Best AEO tools, compared by job
An AEO (answer engine optimization) tool does up to three jobs: it audits whether AI assistants can read your site, tracks how answer engines like ChatGPT mention your brand, and helps you create content. Placton does the first two, on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Perplexity and Grok, and turns the numbers into weekly ideas.
7 days free. No card required.
Placton tracks
ChatGPT
Claude
Google AI
Perplexity
Grok
The three jobs of an AEO tool
Most tools sold as AEO tools do one or two of these jobs well. Decide which job you are buying for before you compare prices.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Job | The question it answers | What a good tool shows you | Listed on these plans | Placton |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. AuditReadiness of your site | Can AI assistants reach, read and understand your website? | Whether AI crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot are allowed, whether your text is there without JavaScript, structured data, llms.txt, and which fix to make first. |
| Yes. 18 checks on your home page, robots.txt, sitemap and llms.txt, in the free trial and on every plan. |
| 2. TrackResults in the answers | Do answer engines name you, cite you and put you above your rivals? | The full answer from each AI platform, whether you are named or only cited, your position, the tone, the sources and your competitors, measured over weeks rather than once. |
| Yes. ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Perplexity and Grok. ChatGPT and Google AI every day*, the other three every week. |
| 3. CreateContent to publish | What should you publish next, and who writes it? | Ideas tied to your own data (which prompt, which source, which rival) and, if the tool drafts pages, drafts you can check against that data. |
| No. No writing. Weekly insights say what to work on; you or your writer do the rest. |
* On paid plans. ChatGPT is read on chatgpt.com in every country Placton tracks except Venezuela and Puerto Rico, where it is asked weekly through its API. Other vendors’ features are as listed on their own pages on the dates shown; tools not named here may do the same jobs. We make Placton, so weigh our view accordingly.
What Placton’s AEO software does, job by job
Two of the three jobs, done in full. The third is left to you, with a short list each week of what to work on.
Job 1, audit: can AI read your site?
18 checks in four groups: AI access, content, structured data and technical basics.
Your robots.txt is read rule by rule for GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended.
Each check passes, warns or fails, and comes with the fix. Nothing is changed on your site for you.
It covers your home page and three files, not every URL. It is ready as soon as you sign up, and it is part of every plan.
Every check, one by one, with what it takes to pass. You can run the audit there for free, without an account.
Job 2, track: do answer engines name you?
Your prompts go out exactly as written, without your brand name, so the AI has to bring you up on its own.
ChatGPT is read on chatgpt.com, logged out with web search on, and Google AI is the AI Overview in real Google results.
Direct mentions (your name) and indirect ones (a link to your site without your name), position, tone and every cited URL.
A ranking against up to 25 competitors, with ChatGPT and Google AI every day* and Claude, Perplexity and Grok every week.
The metrics behind each number are explained in our guide to AI visibility metrics.
Job 3, create: not done by Placton
Placton does not write, rewrite or publish pages, and it does not change anything on your site. What it gives you instead is below: the insights that tell you which page, source or rival to work on. For what tends to help, see how to show up in AI answers.
* On paid plans. ChatGPT is read on chatgpt.com in every country Placton tracks except Venezuela and Puerto Rico, where it is asked weekly through its API.
Weekly AEO insights: the nine rules behind them
Placton does not write your content, but it does tell you what to work on. Each insight comes from a fixed rule on your numbers and shows the figure that triggered it. These are all nine.
Every insight shows its number. If an insight appears, there is a figure behind it, and the dashboard shows it next to the advice.
Repeats do not inflate counts. Counts are per prompt and AI platform: ChatGPT giving the same answer on seven days is one case, not seven.
No flicker. Once an insight is up for the week, it stays unless the number clearly moves back.
