# What Is the Best AEO Platform in 2026? > Compare the leading AEO platforms side by side: which AI engines each one tracks, which create or fix content, what security they state, and how to test them. URL: https://onlyaeo.com/blog/best-aeo-platform · Published: 2026-10-20 · Author: Tejas Patil - **Top pick for most buyers:** OnlyAEO, because it measures where AI names you and also writes and checks the new pages that change those answers, with our team available to run it. - **Broadest tracking on paper:** Peec AI and Profound name the most AI engines on their own pages, with Scrunch close behind on its Enterprise plan, so start there if coverage is the main test. - **Already inside a search suite:** Conductor and Semrush suit teams that want AI visibility next to their existing SEO data and workflows. - **Software plus strategists:** AirOps is the closest model to OnlyAEO: a content platform plus people who do the work alongside you. - **Test before you sign:** run the same buyer prompts on each shortlisted platform, several times per engine. OnlyAEO publishes this guide and is one of the tools listed. Checked on 20 October 2026: every tool fact below comes from that company's own website. ## Why does the choice of AEO platform matter now? The platform you pick decides whether you only watch AI answers or change them. Those answers now take clicks that used to go to search results. [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/) found Google users clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, against 15% without one. Alphabet's CEO said on the [Q2 2026 earnings call](https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q2-2026/) that AI Mode has passed 1 billion monthly active users. OpenAI's [own usage study](https://openai.com/index/how-people-are-using-chatgpt/) found 49% of ChatGPT messages are "Asking", people treating it as an advisor. ## What kinds of AEO platform exist? AEO platforms fall into three kinds: trackers, trackers that also improve pages you already have, and platforms that track, create new content and offer a team to run it. Several tools in this guide sit across two kinds. - **Tracking only:** these show where AI names you and who it names instead, and leave the fixing to you. Ahrefs Brand Radar is the example in this guide. - **Tracking plus page optimisation:** these add audits, recommendations or edited drafts for existing pages. Semrush, Peec AI and Otterly.AI work this way. - **Tracking, new content and people:** OnlyAEO, AirOps and Conductor (through its professional services) sit here. - **The straddlers:** Profound and Scrunch both generate new content and refresh old pages, but the pages we read do not describe a team that runs the work, so they sit between the second and third kinds. ## Which are the best AEO platforms in 2026, ranked? The top four are OnlyAEO, Profound, AirOps and Conductor. The order is our own judgement, and OnlyAEO is our product, so here are the criteria behind it for you to reweigh: 1. **Changes answers:** does it create or fix content, or only hand you a list? 2. **Engines measured:** which AI engines it tracks, as its own pages name them. 3. **Who does the work:** your team, the vendor's people, or both. 4. **Security evidence:** which certification it states, and for which entity. 5. **Openness about limits:** whether plan caps and add-ons are spelled out. ### 1. OnlyAEO: best if you want the answers tracked and the content that changes them written OnlyAEO is the AEO platform that tracks where ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini name your brand and creates the content to change it. Our team can also run it for you. The [platform](https://onlyaeo.com/platform) tracks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek and Grok. It works across all major LLMs and AI assistants, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI (Muse), Instinct and more. - **Content that ships checked:** every answer-first article from the content engine must clear 5 checks before it goes live: evidence matching, voice and banned terms, tested links, an independent quality score of at least 85, and your review. - **Crawler and referral data:** LLM Attribution reports the visits AI answers send you and which of 170+ AI crawlers read your site, GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot among them. - **One record behind every piece:** the context graph holds your facts, voice, buyers and claims, and every article is written from it. - **Open data:** MCP and API access pull the data into Claude, Cursor, n8n or your own tools. On a managed plan, our team runs the platform for you every month. The Authority plan is the only one that adds listings and outreach on sites AI already reads. Here are two past client results, and neither is a forecast for yours. Our [FastTrackr case study](https://onlyaeo.com/case-studies/fasttrackr-ai) shows FastTrackr AI going from 0.1% AI visibility, #338 of 458 brands, to the #3 most-cited brand in its category in about 100 days. A New York edibles retailer went from 1.5% AI visibility to 25%, #4 of 374 brands, and its own website became the most-cited source in its category. Where OnlyAEO falls short: it is a younger platform, and it directly measures only the engines named above. Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Copilot, Meta AI (Muse) and Instinct are covered through content and crawler data, not through tracking, so Peec AI or Profound suit you better if measuring every engine is your first need. ### 2. Profound: best if you run AI search at enterprise scale and want agents doing the work Profound's own description is a marketing platform for the AI era, where brands use Profound Agents to understand and shape how they appear in AI search. By its own account, it queries the front ends users actually see on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Google Gemini, Grok and DeepSeek. On the content side, its [Agents](https://www.tryprofound.com/features/agents) include a Net-New Content Creation template that generates complete articles from a topic prompt. A Content Refresh template finds pages whose AI citation rate is falling and writes updated versions. - **Where it is stronger than OnlyAEO:** more engines tracked and SAML or OIDC single sign-on. - **Crawler view:** Agent Analytics works from server logs, not JavaScript trackers, and reports which AI systems crawl your site and whether those visits become real traffic. - **Watch for:** trial users get a recommended prompt set they cannot customise, while Enterprise users can edit, disable or add prompts. Agents are priced on credits. Choose it if you have an in-house team ready to direct agents at volume. ### 3. AirOps: best if your content team wants software and strategists in one contract AirOps says it combines data, platform and expertise in one offering, so buyers do not have to choose between software and a service provider. Its agents research, create, publish, review, monitor and refresh content, and experienced strategists work alongside your team to shape the strategy and do the work. AirOps is the closest model to OnlyAEO in this guide. Content is scored before it ships with automated checks for readability, claim support, information gain, SEO and AEO, and its attribution view brings in AI crawler activity and assistant referrals. - **Coverage depends on plan:** the [Pro plan](https://www.airops.com/pricing) gives insights across 7+ answer engines, while the Solo plan covers ChatGPT only. - **MCP for your assistants:** an MCP server brings Insights, Brand Kits, Knowledge Bases, Playbooks and Workflows into connected AI assistants, but free workspaces cannot query data through it. - **Pricing shape:** packages are built per customer on task volume and specific needs. Security certifications were not stated on the AirOps pages we read, so ask for them directly. ### 4. Conductor: best if you are an enterprise SEO team that wants AEO inside the same suite Conductor calls itself a command center for digital success in the AI era, spanning AI content generation, site performance and AI search visibility. It says the platform is built for enterprise complexity and serves SEO, content, web developer and executive teams. It tracks brand visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude and traditional search, with data sourced from official LLM APIs wherever one exists. Conductor Creator turns AEO data and brand expertise into guided briefs, outlines and drafts, and recommends what to improve in existing content. Monitoring tracks how AI bots crawl your site around the clock. - **Built for IT reviews:** SSO, multi-factor authentication and API-first data collection, plus an MCP Server and Data API. - **Inside the assistants:** native apps in ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot. - **People on hand:** its Customer Success team offers professional services and custom training. It fits best where your SEO programme already runs at enterprise scale and consumption-based pricing suits you. ### 5. Scrunch: best if you want to make your existing site AI-ready and grow from a trial into enterprise Scrunch calls itself an AI Customer Experience Platform whose job is to make a site AI-ready, so the brand appears in answers, gets cited and grows revenue. Its Optimizer gives recommendations you apply by hand, or it can restructure pages automatically. Engine coverage depends heavily on plan. The [Enterprise plan](https://scrunch.com/pricing/) covers 9 LLMs, including Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Grok and Google AI Mode, while the Core plan is limited to 4: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AIO and Copilot. - **New content:** Content Generation is Basic on Core and Advanced on Enterprise. - **Bot traffic:** AI agent and bot traffic analysis is included on Core, with multi-domain tracking available. - **For agencies:** a separate offering with multi-client workspaces and dedicated agency support. - **The catch:** Query API and advanced API access are Enterprise only, with MCP listed as Custom. ### 6. Peec AI: best if you are an agency or multi-market team that lives in the analytics Peec AI's stated aim is to show a brand how it appears in AI search and what it can do to influence that. Its [enterprise page](https://peec.ai/for-enterprise) lists ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, DeepSeek, Grok, Mistral and Qwen, tracked hourly, daily or weekly, the longest named list in this guide. Agencies get unlimited client seats on every plan, and the MCP is free on every paid plan, connecting to Claude, Cursor, n8n or Make. For an existing page, content optimization takes a recommended action and produces an editable draft with the changes highlighted. The limit: writing new articles is not described on the pages we read. ### 7. