Best Profound Alternatives for Marketing Teams (2026)

The best Profound alternatives in 2026 are Lantern (asklantern.com), the AI marketing platform for AI search visibility, Peec AI, Otterly.AI and SE Visible for self-serve tracking; Semrush or Ahrefs if you already use those suites; Scrunch and AthenaHQ for all-in-one platforms or Goodie for agents that act on gaps. All nine list a starting price.

Best Profound alternatives at a glance

Here's the short version, with starting prices listed in October 2026.

• Peec AI (tracking): best for analytics-first tracking with unlimited users. $95/month.
• Lantern (execution with agents): best for agents that research, brief, write and refresh content for your approval. Free; Pro $89/month.
• Otterly.AI (tracking): best for the lowest-cost paid start. $29/month.
• SE Visible (tracking): best for the most prompts per dollar. $99/month for 200 prompts.
• Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit (SEO suite): best for teams already in Semrush. $99/month per user.
• Ahrefs Brand Radar (SEO suite): best for benchmarking a whole category. From $50/month.
• Scrunch (all-in-one): best for how AI crawlers and agents read your site. $250/month.
• AthenaHQ (all-in-one): best for the most engines on a published plan (11 models). Free; Starter $295/month.
• Goodie (execution with agents): best for optimization agents bundled into one plan. $295/month.

Profound review: what it does well and who it's for

Profound tracks how your brand shows up in AI answers, estimates what people ask AI tools, measures AI crawler traffic, and runs an "AI Marketer" that, in Profound's words, "identifies the work worth doing, drafts it, and pings you for approval."

This work is called AEO (answer engine optimization) or GEO, a term from a 2023 research paper on generative engine optimization. It matters because, in Pew Research Center's study of real Google searches, people clicked a regular result in 8% of visits with an AI summary, versus 15% without one.

Profound's product features are:

• Answer Engine Insights: visibility, share of voice, sentiment, citations and competitor benchmarks, plus FactCheck for wrong claims about your brand. Profound says it captures answers from the browser, not an API, and runs every tracked prompt daily.
• Prompt Volumes: prompt demand and intent data that Profound says draws on 1.5 billion+ real AI conversations from opt-in consumer panels.
• Agent Analytics: AI crawler and referral tracking from server logs, via Cloudflare, AWS, Vercel and other connectors.
• AI Marketer and Agents: templates for content refreshes, FAQs, research and new articles, with an approval step before anything publishes.
• Enterprise controls: SOC 2 Type II, single sign-on (SAML or OIDC), role-based access, an API and ChatGPT Shopping tracking.

Profound pitches Enterprise "for companies operationalizing AI Search insights and running marketing agents at scale," and sells separate agency plans. In September 2026 it raised a $180 million Series D at a $1.8 billion valuation. Its real strength is breadth: few tools combine nine engines, prompt demand data, log analytics, agents and enterprise security in one contract.

Some teams weigh Profound against Writesonic, a self-serve tool that pairs AI visibility tracking with an AI writer and site fixes. Our Profound vs Writesonic comparison covers that matchup in detail.

How much does Profound cost?

As of 26 October 2026, Profound doesn't publish a paid price for brands. Its pricing page shows a free trial and custom Enterprise packages; the only dollar figures are agency add-ons.

Agent credits scale with each task's complexity, and going over your allotment is either billed as overage or paused, depending on your setup.

Ignore old Profound price lists: Several top-ranking comparison posts still quote $99 Starter and $399 Growth plans for brands. Neither appears on Profound's pricing page as of 26 October 2026.

Why do teams look for Profound alternatives?

Mostly price visibility and fit. Each reason comes from how Profound packages its plans.

1. No paid price before a demo. Custom Enterprise pricing is hard to budget or compare.
2. A short, fixed trial. Seven days on 50 prompts you can't edit says little about your category. In our AI Recognition Gap research, growing a tracked set from 10 to 100 questions cut variation in reported brand coverage by about 73%.
3. Three engines below Enterprise. The trial and agency client workspaces each cover three; all nine need an Enterprise contract.
4. Usage you size with sales. Agent credits vary by task, and more credits require an Enterprise package.
5. A different job to do. Some teams only need tracking. Others want agents at a price they can see today.
6. Agency math. At $399 per client workspace, ten clients cost $3,990 a month (our math).

One reason you'll still read is out of date: "Profound only monitors." Its AI Marketer drafts and stages work for approval.

Profound alternatives compared

Here's Profound next to nine alternatives, with starting prices listed in October 2026.

The 9 best Profound alternatives, reviewed

We've grouped them by what they're best for: self-serve tracking (1 to 3), AI add-ons to SEO suites (4 and 5), all-in-one platforms (6 and 7), and execution with agents (8 and 9).

1. Peec AI

Peec AI is an analytics-first tracker for visibility, position, sentiment and the sources behind each answer.