Refreshed with your data. On paid plans, when the weekly cycle closes and when you press “Run now”; during the trial, with each daily run. A week needs at least 3 answers.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Insight | When it appears | The figure it shows (example) | What it points you to |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI platforms are not mentioning you yetor: You appear in more than half of the answers | Not one answer of the week names you. Its other side appears when your visibility reaches 50%. | 0 of 84 answers | The sources AI reads: directory and comparison listings, one page per service with verifiable facts, fresh reviews. |
| Your visibility dropped 12 pointsor: Your visibility rose 12 points | Your visibility moved 10 points or more against the previous week, compared on the same AI platforms. | 41% → 29% | Which sources gained weight and who took your place; after a rise, what you changed, so you can repeat it. |
| A rival appears far more often than you | A competitor you track is 15 points or more ahead of you. | Visibility 62% vs 31%Plus a prompt where the rival is named and you are not. | Those answers, and the sources the AI cites when it talks about that rival. |
| You are mentioned, but your website is not the source | You are named in the week’s answers, but none of them cites your own domain. | 9 appearances, 0 citations to yourbrand.com | Publishing on your site what AI takes from others: comparisons, pricing, FAQs that answer in the first sentence, structured data. |
| Some sources recommend your competitors and not you | Third-party pages are cited in answers that name a rival and not you. Search engines, YouTube and the AI companies’ own sites are left out. | Up to 6 domains, each with the number of answers that cite it. | Getting onto those pages: a directory listing, a place in the comparison article, a review. |
| One AI platform barely mentions you | With data on two AI platforms or more, your weakest one is 25 points or more behind your strongest. | Perplexity 12% · ChatGPT 48% | The sources that platform relies on, filtered in the Sources page. |
| Some answers speak badly of you | At least one mention of your brand in the week is negative. | 3 negative mentionsPlus the latest critical quote. | Where that opinion comes from, so you can answer it or correct the facts on your site. |
| You appear, but far from the top spots | When you are named, your average position is worse than 3. | Average position 4.2 | Spelling out what sets you apart with concrete facts, so the AI has a reason to list you earlier. |
| AI keeps recommending brands you are not tracking | Brands you do not track are named in 2 or more different answers. | Up to 3 brands, each with how many answers name it. | Adding them as competitors, to compare yourself and see which sources back them. |
Titles follow the dashboard, which names the rival or platform and uses your own figures; the figures here are examples. The week-over-week rule needs a previous week to compare with, so it does not appear during the trial. Rules 4 and 5 come from the cited sources: more on AI citation tracking.
See what AI can read on your website
We run 18 checks on what helps AI assistants find, read and cite your site, and tell you what to fix first.
Ready as soon as you sign up, included in the free trial.
No account? Free GEO audit tool: the same 18 checks, without signing up.
Best answer engine optimization tools by job
There is no single best AEO tool, so this is not a ranking. These are well-known options grouped by the job you are hiring them for, each with the terms on its own page and the date we checked. Prices side by side are in our comparison of GEO tools under $100 a month, and engines and refresh rates in AI visibility tools compared.
To track answers inside a suite you already pay for
Best when your team already works in Ahrefs, Semrush, SE Ranking or HubSpot and wants AI answers next to the rest of its data.
Ahrefs Brand Radar (opens in a new tab)
Custom prompts from $50/mo; also free with paid Ahrefs plans (5 prompts on Lite)
ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity; Claude costs 8 checks
Checked October 19, 2026
Semrush AI Visibility (opens in a new tab)
Toolkit $99/mo per domain, 25 prompts
ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini
Checked October 19, 2026
SE Visible (SE Ranking) (opens in a new tab)
Basic $99/mo, 200 prompts, ~30,000 answers
ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, Perplexity, AI Overviews; Claude coming soon, no Grok
Checked October 19, 2026
HubSpot AEO (opens in a new tab)
$50/mo, 25 prompts
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity
Checked October 19, 2026
To track answers in a dedicated AEO tool
Best when measuring AI answers is the main job and you want depth on sources, tone and competitors.
