Updated October 2026

Best Profound Alternatives in 2026

Profound is the most-searched AI visibility platform, but its brand plans are now a free Trial (7 days, 3 engines) and a custom-priced Enterprise contract, which is where its full 9-engine coverage lives. Here are the alternatives with self-serve paid plans, verified against each vendor's live pricing.

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Why teams look for Profound alternatives

Profound is the enterprise leader in AI visibility: a reported $180M Series D at a $1.8B valuation, prompt volume data from consumer panels, and Shopping Visibility for ChatGPT. It earns that position, and it is also the platform buyers most often price-check before committing.

After the free Trial there is no self-serve paid brand plan; Enterprise is custom-priced and sales-led
The Trial covers ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews (50 prompts daily); Claude, Perplexity, Copilot, DeepSeek and Google AI Mode are Enterprise-only
Grok is not tracked on any tier
Shopping Visibility for ChatGPT is Enterprise-only, and the Trial limits Prompt Volumes to 5 searches

Profound alternatives at a glance

Starting price, platform coverage, and who each tool fits best.

Tool	Pricing	AI platforms	Best for
SurfacedBy	$29 to $299/mo	7	Founders, marketers, and teams who want to act on AI visibility, not just monitor it.
Peec AI	$95 to $495/mo self-serve ($80/mo Starter billed annually), Enterprise custom	7	Mid-market teams that need multi-country tracking and unlimited seats.
AthenaHQ	$0 (free plan) to $295/mo, Enterprise custom	11	Teams that want an action workflow on top of monitoring.
Rankscale	$17/mo (yearly only) to $780/mo (credit-based)	11	Technical SEOs and agencies that want budget-tunable tracking.
Otterly AI	$29 to $489/mo ($25 to $422/mo billed annually), Enterprise custom	7	SEO professionals needing multi-country tracking with Looker Studio reporting.
Scrunch AI	$250/mo (Core) to custom (Enterprise)	9	Enterprise organizations with compliance needs.

The best Profound alternatives in detail

SurfacedBy

AI visibility monitoring plus the closed loop to act on it

$29 to $299/mo7 AI platforms

Why pick it

4 included by tier (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Mode); Claude, Grok, and DeepSeek as add-ons
Typed recommendations with action steps, executive briefs, and weekly action plans
The closed loop: content, community engagement, and publisher outreach you approve
Native conversion attribution ties AI traffic to revenue on all paid plans
Product tracking: Your products in AI answers and on the ChatGPT and Google AI Mode shopping shelf (Professional+)
Free AI visibility check with 30 real AI answers, then self-serve from $29/mo

Watch out for

Newer brand than the largest SEO-suite incumbents
Only 4 AI platforms in the base price; Claude, Grok, and DeepSeek are per-platform add-ons
No Copilot and Meta AI tracking

Best for: Founders, marketers, and teams who want to act on AI visibility, not just monitor it.

Check your AI visibility free Full comparison

Peec AI

AI search analytics with multi-country coverage

$95 to $495/mo self-serve ($80/mo Starter billed annually), Enterprise custom7 AI platforms

Why pick it

Country tracking by plan, with multi-country from Advanced ($495/mo)
Unlimited user seats on all plans
Daily tracking on every tier, self-serve signup

Watch out for

Every plan includes only 3 AI models you choose; extras cost $30 to $165/mo each
Claude is available only through Enterprise API models

Best for: Mid-market teams that need multi-country tracking and unlimited seats.

Full comparison

AthenaHQ

AEO platform with on-page and off-page actions

$0 (free plan) to $295/mo, Enterprise custom11 AI platforms

Why pick it

Free Essential plan (300 credits) plus a free 10-minute audit
On-page and off-page actions plus a content optimization agent
Unlimited team members on every plan

Watch out for

Paid entry is $295/mo on credit-metered billing
ACE citation prediction, multi-language, and SSO are Enterprise-gated

Best for: Teams that want an action workflow on top of monitoring.

Full comparison

Rankscale

Credit-based tracker with user-set scan schedules

$17/mo (yearly only) to $780/mo (credit-based)11 AI platforms

Why pick it

Cheapest entry in the category ($17/mo, billed yearly only)
Check schedules from hourly to monthly
White-label dashboards (Growth+) and Looker Studio (Pro and up) for agencies

Watch out for

Credit-metered usage needs planning
AI suggestions and audit findings; your team implements the fixes

Best for: Technical SEOs and agencies that want budget-tunable tracking.

Full comparison

Otterly AI

AI search monitoring with GEO auditing

$29 to $489/mo ($25 to $422/mo billed annually), Enterprise custom7 AI platforms

Why pick it

Entry price close to SurfacedBy's ($29/mo)
GEO Audit with AI Readiness scoring across 13 categories
50+ country and multi-language support

Watch out for

Claude, AI Mode, and Gemini are all paid add-ons
Only 4 AI platforms in the base price

Best for: SEO professionals needing multi-country tracking with Looker Studio reporting.

Full comparison

Scrunch AI

Enterprise AI search intelligence, now part of Sitecore

$250/mo (Core) to custom (Enterprise)9 AI platforms

Why pick it

9 AI platforms on Enterprise
SOC 2 Type II and RBAC for enterprise governance
Agent Experience Platform for AI bot optimization (Enterprise)

Watch out for

Core is $250/mo and covers 4 LLMs
Executive and board reporting is Enterprise-only

Best for: Enterprise organizations with compliance needs.

Full comparison

SurfacedBy is our own product. We've done our best to represent competitors accurately based on their public pricing pages and documentation, each checked on the date shown on its page and all of them since October 2026. We encourage you to try each tool yourself. Pricing and features may have changed since publication.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best alternative to Profound?

For most teams, SurfacedBy: it monitors 4 AI platforms by tier from $29/mo, with Claude, Grok, and DeepSeek as self-serve add-ons on any paid plan, where Profound's brand plans are a free Trial on 3 engines and a custom Enterprise contract for its full 9-engine coverage. For multi-country analytics, Peec AI; for on-page and off-page actions, AthenaHQ; for budget-tunable tracking, Rankscale.

Why do people look for Profound alternatives?

The most common reasons are coverage and procurement: after the free Trial, every Profound brand plan is a custom-priced, sales-led Enterprise contract, and Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Mode are tracked only on Enterprise. Teams that want broader coverage on a self-serve paid plan look elsewhere.

How much does Profound cost?

Profound's brand plans are a free Trial (50 prompts run daily for 7 days across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, with unlimited seats) and Enterprise, which is custom-priced through a sales demo and tracks up to 9 answer engines. Its earlier Starter and Growth brand plans are no longer listed on its pricing page. Agencies can buy an Agency Growth plan with client workspaces at $399/mo each; its base price is not shown.

Is Profound still worth it?

Profound combines visibility measurement with content creation, page improvements and approval workflows through its AI Marketer. Teams should compare the workflows and coverage they need, the support included, and the quoted price. Content creation and recommendations are capabilities to compare in both products.

Related comparisons

See how SurfacedBy stacks up against other AI visibility tools.

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Best AI Visibility Tools 2026

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