The 10 Best Tools to Track Mentions in ChatGPT (2026): Free and Paid

Disclosure: AuditAE publishes this comparison and is one of the products reviewed. Prices, plans and engine lists for every tool were checked on each vendor's own pricing page or documentation on October 4, 2026.

The best tool to track brand mentions in ChatGPT depends on how often you need data and what you can spend. For on-demand, multi-engine checks with no subscription, AuditAE is the only option here that bills per check (5–12¢ per check, $5 free credit). For a free plan, AthenaHQ's Essential tier includes 300 credits. For a daily dashboard, pick by budget: Otterly.ai from $29/month, LLMrefs at $79/month if weekly data is enough, Peec AI or Rankscale in the mid-market, Semrush or Ahrefs Brand Radar if your SEO already lives there, and Profound or Scrunch for enterprise.

A ChatGPT mention tracker runs a set of buyer questions against the model, captures the full answer, and tells you whether you appeared, how you were described, which competitors showed up, and which sources the answer pulled from. The title says ChatGPT because that's where most people start, but you'll want the other engines too, because movement on one doesn't predict the others. Coverage varies a lot: some plans track three or four engines, others nine or more, so the tables below list what each one covers.

Quick comparison

Starting price is the lowest monthly list price for tracking your own prompts, billed monthly. Annual billing is cheaper on most of these. The engine counts are explained in the side-by-side table further down.

Why ChatGPT mentions need their own tracker

OpenAI reported more than 2.5 billion prompts a day in July 2025. A meaningful chunk are buying questions: best tool for X, alternatives to Y, who should I trust for Z. A Semrush survey found 55% of AI users did product research with it at least weekly. If a competitor is named in that answer and you aren't, you lose the deal without ever seeing it happen.

Your existing tools can't see it. Google Analytics and rank trackers were built for clicks and blue links. A mention tracker sends the prompt to the answer interface and reads what comes back. ChatGPT Search pulls live web sources, so the answer blends the model with web search.

Answers also move. Ask the same question twice and you can get different brands, a different order and different sources, so single checks lie and you need repeated runs to see a pattern. What's worth measuring: whether you were mentioned, whether your site was cited, how early in the answer you're named, the sentiment around you, which competitors appeared, and which sources the model leaned on. For more on what "cited" means across engines, see what counts as a citation.

The 10 best tools to track mentions in ChatGPT

1. AuditAE: pay per check, no subscription

AuditAE runs your buyer questions on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, with Google AI Mode as an opt-in fifth engine. For each answer it records whether you were named, whether your site was cited, how early in the answer your brand appears, which competitors were named instead, the sources behind the answer, and the sentiment. For how it checks ChatGPT specifically (live answers with web search, brand mentions vs. cited sources), see the ChatGPT brand monitoring tool.

Two things set it apart. First, there's no monthly plan. You pay for the checks you run, skip the months you don't, and can schedule re-checks weekly or monthly. Second, the audit doesn't stop at a score. Each gap gets a fix plan that names the page to change and how to change it, so the audit ends in a to-do list. There's also an MCP server, so you can pull audits into Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline and other MCP clients (see the MCP server setup guide).

Pricing: no subscription. A check is one question on one engine: 5¢ on Perplexity, 7¢ on ChatGPT, 9¢ on Google AI Overviews, 12¢ on Gemini and 10¢ on Google AI Mode. One question across the four default engines costs 33¢, so a 25-question set is $8.25 a run, about $36 a month if you re-run it weekly. New accounts get $5 of credit with no card, enough for about 15 questions on all four engines. Fix plans are billed on usage on top of the checks. Full details are on the pricing page.

Best for: teams that want multi-engine coverage without a monthly seat, agencies running audits across many clients, and anyone testing AI visibility before committing to a subscription.

The catch: it isn't an always-on dashboard that re-runs every prompt daily. Scheduled re-checks run weekly or monthly, so if your workflow depends on daily alerting, a subscription tool fits better. It also doesn't cover Microsoft Copilot or Claude. For the two pricing shapes head to head, see pay-per-check vs. subscription.

2. Otterly.ai: best cheap entry point

Otterly is the lowest-friction way into subscription tracking: self-serve signup, a free trial, daily tracking on every plan, and the cheapest plan in this list you can pay for month to month. Every plan now includes ChatGPT Ads tracking, and Standard and up add API access, MCP access and Agent Analytics.

Pricing: Lite is $29/month for 15 prompts on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. Standard is $189/month (100 prompts) and Premium $489/month (400 prompts). Gemini and Google AI Mode are add-ons at $9, $59 or $149/month each depending on the plan, and Claude at $29, $109 or $439/month. Annual billing saves about 15%. Source: Otterly pricing.

Best for: small teams and agencies that want daily numbers fast, without a sales call.

The catch: 15 prompts is a small set, and adding Gemini and AI Mode takes Lite from $29 to $47/month. If you're weighing it against pay-per-check, see Otterly alternatives.

