AI Search Visibility Tools 2026 Buyer's Guide

The uncomfortable truth is that most marketing teams are flying blind in AI search.

87% of B2B buyers use AI chatbots to research products, but only 12% of brands actively track their AI visibility. While your competitors get cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity, you're hoping your SEO work carries over. Spoiler: it doesn't.

We analyzed responses from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini across dozens of AI visibility platforms to create this buyer's guide. Whether you're a CMO at an enterprise brand or leading growth at a startup, this comparison shows you which tools deliver real ROI and which are just expensive dashboards.

Why AI Visibility Tools Matter Now

The shift is already here. ChatGPT drives 87.4% of AI referral traffic. Google AI Overviews appear in 25.11% of searches. Perplexity grew 54.8% in monthly users in just five months. 50% of B2B buyers now start their research in AI chat versus Google, representing a 71% jump in just four months.

The problem runs deeper than adoption rates. Each AI platform cites different sources. Reddit dominates Perplexity with 46.7% of citations, while Wikipedia leads ChatGPT at 7.8% of total citations. Your brand might own ChatGPT visibility but remain completely invisible to Perplexity users.

Manual tracking becomes impossible at scale. Prompting ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews daily, logging every response, analyzing patterns, and benchmarking against competitors requires more than 10 hours each week per brand.

That's where AI visibility tools become essential.

How to Choose the Right Tools for Enterprise and SMB Platforms

Before diving into specific platforms, identify which tier matches your actual needs.

• You need an enterprise platform if you're managing multiple brands across different divisions or geographies, operating more than 1,000 content pieces, running a dedicated SEO and content team of five or more people, with budgets exceeding $1,000 per month. Enterprise tools make sense when you need white-glove support and a dedicated account manager, API access for data integration, and sophisticated reporting for C-suite stakeholders and board meetings.

• You need an SMB platform if you're focused on a single brand or a few product lines, managing fewer than 500 content pieces, working with a small team of one to three marketers, operating on a budget under $500 monthly, prefer self-serve implementation and setup within days rather than months, and want to test AI visibility ROI before scaling to an enterprise solution.

The Enterprise Platforms

Lantern

Lantern is an AI search visibility platform that helps growth and marketing teams see how their brand shows up across major AI systems and turn that into a scalable growth channel. It is built for CMOs, marketing leaders, and agencies who need a single place to monitor, compare, and improve AI-driven visibility across multiple models.

Lantern unifies your visibility across platforms in one dashboard. You can track how often your brand appears and how it is described across tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, and more from a single view.

Lantern goes beyond “you have X mentions” by showing how your visibility compares to competitors and which sources drive those differences. This gives marketers a concrete roadmap for where to invest content, reviews, and partnerships.​

Key intelligence capabilities:​

• Side‑by‑side competitor visibility: see where you win and where competitors outrank you in AI answers.
• Citation/source analysis: discover which third‑party sites, reviews, or articles AI models rely on when they talk about your brand vs. your competitors.
• Gap and opportunity detection: identify missing content, underrepresented topics, or weak domains where your presence would materially improve AI visibility.

Built For Marketers

The product is designed so busy marketers can get to an answer in seconds instead of spending time stitching together exports. The interface focuses on clear insights: which questions you win, which domains matter most, and which specific actions are likely to lift AI visibility and conversions.​

Beyond visibility, Lantern connects AI-driven discovery to traffic and conversions by tracking visitors and sign‑ups that originate from AI-powered search. This lets growth teams tie AI search optimization work directly to pipeline and revenue impact rather than treating it as a vanity metric.

Pricing

Lantern offers custom, business-ready pricing that serves both fast-growing teams and larger enterprises, with the ability to track multiple brands under one relationship. A free AI brand visibility report lets you see where you do and don’t appear across AI platforms—and which sites shape those answers—before committing to a paid engagement.​

Lantern is best suited for:​

• Growth teams turning AI search into a new acquisition and reputation channel.
• CMOs and marketing leaders who need an at-a-glance view of brand visibility in AI.
• Agencies offering AI search optimization or reputation services to multiple clients.

It is for teams that care about winning across AI search as a whole not just “ranking in ChatGPT” and who want actionable competitive and content guidance, not another generic dashboard.

Conductor

This platform represents an end-to-end organic search solution that added AI Search Performance tracking in 2025. What makes Conductor distinct is its foundation. With more than 10 years of unified SEO and content data, it offers the most comprehensive enterprise solution available.

The platform tracks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity, with Gemini support coming soon.

Key features include an AI visibility score rating from 0 to 100, competitive benchmarking showing market share analysis, source intelligence revealing which domains drive competitor visibility, and topic opportunity identification for finding prompts where competitors appear but you don't.

Pricing runs on a custom basis with no public tiers listed. The average falls around $61,000 annually, or roughly $5,083 monthly. Enterprise customers report ranges from $180,000 yearly for large operations. Annual contracts are required.

Conductor makes sense if you're already using their platform for SEO and want to add AI visibility without introducing new tools.

