Key takeaways
- Sticker price tells you almost nothing. Cost per prompt and cost per response is what matters, and vendors count them in different units (prompts, prompts per day, credits, responses, checks).
- Total cost = prompts x engines x locales x runs per month. Locales multiply silently: 40 prompts in five markets is usually billed as 200.
- Entry points run from about $20/mo (Rankscale Essentials) and $29/mo (Otterly Lite) up to $500+/mo for enterprise-leaning tools like Scrunch and Profound.
- On Promptwatch's published tiers, cost per prompt lands around $1.63 to $1.90 and cost per response around $0.014 to $0.016, with all models included.
- Always check the vendor's pricing page before buying. Several third-party figures quoted online are out of date.
Why AI rank tracker pricing is so hard to compare
Traditional rank trackers charge per keyword. AI trackers charge per prompt, per response, per credit, per check, or per prompt per day, and sometimes a mix. Some count every engine as a separate prompt. Some bundle all engines. Some charge extra for add-ons you only discover at checkout.
I went through the published pricing from several comparison write-ups and vendor pages. The numbers below come from those sources, and a few of them disagree with each other. Where that happens I say so. Treat everything as a starting point and confirm on the vendor's pricing page, because these prices move.
The comparison above from Detailed is worth reading for its scenario-based approach (25 daily prompts across 3 models, 100 across 4, and so on). Note that its author works with Ahrefs, so read the Ahrefs conclusions with that in mind. The scenario method itself is sound.
The pricing units, translated
Before comparing anything, normalise the units.
| Unit | What it means | Used by |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt | One question you track, usually run on a schedule | Promptwatch, Otterly, Profound |
| Prompts per day | A daily run allowance, so 150/day is roughly 4,500 checks a month | Rankshift |
| Response | One captured answer from one engine | Promptwatch, Rankscale |
| Credit | An abstract unit, with different engines costing different amounts | Rankscale |
| Check | Detailed's umbrella term for one prompt on one engine on one run | Comparison articles |
| Wallet / pay-per-use | You top up and each check deducts | AIclicks, AI Rank Checker |
A cost-per-response number also isn't comparable across engines. Promptwatch Data's sources per response report shows ChatGPT citing about 5 sources per web-search answer while Google AI Overviews and Perplexity cite about 10. Same price per response, very different amount of citation data.
Fanout depth doesn't change the bill either. In Promptwatch's query fanout data, average fanouts per response moved from about 2.15 in December to about 1.84 in March. Vendors bill for the response, not the searches behind it.
The formula to model your own cost
Use this before you look at a single price:
prompts x engines x locales x runs per month = total checks
Forty prompts, four engines, one country, weekly runs: 40 x 4 x 1 x 4 = 640 checks a month. Daily runs on the same setup: 40 x 4 x 1 x 30 = 4,800.
Then divide the monthly price by checks. That gives you a number you can compare across vendors, as long as you also check what the vendor counts as a "prompt".
15 tools compared on price
The table collects published monthly entry and mid-tier prices from the sources above. Cost per prompt is my arithmetic where the vendor publishes a prompt count. Blank means the vendor did not publish enough to calculate it.