PlactonOur product
Starter $59/mo, 20 prompts
ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Perplexity and Grok
Otterly.AI (opens in a new tab)
Lite $29/mo, 15 prompts
ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot; Claude extra
Checked October 19, 2026
Starter $95/mo, 50 prompts
Choose 3 models: ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, Naver AI
Checked October 24, 2026
Brands get either the free 7-day Trial or custom Enterprise pricing; there is no self-serve brand plan with a public price.
Up to 9 answer engines from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Anthropic Claude, Google AI Overviews and Exa Search
Checked October 24, 2026
To track answers and draft content in one place
Best when you want drafts in the same tool. Ask how each draft ties back to the answers it tracks.
Writesonic (opens in a new tab)
Starter $99/mo, 50 prompts: tracking plus content and site audits
ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews
Checked October 19, 2026
Starter $59/mo, 30 prompts: tracking plus AI-written articles
Pick 3: ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, AI Overviews, AI Mode
Checked October 19, 2026
To audit your site and test tracking for free
Best for a first look before you pay. Check the trial length, whether it asks for a card and whether you choose the prompts.
PlactonOur product
18-point site audit and a 7-day trial, no card, up to 10 prompts you choose
All five AI platforms on day one
Profound Trial (opens in a new tab)
50 unique prompts (recommended set, not editable), daily for 7 days
ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews
Checked October 24, 2026
Trial: 7 days; free account, no card. Paid: All in One $79/mo, 500 prompts
ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, Meta AI; Grok named only in its FAQ
Checked October 19, 2026
Keyword.com (opens in a new tab)
Trial: 14 days, no card. Paid: AI Visibility $9.80/mo, 20 credits a month (about 80 runs)
ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot. Claude, Perplexity, Grok at 4x credits
Checked October 19, 2026
Terms are copied from each vendor’s page on the date shown; if they have changed, the vendor’s page is the one to trust. Placton’s own plans are all on the pricing page.
What the trial includes
Run the audit and read real answers about your brand before you decide whether an AEO tool is worth paying for.
7 days free, no card. Sign up with your email or Google. When the trial ends, tracking stops and nothing is charged.
Up to 10 prompts. We suggest prompts and competitors from your website, and you edit the list before the first run.
All five AI platforms on day one. ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Perplexity and Grok answer your prompts as soon as your email is confirmed.
ChatGPT and Google AI again every day while you keep visiting your dashboard. Claude, Perplexity and Grok are asked once, at sign-up.
One “Run now” and the 18-point site audit. After the trial, our free GEO audit tool still audits any site, without an account.
On paid plans only: team invites and the weekly email summary with alerts.
* On paid plans. ChatGPT is read on chatgpt.com in every country Placton tracks except Venezuela and Puerto Rico, where it is asked weekly through its API.
Placton Starter
Track 20 prompts on 5 AI platforms
$59/ month (USD)
Or $602 billed yearly · save $106
Start your 7-day free trial7 days free. No card required.
- Up to 20 prompts, about 1,440 answers a month
- ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Perplexity, Grok
- ChatGPT and Google AI every day*, the other three every week
- Competitor ranking (up to 25 rivals) and every cited URL
- Weekly insights, plus an email summary with alerts
- 18-point AI-readiness site audit
- Up to 2 team members
Need more prompts? Growth is $129 a month for 75 and Scale $299 for 250. Compare all plans
When another tool fits better
Placton is not the right answer for everyone. Pick something else if:
You want the drafts written for you
Placton does not write, rewrite or publish pages, and it does not optimize anything automatically. If you want drafts in the same place, look at the tools that track and draft content.
Your buyers use Gemini, AI Mode or Copilot
Placton does not track them. Otterly.AI Lite (opens in a new tab) ($29 a month) covers ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot. Add-ons: AI Mode +$9, Gemini +$9, Claude +$29. Keyword.com (opens in a new tab) includes ChatGPT, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot. Claude, Perplexity, Grok at 4x credits.
