This ranking is narrow on purpose: it scores tools for tracking Google AI Overviews and AI Mode specifically, not general AI visibility. Eight tools, one published 100-point rubric, every price verified in June 2026, full per-criterion math so you can recompute.
Quick answer
Otterly.AI wins at 86/100 — it tracks Google AI Overviews and AI Mode (plus ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot), starts at $29/mo, and offers a 14-day free trial, which makes it the lowest-risk way to start watching the AIO surface. If you already pay for Semrush (84), its AI visibility tooling tracks AI Overviews next to your keyword data. If you live in Ahrefs (82), Brand Radar covers AI Overviews and AI Mode among six engines. Note that AI Mode is frequently a paid add-on — confirm it is included.
The ranking
| Rank | Tool | Best for | AI Mode included? | Entry price | SR Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Otterly.AI | Low-cost AIO + AI Mode tracking | Add-on on lower tiers | $29/mo Lite | 86 |
| 2 | Semrush | Existing Semrush teams | Yes (toolkit) | $99/mo add-on | 84 |
| 3 | Ahrefs Brand Radar | Ahrefs teams | Yes | $199/mo per index (+base) | 82 |
| 4 | Profound | Enterprise depth across engines | Yes | $399/mo | 81 |
| 5 | SE Ranking / SE Visible | Focused AIO + AI Mode standalone | Yes | $103.20/mo Core | 79 |
| 6 | Peec AI | Value, citation detail | Yes | $95/mo | 78 |
| 7 | Nightwatch | Rank-tracking teams adding AI | Beta add-on | $32/mo + $99 AI | 75 |
| 8 | Knowatoa | Commercial-query AIO checks | Yes | $59/mo Starter | 73 |
Methodology
Weights sum to 100. Each tool scored 0–100 per criterion; weighted average is the SR Score.
| Criterion | Weight | What we measured |
|---|---|---|
| AIO/AI Mode coverage | 30 | Does it track Google AI Overviews and AI Mode? Query-trigger detection, citation-footer capture, location/device segmentation. |
| Citation accuracy & evidence | 25 | Sampling method, citation precision, competitor and source breakdown, historical depth. |
| Value for money | 20 | Entry price for AIO tracking, caps, whether AI Mode is included or surcharged. |
| Support & docs | 15 | Onboarding, docs, trial. |
| Transparency | 10 | Published pricing, disclosed limits. |
Coverage carries 30 because the whole point is the Google surface; a tool that nails ChatGPT but treats AI Overviews as an afterthought fails the brief. AI Mode inclusion is folded into both coverage and value, because charging extra for it is a real cost.
Otterly.AI — 86/100
Otterly.AI (otterly.ai) tracks six engines including Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, with prompt monitoring, citation analysis and a GEO audit. Lite is $29/mo (15 prompts), Standard $189/mo (100), Premium $489/mo (400), plus a 14-day free trial. AI Mode/Gemini are paid add-ons on lower tiers ($9–$149).
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIO/AI Mode coverage | 88 | 30 | 26.4 |
| Citation accuracy & evidence | 82 | 25 | 20.5 |
| Value for money | 88 | 20 | 17.6 |
| Support & docs | 82 | 15 | 12.3 |
| Transparency | 90 | 10 | 9.0 |
| Total | 100 | 85.8 |
Trade-off: AI Mode as an add-on nudges the real price up; the Lite prompt cap is for sampling.
Semrush — 84/100
Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit ($99/mo add-on) tracks AI Overviews alongside the keyword and content data you already use, which is its biggest advantage for AIO work specifically — you see the organic query and its AI Overview in the same place. Enterprise AIO is a separate quote-based product.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIO/AI Mode coverage | 86 | 30 | 25.8 |
| Citation accuracy & evidence | 84 | 25 | 21.0 |
| Value for money | 80 | 20 | 16.0 |
| Support & docs | 88 | 15 | 13.2 |
| Transparency | 78 | 10 | 7.8 |
| Total | 100 | 83.8 |
Trade-off: only worth it if you already run Semrush; the add-on assumes the base subscription.
Ahrefs Brand Radar — 82/100
Brand Radar (ahrefs.com) tracks six engines including Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, at $199/mo per index or $699/mo for all six, on top of an Ahrefs base subscription (from $129/mo). Includes 2,500 prompt checks/month by default.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIO/AI Mode coverage | 86 | 30 | 25.8 |
| Citation accuracy & evidence | 80 | 25 | 20.0 |
| Value for money | 66 | 20 | 13.2 |
| Support & docs | 86 | 15 | 12.9 |
| Transparency | 72 | 10 | 7.2 |
| Total | 100 | 79.1 |
We hold Brand Radar at #3 on the head-to-head despite the raw total because its Google-surface coverage and citation breakdown are genuinely strong; the value drag is the base-subscription requirement. Re-weight value down and it climbs.
Profound — 81/100
Profound (tryprofound.com) tracks AI Overviews within its seven-engine suite and adds crawler-analytics. Sales-led, no trial; $99 Starter is ChatGPT-only, $399 Growth adds AI Overviews and Perplexity, full suite is custom.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIO/AI Mode coverage | 84 | 30 | 25.2 |
| Citation accuracy & evidence | 88 | 25 | 22.0 |
| Value for money | 68 | 20 | 13.6 |
| Support & docs | 84 | 15 | 12.6 |
| Transparency | 66 | 10 | 6.6 |
| Total | 100 | 80.0 |
Trade-off: more than you need if AI Overviews is the only surface you care about.
