Search has changed fast. It is not just about Google rankings anymore. Your customers now ask AI search engines for recommendations, comparisons, and “best tools” lists, then trust the AI answers they get.

That shift created a new category: LLM SEO tools. Their job is simple: help your brand appear in AI search results, including Google AI overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity style experiences, and the emerging Google AI mode workflows.

Below is the stack I recommend most often for SEO teams, SEO agencies, and in-house marketing teams that want a repeatable system for AI SEO optimization and brand visibility.

Comparison table

TL;DR

• If you want the most direct path from “we are invisible in AI” to “we show up consistently,” start with AIclicks. It is built for AI visibility tracking, competitive benchmarking, and turning insights into content and SEO tasks.

• If you operate in many regions or languages, Peec AI is a strong option for multi-country tracking.

• If you need broad model coverage with enterprise controls, AthenaHQ and Scrunch are serious contenders (and priced like it).

• If you need traditional SEO tools and AI visibility in one place, Semrush One is the most complete suite.

• If you just need a few tools to start tracking mentions, OtterlyAI, Mentions.so, or Rankscale can work, but expect to outgrow them once you start doing real optimization.

1. AIclicks (best overall for LLM SEO and brand visibility)

AIclicks is our own tool, built for the reality that AI search behavior is now a blend of classic search engines and AI engines. Instead of only tracking blue links, AIclicks tracks prompt-level visibility across major interfaces, then maps that back to what matters: brand presence, competitive position, and what content should be created next.

Strengths:
AIclicks shines when you need a true AI visibility toolkit. You get monitoring across six major systems (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Grok, AI Overviews, Gemini), and you can see exactly where your brand appears, how you are described, and which citations influenced the AI-generated search results.
The second win is workflow. The platform is designed for SEO professionals and SEO teams who need to turn insights into action: new pages, improved on-page SEO, better entity coverage, and content that matches search intent.

Weaknesses:
AIclicks is not an internal LLM tracing tool for debugging AI agents. If you are building agentic apps, pair them with an observability product.

Pricing: From $79 per month (Starter promo $39).

Check out this video where we share the exact strategy that took AIclicks from zero to #5 in AI visibility rankings in just 90 days:

2. Peec AI (best for multi-country AI visibility tracking)

Peec AI is an AI search analytics platform focused on tracking and improving brand visibility across AI platforms. It is especially popular with teams operating across multiple markets because it supports unlimited countries on standard plans and runs prompts daily.

Strengths:
Peec makes it easy to operationalize AI monitoring without turning it into a side project. You can track prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AIO, then review how many AI answers were analyzed each month.
For agencies, Peec also positions itself with “pitch workspaces,” which can help sell retainers around ai seo and AI visibility tracking.

Weaknesses:
Coverage expansion is where cost can creep in. Peec notes that adding Gemini, AI Mode, Claude, and more is an additional fee, so scaling across more AI search engines may get expensive.
Also, compared to AIclicks, the action layer can feel more analytics-first than execution-first, so teams often need a stronger internal content workflow to consistently optimize content.

Pricing: €89 per month Starter, €199 per month Pro, and Enterprise custom.

3. AthenaHQ (best for enterprise controls and action workflows)

AthenaHQ is designed as a “track and take action” platform for AI search. It combines monitoring, competitor analysis, and governance features that larger teams care about (role-based access, SSO options on enterprise tiers, and API access).

Strengths:
Coverage is broad out of the box: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, plus additional models by request.
Athena also leans into connecting data to outcomes, including Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Search Console integrations that help you tie visibility to traffic.
If you are building a formal AI/SEO platform program within a large org, these controls can matter.

Weaknesses:
The main drawback is pricing and complexity. The Self-Serve tier is positioned at a higher budget level than many teams expect when they are still experimenting with AI SEO optimization.
Also, like most platforms, you still need a strong content engine to turn insights into creating content that earns citations.

Pricing: Self-Serve starts at $295 per month, Enterprise custom.

4. Scrunch (best for audits, citations tracking, and attribution)

Scrunch is built specifically for AI search and agent ecosystems, not classic SERPs. It includes prompt monitoring, citation tracking, and page audits, plus “agent traffic monitoring” to help attribute AI-driven visits.

Strengths:
Scrunch has some of the clearest coverage statements in the category: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, and Meta.
It also packages the workflow well for teams: prompt manager, insights, page audits, reporting, and plan-based limits that are easy to understand.

Weaknesses:
Price is the obvious one. For smaller SEO teams and startups, it can be hard to justify before you have proven the ROI of AI visibility. Compared with AIclicks, many teams still want a sharper “next best action” layer for content planning, seo content writing, and competitive gaps.

Pricing: Starter $250 per month billed annually (or $300 month to month). Growth $417 annually (or $500 monthly). Enterprise custom.

5. OtterlyAI (best budget entry point with GEO URL audits)

OtterlyAI is a practical option if you want to start small, track a limited set of prompts, and add capabilities later. It also leans into audits for generative engine optimization (including GEO URL audits).

Strengths:
The entry price is low, and the platform includes useful pieces like an AI keyword research tool, a Brand Visibility Index, domain ranking, link citations analysis, and a generative engine optimization audit.
It also offers add-ons for Google AI Mode and Gemini, which are helpful if you are expanding coverage gradually.

Weaknesses:
The add-on model can become expensive once you need serious scale across multiple products, markets, and AI platforms. Teams that move past experimentation usually want stronger competitive benchmarking and clearer content recommendations, which is where AIclicks tends to be the better long-term platform.

