Best AI visibility tracking tools under $50 a month
Ranked October 2026
Ranked October 2026, prices checked Oct 20, 2026: 12 of the 45 AI visibility tools we track sell a paid plan under $50 a month on monthly billing. The cheapest are AEO Vision Lite at $9 (ChatGPT only), BrandAxis Lite at $19 and Waikay at $24.95. Nine of the 12 publish a fixed prompt count, so we rank those nine by cost per tracked prompt: AEO Vision comes first at $0.30, Geoptie Starter trails at $3.27, and the median is $1.56.
Per prompt, plans under $50 cost less: a median $1.56 against $1.90 for plans from $50 up. The trade is volume. The median budget plan holds 20 prompts against 50, none reaches 100, and only four re-run every day.
Ranked: cost per tracked prompt, plans under $50
How we sort: the month-to-month price of each vendor's cheapest paid plan per allowed prompt. Ties go to the plan with more re-checks a month, then more engines in it. "Per run" spreads cost per prompt across a month of re-checks. Yearly rates appear beside the price and leave the order untouched.
| # | Tool | Plan | Price | Prompts | Runs | Engines on the plan | Seats and brands | Per prompt | Per run | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AEO Vision | Lite | $9/mo (same on annual) | 30 | every 3 days | ChatGPT only | 1 brand, 3 competitors | $0.30 | $0.030 | The smallest bill and the only single-engine plan. AEO Vision's next plan up costs $99. |
| 2 | Waikay | Site Owners and Freelancers | $24.95/mo | 40 | weekly | ChatGPT, Claude, Sonar, "Google" | 1 seat | $0.62 | $0.146 | Sonar is Perplexity's API model, and Waikay never names which Google product it reads. A tooltip promises more prompts if you track fewer models, and custom scheduling is on this plan. |
| 3 | Peekaboo | Slider plan, minimum | $30/mo ($26 annual) | 40 | every 2 days | any 3 of 7 | 1 brand | $0.75 | $0.050 | Ranked on the default setting. The same $30 gets you 145 weekly prompts ($0.21 each) or 500 monthly ($0.06), so fix the cadence before you compare. |
| 4 | BrandAxis | Lite | $19/mo (struck-through $29) | 20 | daily | any 3 of 6 | 1 workspace, 2 seats | $0.95 | $0.032 | Every further model costs $7 a month; Claude, read through its API, costs $40. |
| 5 | Promptmonitor | Starter | $39/mo ($33 yearly) | 25 | twice a week | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity | 1 website; 1 seat on the card, unlimited in the FAQ | $1.56 | $0.182 | The plan card says "tracked semi-weekly", yet the same pricing page promises daily tracking on every plan, and its 2,250 answers a month match 25 prompts × 3 models × 30 days. We rank on the plan card's schedule. |
| 6 | Otterly.AI | Lite | $29/mo ($25 annual) | 15 | daily | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot | 1 workspace, unlimited brands and team members | $1.93 | $0.064 | Four engines come fixed, tied with Waikay and CiteCycle for the widest fixed set. AI Mode and Gemini cost $9 a month each on top, Claude $29 a month. |
| 7 | CueScout | Starter | $49/mo ($490 a year) | 20 | daily | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews | up to 2 brands, 1 seat | $2.45 | $0.082 | Up to 2 brands draw on one pool of 20 prompts. Claude costs $19 a month more. A Grok pack, also $19, adds 20 weekly prompts you choose. |
| 8 | CiteCycle | Pro | $49.90/mo ($41.58 yearly) | 20 | weekly | ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, AI Overviews | 3 brands | $2.50 | $0.582 | Ten cents inside the cap. One weekly discovery round of 20 questions makes it the dearest plan per run. |
| 9 | Geoptie | Starter | $49/mo ($41 annual) | 15 | daily | any 4 of 7 | 2 brands, unlimited team members | $3.27 | $0.109 | Four engine picks, the widest choice under $50, on just 15 prompts. The pricing page opens on annual rates; click Monthly for $49. |
Four of these plans re-run every day and two weekly. Peekaboo is an affiliate partner; that deal plays no part in this order.
What you give up under $50
We set the nine ranked plans against the 17 plans at $50 or more in our ChatGPT ranking, each the vendor's cheapest plan with ChatGPT, checked that morning.
| Metric | Under $50 (9 plans) | $50 and up (17 plans) |
|---|---|---|
| Median monthly price | $30 | $99 |
| Median cost per tracked prompt | $1.56 | $1.90 |
| Median prompt allowance | 20 | 50 |
| Plans with 100 or more prompts | 0 | 7 |
| Plans that re-run daily | 4 | 10 |
| Median checks a month, per engine | 450 | 1,500 (15 publish runs) |
| Median engines on the plan | 3 | 3.5 (16 publish a count) |
Prompt depth is the hard limit. A 20-prompt budget covers one product in one market. No ranked plan here reaches the pricier median of 50 prompts; the largest, Waikay and Peekaboo, hold 40, and nothing below $50 reaches 100. The cheapest month-to-month plan with 100 or more prompts is Waikay Small Teams at $69.95 (up to 120 prompts), per our 100-prompt table.
