Rankshift is an AI search visibility tracker that sells capacity as a pool of credits. Which alternative fits depends on whether you like that pool or would rather know your coverage in advance. Below we compare nine tools on how they charge, which engines they check, what they cost and how you start, with Rankshift as the baseline.
Fair-comparison note:
How Rankshift charges
Rankshift is made by Rankshift BV. Rankshift’s pricing page, read October 8, 2026, lists three self-serve plans, each with unlimited projects and seats, daily or weekly prompt refresh, MCP and API access, crawler analytics, a content brief generator, an AI content writer and a Looker Studio integration, plus a 30-day trial:
- Starter: $92 a month billed monthly ($82 a month billed annually), up to 150 prompts a day, 9,500 credits.
- Professional: $210 a month ($189 annually), up to 350 prompts a day, 22,000 credits.
- Business: $473 a month ($425 annually), up to 850 prompts a day, 53,000 credits.
An Enterprise tier with single sign-on and a dedicated account manager is priced through sales. Every plan says “Track all LLMs”, and the models the page lists are ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Perplexity, Mistral and Meta Llama (Meta AI). Rankshift does not name Grok.
The prompts-a-day figure is a ceiling; the credits decide what you can actually run. Rankshift’s help article “Manage your credits” (read October 8, 2026) says most models cost 2 credits per run, because the prompt and the analysis of the answer are each counted, while Copilot and Claude with search cost 5. Credits from the monthly plan expire at the end of the month and do not roll over; top-up credits do.
Here is our calculation for Starter, using a 30-day month. 9,500 credits at 2 per run is 4,750 runs a month. One model checked daily for 150 prompts uses about 9,000 credits. Seven 2-credit models checked daily cover about 22 prompts. Add Copilot or Claude with search at 5 credits and the number falls again. A weekly refresh stretches the same credits about four times further, at the cost of daily data. That is a sound design for a team that wants to choose its own mix of breadth and depth. It is harder to plan for a team that wants one number: how many questions are checked, on which engines, every day.
Why teams look elsewhere
Teams that search for a Rankshift alternative usually have one of three reasons:
- They want a fixed count, not a pool. Credits that lapse each month reward careful budgeting and punish a quiet month.
- They need Grok. Rankshift does not name Grok among the models on its pricing page.
- They want a lower first bill. Rankshift’s $92 a month is more than Cituna ($39), Otterly.ai ($29) and LLMrefs ($79) charge for a first paid plan, and AthenaHQ starts with a free tier.
How we chose these nine
Each tool had to pass three tests, with Rankshift kept as the baseline rather than counted as an entry:
- It tracks AI answers for prompts you choose, recording whether engines mention or cite your brand and which rivals they name instead.
- It publishes how it charges. Each entry shows its pricing model (a flat prompt count, prompts plus a response cap, or credits) and a plan you can start without a demo, or a trial. Profound is included because it offers a free week before its contract.
- Every fact is the vendor’s own, and dated. Rankshift from its pricing page and help centre, October 8, 2026. Otterly.ai’s Lite plan and LLMrefs from their pricing pages on October 7, 2026, Peec AI’s sentiment reporting on October 5, and Peec AI’s plans, Promptwatch, Scrunch AI, AthenaHQ, Gauge and Profound from each vendor’s pricing page, October 1, 2026. A dash means the vendor does not say.
Cituna comes first because it is ours. The other eight follow in order of their lowest paid monthly plan, with Profound last because it publishes no price after its trial. The numbers help you find an entry; they are not a ranking.
