The best LLM SEO tools for startups, ranked by what they really cost
Eight AI visibility trackers, one startup-sized job: 30 questions a day on three engines. The cheapest sticker isn't the cheapest bill.
By Ayush Chaturvedi · · 7 min read
The short answer
The best LLM SEO tool for most startups is Peec AI: $95 a month for 50 prompts checked daily on three AI models, with unlimited users. Ahrefs Brand Radar's $50 prompt pack is the cheapest way to track daily, Otterly.AI Lite at $29 suits under 15 questions, and LLMrefs at $79 covers the most engines if weekly updates are enough.
The list, before the reasons
| # | Product | Best for | Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peec AI | Best overall for a startup team | from $80/month, billed yearly · Free trial (length not published) |
| 2 | Ahrefs Brand Radar | Best price for daily tracking | from $50/month |
| 3 | Otterly.AI | Best for your first 15 questions | from $25/month, billed yearly · 7-day free trial with 50 prompts, no card |
| 4 | LLMrefs | Most coverage per dollar, refreshed weekly | Free plan · paid from $79/month |
| 5 | Rankscale | Best for choosing exactly what you pay for | from $17/month, billed yearly |
| 6 | AthenaHQ | Best free way to see where you stand | Free plan · paid from $245/month, billed yearly |
| 7 | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Only if one person already lives in Semrush | Free plan · paid from $99/month |
| 8 | Scrunch | Only if you want site audits in the same plan | from $250/month · 7-day free trial |
- Peec AIStarter$95/mo
- Ahrefs Brand RadarCustom prompts: Basic$50/mo
- Otterly.AILite$29/mo
- LLMrefsAll in One · free plan too$79/mo
- RankscalePro$99/mo
- AthenaHQStarter · free plan too$295/mo
- Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitAI Visibility Toolkit · free plan too$99/mo
- ScrunchCore$250/mo
What a startup needs from an LLM SEO tool
An LLM SEO tool asks AI assistants the questions your buyers ask, every day or week, and records whether your brand shows up, how it's described, and which pages get cited.
For a startup, six things decide which one is worth paying for:
- A price one person can approve. Monthly billing and a trial, so you can stop if it doesn't change anything.
- The engines your buyers use. ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews for most; Perplexity, Gemini or Claude for some. Check which are included and which cost extra.
- Enough prompts for your real questions. 20 to 50 is typical. Several tools count each country as a separate prompt.
- How often answers refresh. Daily shows the effect of a change within days. Weekly is fine for a monthly report.
- Seats. The founder, the marketer and the agency will all want to log in.
- Sources you can act on. The useful output is the list of pages AI cites, because those are the pages to get onto.
What 30 daily questions cost on each tool
Sticker prices don't compare, because every tool meters something different: prompts, credits, checks or answers.
So here is one startup-sized job priced on each: 30 questions, one country, ChatGPT plus two other engines, checked daily, at monthly list price.
- Ahrefs Brand Radar: $54 (the $50 pack's 2,500 checks plus 200 overage checks at $0.02)
- LLMrefs: $79, but refreshed weekly, not daily
- Peec AI: $95 (Starter, 50 prompts on 3 models)
- Rankscale: $99 (Pro; the job uses 675 of its 1,200 credits)
- Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: $159 ($99 plus a $60 pack of 50 prompts)
- Otterly.AI: $189 (Lite stops at 15 prompts, so it's Standard)
- Scrunch: $250 (Core; run schedule not published)
- AthenaHQ: $295 (Starter; the job uses 2,700 of 3,600 credits)
Below about 15 questions the order changes: Otterly.AI Lite does the job for $29.
- Ahrefs Brand Radar$50 pack + $4 overage$54/mo
- LLMrefsWeekly refresh, not daily$79/mo
- Peec AIStarter$95/mo
- RankscalePro, 675 of 1,200 credits$99/mo
- Semrush AI Visibility$99 + 50-prompt pack; assumes a prompt counts once across engines$159/mo
- Otterly.AIStandard$189/mo
- ScrunchCore; schedule not published$250/mo
- AthenaHQStarter, 2,700 of 3,600 credits$295/mo
Monthly list prices, read from each vendor's pricing page on 31 October and 1 November 2026.
1. Peec AI: Best overall for a startup team
AI search visibility (AEO/GEO)- For
- In-house SEO and marketing teams that want daily tracking of 50 to 350 prompts on the three AI models that matter most to them, with the whole team logged in.
- Costs
- from $80/month, billed yearly · Free trial (length not published)
- The catch
- Every plan tracks three AI models; a fourth costs $35 to $165 a month extra, so Pro with four models is $330 a month, not $245.
