Key takeaways
- Most AI visibility platforms offer a trial of about 7 days, so you need a test plan before you sign up, not after.
- Free first checks (Ahrefs, HubSpot, Amplitude) tell you if you are visible at all. A trial tells you if a tool can help you change it.
- Check which engines the entry plan covers. Claude, Copilot and Perplexity are often missing or sold as add-ons.
- Real-interface data and API data can disagree. One vendor study found about 75% of brands named via APIs did not match what the real AI interfaces showed.
- Pick by job: monitoring only, monitoring plus fixing content, or enterprise reporting. Those are three different purchases.
Why a free trial matters more here than in most software categories
AI visibility tools all show a dashboard with a score on it. The scores are not comparable. One tool samples ChatGPT through an API, another scrapes the real interface, a third reruns 50 prompts once a day. You can read ten comparison posts and still not know which one will tell you something useful about your brand.
A trial fixes that. You run the same prompts through two or three tools and see which numbers agree, which one explains itself, and which one just hands you a chart.
A caveat about the trial details below: most of them come from third-party roundups (Strategi, Arobis, Surfer) and vendors change trial terms often. Check each pricing page before you enter a card.
Free first checks: start here before you start a trial
Before you commit a week to a trial, run a no-signup check. These take a few minutes and tell you whether AI engines know your brand exists.
- Ahrefs AI Visibility Checker: no signup, covers ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and AI Overviews, according to Surfer's roundup.
- HubSpot AEO Grader (formerly the AI Search Grader): a free one-off grade of answer engine visibility.
- Amplitude AI Visibility: free, with a report before you set up any prompts.
- Promptwatch's free AI visibility report: a no-login scan of how ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity talk about your brand, with a crawler access check and a list of what to fix.
These are snapshots. They cannot show trends, competitor movement or which pages get cited. That is the job of the platforms below.
The 12 platforms at a glance
| Platform | Trial or free start | Entry price (verify) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promptwatch | 7-day free trial on monthly billing, plus free visibility report | $95/mo (Essential) | Tracking and fixing, end to end |
| Profound | Free 7-day trial, then Enterprise | Custom | Enterprise teams needing API, SSO, SOC 2 |
| Peec AI | Free trial (length not stated) | Check vendor | Flexible team tracking, multi-language |
| Otterly.AI | Free trial (length not stated) | From $29/mo for 15 prompts | Cheap, simple start |
| Scrunch AI | 7-day trial | Check vendor | Brand monitoring |
| Rankscale | 7-day trial | About $17/mo, billed yearly | Lowest-cost dedicated tracker |
| ZipTie | Free start reported | About $25.65/mo | Deep analysis and reporting |
| AthenaHQ | Free Essential tier | Free, then paid | Testing without a card |
| Goodie AI | 7-day trial | Check vendor | Agentic commerce surfaces |
| Knowatoa | Free trial (length not stated) | Check vendor | AI Overviews and AI Mode monitoring |
| SE Visible | Free start reported | Check vendor | SE Ranking users |
| Waikay | Limited free access | Check vendor | Knowledge-graph angle |
The 12 platforms in detail
1. Promptwatch
Promptwatch is the one I would test first if the goal is to change your numbers rather than just watch them. It collects answers from the real interfaces of ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and others, then goes past monitoring: IP-verified AI crawler logs show whether bots can read your pages, citation data shows which pages get used, and the Content Agent writes and publishes the pages that fill your gaps. The Action Board turns all of that into a prioritized to-do list.
Pricing starts at $95/month (Essential, 50 prompts) with Professional at $245 and Business at $579. The Content Agent starts on Business, and crawler logs on Professional, so if you want to test those during the trial, plan accordingly. Every plan includes unlimited seats, all AI models and Agent Chat. Confirm current terms at promptwatch.com/pricing. Start with the free AI visibility report or the 7-day free trial.
2. Profound
Profound sells mostly to enterprise teams now. The trial reportedly runs 50 prompts daily for 7 days across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and Enterprise contracts cover up to nine engines plus API, SSO and SOC 2. Good if procurement is part of your life. Less good if you want to self-serve and see a price. There is a head-to-head at Promptwatch vs Profound.
3. Peec AI
Peec AI is a common pick for teams that want flexible prompt tracking and multi-language coverage. Trial length is not clearly stated in the sources I found, so ask before you plan around it. Zapier's roundup credits it for smart prompt suggestions.
4. Otterly.AI
Otterly.AI starts at $29 a month for 15 prompts across ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot. Fifteen prompts is tight, but it is a cheap way to learn what a tracker feels like.
5. Scrunch AI
Scrunch offers a 7-day trial and positions itself around brand monitoring with a more polished reporting layer. Since the trial is short, load your prompts the first day.
