# AI visibility and answer engine tracking tools for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane, the publisher, sells software in this category. Every product here is measured by the same method as in every other category.

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "AI visibility and answer engine tracking tool" and as "tool for tracking brand visibility in AI answers", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/ai-visibility-tracking/2026-09/smb

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 15, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/ai-visibility-tracking/smb/index.md

**Standing:** Otterly leads with 47% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 45 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Otterly](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/otterly/index.md) | 47% | 6% | 52 |
| 2 | [Wellows](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/wellows/index.md) | 11% | 10% | 10 |
| 4 | [Peec AI](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/peec-ai/index.md) | 4% | 9% | 33 |
| 5 | [HubSpot AEO Tool](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/hubspot-aeo-tool/index.md) | 4% | 12% | 34 |
| 7 | [Rankscale](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/rankscale/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 14 |
| 17 | [Frase](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/frase/index.md) | 0% | 10% | 10 |
| 20 | [Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/semrush-ai-visibility-toolkit/index.md) | 0% | 39% | 28 |
| 40 | [Ahrefs Brand Radar](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/ahrefs-brand-radar/index.md) | 0% | 36% | 14 |
| 99 | [Profound](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/profound/index.md) | 0% | 56% | 27 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 99 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: GrackerAI, Wellows; alternatives AIclicks, HubSpot AEO Tool, Otterly, Peec AI
- GPT-5.4 mini: Answer Monitor; alternatives AI Visibility Score, First Answer
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: RadarKit; alternatives AIclicks, Gracker AI, Rankscale, Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
- Perplexity Sonar: Otterly; alternatives Peec AI
- Grok 4.20: Otterly; alternatives Frase, HubSpot AEO Tool, Peec AI
- Mistral Small: Wellows; alternatives HubSpot AEO Tool, Otterly, Peec AI, Peek
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Otterly; alternatives HubSpot AEO Tool, Peec AI, Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit, ZipTie
- Llama 4 Maverick: Amplitude AI Visibility
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Ayzeo; alternatives Otterly, Peec AI, Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
- Kimi K2: Otterly; alternatives AthenaHQ, Peec AI, Profound, Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Otterly; alternatives Peek, Wellows
- MiniMax M2.5: Integrate.io, Yext

## Sources the answers cite

22 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- zapier.com: 10 answers, 10 citations
- visible.seranking.com: 7 answers, 8 citations
- youtube.com: 6 answers, 29 citations
- reddit.com: 6 answers, 9 citations
- tryprofound.com: 6 answers, 7 citations
- wellows.com: 6 answers, 6 citations
- blog.hubspot.com: 5 answers, 7 citations
- semrush.com: 5 answers, 6 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-visibility-tool (10 answers)
- https://wellows.com/blog/ai-visibility-tools (6 answers)
- https://ayzeo.com/blog/ai-search-visibility-tools-small-businesses (5 answers)
- https://frase.io/blog/the-10-best-ai-visibility-tools-in-2026 (5 answers)
- https://visible.seranking.com/blog/best-ai-visibility-tools (5 answers)
- https://reddit.com/r/ProductMarketing/comments/1k10tlt/top_5_tools_to_monitor_your_brands_presence_in_ai (4 answers)
- https://youtube.com/watch?v=DMPSZw75vko (4 answers)
- https://aiclicks.io/blog/best-aeo-tracking-tools (3 answers)
- https://airops.com/blog/answer-engine-optimization-tools (3 answers)
- https://business.com/categories/best-ai-visibility (3 answers)

## Warned against

- Profound: 15 of 27 labels negative. "Enterprise-focused tools like Profound: ... Best for large brands, not small teams—overkill and expensive without scaling needs." (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Scrunch: 6 of 7 labels negative. "Do not subscribe to Profound, Scrunch, or Semrush solely for AI tracking right now." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, budget prompt)
- Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: 11 of 28 labels negative. "Do not subscribe to Profound, Scrunch, or Semrush solely for AI tracking right now." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, budget prompt)
- Ahrefs Brand Radar: 5 of 14 labels negative. "Ahrefs: limited to Google-centric data, monthly refreshes only ... poor standalone value—fragmented and non-scalable for SMBs." (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, September 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.