Peec AI is the pick for a startup that wants daily answers, a team logged in, and no credit maths.
- $95 a month (or $80 billed yearly) for 50 prompts, daily, on 3 models you choose
- Unlimited users on every plan, so the founder and the agency get their own logins
- Countries cost nothing extra, though Starter tracks one
- Source analysis shows which domains and URLs AI cites, by model
The 30-question startup job fits inside Starter with 20 prompts to spare.
The trade-off is the three-model limit. A fourth model is $35 a month on Starter, and Perplexity isn't in the self-serve model list. Full numbers: what Peec AI really costs.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Starter | $95/month |
| Starter | $80/month, billed yearly |
| Pro | $245/month |
| Pro | $205/month, billed yearly |
| Advanced | $495/month |
| Advanced | $420/month, billed yearly |
| Enterprise | Contact sales |
2. Ahrefs Brand Radar: Best price for daily tracking
AI search visibility (AEO/GEO)- For
- Startup marketers who want to benchmark their brand against competitors in one AI platform's answers today, with no prompt setup, and add a few dozen tracked prompts for $50 a month.
- Costs
- from $50/month
- The catch
- The $199 index covers one AI platform and all five cost $699 a month, while custom prompts are metered per prompt, platform, location and refresh, so the $50 pack's 2,500 checks track 83 prompts daily on one platform but only 16 across five.
Ahrefs Brand Radar's custom-prompt packs are the cheapest way to check prompts daily, and they need no Ahrefs subscription.
- $50 a month for 2,500 checks; overage is $0.02 a check
- A check is one prompt, on one platform, in one location, per run
- The startup job comes to $54 a month
- Separately, the AI Visibility Index ($199 a month per platform) benchmarks any brand without setting up prompts
The metering is the catch: the same $50 covers 83 prompts daily on one platform, but only 16 across five. There's no trial, and a Claude check costs 8.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Custom prompts: Basic | $50/month |
| Custom prompts: Growth | $100/month |
| Custom prompts: Scale | $250/month |
| AI Visibility Index: one platform | $199/month |
| AI Visibility Index: all platforms | $699/month |
| Ahrefs Lite (SEO suite, custom prompts included) | $129/month |
| Ahrefs Lite (SEO suite, custom prompts included) | $108/month, billed yearly |
3. Otterly.AI: Best for your first 15 questions
AI search visibility (AEO/GEO)- For
- Marketers and small agencies who want a daily record of how a few dozen buying questions get answered in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot.
- Costs
- from $25/month, billed yearly · 7-day free trial with 50 prompts, no card
- The catch
- Prompts are counted per country and three of the seven engines are paid add-ons, so tracking all seven on Standard costs $416 a month, not the $189 on the price tag.
Otterly.AI is the cheapest real tracker to start with.
- $29 a month (or $25 billed yearly) for 15 prompts, daily, on ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot
- Unlimited team members
- 7-day trial with 50 prompts and no card
It gets expensive fast. Lite can't add prompts, so question 16 means Standard at $189, and each extra country uses its own prompts. Details in Otterly.AI's real pricing.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Lite | $29/month |
| Lite | $25/month, billed yearly |
| Standard | $189/month |
| Standard | $160/month, billed yearly |
| Premium | $489/month |
| Premium | $422/month, billed yearly |
| Enterprise | Contact sales |
4. LLMrefs: Most coverage per dollar, refreshed weekly
AI search visibility (AEO/GEO)- For
- SEO consultants, small agencies and startups that work from keyword lists and want one flat monthly price covering every AI engine, every country and the whole team.
- Costs
- Free plan · paid from $79/month
- The catch
- There is one published plan, $79 a month for 500 prompts and marked "limited time only"; the FAQ says going past 50 keywords means upgrading, and the price of that upgrade is not published.
LLMrefs charges one flat price for a lot: $79 a month for 500 prompts across 11 AI engines, 50+ countries and unlimited seats.
- That's about $3.95 per 1,000 AI answers, by far the lowest here
- CSV export and API included
- Claude, Grok, Meta AI and DeepSeek at no extra cost
Two things to know. It builds prompts from your keywords and updates each keyword at least weekly, not daily. And the $79 plan is marked "limited time only", with no published price for upgrading past it.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| All in One | $79/month |
5. Rankscale: Best for choosing exactly what you pay for
AI search visibility (AEO/GEO)- For
- Marketing teams and agencies that want to choose exactly which AI engines, prompts and check frequency (hourly to monthly) they pay for, with unlimited seats from Pro up.
- Costs
- from $17/month, billed yearly
- The catch
- Engines cost different credits per run (0.25 for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Mode, 2 for Claude), so 50 prompts checked daily on those five engines uses 4,500 credits a month, more than Pro+'s 3,000, which means Growth at $385 a month.
