Best AEO Tools in 2026, Ranked for Brands, Agencies and Founders

The short answer

The best AEO tools in 2026, by who's buying:

• Indian brands that want the fixes, not only the charts: Pallix, from ₹2,249/mo.
• Global brands on a budget: Otterly.AI, from $29/mo.
• Agencies: Otterly.AI for unlimited client workspaces, or Peec AI from $245/mo for three client projects.
• Founders and small teams already on HubSpot: HubSpot AEO, $50/mo (still in beta).
• Enterprise teams: Profound, custom pricing, up to 9 AI engines.
• A free start: AthenaHQ's free tier covers 5 AI engines.

A quick, honest note: we built Pallix, and it's on this list. Below we show how often AI names each tool, including how rarely it names us for the generic question.

What an AEO tool actually does

AEO (answer engine optimization) means getting your brand named and your pages cited in AI answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and others. "AEO tool" covers four different jobs, and most tools only do one or two:

1. Track. Ask AI engines your buyers' questions on a schedule and record whether you're named, where, and next to whom.
2. Explain. Show which pages AI cited for each answer, so you know what it read before it decided.
3. Fix. Turn the gaps into work: pages to update, sites to get listed on, articles to pitch, content to write.
4. Make the site readable. Check that AI crawlers can reach and parse your pages at all.

Decide which jobs you need before you compare prices. A tracker is cheap. A tool that also tells you what to fix saves your team the most time.

We asked AI which AEO tool is best, 2,757 times

We track six AEO questions on seven AI engines: "Best AEO tool", "Best AEO tool for Brands", "Best AEO tools for marketing agencies", "best aeo tool that is founder friendly", "Best AEO for Indian D2C Brands" and "Best self serve AEO tool for D2C brands". From 11 August to 8 November 2026, that gave us 2,757 answers.

Tool	Share of answers that named it
Profound	61%
Otterly.AI	57%
Semrush	45%
Peec AI	43%
HubSpot	42%
Ahrefs	32%
AirOps	19%
AthenaHQ	18%
Scrunch	18%
Listable Labs	16%
Writesonic	9%
Conductor	7%
Pallix	6%

Source: Pallix tracking, 2,757 answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude and Grok. Counts merge spelling variants of the same tool.

Pallix was named in 0.2% of answers to the plain "Best AEO tool" question and in none of the 443 answers about agencies. For the two India D2C questions, it was named in 16% and 21%.

The pattern is the same for every tool: AI names the tools that appear on the roundups it reads. For "Best AEO tool", the pages it cited most were HubSpot's own AEO software list (194 times), Geoptie's (135) and Conductor's (77). For the agency question, HubSpot's list (168) and Rankability's (139) led.

How we picked and ordered these tools

We list the eight tools in the order AI named them most in the data above, so you can see how AI ranks them. Then, for each one, we judged four things:

1. Does it go beyond tracking? Explaining sources and helping with fixes counts for more than a bigger prompt count.
2. Price for a real test. Can a team run it for three months without a procurement process?
3. Engine coverage. ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews first, then Perplexity, Copilot, Claude and Grok.
4. Fit for the buyer. Brands, agencies and founders need different things, so we name a best pick for each.

Pallix comes last in that order. We kept it there rather than move ourselves up.

The 8 tools at a glance

Tool	Best for	Starting price	AI engines (entry / max)	Free option
Profound	Enterprise teams	Custom	3 on trial / up to 9	7-day trial
Otterly.AI	Budget tracking, agencies	$29/mo	4 / 7 with add-ons	Free trial
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit	Teams already on Semrush	$99/mo	ChatGPT and AI Mode	No trial on the toolkit
Peec AI	Agencies, clean dashboards	$95/mo	Pick 3 / up to 13	Free trial
HubSpot AEO (beta)	Founders on HubSpot	$50/mo	3	Free trial, 25 prompts
Ahrefs Brand Radar	Teams already on Ahrefs	$50/mo (custom prompts)	Up to 7	Not stated
AthenaHQ	A free start	Free, then $295/mo	5 free / 11 paid	Free tier
Pallix	Indian brands that want fixes	₹2,249/mo (about $25)	3 / 7	Free audit, 7-day trial

Prices as listed on vendor pages on 8 November 2026. Dollar prices as shown; the rupee conversion is approximate. Pallix prices exclude 18% GST.

1. Profound: best for enterprise teams

Profound is the tool AI named most often, in 61% of answers. It lists only a free 7-day trial and custom Enterprise pricing. The trial tracks ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews; Enterprise goes up to 9 engines, including Perplexity, AI Mode, DeepSeek and Claude.