| Tool | Entry price | Prompts at that tier | Approx. cost per prompt | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rankscale | $20/mo Essentials; Pro $99/mo | Pro: 4,800 responses | Pro: about $0.021 per response | Credit-based; third-party figures, verify |
| Otterly.AI | $29/mo Lite; $189 Standard; $489 Premium | Lite 15; Standard 100 | Lite about $1.93; Standard about $1.89 | 15% off annual |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | From $50/mo custom prompts | 25 daily prompts x 3 models fits $50 | n/a (check-based) | Does not require a standard Ahrefs subscription |
| ZipTie | $69/mo Basic; $99 Standard; $159 Pro | Check-based | n/a | 14-day trial, 15% off annual |
| Morningscore | $49/mo Lite up to $259 Premium | Varies by tier | n/a | Bundles keywords and AI credits |
| Rankshift | EUR 69/mo | 150 prompts/day | About EUR 0.015 per daily check | Roughly 4,500 checks a month |
| Promptwatch | $95/mo Essential | 50 | About $1.90 | 6,000 responses, all models |
| Peec AI | $95/mo (per Detailed scenarios) | Covers 25 to 50 daily prompts x 3 models | n/a | Steps to $245 and $330 at higher volume |
| SE Ranking / SE Visible | $89/mo add-on; SE Visible Core $189 | Core: 450 | About $0.42 | Add-on structure makes SE Ranking total cost hard to predict |
| Nightwatch | $39/mo classic; AI add-on from $99 | AI add-on: 100 | About $0.99 | Needs the base plan too |
| Searchable | $125/mo | Scenarios up to 100 x 3 models | n/a | Jumps to $525 at 200 x 4 models |
| Scrunch | $250/mo (Detailed) to $500 Growth (other sources) | Varies | n/a | Sources disagree, verify |
| Profound | $99 Starter (ChatGPT only, 50 prompts); $399 Growth (100 prompts) | 50 / 100 | $1.98 / $3.99 | Another source quotes entry around $499; verify |
| Semrush AI visibility | $99/mo for the smallest scenario; $299 at mid volume | Scenario-based | n/a | Big jump between scenarios |
| Rankability | $124 to $374/mo | Agency multi-client | n/a | Aimed at agencies |
The first thing that jumps out is how little the headline price predicts. Otterly's $29 Lite tier costs about $1.93 per prompt. Its $189 Standard tier gives 100 prompts at about $1.89. Barely different. But if you only need 15 prompts, Lite is the sensible buy, and if you need 60, Lite is useless.
Tool-by-tool notes
Promptwatch
Promptwatch prices per prompt and per response, and every prompt runs across all supported models. The published Brands tiers:
| Tier | Price | Prompts | Responses | Cost per prompt | Cost per response |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | $95/mo | 50 | 6,000 | $1.90 | about $0.0158 |
| Professional | $245/mo | 150 | 18,000 | about $1.63 | about $0.0136 |
| Business | $579/mo | 350 | 42,000 | about $1.65 | about $0.0138 |
Each prompt gets 120 responses a month on every tier, which is daily tracking across several models. The Agencies plans (Kick-off $199, Growth $399, Scale $799) use unlimited prompts with response allowances of 10,000, 25,000 and 65,000, which works out to roughly $0.0199 to $0.0123 per response. One thing worth knowing: Detailed's table shows Promptwatch at $245 for 10K checks, but the current allowances are different, so use the pricing page rather than older write-ups.
Promptwatch is also one of the few tools in this list that goes past monitoring, with a Content Agent and crawler logs, so the price covers more than a prompt counter. If you only want a bare tracker, that matters less.
Otterly.AI
Otterly is the cheapest way to get a handful of prompts with Microsoft Copilot coverage. Lite at $29 for 15 prompts, Standard at $189 for 100, Premium at $489. Some sources list "from $189" as the starting price, which is why you see conflicting figures. They are different tiers.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
In the Detailed comparison, Brand Radar was the cheapest in four of six scenarios, starting at $50/mo for 25 daily prompts across 3 models, rising to $250 for 200 prompts across 4 models. That is a genuinely low price at low volume. Again, the source is Ahrefs-affiliated, so check the numbers yourself.
Peec AI
Peec holds at $95/mo across the first three scenarios, then $245 at 100 prompts x 3 models and $330 at 100 x 4. It is a straightforward tracker with predictable steps.
Profound and Scrunch
Both skew enterprise. Profound's Starter is ChatGPT-only with 50 prompts at $99, and Growth jumps to $399 for 100 prompts. At the higher volume scenarios in the Detailed table, both Profound and Scrunch drop to "Talk to Sales", which makes budgeting hard.
Semrush
The AI visibility toolkit from Semrush is $99/mo in the smallest scenario but $299 as soon as you pass it, which is the biggest step function in the table. Worth modelling carefully if you already pay for the main suite.
SE Ranking and SE Visible
SE Ranking's AI Search is an $89/mo add-on, and required add-ons make the true total hard to calculate upfront. SE Visible sold separately is Core $189 (450 prompts, 5 brands), Plus $355 (1,000 prompts) and Max $519 (1,500 prompts). That is the lowest cost per prompt in this guide, around $0.35 to $0.42 per prompt, though what counts as a prompt there should be checked.
