# 5 Best AI Search Visibility Tools for Indie Founders (2026)

Canonical: https://www.dharmikjagodana.com/blogs/best-ai-visibility-tools-for-indie-founders
Published: 2026-10-23
Description: AI visibility tools for indie founders, compared on price and engines. ZipTie, Otterly, HubSpot AEO, SE Visible, and Semrush from pages checked Oct 23, 2026.

AI visibility tools for indie founders are a price problem before they are a feature problem. The figures below are from vendor pages. These products were not used.

If the bill has to stay near $30, start with ZipTie or Otterly.AI. HubSpot AEO is the $50 option that includes Gemini and skips Google AI Overviews. SE Visible is the one that checks 200 prompts. Semrush is last on this list, because $99 tracks 25 prompts and the pricing page bills it annually.

Some links in this post are affiliate links. The Otterly.AI pricing link and the SE Ranking team link are referral links. If you buy through one, I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. That did not change who is on the list or the order.

I build [MakerRadar](https://makerradar.io/). It is a weekly launch board. The public page is about getting a listing found on Google and in AI answers. It does not track prompts, and it is not in these five.

Best for a configurable bill: ZipTie.
Best for a fixed 15-prompt plan: Otterly.AI.
Best for Gemini at $50: HubSpot AEO.
Best for 200 prompts: SE Visible.
Best for prompt research inside Semrush: Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit.

Updated October 23, 2026.

- Published 23 October 2026. Vendor pricing pages, product pages, and public docs checked the same day. No hands-on testing.
- SE Ranking referral link added. The SE Visible product link stays the vendor page. Order unchanged.
- ZipTie re-checked on ziptie.ai on October 23, 2026. ziptie.dev/pricing now redirects there. The old $69 ladder is gone. Otterly: joined the referral program the same day. The pricing link is the referral link. Order unchanged.

## How this list was chosen

An assistant drafted this from the vendors' own pages. I have not used ZipTie, Otterly.AI, HubSpot AEO, SE Visible, Semrush, Peec AI, Profound, Ahrefs, Scrunch, or AthenaHQ. There is no hands-on test in this post.

Checked on October 23, 2026. Each tool section links the pricing page, product page, or doc that the sentence comes from. When a page is silent, the line says "not stated". When two official pages disagree, both are quoted. They are not averaged.

The five were picked on these criteria, in this order:

- A public monthly price an indie can pay, without a custom enterprise quote.
- Which AI engines that entry price tracks.
- How many prompts the entry plan includes, enough to cover about 10.
- Whether citation tracking is on that plan.
- Whether the page states a trial or a free start.

Affiliate programs did not change who is on the list or the order. I have joined SE Ranking and Otterly.AI. Semrush and HubSpot are applied and in review. The Otterly pricing link and the SE Ranking team link are the affiliate links. The SE Visible product link stays the vendor page.

Left off, with the reason:

- [Peec AI](https://peec.ai/pricing). The pricing page shows a Starter plan with 50 prompts, a choice of 3 models, 1 project, daily tracking, and unlimited users. The same page has a "Start free trial" control. The page text did not include a dollar amount, so I cannot rank it on price.
- [Profound](https://www.tryprofound.com/pricing). Trial is free: 50 prompts run daily for 7 days, on ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. Trial prompts are a recommended set. You cannot edit them. The paid plan is Enterprise, and the price is custom. That is not a known monthly bill.
- [Ahrefs Brand Radar](https://ahrefs.com/brand-radar). The AI Visibility Index starts at $199 a month. Custom prompts are described as free on every paid Ahrefs Lite plan and above. The [Ahrefs pricing page](https://ahrefs.com/pricing) lists Lite at $129 a month, and the Brand Radar page says a paid plan includes a daily custom-prompt quota of 5 on Lite. That is a smaller allowance than Otterly's $29 plan.
- [Scrunch](https://scrunch.com/pricing/). Core is $250 a month for 125 prompts, 5,000 responses, and four engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Copilot. Citations are included. MCP is on Enterprise, which is custom. The same job is cheaper on the five above.
- [AthenaHQ](https://athenahq.ai/plans). Essential is free and includes 300 credits, plus "$25 free credit". Starter is $295 a month for 3,600 credits. The plans page says 1 credit is 1 AI response on the Starter row. 300 credits does not cover 10 prompts across several engines for a month.
- MakerRadar. Mine. Disclosed above. Not a tracker, so it is not ranked.

