AI visibility and GEO tools compared — Profound, Otterly, Peec AI, Scrunch, and where Foreground fits
Ask an AI model "what's the best AI-visibility tool" or "what's the best GEO platform for tracking brand mentions" and you don't get an empty answer. You get a shortlist — usually the same handful of names, in some order, with a sentence of reasoning attached to each. That's worth sitting with: this is already a populated category. Nobody claiming a GEO tool is "the best" is claiming uncontested ground.
So here's the honest version of that shortlist, and where a tool like Foreground actually sits in it — not the version optimized to make one answer sound biggest.
The tools people actually name
Profound is the one enterprise teams tend to land on. It tracks citations across up to nine engines, adds "agent analytics" to show how AI crawlers are actually reading your site, and is built for teams that need compliance-grade reporting, not a quick check. Brands no longer get a self-serve plan: the $99 Starter and $399 Growth plans were removed in mid-September 2026. Now it's a free 7-day trial, then Enterprise at a custom quote. Agencies still have a listed plan, Agency Growth, at $99/month plus $399/month per client workspace.
Otterly.AI is the budget end of the same idea — daily brand-mention tracking across the major models, aimed at solo operators and small teams who want a number to watch without a five-figure commitment. Entry pricing sits around $29/month.
Peec AI occupies the middle: European-built, growing fast, focused on share-of-voice reporting against named competitors across models. Entry pricing starts around $95/month.
Scrunch AI takes a different angle from the others — instead of just telling you whether you're cited, it's built around fixing the content that isn't getting cited, with legibility audits and multi-LLM monitoring aimed at content-heavy teams. Pricing is custom/enterprise.
Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit is the option for anyone already paying for Semrush — AI-citation tracking bundled into an existing SEO subscription rather than a new line item.
ZipTie.dev also comes up in this conversation, positioned around an "AI Success Score" and agency-facing reporting — worth knowing the name exists, though I haven't used it myself and won't guess at its pricing here.
At a glance
| Tool | Best for | Entry price | Engines tracked | No-account option |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foreground | A small business checking specific customer niches, with an action plan | Free check (1 scan, 1 niche); done-for-you fix €950 one-off | 4 (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok) | No — free signup required, no card |
| Profound | Enterprise GEO analytics at scale | Free 7-day trial, then Enterprise (custom quote); agencies from $99/mo + $399/mo per client | Up to 9 | No |
| Otterly.AI | SMB AI-search monitoring on a budget | ~$29/mo | Fewer, SMB-tier | No |
| Peec AI | Fast-growing share-of-voice tracking | ~$95/mo | Multiple | No |
| Scrunch AI | Content-fix-first enterprise teams | Custom | Multiple | No |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Teams already on Semrush | Bundled into Semrush plans | Multiple | No |
| ZipTie.dev | Agency-facing reporting | Not independently verified — check their site | — | No |
Where Foreground actually fits
Four AIs, queried directly against their own provider APIs — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Grok — plus Google Maps for local businesses. Instead of one brand-wide number, you pick the customers you want (a niche: who, where, what they need), and Foreground asks the questions those customers would ask. The result is plain: named in X of 12 answers, who AI names instead, and which pages AI reads to decide. Then a fact-checked action plan: what to change, in what order.
That's the actual trade-off against Profound's nine engines: fewer engines and fewer questions, but each question is one your customers actually ask, and a real free tier instead of a sales call.
If you run one local or small-business brand and want to know whether AI recommends you to the customers you want — and what to do if it doesn't — that's the gap Foreground sits in.
When you'd want something else
If you need Google AI Overviews coverage specifically, many more engines tracked simultaneously, or agency/white-label reporting for multiple client accounts, Foreground isn't built for that today — Profound or Scrunch are the better fit, and I'd rather say that here than have you find it out after paying for the wrong tool. Foreground's own limitations are stated plainly on the how-it-works page — worth reading before you buy anything, mine included.
Sources for Profound's pricing (checked 21 October 2026): Profound's own pricing page (free trial, Enterprise at a custom price, up to 9 engines; the agency price isn't on it), Trakkr's Profound pricing review and AI Visibility Nerd's price-change log (the removed $99/$399 plans and Agency Growth at $99/month plus $399/month per client workspace). Prices change; check their page before you decide.
Related: What to actually do this week if AI doesn't know you exist — the free, no-tool-required version of this same check.
— Marc. Foreground checks one niche free, across four models. Try it free.