Brand mention monitoring used to mean social listening. In 2026 it also means watching AI answers, because a recommendation inside ChatGPT or Perplexity is a mention with buying power. This ranking scores eight tools across both worlds against a published 100-point rubric, with every price verified June 2026.
Quick answer
Brand24 wins at 86/100 for the widest source coverage — social, news, blogs, forums, review sites — plus native LLM monitoring that now tracks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok mentions, all from $199/mo. If your priority is AI-answer mentions specifically (with citation detail), Peec AI (84) goes deeper for $95/mo, and Otterly.AI (82) is the cheapest way to start at $29/mo. Mention remains a strong web-and-social option but moved to a $599/mo annual-only plan.
The ranking
| Rank | Tool | Best for | AI mentions? | Entry price | SR Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brand24 | Web + social + native LLM monitoring | Yes (LLM monitoring) | $199/mo | 86 |
| 2 | Peec AI | AI-answer mentions, citation detail | Yes | $95/mo | 84 |
| 3 | Otterly.AI | Cheap AI-mention start | Yes | $29/mo Lite | 82 |
| 4 | Profound | Deep AI mention + citation data | Yes | $399/mo | 81 |
| 5 | Mention | Web + social, enterprise | No (web/social) | $599/mo | 78 |
| 6 | AthenaHQ | Multi-platform AI mentions | Yes | $295/mo | 77 |
| 7 | Scrunch AI | Agency multi-brand AI monitoring | Yes | ~$300/mo | 73 |
| 8 | Knowatoa | Commercial-query AI mentions | Yes | $59/mo Starter | 72 |
Methodology
Weights sum to 100. Each tool scored 0–100 per criterion; weighted average is the SR Score.
| Criterion | Weight | What we measured |
|---|---|---|
| Source coverage (web + AI) | 30 | Social platforms, news, blogs, forums, review sites, and AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Grok). Breadth across both worlds. |
| Detection accuracy & evidence | 25 | Mention-detection precision, sentiment, citation capture in AI answers, update frequency, sampling method. |
| Value for money | 20 | Entry price, keyword/mention/credit caps, seat policy. |
| Support & docs | 15 | Onboarding, docs, trial. |
| Transparency | 10 | Published pricing, disclosed limits. |
Coverage carries 30 because the failure mode of a monitoring tool is a blind spot: a tool that watches social but not AI answers (or vice versa) misses mentions that matter. We rewarded tools that span both.
Brand24 — 86/100
Brand24 (brand24.com) covers the widest source set — Instagram, X, TikTok, Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Quora, plus review sites (Trustpilot, Yelp, App Store) and news/blogs/forums — and added LLM monitoring that tracks how ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok mention and recommend your brand. Individual $199/mo (3 keywords, 2,000 mentions), Team $299/mo (7 keywords, unlimited users), scaling to Enterprise $999/mo. Annual billing saves 14–25%.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source coverage (web + AI) | 92 | 30 | 27.6 |
| Detection accuracy & evidence | 82 | 25 | 20.5 |
| Value for money | 82 | 20 | 16.4 |
| Support & docs | 84 | 15 | 12.6 |
| Transparency | 88 | 10 | 8.8 |
| Total | 100 | 85.9 |
Trade-off: its AI-mention layer is newer and shallower on citation detail than the dedicated AI trackers.
Peec AI — 84/100
Peec AI (peec.ai) is the depth pick for AI-answer mentions: it separates content the AI used from content it cited, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Overviews, in 100+ languages, from $95/mo with unlimited users. It does not cover social/news, so pair it with a listening tool for full coverage.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source coverage (web + AI) | 78 | 30 | 23.4 |
| Detection accuracy & evidence | 88 | 25 | 22.0 |
| Value for money | 90 | 20 | 18.0 |
| Support & docs | 82 | 15 | 12.3 |
| Transparency | 88 | 10 | 8.8 |
| Total | 100 | 84.5 |
Trade-off: AI-answers only — no social/news coverage.
Otterly.AI — 82/100
Otterly.AI (otterly.ai) tracks brand mentions and link citations across six AI engines, with Brand Reports and a Brand Visibility Index. Lite $29/mo, Standard $189/mo, Premium $489/mo, 14-day trial. Cheapest credible AI-mention start.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source coverage (web + AI) | 76 | 30 | 22.8 |
| Detection accuracy & evidence | 80 | 25 | 20.0 |
| Value for money | 88 | 20 | 17.6 |
| Support & docs | 80 | 15 | 12.0 |
| Transparency | 90 | 10 | 9.0 |
| Total | 100 | 81.4 |
Trade-off: AI engines only; 15-prompt Lite cap is sampling-only.
Profound — 81/100
Profound (tryprofound.com) delivers the deepest AI mention and citation data across seven engines, but it is AI-only and sales-led ($399 functional tier, full suite custom, no trial).
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source coverage (web + AI) | 78 | 30 | 23.4 |
| Detection accuracy & evidence | 90 | 25 | 22.5 |
| Value for money | 70 | 20 | 14.0 |
| Support & docs | 84 | 15 | 12.6 |
| Transparency | 66 | 10 | 6.6 |
| Total | 100 | 79.1 |
Trade-off: AI-only and the most expensive standalone start.
