10 Best AEO Tools for AI Search Visibility in 2026

AI-powered search is changing how content gets discovered. Instead of ranking blue links, platforms like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Gemini now generate direct answers to user questions—deciding which sources get cited, mentioned, or ignored.

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) focuses on one clear goal: getting your content included in AI-generated answers.

The right AEO tools help teams track which prompts trigger AI responses, whether their brand is mentioned or cited, how competitors appear for the same questions, and what changes increase inclusion in AI answers.

This guide compares the 10 best AEO tools in 2026, based on prompt-level visibility, citation tracking, AI engine coverage, and pricing—so you can choose the right platform to win AI answers.

What Are AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) Tools?

As AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini reshape how people find information, traditional SEO rankings are no longer enough.

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) focuses on optimising content so it is:

• Selected as a source in AI-generated answers

• Cited or referenced when AI responds to user questions

• Framed accurately inside conversational responses

AEO tools help marketing, SEO, and content teams:

• Track prompt-level AI visibility

• Monitor citations and mentions across AI platforms

• Compare AI answer inclusion against competitors

• Identify which questions and formats increase answer inclusion

These tools are becoming essential as search behaviour shifts from clicking links to consuming AI-generated answers.

Comparing the Best AEO Tools in 2026

Pricing reflects publicly available data as of January 2026. Verify the latest plans directly with vendors.

1. Peec AI

Peec AI is a prompt-first AEO platform built for teams that want clear visibility into which questions they win or lose inside AI answers. It focuses on usability and competitive insight rather than raw data complexity.

Top Features

• Prompt-level AI visibility tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini

• Share-of-voice comparisons for each tracked question

• AI-suggested prompt discovery based on site content (auto-generated prompt ideas from your website)

• Citation and sentiment context inside AI answers

• Unlimited team seats on all plans

• Robust data visualisation tools that turn raw figures into actionable insights

• Machine learning algorithms for predictive analytics and trend forecasting

• Seamless integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and other platforms

Pricing

• Starter ($89/month): 25 prompts, ~2,250 AI answers/month

• Pro ($199/month): 100 prompts, Slack integration

• Enterprise ($499/month): 300+ prompts, API access, SSO

Best For SaaS and B2B marketing teams that want prompt-level AEO insights without analyst overhead. Teams that value clean dashboards and want to see trends emerge visually rather than sifting through endless spreadsheets.

2. Serplock

Serplock helps teams understand how AI frames their brand inside answers, not just whether they appear. It combines visibility tracking with actionable guidance to improve answer inclusion. This is especially useful for teams that care deeply about brand narrative and reputation inside AI responses.

Top Features

• AI-generated summaries of how platforms describe your brand

• Prompt-level answer inclusion tracking with clear win/loss metrics

• Monitoring of external signals influencing AI answers (reviews, social mentions, citations)

• Content and prompt recommendations to improve citation rates

• Reputation signal analysis showing how external factors affect AI visibility

• Brand framing insights (not just presence, but positioning)

Pricing

• Starter ($39/month): Core prompt tracking

• Advanced & Enterprise: Custom pricing

Best For SEO, content, and growth teams that want clear actions to improve AI answer inclusion. Brands that want to understand not just if they appear, but how they're being portrayed inside AI-generated responses.

3. Profound AI

Profound AI is an enterprise-grade AEO platform built for teams that want raw AI answer data at scale. It captures real user-facing prompts and tracks citations across many AI engines. The platform is purpose-built for Fortune 500 companies preparing for a future where AI assistants drive commerce and recommendations.

Top Features

• 400M+ real prompt dataset via Conversation Explorer (real user-facing prompts, not simulations)

• Conversation Explorer: First-ever tool showing real-time AI search volume data previously invisible to marketers

• Agent Analytics showing which pages AI crawlers reference and how they interpret content

• Daily high-frequency AI answer tracking with 5M+ citations processed daily

• 4M+ crawler visits tracked daily for granular understanding of AI behaviour

• Handles 1M+ prompts across all major platforms

• Enterprise security (SOC 2 Type II compliance), APIs, and integrations

• AI shopping and product answer tracking for e-commerce

• Read/Write optimisation platform (not just monitoring but active optimisation)

• One-click AI content creation directly withinthe  platform

• Real-time optimisation based on performance data

Pricing

• Lite ($499/month): 100 prompts

• Growth ($1,499/month): 500 prompts, full datasets

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Best For Large enterprises and data teams that want full control over AEO data and reporting.Organisations with substantial AI visibility budgets who understand that becoming ChatGPT's #1 recommendation could be worth $100M+ to their business. Teams that need read-write capabilities to not just monitor but actively optimise AI-generated content.