Rankshift alternatives at a glance
| # | Tool | Best for | How it charges | AI engines (entry plan) | Grok | Entry price | How you start |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cituna | Seven engines daily, with the fixes written | Flat: 10 prompts, every engine, daily | 7, daily | Yes, every plan | $39/mo (10 prompts) | 3-day trial, card required |
| 2 | Otterly.ai | Microsoft Copilot on a small prompt set | Flat prompts, paid engine add-ons | 4, plus 3 paid add-ons | No | Otterly.ai $29/mo (15 prompts) | Free trial |
| 3 | LLMrefs | Eleven engines on one flat fee | Flat: 500 prompts, weekly refresh | 11, weekly refresh | Yes | LLMrefs $79/mo (500 prompts) | 7-day trial |
| 4 | Peec AI | Sentiment and competitor dashboards | Flat prompts on 3 models you choose | 3 you choose | Peec AI Enterprise only | Peec AI $95/mo, $80 billed annually (50 prompts) | Buy online |
| 5 | Promptwatch | MCP and API on the first plan | 50 prompts, 6,000 responses | 4 you choose from 8 | As one of your four picks | Promptwatch $95/mo (50 prompts) | 7-day trial |
| 6 | Scrunch AI | An enterprise platform with a self-serve first plan | 125 prompts, 5,000 responses | 4 on Core | Scrunch AI Enterprise only | Scrunch AI $250/mo (125 prompts) | 7-day trial |
| 7 | AthenaHQ | A free tier, then a credit plan on eleven models | Credits, one per response | 5 free, 11 paid | On AthenaHQ Starter | $0, then AthenaHQ $295/mo | Free tier |
| 8 | Gauge | 600 prompts a day with 18 articles | Flat: 600 prompts a day | 6 | Gauge Enterprise, or your own xAI key | Gauge $599/mo | One-week trial |
| 9 | Profound | A free week, then an enterprise contract | Contract | 3 on the trial | Not on Profound’s list | Not published after the trial | 7-day trial, then sales |
| Rankshift (baseline) | Choosing your own mix of prompts, models and refresh | Credits, 2 to 5 per run; plan credits expire monthly | 9 listed | Not named | Rankshift $92/mo ($82 billed annually) | 30-day trial |
Monthly billing unless stated. Rankshift from rankshift.ai/pricing and Rankshift’s help article “Manage your credits”, October 8, 2026. Cituna from cituna.com/pricing. Otterly.ai’s Lite plan and trial and LLMrefs from their pricing pages, October 7, 2026. Otterly.ai’s add-ons, Peec AI, Promptwatch, Scrunch AI, AthenaHQ, Gauge and Profound from each vendor’s pricing page, October 1, 2026. Cituna does not track Microsoft Copilot, Mistral or Meta AI. Pricing in this category changes often; check before you buy.
Cituna vs Rankshift: the side-by-side
Here is how Cituna and Rankshift compare, with LLMrefs, the entry here that names the most engines on one flat fee, for context. Read the first two rows first: they decide what you pay and what that buys.
| What you get | CitunaThat’s us | Rankshift | LLMrefs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Published entry price | $39 / mo | $92 / mo ($82 annually) | $79 / mo |
| How the entry plan is sized | 10 prompts, every engine, daily | 9,500 credits, up to 150 prompts a day | 500 prompts |
| Unused capacity | Nothing to ration: tracking just runs | Plan credits expire monthly | — |
| Refresh | Daily | Daily or weekly | Weekly |
| Claude tracked | |||
| Grok tracked | Not named | ||
| Google AI Mode tracked | |||
| Microsoft Copilot | |||
| Mistral | — | ||
| API on the entry plan | |||
| Fixes or articles written for you | Fixes, plus 30 articles / mo | Content briefs and an AI content writer | — |
| Trial | 3 days, card required | 30 days | 7 days |
Rankshift from rankshift.ai/pricing and its help centre, October 8, 2026; its pricing page lists nine models and does not name Grok. LLMrefs from llmrefs.com/pricing, October 7, 2026. Cituna from cituna.com/pricing. A dash means the vendor’s page does not say.
