You can't improve what you can't measure. And right now, most brands have zero visibility into how AI platforms talk about them.
When someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation in your category, do you appear? When Claude compares tools, are you mentioned favorably? When Perplexity synthesizes search results, does your brand make the cut?
These are no longer theoretical questions. They're business-critical metrics. Here's a practical breakdown of the tools and approaches available to track AI visibility in 2026.
1. Manual Testing (Free, Unscalable)
What it is: You open ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and other AI platforms. You type relevant prompts. You record the results in a spreadsheet.
What it does well:
- Zero cost
- Immediate, firsthand insight into how AI responds
- Good for initial auditing and one-off checks
Where it falls short:
- Doesn't scale beyond a handful of prompts
- AI responses vary by session, making consistent tracking impossible
- No historical data or trend analysis
- Manual data entry is error-prone and time-consuming
- Can't monitor competitors systematically
Best for: Initial exploration. Understanding the landscape before investing in tools. Quick spot-checks.
Estimated time investment: 2-4 hours per week for basic monitoring of 10-15 prompts across 3-4 platforms.
2. Orbilo (Full AI Visibility Platform)
What it is: A purpose-built platform for AI visibility monitoring and AEO optimization. Full disclosure — this is our product. We'll be honest about what it does and doesn't do.
What it does well:
- Monitors brand mentions across six AI platforms (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI)
- Automated prompt execution on a schedule
- Tracks competitors alongside your brand
- AEO Score tool evaluates content AI-readiness (free, no signup required)
- AI Visibility Index provides category-level benchmarking
- Suite of optimization tools: LLMs.txt generator, LLMs-ctx generator, JSON-LD generator
- Historical tracking and trend analysis
Where it falls short:
- Newer platform — less historical data than established SEO tools
- Doesn't replace traditional SEO tools (no backlink analysis, keyword tracking, or site audits)
- AEO as a category is still maturing, so best practices are evolving
Pricing: Free tier includes AEO Score and basic tools. Paid plans for brand monitoring and advanced features.
Best for: Teams serious about AI visibility who want a dedicated, AI-native platform rather than a bolt-on feature.
3. SEO Tools with AI Features (Semrush, Ahrefs)
What they are: The established SEO platforms have started adding AI-related features in response to market demand.
What they do well:
- Strong existing SEO capabilities (backlinks, keywords, site audits)
- Semrush's AI Overview tracking shows when your pages appear in Google's AI-generated summaries
- Large existing user bases and extensive documentation
- Mature platforms with years of historical data for traditional metrics
Where they fall short:
- AI features are bolt-on additions, not core functionality
- Primarily track Google's AI Overviews, not standalone AI platforms like ChatGPT or Claude
- Don't monitor how AI models recommend brands in conversational contexts
- No AEO-specific scoring or optimization guidance
- Pricing reflects the full SEO suite — you pay for a lot of features you may not need for AI monitoring
Pricing: $129-$499/month depending on plan level.
Best for: Teams already using these tools for SEO who want incremental AI visibility insights without adding another platform.
4. Brand Monitoring Tools (Mention, Brand24)
What they are: Traditional brand monitoring tools that track mentions across social media, news, blogs, and forums.
What they do well:
- Comprehensive web mention tracking
- Sentiment analysis
- Alert systems for new mentions
- Good at tracking press coverage and social media buzz
Where they fall short:
- Not designed for AI platform monitoring
- Can't track what ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity say about you
- Monitor published content about your brand, not AI-generated responses about your brand
- The distinction is critical: being mentioned on a blog is different from being recommended by an AI
Pricing: $29-$299/month depending on features and volume.
Best for: PR and social media teams. Complementary to AI visibility tracking but not a substitute.
5. DIY API Approach
What it is: Building your own monitoring system using direct API access to AI platforms (OpenAI API, Anthropic API, etc.).
What it does well:
- Complete control over prompts, frequency, and data storage
- Can be customized to your exact needs
- No vendor dependency
- Cost-effective at scale if you have engineering resources
Where they fall short:
- Requires engineering time to build and maintain
- API costs add up across multiple platforms
- No built-in analysis, benchmarking, or optimization tools
- You're building infrastructure instead of focusing on strategy
- Handling rate limits, API changes, and data normalization is non-trivial
Estimated cost: $200-$1,000/month in API costs plus engineering time.
Best for: Engineering-heavy teams with specific requirements that no existing tool meets.
Comparison Table
| Feature | Manual | Orbilo | Semrush/Ahrefs | Brand24/Mention | DIY API |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT monitoring | Manual | Automated | Limited | No | Build it |
| Claude monitoring | Manual | Automated | No | No | Build it |
| Perplexity monitoring | Manual | Automated | No | No | Build it |
| Multi-platform | Tedious | Yes (6 platforms) | Google AI only | Web/social only | Build it |
| AEO scoring | No | Yes (free) | No | No | Build it |
| Competitor tracking | Manual | Automated | SEO only | Web mentions | Build it |
| Historical trends | Spreadsheet | Built-in | SEO metrics | Web mentions | Build it |
| Optimization tools | No | LLMs.txt, JSON-LD, more | SEO tools | No | No |
| Setup time | Minutes | Minutes | Minutes | Minutes | Weeks |
| Monthly cost | Free (your time) | Free-$$ | $$-$$$ | $-$$ | $$+ engineering |
Which Approach Is Right for You?
Just getting started? Begin with manual testing to understand the landscape, then use the free AEO Score tool to evaluate your content. This costs nothing and gives you a baseline.
Small team, limited budget? A combination of manual testing and Orbilo's free tools gets you surprisingly far. The AI Visibility Index provides category benchmarks without requiring a paid subscription.
Serious about AI visibility? Invest in a dedicated platform. Whether that's Orbilo or something else, systematic monitoring across multiple AI platforms is the only way to track progress and measure the impact of your optimization efforts.
Already using Semrush/Ahrefs? Keep them for SEO — they're excellent at what they do. Add an AI-native tool for the visibility gap they don't cover. As we've written about, AEO and SEO are complementary disciplines, not competing ones.
Enterprise with engineering resources? Consider a hybrid approach: a platform like Orbilo for out-of-the-box monitoring and analysis, supplemented by custom API integrations for specific use cases.
The Bottom Line
AI visibility tracking is where web analytics was in 2005 — early, evolving, and about to become essential. The tools are maturing rapidly, and the brands that start measuring now will have a compounding data advantage over those that wait.
The specific tool matters less than the habit. Pick something, start tracking, and iterate. The worst approach is not measuring at all.
