Scrunch vs Authoritas AI Tracker (2026): Full comparison

Key Takeaways

• Scrunch is 40% cheaper for small teams: $250/mo vs Authoritas's credit-based pricing that starts at £90/mo (~$113) but burns through credits fast on multi-LLM tracking
• Authoritas covers more AI models out of the box (7 LLMs including DeepSeek) vs Scrunch's focus on the big three (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude)
• Scrunch includes an Agent Experience Platform -- you can create AI-optimized versions of your site pages, which Authoritas doesn't offer
• Authoritas is better for publishers tracking content licensing and citation volume across platforms; Scrunch skews toward brand monitoring and influencer marketing
• Credit systems are confusing: Authoritas charges per query (1-5 credits depending on model), making costs unpredictable. Scrunch uses flat monthly pricing with prompt limits.
• Both lack content generation: Neither tool helps you create content that ranks in AI search -- they're monitoring platforms, not optimization platforms

Overview

Scrunch

Scrunch positions itself as an "AI Customer Experience Platform" that monitors brand presence across AI search engines. The pitch: see how ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude talk about your brand, then do something about it. Scrunch's standout feature is the Agent Experience Platform (AXP) -- a way to serve AI-optimized content directly to LLM crawlers without changing your human-facing site. Pricing starts at $250/mo for the Starter plan (billed annually), with a 7-day free trial.

The tool tracks performance by competitor, persona, topic, and geography. You get prompt analytics, citation tracking, and a real-time feed of AI bot crawls. Scrunch also flags errors when bots can't access your site. The interface leans visual -- lots of dashboards and charts.

Authoritas AI Tracker

Authoritas AI Tracker is the AI search module inside Authoritas's broader SEO platform. It monitors brand mentions, sentiment, and citations across seven LLMs: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Google AI Overviews, and Bing AI. The tool uses a credit-based pricing model -- you buy credits, then spend them on queries. Free tier gives you 50 credits to test; paid plans start at £90/mo for 2,000 credits.

Authoritas is built for brands, publishers, and e-commerce sites. Publishers get specific features around content licensing insights and citation volume tracking -- useful if you're negotiating with AI platforms over content usage. The tool integrates with Looker Studio for custom reporting, which agencies like.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Pricing breakdown

Scrunch pricing

Scrunch uses flat monthly pricing. You pay for a tier, you get a set number of prompts and features. No surprises.

Authoritas AI Tracker pricing

The catch: different LLMs cost different amounts. Google AI Overviews = 1 credit per query. GPT-4o mini = 1 credit. Claude 3.5 Haiku = 2 credits. Gemini 1.5 Flash = 2 credits. Perplexity Sonar = 5 credits. If you're tracking across multiple models, credits burn fast.

Authoritas also sells a separate SEO platform (Essential £99/mo, Advanced £399/mo, Expert $799/mo). The AI Tracker is standalone but integrates with the SEO suite if you buy both.

Verdict: Scrunch is simpler and cheaper for small teams doing basic multi-LLM tracking. Authoritas gets expensive if you're querying high-credit models like Perplexity frequently, but the credit system gives you flexibility to allocate budget toward specific models.

LLM coverage and tracking depth

Scrunch tracks three LLMs: ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. That's the core of AI search in 2026 -- ChatGPT dominates consumer usage, Perplexity is the go-to for research-heavy queries, Claude is popular with technical users. Scrunch's bet is that these three matter most.

Authoritas tracks seven: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Google AI Overviews, and Bing AI. Broader coverage means you catch brand mentions in more places. Google AI Overviews alone drives significant traffic for e-commerce and local businesses. DeepSeek is niche but growing in Asia and among developers.

Both tools let you track specific prompts, see which competitors get cited, and analyze sentiment. Scrunch shows you a real-time feed of AI bot crawls -- you can see when ChatGPT or Perplexity hits your site, which pages they read, and whether they encountered errors. Authoritas doesn't highlight this feature, which suggests it's either missing or less prominent.

Authoritas includes sentiment analysis as a core feature. You can see whether AI models describe your brand positively, negatively, or neutrally. Scrunch mentions sentiment tracking but doesn't emphasize it.

Verdict: Authoritas wins on breadth (more LLMs). Scrunch wins on depth (better crawl visibility and error detection).

Agent Experience Platform vs traditional monitoring

Scrunch's differentiator is the Agent Experience Platform (AXP). The idea: AI bots don't read websites the same way humans do. They want structured data, clean text, no fluff. AXP lets you create a parallel version of your site -- same URLs, different content -- that's optimized for AI crawlers. When a bot visits, it gets the AXP version. When a human visits, they get the normal site.

This is clever. You can strip out navigation, sidebars, and marketing copy that confuses LLMs. You can add structured FAQs, product specs, and comparison tables that AI models love to cite. You don't have to compromise your human UX to rank in AI search.

