Key takeaways
- Visby AI Starter is $79/month for 15 prompts, 45 AI answers analyzed per month, 3 engines of your choosing, and 5 article generations. Growth is $199 and Enterprise is custom (G2 lists $499).
- Promptwatch Essential is $95/month for 50 prompts and 6,000 responses. That works out to $1.90 per prompt, against about $5.27 per prompt on Visby Starter.
- Visby's edge at entry is content: 5 articles a month. Promptwatch Essential includes none, and articles start at Professional ($245).
- Visby caps every plan at 3 engines, even Enterprise, and offers only 4 to choose from. Check the engine list before you commit.
- The sticker price is rarely the real price. The meter (prompts, engines, credits, article quotas) decides what you pay.
Why startup pricing for AI visibility is confusing
Every AI visibility vendor quotes a monthly number, and almost none of them count the same thing. One tool sells prompts. Another sells credits. A third sells "answers analyzed." Some cap the number of engines, some charge per extra engine, and some bundle articles.
So a $79 plan and a $95 plan are not comparable on the sticker alone. This guide takes Visby AI's pricing as the starting point, lines it up against Promptwatch Essential, and then looks at the other plans a startup is likely to consider at the same price point.
A note on sources: Visby's numbers come from its own pricing page, which is undated, plus a G2 listing. Competitor numbers come from vendor pages and third-party comparisons checked in August to October 2026. Prices change often. Confirm everything on the vendor's page before buying.
What Visby AI actually costs
Visby AI is a GEO tracker aimed at smaller teams. It has three published tiers.
Starter: $79/month
- 3 engines of your choice from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and AI Overviews
- 1 domain and 1 seat
- 15 tracked prompts
- 45 AI answers analyzed per month
- 5 article generations per month
- Funnel-based content tracking, automated GEO task generation, and social proof tracking (Reddit, G2, Trustpilot)
- A free trial from sign-up
Growth: $199/month
- 3 engines, 3 domains, 3 seats
- 90 prompts and 270 answers per month
- 15 articles per month
- Same feature set as Starter
Enterprise: custom
- 3 engines, 5+ domains, 10+ seats
- 250+ prompts and 750+ answers per month
- 25 articles per month
- An expert GEO audit and a consultation call
Visby's own site says Enterprise is a custom quote. G2 lists it at $499. I can't tell which is current, so treat Enterprise as "ask them."
The two details that matter most
First, an "answer analyzed" is one run of one prompt on one engine. Fifteen prompts times three engines is 45 answers, which implies one run per prompt per engine each month. That is a very thin sample. I could not find a stated refresh frequency, so ask before you buy.
Second, the engine cap. Every plan, Enterprise included, lets you pick only 3 engines, and only four are offered. Perplexity, Copilot, Meta AI, DeepSeek and AI Mode are not on the list. If your buyers use Perplexity, you can't see it here.
I also found no annual discount and no add-on engine pricing for Visby.
What Promptwatch Essential costs
Promptwatch Essential is $95/month. It includes 1 project, 1 seat, 50 prompts, 6,000 responses, Agent Chat, country-level tracking, 200K visitor events, site audit, 360 Insights, content gap analysis, and MCP and API access. Its tracking covers real AI interfaces rather than only API outputs, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google, Claude, Gemini, Meta AI and DeepSeek.
There is a 7-day free trial on the monthly plan. Some third-party comparisons note that the old $0 plan was removed in August 2026, so don't plan around a permanent free tier. Also, one third-party comparison describes Essential as covering 4 of 11 models, while Promptwatch's own pricing page says Essential tracks all models. Verify the engine list on promptwatch.com/pricing when you sign up.
What Essential does not include: AEO articles. Content writing and refresh, the Knowledge Base, crawler logs and custom reports begin at Professional ($245). The automated Content Agent and city-level tracking arrive at Business ($579).
Promptwatch's own comparison page lays out this ladder, and it is worth reading with the usual caveat that the vendor wrote it.
Visby Starter vs Promptwatch Essential, side by side
| Visby Starter | Promptwatch Essential | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $79/mo | $95/mo |
| Tracked prompts | 15 | 50 |
| Volume meter | 45 answers/mo | 6,000 responses/mo |
| Price per prompt | about $5.27 | $1.90 |
| Engines | Pick 3 of 4 | All active models per Promptwatch's page (verify) |
| Articles included | 5/mo | 0 (start at Professional, $245) |
| Seats | 1 | 1 |
| API / MCP | Not listed | Yes |
| Crawler logs | Not listed | Professional and up |
| Trial | Free trial of Starter | 7-day trial |
How to read the numbers
The raw arithmetic favors Promptwatch on tracking depth. $79 divided by 15 prompts is about $5.27 per prompt. $95 divided by 50 is $1.90. On volume, Promptwatch's 6,000 responses is roughly 133 times Visby's 45 answers.
But be careful. The two vendors count volume differently. Promptwatch's responses are repeated runs across models, countries and days, while Visby's "answers" are one run per prompt per engine per month. The 133x figure is a rough indicator, not a like-for-like multiple.
The volume matters because of how little each response contains. In Promptwatch Data's average sources per response report, ChatGPT cites about 5 sources per web-search answer, while Google AI Overviews and Perplexity cite about 10. That report dates from September 2025, so treat it as directional. Still, if one run returns 5 to 10 citations, a plan that runs each prompt once a month gives you a very small sample, and AI answers vary from run to run.
Where Visby wins
Content. Five articles a month at $79 is real value if you have nobody writing. Among the vendors in third-party price tables, very few publish a countable article allowance at the entry tier. Promptwatch is not one of them at $95. Its first plan with articles is Professional at $245 for 5 AEO articles.
If you don't have a writer and want drafts out of the box, Visby is the cheaper route. If you have writers and need data, Promptwatch's $95 plan buys far more measurement.
