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LLMrefs vs Profound: an honest comparison

LLMrefs vs Profound compared for 2026: entry price, AI engines, Claude and Grok coverage, Search Console and MCP, every figure dated and linked to the vendor.

By Rahul AUpdated September 4, 20266 min read

See which of these you are already failing.

On this page
  1. The short verdict
  2. Side-by-side matrix
  3. Reading the difference
  4. Which to choose
  5. FAQ

Side-by-side matrix

LLMrefs and Profound compared at entry pricing
What you getCitunaThat’s usLLMrefsProfound
Entry price / month$39$79$99
Pricing modelFlat tiersFlat monthlyFlat tiers
AI engines at entry6111
Claude tracked Enterprise
Grok tracked Enterprise
Microsoft Copilot Enterprise
Google AI OverviewsNot published Not at entry
Refresh cadenceDaily WeeklyNot published
Search Console integration
MCP access at entry
Generated fixes Free tools Credits
Free trial3 days (card)3 days + free tier Free report

Compiled from each vendor’s public pricing page: LLMrefs figures from llmrefs.com/pricing, checked July 16, 2026; Profound figures from www.tryprofound.com/pricing, checked July 16, 2026. Profound: billed yearly, covers one engine (ChatGPT). “Not published” marks a row the vendor does not state publicly; it is not a “no”. Cituna checks all six engines daily and does not track Microsoft Copilot. MCP read tools are included from $39, write tools from Pro ($119); MCP is not exclusive to us. Prices change often: verify before buying. Spot an error? Tell us and we will correct it.

Reading the difference

On cost per engine at entry, the crudest useful way to normalise these two, LLMrefs works out at about $7.18 per engine per month ($79 across 11) and Profound at about $99.00 ($99 across 1). LLMrefs is the better ratio, by roughly $91.82 per engine. Treat that as a sanity check rather than a verdict: an engine you do not care about is not worth anything, and Profound’s number improves immediately if its engine mix happens to be the one you need.

On every capability both vendors publish, LLMrefs and Profound match. That is a genuinely unusual result in this category and it changes the decision: with no feature to separate them, the choice comes down to price, refresh cadence, and whether the output is a dashboard or a change you can ship.

Worth knowing before you shortlist either: neither LLMrefs nor Profound offers Search Console integration and an MCP server. If any of those is a requirement, this comparison is the wrong shortlist and you should widen it rather than pick the better of two tools that both miss what you need.

The tier ladders are worth reading side by side, because the entry price means something different on each. LLMrefs: Free single-keyword tier · paid from $79. Profound: Starter $99 (1 engine) · Growth $399 (up to 3) · Enterprise custom. That is where most of the apparent price gap between these two either disappears or widens sharply, depending on which engines you actually need.

They also genuinely overlap on Claude, Grok, Microsoft Copilot and generated fixes, so those rows should not carry weight in the decision even though both vendors market them.

One practical difference that does not appear in any feature list: LLMrefs bills as flat monthly and Profound as flat tiers. A credit-metered plan and a flat plan are hard to compare over a year because only one of them has a predictable ceiling, so run your expected prompt volume through both before treating the entry prices as comparable at all.

Which to choose

Choose LLMrefs if…

LLMrefs is the longest engine list in the category, refreshed weekly. Against Profound specifically, it is the cheaper entry by $20 a month, it covers more engines at entry (11 against 1) and and it bills as flat monthly where Profound bills as flat tiers.

  • eleven engines, the longest published list of any tool here, including Claude, Grok and Copilot
  • a genuinely free single-keyword tier that keeps working rather than expiring
  • a set of free standalone tools alongside the tracker

What you give up:

  • a weekly refresh rather than daily, so a change made on Monday may not be visible until the following week
  • no Search Console integration and no MCP server
  • the free tier is limited to one keyword, which is a snapshot rather than a monitor

Choose Profound if…

Profound is the enterprise-recognised name, priced and packaged for enterprise. Against LLMrefs specifically, you are paying $20 a month more than LLMrefs for it, it covers fewer engines at entry (1 against 11) and and it bills as flat tiers where LLMrefs bills as flat monthly.

  • the most recognised brand in the category, which matters when the tool has to be defended to a procurement committee
  • a genuinely free public report that runs without a card, one of the easiest ways to see your own exposure before spending anything
  • enterprise depth: agent analytics and conversation-level data that the self-serve tools in this category do not attempt

What you give up:

  • the $99 Starter is billed yearly and covers a single engine, ChatGPT; the headline price is not a six-engine price
  • Claude, Grok and Microsoft Copilot are reserved for a custom Enterprise contract, so the full engine list has no published price at all
  • no Search Console integration, so AI-visibility movement is never tied back to real search clicks inside the product

Drafted with AI assistance from our own research and Search Console data, and reviewed by Rahul A before publishing. Rules and prices change; check the linked official source before you act.

Frequently asked questions

LLMrefs vs Profound: which should I choose?

LLMrefs is the cheaper way in at $79 a month against $99 for Profound, a difference of about $20 a month, or $240 a year. On the capabilities both vendors publish, the two overlap almost exactly, which makes price, refresh cadence and the quality of the output the deciding factors rather than the feature list. If you want all six major engines, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok and Google AI Overviews, checked daily, the generated fixes to close the gaps and a Search Console integration to prove the result, Cituna covers that from $39/mo. Cituna does not track Microsoft Copilot; if that is a requirement, weigh the tools here that do.

Is LLMrefs or Profound cheaper?

LLMrefs, on published entry pricing: $79 a month against $99 for Profound (LLMrefs figures from llmrefs.com/pricing, checked July 16, 2026; Profound from www.tryprofound.com/pricing, checked July 16, 2026). Read past the sticker, though: LLMrefs publishes a flat entry fee. Cituna is $39/mo flat for all six engines with no engine held back for a higher tier.

Does LLMrefs or Profound cover more AI engines?

LLMrefs, on published entry-tier counts: 11 against 1 for Profound. Engine counts are the most misread number in this category, so check what the entry tier actually includes rather than the total the site advertises. Cituna publishes one number for this: six engines, all of them on the $39 tier, all checked daily.

Do LLMrefs and Profound track Claude and Grok?

LLMrefs tracks Claude and tracks Grok (as of July 16, 2026). Profound tracks Claude (enterprise) and tracks Grok (enterprise) (as of July 16, 2026). Both engines are included in Cituna’s $39 Starter and checked daily, which is the gap this comparison most often turns on, Grok in particular is a blind spot across much of this category.

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