3. Peec AI: best mid-market tracker

Peec tracks prompts daily from the entry tier, with share of voice, sentiment and citation analysis and unlimited users on every plan. You pick three models from six defaults: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot.

Pricing: Starter is $95/month for 50 prompts on three models, one project and one country. Pro is $245/month (150 prompts, two projects) and Advanced $495/month (350 prompts, five projects). Each model beyond three, including Claude, Grok and DeepSeek, costs $35, $85 or $165/month depending on the plan. Annual billing saves about 15%, there's a free trial, Enterprise is custom, and agencies have separate plans from $245/month. Source: Peec AI pricing.

Best for: mid-market B2B teams that want daily data on several engines without enterprise pricing.

The catch: three models is the cap before add-ons, so tracking all six defaults on Starter costs $95 plus 3 × $35, or $200/month. Costs scale with prompts, models and projects. See Peec AI alternatives.

4. Profound: best for enterprise depth

Profound is the enterprise pick. It re-runs every tracked prompt daily and adds Agent Analytics, which connects to your CDN or host (Cloudflare, Vercel, Akamai and others) to show AI crawler and AI-referred traffic. The company announced a $180M Series D on September 15, 2026 at a $1.8B valuation, and says it serves more than 1,000 enterprise brands, including Walmart, Comcast, Figma, and MongoDB, and over a third of the Fortune 100.

Pricing: a free 7-day Trial (50 prompts run daily on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews), then a custom-priced Enterprise plan covering up to nine engines. The old $99 Starter and $399 Growth brand plans are gone. Agencies can still self-serve on Profound's Agency Growth plan: a $99/month base plus $399/month for each client workspace. The pricing page lists the plan without a dollar figure, so the $399 comes from Profound's agency announcement (November 2025). Source: Profound pricing.

Best for: large brands and teams that need deep analytics, crawler data, governance, SSO and SOC 2, and have the budget to match.

The catch: after the trial there's no self-serve plan for brands, so pricing starts with a sales call, and the math rarely works for growth-stage teams. See Profound alternatives or Profound vs. Peec AI.

5. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: best if you already use Semrush

If your SEO already lives in Semrush, the AI Visibility Toolkit folds AI tracking into the suite you know: daily Prompt Tracking on ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews and Gemini, a weekly Brand Performance report that adds Perplexity, plus prompt research and competitor analysis.

Pricing: the standalone toolkit is $99/month for one domain and 25 tracked prompts, with no free trial. Each extra user or Brand Performance domain is another $99/month, and 50 more prompts cost $60/month. Semrush One bundles SEO and AI visibility from $199/month, with higher tiers at $299 and $549 (roughly $165, $248 and $456 a month billed annually). Source: Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit. For the full agency math, see the real cost of Semrush AI Visibility.

Best for: existing Semrush users who want AI visibility in the same dashboard as keywords, audits and backlinks.

The catch: the pricing stacks. Per-domain and per-user add-ons multiply fast for agencies, and the platform is more than you need if AI visibility is your only goal. See what the Semrush toolkit misses.

6. Ahrefs Brand Radar: best if you already use Ahrefs

Brand Radar works two ways. Custom Prompts tracks the questions you define, refreshed daily. The AI Visibility Index shows any brand's visibility across a database of more than 448 million prompts modeled on real searches, with no setup, which is handy for sizing up a market or a competitor. It covers Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot and Google AI Mode, with Claude as an extra (it uses 8 checks per update).

Pricing: Custom Prompts starts at $50/month, and Ahrefs lists $699/month for all models. The AI Visibility Index starts at $199/month (83 prompts a day, 2,500 checks a month, 2¢ per extra check). Paid Ahrefs plans include a few custom prompts: 5 on Lite ($129/month), 10 on Standard and 20 on Advanced. Brand Radar can also be bought on its own. Source: Ahrefs Brand Radar.

Best for: Ahrefs users, and teams that want market-wide data on competitors without writing prompts first.

The catch: the index is built from modeled prompts, not your exact buyer questions, and tracking your own questions on every engine costs far more than the $50 entry price. See Ahrefs pricing and a cheaper alternative.

7. AthenaHQ: best free plan

AthenaHQ pairs tracking with content work: prompt and response analysis, source and competitor insights, content recommendations and an AI agent. It's the only tool here you can start on a free plan, with no trial clock.

Pricing: Essential is free and comes with 300 credits ($25 of usage; one credit is one AI response) on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. Starter is $295/month for 3,600 credits across 11 models, adding Google AI Mode, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral; annual billing saves 17%. API access and extra credits are paid add-ons, and Enterprise is custom. Source: AthenaHQ pricing.

Best for: teams that want to try a full platform before paying, and marketers who want content recommendations next to the data.

The catch: 300 credits go quickly. One question on all five free engines uses five credits, so the free plan covers about 60 question runs, and the next step up is $295/month.

