xSeek is the best Profound alternative for marketing teams that don't have an in-house AI search expert. If you have one, Profound is probably the right fit. That's the honest answer. Here's what actually separates them.
Profound, Otterly.ai, Highlighted.ai, and TryGrav.ai solve different problems. Buying the wrong one wastes months. This guide maps each tool to the situation where it wins, with verified pricing and real feature comparisons.
The four real categories of AI visibility tools
The AEO tools market splits into four distinct buckets. Pick the right bucket first, then pick the tool.
- Service plus software partnership: xSeek. A dedicated account specialist runs the AI search strategy with you on every plan.
- Enterprise self-serve software: Profound. Your team operates the dashboard with no strategic guidance included.
- Cheap self-serve monitoring: Otterly.ai, TryGrav.ai. Low entry price, you handle the rest.
- Content scoring (not tracking): Highlighted.ai. Answers "is this content AI-friendly?" rather than "does AI mention my brand?"
According to the Princeton GEO research (KDD 2024), brands that combine AI visibility tracking with structured content optimization see up to 40% improvement in AI citation rates. The tool you choose either enables that loop or breaks it.
xSeek: the service plus software model
xSeek is the only platform in this comparison that includes a dedicated account specialist on every plan. They prepare strategy calls, identify content gaps, hand you an action plan each session, and stay reachable between calls. The software handles the data layer: AI bot visit detection, competitor content gap analysis across 6 engines, and AI-optimized article generation inside Content Studio.
The six engines tracked are ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, DeepSeek, and xAI. Fewer than Profound's 10+. That's intentional. For most marketing teams, the bottleneck is not coverage. It's knowing what to do with the data once you have it.
Verified pricing (as of June 2026):
- Starter: $249.99/month (strategic onboarding included free)
- Growth: $499.99/month (strategic onboarding included free, most popular plan)
- Scale: $1,499.99/month (includes 1:1 monthly sessions with an AI strategist, priority support, SSO/SAML)
"We treat every client as a partner, not a dashboard seat," says Marc-Olivier Bouchard, CEO and Founder of xSeek. "The data is useless without someone who knows what to do with it."
Real outcomes from current customers: Sengo signed four contracts directly from leads that came through ChatGPT. Destination Quebec City, the official tourism organization for Quebec City, uses xSeek to monitor and grow visibility across AI assistants when travelers search for where to go in Canada.
Pick xSeek if: your team owns AI visibility and lead generation but doesn't have an in-house AEO consultant. The dedicated specialist is the product. The software is what they use to do the work.
Profound: the enterprise dashboard
Profound built the most comprehensive self-serve AI monitoring platform available. It tracks 10+ models including ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok, and Meta AI. Its 400M+ conversation database estimates real AI search demand, not just responses to your manually-created prompts. SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance make it viable in regulated industries.
Pricing is custom enterprise. Profound does not publish public rates and requires a sales call. If you've seen a $249/month Starter figure cited elsewhere, that information is outdated. Current pricing is opaque and determined through their sales process.
The model is pure self-serve. Profound sells access to the platform. Strategy, analysis, and execution all stay on your team.
Pick Profound if: you have a dedicated in-house AI search expert, you need 10+ engine coverage, compliance requirements apply, and you don't need a partner to interpret the data for you.
Otterly.ai: the self-serve entry point
Otterly.ai is the cheapest legitimate way to start tracking AI visibility. The Lite plan starts at $29/month (or $25/month billed annually) for 15 search prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot. The Standard plan at $189/month adds 100 prompts, API access, and an MCP integration.
What's notable: Otterly includes a 25-factor GEO URL audit, keyword research tools, and domain ranking within the platform. It covers 50+ countries. For solo marketers or small teams that need to prove the AI visibility category to stakeholders before committing bigger budget, it's a reasonable starting point.
The limits are depth and execution. Otterly gives you numbers. It doesn't give you a strategy, content generation, or someone to run the work with you.
Pick Otterly if: your priority is proving AI visibility matters internally before committing budget. Move up once the data starts mattering.
Highlighted.ai: content scoring, not brand tracking
Highlighted.ai is a different category from the others in this comparison. It tracks how often a brand appears in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews responses and scores content for AI readability. It doesn't track the broader engine set that xSeek, Profound, or Otterly cover.
Verified pricing (as of June 2026):
- Starter: $29/month. 1 brand, unlimited prompts (requires own DataForSEO API key), Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT only.
- Premium: $79/month. Up to 10 brands, 10 users, white-label reporting.
- Agency: $299/month. Unlimited brands and users.
The key constraint: Highlighted requires you to bring your own DataForSEO API key to run prompts, which adds a separate cost and setup layer that the other tools don't require.
Pick Highlighted.ai if: you need content scoring and visibility tracking limited to ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, and you're already paying for DataForSEO.