The 9 best Rankshift alternatives in detail
1. Cituna (best for seven engines daily, with the fixes written)
Cituna asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode your buyers’ questions every day, on every plan, and records whether each answer names you, where you sit among the brands it lists, which of your pages it cites and which rivals it recommends. Where a rival wins, Cituna writes the fix: structured data, FAQ markup, an llms.txt entry or an edit to the page. AutoSEO writes 30 articles a month on Starter for questions your site has no page for, held as drafts by default, and the built-in Search Console connection lets you check each change against real clicks. There is no credit meter: 10 prompts on seven engines every day is 2,100 answers a month on Starter, measured whether or not you log in. API keys work on every paid plan; MCP read access comes with Starter and MCP write access with Pro.
- Best for: a brand, startup or agency that wants every major engine covered daily, Grok included, at a price that does not move with usage.
- What it costs: Starter $39 a month (one brand, 10 prompts), Pro $119 (three brands, 30 prompts, five seats), Max $399 (ten brands, 90 prompts, 15 seats). Every tier is on the pricing page.
- Where it falls short against Rankshift: Rankshift’s Starter allows far more prompts if you are willing to trade engines or refresh frequency for them, Rankshift tracks Microsoft Copilot, Mistral and Meta AI, which Cituna does not, and Rankshift gives unlimited seats on every plan.
2. Otterly.ai (best for Microsoft Copilot on a small prompt set)
Otterly.ai’s Lite plan is $29 a month for 15 prompts tracked daily on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, with unlimited team members (otterly.ai/pricing, October 7, 2026). On October 1, 2026, Otterly.ai priced Gemini and Google AI Mode as $9-a-month add-ons on Lite and Claude at $29; Otterly.ai does not offer Grok. Otterly.ai’s API and MCP access start on its $189 Standard plan.
- Best for: a solo marketer whose buyers use Copilot and who needs a handful of prompts watched.
- What it costs: Otterly.ai is $29, $189 or $489 a month (October 1, 2026).
- Where it falls short: each extra engine is a separate Otterly.ai charge, so a broad set costs more than the sticker, and no fixes are written for you.
3. LLMrefs (best for eleven engines on one flat fee)
LLMrefs sells one flat plan. On October 7, 2026, the LLMrefs All in One plan was $79 a month, marked “limited time only”, for 500 prompts across eleven engines including Claude, Grok, Microsoft Copilot, Meta AI and DeepSeek, with unlimited team members and projects, CSV export, API access, geo-targeting in more than 50 countries and a 7-day free trial (llmrefs.com/pricing).
- Best for: a team that liked Rankshift’s breadth but wants one flat number instead of a credit pool.
- What it costs: LLMrefs is $79 a month.
- Where it falls short: LLMrefs refreshes weekly rather than daily, and reports positions without writing fixes. See LLMrefs alternatives.
4. Peec AI (best for sentiment and competitor dashboards)
Peec AI tracks visibility, position, sentiment and share of voice daily against named competitors (peec.ai/pricing, read October 5, 2026). Peec AI’s Starter is $95 a month, or $80 billed annually, for 50 prompts on three models you choose from ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI, with unlimited users. Peec AI’s Pro ($245) and Advanced ($495) lift prompts to 150 and 350, and Claude and Grok are on Peec AI’s Enterprise plan (October 1, 2026).
- Best for: a brand team that reports tone and competitor benchmarks to leadership.
- What it costs: Peec AI is $95, $245 or $495 a month; Enterprise is custom.
- Where it falls short: three models per self-serve plan, with Claude and Grok held for Enterprise.
5. Promptwatch (best for MCP and API on the first plan)
Promptwatch’s Essential plan is $95 a month for 50 prompts and 6,000 responses on four models you pick from OpenAI, Perplexity, Google, Claude, Gemini, Meta, DeepSeek and Grok, tracked daily, with MCP and API access and a 7-day free trial. Promptwatch’s Professional plan, at $245, moves to 150 prompts and adds AI crawler logs and five articles a month (promptwatch.com/pricing, October 1, 2026).
- Best for: a technical team that, like Rankshift’s buyers, wants MCP and API access from the first plan, with a response cap it can read at a glance.
- What it costs: Promptwatch is $95, $245 or $579 a month; the $579 Business plan is sold by demo.
