14 Free AEO Trackers to Monitor AI Search Visibility (2026)

What are the best free AEO trackers to see how ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews talk about your brand? The top free picks in 2026 are HubSpot's AI Search Grader, Semrush's free AI Search Visibility Checker, Profound's free AI visibility scan, and Google Search Console paired with GA4. Together they let you check your AI visibility, watch brand mentions, and track AI referral traffic without spending a dollar.

Updated for September 2026: we re-tested every tool below this quarter and corrected the free-plan limits, trial lengths, and pricing, because AI-search tools change fast. All figures are current 2026 estimates — always confirm on each tool's own site before you rely on them.

Want the deeper paid platforms too? See our full guide to the 19 best AEO tracking tools, and browse the wider category in our roundup of the best AEO tools for a side-by-side of premium options.

AI search is now too big to ignore: ChatGPT passed one billion weekly users in 2026, and Google AI Overviews now appear on a majority of searches. If AI engines answer questions about your market, you need to know whether they mention you. Free trackers are the smartest place to start.

I'm Tanuj Sarva, founder of Web of Picasso, an AEO agency that has optimized AI search visibility for 150+ brands over the past 5 years. Before paid AEO tools even existed, my team tracked citations by hand, and I still test every new free tool the week it launches.

On average, we lift client AI citations by around 400%, and a lot of that work starts with free trackers. For one D2C client, we ran a 90-day plan using only free tools before spending on anything paid, and that free data alone uncovered three quick wins. Here are the 14 free AEO trackers I actually trust in 2026, grouped by how you will use them.

Free AI Visibility Checkers (Instant, No Cost)

The fastest free AEO check in 2026 is a one-time visibility grader: HubSpot's AI Search Grader, Semrush's free checker, and Ahrefs Brand Radar each score how AI engines describe your brand in minutes, with no ongoing cost. Run one first to get a baseline before you do anything else.

1. HubSpot AI Search Grader

Free plan: Free one-time report, no account and no cap on runs.
Best for: Your very first AI visibility check.
What it tracks: Brand mentions, sentiment, recognition, and share of voice versus rivals.
Website: hubspot.com

You enter your brand and HubSpot shows how ChatGPT and other engines describe you — genuinely free, with no paywall. If you later want scheduled monitoring, HubSpot's standalone AEO product starts around $50 a month for 25 prompts, but the grader itself stays free.

2. Semrush AI Search Visibility Checker

Free plan: Free quick audit, no cost.
Best for: A fast, data-backed benchmark.
What it tracks: An AI visibility score across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Mode.
Website: semrush.com

The free checker gives you a quick score so you can see where you stand. For ongoing tracking, Semrush's full AI Visibility Toolkit is a paid add-on that runs about $99 a month per domain in 2026 (25 tracked prompts), so use the free tool first to decide if you need it.

3. Ahrefs Brand Radar

Free plan: Limited free look; full data needs a paid Ahrefs plan.
Best for: Teams already inside the Ahrefs ecosystem.
What it tracks: How often your brand appears and is mentioned across AI answers.
Website: ahrefs.com

Ahrefs now runs its AI visibility data through Brand Radar. You can get a limited free snapshot, but deep, ongoing monitoring is a paid add-on (roughly $199 a month per AI index on top of a base plan). Treat the free view as a second opinion next to HubSpot and Semrush rather than a full tracker.

4. Mangools AI Search Grader

Free plan: Free grade, no card.
Best for: Beginners and small sites.
What it tracks: A simple grade of your AI search presence.
Website: mangools.com

Mangools keeps things friendly and easy to read. It is a good pick if the bigger tools feel like too much at once. Check the current free limits on their site, as grader access is sometimes bundled with a trial.

Free Plans and Trials From Dedicated AEO Trackers

Dedicated AEO trackers are mostly paid in 2026, but their free scans and trials still let you monitor real mentions before you buy. Profound offers a genuinely free scan plus a free public leaderboard, while Otterly, Peec, and Rankscale give you time-limited trials. Use them to sample ongoing monitoring at zero cost.