• Beyond tracking: stages page rewrites and new pages in your CMS, plus content agents, bot analytics and citation analytics.
• For agencies: a central portal for client brands and an "Agency Growth" plan, with no price shown.
• Where it falls short: no public price, so you can't test it without a sales call. Nothing India-specific on its pages.

2. Otterly.AI: best for budget tracking and agencies

Otterly.AI starts at $29/mo (USD, excluding tax) and tracks ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot on every paid plan. Gemini, AI Mode and Claude are paid add-ons.

• Beyond tracking: content and GEO audits, recommendations, a crawlability audit and citation analysis.
• For agencies: its Agency Partner programme gives unlimited client workspaces, pitch workspaces and Looker Studio reports with your branding.
• Where it falls short: Gemini costs extra, and Gemini is where many buyers ask. No India location or rupee pricing.

3. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: best if you already use Semrush

Semrush's knowledge base lists the AI Visibility Toolkit at $99/mo with no free trial. Its main pricing page shows bundled "SEO + AI Search" plans from $199/mo, with a free plan and a 7-day trial. The toolkit's prompt tracking covers AI Mode and ChatGPT.

• Beyond tracking: an AI search site audit for crawler blocks, recommendations, and a content creation module.
• India: India is listed as a country for its visibility, competitor and prompt research reports.
• Where it falls short: two different pricing stories on its own pages, and fewer engines in prompt tracking than most tools here. White-label reports need a $20/mo add-on.

4. Peec AI: best for agencies that want clean dashboards

Peec AI's Starter plan is $95/mo, with 15% off for annual billing. Plans below Enterprise let you pick 3 engines from ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI. Enterprise goes up to 13.

• Beyond tracking: recommended actions, gap analysis, a crawlability audit covering 40+ bots, and source analytics.
• For agencies: agency plans from $245/mo ($205/mo billed annually) with 3 client projects plus pitch projects, and shareable view-only dashboards.
• Where it falls short: 3 engines on brand plans means choosing between Gemini, AI Overviews and Copilot. No India-specific features.

5. HubSpot AEO: best for founders already on HubSpot

HubSpot AEO costs $50/mo, or $45/mo billed annually, per brand. It's still labelled beta. It tracks ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, and the free trial gives you 25 prompts with no card.

• Beyond tracking: citation analysis and prioritised recommendations. Content tools come with Marketing Hub Pro or Enterprise.
• For agencies: not built for them. Each brand needs its own instance.
• Where it falls short: 3 engines, no Google AI Overviews, and beta status.

6. Ahrefs Brand Radar: best if you already use Ahrefs

Brand Radar's custom prompts start at $50/mo, and its AI Visibility Index starts at $199/mo, with a $699/mo option for all models. It covers AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, with Claude available.

• Beyond tracking: citation opportunities, fan-out queries, bot analytics (free in beta) and YouTube, TikTok and Reddit tracking.
• Where it falls short: its page doesn't mention a free trial or agency features. We couldn't verify the full tier prices because the page loads them with JavaScript.

7. AthenaHQ: best free start

AthenaHQ's free Essential tier covers 5 engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot. Starter is $295/mo and adds AI Mode, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral, for 11 in total.

• Beyond tracking: a content optimisation agent, on-page and off-page actions, and robots.txt and llms.txt management.
• For agencies: Enterprise is aimed at "Enterprises & Agencies", with custom pricing.
• Where it falls short: a big jump from free to $295/mo, and Starter covers one country and one language.

8. Pallix: best for Indian brands that want the fixes

Pallix costs ₹2,499/mo for Starter, or ₹2,249/mo billed yearly, per brand with unlimited seats. Starter tracks ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews twice a week. Growth (₹5,999/mo) adds daily refresh and any 5 of 7 engines, including Perplexity, Copilot, Claude and Grok.

• Beyond tracking: a weekly ranked list of fixes with the content drafted, the exact sources AI cites, source gaps, and AI crawler reporting. Managed AEO Services (₹9,999/mo) has our team write and polish the fixes, with a one-month pilot at ₹4,999.
• India: prompts are asked from inside India, by city, in English and Hinglish, and priced in rupees.
• For agencies: the Agency / Enterprise plan runs several brands from one login, on all 7 engines, with client reports under your own logo. It's custom-priced.
• Where it falls short: as our own data shows, AI rarely names Pallix outside India-specific questions. Starter has 3 engines. If you need SOC 2, SSO or a global enterprise contract, pick Profound.

