Key takeaways
- Free GEO options fall into three groups: one-off graders, permanent free tiers, and time-limited trials. Each answers a different question.
- Start with a free grader to get a baseline, then use a trial on one or two trackers with the same prompt set so you can compare them fairly.
- Trial lengths and prices vary between sources. Otterly is quoted at both 7 and 14 days, and Peec at both EUR 85 and about $95. Check the vendor's own page before you sign up.
- Engine coverage is often tiered. Check which AI engines you get on the entry plan, not the enterprise one.
- Most "best GEO tools" lists are written by vendors who rank themselves first. Treat them as a source of facts, not rankings.
Why start with a free plan or trial
GEO software is a young category. Pricing changes often, engine coverage is tiered, and two trackers can report different visibility numbers for the same brand. Paying for a year before you've seen your own data is a bad bet.
A free plan or trial lets you test three things that matter more than any feature list: whether the tool tracks the prompts you care about, whether it covers the engines your buyers use, and whether the output tells you what to do next.
One thing worth knowing before you compare engine counts. Promptwatch Data on sources per response shows that ChatGPT cites about 5 sources per web-search answer, while Google AI Overviews cites about 10 and Perplexity almost exactly 10 every day. Copilot swung from under 2 to nearly 17 sources within a few weeks. So engine coverage matters more than raw citation counts, Perplexity is the steadiest engine for testing whether a change worked, and Copilot data should be judged monthly rather than weekly.
And per-engine tracking is not optional. In Promptwatch's social citation data for Sep 28 to Oct 4, 2026, social platforms made up 0.46% of ChatGPT's citations but 12.2% of Google AI Overviews' citations. A tool that blends engines together will mislead you.
The three kinds of free access
| Type | What you get | Good for | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free grader | One-time report on how AI engines describe your brand | A quick baseline | No ongoing tracking, small prompt set |
| Free tier | Limited ongoing use, often credit-based | Light monitoring of a handful of prompts | Credits run out fast |
| Free trial | Full or near-full product for 7 to 14 days | Real evaluation before buying | Short window, a card is sometimes required |
Free graders and one-off checks
These cost nothing and take minutes. Use them first.
HubSpot's AEO Grader is the one most lists agree on. It is free, checks ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, and doesn't need a purchase. Ongoing monitoring through HubSpot is quoted at around $50/mo.
Mangools has a free AI Search Grader that covers a wider model set (ChatGPT, Gemini, Mistral, Llama, DeepSeek and Claude) once you make a free account. It's a one-off grade, not a tracker.
Geoptie offers a set of free tools that work without a subscription: a GEO audit, content checker, keyword finder, rank trackers for ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude, a checklist, a cannibalization checker and a backlink finder. Its paid plans start at $49/mo, according to Geoptie's own comparison.
Hall offers a free shareable report that combines citation and crawl behavior, and Semrush, Ahrefs and Ubersuggest each have free AI visibility checkers aimed at pulling you into their suites.
Promptwatch also has a free no-login AI Visibility Report that scans how ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity talk about your brand, plus free tools like an Agentic Readiness Check and an AI crawler URL inspector. Those are worth running before you pay anyone, including us.
Trackers with a permanent free tier
Genuinely free ongoing plans are rare. The ones that exist are small.
- AthenaHQ is described by several vendors as having a free tier (one source says 300 credits plus a 10-minute audit), with paid plans reported around $295/mo. The sources describe the free tier differently, so confirm what it includes.
- Promptwatch's Explore plan is free: 1 project, 10 prompts, ChatGPT only. It is a taste, not a workflow, but it lets you see the interface with your own brand.
- GetCito reportedly has a limited free plan, with paid plans from $299/mo.
Trackers with free trials
This is where most serious evaluation happens. The comparison below pulls from vendor-written roundups, and the figures disagree in places, so treat them as starting points.
| Tool | Trial | Entry price (reported) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promptwatch | 7-day free trial on monthly Essential | $95/mo | All AI models on every paid plan; confirm at promptwatch.com/pricing |
| Otterly.AI | 7 days (one source says 14) | ~$29/mo Lite | Cheap baseline; Gemini, AI Mode and Claude are add-ons |
| Peec AI | 7 days | EUR 85/mo (also quoted ~$95) | Pick 3 engines on the entry plan |
| Rankscale | Free Pro trial | From $20/mo, credits extra | Flexible credit model |
| Profound | 7-day trial | Enterprise custom | Trial covers 3 engines |
| Scrunch | 7 days | $250/mo | 4 engines on Core |
| ZipTie | 7 days, no card (per ZipTie) | ~$69/mo | Real-browser AI Overview tracking |
| Writesonic GEO | Free trial | $99/mo ($79 annual) | Tracking plus AI writing |
| SE Ranking / SE Visible | 14 days | Add-on ~EUR 63-79/mo; SE Visible from $99/mo | Good if you already use SE Ranking |
| Semrush AI Visibility | 7-day trial of the toolkit | $99/mo add-on per domain | Includes the SEO toolkit |
| Frase | 7 days | ~$49/mo | Answer-first content briefs |
| Geotoolbox | 7 days | From $99/mo | Checks whether AI bots can reach your pages |
Budget trackers
Otterly is the usual answer for a first baseline. It has no permanent free plan, but the low entry price keeps the cost of a proper test small.