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: best if your SEO already runs in Semrush Semrush pitches its AI Visibility Toolkit as a view of how brands appear in AI-generated answers, built with SMBs, agencies and mid-market companies in mind. It lists ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, SearchGPT, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews as the platforms it tracks. Prompt Tracking runs daily for a custom prompt set across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Gemini, with responses captured from real requests rather than LLM APIs. The AI Search Optimizer analyses existing content and gives prioritised recommendations, and the AI Search Site Audit checks access for 8 AI crawlers, such as OAI-SearchBot. One stated limit: AI prompt tracking supports only desktop searches for now. New content creation is not described on the Semrush pages we read. ### 8. Ahrefs Brand Radar: best if you want AI answers, YouTube and Reddit in one visibility view Ahrefs describes [Brand Radar](https://ahrefs.com/brand-radar) as a way to track and grow brand visibility across AI answers, YouTube and Reddit. It can now match your brand as an entity in AI responses rather than as plain text, which helps with ambiguous names. Its AI visibility reports use an AI adjusted volume estimated per platform instead of Google search volume. The prompt dataset grew from around 14 million to 30 million prompts, sourced from Google's People Also Ask. For data teams, the Ahrefs API lists AI citation counts per platform for ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Grok and Perplexity. Brand Radar has its own API endpoints as well. Not stated on the Ahrefs pages we read: whether Brand Radar creates or edits content, tracks AI crawlers, holds a security certification or comes with a team. ### 9. Otterly.AI: best if you are a solo marketer or small team getting started Otterly calls itself a Content Intelligence Platform for AI Search, covering research, monitoring and optimisation. The Lite tier carries a label for solo marketers and small teams. Its [plans](https://otterly.ai/pricing) track 4 engines (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot), and Claude, Google AI Mode and Gemini are sold as add-ons. Content Audit scores a page on 15 structural checks and 13 AI readiness dimensions, and Recommendations queue on-page and off-page actions per engine. - **Content help:** Content Briefs point you at new pages, but the page we read does not say Otterly drafts articles. - **Crawler checks:** the GEO Audit tests whether robots.txt allows 19 AI crawlers, and Agent Analytics shows which crawler bots visit. - **Ceiling to know:** Standard plans can add up to 300 extra prompts before you must move to Premium. ## How do the platforms compare side by side? Each row answers the same six buying questions for one tool. "Not stated" marks a question the vendor's pages left unanswered when we checked; the feature may still exist. | Tool | Best for | AI engines tracked (as stated) | Creates new content? | Optimises existing pages? | Team can run it? | Security stated | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | OnlyAEO | Tracking plus written content | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok | Yes, content engine | Yes, monthly refresh | Yes, managed plans | SOC 2 Type II | | Profound | Enterprise agent workflows | 9 platforms incl. AI Mode, DeepSeek | Yes, agent template | Yes, Content Refresh | Not stated | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR | | AirOps | Content teams wanting strategists | 7+ engines on Pro; ChatGPT only on Solo | Yes | Yes, refresh via CMS | Yes, strategists | Not stated | | Conductor | Enterprise SEO programmes | ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude | Yes, briefs to drafts | Yes, recommendations | Professional services | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR; AgentStack: ISO 27001, ISO 42001 | | Scrunch | Site readiness, trial to enterprise | 9 on Enterprise, 4 on Core | Basic or Advanced by plan | Yes, Optimizer | Not stated | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, CCPA | | Peec AI | Agencies, multi-market analytics | Longest list, incl. Mistral, Qwen | Not stated | Yes, editable drafts | Not stated | SOC 2 Type II audit in progress; SSO | | Semrush | Existing Semrush users | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and more | Not stated | Yes, AI Search Optimizer | Not stated | Not stated | | Ahrefs Brand Radar | AI, YouTube and Reddit view | 7 platforms with citation counts in API | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | | Otterly.AI | Solo marketers, small teams | 4 engines, others as add-ons | Content Briefs; drafting not stated | Yes, audit actions | Not stated | Hosting data centers SOC1/SOC2, ISO-27001 | ## Which platform fits which team? The right platform depends on who will do the work once the data arrives. - **Startup or lean team:** Otterly.AI or Scrunch Core to start measuring; OnlyAEO if nobody has time to write. - **Enterprise:** Profound or Conductor for scale. Scrunch Enterprise if you want an account team and board reporting. - **Agency:** Peec AI or Scrunch's agency offering for multi-client work. Otterly's Premium tier is also labelled for agencies. - **E-commerce:** OnlyAEO's Commerce feature shows where your products land when shoppers ask AI what to buy. Whichever tools you shortlist, ask for a demo on your own products. ## How do you test an AEO platform with your own buyer prompts before you sign? Run the same real buyer prompts through every shortlisted platform and compare the range each one reports. 1. **Collect real prompts.** Pull a few dozen questions from sales calls and Search Console, written the way buyers type them. 2. **Run each prompt several times per engine.** Ask each vendor how many runs sit behind each figure. 3. **Report ranges.