Alternatives guide · 2026
Profound Alternatives — 7 Tools, and What They Actually Cost
Profound is a capable AI search analytics platform, and the reason most teams start looking elsewhere is not the product — it is that you cannot find out what it costs. There is no published price on any tier. The free trial is deliberately narrow: 10 prompts, run once, against ChatGPT only, in one language and one region. Everything beyond that is quoted after a demo. If your evaluation process needs a number before a sales call, that alone rules it out. Below are seven alternatives, with every price read off the vendor's own pricing page on the date at the foot of this page — and where a vendor publishes nothing, this page says so rather than repeating an estimate.
Why look for Profound alternatives?
The 7 best Profound alternatives in 2026
Perciva
Our pickBuyer-intent AI monitoring built for B2B SaaS. Tracks the prompts buyers actually type during evaluation — comparisons, pricing, integrations, security — and extracts claim-level intelligence with action hints.
Best for: B2B SaaS teams who care what AI tells *buyers*, not just visibility scores.
Pros
- Self-serve, transparent pricing
- Claim-level accuracy on buyer-intent prompts
- Action hints attached to every alert
- ChatGPT and Gemini coverage, both with live web search
Cons
- Newer entrant (launched 2025)
- Focused on B2B SaaS — less ideal for consumer brands
Otterly.ai
Prompt-count-based AI mention tracking with the lowest published entry price in the category.
Best for: Solo founders and small teams who need a real number before committing.
Pros
- $29/mo entry — the cheapest published tier here
- Prompt allowances stated plainly per plan
- Free trial and 15% off annual billing
Cons
- Claude, Gemini and Google AI Mode are paid add-ons ($9–$439/mo)
- Extra prompts cost $99/mo per 100
- 15 prompts on Lite is an audit, not ongoing monitoring
Athena (AthenaHQ)
GEO platform with the widest published model list and a self-serve plan you can buy today.
Best for: Teams who want breadth of model coverage without a sales cycle.
Pros
- Publishes its pricing and sells self-serve
- 11 models tracked on the $295 Starter plan
- Free Essential tier with $25 of credit
- 17% discount on annual billing
Cons
- Credit billing makes monthly spend hard to forecast
- SSO, claim review and multi-language are Enterprise-only
- Emphasis is content optimisation, not claim accuracy
Scrunch AI
AI search visibility analytics on a flat monthly fee with an instant trial — the simplest swap if credit metering puts you off.
Best for: Teams who want a predictable invoice rather than a credit balance.
Pros
- Published price on both paid tiers
- Flat fee, no credit arithmetic
- 7-day trial, instant signup, no credit card
Cons
- Growth tier ($500/mo) routes you to a demo
- Enterprise pricing is custom
- Less depth on claim-level accuracy
Goodie AI
AEO platform that pairs visibility tracking with content production, priced in public tiers.
Best for: Mid-market teams who will actually use a bundled content engine.
Pros
- Two published prices, unusual in this category
- Citation intelligence and AI traffic attribution
- Annual billing gives two months free
Cons
- Engine coverage is tiered — five on Core, 12 only on Enterprise
- Claude, Meta, DeepSeek and Grok are Enterprise-only
- You pay for content tooling even if you have writers
Brandlight
Enterprise AI brand intelligence across a wide engine footprint, sold through sales.
Best for: Large brand teams already running a procurement process.
Pros
- Broad engine coverage
- Brand-team oriented reporting
Cons
- No public pricing of any kind — same problem as Profound
- Third-party figures circulate but the vendor has not confirmed them
- No self-serve path to evaluate it
Peec AI
Prompt-level visibility tracker with a self-serve signup path on its lower tiers.
Best for: Teams willing to create an account to find out the price.
Pros
- Self-serve signup on the three lower tiers
- Prompt-level granularity
Cons
- No figures on the pricing page
- Cannot be budgeted before creating an account
- Smaller feature set than Profound
See what AI says about your brand
Get a free AI visibility snapshot across ChatGPT and Gemini — no signup needed.
Prices verified 2026-09-16, read from each vendor's own pricing page. Vendor pricing changes — check before you buy. Sources: Profound pricing · Otterly.ai pricing · Athena pricing · Scrunch pricing · Goodie pricing
Frequently Asked
How much does Profound cost?
Profound does not publish pricing on any tier. There is a free trial limited to 10 unique prompts, run once, against ChatGPT only, in one language and one region; the Enterprise plan is listed as Custom behind a "Get a Demo" button. The only way to learn the cost is to contact their sales team. Verified on tryprofound.com on 16 September 2026.
What is the cheapest Profound alternative?
Otterly.ai's Lite plan at $29/month has the lowest published entry price, though it covers 15 prompts and bills Claude, Gemini and Google AI Mode as extras. For a plan whose engines are included, Perciva starts at EUR 49/month with a 7-day trial and no credit card. Cheapest per month and cheapest for what you need are rarely the same answer.
Which alternatives publish their pricing at all?
Five of the seven: Otterly.ai (from $29), Athena ($295 Starter), Scrunch ($300 month-to-month), Goodie AI ($399 Core and $999 Pro) and Perciva (from EUR 49). Brandlight and Peec AI do not — Brandlight quotes after a demo, and Peec lists tiers without figures. If your reason for leaving Profound is price opacity, those two reproduce the same problem.
Can I evaluate any of them properly for free?
Scrunch and Goodie both offer 7-day trials with instant signup, and Athena's free Essential tier gives you $25 of credit to spend across its features. Profound's own trial — 10 prompts run once on one engine — is a preview rather than a pilot. Whichever you pick, spend the whole allowance on one question that matters instead of spreading it thin.
Do these tools cover the same AI engines?
No, and the differences are larger than the marketing implies. Athena lists 11 models on its $295 plan. Profound lists up to 9 answer engines on Enterprise. Goodie covers five on Core and reaches 12 only on Enterprise. Otterly.ai sells Claude and Gemini as paid add-ons rather than including them. Check whether an engine is included or billed separately, and how often each one is actually queried on your plan — coverage and frequency are different numbers.
Is a self-serve tool enough, or do I need enterprise analytics?
It depends on what happens after a finding. Enterprise analytics earn their price when several teams need the same dashboard and procurement requires SOC 2 and SSO. If one or two people will read the findings and act on them, a self-serve plan gets you the same signal months sooner and for an order of magnitude less.
Which is best for B2B SaaS?
For breadth of models on a plan you can buy today, Athena. For a predictable flat fee, Scrunch. For the lowest entry price, Otterly.ai. For enterprise procurement requirements, Profound itself is still a reasonable answer. None of them is organised around buyer-intent prompts — the comparison, pricing, integration and security questions a prospect asks an AI assistant shortly before choosing a vendor. That is the specific gap Perciva was built for, from EUR 49/month.
More on Profound
- Perciva vs Profound — feature by feature →
- Otterly.ai vs Profound — head-to-head →
- Athena (AthenaHQ) vs Profound — head-to-head →
- Scrunch AI vs Profound — head-to-head →
- Brandlight vs Profound — head-to-head →
- Profound vs Peec AI — head-to-head →
- Evertune vs Profound — head-to-head →
- Goodie AI vs Profound — head-to-head →