Mention — 78/100
Mention (mention.com) is a mature web-and-social listening tool covering web, news, X, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, YouTube and 75+ review sites. After retiring its self-serve tiers, the only plan for new customers is the Company Plan at ~$599/mo, annual-only, with unlimited users and white-label reporting. It does not natively monitor AI answers.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source coverage (web + AI) | 80 | 30 | 24.0 |
| Detection accuracy & evidence | 82 | 25 | 20.5 |
| Value for money | 64 | 20 | 12.8 |
| Support & docs | 84 | 15 | 12.6 |
| Transparency | 76 | 10 | 7.6 |
| Total | 100 | 77.5 |
Trade-off: strong web/social coverage, no AI-answer monitoring, and a $599 annual-only floor.
AthenaHQ — 77/100
AthenaHQ (athenahq.ai) monitors brand mentions across eight AI platforms on a credit model: Self-Serve $295/mo, Enterprise from $2,000+. AI-only; single-country on Self-Serve.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source coverage (web + AI) | 78 | 30 | 23.4 |
| Detection accuracy & evidence | 80 | 25 | 20.0 |
| Value for money | 72 | 20 | 14.4 |
| Support & docs | 80 | 15 | 12.0 |
| Transparency | 78 | 10 | 7.8 |
| Total | 100 | 77.6 |
Trade-off: AI-only and credit burn is hard to forecast.
Scrunch AI — 73/100
Scrunch AI (scrunch.com) monitors brand presence across AI platforms for agencies/enterprises, Core near $300/mo, no trial. AI-only.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source coverage (web + AI) | 76 | 30 | 22.8 |
| Detection accuracy & evidence | 76 | 25 | 19.0 |
| Value for money | 66 | 20 | 13.2 |
| Support & docs | 74 | 15 | 11.1 |
| Transparency | 70 | 10 | 7.0 |
| Total | 100 | 73.1 |
Trade-off: no trial, $300 floor, AI-only.
Knowatoa — 72/100
Knowatoa (rankability.com review) tracks brand mentions across seven AI platforms with a commercial-query focus. Starter $59/mo (30 questions), Growth $199/mo, Enterprise $499/mo.
| Criterion | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source coverage (web + AI) | 74 | 30 | 22.2 |
| Detection accuracy & evidence | 72 | 25 | 18.0 |
| Value for money | 78 | 20 | 15.6 |
| Support & docs | 72 | 15 | 10.8 |
| Transparency | 78 | 10 | 7.8 |
| Total | 100 | 74.4 |
Trade-off: AI-only, tight question caps; best for commercial-intent spot-checks.
How to re-weight
- AI-answers only (Coverage 30 weighted toward AI, Evidence 35). Peec AI or Profound takes #1.
- Web + social only (Coverage 40). Brand24 extends its lead; Mention climbs to #2.
For full coverage in 2026, many teams run one web/social listener (Brand24) and one AI tracker (Peec AI). The rubric reflects that reality by rewarding breadth.
Verification
- Brand24 — brand24.com/prices; LLM monitoring confirmed via product pages and authoritytech.io.
- Peec AI — peec.ai/pricing.
- Otterly.AI — otterly.ai/pricing.
- Profound — tryprofound.com.
- Mention — mention.com/en/pricing; Company-plan-only via socialrails.com and checkthat.ai.
- AthenaHQ — athenahq.ai/plans.
- Scrunch AI — scrunch.com/pricing.
- Knowatoa — pricing via rankability.com.
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- Best AI Search Optimization Tools (2026): Ranked & Scored
Frequently asked questions
- What does a brand mention monitoring tool do in 2026?
- It tracks where your brand is named — across social platforms, news, blogs, forums and review sites, and increasingly inside AI answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. The category split is between web-and-social listening tools (Brand24, Mention) and AI-answer mention trackers (Peec AI, Otterly.AI, Profound). The best general tools now do both.
- Which brand mention monitoring tool is best in 2026?
- Brand24 (86/100) for the widest source coverage plus native LLM monitoring that tracks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok mentions alongside social and news. For AI-answer mentions specifically, Peec AI (84) and Otterly.AI (82) go deeper on citation detail.
- Do social listening tools track AI mentions yet?
- Some do. Brand24 added LLM monitoring that tracks how AI chatbots mention and recommend your brand. Mention remains focused on web and social. If AI-answer presence is your priority, a dedicated AI tracker (Peec AI, Otterly.AI, Profound) captures citation detail that general listening tools do not.
- How much does brand mention monitoring cost?
- Web-and-social tools: Brand24 from $199/mo, Mention from $599/mo (annual-only Company plan after legacy tiers were retired). AI-mention trackers: Otterly.AI from $29/mo, Peec AI $95/mo, Profound $399/mo. Costs scale on keyword limits, mention volume and update frequency.
- How was this ranking weighted?
- A 100-point rubric: Source coverage (web + AI) 30, Detection accuracy & evidence 25, Value for money 20, Support & docs 15, Transparency 10. Coverage carries the most weight because a monitoring tool that misses a source category misses mentions you needed to see.