** Ask for the spread across runs per engine, so you can tell noise from a real shift. 4. **Count recommendations apart from mentions.** An answer that recommends you matters more than one that only names you or links to you, so ask whether the two are counted separately. 5. **Count citations apart from mentions.** A citation is your page linked as a source; a mention is your name in the text. They move for different reasons and need different fixes. 6. **Check that answers are kept.** Ask whether every answer is saved verbatim alongside its exact prompt, so anyone can paste the prompt into ChatGPT or Claude to reproduce it. 7. **Ask how answers are collected.** Front end, real requests or official APIs. 8. **Judge what would change.** Ask each vendor what it would publish or edit next, and who would do it. For a longer, structured version of this trial, see [our guide to running an AEO pilot](https://onlyaeo.com/blog/the-aeo-pilot-30-day-test). ## What should you ask an AEO vendor about data, security and coverage before signing? Ask each vendor about data, security, markets, access and ownership, and get the answers in writing. This is a buyer's checklist, not legal advice. ### Will you sign a processor contract that meets UK GDPR and EU GDPR? The UK [ICO](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/accountability-and-governance/contracts-and-liabilities-between-controllers-and-processors-multi/what-needs-to-be-included-in-the-contract/) says a controller-processor contract must cover the subject matter, duration, nature and purpose of processing, the types of personal data and data subjects, and the controller's obligations and rights. It also lists minimum terms: processing only on documented instructions, confidentiality, appropriate security and rules on sub-processors. The same guidance requires help with breach notification and data subjects' rights, plus end-of-contract and audit provisions. On the vendor side, Profound says it is fully GDPR compliant. Scrunch claims both GDPR and CCPA compliance. Otterly describes itself as a processor in GDPR terms. ### Can we see the SOC 2 report, not just the badge? [AICPA](https://www.aicpa-cima.com/topic/audit-assurance/audit-and-assurance-greater-than-soc-2) describes SOC 2 as an examination of a service organisation's controls relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality or privacy. Ask for the latest report under NDA, and check whether the certificate belongs to the vendor or only to its hosting provider (see the table above). ### Which countries and languages do you cover on our plan? Coverage claims vary by vendor and plan. Profound states 30+ languages and 150+ regions. For Prompt Tracking, Semrush lists 220+ countries and territories. Otterly gives 65+ countries and languages. Scrunch supports prompts in any country and language, but Core caps you at 1 country and 1 language. Peec AI lets enterprise users run the same prompts across markets to compare countries. AirOps includes regions and languages personalisation on its Solo plan. If you buy from India, our [India version of this guide](https://onlyaeo.com/blog/best-aeo-platform-india) covers that market. ### Is API and MCP access on our plan? Several platforms reserve API or MCP access for higher plans, as the entries above note, so confirm it for your tier. ### Who owns the content, prompts and history if we leave? Ask whether published pages, prompt sets and stored answers stay with you. OnlyAEO's answer pages go out on your own domain, so the content stays on your site. ## How long does AEO take to show results? First measurable results usually take at least 60 days, and OnlyAEO does not guarantee specific rankings or citations. Treat any vendor promise of a fixed outcome as a warning sign. Before the headline score moves, check three earlier signals: - **Crawler visits to new pages:** AI crawlers fetching what you just published, which comes before any citation. - **Your URLs among the sources:** your own pages showing up in the links AI gives as sources. - **A steadier range:** mentions and recommendations across repeated runs settling into a higher band. For what to put in front of leadership and procurement while you wait, see [AEO reporting for enterprise procurement](https://onlyaeo.com/blog/aeo-reporting-enterprise-procurement-metrics). ## More questions about choosing an AEO platform ### Is the AI add-on in our SEO suite enough, or do we need a dedicated AEO platform? It depends on how many prompts you need and whether you need content written. Semrush, for example, ties prompt volume to plan: 25 prompts on the AI Visibility Toolkit, 50 on Semrush One Starter and up to 200 on Advanced. ### Which AEO platforms let us try before we buy? Profound's free trial runs 50 prompts daily for 7 days, Scrunch Core has a 7-day free trial, AirOps offers 14 days and Conductor offers 3 weeks. Semrush states there is no free trial for its AI Visibility Toolkit. ### What should an AEO platform report to leadership? Ask for a few measures that track AI answers directly rather than web traffic alone. OnlyAEO's monthly report covers citation share, mention rate and LLM recall frequency. ### Does AEO content work in languages other than English? It can, if the research and fact checks run in that language too. OnlyAEO writes in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Indonesian and other languages with the same research and checks as English. ### Do we need to change our CMS to use an AEO platform? Usually not. OnlyAEO publishes to WordPress, GitHub, Framer or any CMS by webhook, in your own templates, fonts and colours.