## Comparison

| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free tier | MCP support | AI models | Platforms | Open source/self-host | Standout feature | Main drawback | AI engines tracked | Prompts on entry plan | Citation tracking |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [ZipTie](https://ziptie.ai/pricing/) | A small bill where you pay for the prompts and engines you actually run | From $25.65 a month | 7 days, 25 daily prompts, no card. ChatGPT, AI Overviews, and Copilot only | Official add-on, $10 a month, not on the trial | not stated | Web | not stated | You pick the engines. Each one costs the same. | No fixed plan price. The bill follows the prompts and engines | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, AI Mode, Copilot, Bing AI Overview, Gemini | Example: 30 daily prompts on 3 engines | Yes. UGC Impact Analysis is an extra 80% |
| [Otterly.AI](https://otterly.ai/pricing?via=dharmik) | A fixed plan at $29 with 15 prompts and four engines included | $29 a month | Free trial, no card. Length not stated | Official on Standard (2,000 a month) and Premium (5,000). Not on Lite | not stated | Web | not stated | Citation source tracking is on the $29 plan | Gemini, AI Mode, and Claude cost extra. MCP starts at $189 | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot. Others are add-ons | 15 | Yes, on Lite |
| [HubSpot AEO](https://www.hubspot.com/products/aeo) | A fixed 25-prompt pack at $50, with Gemini included | $50 a month | 25 prompts on 3 engines, no card. Docs say 28 days | not stated | not stated | Web | not stated | Recommendations and citation analysis without a HubSpot plan | No Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Copilot, or Claude | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity | 25 daily, 2,500 answers a month | Yes |
| [SE Visible](https://visible.seranking.com/) | 200 prompts checked every day on five engines, at $99 | From $99 a month | 10-day free trial | not stated | not stated | Web | not stated | One prompt counts once, then runs on all five engines | Copilot is not listed. Claude is described as coming soon | ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, Perplexity, AI Overviews | 200 | Yes. Domains, URLs, and source categories |
| [Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit](https://www.semrush.com/pricing/ai/) | Prompt research and a site audit in the same Semrush account | $99 a month, billed annually | No trial on this toolkit | not stated | not stated | Web | not stated | 1,000 prompt-research queries a day, plus a 100-page AI site audit | 25 tracked prompts, no trial, and the price is per domain per year | ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, Perplexity | 25 | Yes. Mentions, citations, and competitor gaps |

## ZipTie

ZipTie is a web tracker where the bill follows the prompts you monitor and the engines you run. The [pricing page](https://ziptie.ai/pricing/) says seats, projects, competitors, and exports are not charged. There is no fixed plan price.

The page's own schema description, checked on October 23, 2026, says the $25.65 figure is one example: 30 daily prompts on 3 engines, monthly billing. The visible preset is "Starter from $25.65/mo". Professional is listed from $340.20 a month. Enterprise is listed from $1,647.00 a month. There is no overage pack. If you need more prompts, you change the plan.

Divide that example: $25.65 ÷ 30 = $0.855 per tracked prompt per month, and $25.65 ÷ (30 × 3) = $0.285 per prompt per engine per month, before add-ons and tax. The page says the total scales with the prompts and the engines. Ten daily prompts on 3 engines, on that same line, are 10 ÷ 30 × $25.65 = $8.55 a month.

Engines on ziptie.ai, all the same rate: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot, Bing AI Overview, and Google Gemini. The page says which engines run depends on the country, and a check for an engine that country does not serve is not billed. It also says one prompt, one engine, one check is $0.01, or $0.0087 a check on all 7 engines. A daily prompt re-runs every 24 hours at no extra cost. Those two rates are quoted as written. They are not multiplied into a second monthly total here, because the page does not label $25.65 as that multiplication. Annual billing takes 20% off the plan price, not off the flat add-ons. The pricing page does not list countries.

The trial is 7 days, no card, once per person: 25 monitored prompts on a daily refresh, on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Microsoft Copilot. Perplexity, AI Mode, Bing AI Overview, and Gemini are on a paid plan, not the trial.

