The best answer engine optimization (AEO) tools in 2026
13 tools that track what AI assistants say about your brand, and what each one adds to help you change it. Listed alphabetically, because the best one depends on whether you need a measurement, help with content or a report to hand over.
Disclosure: IndexHalo publishes this guide and sells one of the tools listed. Every fact about another company comes from its own website, read on 3 November 2026 or, for Analyze, Frase, Geoptie and HubSpot AEO, on 4 November 2026. Vendors change their pages and show different currencies by location, so check the current price before you buy.
The 13 tools at a glance
| Tool | Price from | What it measures | What it adds beyond tracking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | €47/mo | Questions you choose, plus an index of existing AI answers that the page puts at 525 million prompts. | Sits beside your Ahrefs SEO data if your team already uses it. See its pricing guide. |
| Analyze | $99/mo | 25 prompts tracked daily on 3 AI engines (Growth). | Content Writer and Content Optimizer workflows. Pro at $250/mo adds AI traffic analytics from GA4 and weekly recommendations. See its pricing page. |
| Frase | $49/mo, or $39/mo billed yearly | SEO and GEO scores, plus AI visibility on ChatGPT and Google AI (Starter). | Writes and publishes: 10 articles and 50 audit pages a month on Starter, publishing to WordPress, Webflow, Sanity or Wix. See its pricing page. |
| Geoptie | $49/mo | 15 prompts tracked daily on any 4 of 7 AI engines (Starter). | Audit reports and content generation on Starter. Professional at $99/mo adds white-label reports and API access. See its pricing page. |
| HubSpot AEO | $50/mo, or $45/mo billed annually | 25 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. | Citation analysis, competitor benchmarking and recommendations. HubSpot says it is included with Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise. See its pricing page. |
| IndexHalo (our product) | $49/mo | One credit covers one question across ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Claude and Perplexity, with every original answer kept. | Turns gaps into briefs and draft pages, sends drafts to your CMS and produces client-ready reports. A person approves every publication. See its pricing. |
| OtterlyAI | €29/mo | 15 prompts tracked daily on 4 engines (Lite). Claude, Google AI Mode and Gemini are add-ons. | The plans we read center on tracking, with extra prompts and engines sold as add-ons. See its pricing guide. |
| Peec AI | €85/mo | 50 prompts tracked daily on 3 models you choose (Starter). | Unlimited users on every plan. Advanced at €425/mo adds multi-country tracking and a Looker Studio integration. See its pricing guide. |
| Profound | Custom | Trial: 50 prompts daily for 7 days on 3 engines. Enterprise: up to 9 answer engines. | AI Marketer credits, with SSO/SAML and SOC 2 compliance on Enterprise. See its pricing guide. |
| Promptwatch | See page | 50 prompts and 6,000 responses on Essential, on all models. | Content writing and refresh, a knowledge base and agent analytics on Professional. Shopping insights and city tracking on Business. See its pricing guide. |
| Scrunch | $250/mo | 125 prompts and 5,000 responses a month on 4 LLMs (Core). | 5 site audits a month on Core. Enterprise adds AXP, its Agent Experience Platform. See its pricing guide. |
| Semrush AI Visibility | €94.94/mo | 25 prompts tracked daily, per domain (Base). | An AI-readiness site audit, competitor analysis and prompt research. See its pricing guide. |
| Similarweb AI Brand Visibility | $99/mo | 150 tracked prompts for one user on every plan. | Sentiment and citation analysis and AI traffic. Higher plans add SEO, competitive and ads data. See its pricing guide. |
Which kind you need
- You want to know where you stand. A tracker is enough, and a small question set keeps the cost down: HubSpot AEO, OtterlyAI, Peec AI and Similarweb AI Brand Visibility.
- You want help with the content. These list writing or drafting features: Analyze, Frase, Geoptie, IndexHalo and Promptwatch.
- You already pay for a marketing suite. An add-on beside your existing data may be enough: Ahrefs Brand Radar, HubSpot AEO, Semrush AI Visibility and Similarweb AI Brand Visibility.
- You report to clients or colleagues. These list white-label or client-ready reports: Geoptie and IndexHalo.
- You have procurement to satisfy. These list SSO on an enterprise contract: Profound and Scrunch.
How to choose
The units differ, so a headline price says little until you turn it into your own workload. These four questions usually settle it.
- How often do you actually need to measure? Daily tracking is sold by the prompt, and it suits teams that act on daily changes. Most teams review monthly, which needs far fewer runs.
- Which AI sources do your buyers use? Several plans include only some sources and sell others as add-ons. Check the sources before you compare prices.
- What do you have to hand over? If you report to clients or colleagues, try producing a real report during the trial, and check that you can inspect each original answer behind a number.
- Do you already pay for an SEO suite? If your team already works in Semrush or Ahrefs, their add-ons may be enough. A dedicated tool may go further on evidence and reporting.
Whichever you pick, run a small test first: ten real buyer questions, in one market, on the sources you care about. Our guide on how to choose a GEO tool and on measuring AI visibility go deeper.
What an AEO tool can't do
A tool can't earn a citation for you. Google says there are no additional requirements or special optimizations to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, so a score or a special file is not what gets a page used.
Much of the work also happens away from your own site. In our sample of software buying questions, 17% of cited links went to the vendors we track in each category, and the rest went to review sites, publishers, forums and other companies. Other markets may differ, but a tool that only writes for your own blog covers part of the job.
Across the 869 AI answers behind our recommendation leaderboards, the sites cited most often were g2.com, zapier.com, pcmag.com, toolradar.com and forbes.com. Being covered on the sites buyers' AI answers rely on matters as much as the tool you use to measure it. See the full list of most-cited sources.
If you would rather have someone do the work, see what AEO agencies charge and what to ask them. For the method behind all of this, start with what answer engine optimization is.
More comparisons
See the full comparison of nine AI visibility tools, with alternatives and pricing guides for each, or the lists for agencies, small businesses and budgets under $100 a month.
Common questions
What is an answer engine optimization tool?+
It is software that asks AI assistants a set of questions and records whether your brand is named and your pages are cited, usually with competitors alongside. Some tools stop there, and others also help you write content or audit your site.
Can an AEO tool get my brand cited by ChatGPT?+
No tool can promise that. It can show you where you stand and what is missing, and some can help you draft the fix. Whether an AI service then uses your page is up to that service, and answers vary from run to run.
Which AEO tool is the cheapest?+
Of those we checked, OtterlyAI had the lowest entry price at €29/month for 15 prompts, read on 3 November 2026. A low entry price can cover fewer questions or AI sources, so compare the workload you actually need.
Are AEO tools and GEO tools the same thing?+
In practice, yes. Vendors use answer engine optimization, generative engine optimization and AI visibility for much the same software, so compare what a tool does instead of what it is called.
Do I need an AEO tool or an agency?+
A tool measures, and some help you draft content, while an agency does the work for you. Tools cost far less, so most teams can start by measuring. An agency makes more sense once you know the gaps and lack the people to close them.