Many people now ask AI tools for help before they search the web. They use them to compare products, learn new topics and make quick decisions. This means brands can no longer rely on search rankings alone. Visibility now depends on whether an AI tool mentions your name, uses your work as a source or explains a topic using your examples.
This has created a new layer of competition. Content that once performed well in search may never appear in an AI answer. At the same time, smaller or newer sites can gain ground if their information is clear, structured and easy for these systems to draw from.
Generative engine optimization tools help teams understand how this new layer works. They show when a brand appears in AI answers, how often it is cited and how it compares with others. They also point out gaps and give guidance on how to improve. This makes them essential for any team that wants to stay visible in a world where AI answers shape most first impressions in 2026.
15 Best Generative Engine Optimization Tools for 2026
Profound
Best for: Teams that need clear, reliable tracking of how often they appear in AI answers.
Profound monitors brand mentions, citations and competitor presence across major AI engines. It shows where your content is used as a source and where it is missing, with direct links to the answers pulled from each engine. It offers steady trend data, broad query coverage and accurate competitive comparisons. Pricing starts at $99 per month, with higher tiers for larger teams.
Goodie
Best for: Brands that want an all-in-one visibility and optimization platform for AI-driven search.
Goodie tracks your brand’s mentions, citations and sentiment across multiple generative engines (like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity). It offers dashboards that show where you appear, how you compare with competitors, and actionable recommendations for improving your presence. It supports global monitoring and includes tools for optimizing the narrative and structure of your content. Pricing is by quote after a free demo.
Writesonic
Best for: Teams that want GEO insights directly connected to content creation.
Writesonic combines visibility tracking with tools for improving structure, clarity and topic coverage in new or existing content. It helps writers shape pages in ways that generative engines can understand and cite, while also giving basic mention and citation data. It is stronger on content support than competitive analysis. Pricing starts at $39 per month, with higher tiers for larger teams.
AthenaHQ
Best for: Teams that want broad, multi-engine visibility tracking with strong competitive context.
AthenaHQ runs large sets of prompts across major AI engines and shows where your brand appears, where it is missing and how often competitors show up instead. It offers clear visibility reports, citation checks and topic-level coverage gaps. It focuses more on accurate monitoring than on content editing, making it a good fit for teams that want dependable data rather than writing support. Pricing starts at $295 per month, with a custom enterprise option.
Peec AI
Best for: Mid-size teams that need clean GEO tracking with straightforward dashboards.
Peec AI monitors your brand’s visibility, mentions, and citations across AI-answer systems, and offers a simple dashboard for review. It provides competitive comparison and basic trend data, making it easy to see where you stand without overwhelming complexity. It is less heavy on content recommendations or deep analytics, but it works well for teams that need clarity and speed over full suite depth. Pricing starts at €89 per month, with higher tiers available.
Otterly AI
Best for: Small teams or early adopters who want an affordable way to monitor basic GEO visibility.
Otterly AI tracks brand mentions, citations, and high-level presence across major AI engines with a focus on simplicity. It gives a clear view of where you appear without the depth or complexity of enterprise platforms. It is a practical entry point for teams testing GEO for the first time. Pricing starts at $29 per month, with higher tiers available.
Scrunch AI
Best for: Teams that want a mix of visibility tracking and light content-readiness checks.
Scrunch AI tracks how your brand appears in AI-generated answers and shows which prompts, topics and personas you perform well in and where you fall behind. It offers prompt-level visibility data, AI traffic views and competitive comparisons across regions and themes. Its AXP platform can also create an AI-ready version of your site, which helps engines interpret and cite your content more clearly. Pricing starts at $250 per month, with a higher-tier plan and an enterprise option available.
Ahrefs (Brand Radar add-on)
Best for: Teams already using Ahrefs who want to extend their SEO stack to include AI-answer visibility.
Brand Radar gives visibility into how your brand appears in a range of generative engines (including citations and mentions) by leveraging Ahrefs’ large keyword and prompt database. It also shows general patterns across tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity. The add-on is purchased on top of a standard Ahrefs plan, and pricing starts at about $199 per month, with options that scale for larger needs.
Semrush (AI Visibility Toolkit)
Best for: Teams already using Semrush who want to add AI-answer visibility tracking without picking up a completely separate tool.
The AI Visibility Toolkit from Semrush shows how often your brand appears in AI-generated answers, which prompts you’re missing and how your competitors perform. It includes visibility overview, brand-performance reports and prompt-tracking (US only as of now). Pricing starts at $99/month per domain for the standalone toolkit.
AirOps
Best for: Content teams that want GEO insights directly tied to their publishing workflow.