Citation tracking is part of the product. UGC Impact Analysis, which ranks the third-party pages AI cites, is an add-on at +80%. Content Generation is +$20 a month per context. API and MCP are +$10 a month, on a paid plan, not the trial. Exports, CSV, Excel, PDF reports, and share links are included. The page does not state an open-source license, a SOC 2 report, or whether ZipTie trains on your prompts.

The company behind it is ZipTie. No affiliate or referral program was on the pricing page. Commission: not stated.

Use it when you want about 10 to 30 of your own prompts and you want to pick the engines. The page shows the full total before you confirm.

Skip it if you need one printed plan price and you do not want to open the configurator. Otterly.AI is that shape.

## Otterly.AI

Otterly.AI is a fixed-plan tracker. Lite is $29 a month for 15 search prompts, checked daily, with citation source tracking included. The limit is the engines that are not in that $29.

$29 ÷ 15 = $1.933… per tracked prompt per month, which is $1.93 to the cent. Ten prompts still cost $29, because the page does not sell a smaller pack. $29 ÷ 10 = $2.90 for each of those 10.

Checked on the [pricing page](https://otterly.ai/pricing?via=dharmik) on October 23, 2026. Lite is "For solo marketers, and small teams" at $29 a month. Standard is $189 a month for 100 prompts. The block with 400 prompts is $489 a month. The [help center](https://help.otterly.ai/pricing-of-otterlyai), updated August 4, 2026, calls the 400-prompt plan Premium and says Enterprise is custom, from 1,000 prompts. This post does not quote an annual dollar amount. The pricing FAQ says annual billing exists, and the help center says the exact annual price is on the pricing page. The pricing page text did not label an annual figure clearly enough to copy.

Every paid plan on that page tracks four engines: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot. Claude, Google AI Mode, and Gemini are paid add-ons. The help center says a prompt counts once per country. The same help page, updated August 4, 2026, says Standard includes 2,000 API requests and 2,000 MCP requests a month, and Premium includes 5,000 API requests and 5,000 MCP requests a month. Lite's row does not list API or MCP. Extra prompts are batches of 100 at $99 a month on Standard and Premium, not on Lite.

The pricing FAQ says there is a free trial and no extra OpenAI subscription. The help center says the trial does not need a card. Neither page states how many days the trial lasts.

Reports and export are listed on the help page for Lite, Standard, and Premium. Team members are unlimited. Lite is 1 workspace. Those pages do not state an open-source license, SOC 2, or GDPR.

The [referral page](https://otterly.ai/referral) says the program pays 20% of payments in a customer's first 12 months. Paid ads and self-referral are not allowed. There is no minimum payout. I joined on October 23, 2026. The program is Friends of OtterlyAI GmbH, on Rewardful. The Otterly pricing link in this post is that referral link.

Use it when you want a printed $29 price, 15 prompts is enough, and ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Copilot are the engines you care about.

Skip it if you need Gemini or Claude in the base price, or MCP, without jumping to an add-on or to the $189 plan.

## HubSpot AEO

HubSpot AEO is a standalone tracker at $50 a month. It watches ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, and it writes recommendations. It does not track Google AI Overviews.

$50 ÷ 25 prompts = $2.00 per tracked prompt per month. The product page's annual price is $45, and $45 ÷ 25 = $1.80. Ten prompts still cost $50 on the monthly price. The page does not list a 10-prompt pack. $50 ÷ 10 = $5.00 for each of those 10.

The [product page](https://www.hubspot.com/products/aeo), checked October 23, 2026, says you can track 25 prompts in those three engines for free, no card, then continue for $50 a month. The same page says $45 a month if you pay annually, and that no other HubSpot subscription is required. Another brand is another $50 instance. It says you can buy more prompts, and it does not list the price of those extra prompts.

The [setup doc](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/seo/set-up-and-analyze-ai-visibility), last updated October 2, 2026, says the free trial is 28 days. The product page does not say 28 days. Both are quoted. The doc's limit table gives HubSpot AEO, trial and paid, 25 prompts a day and 2,500 answers a month, on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. Prompts run daily. Marketing Hub Enterprise is a different product: 50 prompts and 5,000 answers, plus blog generation and CRM prompt suggestions. Those two features are not on the standalone AEO row.