Fewer readings per prompt. Checks a month = prompts × runs: 600 on BrandAxis, Peekaboo and CueScout, 86 on CiteCycle. Each prompt gets 4 re-checks a month, roughly, on a weekly plan and 30 on a daily one.
Engine gaps, by engine. 6 plans fix the engines and 3 let you pick them. Paid add-ons count as not on the plan:
| Engine | Included | You pick it | Not on the plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Perplexity | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| AI Overviews | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Gemini | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Claude | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Copilot | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| AI Mode | 0 | 3 | 6 |
Google AI Mode comes fixed on none of them. On a pick-3 plan, AI Mode takes the place of one other engine. Otterly adds it to Lite for $9 a month, $38 in total. AEO Vision and CiteCycle carry no Perplexity at all, and Waikay reads Perplexity through Sonar, Perplexity's API.
What counts as one prompt
Twenty prompts do not buy the same coverage everywhere, because the counting rules differ:
- BrandAxis: "The same prompt tracked across 3 models still counts as one prompt."
- Geoptie: each prompt "counts once toward your plan's limit, regardless of how many engines or competitors it covers", but a prompt watches one market, so three countries use three prompts.
- ZipTie (not ranked): "A prompt is a slot you hold, not a meter that counts down." Slots are pooled, so "every project draws from the same three buckets", and seats, projects and competitors "never appear on an invoice". Its presets only set a starting mix you can change.
- CueScout: one pool, shared across your brands.
- Peekaboo: each brand gets its own prompts, competitors and dashboard.
- Waikay: the plan card only promises "Enough Prompts to get Started"; a tooltip puts it at 40 prompts a week on 4 models and adds "Fewer models = more prompts."
- Promptmonitor meters AI answers too: each run of one prompt on one model is one answer.
What the first year costs
A year at the month-to-month price, against the prepaid yearly price where the vendor publishes one:
| Tool | A year, month to month | Prepaid year | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| AEO Vision | $108 | $9 a month on both toggles | $0 |
| BrandAxis | $228 | no yearly plan | none |
| Waikay | $299.40 | no yearly plan | none |
| Otterly.AI | $348 | $25 a month, total not published | not published |
| Peekaboo | $360 | $312 | $48 |
| Promptmonitor | $468 | $33 a month, total not published | not published |
| CueScout | $588 | $490 | $98 |
| Geoptie | $588 | $490 | $98 |
| CiteCycle | $598.80 | $499 | $99.80 |
Where a prepaid total is published, it saves $48 to $99.80 a year, and it commits you before you know the tool fits.
The next plan up
Outgrow a budget plan and the first upgrade sets your next bill. Seven of the nine sell a fixed next tier:
| Tool | Budget plan | Next plan | Next price | What it adds | Per prompt | Jump |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AEO Vision | Lite, $9 | Solo | $99 | 70 daily prompts on 5 AI platforms | $1.41 | +$90 |
| Waikay | $24.95 | Small Teams | $69.95 | up to 120 prompts, 2 seats, unlimited projects | $0.58 | +$45 |
| BrandAxis | Lite, $19 | Starter | $69 (struck-through $99) | 50 prompts, 2 workspaces, 5 seats | $1.38 | +$50 |
| Promptmonitor | Starter, $39 | Growth | $79 | 50 prompts tracked daily, 2 websites, unlimited seats | $1.58 | +$40 |
| Otterly.AI | Lite, $29 | Standard | $189 | 100 prompts | $1.89 | +$160 |
| CueScout | Starter, $49 | Growth | $189 | 100 daily prompts, 5 engines, 10 brands, 5 seats | $1.89 | +$140 |
| Geoptie | Starter, $49 | Professional | $99 | 100 prompts, 10 brands | $0.99 | +$50 |
The median jump is $50, from $40 at Promptmonitor to $160 at Otterly. Geoptie and Promptmonitor roughly double your bill; AEO Vision multiplies it eleven times. Waikay Small Teams, at $0.58 a prompt, undercuts every budget plan but AEO Vision, and Geoptie Professional cuts Geoptie's own rate from $3.27 to $0.99. Promptmonitor keeps Claude and DeepSeek for Growth, CueScout says "Teammates come with Growth" and, above 100 prompts, "email us for a price", and BrandAxis gives each seat Owner, Admin, Editor or Viewer roles with "no per-seat charges". Peekaboo prices on a slider, so prompts grow without a tier jump, and CiteCycle sells nothing above Pro.
Fine print: trials, cancelling and refunds
Read the exit terms before you pay:
- BrandAxis refunds the unused part of a cancelled month automatically, "prorated to the day", and refunds the first charge in full if the product isn't working in your first 30 days.
- ZipTie (not ranked) gives a free week with 25 daily prompts, no card and no auto-billing. Paid plans bill in advance, cancelling takes effect at the end of the paid period, and "unused time is not refunded".
- CueScout lets you open an account with no card for a free preview: it writes your first prompts and checks them once on Claude. The 7-day Starter trial takes a card at checkout and bills when the trial ends ("cancel before then and you pay nothing"); Growth has no trial, and there is "no cancellation fee or long-term contract".