You report AEO data in your own dashboards
Placton has no exports, API or integrations. Peec AI (opens in a new tab) lists custom CSV exports from Starter and an API from Pro; Profound (opens in a new tab) Enterprise lists CSV, JSON exports and an API.
You want every AI platform checked daily
Placton checks Claude, Perplexity and Grok once a week. Trakkr Growth (opens in a new tab) ($100 a month, trial: 14 days, card required) checks 50 prompts daily on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Grok, DeepSeek and Meta AI.
You need a page-by-page technical audit
Placton’s audit reads your home page, robots.txt, sitemap and llms.txt. For broken links, redirects or every page’s markup, run an SEO crawler next to it.
You already live in Ahrefs or Semrush
Their AI add-ons may be enough for a first look, and you avoid one more login. See the suites that track answers above.
Questions about AEO tools
About Placton itself? Read the full FAQs or see every plan and price.
What is an AEO tool?
An AEO (answer engine optimization) tool helps a brand show up in the answers of AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity. Depending on the product it audits your website for AI crawlers, tracks how the answers mention you and your rivals, or helps you write content. Few tools do all three jobs well.
Which AEO tool is best?
The one that does the job you need. If your team already works in Ahrefs or Semrush, try their AI add-ons first. If measuring the answers is the job, pick a dedicated tracker and check which engines and how often. If you want drafts too, pick a tool that tracks and writes, and check how the two connect.
What are the best rated answer engine optimization tools?
Ratings move fast in a category this young, and many “best AEO tools” lists are written by the vendors themselves, ours included. Instead of a star rating, check three things on each vendor’s own page: which answer engines the plan you can afford includes, how often each one is read, and whether a trial shows your own brand before you pay.
Is AEO software different from an SEO tool?
Yes. An SEO tool measures where your pages rank and how many clicks they get. AEO software reads the answer an AI writes and checks whether your brand is in it, where, with what tone and next to which sources. The two overlap on the site audit, since AI crawlers need the same basics as search engines, plus a few of their own.
Does Placton write or optimize content for me?
No. Placton audits your site and tracks the answers, then gives you weekly insights, each with the figure behind it, and a list of fixes from the audit. It does not write, rewrite or publish pages, and nothing on your site is changed automatically.
Are the weekly insights written by AI?
Not as free text. An AI model reads each answer to find the brands named and their tone, but the insights come from nine fixed rules applied to those numbers, and each one shows the figure that triggered it. The same numbers are in your dashboard.
Which answer engines does Placton track?
ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Perplexity and Grok, on every plan and with no add-ons. Google AI here means the AI Overview shown in Google results. Google AI Mode, the Gemini app and Microsoft Copilot are not tracked.
How often does Placton read the answers?
Paid plans read ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews every day and Claude, Perplexity and Grok every week. ChatGPT is read on chatgpt.com in every country Placton tracks except Venezuela and Puerto Rico, where it is asked weekly through its API. Nothing is tracked in real time.
Can I try an AEO tool for free?
Placton has a 7-day free trial without a card: up to 10 prompts, all five AI platforms on day one, then ChatGPT and Google AI every day while you keep visiting your dashboard. The 18-point site audit is part of the trial. There is no free plan after it; paid plans start at $59 a month.
How long before an AEO tool shows anything useful?
With Placton, the audit is ready when you sign up and the first answers from all five AI platforms arrive once your email is confirmed. Trends take longer: answers vary from one run to the next, and the week-over-week insight needs a previous week to compare with, so it only appears after the trial.
Can an AEO tool get my brand into ChatGPT’s answers?
No tool can promise that, because the AI decides what to write. A good AEO tool shows where you stand, which sources the AI trusts and what your rivals do better, so you can act and see in the following weeks whether it worked.
Audit your site and track your first AI answers today
Add your website, review the prompts and competitors we suggest, and get the audit plus answers from all five AI platforms on day one.
7 days free. No card required.