5. Profound

Free plan: Free AI visibility scan, plus the free, publicly available Profound Index leaderboard.
Best for: Benchmarking against your category.
What it tracks: Your brand's footprint across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, and Gemini, plus category rankings.
Website: tryprofound.com

Profound is a leading paid AEO platform, but two pieces are free: a one-time visibility scan of your brand, and the Profound Index, a weekly leaderboard that ranks brands by how often they appear in AI search within a category. That free Index is one of the best ways to see who is winning AI citations in your space without paying.

6. Otterly.ai

Free plan: 14-day free trial, no card required.
Best for: Trying ongoing monitoring for two weeks.
What it tracks: Mentions and links across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Gemini, and Copilot.
Website: otterly.ai

Be honest with yourself here: this is a trial, not a permanent free tier. Paid plans start at $29 a month (Lite, 15 prompts). Even so, two weeks of real tracking data is worth a lot when you are deciding what to buy, and the 14-day window is more generous than most rivals.

7. Rankscale.ai

Free plan: Free trial with starter credits.
Best for: Testing content before you publish.
What it tracks: How GPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity answer your prompts.
Website: rankscale.ai

You can test one prompt across several AI models at once, which makes it great for checking a page before it goes live. Rankscale has moved toward a subscription-plus-credits model and no longer lists prices publicly, so treat the free credits as a sample and contact them for full pricing.

8. Peec AI

Free plan: 7-day free trial, no upfront payment.
Best for: European and multilingual brands.
What it tracks: Mentions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and DeepSeek.
Website: peec.ai

Peec is clean and simple, with strong support for non-English markets. It is a trial rather than a free plan — paid tiers start around $80 a month (Starter, 50 prompts) — so plan your test prompts before the seven days start.

9. Metricus Forager

Free plan: Free tier with no card and no time limit.
Best for: Small teams that want free ongoing checks.
What it tracks: Brand mentions in AI answers over time.
Website: metricusapp.com

Truly free ongoing tools are rare, which makes Forager worth a look. Expect fewer features than paid tools, and confirm the current free limits on their site, but the price is hard to beat.

Free Google and Microsoft Tools for AI Visibility

You already own some of the best free AEO trackers. Google Search Console, GA4, Bing Webmaster Tools, and Google Alerts are all permanently free and reveal the queries, traffic, and mentions that feed AI answers. Set them up once and they run forever at no cost.

10. Google Search Console

Free plan: Always free.
Best for: Every website.
What it tracks: The search queries and pages that feed Google AI Overviews.
Website: search.google.com

Clicks from AI Overviews blend into your organic numbers, so you cannot split them out perfectly. But the query data still tells you which questions to answer for AI, and it is the single most valuable free data source most brands already have.

11. Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Free plan: Always free.
Best for: Proving AI traffic to your team.
What it tracks: Referral visits from Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.
Website: analytics.google.com

Perplexity links are always clickable, so that traffic shows up cleanly. Add a custom channel that matches sources like chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai to keep AI visits in one place and prove the channel is real.

12. Bing Webmaster Tools

Free plan: Always free.
Best for: Microsoft Copilot visibility.
What it tracks: How Bing sees your pages, which then feeds Copilot.
Website: bing.com/webmasters

Copilot leans on the Bing index, so this free tool matters more than most people think. Set it up once and check it monthly.

13. Google Alerts

Free plan: Always free.
Best for: Simple brand-mention watching.
What it tracks: New web pages that mention your brand.
Website: google.com/alerts

AI engines often cite fresh web pages, so a mention today can become an AI citation tomorrow. Alerts email you the moment a new mention appears.

The Free DIY Method

14. Manual Prompt Tracking

Free plan: Always free.
Best for: Full control on a zero budget.
What it tracks: The exact answers and citations you see yourself.
What you need: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and a spreadsheet.

