An AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) tool measures how often AI engines — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews — name a brand, cite its domain, and recommend it in answers to buyer questions. The category is new (most tools launched 2024–2026) and the products vary widely in coverage, pricing, and which engines they actually query.

Why list competitors on your own AEO tools page?

Three reasons. (1) AI engines preferentially cite category-overview pages that include multiple tools rather than single-vendor marketing pages — including competitors makes us more cite-worthy. (2) Buyers research multiple tools before picking; pretending alternatives don't exist signals lack of confidence. (3) Honest comparison content tends to convert better than evasive marketing because it builds trust. The fact that this page lists Otterly, Profound, Athena and others alongside monitoraeo is itself an AEO play.

What's missing across all AEO tools today?

Three structural gaps as of mid-2026. (1) None reliably measure raw AI Mode (?udm=50) the way they measure AI Overview — AI Mode's render pipeline is harder to scrape at scale. (2) Almost none provide a downloadable Dataset of per-industry rankings (monitoraeo's /ai-visibility pages are an outlier). (3) None integrate cleanly with content workflows (Notion, Webflow, WordPress) the way SEO tools do — there's no AEO equivalent of Surfer or Frase yet. Expect rapid evolution on all three in 2026.

Glossary · Tactics

AEO tools — honest comparison (2026)

Q: Which AEO tool should I pick?

Depends on use case. For a one-off diagnostic of where your brand stands today, monitoraeo's $79 Full Audit covers all 5 engines + action plan and runs in 10 minutes. For ongoing monthly tracking, monitoraeo Full Monitoring ($95/mo) or Profound (~$1k/mo enterprise) are the main options. For enterprise content workflows that pair AEO with full content management, Otterly.ai and Athena lean more toward agencies/in-house teams with existing content stacks. For a free preview before committing, monitoraeo and Otterly.ai both offer one.

Q: How is AEO tooling different from SEO tooling?

SEO tools (Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz) measure ranking position in classical Google blue-link results, keyword volume, backlinks. AEO tools measure visibility inside AI-generated answers — whether the AI names your brand, cites your domain, or recommends a competitor instead. Different metrics, different optimisation surface. Most teams need both: SEO for the (shrinking) classical search traffic, AEO for the (growing) AI answer surface.

Q: Can I just use ChatGPT to check if AI knows about my brand?

You can ask, but it's not reliable enough to make decisions on. AI answers vary day-to-day on the same question, and a single prompt only tests one phrasing. Real AEO measurement runs multiple buyer-intent questions across all 5 major engines, captures the answers and citations, and tracks the pattern over time. Doing this by hand is impractical past ~5 questions; tools automate it.

Every AEO tool we know of, what each is actually good at, and which to pick for your use case. We list monitoraeo alongside Otterly.ai, Profound, Athena, Goodie and the rest — including the ones we lose to. Buyers research multiple tools; pretending alternatives don't exist signals lack of confidence.

The landscape at a glance

The AEO/GEO tooling category is ~2 years old. Most products launched in 2024–2025 and are iterating fast. The major dimensions to compare on are: which AI engines they actually query, whether they include an action plan (vs raw measurement only), pricing model, and whether they offer monthly monitoring or one-off audits.

Tool	Engines covered	One-off / Monthly	Action plan	Starting price
monitoraeomonitoraeo.com	All 5 (Google AI, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini)	Both	Yes (Claude Sonnet)	$29 / $35/mo
Otterly.aiotterly.ai	Google AI, ChatGPT, Perplexity	Monthly	Partial	~$29/mo
Profoundtryprofound.com	All 5 + custom	Monthly (enterprise)	Yes	~$1k+/mo
Athenaathenahq.ai	ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity	Monthly	Yes	~$99/mo
Goodiegoodie.ai	Google AI, ChatGPT, Perplexity	Monthly	No (measurement only)	~$49/mo
Peec AIpeec.ai	All 5	Monthly	Yes	~$89/mo
Scrunch AIscrunchai.com	ChatGPT, Perplexity	Monthly	Partial	~$50/mo

Prices and feature lists shift monthly in this category. Confirm with each vendor before purchasing.

Tool-by-tool breakdown

monitoraeo (us)

Full AEO audit + monitoring across all 5 AI engines, with a prioritised action plan.

Strengths

All 5 engines queried (Google AI, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini)
Free 8-question preview in ~30 seconds, no account required
Cheapest paid one-off audit at $29 (Two Engine)
Prioritised action plan generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 from real findings
Public industry rankings at /ai-visibility provide unique benchmarking data
15-check technical GEO foundation audit included

Weaknesses

Newer category entrant — smaller customer base than Otterly/Profound
No content workflow integrations (Notion, Webflow, WordPress)
Single-language (English) audit query generation
No team-collaboration features beyond brand sharing

Best for: Brands wanting maximum engine coverage at the lowest price, with an action plan that tells you what to actually do — not just what your numbers are.

Otterly.ai

Established AEO monitoring tool, polished UX, narrower engine coverage.