8. Scrunch: best for optimizing how AI agents read your site

Scrunch combines monitoring with site work: page audits, AI bot traffic analysis and, on Enterprise, its Agent Experience Platform, which serves an AI-optimized version of your site to AI agents.

Pricing: Core is $250/month for 125 prompts, 5,000 responses a month, 5 site audits and 5 users, on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Microsoft Copilot, with a 7-day free trial. Enterprise is custom and covers nine models, adding Gemini, Claude, Google AI Mode, Meta AI and Grok, plus API access and SSO. Source: Scrunch pricing.

Best for: brands that want monitoring plus changes to how AI agents see their site, with the budget for it.

The catch: Core leaves out Gemini, Google AI Mode and Claude, so full coverage means an Enterprise contract.

9. LLMrefs: best for keyword-based tracking

LLMrefs tracks keywords rather than single prompts. You add a keyword, it generates the related prompts people ask, and it reports share of voice, average position and citations per keyword. One plan covers every engine it supports.

Pricing: $79/month, which LLMrefs labels a limited-time price, for 500 prompts on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Grok, Microsoft Copilot, Meta AI and DeepSeek with no add-on fees. Unlimited users and projects, CSV export and API access are included, and there's a 7-day free trial. Source: LLMrefs pricing.

Best for: SEOs who think in keywords and want wide engine coverage at a low flat price.

The catch: reports refresh weekly, not daily, and the keyword approach gives you less control over the exact wording of each buyer question.

10. Rankscale: best for flexible schedules

Rankscale runs on credits. Each query to an AI engine uses a fraction of a credit, and you choose how often each search term runs: hourly, daily, weekly or monthly. It also tracks shopping cards and sponsored ads in ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Copilot.

Pricing: Pro is $99/month for 1,200 credits (up to 4,800 AI answers a month), 10 brand dashboards and 50 page audits, on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Mistral and Grok, with Meta's Muse Spark recently added, and a 7-day free trial. Pro+ ($229), Growth ($385) and Enterprise ($780) add credits and dashboards, and a smaller Essentials tier (from $17/month) is sold yearly only. Yearly billing saves 15%. Source: Rankscale pricing.

Best for: agencies running many brands that want to set a schedule per search term.

The catch: the credit math takes work. What you spend depends on how many engines each term runs on and how often, so estimate before you commit.

Engine coverage, refresh and free options

"Not listed" means the vendor's pricing page doesn't state a refresh schedule. Entry plans often cover fewer engines than the top tier, so check the plan you'd actually buy.

What AI answers cite when buyers ask about trackers

We checked this in our own data. Between May 9 and October 1, 2026, AuditAE completed 112 checks on 21 buyer questions about tracking and monitoring brand visibility in AI search. The sources those answers cited most were:

Video and vendors' own comparison posts come first, with the SEO suites and Reddit close behind. Our own site barely featured: an auditae.app URL was cited in 3 answers, all for other pages, and this post in none. The order shifts with the questions you include, and most questions ran once per engine, so read this as which kinds of sources get cited, not as a stable rate. It's also why a tracker that lists the sources behind each answer is worth having: it shows you where to show up for your own category.

How we compared these tools

Prices, plan limits, engine lists, refresh schedules and free options come from each vendor's public pricing page and documentation, checked on October 4, 2026, and each tool's section links its source. We did not buy paid plans for the other nine tools, so this comparison doesn't rate their data quality or interfaces. AuditAE's details come from our own product and its engine checks. Vendors change prices often, and some label theirs as promotional, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.

How to choose

Match the tool to how often you actually need data and how many engines matter to you.

If you check AI visibility now and then, or across many clients, a subscription you pay every month regardless is the wrong shape. Pay-per-check fits better. Start with AuditAE (its ChatGPT brand monitoring is the quickest way in), run audits when you need them, and keep all four default engines, plus Google AI Mode if you want it, in one place.

If you want to start free, use AuditAE's $5 credit or AthenaHQ's free plan, then decide whether you need a daily dashboard.

If you need an always-on dashboard, pick by budget: Otterly for the cheapest start, LLMrefs if weekly data is enough, Peec AI or Rankscale for the mid-market, Profound or Scrunch when you have enterprise needs and budget, and Semrush or Ahrefs Brand Radar when your SEO already lives there.

The one rule that holds across all of them: don't trust a single check. AI answers shift run to run, so whatever you pick, measure repeatedly before you draw a conclusion. For the underlying methodology (building a prompt set, what to measure, how often to re-run), see how to track brand mentions in AI search.

Want to see whether ChatGPT names you or your competitor right now? Run the free citation check and see your citations across all four engines in about 30 seconds, no signup.

For the full picture, the AI visibility tool turns every prompt × engine into one 0–100 score with a fix list; the AI SEO tool page prices every citation in Google Ads clicks, and the AEO tool page covers measure-and-fix end to end.