Pick 10 to 15 buyer questions and ask each AI engine the same set every month. Log which brands get named, and you will spot trends long before a paid tool pays for itself. This is still the method I trust most for reading the actual language AI uses about a brand.

How to Build a Free AEO Tracking Stack in 2026

The best free AEO tracking stack in 2026 combines one free visibility checker, Google Search Console and GA4 for traffic, Google Alerts for new mentions, and 15 minutes of manual prompt testing each month. Together they cover checks, traffic, and real citations — the same three angles paid tools charge for.

Start with a free checker like HubSpot, Semrush, or Profound for a monthly baseline. Then let Google Search Console and GA4 handle the traffic side, and use Google Alerts for new mentions.

Finish with manual prompt testing across ChatGPT and Perplexity, and drop an Otterly or Peec trial on top for a two-week snapshot of automated monitoring. New to all this? Our guide on what Answer Engine Optimization is explains the basics in plain English.

The Limits of Free AEO Trackers: An Honest Look

Free AEO trackers are perfect for a baseline but have real gaps: most give one-time snapshots instead of daily tracking, miss the majority of ChatGPT mentions that carry no clickable link, and rarely show history, sentiment, or competitor share of voice over time. I would rather you hear that now than be surprised later.

GA4, for example, misses the large share of ChatGPT mentions that have no clickable link, and AI Overview clicks hide inside your organic totals. Free tools also sample far fewer prompts than paid platforms, so their scores point you in a direction rather than giving a final grade.

When AI search becomes a real revenue channel for you, a paid platform starts to pay for itself. When you reach that point, compare the paid options in our guide to the 19 best AEO tracking tools, and see why AEO now beats classic SEO for AI visibility.

Getting Started With Free AEO Tracking

Trustworthy tracking is not about the fanciest tool. It is about checking the same prompts and pages on a regular schedule.

Set a monthly reminder, run two free checkers, review GA4, and do your manual prompts. Do this for 90 days and you will know exactly where you stand in AI search.

If you want expert help turning those numbers into citations, our team does this every day. Learn more about our Answer Engine Optimization services and book a free AI visibility review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are free AEO trackers accurate in 2026?

Free trackers are accurate enough for a baseline, but they sample fewer prompts than paid tools. Treat their scores as a direction, not a final grade, and confirm big claims with your own manual checks. Running two different free checkers and comparing results is the simplest way to sanity-check any single score.

Can I track ChatGPT visibility for free?

Yes. HubSpot's AI Search Grader, Semrush's free checker, and Profound's free scan all show ChatGPT visibility, and manual prompting lets you read the answers yourself. GA4 then catches the small share of ChatGPT visits that arrive through clickable links, so you can prove some of that traffic is real.

What is the best completely free AEO tracker?

For a one-time check, HubSpot's AI Search Grader is the best fully free option because it needs no account. For ongoing free data, Google Search Console, GA4, and Google Alerts are unbeatable, and Profound's free Index adds a weekly category leaderboard. Combine them into a stack rather than relying on any single tool.

Do free trials count as free AEO trackers?

Partly. Trials from Otterly (14 days), Peec (7 days), and Rankscale give you real automated monitoring at no cost for a short window, which is genuinely useful for a snapshot. But they are not permanent free tiers, so plan your test prompts in advance and export your data before the trial ends.

How often should I check my AI visibility?

Once a month works for most small brands. If AI search drives real leads for you, move to weekly checks and consider a paid tracker for daily data. The key is consistency: checking the same prompts and pages on a fixed schedule reveals trends that one-off checks always miss.

Are these free tools enough, or do I eventually need a paid platform?

Free tools are enough to prove AI search matters for your brand and to find your first quick wins. Once AI becomes a measurable revenue channel, a paid platform's history, sentiment analysis, and competitor tracking start paying for themselves. Most brands run free tools for 90 days first, then upgrade only if the data justifies it.

One note for transparency: we have no paid affiliation with the tools above, and free plans, trial lengths, and pricing change often. All details are current as of September 2026, so always check each tool's own site for the latest limits before you rely on them.