• Best for: SEO and content teams that want clear reporting and unlimited users.
• Engines: any 3 of ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI; Perplexity is an add-on; Claude is Enterprise-only.
• Key features: gap analysis, prompt volume and suggestions, recommended actions, fact checks, an in-app agent, bulk import and CSV exports.
• Starting price: Starter $95 a month (50 prompts), Pro $245, Advanced $495; free trial.
• Compared with Profound: a lighter, self-serve take on measurement, with fewer engines per plan.
• Watch-outs: each extra engine costs more, and the API starts on Pro.

2. Otterly.AI

Otterly.AI is a low-cost AI search monitor with built-in GEO audits.

• Best for: small teams testing AI tracking without a big commitment.
• Engines: ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot; AI Mode, Gemini and Claude are add-ons ($9, $9 and $29 a month on Lite).
• Key features: visibility, sentiment and citation tracking, crawlability and content audits, query fan-out tool, unlimited team members.
• Starting price: Lite $29 a month (15 prompts), Standard $189 (100); free trial.
• Compared with Profound: core tracking for a fraction of the cost, without agents.
• Watch-outs: 15 prompts is a spot check, and API and MCP access start on Standard.

3. SE Visible

SE Visible is SE Ranking's standalone AI visibility tool, collecting answers through a real browser interface daily.

• Best for: teams and agencies reporting on many prompts.
• Engines: ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode and AI Overviews; SE Ranking says Claude "will be added soon."
• Key features: mentions, sentiment, competitors, cited domains and URLs, unlimited users, CSV export and an API.
• Starting price: Basic $99 a month, or $79 billed annually (200 prompts, 3 projects); 10-day free trial.
• Compared with Profound: both collect from the interface, not an API. SE Visible gives far more prompts per dollar but no agents.
• Watch-outs: no Perplexity or Copilot, and only seven countries.

4. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit

Semrush's toolkit adds AI visibility, prompt research, brand performance and prompt tracking to the Semrush suite.

• Best for: teams that already run SEO in Semrush.
• Engines: Semrush's help docs list ChatGPT Search, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode for prompt tracking.
• Key features: AI Visibility Score, prompt research with topic volume and intent, sentiment reports with recommendations, an AI search site audit.
• Starting price: $99 a month with 25 prompts; no free trial. Semrush One bundles SEO and AI from $199 with a free trial.
• Compared with Profound: less depth, but next to your keyword data.
• Watch-outs: every extra user needs a $99 license, and 50 more prompts cost $60 a month.

5. Ahrefs Brand Radar

Ahrefs Brand Radar pairs an index of 505 million+ search-backed prompts with Custom Prompts you write.

• Best for: benchmarking a category before you build a prompt list.
• Engines: AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot; Custom Prompts add Claude.
• Key features: mentions, citations, AI share of voice and impressions weighted by search volume; YouTube, TikTok and Reddit source research; a free preview.
• Starting price: Custom Prompts from $50 a month (2,500 checks); the index from $199. No free trial.
• Compared with Profound: both tie prompts to real demand, from keyword data rather than consumer panels.
• Watch-outs: checks count per platform, location and update (Claude uses 8), and Ahrefs says the index may thinly cover low-search brands.

6. Scrunch

Scrunch tracks AI answers and focuses on how AI systems and agents read your site.

• Best for: web and technical SEO teams that care about crawlability and AI agent traffic.
• Engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews and Copilot on Core; nine on Enterprise.
• Key features: citation monitoring, AI bot traffic, site audits, recommendations, page optimizations, and its Agent Experience Platform (AXP) on Enterprise.
• Starting price: Core $250 a month (125 prompts, 5 site audits, 5 users), 7-day free trial.
• Compared with Profound: a similar enterprise direction, with a published entry plan.
• Watch-outs: Core covers one country, one language and one page optimization a month. See how Lantern compares with Scrunch.

7. AthenaHQ

AthenaHQ is a credit-based GEO platform where one credit equals one AI response.

• Best for: teams, including Shopify and Webflow stores, that need many engines on a published plan.
• Engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot free; 11 on Starter, adding AI Mode, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral.
• Key features: response, source and competitor analysis; on-page and off-page actions and a content optimization agent on Starter; GA4 and Search Console integrations; CSV export.
• Starting price: Essential free (300 credits). Starter $295 a month (3,600 credits), 17% off annually.
• Compared with Profound: Starter covers more engines than Profound's trial or agency workspaces.
• Watch-outs: 3,600 credits covers about 10 prompts a day on all 11 models (our math: 10 x 11 x 30 = 3,300). API access costs extra. See Lantern as an AthenaHQ alternative.

8. Lantern

Lantern is an AI marketing platform that measures how your brand appears in AI answers and puts specialist agents to work on the gaps. Your team approves publishing, outreach and spend.