Also worth a look

• Scrunch: from $250/mo billed annually ($300 month to month), 7-day trial, 7 engines, and an AI-readable version of your site.
• Conductor: enterprise SEO and AEO with a writing assistant; no public prices.
• AirOps: named in 19% of answers; built around content creation rather than tracking.

Side-by-side: what each tool does

Tool	Tracks	Shows cited sources	Helps with fixes	Crawler / site checks	Agency features	India-specific
Profound	Yes	Yes	Rewrites staged in your CMS	Yes	Client portal	No
Otterly.AI	Yes	Yes	Audits and recommendations	Yes	Unlimited client workspaces, branded reports	No
Semrush	Yes	Yes	Recommendations, content module	Yes	White-label as $20/mo add-on	India listed in some reports
Peec AI	Yes	Yes	Recommended actions	Yes	Agency plans from $245/mo	No
HubSpot AEO	Yes	Yes	Recommendations	Not stated	No	No
Ahrefs Brand Radar	Yes	Yes	Citation opportunities	Bot analytics (beta)	Not stated	Not stated
AthenaHQ	Yes	Yes	Content agent, on/off-page actions	robots.txt and llms.txt	Enterprise	No
Pallix	Yes	Yes	Ranked fixes with drafts	Yes	Multi-brand, own-logo reports	City prompts, Hinglish, rupees

Which AEO tool fits you?

• You're an Indian D2C or consumer brand: Pallix. It asks from inside India, in English and Hinglish, and drafts the fixes.
• You're a global brand with a small budget: Otterly.AI at $29/mo, adding Gemini if your buyers use it.
• You're an agency: Otterly.AI for unlimited client workspaces and branded reports, Peec AI for clean shareable dashboards, or Pallix Agency for Indian clients.
• You're a founder already on HubSpot: HubSpot AEO at $50/mo.
• You run SEO on Semrush or Ahrefs: add their AI toolkit before buying another login.
• You need security reviews and many engines: Profound.
• You want to look before you pay: AthenaHQ's free tier, or the free Pallix audit.

Questions to ask every vendor

1. Which AI engines are on the plan I'm buying, not the top plan?
2. Where are the questions asked from? Answers change by country and city.
3. Can I see the exact pages AI cited for each answer?
4. Do you show the gaps as work to do, or only as charts?
5. Can I export the raw answers?

Run a 30-day pilot before you sign

AI answers move week to week, so one month of data tells you more than any demo. Pick 20 to 30 real buyer questions, run them on two tools side by side, and compare what each tells you to do next.

Where AEO tools stop being enough

A tool finds the gap. Someone still has to get you listed, write the comparison page and pitch the article AI reads. If your team can't do that every week, choose a plan that includes the work, or budget for an agency.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best AEO tool in 2026?

It depends on the buyer. For Indian brands, Pallix, from ₹2,249 a month with the fixes drafted. For a global brand on a budget, Otterly.AI from $29. For enterprise teams, Profound.

What is the best AEO tool for agencies?

Otterly.AI, for unlimited client workspaces and Looker Studio reports with your branding. Peec AI's agency plans start at $245 a month for three clients. For Indian clients, Pallix Agency adds own-logo reports on all 7 engines.

What is the best AEO tool for founders and small teams?

HubSpot AEO at $50 a month if you already use HubSpot, Otterly.AI at $29 if you don't, or AthenaHQ's free tier to start.

Is AEO different from SEO?

Yes. SEO is about ranking pages in search results. AEO is about getting your brand named and your pages cited inside AI answers. The two overlap, because AI engines often read pages that rank well.

How long does AEO take to show results?

Usually weeks to a few months. It depends on how fast you get onto the pages AI already cites for your questions.

How we researched this

AI answers. Pallix tracks six AEO questions on seven AI engines. The 2,757 answers ran from 11 August to 8 November 2026. Tool names were counted per answer.

Vendor facts. Prices, engines and plans come only from each vendor's own pages, checked on 8 November 2026. Where a page didn't state something, we marked it unverified.

Vendor pages we checked: Profound, Otterly.AI, Semrush toolkit and Semrush plans, Peec AI, HubSpot AEO, Ahrefs Brand Radar, AthenaHQ, Scrunch, AirOps and Pallix.

Prices change often, so check each vendor's page before you buy.

Want more?

• The best AI visibility tool for a new brand
• Top 10 AI visibility tools in 2026
• How to choose an AI visibility tool

If Pallix made your shortlist, see Pallix pricing or start the ₹4,999 one-month pilot.