serve terms. Pick Profound for enterprise measurement with drafting and staging built in.
Side by side
| Profound | Rankscale | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Brands: free 7-day trial, then Enterprise by contract. Agencies: price not published; client workspaces $399/mo each | Essentials $17/mo, billed yearly only ($20 list; limits not itemized); Pro $99/mo for 1,200 credits; Pro+ $229/mo; Growth $385/mo |
| Top published plan | Enterprise and Agency Enterprise, custom | Enterprise $780/mo for 12,000 credits; custom above |
| Billing terms | By contract for brands; agency workspaces priced monthly; 7-day trial of 50 prompts | Monthly, or yearly at 15% off; 7-day free trial on Pro |
| Engines per plan | Trial: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Enterprise: up to 9, adding Perplexity, AI Mode, Copilot, DeepSeek, Claude and Exa Search | 21 engines listed in its credit calculator, on every plan, credit-weighted: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode at 0.25 credits a check, DeepSeek 1, Claude 2; plus AI Overviews, Copilot, Grok, Mistral and API models |
| Markets and languages | Trial: 1 language, 1 region; Enterprise custom | All regions on every plan |
| Publishes fixes to your site | Its AI Marketer rewrites pages and stages them as drafts in your CMS for approval (per its homepage) | No CMS publishing; Scout recommendations and page audits |
| Proof of lift | Agent Analytics for AI-sourced traffic and attribution; no lift method published | Not published |
Sources: tryprofound.com/pricing and its homepage; rankscale.ai/pricing. Checked 17 October 2026. US dollars per month.
Where each one wins
- Profound: an AI Marketer that rewrites pages and stages them as drafts in your CMS for approval.
- Rankscale: a public price from $17 a month (Essentials, billed yearly) or $99 for Pro, with a 7-day trial.
Where Stellarcast fits
Rankscale recommends; Profound stages drafts. Neither publishes a method for proving a lift. Stellarcast checks six engines daily on every paid plan from $39 a month (Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Microsoft Copilot). From $89 it sends the fixes you approve to WordPress as drafts, and from $249 every lift claim is labeled MEASURED, LIKELY or TOO-EARLY with a P25 to P75 range, across 27 markets measured with native-language prompts. See the plans.
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Get your free visibility auditFrequently asked questions
How much does Profound cost compared with Rankscale?
Rankscale lists Essentials at $17 a month (billed yearly only), Pro at $99, Pro+ at $229, Growth at $385 and Enterprise at $780, with 15% off yearly. Profound publishes no brand price: a free 7-day trial, then Enterprise by contract; its agency plan lists client workspaces at $399 a month each. Checked 17 October 2026.
Which engines do Profound and Rankscale track?
Rankscale lists 21 engines on every plan, credit-weighted, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Copilot, Claude, DeepSeek and Grok. Profound's trial covers ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews; Enterprise covers up to nine, adding Perplexity, AI Mode, Copilot, DeepSeek, Claude and Exa Search.
Can Profound or Rankscale publish fixes to my site?
Profound's homepage describes its AI Marketer rewriting pages and staging them as drafts in your CMS for approval. Rankscale provides Scout recommendations and page audits and does not publish. Stellarcast sends approved fixes to WordPress as drafts from $89 a month.