Tracking brand mentions in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode is now a budget line, not a curiosity. Buyers ask an assistant for a shortlist, and if you are not named, you lose without a trace in your analytics. Which tool should watch for that? The honest answer depends on how many prompts you need, which engines matter to your buyers, and how much you trust a sample.
Why your analytics cannot see this
Pew Research Center tracked the browsing of 900 U.S. adults and found that 18% of Google searches in March 2025 produced an AI summary. Pew also found that users clicked a link inside the summary itself in just 1% of visits to pages with one. So a mention can shape a decision and leave no session behind.
That is the measurement gap. Your web analytics count visits. They do not count the answers that sent a buyer to a competitor.
The same study found that AI summaries appeared for 60% of queries that began with a question word. Those are the research-style questions B2B buyers type. Your highest-intent queries are the likeliest to be answered without a click.
What these tools actually measure
Here is the caveat vendors rarely lead with. Here is the caveat vendors rarely lead with: these tools cannot count the impressions you earned in AI answers shown to real users. They run a defined set of prompts on a schedule and record what comes back. They run a defined set of prompts on a schedule and record what comes back.
Think of it as a panel, not a census. The quality of your results depends on the prompts you choose. A tracker loaded with branded queries will flatter you. One loaded with category and comparison queries will tell you the truth.
An AI visibility score is a sample of your presence under the prompts you chose. Treat it as a trend line, not a market share figure.
We have argued before that query panels beat third-party scores. This is why. If you build the panel, you can explain every number to your CFO.
The four contenders, side by side
Vendors publish prices and plan limits on their own sites, and those change often, so verify before you buy. Here is the shape of the field: They change often, so verify before you buy. Here is the shape of the field:
- Otterly.AI: the cheapest entry. Otterly.AI is the cheapest entry, with an entry plan aimed at small teams and daily tracking across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot.
- Peec AI: the deepest self-serve option. Peec AI is the deepest self-serve option, with tiered plans that scale by prompt count and a cap on how many models you keep active at once. You keep three models active at a time.
- Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: the natural fit if your team already lives in Semrush. The Semrush toolkit is billed per domain, with a limited set of custom prompts tracked daily.
- Profound: built for enterprise programs. It offers a free 7-day trial, then goes through sales with custom pricing.
The per-answer math is revealing. The per-answer math is worth running yourself: divide each plan’s monthly price by prompts times engines times days, and compare across vendors. Semrush costs roughly twice as much per answer, which may be fine if you value the integrated suite. It is not fine if you only need monitoring.
Which tool for which team?
Lean team testing the waters. Start with Otterly.AI Lite. Fifteen prompts will not cover a category, but it is enough to learn whether your brand appears at all.
In-house team that owns reporting. Peec AI Starter or Pro gives you more prompts and unlimited seats and competitors. Watch the three-model cap. If your buyers use ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google, you will use all three slots and have nothing left for Gemini or Copilot.
Already a Semrush shop. The toolkit saves you a vendor review and a login. You pay a premium per answer for that convenience.
Multi-brand or regulated enterprise. Profound is the one to put through procurement, because custom pricing and sales-led onboarding is where security, SSO and data questions get answered.
What about agencies running several clients? Prompt counts multiply fast. Ten clients at 50 prompts each is 500 prompts, so model the per-answer cost before you promise a flat retainer.
Google AI Mode: the first-party signal
Google AI Mode is the one engine where you can get a first-party number. Google’s Search Console documentation says the generative AI performance report covers impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode. You can slice it by page, country, date and device.
It has limits that matter for brand teams. It reports links to your site shown in those features. It does not tell you whether the answer named your brand in prose, how it described you, or which competitors sat beside you. Treat it as the ground truth for pages and the trackers as the lens on language.
Use both. When a tracker says you appear in a large share of AI Mode answers for a prompt set and Search Console shows flat impressions on the matching pages, something is off. Maybe you are mentioned without being linked. Maybe the sample is skewed. Either way, you found a question worth asking.
Run a pilot before you sign
Vendors disagree on the same prompt. That is normal, and it is the strongest argument for a short bake-off. Our own look at how AI citation trackers differ makes the same case: pilot before you commit.
- Write 30 to 50 prompts. Mix unbranded category questions, “best X for Y” comparisons, and a few branded checks. Keep the list identical across vendors.
- Run two tools for 30 days. Same prompts, same engines. Compare mention rate, cited sources and how each tool handles repeat runs of one prompt.
- Audit the answers by hand. Pull 10 answers per tool and read them. Do the scores match what you see?
- Check descriptions, not just presence. Being mentioned with a wrong price or a false claim is worse than silence. A structured chatbot brand audit catches those errors.
- Cross-check with Search Console. Compare tracker trends for Google AI Mode against first-party impressions.
Our guide to checking AI insights before they shape budgets is a useful companion here, since a dashboard number is only as good as its validation.
What to do when the data arrives
Tracking is not the outcome. The point is to change what you publish and who speaks for you. Pew found that Wikipedia, YouTube and Reddit were the most frequently linked sources in both AI summaries and standard results. If your tracker shows those domains shaping answers about your category, your fix is not another blog post. It is credible presence where the models already look.
That is where creators come in. Clear entity signals and evidence-rich content help models name you correctly, which is the logic behind entity clarity over backlinks. Creator briefs built on proof points, not scripts, give assistants something quotable to cite.
FAQs
Can any tool show how many people saw my brand in ChatGPT?
No. Trackers run chosen prompts and record the output, so they sample your presence rather than count real user impressions. Use them for trends and competitor comparisons, not for reach claims.
Does Search Console report on Google AI Mode?
Yes. Google’s generative AI performance report includes impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode. It shows links to your pages, not how the answer described your brand.
Which tool is cheapest for tracking ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google together?
Otterly.AI offers the lowest-priced entry plan and covers ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot, but with a small prompt allowance. Cost per answer is similar for Otterly.AI and higher-tier Peec AI plans.
How many prompts do I need?
Start with 30 to 50 covering category, comparison and branded queries. Add more only when the first set shows stable patterns. Agencies should multiply by client count before quoting a price.
Why do two tools give different mention rates?
They use different prompts, run schedules, locations and engine versions, and AI answers vary from run to run. That is why a side-by-side pilot with identical prompts matters.
Is a mention without a link still valuable?
Often, yes. Buyers may act on a named recommendation without clicking, which is why Search Console impressions alone understate your presence. Review the wording, because an inaccurate mention can do harm.
This week, write a 40-prompt panel and trial two trackers against it for 30 days. Then compare the results with your Search Console AI report before you sign an annual contract.
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