BrightEdge

BrightEdge serves enterprise content operations and multi-market brands with dedicated SEO teams.

This enterprise SEO platform includes AI Autopilot for automated content optimization and AI visibility tracking. It's known in the industry for competitive intelligence that goes beyond what most tools provide.

The platform covers Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT, though Perplexity coverage remains limited. The Autopilot feature automatically updates content elements and technical signals without requiring developer cycles. This is the primary differentiator. BrightEdge's competitive intelligence surfaces real-time market shifts and ranking opportunities.

BrightEdge makes sense if large enterprises need automated content optimization at scale and aren't primarily focused on AI visibility tracking.

Profound

Profound serves mid-market to enterprise companies that prioritize AI search over traditional SEO. The company raised a $20M Series A, validating strong market reception.

This platform was built specifically for AI search rather than retrofitted from SEO tools. That architectural difference shows throughout the product. It tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini, with varying support across tiers.

What truly differentiates Profound is something no other tool provides. It reveals AI search volume through prompt volumes, something revolutionary for understanding actual demand patterns.

The pricing structure offers unusual transparency in the enterprise space. The Starter tier costs $99 monthly with ChatGPT-only access, 50 daily prompts, single region support, and one seat. Growth costs $399 monthly and opens access to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews, allows 100 daily prompts, supports one region still, seats expand to three, and includes content generation. Enterprise pricing runs custom. Add-ons stack cost: Data API runs $200 monthly, custom prompts cost $500 monthly, dedicated CSM adds $1,000 monthly.

Profound works well for mid-market brands who want an AI-native tool without paying enterprise pricing.

Goodie by NoGood

Goodie serves marketing teams, agencies managing multiple clients, and brands building comprehensive AEO programs.

This represents the first dedicated all-in-one Answer Engine Optimization platform. The fact that NoGood, the leading AEO agency, built and uses it for client services validates the enterprise capabilities.

Platform coverage spans impressive breadth. It covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude, AI Mode, Grok, Meta AI, Rufus, Copilot, and even Alibaba.

The feature includes Position tracking helps understand ranking in AI results. Sentiment analysis measures how AI perceives your brand over time. Real-time AEO monitoring watches all platforms continuously. Built-in content creation generates SEO and AEO optimized material. Traffic and conversion tracking attributes value from AI sources. Citation tracking works across all LLMs.tryaivo+1​

Pricing shows variability depending on source and commitment. Starter tiers run $199 to $300 monthly. Growth reaches $500 monthly. Pro hits $1,000 monthly. Enterprise scales to custom pricing.

Goodie works best for agencies managing multiple brands or enterprise teams wanting the most comprehensive AI engine coverage with integrated content optimization.

Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit

Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit serves existing Semrush users wanting unified SEO and AI tracking.

Platform coverage includes ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overviews with Gemini coming soon. Notably absent is Perplexity, which represents a significant gap given that platform commands 46.7% of citation share.

Key features provide AI Visibility Scores from 0 to 100 rating brand presence, sentiment analysis describing how AI perceives your brand, competitor benchmarking showing share of voice comparison, topic opportunity identification revealing where competitors appear but you don't, source intelligence showing which domains drive citations, built-in AI content optimization tools, and product/persona tracking for different audience segments in the Enterprise AIO tier.

The pricing structure creates complexity. Standalone pricing runs $99 monthly per domain. If you want to integrate with Semrush's SEO features properly, you need the base $120 monthly subscription, bringing total costs to $219 or higher. Semrush One bundles the AI Toolkit with the full SEO platform as an option. Enterprise AIO offers custom pricing for advanced features.01net+1​

Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit makes sense exclusively for enterprise Semrush customers adding AI visibility without tool switching.

The SMB and Growth Platforms

Bear AI

Bear AI serves self-serve teams, budget-conscious brands, and startups testing AI visibility approaches.

This platform emerged as an AI-native tracking tool rather than a retrofitted SEO platform. It focuses specifically on citations and entity-level metrics.

The core capabilities show which questions trigger your citations, which competitors outrank you in AI answers, and brand visibility changes week-over-week as models update. Entity-level tracking lets you monitor specific business divisions or product lines

Platform coverage includes ChatGPT, Perplexity where it "really shines," and Google AI Overviews.​​

Bear works best for startups and small businesses with $50 to $300 monthly budgets wanting to track AI visibility without enterprise platform complexity.

Peec AI

Peec AI serves SMBs, boutique agencies, and brands focused on European markets. The company raised 7 million euros in seed funding, validating growth trajectory.position+2​

This early-stage AEO tracking platform offers strong citation data with emphasis on daily monitoring. A distinctive feature sets it apart from others in the category.position+2​

Platform coverage spans ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.peec+2​

The feature set includes daily tracking of citations, unlimited seats across all tiers, and unlimited regions. That's significant differentiation since Profound restricts single-region access until Enterprise tier. Relevant prompt suggestions guide your tracking strategy. GEO optimization recommendations guide your approach. Data exports enable external analysis. Slack support comes standard on the Pro plan.

