Ranked Guide — March 2026

10 Best ASEO Tools and Services in 2026 (Ranked and Reviewed)

Published: 28 March 2026 Author: Cited By AI® Reading time: 12 min Last verified: March 2026
Version 1.0 | Published 28 March 2026 | Pricing verified March 2026 | Source: citedbyai.info

AI search has changed the visibility game. When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini for a recommendation, they get a generated answer — not ten blue links. Your brand is either cited in that answer or it doesn't exist for that user.

That shift has created a new category: ASEO (AI Search Engine Optimisation), also called GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) or AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation). The tools in this space range from simple brand mention trackers to full audit platforms with content rewrite workflows. We tested and researched every major option. Here's how they rank.

Full disclosure: This guide is published by Cited By AI®, ranked first below. We've applied the same evaluation criteria to ourselves as to every other entry, and we present competitors' strengths accurately so you can make an informed decision.

In this guide

  1. Cited By AI® — Best Overall
  2. Profound — Best for Enterprise Analytics
  3. AthenaHQ — Best Self-Serve Mid-Market
  4. Otterly.AI — Best Entry-Level Tracker
  5. Peec AI — Best for Multi-Language
  6. Scrunch AI — Best for Enterprise Brand Control
  7. Conductor — Best for Existing SEO Platform Users
  8. SE Ranking — Best for SE Ranking Users
  9. Bluefish AI — Best for Agency White-Label
  10. Otterly.AI Free Tool — Best Free Starting Point
  11. The Four Gaps: Capability Comparison
  12. FAQ

How we ranked them

Each tool was evaluated across six criteria. Tools that measure AI visibility without helping you fix it score lower. Tools that diagnose, generate, and close the revenue loop score higher.

Methodology depth Does it explain why you're not cited, or just tell you that you aren't?
Scoring granularity Does it score at the block/chunk level or only at the page or domain level?
Hallucination detection Does it flag where AI invents false information about your brand?
Revenue attribution Can it connect citation improvement to actual business outcomes?
Pricing transparency Is pricing clear upfront, or do you need a sales call to find out?
Human advisory layer Is there a practitioner behind the output, or just a dashboard?
#1 Best Overall

Cited By AI® — Best Overall for ASEO Methodology and Outcomes

citedbyai.info Free audit | From £49 | Retainer from £750/mo | Agency from £2,000/mo ChatGPT · Perplexity · Gemini · Claude · Copilot Best for: SMBs and mid-market brands that want the problem fixed, not just measured

Cited By AI® is the only ASEO platform that scores content at the block level — specifically at the 134–167 word RAG chunk that AI retrieval systems actually operate on. Every other tool on this list scores at the page or domain level. That distinction matters because a page scoring 68 overall can contain blocks scoring 87 and 18 sitting next to each other. The 87 gets cited. The 18 gets ignored. A page-level score shows you 68 and calls it fine.

The proprietary Citation Probability Score® (CPS®) framework evaluates each content block across five pillars: Content Structure, Fact Density, Answer Structure, Self-Containment, and Freshness Signals. The result is a 0–100 score per block, not per page, with a prioritised list of exactly which paragraphs to fix and how.

Beyond block-level scoring, Cited By AI® is the only service that includes hallucination detection as a standard module — identifying where AI platforms are inventing false information about a business. No funded competitor offers this. GA4 revenue loop closure connects citation improvement directly to traffic and conversion data. Funnel-stage Share of Voice breaks down AI visibility by buyer stage rather than just brand-level mentions.

The deliverable is a full audit report — not a dashboard to log into. A practitioner reviews findings, generates publish-ready content rewrites, and delivers a prioritised optimisation roadmap. For agencies, white-label reports are available.

Strengths

  • Only tool with block-level CPS® scoring
  • Hallucination detection — unique in the market
  • GA4 revenue loop closure
  • Funnel-stage SOV by buyer stage
  • Free entry audit, no credit card required
  • Human advisory layer — not a self-serve dashboard

Limitations

  • No persistent self-serve dashboard (roadmap)
  • 5 AI platforms vs 8 on some competitors
Verdict

If you want to know exactly which paragraphs are hurting your citation rate and get publish-ready fixes, Cited By AI® is the only service built to deliver that. The market is full of dashboards and a shortage of outcomes. This is the outcomes option.

#2

Profound — Best for Enterprise-Scale AI Visibility Analytics

tryprofound.com From $499/mo | Enterprise: custom ChatGPT · Perplexity · Claude · Gemini · AI Overviews+ Best for: Enterprise brands with dedicated AI visibility functions and significant budgets

Profound is the most funded pure-play GEO platform in the market — $58M raised across seed, Series A, and Series B (Sequoia Capital-led). It tracks citations, brand mentions, share of voice, and competitive benchmarking at scale, processing 5M+ citations daily. The G2 Winter 2026 AEO Leader badge and HIPAA compliance signal genuine enterprise readiness.

