The Best AI Visibility Tools in 2026, Including Free Ones

Start free. Google Search Console now shows your impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, Bing Webmaster Tools counts how often Copilot cites your pages, and free checkers from Ahrefs, Semrush, SE Ranking and HubSpot show what ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity say about you. Pay for a tool only when you need to track the same questions over time. Most of the established SEO suites charge around $99 a month for that, as of October 2026.

What does an AI visibility tool actually measure?

Every tool on this list asks AI assistants questions and records whether you show up in the answers. Three differences between them matter more than the feature lists:

• Mentions or citations. A mention means the answer names you. A citation means it links a page of yours as a source, which is what sends a shopper to your store.
• Live answers or memory. Most checkers ask the assistants live, the way a shopper would. HubSpot's grader instead reports what the models say about you from their training data, which is a different question from what a shopper sees in a live answer.
• A snapshot or tracking. A free check runs a handful of questions once. Paid tools re-ask a fixed set of prompts on a schedule, so you can see the trend.

Our own test shows why the details matter. Across 1,080 answers for 18 Shopify stores, stores appeared in only 9% of answers to shopper questions that did not name them. ChatGPT's and Perplexity's search models agreed on just 6 of the 24 questions where a store appeared, so each assistant needs its own check. And 98% of results were the same across three runs on the same day, so one day's check is a fair snapshot, while the month-to-month change is what tracking is for.

How did we choose these tools?

One rule: the tool comes from a company that has sold SEO or marketing software for at least five years. That covers Moz (2004), HubSpot (2006), Similarweb (2007), Semrush (2008), Ahrefs (2010) and SE Ranking (2013), plus the free webmaster tools from Google and Microsoft. Dozens of AI-native trackers have launched since 2023. We left them out under that rule, not because we judged them, and a comparison of them would need a longer track record than they have had time to build.

A disclosure: Riten, which publishes this blog, makes a free AI visibility check. It does not meet the five-year rule, and we include it with its limits stated. Prices below come from each company's own pages in October 2026 and change often, so check before you buy.

How do the tools compare?

Tool	Free option	Paid tracking (Oct 2026)	AI assistants covered
Google Search Console	AI report: impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode	Not needed, it is free	Google AI Overviews, AI Mode
Bing Webmaster Tools	AI Performance report (preview): citations	Not needed, it is free	Microsoft Copilot, Bing AI summaries
Ahrefs	Checker, no signup, top 5 results per section	Brand Radar from $199/mo per assistant, $699/mo for all	ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, AI Overviews, AI Mode
Semrush	Checker, three free checks a day	AI Visibility Toolkit, $99/mo per domain	ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode
SE Ranking	Checker, five free checks a day	Core plan $129/mo, 100 prompts tracked daily	ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode
Moz	None	Moz Pro Standard, $99/mo, 150 prompts tracked weekly	GPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode
Similarweb	Free trial	AI Search Intelligence, $129/mo, or $99/mo billed annually	ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode
HubSpot	AI Search Grader, one-time, short form	HubSpot AEO (beta), $50/mo	ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity
Riten (ours)	Check, no account, once every 30 days	Pro, $29/mo, re-check twice a month	ChatGPT; the full report adds Perplexity and AI Overviews

What can you check for free?

As of October 2026, a store can get a solid first read without paying anything.

Google Search Console. Since August 31, 2026, every site has a dedicated view of its impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page, country, date and device. Google describes it as impressions, so read it as where you appeared, not how many people clicked. If you are not showing up, our guide to showing up in Google AI Overviews covers what Google says decides it.

Bing Webmaster Tools. Its AI Performance report, in public preview since February 2026, shows how often Microsoft Copilot and Bing's AI summaries cite your pages, which pages, and the queries behind the citations.

The free checkers. Ahrefs' checker covers ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Overviews with no signup, and shows the top five results in each section. Semrush's checker covers ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode and AI Overviews, three times a day without registering. SE Ranking's checker gives five free checks a day. HubSpot's AI Search Grader is a one-time check of what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini say about your brand from their training data, scored out of 100, with a short form before the full results.

These checkers are built around your brand. For a store, the more useful question is narrower: when a shopper asks an assistant what to buy in your category, does the answer cite your store?

Which paid tools track AI visibility over time?

All of these re-ask a set of prompts on a schedule and chart the results. Prices are as listed in October 2026.

• Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: $99 a month per domain, with no free trial according to Semrush's help page. It tracks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Semrush is now part of Adobe, which completed the acquisition in April 2026, and still sells under its own name.
• Ahrefs Brand Radar: from $199 a month per assistant, or $699 a month for all of them, across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Ahrefs' Lite plan, $129 a month, includes five tracked AI prompts.
• SE Ranking: the Core plan, $129 a month or $103.20 billed annually, includes 100 prompts tracked daily across five AI models, and an AI Search add-on adds 200 more for $89 a month. There is a 14-day free trial.
• Moz Pro: the Standard plan, $99 a month or $79 billed yearly, includes 150 prompts tracked weekly across four models, plus AI Overviews data by keyword.
• Similarweb AI Search Intelligence: $129 a month, or $99 billed annually, for 150 tracked prompts, with a free trial. Its traffic side also reports visits from assistants such as Claude, Copilot and Grok.
• HubSpot AEO: in beta at $50 a month, or $45 billed annually, for 25 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.

If you already pay for Semrush, Ahrefs, SE Ranking or Moz, check what your current plan includes before you buy anything new.

Where does Riten's free check fit?

It is ours, so weigh this section accordingly. Riten's free AI visibility check is built for stores: enter your store's web address and, in about a minute, see whether ChatGPT's answers to 10 real shopper questions for your category cite your store. It counts a page of yours linked as a source, not a passing mention, and it asks through the API with no account, history or personalization. It is free, needs no account, and runs once per store every 30 days, with the result on the page. An optional emailed report, also free, grows to 40 or more questions, adds Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, and lists the pages AI already links, who it recommends instead of you, and a 90-day plan.

The limits: it covers three assistants, not Gemini, Copilot, AI Mode or Claude, and it is a check you repeat rather than a daily tracker. In the app, the Free plan includes one full check, and Pro ($29 a month, or $24 billed yearly) runs it again twice a month and adds Google rank and search volume for every question.

Which tool should a small online store use?

• For a first look, free: turn on Search Console's AI report and Bing's AI Performance report, then run one free checker. If you sell products, run a check built on shopper questions too.
• For a monthly habit: re-run the same free checks with the same questions once a month and write the results down. For most small stores, that is enough tracking.
• For daily tracking across many prompts: that is what the paid suites are for, and it usually makes sense only when someone's job includes acting on it.

Visibility is half the picture. The other half is whether those answers send visits, which our guide to measuring AI referral traffic on Shopify covers. And if the checks say assistants rarely mention you, how to get your store recommended by ChatGPT is where to start.

FAQs

Is there a free AI visibility tool?

Several, as of October 2026: Google Search Console's AI report, Bing Webmaster Tools' AI Performance report, and free checkers from Ahrefs, Semrush, SE Ranking and HubSpot. Riten's free check is built for stores and asks shopper buying questions. Each free tool has limits, such as a few checks a day or a one-time report.

Does Google Search Console show AI Overviews?

Yes. Since August 31, 2026, every site has a report of its impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google describes it as impressions, so it shows where your pages appeared, not how many people clicked through.

How often should a store check its AI visibility?

Monthly is enough for most small stores. Use the same questions each time so the results compare like with like. In our test, 98% of results were the same across three runs on one day, so the signal is the change from month to month, not from run to run.