Other entry plans worth comparing
A startup budget of $30 to $100 a month has several options. Here is how they stack up, using figures from third-party pricing roundups checked between August and October 2026.
| Tool | Entry price | What you get | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otterly.AI | $29 (Lite) | 15 prompts, 4 engines | Claude, Gemini and AI Mode are paid add-ons from $9/mo |
| LLM Pulse | 49 EUR (Starter) | 50 prompts, 5 models | Weekly tracking at that price; daily costs 79 EUR |
| Peec AI | $95 (Starter) | 50 prompts | 3 models included; each extra model costs $30/mo |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99 | 25 prompts daily, 1 domain | Single domain only |
| Siftly | $79 (Starter) | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews | Smaller feature set |
| Visby AI | $79 (Starter) | 15 prompts, 3 engines, 5 articles | 3-engine cap on every plan |
| Promptwatch | $95 (Essential) | 50 prompts, 6,000 responses, API, MCP | No articles until $245 |
| Evertune | $800 (Pro) | 25 articles | Priced for larger teams |
Otterly.AI
Otterly.AI is the cheapest published paid entry in most roundups. $29 gets 15 prompts on four engines, for about $1.93 per prompt. Add-on engines are where the bill grows. It is a reasonable first tool if you just want to see whether you show up at all.
Peec AI
Peec AI is the most direct rival to Promptwatch Essential: same $95, same 50 prompts, same $1.90 per prompt. The difference is the model meter. You get 3 models included and pay $30 a month for each additional one at the Starter tier, so a team that wants five engines pays closer to $155.
LLM Pulse
LLM Pulse is priced in euros and is the lowest per-prompt published plan in one roundup, at about EUR 0.98 per prompt. The catch is weekly tracking at the starting prices.
Semrush
The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit is $99 a month per domain with 25 prompts tracked daily. It makes sense if you already live in Semrush and want one invoice. At roughly $3.98 per prompt, it is among the pricier ways to track.
Siftly
Siftly's $79 Starter tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews, and it also generates GEO-optimized content. It is a close competitor to Visby on price and positioning.
Profound and Scrunch
Profound's self-serve Starter is reported at $99 for ChatGPT only (about 50 prompts), which is the priciest per unit in Agenzy's comparison, and its brand pricing is a custom quote. Scrunch starts at $250. Both are aimed at bigger budgets than most startups have.
What a startup should actually decide
How many prompts do you need?
Fifteen prompts is a handful. A single product with three use cases, two competitors and a couple of comparison queries blows past that quickly. Fifty prompts is closer to a workable starting set. If you can only afford 15, pick them carefully: your category query, your top two competitor comparisons, and the problem statements customers actually use.
Which engines do your buyers use?
This is where Visby's cap bites. Three of four engines is fine if your audience is on ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews. If Perplexity or Copilot matters in your market, Visby can't show it. For engine coverage, Promptwatch Essential and LLM Pulse look better on paper, and Peec lets you pay for more.
The citation mix also differs by engine. Promptwatch Data's social media citations report found that from Sep 28 to Oct 4, 2026, ChatGPT drew 0.46% of its citations from social platforms while Google AI Overviews drew 12.2%. A tool that tracks only some engines will give you a skewed picture of where your brand gets mentioned.
Do you need tracking or content?
Tracking without action is a dashboard. If nobody on your team can write, the 5 articles in Visby Starter fill a real gap, though you should judge the output yourself. If you can write, put the money into measurement and spend your time on content gaps. For a startup with a developer, API and MCP access (included at Promptwatch Essential) is useful for pulling data into your own reports.
Will you outgrow the plan in six months?
Plan the upgrade path. Visby jumps from $79 to $199 and still keeps the 3-engine cap. Promptwatch goes $95, $245, $579, and adds crawler logs, the Knowledge Base and AEO articles at Professional, then automated Content Agent and city tracking at Business. Whichever you choose, ask what the next tier changes and whether it is worth the jump.
Questions to ask before you buy any of these
- How often does each prompt run: daily, weekly or monthly?
- Does the tool read the real user interface or an API? Answers can differ.
- Which engines are included, and what does an extra one cost?
- What exactly is the meter: prompts, responses, credits or answers?
- Is there an annual discount, and what happens on downgrade?
- Does the plan include any content, and what is the article quota?
Use the free trials. Run the same 15 prompts in two tools for a week and compare whether the results match what you see when you ask the engines yourself.
Third-party price comparisons
If you want to cross-check numbers, three published roundups were useful. Each is vendor-authored or has a stake, so read them accordingly.
Prefer's table is useful for the "meter" column, but Prefer sells a competing product, and its note that Promptwatch tracks 4 of 11 models at entry conflicts with Promptwatch's own page. The Humanswith.AI roundup (also from a vendor with its own product) lists price per tracked prompt from EUR 0.66 at LLM Pulse to $3.98 at Semrush.
No single table is neutral. Visby's own comparison of GEO tools lists Ahrefs Brand Radar at $199 a month per AI platform, and it is, naturally, written by Visby.
Verdict
Choose Visby Starter if you want drafts included and can live with 15 prompts, three engines and a thin monthly sample. At $79 it is the cheapest of the options here that bundles articles.
Choose Promptwatch Essential if measurement depth matters more than drafts: 50 prompts, 6,000 responses, API and MCP for $95, and an upgrade path that adds crawler logs and content tools later. It is the better fit for a startup that has writers and wants real data.
Choose Otterly or LLM Pulse if you want to test the idea for the least money. Choose Peec if you are fine paying per engine.
Whatever you pick, confirm the plan limits on the vendor's pricing page the day you buy. For a wider look at the category, the GEO software directory at bestgeosoftware.com lists many more options.