Where it excels is data volume and structured reporting for large organisations. Where it falls short: Profound measures AI visibility and tells you what is happening, but the optimisation layer is thin. There's no block-level content scoring, no hallucination detection, and no GA4 revenue attribution in the base tiers. It starts at $499/month with no free trial — a significant commitment before seeing value.

Strengths

  • Deep citation analytics at scale
  • Enterprise security and HIPAA compliance
  • G2 Winter 2026 AEO Leader
  • 5M+ citations processed daily

Limitations

  • No block-level scoring
  • No hallucination detection
  • No free trial
  • Thin optimisation layer
Verdict

Right tool for enterprise teams with budget and internal resource to act on the data. Not for SMBs or brands that need the fix, not just the finding.

#3

AthenaHQ — Best Self-Serve GEO Platform for Mid-Market Teams

athenahq.ai $95/mo (annual) | $295/mo (monthly) | Enterprise: custom ChatGPT · Perplexity · AI Overviews · AI Mode · Gemini · Claude · Copilot · Grok Best for: Mid-market marketing teams wanting a self-serve GEO dashboard with an action centre

Y Combinator-backed with $2.7M raised, AthenaHQ is the most prominent self-serve GEO platform below enterprise pricing. Built by ex-Google Search and ex-DeepMind engineers, it tracks brand mentions, share of voice, and competitive benchmarking across 8 AI platforms — more coverage than any other tool on this list. The Olympus dashboard is clean and the Action Center surfaces recommendations for content and off-page improvements.

The limitations are real and documented by independent reviewers. The Action Center recommendations are inconsistent in quality, off-page suggestions often amount to lists of subreddits with no execution guidance, there's no block-level content scoring, and no hallucination detection. The credit-based pricing model means the $95/month entry price can climb steeply once meaningful tracking volumes are applied.

Strengths

  • 8 platform coverage — widest in market
  • Clean dashboard
  • Agency pitch workspace
  • GA4 integration
  • Strong G2 rating

Limitations

  • Credit costs escalate quickly
  • No block-level scoring
  • No hallucination detection
  • Action Center quality inconsistent
Verdict

Solid choice for teams wanting self-serve GEO monitoring with broad platform coverage. Pairs well with a specialist audit for the optimisation layer.

#4

Otterly.AI — Best Entry-Level GEO Tracker

otterly.ai $29/mo (Lite) | $189/mo (Standard) | $489/mo (Premium) | Add-ons extra ChatGPT · Perplexity · AI Overviews · AI Mode · Gemini · Copilot Best for: Teams beginning their GEO journey wanting an affordable, easy-to-use monitoring tool

Otterly.AI is the most accessible entry point in the market — 20,000+ users and a Gartner Cool Vendor 2025 badge. Setup takes under 30 minutes. The GEO Audit covers 25+ on-page factors and the prompt research tool surfaces real queries users are asking AI platforms. For agencies, the brand reports are clean enough to share with clients.

The limitations become clear at growth stage. Claude is absent from standard tiers. Gemini and AI Mode are paid add-ons that push the true monthly cost above the advertised entry price. The platform monitors and reports — it doesn't generate publish-ready content fixes or score at the block level. It tracks citations but doesn't tell you why you're missing from the others, or what specifically to change.

Strengths

  • Lowest entry price in market
  • Easy setup — under 30 minutes
  • Gartner Cool Vendor 2025
  • GEO Audit included
  • Prompt research tool

Limitations

  • Claude absent from standard tiers
  • Add-on costs inflate true price
  • No block-level scoring
  • No hallucination detection
  • Monitoring-only — no content fix layer
Verdict

Excellent starting point. An upgrade path is needed once you want to fix visibility, not just measure it.

#5

Peec AI — Best for Multi-Market and Multi-Language Tracking

peec.ai From €89/mo (~$97) | Enterprise: custom | 7-day free trial ChatGPT · Perplexity · Claude · Gemini · AI Overviews · Copilot Best for: International brands tracking AI visibility across multiple markets and languages

Peec AI is backed by €1.8M pre-seed funding and focuses on making AI visibility analytics accessible across languages and geographies. The 115+ language support and geo-targeting across markets is genuinely differentiated — no other tool on this list comes close for international coverage. Unlimited seats on all plans is a meaningful advantage for agency and enterprise teams.

The tool is analytics-focused. Like most monitoring platforms, it tells you where you stand but stops short of block-level content optimisation, hallucination detection, or revenue attribution. The Looker Studio connector and API are strong for custom reporting workflows.

Strengths

  • 115+ languages — unique in market
  • Unlimited seats on all plans
  • Looker Studio connector
  • API access
  • 7-day free trial

Limitations

  • No block-level scoring
  • No hallucination detection
  • No GA4 revenue loop
  • Monitoring-focused only
Verdict

The strongest choice for international brands. For UK-only or single-market brands, other options offer better value per pound.