Rankscale sells credits, and you decide how to spend them: which of its 17+ engines, which prompts, and how often, from hourly to monthly.
- Pro: $99 a month (or $84 billed yearly) for 1,200 credits and unlimited seats
- ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Mode cost 0.25 credits a run; Claude costs 2
- The startup job uses 675 credits
The flexibility needs watching: when credits run out, monitoring pauses until the next cycle or a top-up. Essentials ($17 a month) is yearly-only and has no team workspace.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Essentials | $17/month, billed yearly |
| Pro | $99/month |
| Pro | $84/month, billed yearly |
| Pro+ | $229/month |
| Pro+ | $195/month, billed yearly |
| Growth | $385/month |
| Growth | $327/month, billed yearly |
| Enterprise | $780/month |
| Enterprise | $663/month, billed yearly |
| Custom | Contact sales |
6. AthenaHQ: Best free way to see where you stand
AI search visibility (AEO/GEO)- For
- Small marketing teams selling in one country that want a card-paid plan tracking 11 AI models with unlimited seats, and can work inside a fixed monthly credit budget.
- Costs
- Free plan · paid from $245/month, billed yearly
- The catch
- Starter's 3,600 credits a month cover fewer than 20 prompts checked daily on the six one-credit models; Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral cost 5 credits an answer, unused credits don't roll over, and extra credits are an add-on with no published price.
AthenaHQ's Essential plan is free: 300 credits (one credit is one AI answer) on ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot, with unlimited users.
That's enough for a first look. The paid jump is steep, though:
- Starter: $295 a month, or $245 billed yearly, for 3,600 credits on 11 models
- One country and one language
- Claude, Grok and three others cost 5 credits an answer
Use the free plan to benchmark. Pay only if its reports are the ones your team will act on.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Essential | Free |
| Starter | $295/month |
| Starter | $245/month, billed yearly |
| Enterprise | Contact sales |
7. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: Only if one person already lives in Semrush
AI search visibility (AEO/GEO)- For
- A one-person marketing team watching one brand that wants AI visibility reports and 25 daily-tracked prompts for $99 a month without buying an SEO suite.
- Costs
- Free plan · paid from $99/month
- The catch
- The $99 toolkit covers one user, one brand and 25 prompts, so a second login is another $99, 50 more prompts are $60 a month, and there is no free trial or yearly discount to soften it.
Semrush sells its AI Visibility Toolkit on its own for $99 a month, with no SEO plan needed.
- 25 tracked prompts, 1 user, 1 brand domain
- 50 more prompts: $60 a month
- Each extra user is another $99 licence
- No trial and no yearly discount on the toolkit
For a single marketer already in Semrush it keeps everything in one place. For a team, the per-seat pricing adds up fast.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| AI Visibility Toolkit | $99/month |
| AI Visibility Toolkit | $99/month, billed yearly |
| Semrush One Starter (SEO + AI Visibility) | $199/month |
| Semrush One Starter (SEO + AI Visibility) | $165.17/month, billed yearly |
| Semrush One Pro+ (SEO + AI Visibility) | $299/month |
| Semrush One Pro+ (SEO + AI Visibility) | $248.17/month, billed yearly |
| Semrush One Advanced | Contact sales |
8. Scrunch: Only if you want site audits in the same plan
AI search visibility (AEO/GEO)- For
- A brand team of up to five people, selling in one country, that wants AI answer tracking, site audits and AI bot traffic in one place.
- Costs
- from $250/month · 7-day free trial
- The catch
- Core covers one brand, one country and one language with no yearly discount, and its 5,000 responses a month cover about ten full runs of its 125 prompts, not a daily check.
Scrunch Core is $250 a month for 125 prompts on ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews and Copilot, with 5 users, site audits and AI bot traffic.
It covers one brand, one country and one language, bills monthly with no yearly discount, and doesn't publish how often prompts run. Numbers in what Scrunch costs.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Core | $250/month |
| Agency Core | $500/month |
| Enterprise | Contact sales |
If you are…, get…
| If you are… | Get | Because |
|---|---|---|
| A founder doing marketing alone, 10 questions to watch | Otterly.AI | Lite covers 15 prompts on 4 engines for $29 a month. |
| A 3-person marketing team, 30 to 50 questions | Peec AI | Starter covers 50 prompts daily with unlimited users for $95. |
| The lowest monthly bill for daily checks | Ahrefs Brand Radar | The $50 pack runs 30 prompts on 3 platforms daily for $54. |
| Hundreds of keywords and many engines, weekly is fine | LLMrefs | $79 covers 500 prompts on 11 engines in 50+ countries. |
| You want Claude or hourly checks on some prompts | Rankscale | Credits let you spend more on the prompts and engines that matter. |
| No budget yet, just a benchmark | AthenaHQ | Essential is free with 300 credits on 5 engines. |
| A solo marketer already using Semrush every day | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99 adds AI tracking to the tool you already know. |
| You want AI tracking and site audits in one plan, one market | Scrunch | Core bundles monitoring, audits and bot traffic for $250. |
How to choose an LLM SEO tool for your startup
How many questions do you need to watch?
