What are the best alternatives to Profound?
The closest alternatives to Profound depend on why you are looking: Otterly AI, Rankscale and AthenaHQ for a published entry price; Scrunch, Goodie and Peec AI for a mid-market platform; Semrush and Ahrefs for teams already inside an SEO suite; and CiteLadder or another open-source tracker if you want to read the scoring code or run it yourself. Profound now sells a tailored Enterprise plan plus a free trial, so most searchers are either priced out of a contract or want a tool they can buy today.
This guide gives the dated facts about what changed at Profound, a criteria table, one short section per alternative with its official positioning and verified price, and the questions to ask before a pilot. CiteLadder's own AI visibility product is included and labelled as ours.
Disclosure: This comparison is published by CiteLadder, which sells a product in this category. We read official product and pricing pages on 20 October 2026. We did not run paid trials or benchmark collection accuracy. Where a vendor's page did not show a price, we say so instead of repeating a third-party figure. Reconfirm plan details before purchase.
What changed at Profound
Three dated facts explain the current interest in alternatives:
- Self-serve plans were removed. In mid-September 2026, Profound's pricing page stopped listing the Starter (US$99 per month) and Growth (US$399 per month) plans for brands. A pricing-change tracker recorded the diff in the week of 21 September 2026.[1]
- The public offer is now trial plus Enterprise. On 20 October 2026 the pricing page showed a free trial with 50 prompts run daily for 7 days across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and a custom-priced Enterprise plan with up to nine answer engines, SSO/SAML and SOC 2 compliance.[2]
- The company raised a large round. Profound announced a US$180 million Series D at a US$1.8 billion valuation on 15 September 2026.[3]
Profound's homepage positions it as "The AI marketing platform to win in AI search platforms", with named products for an AI marketing agent, a command centre and brand records.[4] It documents SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance on its own blog.[5] If you need those certifications and a nine-engine footprint, Profound remains a serious option; the head-to-head page CiteLadder vs Profound covers that comparison in detail.
We did not find an Enterprise price on any official page. Figures circulating on third-party blogs are estimates, and we have not repeated them.
Criteria for comparing alternatives
Use the same brief for every vendor: 50 unbranded prompts, three named engines, one country, daily for 30 days, with raw answers and cited URLs exported.
| Criterion | What to check |
|---|---|
| Published entry price | Can you buy it today without a sales call, and what does that tier include? |
| Engines on that tier | Which engines are in the entry plan, and which are add-ons or Enterprise-only? |
| Prompt and refresh limits | Prompts per plan, runs per day, repetitions per prompt |
| Evidence | Can you open the raw answer and the cited URLs behind a score? |
| Method transparency | Does the vendor state how mentions are matched, how runs are repeated and whether the API or app is measured? |
| Enterprise controls | SSO, SOC 2, API access, audit log, if your procurement needs them |
| What happens after the score | Site diagnostics, ranked actions, content tools, agent access |
| Source availability | Is the code public, and can you self-host? |
Otterly AI
Otterly AI positions itself as "the Content Intelligence Platform for AI Search".[6] On 20 October 2026 its pricing page listed Lite at US$25 per month with 15 prompts, Standard at US$160 and Premium at US$422, plus a custom Enterprise tier. The page appears to show annual-billed rates; other listings show a US$29 monthly Lite price. ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot are included on every tier, and Gemini, Claude and Google AI Mode are paid add-ons.[7]
Shortlist it for a small, cheap monitoring pilot with explicit prompt limits. Check whether the engines you care about are add-ons, and how extra markets consume prompts. See CiteLadder vs Otterly AI.
Scrunch
Scrunch describes itself this way: "Scrunch gets your site AI-ready so you show up in answers, get cited, and grow revenue."[8] It has been a Sitecore company since June 2026.[9] On 20 October 2026 its pricing page listed Core at US$250 per month with 125 prompts and a custom Enterprise tier. Core covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Copilot; Enterprise adds Claude, Gemini and others, plus SSO (SAML and OIDC), API access and its Agent Experience Platform.[10]
Shortlist it for teams whose question extends from mentions to how agents fetch the site. Check which delivery features sit in your package and who owns the CDN changes. See CiteLadder vs Scrunch.