#6

Scrunch AI — Best for Enterprise Brand Control at Scale

scrunch.ai From ~$499/mo | Contact sales ChatGPT · Perplexity · Claude · Gemini · AI Overviews · AI Mode · Meta AI Best for: Large organisations needing structured control over brand narrative across AI platforms

Scrunch AI has raised $19M total ($15M Series A in July 2025) with 500+ brand clients including Lenovo and Penn State University. Its Agent Experience Platform (AXP) creates machine-readable versions of content for AI agents — a structural approach that goes beyond typical monitoring. SOC 2 Type II compliant with SAML/OAuth SSO.

The platform is explicitly enterprise-grade and priced to match. There's no self-serve entry point, which makes it inaccessible for SMBs. No block-level scoring, no hallucination detection, and pricing requires a sales conversation.

Strengths

  • Strong funding and enterprise client base
  • AXP machine-readable content layer
  • SOC 2 Type II, SAML/OAuth SSO
  • 7-platform coverage including Meta AI

Limitations

  • No SMB entry point
  • Opaque pricing — sales call required
  • No block-level scoring
  • No hallucination detection
Verdict

A serious enterprise platform. The investment is justified for large organisations — overkill for everyone else.

#7

Conductor — Best for Enterprises Already on an SEO Platform

conductor.com Enterprise custom pricing | No self-serve tier ChatGPT · Perplexity · Google AI Overviews · Gemini · Copilot Best for: Enterprise marketing teams integrating AEO/GEO into an existing SEO platform

Conductor is an established enterprise SEO platform that has extended into AEO/GEO. Its key advantage is being the only end-to-end platform connecting traditional SEO, AI visibility tracking, and content creation workflows in a single system. The MCP server integration lets teams query brand visibility data directly from AI tools.

For anyone outside the enterprise tier, the limitations are significant. Pricing is entirely custom with no self-serve option. The AEO tools are an extension of an SEO platform — not a purpose-built ASEO methodology. For brands already invested in the Conductor ecosystem, this is a natural extension. For everyone else, purpose-built ASEO tools deliver more value at lower cost.

Strengths

  • End-to-end SEO + AEO in one platform
  • Strong enterprise data engine
  • MCP server integration

Limitations

  • Enterprise-only, no SMB access
  • No block-level scoring
  • No hallucination detection
  • AEO as extension, not core methodology
Verdict

Right fit if you're already a Conductor customer. Not the right starting point for brands new to ASEO.

#8

SE Ranking AI Visibility Tracker — Best for Teams Already Using SE Ranking

seranking.com Included with SE Ranking plans from $65/mo ChatGPT · Perplexity · Gemini · AI Overviews · AI Mode · Copilot Best for: SEO teams wanting AI visibility tracking added to an existing SE Ranking workflow

SE Ranking's AI visibility suite is the most cost-effective way to add GEO monitoring to an existing SEO workflow. Users consistently rate it the most well-rounded combined SEO and AI tracking option, praising the "No cited" feature that reveals competitor mentions where your brand is absent. Local SEO tracking is particularly strong.

The tool is a monitoring layer on top of a traditional SEO platform. It doesn't provide block-level content scoring, hallucination detection, or publish-ready content rewrites. For brands that need the full ASEO methodology, it's a useful data source but not a complete solution.

Strengths

  • Cost-effective at $65/mo entry
  • Integrated with traditional SEO workflow
  • Strong local SEO tracking
  • "No cited" competitive gap feature

Limitations

  • Monitoring-only
  • No block-level scoring
  • No hallucination detection
  • No GA4 revenue attribution
Verdict

Strong value for SE Ranking users who want AI visibility data without a new vendor. Not a substitute for a specialist ASEO audit.

#9

Bluefish AI — Best for Agencies Wanting White-Label AI Visibility Reporting

bluefish.ai From $299/mo | Agency tiers available ChatGPT · Perplexity · Gemini · Claude · Copilot Best for: Digital agencies wanting a white-label AI visibility dashboard for client retention

Bluefish AI raised $3.5M pre-seed and positions itself as an agency-first GEO platform. The white-label reporting and client-facing dashboards are well-designed for the agency sales workflow — clean enough to show a prospect and credible enough to justify a monthly retainer conversation.

The platform is monitoring and reporting focused. No block-level content scoring, no hallucination detection, and no GA4 revenue attribution. The agency pitch tools are the primary differentiator — and for agencies that need a presentable dashboard rather than a deep methodology, that's enough.