TryGrav.ai: the free-tier option
TryGrav.ai offers a free plan for up to 10 keywords per month with competitor tracking against two brands. The Pro plan is $12 per user per month for 1,000 keyword rankings and comparisons across Claude, Gemini, and OpenAI. Enterprise is custom-priced with HIPAA compliance and an account manager.
Grav is the most accessible entry point in the market. For a solo marketer or a startup with no budget, the free tier provides a basic read on AI visibility before spending anything.
The tradeoff is coverage. Grav's engine depth, reporting, and strategic layer are limited compared to dedicated AEO platforms. It's useful for getting started, but most teams outgrow it quickly.
Pick TryGrav if: budget is the only constraint and you need a free starting point. Plan to move up once you're tracking more than 10 keywords.
Side-by-side comparison
| xSeek | Profound | Otterly.ai | Highlighted.ai | TryGrav.ai | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Service + software | Self-serve software | Self-serve software | Self-serve software | Self-serve software |
| AI engines tracked | 6 (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, DeepSeek, xAI) | 10+ | 4 core + add-ons | ChatGPT + AI Overviews | Claude, Gemini, OpenAI |
| Dedicated specialist | Every plan | No | No | No | Enterprise only |
| Article generation | Yes | No | No | Optimization only | No |
| AI bot visit detection | Yes | Server-side | No | No | No |
| Compliance | SSO/SAML on Scale | SOC 2 + HIPAA | No | No | HIPAA (Enterprise) |
| Starting price | $249.99/mo (onboarding included free) | Custom enterprise | $29/mo | $29/mo | Free / $12/mo |
| Free trial | Free analysis | Demo only | Yes (14-day) | 30-day money-back | Yes (14-day) |
How to choose the right AEO tool
The right question is not "which tool has more features." It is "what is missing on my team: coverage, budget, or execution expertise?"
Missing coverage, have an in-house AI search expert: Profound. The 10+ engine breadth and 400M+ conversation database matter when your team can use the data.
Missing execution expertise: xSeek. The dedicated account specialist is the actual product. The software is what they use to run the work with you.
Missing budget, need to prove the category: Otterly at $29/month or TryGrav's free tier. Get the data in front of stakeholders, then move up.
Need to score and optimize specific content: Highlighted.ai. Different problem from the others. Pair it with a tracking tool rather than using it as a replacement.
The real comparison for xSeek
xSeek isn't the cheap Profound alternative. It's in a different price band from Otterly and TryGrav too. The correct comparison isn't "tool X at $29/month vs xSeek at $249.99/month."
It's this: tool X plus an AEO consultant at $2,000/month vs xSeek with the specialist included at $249.99/month.
If your team already employs an AI search expert, xSeek is probably overpriced and Profound is the better fit. If you are the AI search expert (meaning you're the marketing lead with no dedicated support behind you), xSeek closes the gap between "I have a dashboard" and "I know what to do with it."
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Profound alternative for small marketing teams?
xSeek is the best Profound alternative for marketing teams without an in-house AI search expert. Starting at $249.99/month with strategic onboarding included free, it pairs software with a dedicated account specialist on every plan. Otterly.ai at $29/month is the best budget alternative if you only need self-serve tracking.
What is answer engine optimization (AEO)?
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content so that AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews cite your brand in their responses. Unlike traditional SEO which targets ranked links, AEO targets the AI-generated answers that now appear before organic results. According to Datos research, AI search queries grew 1,200% in 2025.
How much does Profound AI cost in 2026?
Profound does not publish public pricing. It requires a sales call to get a quote. Custom enterprise pricing applies. Previous reports of a $249/month Starter tier are outdated. Current pricing is determined through their sales process.
What AI engines does xSeek track?
xSeek tracks 6 AI engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, DeepSeek, and xAI (Grok). It also provides AI bot visit detection, which shows when AI crawlers visit your website pages.
Is Otterly.ai free?
Otterly.ai has no permanent free tier. It offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. The cheapest paid plan is $29/month (Lite), which tracks 15 search prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot.
What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the process of optimizing content to improve its citation rate in AI-generated responses. Princeton research (KDD 2024) identified 9 methods that improve AI citation visibility, with source citation (+40%), statistics addition (+37%), and expert quotes (+30%) being the most effective. GEO differs from AEO in that AEO focuses on tracking mentions while GEO focuses on earning them.
Can I track AI visibility for free?
Yes. TryGrav.ai offers a free plan that tracks up to 10 keywords per month across Claude, Gemini, and OpenAI with two competitor comparisons. Otterly.ai and Highlighted.ai both offer free trials (14 days and 30-day money-back, respectively). For a more complete read on your AI visibility, xSeek offers a free homepage analysis before you commit to a plan.