Peec AI
Peec AI positions itself as "AI search analytics for marketing teams".[11] Its pricing page describes plans by prompts and models: 50, 150 or 350 prompts with a choice of three models, unlimited users and daily tracking, and an Enterprise tier with up to 13 models, API access and SSO. The numeric prices did not render in our fetch, so we are not quoting one; third-party figures exist but are unverified.[12]
Shortlist it for prompt-led brand and source analysis with many users. Check the final price for your model mix and the country limits. See CiteLadder vs Peec AI.
AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ positions itself as "Control How AI Search Perceives Your Brand with Athena".[13] On 20 October 2026 its plans page listed a free Essential tier with 300 credits, Starter at US$295 per month with 3,600 credits, and a custom Enterprise tier. The free tier covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot; Starter lists eleven engines including Claude. Enterprise adds SAML or OIDC SSO, API access and an organisation audit log.[14]
Shortlist it for a free start that can grow into enterprise controls. Check how credits convert into prompt-engine runs, because the unit is not a prompt count.
Semrush
Semrush sells AI visibility two ways. The standalone AI Visibility Toolkit is listed at US$99 per month per domain, with 25 tracked prompts.[22] It is also bundled with the SEO toolkit in the "SEO & AI Search" (Semrush One) plans. On 20 October 2026 the bundled plan page listed Starter at US$165.17 per month billed annually, with 50 prompts tracked daily on one domain, then Pro+ at US$248.17 and Advanced at US$455.67. Coverage is described as Google Search, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and more.[15] Semrush has been owned by Adobe since April 2026.[16]
Shortlist it for an SEO team that wants AI reporting inside a toolset it already pays for. Check that the module you are quoted includes custom prompt tracking and not only pre-collected database reports.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
Ahrefs' pitch is "Make AI recommend your brand".[17] Brand Radar is sold as add-ons to a paid Ahrefs plan: Custom Prompts from €47 per month (€654 per month for all models, and the page says it is free on paid Ahrefs Lite plans and above) and an AI Visibility Index from €179 per month, as shown on 20 October 2026 to a European fetch. The index covers AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot; Claude is available for Custom Prompts.[17]
Shortlist it for category discovery across a large pre-collected index, alongside custom prompts. Check the local-currency price at checkout and the difference between index data and your own tracked prompts.
Goodie
Goodie positions itself as "Full-Stack AEO That Actually Drives Revenue".[18] On 20 October 2026 its pricing page listed Core at US$295 per month, Pro at US$999 per month and a custom Enterprise tier. Core covers ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, AI Mode and Copilot; Enterprise adds Gemini, Claude and others, with SOC 2, SSO/SAML and MCP and API access.[18]
Shortlist it for a content-heavy program that wants tracking and production in one vendor. Check which engines are Enterprise-only for your plan.
Rankscale
Rankscale's pricing page is headed "Plans that scale with your ambition". On 20 October 2026 it listed Pro at US$99 per month, Pro+ at US$229, Growth at US$385 and Enterprise at US$780, all published. It distinguishes API-collected engines (GPT, Gemini, Claude, Mistral and Perplexity variants) from interface-collected ones such as AI Overviews and Copilot.[19]
Shortlist it for a fully published price list, including the top tier. Check which engines are API-collected and which are interface-collected, since the two give different answers.
Open-source options
If the reason you are leaving is seat pricing, data location or a wish to read the scoring code, several trackers publish their source. Elmo is an MIT-licensed AEO and GEO platform that runs on Docker Compose with your own PostgreSQL and is also sold as a cloud service. Limelit Open is an Apache-2.0 single-binary tracker that its README marks as pre-release. OneGlanse is MIT-licensed and captures answers through the real product interfaces in a browser. CiteLadder is AGPL-3.0 and is covered below.[20]
Open-source trackers do not come with SOC 2 reports or SSO; you provide identity and hosting yourself, and you pay providers directly for each call. The open source page explains the self-hosted and hosted options, the Docker quickstart and the licence in plain language.
CiteLadder (our product)
CiteLadder tracks what ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews say for a fixed prompt set, stores every raw answer and cited URL, and connects the result to a Site Health crawl and a ranked Actions list. The measurement rules are stated and the code that implements them is public under AGPL-3.0: each prompt can be run up to 10 times per engine, mentions match on word boundaries, citations come only from engine metadata, and unavailable results are never counted as zero.[21] You can self-host it or use the hosted version, which adds accounts and team workspaces and offers a 7-day free trial on ChatGPT answers. Trial limits apply. Current plans are on the pricing page.
