Scavio, Otterly.ai, Nightwatch, Profound and SE Ranking are the best tools for tracking AI search visibility in 2026. Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot and ChatGPT now cite sources directly in their answers, and traditional rank trackers miss this surface entirely. These five tools let you monitor, measure, and optimize for AI-generated citations.
We build Scavio, so read this with that bias in mind. Scavio data below is from live API calls on October 25, 2026. Competitor pricing and features were read from each vendor's website that day.
Which AI visibility tool fits your team?
| Tool | Choose it for | AI engines tracked | Integration | Price (checked Oct 25, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scavio | Building custom AI citation monitoring via API | Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode | REST API, MCP server, Python/JS SDKs | $30/mo for 7,000 credits; 500 free |
| Otterly.ai | Ready-made AI visibility dashboard | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot | Dashboard | Lite $29/mo (15 prompts) |
| Profound | Content optimization for AI citation likelihood | ChatGPT (Starter), multi-engine (Growth) | Dashboard | Starter $99/mo, Growth $399/mo |
| Nightwatch | Rank tracking with SERP feature detection | Google (AI Overviews in SERP snapshots) | Dashboard, API | From $39/mo (250 keywords) |
| SE Ranking | All-in-one SEO with emerging AI features | Google (AI Overview detection) | Dashboard | Core $129/mo, Growth $279/mo |
AI search visibility is a new measurement problem
Traditional SEO tools measure where your pages rank in the ten blue links. AI search visibility is a different question: does an AI-generated answer mention your brand, cite your page, or use your data? Google AI Overviews appear above organic results for an increasing share of queries. ChatGPT and Perplexity generate answers that cite sources directly. A brand can rank #1 organically and still be absent from the AI answer for that same query.
Measuring AI visibility requires either monitoring AI-generated responses at scale or accessing them through an API that returns the full response text. Dashboard tools like Otterly.ai handle this for a set number of tracked prompts. API tools like Scavio return the raw data so teams can build monitoring at their own scale, feed it into existing BI tools, or trigger alerts in Slack when a competitor appears in an AI answer where you do not.
1. Scavio: programmatic AI search data via API
Scavio returns Google search results including the AI Overview content as structured JSON. The Google Search endpoint includes an ai_overview field when Google serves one for the query, containing the generated text and the sources it cites. The Google AI Mode endpoint captures Google's conversational search experience, where responses are longer and cite more sources than standard AI Overviews.
For AI visibility monitoring, the workflow is:
- Send target keywords to the Google Search endpoint (2 credits each).
- Parse the
ai_overviewfield for brand mentions and source citations. - Track changes over time in your own database or BI tool.
- Set up alerts for new competitor citations or lost brand mentions.
This is an API-first approach. You write the monitoring logic, which means full control over which keywords to track, how often to check, and where to send alerts. The same API key also covers Bing-surface queries, and the data feeds directly into agent workflows via the MCP server.
What Scavio does not do: there is no built-in AI visibility dashboard. You build the reporting layer yourself or feed the data into tools you already use. AI Overview extraction depends on Google serving the feature -- not all queries trigger one.
Monitoring 200 keywords daily: 200 calls x 2 credits = 400 credits/day, about 12,000 credits/month. That fits the Business plan ($100/month for 30,000 credits). For lighter monitoring, 100 keywords daily uses about 6,000 credits/month, within the Growth plan's 7,000 credits.
2. Otterly.ai: purpose-built AI visibility dashboard
Otterly.ai is a dedicated AI search visibility platform. The Lite plan at $29/month tracks 15 search prompts daily across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. It shows whether your brand appears in AI-generated answers for those prompts, with share-of-voice metrics that compare your visibility against competitors.
The value is that it works out of the box. Enter your tracked prompts, and the dashboard shows citation trends without any code. Unlimited brand reports are included on all plans. Google AI Mode and Gemini tracking are available as add-ons.
What it does not do: Otterly.ai is dashboard-only -- there is no API for piping data into custom systems or agent workflows. The Lite plan's 15 prompts limits coverage for teams with large keyword lists. Pricing for higher tiers is not published on the website.
Choose it if you want a visual dashboard for AI citation tracking without building anything, and your keyword list fits within the plan limits.
3. Profound: content optimization for AI citations
Profound approaches AI visibility from the content side: it analyzes your pages and recommends changes to increase the likelihood of being cited in AI answers. The Starter plan at $99/month tracks ChatGPT citations. The Growth plan at $399/month covers multiple AI engines.
Profound does not monitor AI search results directly -- it optimizes your content to perform better when AI models evaluate it. The premise is that content structure, entity clarity and factual density affect whether AI models select your page as a source.
Choose it if your primary need is improving content for AI citation, not monitoring where citations currently appear.
4. Nightwatch: rank tracking with SERP feature detection
Nightwatch is a rank tracking tool that detects SERP features including featured snippets and AI Overviews in its search result snapshots. Plans start at $39/month for 250 tracked keywords, with daily checks across Google and Bing.
AI visibility tracking is a secondary feature in Nightwatch, not the core product. It flags when an AI Overview appears for a tracked keyword and shows whether your page is among the cited sources, but it does not track AI-native engines like ChatGPT or Perplexity.
Choose it if you already use a rank tracker and want basic AI Overview detection alongside traditional rank monitoring.
5. SE Ranking: all-in-one SEO with AI features
SE Ranking is a comprehensive SEO platform covering rank tracking, site auditing, backlink monitoring and competitive analysis. The Core plan at $129/month tracks 750 keywords. The Growth plan at $279/month expands limits. AI Overview detection appears in SERP snapshots as part of the competitive analysis module. A 14-day free trial is available.
Like Nightwatch, SE Ranking detects AI Overviews within its broader SEO toolkit, but it is not purpose-built for AI citation tracking. There is no programmatic API for building custom AI visibility workflows.
Choose it if you need a full SEO suite and want AI Overview detection as one feature among many.
Pick by how you want to use the data
If you need raw AI search data to pipe into your own monitoring, dashboards or agent workflows, Scavio's API returns the full AI Overview content as structured JSON. If you want a visual dashboard that tracks AI citations without code, Otterly.ai works out of the box at $29/month. If the goal is optimizing content to get cited more, Profound focuses on that. Nightwatch and SE Ranking add basic AI Overview detection to traditional rank tracking.
Get 50 free credits, no card -- Google Search API docs -- Google AI Mode docs
Frequently Asked Questions
Send your target keywords to Scavio's Google Search API. The response includes an ai_overview field when Google serves one, containing the generated text and the sources it cites. Parse this field for your brand name or domain to track citation presence. Monitoring 100 keywords daily costs about 6,000 credits per month, which fits within the Growth plan ($30/month for 7,000 credits).
Scavio's Google AI Mode endpoint captures Google's conversational search surface. For ChatGPT and Perplexity tracking specifically, Otterly.ai is currently the better fit -- it monitors ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Microsoft Copilot from one dashboard. Teams that need both programmatic API data and multi-engine dashboard coverage often combine Scavio for Google data with a dashboard tool for the rest.
Share of voice in AI search measures how often your brand is mentioned or cited in AI-generated answers compared to competitors, for a set of target queries. It is the AI search equivalent of traditional SEO visibility scores. Otterly.ai and Profound both calculate this metric in their dashboards. With Scavio's API, you compute it yourself by checking citation presence across your keyword list and comparing against competitor domains.
Traditional rankings measure where your page appears in the list of blue links. AI search visibility measures whether your brand or content is cited in the AI-generated answer that appears above those links. A page can rank #1 organically and still not be cited in the AI Overview for that query, and vice versa. The two metrics require different tools and different optimization approaches.