Strengths

Mature product, well-designed dashboard
Strong onboarding flow + sample reports
Free starter tier for limited tracking
Good documentation and learning resources

Weaknesses

Doesn't cover Claude or Gemini natively
Subscription-only (no one-off audit option)
Action plan is partial / templated rather than per-finding
Higher price per engine covered

Best for: Teams already standardised on ChatGPT + Perplexity who want a polished UX and don't need Claude or Gemini coverage yet.

Profound

Enterprise-tier AEO platform; rich coverage, rich price tag.

Strengths

Broadest engine coverage including custom LLM connectors
Enterprise reporting, SSO, custom dashboards
Used by several large brands as their internal AEO source-of-truth
Strong analyst content + research reports

Weaknesses

~$1k+/month entry price prices out SMBs entirely
Annual contract minimums
Implementation has a 1–2 week onboarding period
Overkill for brands with 1–3 domains to track

Best for: Enterprises with 10+ brands or domains, dedicated AEO program ownership, and budget for white-glove implementation.

Athena

Content-workflow leaning AEO tool, integrates AI visibility into editorial planning.

Strengths

Strongest content-workflow integration of any AEO tool
Good for agencies managing AEO for multiple clients
AI-assisted recommendation engine for content updates
Reasonable mid-market price point

Weaknesses

Doesn't query Gemini natively
Measurement layer thinner than dedicated AEO tools
Better for content teams than for measurement-only buyers

Best for: Agencies and in-house content teams who want AEO data integrated into their existing editorial workflow, not as a standalone dashboard.

Goodie

Lightweight AEO monitoring focused on tracking visibility over time.

Strengths

Simple, focused UX — does one thing well
Affordable monthly entry point
Clean trend visualisations

Weaknesses

Measurement only — no action plan or recommendations
No Claude or Gemini coverage
Limited drill-down on per-query findings

Best for: Solo founders or small teams who want a number to watch monthly and will write their own action plan from the data.

What's structurally missing across all of them

1. Native AI Mode (?udm=50) measurement

Most tools that claim Google AI coverage are measuring AI Overview, not AI Mode. AI Mode has a different ranking pipeline and renders on 100% of queries vs AIO's 25–48%. We're aware of only a handful of tools (including monitoraeo) that measure AI Mode separately. Expect this to become standard in 2026.

2. Public benchmark data

No AEO tool other than monitoraeo publishes per-industry visibility rankings as crawlable Dataset pages. Most keep all their data private behind login. This is a strategic miss — published benchmarks earn backlinks AND make the tool itself more cite-worthy by AI engines.

3. Content workflow integrations

SEO tools (Surfer, Frase, Clearscope) integrate with Notion, Webflow, WordPress, Google Docs. AEO tools mostly don't yet. Athena is closest but the integrations are still shallow. Expect rapid evolution here — whoever ships Surfer-for-AEO first will own the content-team buyer.

How to pick

Practical decision tree:

Want a single $29 diagnostic to see where you stand? → monitoraeo Two Engine Audit
Want full 5-engine coverage with action plan, one-off? → monitoraeo Full Audit ($79)
Want monthly tracking on a budget? → monitoraeo Two Engine Monitoring ($35/mo) or Goodie
Want monthly tracking across all engines? → monitoraeo Full Monitoring ($95/mo) or Peec AI
Have $1k/mo budget and enterprise needs? → Profound
Are an agency managing content for multiple clients? → Athena + standalone measurement tool
Already use ChatGPT + Perplexity heavily, don't need Claude/Gemini? → Otterly.ai

Try the cheapest path first

The honest advice: run monitoraeo's free preview before paying anyone. It takes 30 seconds, costs nothing, and shows you whether your brand is named or cited in Google AI Overviews. If you're already visible there, you may not need full AEO tooling yet. If you're invisible, you'll know exactly where to focus.

Run a free preview → See monitoraeo pricing

Related concepts

What is AEO? — the discipline these tools serve.
AEO checklist — what you'd actually optimise after getting your visibility numbers.
AI visibility rankings — monitoraeo's public per-industry benchmark data.
Glossary — every AI search term defined.

Frequently asked about AEO tools

What is an AEO tool?

Measures how often AI engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI) name, cite, or recommend a brand. New category — most products launched 2024–2026.

Why list competitors on your own page?

Three reasons. AI engines preferentially cite category-overview pages over single-vendor pages. Buyers research multiple tools — evasive marketing signals lack of confidence. Honest comparison content converts better than gated marketing.

Can I just ask ChatGPT instead of buying a tool?

You can ask, but it's not decision-grade data. AI answers vary day-to-day; one prompt tests one phrasing. Real AEO measurement runs multiple buyer-intent questions across all 5 engines and tracks the pattern. Doing this by hand is impractical past ~5 questions.

How is AEO tooling different from SEO tooling?

SEO tools measure ranking in classical Google blue-link results + backlinks + keyword volume. AEO tools measure visibility inside AI-generated answers — different metrics, different optimisation surface. Most teams need both.

Which AEO tool should I pick?

Depends on use case — see the decision tree above. monitoraeo for cheapest all-engine coverage, Otterly for polished UX on ChatGPT+Perplexity, Profound for enterprise, Athena for agency content workflows, Goodie for measurement-only.