Start with what happens after the report. Some tools here only record where your brand appears in AI answers, and some also draft, rewrite or publish the page that changes it. Otterly.AI, Peec AI and Scrunch are monitors; Frase, Writesonic, Profound and Veritas, ours, go on to produce content. A monitor stops at the report, so the fixing then falls to your own writers.
Next, read the engine list for the plan you would actually buy, because the brochure usually describes the top tier. Claude is the engine most often missing at entry level: Semrush Starter includes it at $199 a month, Otterly.AI sells it as an add-on from $29, and SE Ranking, Surfer, Writesonic and Scrunch Core leave it out. If your buyers use Copilot, Otterly.AI, AthenaHQ and Scrunch cover it on their first plan.
Then count prompts. One answer on one day proves little, so a mention rate needs dozens of prompts measured over weeks. SE Ranking’s $129 Core plan runs 100 prompts every day and Peec AI’s $95 Starter plan 50, while Ahrefs Lite stretches to 5 prompts on one platform and Otterly.AI Lite to 15.
If you already pay for an SEO suite, check its allowance before adding a vendor. Ahrefs, Semrush and SE Ranking all track AI answers inside plans many teams hold already, and a separate tracker earns its cost only when that allowance runs out.
Finally, price the plan against your team, not the headline. Seats decide the bill on Semrush and Frase, credits on AthenaHQ, and brand count on Scrunch. AthenaHQ’s free plan and the card-free trials from SE Ranking, Frase and Writesonic let you see real answers for your brand before paying.