- Under 15: Otterly.AI Lite at $29.
- 20 to 50: Peec AI Starter, or Ahrefs Brand Radar's $50 pack if you want the lowest daily price.
- Hundreds, weekly is fine: LLMrefs.
How many people will log in?
- Just you: anything here works, including Semrush's one-seat toolkit.
- A team or an agency: Peec AI, LLMrefs, AthenaHQ and Rankscale Pro include unlimited users.
Which engines matter?
- ChatGPT and AI Overviews only: every pick covers them.
- Claude, Grok or many engines: LLMrefs includes 11 at one price; on Rankscale and AthenaHQ they cost more credits.
Do you want to pay anything yet?
- No: start with AthenaHQ's free Essential plan (300 credits) or Semrush Free's limited AI features.
- Yes, but monthly only: avoid Rankscale Essentials, which is yearly-only.
What an AI answer costs at each entry price
Per 1,000 AI answers at entry-level monthly prices: LLMrefs $3.95 (weekly), Otterly.AI $16.11, Ahrefs Brand Radar $20.00, Rankscale $20.63, Peec AI $21.11, Scrunch $50.00 and AthenaHQ $81.94.
Semrush doesn't publish how prompts count across engines, so it's left off this one.
- LLMrefs$79 · 20,000 answers, weekly$3.95
- Otterly.AILite $29 · 1,800 answers$16.11
- Ahrefs Brand Radar$50 · 2,500 checks$20
- RankscalePro $99 · up to 4,800 answers$20.63
- Peec AIStarter $95 · 4,500 answers$21.11
- ScrunchCore $250 · 5,000 responses$50
- AthenaHQStarter $295 · 3,600 credits$81.94
Monthly list prices. Otterly assumes a daily check over 30 days; the others use each vendor's own allowance.
Questions people ask
Basics
What is an LLM SEO tool?
An LLM SEO tool tracks how AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Gemini answer questions in your market: whether your brand is mentioned, how it is described, and which web pages the answers cite.
Does a startup need an LLM SEO tool?
A startup needs one once buyers ask AI assistants about its category and the team will act on what the tool shows. Before that, asking ChatGPT and Perplexity your top 10 buying questions by hand once a month is a reasonable free start.
Pricing
What is the cheapest LLM SEO tool?
For daily tracking of about 30 questions, Ahrefs Brand Radar's $50 custom-prompt pack is the cheapest at $54 a month. For under 15 questions, Otterly.AI Lite costs $29. AthenaHQ's Essential plan is free with 300 credits.
Is there a free LLM SEO tool?
AthenaHQ's Essential plan is free with 300 credits on five AI engines and unlimited users, and Semrush Free includes a limited set of AI Visibility features. Otterly.AI offers a 7-day trial with no card.
How much should a startup spend on LLM SEO tracking?
Most startups can track 30 to 50 questions daily for $54 to $99 a month: Ahrefs Brand Radar's $50 pack, Peec AI Starter at $95 or Rankscale Pro at $99, all at monthly list prices.
Choosing
Which LLM SEO tool is best for a small team?
Peec AI is the best fit for a small startup team: $95 a month for 50 prompts tracked daily on three models you choose, with unlimited users on every plan.
Which LLM SEO tool tracks Claude?
LLMrefs includes Claude at no extra cost on its $79 plan. Rankscale charges 2 credits per Claude run, AthenaHQ charges 5 credits per Claude answer, Otterly.AI sells Claude as an add-on, and Ahrefs Brand Radar counts a Claude check as 8 checks.
The fine print
How we checked
Ayush has used these tools hands-on. Prices and limits were read from each vendor's pricing page and documentation on 31 October and 1 November 2026, at monthly list price in US dollars. The ranking is for a 2-50 person startup where one person owns AI search, tracking one or two markets on under about $300 a month.
Prices checked
- Peec AI: Nov 1, 2026
- Ahrefs Brand Radar: Nov 1, 2026
- Otterly.AI: Oct 31, 2026
- LLMrefs: Nov 1, 2026
- Rankscale: Nov 1, 2026
- AthenaHQ: Nov 1, 2026
- Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: Nov 1, 2026
- Scrunch: Nov 1, 2026