- Peekaboo gives eligible new accounts a 14-day card-backed trial and allows cancellation from the dashboard any time.
- Promptmonitor offers a 7-day trial on any paid plan, needs no credit card to start, and says you won't be charged if you cancel before it ends.
- Geoptie applies upgrades, downgrades and cancellations at the next billing cycle.
- Otterly.AI offers a free trial without giving its length. AEO Vision, Waikay and CiteCycle state no trial length or refund terms on the pricing pages we read.
Of the trials named here, ZipTie's and Promptmonitor's are the two that say no card is needed. CueScout's and Peekaboo's take one, and Otterly.AI doesn't say.
Annual, struck-through and promo prices
We rank on the month-to-month price, because a lower annual rate needs a prepayment. Six of the nine show a cheaper yearly rate, and re-ranking on those rates gives the same order.
- Annual is the default view on Geoptie ($41) and CiteCycle ($41.58). Our table uses the price under the Monthly toggle.
- BrandAxis prints $19 beside a struck-through $29, with no end date. We use $19, the price charged today.
- Promptmonitor sat in our data at $29 beside struck-through prices until the Oct 19 re-check; the page now shows $39 monthly, $33 yearly and no crossed-out figure. Its headline "Starting at $33/mo" is the yearly rate. The change log records each move.
- Rankscale sells its cheapest plan at $17 a month next to a crossed-out $20, billed yearly with no monthly option.
- HubSpot AEO is exactly $50 billed monthly ($45 annual), LLM Pulse $58 ($49 yearly), and Citeme €59, cut to €29.50 "for life" if you subscribe before October 31. All three miss the cap.
Not ranked
Four more tools show a price under $50 but sell credits, answers or yearly-only plans instead of a monthly prompt count (Rankscale, Trackerly, Wellows and Arvow), and the cost-per-prompt table explains how we handle them.
ZipTie isn't ranked here: its plans are set with a usage calculator, so it doesn't line up with the fixed plan allowances we rank on. The default preset is 30 daily prompts for $25.65 on 3 engines (re-checked Oct 23, 2026), billed at "one prompt, one engine, one check: $0.01". Engines multiply the prompt subtotal (three engines cost x2.85, not x3), and "Price follows how many engines you run, never which ones". Seats are free: "Unlimited teammates, unlimited projects". For the same reason it is left out of /cost-per-prompt/.
Free plans are left out: BrandAxis (5 ChatGPT prompts), CiteCycle (2 questions a week), AthenaHQ ($25 of credit) and Qwairy (120 credits, no card) offer one, and our AI Visibility Check runs one ChatGPT test for free.
Which cheap plan fits
- One brand, ChatGPT first: AEO Vision Lite, the lowest price per prompt here, if Perplexity and Google can wait.
- Lowest cost per run: AEO Vision ($0.030), then BrandAxis Lite ($0.032) and Peekaboo ($0.050).
- Fixed coverage without choosing: Otterly.AI Lite, four engines, though its 15 prompts tie Geoptie for the smallest allowance in the table.
- More than one brand: CiteCycle Pro names 3 brands and Geoptie 2. Otterly.AI doesn't cap brands, but every brand draws on the same 15 prompts.
- A client who needs 100 prompts: no plan under $50 does it; Waikay Small Teams at $69.95 is the cheapest month-to-month step up.
FAQ
What is the cheapest AI visibility tracker?
AEO Vision Lite at $9 a month, which checks 30 ChatGPT prompts every 3 days. The cheapest plan with more than one engine is BrandAxis Lite at $19 for 20 daily prompts on 3 models of your choosing.
Is a plan under $50 enough for an agency client?
For one small client, it can be. The median plan here holds 20 prompts, and none holds more than 40. CueScout divides its 20 prompts among up to 2 brands; Geoptie (2 brands) and CiteCycle (3) leave it unclear if the allowance is per brand or pooled.
Are annual plans cheaper?
Six of the nine ranked tools show a yearly rate: Otterly drops to $25, Peekaboo to $26, Promptmonitor to $33, Geoptie to $41, CiteCycle to $41.58 and CueScout to $490 a year. The order stays the same.
Do budget plans refund you if you cancel?
Only BrandAxis says so: unused time is repaid "prorated to the day", and a first charge is refunded in full within 30 days if the product isn't working for you. ZipTie says "unused time is not refunded". CueScout and Geoptie end service at the close of the paid period. The other ranked tools say nothing on refunds on the pricing pages.
Can I track Google AI Mode for under $50?
Only by choosing it. BrandAxis, Peekaboo and Geoptie offer AI Mode as one of your picks, and Otterly adds it to Lite for $9, a total of $38.
How we rank
Prices, prompt counts, runs and engines come from each vendor's pricing page, re-checked Oct 20, 2026; our methodology explains the rules. Peekaboo, Rankscale and Wellows, all on this page, run affiliate programs we belong to, and a purchase through our links can earn us a commission. The ranking reads price and prompt count, then runs and engines to break a tie; affiliate deals are not among its inputs.
Featured listings, sponsor slots and affiliate links are labelled, and none of them changes the data, prices or the order of the data tables.