Citation analysis is on the product page and in the doc: domains, pages, content types, and how you compare with competitors. Share of voice is there too. The doc says you can manage what data is shared, and it points at HubSpot's AI Trust FAQs. Those FAQs were not opened, so this post does not state a training policy or a SOC 2 claim. MCP and a CSV export are not stated on the product page or the setup doc. It is a web app. License: not stated.

The [affiliate program](https://www.hubspot.com/partners/affiliates) pays 30% recurring commission for up to one year, with a 180-day cookie, on Impact. The Starter tier is that 30% at 0 to 29 sign-ups a month. Minimum withdrawal is $10. You do not have to be a HubSpot customer. I have applied. It is in review. This post does not use an affiliate link.

Use it when $50 is an acceptable fixed bill, you want Gemini without an add-on, and you can live without Google AI Overviews.

Skip it if the question you care about is what Google's AI Overview says. ZipTie, Otterly.AI, and SE Visible list that engine. HubSpot does not.

## SE Visible

SE Visible is the AI visibility tracker from the [SE Ranking team](https://seranking.com/?ga=5321108&source=link). Basic is $99 for 200 prompts, checked every day on five engines. The limit is the engines that are missing, not the prompt count. The product page stays [SE Visible](https://visible.seranking.com/). That link is not the referral link.

$99 ÷ 200 = $0.495 per tracked prompt per month. That rate is the full allowance. Ten prompts still cost $99, because Basic does not list a smaller pack. $99 ÷ 10 = $9.90 for each of those 10.

The [product page](https://visible.seranking.com/), checked October 23, 2026, lists Basic at $99, Core from $189 for 450 prompts, and a third plan from $355 for 1,000 prompts. The third plan's name did not come through in the page text. There is a 10-day free trial. A prompt counts once against the limit, then runs on all five engines. The page's example: 200 prompts on 5 engines is about 30,000 checks a month. Data is refreshed daily. The page says collection uses a browser, not an API simulation of the answer.

Engines: ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, Perplexity, and AI Overviews. The FAQ says Claude will be added soon. Copilot is not in the list. You can add your own prompts. CSV export is included. Unlimited users. The API can do what the interface does, except user and subscription management. MCP is not stated. Countries listed: US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. India is not in that list. License, SOC 2, and GDPR: not stated.

[SE Ranking's affiliate page](https://seranking.com/affiliate.html) says you receive 30% commission, paid twice a month once the balance reaches $50, with a 120-day cookie. After signup you stay credited for that user. The program lives in the SE Ranking account. It does not name Impact or another network. I have joined. The SE Ranking team link above is the referral link.

Use it when 15 or 25 prompts is too small and you want AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini in the base price.

Skip it if Copilot is a requirement. Skip it if the tracker has to run in India and this country list is the whole story. India is not in that list.

## Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit

The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit is the tracking add-on inside Semrush. It is $99 a month per domain, billed annually, for 25 prompts. It is on this list for the research reports, not because 25 prompts is a good deal next to SE Visible.

$99 ÷ 25 = $3.96 per tracked prompt per month. One domain for a year is $99 × 12 = $1,188. Another 50 prompts are $60 a month, and $60 ÷ 50 = $1.20 per added prompt. Ten prompts still cost the full $99 a month. $99 ÷ 10 = $9.90 for each of those 10, on an annual term.

The [pricing page](https://www.semrush.com/pricing/ai/), checked October 23, 2026, says $99 a month per domain, billed annually. It includes AI visibility reports, 25 custom prompts with daily rankings, 1 domain for Brand Performance, mentions from ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, and Perplexity, competitor analysis, prompt research, and a site audit. The [knowledge base](https://www.semrush.com/kb/1493-ai-visibility-toolkit) says the same $99, and it says there is no free trial. It also lists 300 AI-analysis reports a day, 1,000 prompt-research queries a day, 25 prompt-tracking prompts, an AI site audit for 100 pages, and 10 CSV exports a day, up to 1,000 rows each.

Prompt tracking on that knowledge base is described with Google AI Mode and ChatGPT as examples. The pricing page says "Google AI" rather than naming Overviews and AI Mode separately. This post does not merge those into a longer engine list than the pricing page prints.

