Updated October 2026

SurfacedBy vs Gumshoe AI

Gumshoe generates persona-driven audit reports; SurfacedBy runs a Daily Check every day with an action loop. Different jobs, honestly compared.

SurfacedByvsGumshoe AI

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The Quick Verdict

Gumshoe AI and SurfacedBy answer different day-to-day questions. Gumshoe is audit-shaped: you define buyer personas, it reverse-engineers the prompts those personas would ask, runs them across six models per audit drawn from 11 it tracks, and hands you a report with full transcripts. That makes it a strong fit for agencies and consultants doing project-based work, and its free sample audit makes evaluation easy. But its $99/mo Starter tracks visibility monthly with weekly monitoring, daily tracking requires Pro at $299/mo per project, and it has no GA4 integration, no traffic attribution, and no way to tie citations to revenue. SurfacedBy is monitoring-shaped: daily checks across your full tracked prompt set, executive briefs, typed recommendations, native conversion attribution, and a closed loop of content, community engagement, and outreach you approve, starting at $29/mo. If you sell audits, Gumshoe is a good report generator. If you own a brand's AI visibility week over week, SurfacedBy is built for that job.

Feature Comparison

How the two platforms compare across monitoring, insights, pricing, and integrations.

Feature	SurfacedBy	Gumshoe AI
Monitoring
AI platforms monitored	4 included by tier; Claude, Grok, and DeepSeek as add-ons	11 tracked models, 6 per audit (no Google AI Mode or Copilot)
Claude tracking	Paid add-on
Google AI Mode	Professional+
Check frequency	Daily Check + Full Check	Monthly visibility with weekly monitoring ($99), all five audits monthly with daily tracking ($299)
Prompt discovery	AI-discovered from your domain, ongoing	Reverse-engineered from buyer personas
Analytics & Insights
AI Visibility Score		Brand, persona, topic, and model visibility
Citation tracking		Citation Audit (Pro)
Sentiment Analysis	Full breakdown	Sentiment Audit (Pro)
AI Content Readiness Score	Automated on every page we read (1,000 to 2,500 pages per site by plan)	Technical page audits (10 to 50/mo)
Actionable recommendations	21 types with action steps	Content runs: 3/mo (Starter), 10/mo (Pro)
Executive Brief
Weekly Action Brief
Read actual AI responses		Full conversation transcripts
Pricing & Access
Starting price	$29/mo	$99/mo per project
Free AI visibility check	30 real checks, 3 platforms	One free sample audit (4 personas, 5 prompts each, 4 models)
Free trial	7 days	Free sample audit instead of a trial
Self-serve signup
Workspaces and team roles	Owner / admin / editor / viewer on every paid plan	Unlimited seats; agency workspaces with client isolation
Integrations & Extras
GSC + GA4 integration	GSC + GA4
Conversion attribution (purchases tied to the AI source)	All paid plans (first-party cookie)
Live AI traffic on your site (script tag, any platform)
API access	Professional (read), Agency (read + write). On-demand checks for anyone via SurfacedBy Console.	Read-only API, on request
Data exports		CSV and JSON exports

SurfacedByGumshoe AI

Monitoring

AI platforms monitored

4 included by tier; Claude, Grok, and DeepSeek as add-ons11 tracked models, 6 per audit (no Google AI Mode or Copilot)

Claude tracking

Paid add-on

Google AI Mode

Professional+

Check frequency

Daily Check + Full CheckMonthly visibility with weekly monitoring ($99), all five audits monthly with daily tracking ($299)

Prompt discovery

AI-discovered from your domain, ongoingReverse-engineered from buyer personas

Analytics & Insights

AI Visibility Score

Brand, persona, topic, and model visibility

Citation tracking

Citation Audit (Pro)

Sentiment Analysis

Full breakdownSentiment Audit (Pro)

AI Content Readiness Score

Automated on every page we read (1,000 to 2,500 pages per site by plan)Technical page audits (10 to 50/mo)

Actionable recommendations

21 types with action stepsContent runs: 3/mo (Starter), 10/mo (Pro)

Executive Brief

Weekly Action Brief

Read actual AI responses

Full conversation transcripts

Pricing & Access

Starting price

$29/mo$99/mo per project

Free AI visibility check

30 real checks, 3 platformsOne free sample audit (4 personas, 5 prompts each, 4 models)

Free trial

7 daysFree sample audit instead of a trial

Self-serve signup

Workspaces and team roles

Owner / admin / editor / viewer on every paid planUnlimited seats; agency workspaces with client isolation

Integrations & Extras

GSC + GA4 integration

GSC + GA4

Conversion attribution (purchases tied to the AI source)

All paid plans (first-party cookie)

Live AI traffic on your site (script tag, any platform)

API access

Professional (read), Agency (read + write). On-demand checks for anyone via SurfacedBy Console.Read-only API, on request

Data exports

CSV and JSON exports

Pricing Comparison

SurfacedBy starts at $29/mo for continuous monitoring. Gumshoe starts at $99/mo per project, with monthly visibility tracking and weekly monitoring.