AirOps connects visibility data with clear guidance on how to strengthen pages. It highlights weak coverage, missing questions, unclear structure and opportunities to improve how content is interpreted by generative engines. It works well for teams that publish often and need a system that turns GEO signals into practical edits. Pricing is offered on a custom basis.
xFunnel AI
Best for: Teams that want to map buyer questions and see how well their content appears in AI-driven decision journeys.
xFunnel AI focuses on the link between customer questions and how generative engines answer them. It shows where your pages support those answers, where competitors fill the gap and which topics need stronger coverage. It is useful for product-led teams that care about discovery, comparison and conversion questions. Pricing is offered on a custom basis.
Search Party
Best for: Teams that want simple, direct visibility tracking across major AI engines.
Search Party offers a clear view of how your brand shows up in answers from major AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity. Its data model collects real user prompts so you can see how these systems understand your brand. The platform also has an insights layer that highlights where you are visible, where you are missing and which opportunities are worth focusing on. Pricing starts free for 7 days and then $199 per month, with custom plans available for larger needs.
Geostar
Best for: Brands that want to track how AI bots crawl their site, monitor citations and see which sources influence their visibility.
Geostar shows which of your pages are used as sources in AI answers and which sites shape how engines talk about your brand. It also tracks which AI bots crawl your site and how they handle your content, so you can see what they read, what they skip and where citations come from. Geostar also offers an agency service for teams that want help with planning, content updates and ongoing visibility work. Pricing for the Lite plan starts at $249 per month, with larger plans and agency support available.
Rankscale
Best for: Teams wanting an economy-entry GEO tool that tracks brand presence across AI engines.
Rankscale helps track how your brand shows up in AI-generated answers. It gives you a brand dashboard where you can monitor your Visibility Score and average position across engines like ChatGPT, Claude and Google’s AI overviews. You also get citation analysis that shows which websites and pages are being cited instead of yours. The audit feature lets you check how “AI-ready” your site is by looking at things like content structure, relevance, authority and technical set-up. Entry pricing begins at around $20 per month for the basic plan, with higher tiers unlocking more credits, audits and brands.
Frase
Best for: Content teams that want AI-ready briefs and structured pages built into their writing workflow.
Frase helps writers create pages that generative engines can interpret clearly. It offers topic coverage analysis, question research, content briefs and structural suggestions that improve how well a page lines up with common queries. Pricing starts at $38 per month, with higher tiers at $98 per month and a custom enterprise option.
GEO Tool Comparison: Features, Coverage and Best Fit
This is a quick look at how the main GEO tools compare across the features that matter most.
| Tool | Engine coverage | Visibility tracking | Citation tracking | Competitive insight | Content optimisation guidance |
| Profound | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Goodie | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Writesonic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AthenaHQ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Peec AI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Otterly AI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | No |
| Scrunch AI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Ahrefs (Brand Radar) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Aemrush (AI visibility toolkit) | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| AirOps | Partial | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| xFunnel AI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Search Party | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Geostar | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rankscale | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | No |
| Frase | Partial | No | No | Partial | Yes |
How To Use GEO Tools To Improve AI Visibility
Set up your GEO tool by adding your brand name, domains and key topics. This gives the platform enough context to begin tracking mentions and citations across the major engines. Once the data starts coming in, focus on visibility patterns, not single results. Look for topics where you appear often, areas where you never show up and answers where competitors dominate.
Use the insights to guide simple, regular improvements. Strengthen pages that answer high-value questions but never appear in AI responses. Add clearer structure, remove unclear sections and make sure the key facts are easy to find. When you see gaps in topic coverage, create content that directly answers the missing questions.
Review the reports on a steady schedule. Track whether your visibility improves after each update. When you publish new pages, check how they perform in AI answers and adjust if needed. Over time, blend GEO checks into your existing SEO and content workflows so both practices support each other.
Remember that generative engine optimization isn’t just about SEO. Much of the impact to your visibility comes from what you do outside your website: PR, brand sponsorships, and social media mentions. Invest in these channels to ensure AI search engines have various sources to draw from — a “surround-sound” strategy.
Final Thoughts on The Best GEO Tools for 2026
You do not need every feature to get started. Pick the tool that fits your team size, workflow and goals, then build a simple routine around it. Check your visibility, improve weak pages and keep your information clear and consistent. Over time, these steady updates help you appear more often in AI answers and stay competitive as the landscape evolves.
If you want support creating content that performs across both search and AI answers, Column can help. We build clear, well-structured articles and thought-leadership pieces that improve visibility, strengthen authority, and align with how generative engines read and cite information. If you’re ready to raise your presence and publish at a higher standard, reach out today.
Johnson is a Content Strategist at Column. He helps brands craft content that drives visibility and results. He studied Economics at the University of Ibadan and brings over years of experience in direct response marketing, combining strategy, creativity, and data-backed thinking.
Connect with him on LinkedIn.