Another domain or location for Brand Performance is $99. Another 50 prompts is $60 a month. Another user on a corporate account is another $99 license. Prompt tracking updates daily. Brand Performance updates weekly. The knowledge base does not state MCP or an API on this toolkit. License, SOC 2, and GDPR: not stated on these two pages.

The [affiliate page](https://www.semrush.com/lp/affiliate-program/en/) is on Impact. The loyalty table lists the AI Visibility Toolkit at $100. One figure on that row was readable, not a higher tier. The same page says you can earn from $100 to $300 a sale, plus $10 for a trial, with a 120-day cookie. It also pays creators: publish 2 qualifying pieces and get $150, up to $1,500. That payment is more than a normal affiliate link. This post does not use it. If I take it later, this post has to say it was incentivized. I have applied to the Impact program. It is in review. The page asks for about 1,000 monthly visitors before it will consider a creator.

Use it when you already want Semrush's prompt research and the 100-page AI audit, and you can pay the year.

Skip it when you only need more than 25 tracked prompts. SE Visible's $99 plan tracks 200, and it has a trial. This toolkit does not.

## How to choose

The order is the bill for about 10 prompts, then the engines on that bill. Per tracked prompt means the entry price divided by the prompt count on that price. Each section shows the division. A fixed plan does not get cheaper because you leave slots empty.

ZipTie is first when you can set the count. On the vendor's example, 10 daily prompts on 3 engines are $8.55 a month, and you pick the engines, including AI Overviews. Skip it when you want one printed plan price. The bill follows the prompts and the engines.

Otterly.AI is second because $29 is the smallest fixed plan that already includes 15 prompts, four engines, and citation tracking. The full allowance is $1.93 per prompt. Ten prompts still cost $29. Skip it when Gemini, Claude, or MCP has to be in the base price.

HubSpot AEO is third because $50 is the next fixed price and Gemini is included. The full allowance is $2.00 per prompt. Ten prompts still cost $50, and Google AI Overviews are not on the product. Skip it when the question is what an AI Overview says.

SE Visible is fourth because $99 buys 200 prompts on five engines, including AI Overviews and AI Mode, and the page states a 10-day trial. The $0.495 rate only applies if you use the 200. Ten prompts still cost $99. Skip it when Copilot is required, or when you need a country the page does not list.

Semrush is last because the same $99 tracks 25 prompts, states no trial, and is billed annually. The full allowance is $3.96 per prompt, and the year is $1,188 per domain. It stays for the 1,000 prompt-research queries a day and the 100-page AI audit on the [knowledge base](https://www.semrush.com/kb/1493-ai-visibility-toolkit). Skip it when you only need more tracked prompts.

The checking that still sits with a person, when software does the work, is in [The Hidden Reality of Running a Business with AI Agents](/blogs/what-nobody-tells-you-about-ai-automation). This post does not run that check on these five.

## Picking AI visibility tools for indie founders

Match the tool to the bill and the engine, then ignore the rest until you have run your own prompts. A cheaper plan that tracks the wrong engine is the wrong plan.

## FAQ

### What is the cheapest AI search visibility tool on this list?

ZipTie. The pricing page's example is $25.65 a month for 30 daily prompts on 3 engines, checked on October 23, 2026. That example is $0.855 per prompt. Otterly.AI Lite is the cheapest fixed plan, at $29 a month for 15 prompts. ZipTie has no fixed plan price. The total follows the prompts and engines you set.

### Does HubSpot AEO track Google AI Overviews?

No. The product page and the setup doc, both read on October 23, 2026, list ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. They do not list Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Copilot, or Claude.

### Which of these track ChatGPT and Perplexity?

All five name ChatGPT. Perplexity is on ZipTie, Otterly.AI, HubSpot AEO, and SE Visible. The Semrush pricing page says ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, and Perplexity. Profound's trial also includes ChatGPT, but Profound is not in the five.

### Do I need an affiliate account to use this list?

No. I have joined SE Ranking and Otterly.AI, and those links are affiliate links. Semrush and HubSpot are applied and in review, and those links are still the official pages. If the Semrush creator payment is taken later, this post has to say it was paid for.

Every price and engine list above is the vendor's page, checked on October 23, 2026.

Find me on [X](https://x.com/dharmikjagodana).