A generic SEO dashboard tracks blue-link rankings, and AI answers are a different surface. To see AI search visibility, use a tool that asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and the rest your buyers' questions and records whether you are named. Start with a free one-off check, then pick a dedicated tracker, or a tool that also fixes what it finds.
Why a rank tracker is not enough
AI visibility is how often and how prominently AI platforms mention your brand in their responses. A position on Google does not tell you that. And more of buyer research ends without a visit at all: 93% of AI Mode sessions end without a click, so being named in the answer is the visibility. That pattern has a name: zero-click search.
The alternatives
A free first look. Ahrefs' AI Visibility Checker queries ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Overviews, with no signup. Its report shows total AI mentions, mentions by platform, and the top cited domains and pages. Good for a snapshot, not for tracking change.
A low-cost tracker. Otterly.ai starts at $29 a month, and on that plan it tracks 4 platforms with 15 prompts. Waikay costs $69.95 a month and tracks ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Copilot.
A deeper platform. Profound monitors ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and other answer engines, with source citations and brand sentiment, from $99 a month.
Tools that tell you what to do next. AthenaHQ has an Action Center that turns visibility data into next steps, from $295 a month. Leapd's Alex starts at $39 a month with 50 tracked prompts a day and 3 AI-optimized articles a month.
For founders who build with Claude Code or Codex. Shipfound runs inside the coding agent, checks whether you are named across repeated runs on the AI engines, counts GPTBot, PerplexityBot and ClaudeBot visits, and ships the fixes and pages as pull requests you merge. It has a free plan. If your team does not work in a repo with one of those agents, a tracker above fits better.
How to choose
Decide whether you need to know or to act. A tracker answers "are we named?". It does not change your site. If nobody on the team will act on the report each week, pick a tool that proposes or ships the work.
Then check engine coverage on the plan you would actually buy. Cheaper plans often track fewer engines or fewer prompts.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI visibility tracker suits an SEO team?
If you already use an SEO suite, its AI add-on keeps everything in one place. Otherwise a dedicated tracker such as Otterly.ai or Profound covers more engines for the money.
What is the equivalent of SEO for AI search?
It is usually called AI search optimization, or GEO. More in what is AI search optimization.
How do I boost AI search visibility?
Answer the questions buyers ask on clear pages, get listed where AI answers look, and check the same questions repeatedly. More in how to get your product named in ChatGPT answers.