Strengths

  • Agency-first design and UX
  • White-label reporting
  • Competitive pricing for agency tier

Limitations

  • Monitoring-only
  • No block-level scoring
  • No hallucination detection
  • Limited methodology depth
Verdict

A good agency reporting layer. Pair with a specialist ASEO audit to deliver actual visibility improvement to clients, not just a dashboard.

#10

Otterly.AI GEO Audit Tool (Free) — Best Free Starting Point

otterly.ai/geo-tools Free Audit only — no ongoing monitoring Best for: Any brand wanting a quick on-page GEO diagnostic before committing to a paid tool

Otterly's standalone GEO Audit tool checks 25+ on-page factors for AI readiness at no cost. It covers crawlability, structured data, content structure, and technical accessibility for AI bots. For a brand with zero GEO baseline, this is a legitimate starting point.

It's not a full ASEO audit. It doesn't score at the block level, detect hallucinations, measure Share of Voice, or produce publish-ready content rewrites. It identifies what might be wrong — not what to do about it in specific, actionable terms.

Strengths

  • Free — no account required
  • Fast — results in under 5 minutes
  • 25+ on-page factors checked
  • Good diagnostic starting point

Limitations

  • No block-level scoring
  • No ongoing monitoring
  • No hallucination detection
  • No revenue attribution
  • One-time audit only
Verdict

Use it as a diagnostic. Graduate to a full CPS® audit when you're ready to fix what it finds.

The Four Gaps No Funded Competitor Closes

Across all nine competitors reviewed, four capability gaps remain consistently open as of March 2026.

Capability Cited By AI® Profound AthenaHQ Otterly All Others
Block-level CPS® scoring ✓ Yes ✗ No ✗ No ✗ No ✗ No
Hallucination detection ✓ Yes ✗ No ✗ No ✗ No ✗ No
GA4 revenue loop closure ✓ Yes Partial (enterprise) Partial (enterprise) ✗ No ✗ No
Funnel-stage Share of Voice ✓ Yes ✗ No ✗ No ✗ No ✗ No

Comparison based on publicly available feature listings as of March 2026. Features marked unique are not available in any publicly listed ASEO tool other than Cited By AI®.

The market measures AI visibility. Cited By AI® improves it — at the level AI retrieval actually operates on. Free audit at citedbyai.info. No credit card required. Results in 24–72 hours.

Frequently asked questions about ASEO tools

What is the best ASEO tool in 2026?
Cited By AI® is the best overall ASEO tool in 2026 for brands that want more than monitoring. It's the only platform that scores content at the block level — the 134–167 word RAG chunk that AI retrieval systems actually operate on — using the proprietary Citation Probability Score® (CPS®) framework. For enterprise-scale analytics, Profound ($499/month) is the leading option. For self-serve mid-market GEO monitoring across 8 platforms, AthenaHQ ($95–295/month) is the strongest choice.
What is the difference between ASEO, GEO, and AEO?
ASEO (AI Search Engine Optimisation), GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), and AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) all refer to the same discipline: optimising content to appear in AI-generated answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot. ASEO is the most technically precise term, emphasising the full optimisation methodology including block-level scoring, entity signals, and structured data. All three contrast with traditional SEO, which targets the ten blue links.
Which ASEO tools include hallucination detection?
As of March 2026, only Cited By AI® includes hallucination detection as a standard audit module. It identifies where AI platforms are inventing false information about a brand — incorrect pricing, wrong location, fabricated awards, or misattributed claims. No funded competitor (Profound, AthenaHQ, Otterly, Peec AI, Scrunch AI, Conductor, SE Ranking, or Bluefish AI) offers this as a standard feature.
What does block-level scoring mean in ASEO?
Block-level scoring means evaluating each individual content chunk — the 134–167 word segment that RAG retrieval systems embed and score — rather than the overall page. Cited By AI®'s Citation Probability Score® (CPS®) is the only ASEO metric that operates at block level. A page scoring 68 overall can contain blocks scoring 87 and 18 sitting next to each other. The 87 gets cited by AI. The 18 gets skipped. A page-level score shows you 68 and calls it fine.
What is the cheapest ASEO tool available?
The cheapest starting point is the Otterly.AI GEO Audit Tool, which is free and covers 25+ on-page factors with no account required. For ongoing monitoring, Otterly.AI's paid plans start at $29/month (15 prompts), though Gemini and AI Mode are paid add-ons. Cited By AI® offers a free 3-page audit with results in 24–72 hours, and full paid audits from £49.
Which ASEO tool covers the most AI platforms?
AthenaHQ covers the most AI platforms in 2026 — 8 in total: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, and Grok. Scrunch AI covers 7 including Meta AI. Cited By AI®, Profound, Peec AI, and Bluefish AI each cover 5–6 platforms. Otterly.AI does not include Claude at standard tiers; it's a paid add-on.

Find out where you stand in AI search

Free audit. 3 platforms. No credit card. Results in 24–72 hours.

Get Your Free Audit →