Is VisiScan Worth It?
We run Promptwatch on client programs. VisiScan is a four-engine local scan at $0 / $49 / $29. We would use the free pass for a trades URL, not as the GEO scoreboard.
Local clients forward VisiScan because the scan is free and the $29 Monitor looks cheaper than our stack. We already run Promptwatch on client programs. We read pricing.md (24 August 2026) and the live site on 29 August 2026. We would not replace measurement with a 12-question weekly re-grade. We might run the free scan on a plumber or clinic URL as a conversation piece, next to Promptwatch, not instead of it.
The forwarding email is predictable. A local owner sees a free scan, sees a $29 monthly grade, and asks why the retainer costs more. The honest answer is that the two tools do different jobs, and we walk through it on the call rather than let the price column do the talking.
Founder: Mike Holp. Four engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini.
Four engines is the full set VisiScan runs. No Grok, no Google Overviews. That is the ceiling on what it can report, and it matters for clients who care about those surfaces.
What we checked
Free: 5 questions, 2 samples, up to 40 answers, 1 scan per URL, no API. Scores without a card. Email to keep the free link. One homepage block still talks like email unlocks the full report. The SKU is $49. We screenshot for the client.
The free tier is a one-shot per URL. Five questions across two samples gives up to 40 answers, which is enough for a snapshot and nothing more. The email gate keeps the link alive but does not unlock the full report, despite one homepage block implying it does. We screenshot the result for the client file so the claim is dated.
$49: 12 questions, 3 samples, up to 144 answers, quotes, citation plan, schema and llms.txt to paste, L1-L5 ladder, 7-day refund if five new things are missing. That is a deliverable we could attach to a local audit. It is not a workspace.
The $49 report is the real product. Twelve questions times three samples gives up to 144 answers, plus a citation plan and schema or llms.txt files to paste. The L1 to L5 ladder is a readiness grade. The refund is specific: seven days if five new things are missing. That is a deliverable we would attach to a local audit PDF. It is not a workspace you log into weekly.
$29/mo or $290/yr: weekly at that depth, alerts, beacon counting AI referrers, API. We measure bots on Promptwatch Agent Analytics. We will not tell a client the beacon is the same QBR.
Monitor is the subscription. It reruns the 12-question scan weekly, sends alerts, and runs a beacon that counts AI referrers. The API lets you create and list monitors with a key. We measure actual bot fetches on Promptwatch Agent Analytics, which is a different signal from a beacon counting referrers. We will not tell a client the beacon is the same as a quarterly business review.
Harborlight / Ridgeline / Fast Bros: illustrative. 328 scans, 289 index, average 25: vendor. No Grok, no Overviews. Paste, not Webflow publish.
The demo plumbers are illustrative, not customers we can call. The 328 scans and average visibility of 25 are vendor stats about their own index. The output is schema and llms.txt to paste, not a publish to Webflow or Framer.
Pricing we can put in a proposal
| Vendor | What we can print | Role on our accounts |
|---|---|---|
| VisiScan free | $0 | Prospecting a local URL |
| VisiScan report | $49 once | Attach to a local audit PDF |
| VisiScan Monitor | $29/mo | Only if they insist on a cheap weekly grade; we still keep Promptwatch |
| Promptwatch Explore | $0 | ChatGPT smoke test we already use |
| Promptwatch Essential | $95/mo | Citations, visitor events, 5 AEO articles |
| Promptwatch Professional | $245/mo | 25M crawler logs, 15 articles |
We read the table top to bottom with the client. The first three rows are VisiScan at its three price points, each scoped to a specific role. The next three are Promptwatch at its price points, each scoped to a measurement role. The rows do not compete row for row. VisiScan free competes with nothing on our side because Explore is also free. VisiScan $49 is a one-time PDF. VisiScan $29 monthly is the one we stop on.
VisiScan $29 is not a Promptwatch plan. We stop that sentence on the call. Promptwatch has no $29 SKU.
We stop it because the comparison gets made on price alone, and $29 sounds like a Promptwatch tier someone heard about. There is no $29 Promptwatch plan. The cheapest paid Promptwatch brand plan is Essential at $95. Letting the $29 slide turns into a procurement problem later.
When we say yes
Yes as a free scan on a local service we do not intend to put on a full GEO retainer. Yes as a $49 appendix if the owner wants a shareable 144-answer page and will paste schema themselves.
Yes is scoped. The free scan on a plumber or clinic URL is a conversation piece for the first email. The $49 report is an appendix to a local audit if the owner will paste the schema. Neither yes is a measurement program.
No as the GEO platform. We run logs, citations, conversions, and CMS agents on Promptwatch. No if finance thinks $29 Monitor replaces Essential.
No is also scoped. We will not let Monitor stand in for the platform that runs crawler logs, citation analytics, visitor conversions, and CMS publishing. If finance thinks $29 replaces Essential, the answer is no, because the two do not cover the same work.
How we explain it on a call
VisiScan is a named-rate flashlight for "best [trade] near me." Promptwatch is the stack we already operate for whether ChatGPT cited the client this week, which bot fetched the URL, and whether that visit converted. A 60-second scan is fine. It is not a reason to change the number in the deck.
The flashlight metaphor lands because local owners know what a flashlight is. It shows you one thing right now. It does not record. The stack records. A 60-second scan is fine for a first impression. It is not a reason to change the number in the deck, because the deck number comes from the record, not the scan.
If they insist on Monitor, we still keep Promptwatch Explore at minimum. We do not mark homework in a weekly 12-question loop.
Monitor reruns the same 12 questions weekly. That is homework grading, not measurement. We keep Explore at minimum so there is a standing ChatGPT meter on the account even if the client will not log into a full cockpit.
VisiScan can be worth a free pass or a $49 PDF. It is not worth dropping Promptwatch.