4. xFunnel

xFunnel is designed for teams that want to experiment with what actually changes AI answers. Instead of passive tracking, it enables testing and optimisation workflows. The platform maps how your brand appears at each stage of the customer journey—from awareness through decision—across AI platforms.

Top Features

• Multi-engine AI answer tracking (ChatGPT with browsing, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews & AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Grok, with Meta AI and DeepSeek coming soon)

• Deep citation and response analysis showing sources and context

• Intent-level share-of-voice tracking by customer journey stage

• Region-wise segmentation by country and region forlocalised optimisationn

• Customer journey mapping showing howthe  brand appears from awareness to decision

• Market opportunity scores identifying untapped segments wherethe  brand doesn't appear

• Persona-level analysis for targeting specific customer segments

• Guided AEO experiments and playbooks (reproducible tests)

• Managed services available: AI-first content production, Reddit reputation & engagement, Wikipedia strategy, AI-first affiliate network (via agency partners).

Pricing

• Free audit: One-time AI visibility snapshot

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Best For Agencies and growth teams that treat AEO like conversion optimisation.Organisations that need persona-level and region-level insights. Brands already using HubSpot that want native AEO capabilities integrated into their marketing stack.

5. Ahrefs Brand Radar

Ahrefs Brand Radar extends Ahrefs into AI search by tracking mentions and citations inside AI-generated answers, especially useful for authority-driven strategies. It leverages Ahrefs' massive index to automatically identify relevant prompts and track your presence across them without manual configuration.

Top Features

• Real-time AI mention and citation monitoring across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Gemini, and others.

• Huge AI Index processing billions of queries automatically (100M+ prompts database)

• AI Share of Voice & Gap Analysis showing what portion of AI answersfeaturese your brand vs competitors

• Citation Tracker helps identify which URLs/content AI references most frequently.

• Multi-channel monitoring beyond AI (Reddit discussions, YouTube mentions, video visibility)

• Topic-level AI association insights showing which topics associate your brandwith  in AI answers

• Competitor comparisons across AI platforms

• Integration with Ahrefs' backlink and content data

• No need for manual prompt setup—Brand Radar auto-identifies relevant queries

Pricing

• All platforms ($699/month): Full access across all AI engines

• Single platform ($199/month): Access limited to one platform

Best For PR teams and brands focused on earning citations inside AI answers. Organisations already using Ahrefs who want to expand into AI search without switching platforms. Authority-focused strategies where understanding topical associations matters.

6. Semrush AI Toolkit

Semrush AI Toolkit layers AEO insights onto existing SEO workflows, making it easy for current Semrush users to monitor AI answer visibility alongside traditional rankings. It bridges the gap between classic SEO and AI search optimisation.

Top Features

• AI answer visibility dashboards

• Question discovery for AI-triggered queries

• Competitor AI answer tracking

• Combined SEO + AI performance analysis

• Unified dashboard with traditional SEO metrics

• Easy integration with existing Semrush workflow (no platform switching)

Pricing

• Starter ($199/month)

• Pro+ ($299/month)

• Advanced ($549/month)

Best For Teams already using Semrush that want AEO without switching platforms. Organisations managing both traditional SEO and AI visibility strategies that want onecentralisedd dashboard.

7. SE Ranking (AI Search Toolkit)

SE Ranking provides a budget-friendly entry into AEO by focusing on Google AI Overviews and basic LLM tracking. Built on SE Ranking's 13+ years of data accuracy, it combines SEO and AI visibility insights for cost-conscious teams.

Top Features

• Google AI Overview citation tracking, specialised focus)

• Limited ChatGPT and Gemini visibility

• Unified SEO + AI metrics in one dashboard

• Based on 13+ years of data accuracy inherited from SE Ranking's SEO platform

• Clean interface for non-technical users

Pricing

• From ~$65/month (core SEO)

• AI features unlocked in Pro/Business tiers

Best For Small SEO teams need basic AEO visibility. Budget-conscious startupsare looking for an affordable entry into AI search optimisation. Teams that want to stay within one platform rather than adding new tools.

8. Writesonic

Writesonic combines AI content creation with AEO-friendly structuring, helping teams write content that fits AI answer formats. It's the only platform that takes you from tracking to action to results—identifying opportunities, creatingoptimisedd content, and measuring impact—without leaving the platform.