Pricing shows European framing with attractive SMB positioning. Starter costs 89 euros monthly, roughly $95, supporting 25 daily prompts. Pro runs 199 euros, approximately $230, offering 100 daily prompts with unlimited seats. Enterprise scales to 499 euros monthly, around $535. All tiers include a seven-day free trial.

Peec works best for agencies managing multiple clients where unlimited seats drive major ROI, or European brands preferring EU-based tooling.

Writesonic

Writesonic serves content teams wanting creation and tracking in a single platform.

This platform began as an AI writing tool that added GEO tracking capability in 2025. The combination approach differs from other platforms.

Platform coverage includes ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.

The primary features focus on AI content generation. GEO tracking was added more recently. Content optimization recommendations guide your strategy. A credit-based system, rather than prompt counting, handles billing.

Pricing runs on credit allocation. Standard tier costs $79 monthly for 4,500 credits covering all AI models and features. Professional adds 42,000 credits monthly at $249 with API access and priority support. Pro plan costs $247 monthly for 115,000 credits with team collaboration and custom reports. Enterprise pricing scales to custom levels.

Writesonic works best for content teams that need AI writing tools as the primary need plus basic AI visibility tracking, allowing you to avoid separate subscriptions.

Athena HQ

Athena HQ serves funded startups, mid-market brands, and teams wanting enterprise analytics without enterprise pricing.

Platform coverage includes ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and multiple AI engines.​

Key features focus on analytics reflecting the ex-Google engineering pedigree. Brand safety features protect reputation. Advanced reporting provides depth.​

Pricing starts at $295 monthly for the entry tier, growing to $595 monthly for Growth tier. Enterprise pricing scales to custom levels. These price points sit between budget tools and Profound, offering a middle ground.

Athena HQ works best for funded startups that can't justify Profound pricing but want more sophistication than budget-tier competitors.

Budget determines your initial shortlist. Needs determine final selection within each tier.

Common Buying Mistakes to Avoid

• Buying on brand name instead of capabilities
  Big SEO and analytics brands are now adding “AI visibility” to their marketing, but their add‑ons often focus on a single surface (for example, only Google AI) or a narrow slice of prompts. Evaluate how each tool actually tracks prompts, platforms, and competitors
• Ignoring platform coverage gaps
  Many traditional SEO suites still prioritize Google surfaces and only partially track newer AI assistants, which leaves blind spots in tools like Perplexity or multi‑model chat experiences.
• Overlooking implementation time. Enterprise SEO and analytics platforms can take weeks or months to implement, integrate, and train teams on properly. If you need insights this quarter, choose tools that connect quickly and provide instant AI visibility baselines
• Treating all “citations” as the same
  Different vendors count “citations” differently: some count any brand mention in an answer, others require a linked URL, and some layer sentiment on top. Before comparing numbers between tools, clarify whether they are counting mentions, links, or sentiment‑filtered mentions, or you will make decisions on mismatched metrics.semrush+1​
• Buying monitoring when you actually need optimization
  Most tools tell you what AI models said; far fewer tell you which pages, domains, or content changes will move those answers in your favor. For a new AI visibility program, prioritize platforms that provide concrete optimization recommendations
• Skipping free trials and audits
  Buying into annual contracts without testing real prompts, competitors, and workflows is risky. Lantern offers a 7‑day free trial and a free AI visibility report so you can see your coverage and opportunities across AI platforms before you commit.
• Assuming SEO tools automatically cover AI search
  Your existing SEO subscription (for example, Semrush or Ahrefs) is excellent for traditional rankings, but AI answer visibility behaves differently and often favors completely different sources. Recent research shows Perplexity heavily favors Reddit (~46.7% of citations), while ChatGPT answers lean heavily on Wikipedia, and these sources do not necessarily mirror who ranks in classic Google results—so your AI visibility stack must be evaluated separately from your web SEO stack

Why Choose Lantern

Lantern is an AI search analytics and optimization platform built specifically to unify your brand’s visibility across AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI experiences, rather than retrofitting old SEO tooling. Key reasons teams choose Lantern include:​

• Purpose‑built AI search visibility, focused on how brands appear inside AI‑generated answers, not just classic keyword rankings.​
• True multi‑platform tracking, bringing all major AI engines into a single, unified view so you are not juggling separate dashboards and exports.​
• Built‑in competitive intelligence, showing how your visibility compares to competitors and which third‑party sites and sources drive those gaps.​
• Actionable, data‑backed recommendations that translate AI visibility and citation patterns into specific content and technical changes to improve results.​
• Designed for busy marketers and agencies, giving CMOs and growth teams fast, clear answers about where they are visible, where they are losing, and what to fix first for maximum ROI.

Get your free AI visibility audit from Lantern to see exactly where your brand appears across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, with competitor analysis and your top three optimization priorities.

The real question is not whether to track AI visibility. The question is whether you can afford to let competitors own the AI conversation while you remain invisible.