Rankscale is cheaper still on paper, though credits are billed separately, so the real monthly cost depends on how many prompts you run.
ZipTie is a narrower tool built around real-browser tracking of AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity.
Peec AI suits multi-country work and agencies, with unlimited seats on its plans, but you choose only three engines at the entry level.
Enterprise-leaning trials
Profound and Scrunch both give 7-day trials. Profound's trial covers three engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews), and up to nine unlock on Enterprise. Scrunch's pitch is delivering agent-ready content to AI bots, and it starts at $250/mo.
Trials inside tools you may already use
If you already pay for an SEO suite, the cheapest test is the add-on. Semrush, SE Ranking and Ahrefs all have AI visibility modules. They're fine for tracking, but fixed prompt sets and shallow AI-specific data are the common complaints.
Where Promptwatch fits (disclosure)
This site is published by 1001 SEO Media, which uses Promptwatch as its own GEO platform, so weigh this section accordingly.
The reason I'd put it in a trial shortlist is that it goes past monitoring. It tracks the real user interfaces of ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and others, then adds IP-verified AI crawler logs, visitor analytics for AI-referred traffic, and an Action Board that turns gaps into a to-do list. Higher tiers add a Content Agent that writes and publishes to Webflow, Framer or WordPress. If your question is "was I mentioned?", a cheap tracker will do. If it's "what do I fix and did the fix work?", that's where the extra layers matter.
The 7-day trial applies to the monthly Essential plan. Confirm current terms at promptwatch.com/pricing, since plans change.
How to run a fair trial
Seven days goes fast. Prepare before you start the clock.
- Write 20 to 30 prompts in advance. Mix brand-specific, competitor comparison and generic category questions.
- Use the same prompts across every tool you trial, so differences come from the tool and not your input.
- Add your top three competitors on day one.
- Check the engines. Confirm the entry plan covers the ones your customers use, not just the ones on the marketing page.
- Ask whether data comes from real interfaces or API calls. User-facing answers and citations can differ from API output.
- Export something. If you can't get a CSV or report out, you can't use it with your team.
- Look for the next step. A good tool shows what to change, not just a score.
Questions worth asking during the trial
- Are prompt volumes or difficulty shown, or is every prompt treated the same?
- Can it show which of my pages get cited, not just whether my brand is named?
- Does it log AI crawlers hitting my site, so I can see why a page isn't cited?
- Does it separate engines, or blend them into one score?
Which free option for which situation
| Situation | Start with |
|---|---|
| You just want a baseline today | HubSpot AEO Grader, Mangools, Promptwatch's free AI Visibility Report |
| Tight budget, simple monitoring | Otterly or Rankscale trial |
| Already on Semrush, Ahrefs or SE Ranking | The add-on trial in your existing suite |
| Agency with many clients | Peec AI or an agency plan trial |
| Want tracking plus fixes and publishing | Promptwatch, Writesonic GEO or Slate trial |
| Enterprise with compliance needs | Profound or Scrunch trial |
| Worried AI bots can't read your site | Geotoolbox, or a crawler-log tool |
Caveats about the sources
Most comparison pages I read are written by vendors: Geoptie, Geotoolbox, ZipTie, Goodie and Scrunch each rank themselves well. That doesn't make their facts wrong, but it does mean rankings are marketing. Pricing and trial lengths also conflict between them, and I haven't verified any vendor pricing page directly. Use the numbers above to shortlist, then confirm on the vendor's site.
A useful habit: when two roundups disagree, trust the vendor's own pricing page, and note the date you checked.
Where to find more tools
The free-trial list above is a fraction of the market. For wider browsing, the GEO software directory at bestgeosoftware.com and the AI rank tracking directory at ai-rank-tools.com list far more options.
Bottom line
Run a free grader today, then trial two trackers side by side with identical prompts and pick the one that tells you what to fix, not just where you stand. Pay monthly until you trust the data, and only then switch to annual billing.