Top Features

• FAQ-style and answer-focused content templates optimised for AI

• On-page optimisation for AI answers with schema markup and structured data guidance

• Entity and question coverage guidance for AI crawlers

• Content Optimisation for AI: Advanced GEO solution helping content achieve maximum visibility in AI-generated responses

• Integrated content creation: Create and refreshAI-optimisedd content withinthe  same platform

• Multi-platform coverage (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and others)

• AI Traffic Analytics: "AI Visitors" dashboard revealing bot visits and valuable pages

• Prompt & UI Scraping: Gathers AI-generated Q&A for monitored prompts across models

• Geographic intelligence: Locally simulates AI queries from different locations; tracks visibility changes by country

• Content Strategy Planner: Evaluates site against competitors, recommends topics for AI visibility

• ActionCentrer: AI audit listing SEO and AI issues, can fix directly ifthe  site is on WordPress/Cloudflare directly

Pricing

• Professional plan: ~$199/month (minimum for full AI visibility tracking)

• Business plans typically start around $199/month

• Enterprise plansare  available with full features

Best For Content teams that want creation + AEO optimisation in one tool. Brands producing content at scale who need to ensure every piece is AI-ready. Organisations that want to move fast from insight to published, optimised content.

9. AthenaHQ

AthenaHQ is a mid-market AEO platform focused on prompt clustering and structured answer optimisation across multiple AI engines. Built by ex-Google and DeepMind talent, it delivers enterprise-grade insights with proprietary AI technology.

Top Features

• Multi-LLM answer tracking (8+ platforms: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok)

• Prompt clustering by intent

• AEO-focused content briefs and recommendations

• On & Off-Page GEO Analysis

• Competitor monitoring & impersonation detection

• AI Blindspot Detection: Finds lost or hidden parts ofthe  website affecting AI visibility

• Dynamic AI Crawling: Discovers areas AI crawlers miss

• Persona-Based Analysis: Enterprise-grade benchmarking with persona-level insights

• Athena Citation Engine (ACE): Proprietary technology to predict how AI will cite your content

• ContentOptimisation AI Agent: Deep Research capabilities for content strategy

• Granular Authority & Citation Intelligence

Pricing

• Self-Serve: $295+/month

• Enterprise: Custom pricing witha  dedicated GEO specialist

Best For Mid-market teams needing structured AEO workflows without enterprise complexity. Teams that want deep persona-level insights and competitive benchmarking.Organisations that value proprietary AI technology and white-glove support from dedicated GEO specialists.

10. Rankscale AI

Rankscale AI simplifies AEO into visibility scores and dashboards, making it accessible for non-technical stakeholders. Founded by Mathias Ptacek, the platform is known for its founder-led, rapid development model—shipping new features multiple times a week based on community feedback.

Top Features

• AI visibility index score (single metricsummarisingg brand visibility)

• Share-of-voice dashboards

• Citation and sentiment summaries

• Brand Dashboard: Consolidated overview of AI performance and key metrics

• Performance Tracking: Tracks Visibility Score and Average Position over time with breakdowns by topic/engine

• Competitor Benchmarking: Auto-identifies competitors and compares their KPIs to yours

• Citation Analysis: Monitors how often specific sites are cited by AI, showing sources influencing answers

• Sentiment Analysis: Gauges how your brand is described in AI results (Positive, Neutral, or Negative)

• Website Audits: Evaluates AI search readiness and highlights improvement areas via an AI Readiness Score

• Multi-Engine Support: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, and others

• Founder-Led Development: Mathias Ptacek actively responds to community feedback and ships features rapidly

• User Testimonials: 4.8/5 average review score on SourceForge; users praise intuitive design and actionable recommendations

Pricing

• Essentials (~$20/month): 120 credits, 10 web audits, up to 480 AI responses

• Pro ($99/month): 1,200 credits, 50 web audits, 25 brand dashboards, up to 4,800 responses, Team workspace (unlimited seats), Raw export

• Enterprise ($780/month): 12,000 credits, 200 web audits, 100 brand dashboards, 48,000+ responses

Best For Cost-conscious teams need high-level AEO reporting. Small businesses, startups, and lean SEO teams are in search of a simple, affordable AI tracker. Any person who wants multi-engine visibility with a limited budget. Agencies need support across multiple brands.

Which AEO Tool Should You Choose?

Conclusion: Choosing the Right AEO Tool

Answer Engine Optimisation is about owning answers, not rankings.

As AI-generated responses replace traditional search results, visibility depends on whether your content is selected, cited, and trusted inside AI answers. The right AEO tools make this measurable and actionable by showing which prompts you win, which you lose, and what changes improve inclusion.

There is no single best AEO tool for every team. The right choice depends on your goals, scale, and workflow. What matters most is starting now—because as AI-driven search grows, brands that optimise for answers will win visibility.

Key Takeaway: The shift from ranking blue links to appearing in AI answers is fundamentally reshaping how content gets discovered. Early adoption of AEO tools gives you a competitive advantage today and positions your brand for long-term success in the AI-first search landscape.