Authoritas doesn't offer anything like this. It's a monitoring tool. You track what AI says about you, but you're on your own for optimization.

The gap here is significant. Scrunch gives you a lever to pull. Authoritas just shows you the dashboard.

Verdict: If you want to actively improve your AI search presence, Scrunch's AXP is a real advantage. If you only need monitoring, it's a feature you won't use.

Publisher-specific features

Authoritas explicitly targets publishers with features around content licensing and citation tracking. Publishers care about two things: (1) how much of their content AI platforms are using, and (2) whether they can monetize that usage. Authoritas surfaces which articles get cited most, how often, and by which models. This data is useful for licensing negotiations.

Scrunch doesn't pitch to publishers. The marketing focuses on brands and influencer marketing. No mention of licensing insights or content monetization.

Verdict: Publishers should lean toward Authoritas. Brands and e-commerce sites should lean toward Scrunch.

Reporting and integrations

Authoritas integrates with Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio), which is huge for agencies. You can pull AI visibility data into client dashboards alongside traditional SEO metrics. Agencies love this because it means one unified report instead of stitching together multiple tools.

Scrunch doesn't mention Looker Studio integration. The platform has built-in dashboards that look polished, but if you need custom reporting or want to combine AI data with other sources, you're probably exporting CSVs.

Neither tool mentions API access in the public pricing tiers. Both likely offer it at the enterprise level.

Verdict: Authoritas is better for agencies that need flexible reporting. Scrunch is better for in-house teams that just want a dashboard.

What's missing from both tools

Neither Scrunch nor Authoritas helps you create content that ranks in AI search. They show you the problem -- "you're not visible for these prompts" -- but they don't help you fix it. You're left to figure out what content to write, how to structure it, and where to publish it.

This is where tools like Promptwatch come in -- they combine monitoring with content gap analysis and AI-powered content generation. Promptwatch shows you which prompts competitors rank for but you don't, then generates articles optimized for AI citation. It's the next step after monitoring.

Scrunch and Authoritas also don't track Reddit or YouTube, which are increasingly important citation sources for AI models. Perplexity and ChatGPT frequently cite Reddit threads and YouTube videos in their answers. If you're not monitoring those channels, you're missing part of the story.

Pros and cons

Scrunch pros

• Agent Experience Platform lets you optimize for AI without changing your human site
• Real-time AI bot crawl logs with error detection
• Flat monthly pricing -- no confusing credit system
• Clean, visual dashboards
• 7-day free trial to test before committing

Scrunch cons

• Only tracks three LLMs (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude)
• No publisher-specific features
• No Looker Studio integration
• No content generation or optimization guidance
• Higher entry price ($250/mo vs Authoritas's £90/mo)

Authoritas AI Tracker pros

• Tracks seven LLMs including Google AI Overviews and DeepSeek
• Publisher licensing insights for content monetization
• Looker Studio integration for custom reporting
• Sentiment analysis built in
• Free tier with 50 credits to test

Authoritas AI Tracker cons

• Credit-based pricing is confusing and unpredictable
• No Agent Experience Platform or optimization tools
• No real-time crawl logs or error detection
• Credits burn fast if you track high-cost models like Perplexity
• Separate SEO platform costs extra (£99-£799/mo)

Who should pick which tool

Pick Scrunch if:

• You're a brand or e-commerce site focused on the big three LLMs (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude)
• You want to actively optimize your site for AI crawlers with the Agent Experience Platform
• You prefer flat monthly pricing over credit systems
• You need real-time visibility into AI bot crawls and errors
• You're an in-house team that just wants a dashboard, not custom reporting

Pick Authoritas AI Tracker if:

• You're a publisher tracking content usage for licensing negotiations
• You need to monitor seven LLMs including Google AI Overviews and DeepSeek
• You're an agency that needs Looker Studio integration for client reports
• You want sentiment analysis as a core feature
• You prefer pay-as-you-go credit pricing over flat monthly fees

Pick neither if:

• You need help creating content that ranks in AI search, not just monitoring
• You want to track Reddit and YouTube citations
• You need multi-language or multi-region tracking (both tools are vague on this)

Final verdict

Scrunch and Authoritas solve different problems. Scrunch is a brand monitoring tool with an optimization angle (the Agent Experience Platform). Authoritas is a broader tracking tool with publisher-specific features and more LLM coverage.

For most brands and e-commerce sites, Scrunch is the better pick. The AXP gives you a way to improve your AI search presence without redesigning your site. The real-time crawl logs help you catch and fix errors fast. The flat pricing is easier to budget.

For publishers and agencies, Authoritas makes more sense. The licensing insights are valuable for content monetization. The Looker Studio integration simplifies client reporting. The broader LLM coverage means you're not missing mentions in Google AI Overviews or Bing AI.

Both tools are monitoring-first platforms. If you're serious about AI search optimization -- not just tracking but actually improving your visibility -- you'll eventually need something that helps you create and optimize content, not just watch the numbers.