6. Rankscale
Rankscale is one of the cheapest dedicated trackers (reported at about $17/month on yearly billing) with a 7-day trial. Good for a solo marketer who just wants numbers.
7. ZipTie
ZipTie leans toward deep analysis and reporting, with an entry price around $25.65 a month. Zapier's guide rates it highly for reporting depth.
8. AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ reportedly has a free Essential tier, which makes it the easiest way to test without a card. Free tiers usually cap prompts and history, so expect to hit a wall quickly.
9. Goodie AI
Goodie AI offers a 7-day trial and focuses on AI shopping surfaces, so it is most relevant for ecommerce brands.
10. Knowatoa
Knowatoa focuses on AI Overviews and AI Mode monitoring. Useful if Google's AI surfaces matter more to you than ChatGPT.
11. SE Visible
SE Visible from SE Ranking is friendly and simple, but Surfer notes it does not track Perplexity yet. Check that gap against your own buyers.
12. Waikay
Waikay approaches AI visibility through a knowledge-graph lens and offers limited free access. It is a niche pick, worth a look if you care about how AI models represent facts about your brand.
There are well over 100 trackers now. If none of these fit, the GEO software directory at bestgeosoftware.com lists far more.
What to check in the first week of any trial
Seven days goes fast. Here is a plan that works on any platform.
Day 1: load the same prompts everywhere
Use 20 to 30 prompts: some branded, some category ("best X for Y"), some competitor comparisons. Keep them identical across tools. Short, keyword-style phrasing works best, partly because Promptwatch Data shows ChatGPT's average fanout query length has dropped, from about 117 characters in December to the 50s once fanouts returned in April (ChatGPT query fanouts report).
Day 2 to 3: check engine coverage and data source
Ask two things. Which engines does this plan really cover? And does it read the real interface or an API? User-facing answers and citations can differ from API output, which is why a score from one tool will not match another.
Day 4: look at per-engine numbers
Citation behavior differs a lot by engine. According to Promptwatch's average sources per response data, ChatGPT cites about 5 sources per web-search answer, while Google AI Overviews and Perplexity cite about 10. Copilot swung from under 2 to nearly 17 within weeks. A tool that blends everything into one score hides that. Judge Copilot on monthly trends, not weekly snapshots.
Day 5: ask what the tool tells you to do
This separates dashboards from platforms. Does it show which pages are cited, which prompts you lose, and why? Does it tell you to do something specific? A score without an action is a report card.
Day 6: test the export and reporting
Export a CSV, schedule a PDF, try the API if you have one. Agencies especially should check white-label options.
Day 7: decide on cost per useful answer
Divide the monthly price by the number of prompt responses you get. Cheap plans with 15 prompts are not cheap if you need 150.
How to pick by job
| If you need | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A free sanity check | Ahrefs checker, HubSpot, Promptwatch report | No signup or no card |
| Monitoring on a tight budget | Rankscale, Otterly.AI, ZipTie | Low entry prices |
| Monitoring plus content fixes | Promptwatch | Crawler logs, Content Agent, CMS publishing |
| Enterprise controls | Profound, Promptwatch Enterprise | SSO, API, audit logs |
| Existing SEO suite | Semrush, Ahrefs, SE Ranking | One login, shallower AI data |
If you are an agency choosing a platform for several clients, look for unlimited projects and team seats rather than per-brand pricing. The agency tiers at Promptwatch (Kick-off $199, Growth $399, Scale $799) are built that way, and the agencies page covers what is included.
Mistakes people make with trials
They test with the wrong prompts. Branded-only prompts make every tool look good because the brand name in the prompt does the work.
They ignore crawler access. If AI bots cannot read your site, no amount of tracking fixes anything. Promptwatch's free Agentic Readiness Check shows which AI crawlers can reach you.
They trust one week of data. AI answers move. Treat a trial as a test of workflow and data quality, not a verdict on your visibility.
They forget to set a calendar reminder. Several trials roll to a paid plan unless you cancel. Annual billing makes this worse.
Do you need help beyond the tool?
A trial tells you about software, not about strategy. If you want a team to run the program, an agency such as 1001 SEO Media handles GEO and technical SEO and uses Promptwatch as its own AI visibility platform. For do-it-yourself teams, the 90-day GEO program in the Promptwatch Academy is a solid starting plan.
Final take
Run a free checker today, pick three platforms for a trial this week, and load identical prompts. If one of them also tells you what to publish and then checks whether it worked, that is probably the one worth paying for. If you want to rank AI tracking tools beyond this list, ai-rank-tools.com is a good place to keep browsing.