- Where it falls short: four models at a time on Essential, and Promptwatch’s crawler logs wait for Professional, where Rankshift includes crawler analytics from Starter.
6. Scrunch AI (best for an enterprise platform with a self-serve first plan)
Scrunch AI’s Core plan costs $250 a month for 125 prompts and 5,000 responses on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Microsoft Copilot, with five site audits a month, one brand, five users, AI bot traffic reporting and a 7-day free trial. Scrunch AI keeps Claude, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Meta AI, Grok, the API and single sign-on on its custom Enterprise plan (scrunch.com/pricing, October 1, 2026).
- Best for: an enterprise team that wants to start small on a platform it can grow into.
- What it costs: Scrunch AI’s Core is $250 a month; Enterprise is custom.
- Where it falls short: most engines beyond the first four need the Enterprise contract, and Core carries no API.
7. AthenaHQ (best for a free tier, then a credit plan on eleven models)
AthenaHQ is the other credit-priced tool here, at one credit per AI response. AthenaHQ’s free Essential tier gives 300 credits on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. AthenaHQ’s Starter, at $295 a month, buys 3,600 credits across eleven named models, adding Google AI Mode, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral, and connects GA4 and Search Console (athenahq.ai/plans, October 1, 2026).
- Best for: a team comfortable with credits that wants Grok in the pool and a free look first.
- What it costs: AthenaHQ is free, then $295 a month, 17% less billed annually; Enterprise is custom.
- Where it falls short: as with Rankshift, every model draws on one pool, so wider coverage buys fewer checks per model, and the API is a paid add-on. See AthenaHQ alternatives.
8. Gauge (best for 600 prompts a day with 18 articles)
Gauge sells one self-serve plan, Growth, at $599 a month after a one-week free trial: 600 prompts a day across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, with 18 articles a month, five seats, GA4 and Search Console data, and MCP. Claude and Grok come on Gauge’s Enterprise plan, or on Growth with your own Anthropic or xAI API key, billed by that provider (withgauge.com/pricing, October 1, 2026).
- Best for: a team that chose Rankshift’s Business plan for volume and would rather have a fixed daily count.
- What it costs: Gauge is $599 a month; Enterprise is custom. See Gauge alternatives.
- Where it falls short: Gauge sells nothing below $599, and Claude and Grok cost extra in one form or another.
9. Profound (best for a free week, then an enterprise contract)
Profound’s free trial checks 50 prompts a day for seven days on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, from a prompt set Profound picks for your industry, with no history or exports. Ongoing Profound tracking is an Enterprise contract with no published price, covering ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Claude, Google AI Overviews and Exa Search (tryprofound.com/pricing, October 1, 2026).
- Best for: an enterprise brand that wants data on how often people ask a question and will sign a contract.
- What it costs: Profound publishes no price after the trial.
- Where it falls short: you cannot choose the trial prompts, Grok is not on Profound’s list, and the price is negotiated. See Profound alternatives.
Which Rankshift alternative fits you
Start from how you want to pay. If you like a credit pool because it lets you spend on one engine this month and five the next, AthenaHQ works the same way, and so does Rankscale (see Rankscale alternatives). If you would rather know the bill and the coverage in advance, the flat plans are Cituna, Otterly.ai, LLMrefs, Peec AI and Gauge, with Promptwatch and Scrunch AI adding a response cap.
Then decide on engines. If Grok matters, Rankshift does not name it. Among the flat plans, Cituna and LLMrefs include Grok from the first tier, and Promptwatch lets you pick it as one of four models on Essential. If Microsoft Copilot matters more than Grok, Rankshift, Otterly.ai, LLMrefs, Peec AI, Scrunch AI, AthenaHQ and Gauge list it, and so does Profound on Enterprise. For Mistral, Rankshift and AthenaHQ’s paid plan do.
One way to test: write 20 buyer questions, run them on two trials for three days, and compare the raw answers rather than the scores. Which brands were named, which pages were cited, and how much of the plan did the test use?
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.