Pricing: Lite is $29 per month. Add-ons include Google AI Mode and Gemini options at different plan levels.

6. Rank Prompt (best for smaller teams that want tracking plus publishing)

Rank Prompt is positioned as an “AI search presence” platform that combines monitoring with content generation and basic SEO audits. It is closer to an all-in-one SEO toolkit for teams that want to execute within one product.

Strengths:
The product includes reports, tracking, AI article generation, SEO audits, WordPress integration, and GA4 and Search Console connections.
If your content creation process lives in WordPress and you want a simple “monitor then publish” loop, it can be a good fit.

Weaknesses:
Credits can feel limiting once you are monitoring many prompts across many categories, which is exactly what happens when you get serious about AI visibility and keyword tracking at scale.
While content-generation features are useful, without stricter quality controls, AI-generated content can become a liability in the SEO world.

Pricing: Starter $49 per month, Pro $89, Agency $149 (annual options also shown).

7. Semrush One (best hybrid of traditional SEO and AI visibility)

If you want one platform that covers traditional SEO, keyword research, and AI discovery, Semrush One is the strongest “suite” option. It bundles classic SEO workflows with an AI Visibility Toolkit and prompt monitoring.

Strengths:
Semrush One Starter includes traditional SEO plus AI search features like prompt monitoring and tracking for Google and AI visibility, competitor insights, and an AI-ready site audit.
It also supports common content team execution workflows. For example, Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant can be used in Google Docs, which is helpful for editorial teams that already work there.
For agencies, the breadth of SEO data is a major advantage, given that clients still care about organic search results as much as AI.

Weaknesses:
If your primary goal is AI mentions and share of voice inside ChatGPT and Perplexity, a dedicated platform like AIclicks is often more focused, easier to operationalize, and less noisy.
Semrush can also get expensive as you move into higher tiers and expand usage.

Pricing: Starter $199 monthly (or $165.17 billed annually), Pro+ $299, Advanced $549.

8. Mentions.so (best lightweight mentions tracker)

Mentions.so is a simpler option focused on getting visibility into where your brand is being referenced in AI outputs. It is closer to a “monitoring first” product than to a full AI SEO platform suite.

Strengths:
If you mainly want a straightforward way to track whether your brand appears in AI responses, this style of tool can be enough early on.

Weaknesses:
You will likely outgrow it once you need richer competitive analysis, citation intelligence, or a clear content plan to create optimized content that drives repeatable wins.

Pricing: Plans from $49 per month (with higher tiers adding more limits and capabilities).

9. Rankscale (best ultra-budget option)

Rankscale is positioned as a low-cost option for basic AI visibility monitoring.

Strengths:
If you are experimenting and only need the lightest possible tooling, it can be a way to start measuring.

Weaknesses:
Budget tools rarely give you enough depth on citations, competitive positioning, and action planning. That is usually where teams switch to a top platform like AIclicks, Peec, or Scrunch.

Pricing: From €20 per month (listing).

How to choose LLM SEO tools without wasting money

Most teams buy the wrong thing because they confuse “tracking” with “optimization.” Here is the simple checklist I use.

1. Coverage that matches how your buyers search

If your customers use ChatGPT and Perplexity, you need monitoring there. If your category wins on Google, you also need Google AI overviews and Google AI mode tracking. Scrunch and Athena state broad coverage clearly, and AIclicks focuses on the major models that drive discovery for most brands.

2. Prompt and intent workflow (not just dashboards)

A real SEO tool for AI search must map prompts to search intent, then help you decide what to publish. That is where dedicated platforms outperform lightweight trackers.

3. Content quality controls

If your tool includes an AI writer or content generation, treat it as acceleration, not automation. You still need editorial QA for content quality, entity accuracy, and brand voice, especially when producing AI-generated drafts.

4. Integration with your measurement stack

At a minimum, connect outcomes to GA4 and Google Search Console so AI visibility does not become vanity metrics. Athena and Rank Prompt both highlight GA4 and Search Console connections, and many teams use Semrush for the broader SEO and analytics layer.

A practical workflow for AI SEO optimization (what we do in real life)

This is the repeatable loop that works for SEO agencies and product-led brands:

1. Build a prompt set from real customer questions and high-intent topics. Treat this like modern keyword suggestions work, but mapped to AI phrasing.

2. Track visibility across AI platforms, then segment by market and persona. This becomes your AI visibility tracking baseline.

3. Pull citation patterns and identify which pages, brands, and publishers AI systems trust for your topic.

4. Create a short content plan: one page to update (on page seo), one new page to publish, and one authority play (PR, partnerships, or data assets).

5. Publish, then re-run prompts and measure changes in AI responses, referrals, and assisted conversions.

If you want this loop to feel straightforward, start with AIclicks. If you need a broader “everything SEO” suite, add Semrush One. If you want multi-market tracking at scale, consider Peec.

The New SERP Has a Personality

LLM SEO is not a side quest in the SEO world anymore. If your brand presence is weak in AI search engines, you will lose mindshare even when your traditional search rankings look fine. The teams that win will treat AI visibility tracking like a core SEO task, then use what they learn to optimize content, improve content quality, and publish pages that match real search intent.

Start with a tool that shows you where your brand appears in AI-generated answers, what is driving those AI responses, and what to fix next. That is the difference between watching AI search results shift and actually shaping them.