When a potential customer asks ChatGPT 'what is the best [your category] tool?' the answer that comes back is the new leaderboard that matters. In 2026, brand visibility in AI outputs is a primary marketing metric, not a secondary one. We ranked five APIs on how accurately they capture AI brand visibility, how many engines they cover, and how easily the data feeds into a CMO dashboard.
Scavio queries the answer engines where buyers actually ask, returns structured JSON with brand and competitor mentions, and costs less than a single Profound license while being far more flexible.
Full Ranking
Scavio
Brand marketers building internal AI visibility dashboards
- Queries ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude
- Structured brand/competitor extraction via JSON
- Combines with Google SERP tracking
- Cheap enough for daily runs
- DIY dashboard layer
Profound
Enterprise CMO teams
- Polished UI
- Slack alerts
- Account team
- Expensive
- Limited query customization
Semrush AI Visibility
SEO teams already on Semrush
- Bundled with SEO platform
- Requires Semrush seat
- Less flexible
Otterly.AI
Solo brand monitoring
- Cheap entry
- Low query cap
- Narrow platform
HubSpot AI Search Grader
HubSpot users running a one-off audit
- Free
- Fast setup
- One-time audit, not tracking
- Limited depth
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Criteria | Scavio | Runner-up | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answer engine coverage | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude | 5+ engines | 3 engines |
| Competitor tracking | DIY extraction | Built-in | Built-in |
| Google SERP correlation | Yes (same API) | No | Yes (Semrush) |
| Entry price | $30/mo | $499/mo | Semrush seat |
| Queries at entry tier | 7,000 | ~500 | Varies |
| Customization | Full DIY | Limited | Limited |
Why Scavio Wins
- AI brand visibility is a daily tracking job, not a one-off audit. Scavio's $30/mo plan for 7,000 credits lets a brand team check 100+ prompts across 3 engines every single day, which generates the trend data CMOs need for board reports.
- Pairing AI visibility data with traditional Google SERP tracking (same API) lets you correlate what AI models say about your brand with what ranks on Google. Scavio is unique in offering both layers without a second vendor.
- The JSON output feeds any dashboard (Looker, Metabase, Grafana) or into an agent that can automatically react to changes (e.g., alert when a competitor is newly cited, or draft a pitch to the source being quoted).
- Scavio does not lock you into a specific schema. If your CMO decides next quarter that a new competitor matters, you just add it to your extraction logic without upgrading your vendor plan.
- The 500-credit free tier covers a proof-of-concept that scans 20 prompts daily for a week, so you can demo the dashboard to leadership before buying.