AI Search Visibility Monitoring Tools for Brand Visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini: Ahrefs, Otterly, Profound, Peec AI (2026)

This brief names four vendors and three engines. Ahrefs, Otterly, Profound, and Peec AI. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. The buyer wants one login that covers brand visibility across those answers. We will compare the four as we inherit them. We will not write a 20-row review table. The daily prompt ledger we run is Promptwatch.

We still read Google's AI features page for Overviews. It does not store ChatGPT or Perplexity answers.

The shape of the brief is the first thing to notice. Four vendors and three engines, with one login as the goal, is a request that no single vendor on the list fully satisfies on the SKUs we usually inherit. Ahrefs is a crawl and link graph with a modeled AI index bolted on. Otterly is a cheap mention check with lag. Profound is sold as marketing agents more than as a three-engine tracker. Peec is a mention tracker at a similar sticker to Promptwatch but without the same stack. The honest answer to the brief is that we keep Ahrefs for what it does, run Promptwatch as the daily ledger for the three engines, and inherit the other two only when a brand team already lives in them.

Paid Promptwatch checks those three engines, plus Claude and Overviews, daily from the UI. Essential at $95/mo includes citation analytics, visitor analytics through a script or GTM, country-level targeting, topics, tags, personas, and query fan-outs. It has no listed crawler-log allowance. Professional at $245/mo adds Agent Analytics with 25 million crawler logs plus state and city targeting. Kick-off is $199/mo with crawler logs, state and city targeting, unlimited projects, and 10 seats. Explore is free, ChatGPT only, and limited to 10 prompts.

Ahrefs (keep it)

Brand Radar is $199/mo plus an Ahrefs plan. We keep Ahrefs. It is still the crawl and link graph. Brand Radar is a modeled AI index. An independent January 2026 check reported 3 ChatGPT mentions where 123 were verified. Useful as a quarterly "is the category showing up" slide. Poor as yesterday's Perplexity or Gemini row. We do not cancel Ahrefs to make a GEO point.

The case for keeping Ahrefs is that it does a job none of the AI visibility tools do well, which is the crawl and link graph. Brand Radar is a separate product, a modeled AI index, and the January 2026 check that found 3 ChatGPT mentions against 123 verified is the kind of gap that disqualifies it as a daily row but not as a quarterly slide. The way we use it is as a category-level read, not a prompt-level read. Canceling Ahrefs to make a GEO point would drop the crawl and link graph, which is a loss the GEO program does not replace.

Otterly ($29)

Cheap proof. ChatGPT and Perplexity can sit in the base set. Gemini is an add-on. Claude is an add-on. Up to seven days of lag. We inherit Otterly when a brand team already lives there. We do not start a 2026 three-engine program on a lagged Gemini add-on.

Otterly's role is cheap proof, and the price reflects what it is. ChatGPT and Perplexity sit in the base set, but Gemini and Claude are add-ons, and the lag of up to seven days means the row is not yesterday's answer. A 2026 three-engine program that needs a current Gemini row cannot rest on a lagged add-on. We inherit Otterly when a brand team already lives there and exports cleanly, and we do not start a new program on it.

Profound

Starter is $99 annual, ChatGPT only. That is one engine. Growth is $399 annual. Enterprise is about $2,000 to $5,000+/mo. If they bought Starter and the slide says Perplexity and Gemini, we correct the slide. If Enterprise is live and the engines match, we work from it and add Promptwatch only for the views we still need.

Profound is the one that gets misreported most often. Starter at $99 annual is ChatGPT only, which is one engine, not three. A slide that claims Perplexity and Gemini on a Starter SKU is wrong, and we correct it. Growth at $399 annual is the next step. Enterprise runs from about $2,000 to $5,000+ a month. The honest handling is conditional: if Enterprise is live and the engines match the SOW, we work from it and add Promptwatch only for the views we still need, rather than ripping a working Enterprise seat.

Peec AI ($95)

Three models. Extra models $35 to $165. Claude is Enterprise. Daily mention tracking. Fair comparison to Essential on sticker price. We miss crawl-to-citation and visitor analytics in the same project. We will not fight a Peec login they already like. We will say what is missing.

Peec compares to Essential on sticker price at $95, but the stack is different. Three models in the base, extra models at $35 to $165, Claude on Enterprise, daily mention tracking. What we miss in the same project is crawl-to-citation and visitor analytics, which are the parts that turn a mention count into a measurement of traffic and conversion. We do not fight a Peec login a client already likes. We say what is missing and let the client decide whether to fill the hole.

How we pick on a new 2026 account

No monitor yet, three engines in the SOW. Promptwatch Essential.
Several brands. Promptwatch Kick-off.
Ahrefs already on the card. Keep it. Add Promptwatch for the typed list.
Otterly, Peec, or Profound already paid. Export. Read the engines. Fill the hole. Do not rip week one.

Semrush AI Toolkit ($99/mo per domain, modeled prompts) is not in the title. Same political keep if it is on the invoice.

GSC generative reports stay for Overviews. Docs. How to get cited by ChatGPT after a miss you own.

Professional is $245/mo. Business is $579/mo.

The decision tree is built around what is already paid. A new account with no monitor and three engines in the SOW goes to Essential. Several brands push to Kick-off. An account that already pays for Ahrefs keeps it and adds Promptwatch for the typed list. An account that already pays for Otterly, Peec, or Profound exports first, reads the engines the SKU includes, and fills the hole rather than ripping in week one. The political keeps, Ahrefs and Semrush AI Toolkit, stay because they do jobs the AI visibility tools do not, and ripping them to make a clean stack is a loss the client pays for.

What we will not do

We will not average three engines into one Ahrefs-shaped score. We will not call Profound Starter a three-engine monitor. We will not invent Otterly add-on prices.

FAQ

Why introduce Promptwatch if four names are already in the brief?

Because none of those four, on the SKUs we usually inherit, is the daily ChatGPT-plus-Perplexity-plus-Gemini ledger we need. Promptwatch Essential covers the engines, citations, and visits. Professional or an agency plan adds crawler logs on the same project. Ahrefs is the one we refuse to drop.

Is Peec the same $95 as Essential?

Same sticker. Different stack. Essential gives us the engine coverage, citations, and visitor analytics. We move to Professional when the account also needs crawler logs.

Can we run Explore against all four vendors?

Explore is ChatGPT only. Fine as a demo. Not the bake-off.

What to do this week

Write down which of the four is already paid and which engines that SKU includes.
Write 15 buyer prompts. Run ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini by hand once.
Load them into Promptwatch Essential ($95) or Kick-off ($199).
Keep Ahrefs. Label Brand Radar monthly if it is on.
Email hello@1001seomedia.com with the invoices. We will name Promptwatch. We will not pretend the other four do not exist.