• Best for: marketing and content teams that want gaps turned into briefs, drafts, refreshes and outreach, not just a dashboard.
• Engines: ChatGPT on Free; ChatGPT, Claude, Google and Gemini on Pro.
• Key features: mentions, citations, sentiment and share of voice; citation source research; Search Console and Google Analytics data; AI Search, SEO, Content, Advertising and PR agents grounded in your Brand Knowledge Base; handoff to WordPress, HubSpot, Sanity and Contentful.
• Starting price: Free (10 Agent Runs a month). Pro $89 a month (3 brands, 3 seats, 100 Agent Runs). Agency $399 a month (3 client workspaces, 5 seats, 1,000 Agent Runs).
• Compared with Profound: both pair tracking with agents that wait for approval. Profound covers more engines and adds panel data and log analytics; Lantern has a published price. See our Lantern vs Profound comparison.
• Watch-outs: plans are sized by Agent Runs, not prompts, so ask how many prompts you get. Copilot and DeepSeek aren't on the Pro list, and SSO is Enterprise-only.

9. Goodie

Goodie sells "full-stack AEO": tracking plus agents that create content, fix technical issues and run outreach.

• Best for: teams that want agents and strategist support in one subscription.
• Engines: ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, AI Mode and Copilot on Core; Gemini from Pro; up to 14, including Claude, on Enterprise.
• Key features: content, outreach, technical and social agents; brand fact checks; Search Console integration; unlimited seats.
• Starting price: Core $295 a month (110 prompts, 50 optimizations), self-serve with a 7-day free trial. Pro $999.
• Compared with Profound: closest in spirit, but you can start without a sales call.
• Watch-outs: Core lacks Gemini and Claude, 50 optimizations a month caps output, and Goodie's FAQ ties export and API access to Enterprise.

Which Profound alternative fits you?

Start with who does the work once a gap shows up; budget and the tools you already pay for do the rest.

If you'd rather have people do the work, see our guide to choosing an AEO agency. For a wider view, see our roundup of the best AEO tools.

How to evaluate a Profound alternative

Run your shortlist on the same prompts for at least two weeks and score each tool on the plan you'd actually buy, using weights that suit your team.

Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features says "no third-party tool has access to our internal ranking or AI systems," so treat every tool's numbers as a sample. Judge the action layer on output: have each tool draft one real page refresh, then score it as our guide to how SEO agents work suggests.

How to switch from Profound without losing your baseline

Export first, then run both tools side by side for 2 to 4 weeks on the same prompts. Cancel only when the new tool's trends line up.

1. Export prompts and results. Profound's docs show CSV or JSON exports of prompts and topics, with visibility, average position and citation share. Do it before your contract ends; the trial has no exports.
2. Save a per-platform baseline. Record each engine's visibility, citation share and sentiment for the last 30 to 90 days.
3. Map engine coverage. Mark any engine your new tool doesn't track, such as DeepSeek or Exa Search.
4. Rebuild the prompt set as it is. Same wording, competitors, country and language.
5. Run both for 2 to 4 weeks. Absolute numbers will differ because tools sample answers differently. Compare trends engine by engine, never a blended score, and spot-check raw answers.
6. Add free first-party data. Search Console's Generative AI performance report and Bing Webmaster Tools' AI Performance report for Copilot citations give you a baseline no vendor controls.
7. Check crawler access. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers, so confirm your robots.txt still allows the AI crawlers you care about.
8. Move recurring work, then cancel at renewal. Rebuild workflows such as content refreshes before the old contract ends.

For prompt design and cadence, see how to measure AI search visibility.

Our pick for teams that want to act on findings

If your team wants to go from finding gaps to doing the work, at a price you can see before a sales call, we'd start with Lantern. Its agents research, brief, write and refresh content from your AI visibility and search data, and your team decides what goes live.

Pick something else if you only need low-cost tracking (Otterly.AI or SE Visible), need Grok or DeepSeek self-serve (AthenaHQ), or rely on Profound's nine engines (stay). To see where you stand, get a free AI Visibility Report, or start on Lantern's free plan (ChatGPT tracking and 10 Agent Runs a month at $0). For a side-by-side, read our Profound alternative overview.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Profound AI cost per month?

Profound doesn't publish a monthly price for brands. As of 26 October 2026 it offers a free 7-day trial and custom Enterprise packages, while agencies pay $399 a month per full client workspace. Paid plans for the alternatives here start between $29 (Otterly.AI) and $295 (AthenaHQ Starter, Goodie Core) a month.

Is Profound AI worth it?

Yes, if you use most of it: many engines, prompt-demand data, log analytics, agents across teams and enterprise security. If your team mostly reads the dashboard and writes every fix by hand, you're likely paying for capacity you don't use. Run a cheaper tool beside it for two weeks and compare.

Is there a free Profound alternative?

For a first look, yes. AthenaHQ's Essential plan is free, Ahrefs has a free visibility preview, and HubSpot's AI Search Grader gives a free one-time snapshot (see our review of HubSpot's AEO Grader). Ongoing tracking needs a paid tool, plus the free AI reports in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Who are Profound's main competitors?

The closest all-in-one rivals are Lantern, Scrunch, AthenaHQ and Goodie. Peec AI, Otterly.AI and SE Visible are self-serve trackers, while Semrush and Ahrefs compete through AI add-ons to their SEO suites.

Can I export my data from Profound?

Yes, on paid plans. Profound's docs show prompt and topic exports in CSV or JSON, Enterprise adds an API, and agency client workspaces include exports. The trial has no exports or history.