Rankscale, ZipTie, Nightwatch, Rankshift, Morningscore
Rankscale starts at $20 with the widest engine list, though the credit allowance isn't published at that tier. Coalition Technologies estimated about 6,857 monthly runs from 12,000 credits on its top tier, around 1.75 credits per four-engine prompt, which is a good way to sanity-check any credit plan. ZipTie runs $69 to $159. Nightwatch gives you 500 keywords of classic tracking from EUR 79 plus an AI add-on from $99 for 100 prompts. Rankshift is EUR 69 for 150 prompts per day. Morningscore bundles AI credits into a broader SEO plan.
Scenario pricing: what 100 daily prompts across 3 models costs
The Detailed scenarios are the cleanest apples-to-apples view I found. For 100 daily prompts across 3 models:
| Tool | Monthly price |
|---|---|
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | $130 |
| Searchable | $125 |
| Promptwatch | $245 |
| Peec AI | $245 |
| Scrunch | $250 |
| Semrush | $299 |
| Surfer | $359 |
| Profound | $399 |
Two caveats. First, each vendor decides what a "prompt" and "model" mean. Second, price is not value: tools differ a lot in whether they include crawler logs, visitor analytics, content tools and exports. A $125 tracker that only shows mentions and a $245 platform that also shows AI traffic are not the same product.
Pay-as-you-go: when it is cheaper and when it isn't
Wallet-based tools like AIclicks and AI Rank Checker avoid the sunk cost of unused prompt credits, which is real during slow months. AI Rank Checker charges about $0.1284 per ChatGPT check with a $5 minimum top-up. Compare that with roughly $0.014 to $0.016 per response on a subscription plan and you can see where this stops making sense: past a few dozen checks a month, subscriptions win by a wide margin. Pay-per-use suits one-off audits and agency pitches.
Hidden costs to watch
- Locales. The same 40 prompts across five markets is 200 prompts on most plans.
- Engine add-ons. Some vendors price ChatGPT only at the base tier and charge more for Perplexity, AI Overviews, Copilot or Gemini.
- Required base plans. Nightwatch's AI add-on and SE Ranking's AI Search both sit on top of a main subscription.
- Seats and projects. Agency plans differ widely on how many brands you can track.
- Annual discounts. Otterly and ZipTie give 15% off, Profound 17%, Nightwatch 20%. Promptwatch's annual billing is 12 months for the price of 10.
- Currency. Rankshift, Nightwatch and Ahrefs custom prompts are quoted in euros.
- Free trials. Promptwatch, Otterly (via free tiers), ZipTie (14 days), SE Visible (10 days) and Nightwatch (14 days) let you test before paying.
How to choose by budget
Under $100/mo
You have 15 to 50 prompts. Look at Otterly Lite, Ahrefs Brand Radar custom prompts, ZipTie Basic, Promptwatch Essential, Peec at its entry tier. Pick on engine coverage, since one cheap tool may miss Copilot or AI Mode.
$100 to $300/mo
This is the sweet spot for most in-house teams, with 100 to 150 prompts. Compare Promptwatch Professional, Peec, Searchable, Scrunch's lower scenario and SE Visible Core. Ask what is included beyond tracking.
$300 and up
You are tracking hundreds of prompts, multiple brands or multiple locales. Compare Promptwatch Business or its Agencies plans, Semrush, and enterprise options such as Profound. Get quotes in writing for anything that says "Talk to Sales".
A quick checklist before you buy
- Write down your prompts, engines, locales and run frequency.
- Multiply to get total checks and compare cost per check across vendors.
- Ask how each vendor counts a prompt, a response and a locale.
- Check whether the real UI is queried or only the API, since answers can differ.
- Confirm what happens when you exceed your allowance.
- Look for data beyond mentions: crawler logs, AI traffic, citation sources.
- Trial two tools in parallel on the same prompt set for two weeks.
There are more tools worth looking at in the category. The GEO software directory at bestgeosoftware.com and the AI rank tracking directory at ai-rank-tools.com list far more than 15, with filters by price.
Bottom line
The cheapest sticker price is rarely the cheapest tool for your workload. Model your checks first, normalise to cost per prompt and cost per response, and count the locales. At small volume Ahrefs Brand Radar, Otterly and ZipTie are hard to beat. At mid volume the gap narrows, and the decision turns on what else you get. Verify every number on the vendor's pricing page before you commit, because several figures floating around in comparison articles are already stale.