We make BusinessPulse, one of the tools on this list. We've tried to describe every tool, ours included, by what it does and what it costs, and to say where another tool is the better fit.
What are the best AI visibility tools for small businesses?
It depends on whether you need a one-time answer or ongoing tracking. Prices as listed in October 2026; check each vendor before buying.
| Tool | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| BusinessPulse snapshot | Free | Seeing which buyer questions in your industry cite your site, and who wins the rest |
| HubSpot AI Search Grader | Free | A quick read on how assistants describe your brand |
| Otterly.AI | From $29 a month | Low-cost ongoing tracking of a few questions you choose |
| Peec AI | From about $95 a month | Daily tracking for a small team or agency |
| HubSpot AEO | From $50 a month | Businesses already working in HubSpot |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99 a month per domain | Businesses already using Semrush for SEO |
| Profound | From $99 a month, billed yearly | Larger brands that will grow into its higher tiers |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | From $199 a month per AI index | Businesses already using Ahrefs, with a bigger budget |
Is there a free tool to check if ChatGPT mentions my business?
- BusinessPulse snapshot (free). Asks Perplexity 20 buyer questions drawn from a question set for your industry, filled in with your service and town, and reports which answers cite your site, whether your business was named, and which sites were cited instead, split into directories, reference sites, and competitors. You don't have to write the questions. It offers a free re-check 30 days later. It covers one assistant and isn't an ongoing tracker.
- HubSpot AI Search Grader (free). Scores how ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini describe your brand: sentiment, recognition, and share of voice. HubSpot says it reflects what the assistants learned in training, so it tells you about reputation rather than which pages get cited when an assistant searches today.
Ongoing trackers sized for a small business
- Otterly.AI (from $29 a month). The cheapest paid entry. The Lite plan tracks 15 questions you write; more questions and some assistants (Gemini, Claude, Google AI Mode) cost extra.
- Peec AI (from about $95 a month). About 50 questions across three assistants, daily, with unlimited users. Priced in euros, so the dollar figure moves.
- HubSpot AEO (from $50 a month). Ongoing citation tracking inside HubSpot. Most useful if your marketing already runs there.
Larger platforms
- Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit ($99 a month per domain). 25 questions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI results. Good value if you already use Semrush.
- Profound (from $99 a month, billed yearly). The entry plan tracks ChatGPT only; broader coverage starts at $399 a month. Built for brands with marketing teams.
- Ahrefs Brand Radar (from $199 a month per AI index). Large pools of real prompts across many assistants. Reviewers report it generally needs a paid Ahrefs plan underneath, so the real cost is higher.
Checking AI answers by hand vs using a tracking tool: which is better?
Checking by hand costs nothing. Open a private window, ask an assistant the questions your buyers ask, and read the sources under each answer. For a first look at five or ten questions, that's enough.
A tool earns its price when you need:
- The same questions, asked the same way, on a schedule. Answers change from day to day, so a single check proves little.
- More than one assistant. Doing four assistants by hand, every month, gets old fast.
- A record. You can't show progress without a baseline to compare against.
Whichever you choose, the hard part is the questions. A tool that tracks only the questions you thought of will miss the ones you didn't, and most businesses think of "who does this near me" and forget cost, permits, and comparisons, which is where they're least often cited.
Which AI engines should an AI visibility tool track?
At minimum, ChatGPT and Perplexity: they're the assistants most buyers use to ask for recommendations, and both show their sources. Gemini and Claude are worth adding; in our audits, the four assistants regularly cite different sites for the same question.
Be careful with Google's AI Overviews. Google publishes no way for a tool to ask AI Overviews a question and read the answer, so treat exact AI Overview numbers with some caution, whoever reports them.
A tool measures; it doesn't fix
Every tool on this list tells you where you stand. None of them writes the pages that change the answer. If a tool shows you're losing every cost question to a cost guide, the fix is a cost page on your site with real prices for your area. How to get cited by AI search covers that work, and our guide to what AEO costs covers what it costs to hire it out.
To see where you stand first, run a free BusinessPulse snapshot.