SurfacedBy

Continuous monitoring, flat pricing

Starter

$29/mo

1 domain , 15 prompts , 3 platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini) , Daily Check + Full Check

Professional

$99/mo

5 domains , 100 prompts , 4 AI platforms (adds Google AI Mode) + AI Overviews , Content, community + outreach

Agency

$299/mo

10 fully monitored domains , 350 prompts , 4 AI platforms + AI Overviews , Command center + read/write API

Every plan starts with a 7-day trial. Free AI visibility check with 30 real AI answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. Run a free check.

Gumshoe AI

Audit reports, priced per project

Free

One sample audit , 4 personas, 5 prompts each, 4 models , No credit card

Starter

$99/mo per project

Monthly visibility tracking, weekly monitoring , 10 technical audits/mo, 3 content runs/mo , No Sentiment, Citation or Content audits

Pro

$299/mo per project

All five audits monthly, daily tracking , 50 technical audits/mo, 10 content runs/mo

Reported $2M pre-seed, Seattle. A project is your brand plus one focus area. The free sample audit covers 4 personas, 5 prompts per persona, 4 models; paid audit size is not published. Agency partners get discounted pricing.

SurfacedBy monitors your full prompt set daily from $29/mo; Gumshoe's $99 Starter monitors weekly and tracks visibility monthly.

Where SurfacedBy leads

Continuous, Full-Set Monitoring

Every tracked prompt is checked daily. Gumshoe's Starter tracks visibility monthly with weekly monitoring; daily tracking needs Pro.

Visibility Tied to Revenue

GSC + GA4 integration, live AI traffic tracking, and native conversion attribution. Gumshoe has no analytics integration or attribution at all.

The Action Loop

Typed recommendations, executive briefs, weekly action plans, and approval-gated content, engagement, and outreach. Gumshoe includes 3 content runs a month on Starter and 10 on Pro.

Where Gumshoe AI leads

Persona-Driven Audits

Define buyer personas and Gumshoe reverse-engineers the prompts they would ask, with full conversation transcripts. Great for client-facing audit reports.

Flexible Agency Terms

Unlimited seats on every plan, no annual commitment, agency workspaces with client isolation, and discounted pricing for agency partners.

Which one should you choose?

Choose SurfacedBy if...

You want your full prompt set checked daily, not periodic audits
You want to tie AI visibility to actual traffic and revenue (native attribution + GA4)
You want actionable recommendations, executive briefs, and weekly action plans
You want a lower entry price ($29/mo vs $99/mo per project)
You want the closed loop: content, community engagement, and publisher outreach you approve

Choose Gumshoe AI if...

You want persona-driven audit reports with full conversation transcripts
You do project-based audits for clients and want unlimited seats with no annual commitment
You need Grok and DeepSeek coverage
You want a free sample audit before paying anything

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

How much does Gumshoe AI cost?

Gumshoe AI offers one free sample audit (4 personas, 5 prompts per persona, 4 models), a Starter plan at $99/mo per project with visibility tracked every month and weekly monitoring, and a Pro plan at $299/mo per project with all five audits every month and daily tracking. A project is your brand plus one focus area. There is no annual commitment, and every plan has unlimited seats. SurfacedBy starts at $29/mo with daily checks across your full prompt set.

What are the best Gumshoe AI alternatives?

SurfacedBy is the closest alternative for brand owners who want continuous monitoring instead of periodic audits: daily checks of your full prompt set, GA4 integration, conversion attribution, and an action loop from $29/mo. Other alternatives include AthenaHQ (on-page and off-page actions with a free plan), Rankscale (budget-tunable tracking), and Peec AI (multi-country analytics).

Is Gumshoe AI worth it?

For project-based audit work, yes: the persona methodology produces convincing client-facing reports with full transcripts, and the free sample audit makes evaluation risk-free. For week-over-week brand ownership, note that Starter tracks visibility monthly with weekly monitoring, daily tracking requires Pro, and there is no way to tie citations to traffic or revenue.

What does Gumshoe AI offer that SurfacedBy doesn't?

Gumshoe offers persona-driven prompt generation (it reverse-engineers what your buyer personas would ask), full conversation transcripts from official-API testing, unlimited seats on every plan, Grok and DeepSeek coverage, and isolated per-client workspaces for agencies.

What does SurfacedBy offer that Gumshoe AI doesn't?

SurfacedBy offers daily checks of your full tracked prompt set, GSC and GA4 integration, native conversion attribution tying AI visibility to revenue, live AI traffic tracking on your site, executive briefs and weekly action plans, and a closed loop of content, community engagement, and publisher outreach you approve.

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