Where it fits: teams that want the evidence behind every score, want to read the method rather than trust a description of it, and want site diagnostics and actions in the same workflow. It also exposes read and change tools over MCP, so an assistant can query results and propose changes that you confirm.
Where it does not fit: CiteLadder covers four engines. If your contract requires Perplexity, Copilot, Google AI Mode, DeepSeek or Grok, Profound Enterprise or one of the tools above covers more. CiteLadder also does not advertise SOC 2, SSO or HIPAA; if those are procurement requirements, raise them before a pilot. The enterprise AEO page describes what the hosted service does provide for a security review.
Which alternative for which reason
| If you are leaving Profound because... | Start with |
|---|---|
| You need a price you can pay by card today | Otterly AI, Rankscale, AthenaHQ |
| You want a mid-market platform | Scrunch, Goodie, Peec AI |
| You already pay for an SEO suite | Semrush, Ahrefs Brand Radar |
| You want to read the scoring code | CiteLadder, Elmo, Limelit Open |
| You need the broadest engine list | Stay with Profound Enterprise, or compare Goodie and AthenaHQ Enterprise |
Whatever you shortlist, ask each vendor for the denominator behind its visibility score and for an export of one week's raw answers. A number computed only over answers that mention your brand is not comparable with a rate over all valid answers. The guide to share of voice explains the definitions to insist on.
Frequently asked questions
Does Profound still have self-serve plans?
Not for brands, as of 20 October 2026. The public pricing page shows a free trial and a custom Enterprise plan. Third-party reports describe an agency arrangement, but we could not verify it on the official page.
Is there a free Profound alternative?
AthenaHQ lists a free Essential tier. Open-source trackers such as CiteLadder, Elmo and Limelit Open are free to run, though you pay your model and data providers per call.
Is there an open-source Profound alternative?
Yes. CiteLadder (AGPL-3.0), Elmo (MIT), Limelit Open (Apache-2.0) and OneGlanse (MIT) all publish their source. They cover different engines and collect answers in different ways, so compare those before the licence.
How do I compare visibility scores between tools?
Do not. Compare raw answers. Each vendor defines mentions, position and share of voice differently, and some measure the provider API while others capture the consumer app. Export one week of answers from each and recompute a single metric yourself.
Which alternative covers the most engines?
Among the tools reviewed, the enterprise tiers of Goodie, AthenaHQ and Profound list the longest engine sets. Entry tiers are narrower everywhere; check the tier you would actually buy.
Can any of these tools prove why my visibility changed?
No. Trackers report observed change between comparable runs. Attributing a change to a page edit needs a controlled comparison, not a dashboard.
Sources
- PricingSaaS, Profound pricing diff, week 39 of 2026, recorded 21 September 2026.
- Profound pricing, read 20 October 2026.
- Profound newsroom, Profound raises $180M Series D at $1.8B valuation, 15 September 2026.
- Profound homepage, read 20 October 2026.
- Profound blog, SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA compliance.
- Otterly AI homepage, read 20 October 2026.
- Otterly AI pricing, read 20 October 2026.
- Scrunch homepage, read 20 October 2026.
- PR Newswire, Sitecore acquires Scrunch, June 2026.
- Scrunch pricing, read 20 October 2026.
- Peec AI homepage, read 20 October 2026.
- Peec AI pricing, read 20 October 2026; numeric prices did not render.
- AthenaHQ homepage, read 20 October 2026.
- AthenaHQ plans, read 20 October 2026.
- Semrush SEO & AI Search pricing, read 20 October 2026.
- Adobe, Adobe completes Semrush acquisition, April 2026.
- Ahrefs Brand Radar, read 20 October 2026; prices shown in EUR.
- Goodie pricing, read 20 October 2026.
- Rankscale pricing, read 20 October 2026.
- GitHub repositories, read 20 October 2026: elmohq/elmo, limelit-co/open, oneglanse/oneglanse.
- CiteLadder repository README, read 20 October 2026, and CiteLadder pricing.
- Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit pricing and knowledge base, read 20 October 2026.
More guides
- Best AI Visibility Platforms and AEO Tools in 2026: ComparedCompare AI visibility platforms by workflow, evidence, coverage and pricing structure. See which tools to shortlist and what to verify before buying.
- Open Source AI Visibility Tool: Self-Hosted LLM Tracking with CiteLadderCiteLadder is an AGPL-3.0 AI visibility tracker you can self-host. What is open, how to run it with Docker, and what the licence asks of you.