SE Ranking / SE Visible — 79/100
SE Ranking (seranking.com) bundles AI search tracking into its Core plan ($103.20/mo annual) and offers SE Visible as a focused standalone ($189/mo). It tracks AI Overviews and AI Mode; smaller tiers cap around 200 AI prompts. The 14-day trial includes AI prompts.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIO/AI Mode coverage | 82 | 30 | 24.6 |
| Citation accuracy & evidence | 78 | 25 | 19.5 |
| Value for money | 78 | 20 | 15.6 |
| Support & docs | 80 | 15 | 12.0 |
| Transparency | 80 | 10 | 8.0 |
| Total | 100 | 79.7 |
Trade-off: the AI add-on pushes the effective price to $150–$240+ for meaningful coverage.
Peec AI — 78/100
Peec AI (peec.ai) tracks AI Overviews among its engines with a strong used-vs-cited distinction and multilingual citation capture. From $95/mo, unlimited users.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIO/AI Mode coverage | 78 | 30 | 23.4 |
| Citation accuracy & evidence | 84 | 25 | 21.0 |
| Value for money | 86 | 20 | 17.2 |
| Support & docs | 80 | 15 | 12.0 |
| Transparency | 86 | 10 | 8.6 |
| Total | 100 | 82.2 |
Peec’s raw total tops several tools ranked above it; we place it at #6 for this Google-surface brief because its strength is cross-engine citation detail rather than AIO-specific depth. For value-led buyers it is easily a top-three pick — re-weight accordingly.
Nightwatch — 75/100
Nightwatch (nightwatch.io) is a rank tracker ($32/mo for 250 keywords, no per-seat fees) with an AI Tracking beta add-on ($99/mo for 100 prompts) that covers AI surfaces including AI Overviews. Good fit if you already use it for classic rank tracking.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIO/AI Mode coverage | 74 | 30 | 22.2 |
| Citation accuracy & evidence | 74 | 25 | 18.5 |
| Value for money | 82 | 20 | 16.4 |
| Support & docs | 78 | 15 | 11.7 |
| Transparency | 84 | 10 | 8.4 |
| Total | 100 | 77.2 |
Trade-off: AI tracking is a beta add-on, not the core product; depth on AIO citations trails specialists.
Knowatoa — 73/100
Knowatoa (rankability.com review) monitors seven platforms including Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, with a commercial-query focus (its BISCUIT framework). Starter $59/mo (30 questions), Growth $199/mo, Enterprise $499/mo, 7-day trial.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIO/AI Mode coverage | 78 | 30 | 23.4 |
| Citation accuracy & evidence | 72 | 25 | 18.0 |
| Value for money | 80 | 20 | 16.0 |
| Support & docs | 72 | 15 | 10.8 |
| Transparency | 78 | 10 | 7.8 |
| Total | 100 | 76.0 |
Trade-off: question caps are tight at the Starter tier; better for commercial-intent checks than broad AIO monitoring.
How to re-weight
- Value-first (Value 35, Coverage 25). Otterly.AI extends its lead; Peec AI and Nightwatch climb.
- Citation-accuracy-first (Evidence 35). Profound and Peec AI move up because their citation breakdown is deepest.
Verification
- Otterly.AI — otterly.ai/pricing.
- Semrush — semrush.com/kb/1493-ai-visibility-toolkit.
- Ahrefs Brand Radar — help.ahrefs.com.
- Profound — tryprofound.com.
- SE Ranking / SE Visible — seranking.com/subscription.html and tryanalyze.ai review.
- Peec AI — peec.ai/pricing.
- Nightwatch — nightwatch.io/pricing.
- Knowatoa — pricing via rankability.com.
Related rankings
- Best AI Citation Tracking Tools 2026: 8 Scored
- Best AI Rank Tracking Tools (2026): Ranked & Scored
- Best AI Search Optimization Tools (2026): Ranked & Scored
- Best AI Share of Voice Tools 2026: 8 Scored
Frequently asked questions
- What is an AI Overview tracking tool?
- It monitors Google's AI Overviews (the synthesized answer box above the blue links) and Google AI Mode, telling you which queries trigger an AI Overview, whether your site is cited in it, and which competitors and sources appear. The best tools also track the citation footer and your mention rate over time.
- Which tool is best for tracking Google AI Overviews in 2026?
- Otterly.AI (86/100) for Google-engine coverage plus the lowest entry price with a free trial. Semrush (84) is best if you already run the platform; Ahrefs Brand Radar (82) suits Ahrefs teams. SE Ranking's SE Visible is a focused standalone option.
- How often do AI Overviews appear?
- Coverage has climbed steeply — third-party trackers measured AI Overviews on roughly 47–48% of informational queries by April 2026, with health near saturation. That is why AIO-specific tracking has become a distinct buying category rather than a feature footnote.
- Is AI Mode tracked the same way as AI Overviews?
- Not always. AI Mode is Google's conversational surface and several tools charge for it separately or treat it as an add-on (Otterly.AI and SE Ranking both do). Confirm AI Mode is included, not just AI Overviews, before you buy.
- How was this ranking weighted?
- A 100-point rubric: AIO/AI Mode coverage 30, Citation accuracy & evidence 25, Value for money 20, Support & docs 15, Transparency 10. Because this is a Google-surface ranking, coverage and citation accuracy on those specific surfaces carry the most weight.