Data study · October 2026 · US and Spain
Which AI visibility tools does AI recommend?
What ChatGPT and Google’s AI answer when a buyer asks which tool to use to track a brand in AI search, or what to use instead of Profound, Semrush or Peec AI. Measured on their real answers and refreshed twice a month.
329
AI answers analysed
120
questions asked
72
different tools named
2
markets: US and Spain
Key findings
- Profound is the tool AI names most: it appears in 70.4% of the answers to the category questions, ahead of Semrush (68.9%) and Peec AI (61.5%).
- Profound, Semrush, Peec AI, Otterly.AI and Ahrefs each appear in more than half of the answers. The next tool, SE Ranking, reaches 25.2%.
- In the category questions alone, AI named 54 different tools, 5.4 per answer on average.
- ChatGPT and Google disagree most on Scrunch AI: 49% of ChatGPT’s answers name it, against 7.1% of Google’s AI Mode and AI Overview answers.
- Ahrefs is named in 72.1% of the answers in Spain and 48.6% in the United States, the widest gap between the two markets.
- Asked in Spanish for alternatives to the tools in this market, the engines name Mencoro, our own product, in 9 of 73 answers.
The tools AI recommends for tracking AI visibility
Share of the 135 answers to the category questions (AI visibility, brand monitoring, ChatGPT, LLM, Claude and AI Overview trackers, AEO and GEO tools) that name each tool.
| # | Tool | All | US | Spain | ChatGPT | AI Mode | AI Overview |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Profound | 70.4% | 73% | 67.2% | 82.4% | 66.7% | 59% |
| 2 | Semrush | 68.9% | 68.9% | 68.9% | 68.6% | 73.3% | 64.1% |
| 3 | Peec AI | 61.5% | 64.9% | 57.4% | 78.4% | 51.1% | 51.3% |
| 4 | Otterly.AI | 60% | 59.5% | 60.7% | 76.5% | 48.9% | 51.3% |
| 5 | Ahrefs | 59.3% | 48.6% | 72.1% | 66.7% | 57.8% | 51.3% |
| 6 | SE Ranking | 25.2% | 32.4% | 16.4% | 9.8% | 40% | 28.2% |
| 7 | Scrunch AI | 23% | 23% | 23% | 49% | 8.9% | 5.1% |
| 8 | HubSpot AEO | 19.3% | 14.9% | 24.6% | 11.8% | 22.2% | 25.6% |
| 9 | AthenaHQ | 12.6% | 12.2% | 13.1% | 23.5% | 6.7% | 5.1% |
| 10 | Rankscale | 11.9% | 12.2% | 11.5% | 17.6% | 11.1% | 5.1% |
| 11 | Promptwatch | 9.6% | 12.2% | 6.6% | 15.7% | 8.9% | 2.6% |
| 12 | ZipTie | 8.9% | 6.8% | 11.5% | 3.9% | 20% | 2.6% |
| 13 | Google Search Console | 8.1% | 8.1% | 8.2% | 15.7% | 2.2% | 5.1% |
| 14 | LLM Pulse | 8.1% | 5.4% | 11.5% | 2% | 13.3% | 10.3% |
| 15 | Dageno AI | 7.4% | 0% | 16.4% | 0% | 8.9% | 15.4% |
By question
The three tools named most for each question, with the share of its answers that name them. Each question links to our page about it.
| Question | Market | Answers | Tools named most |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI visibility tools | US | 12 | Semrush 100% · Peec AI 91.7% · Profound 91.7% |
| AI visibility tools | Spain | 9 | Ahrefs 100% · Otterly.AI 88.9% · Semrush 77.8% |
| AI brand monitoring | US | 12 | Peec AI 66.7% · Profound 66.7% · Otterly.AI 58.3% |
| AI brand monitoring | Spain | 8 | Peec AI 62.5% · Profound 62.5% · Semrush 62.5% |
| ChatGPT rank trackers | US | 12 | Otterly.AI 83.3% · Profound 83.3% · SE Ranking 75% |
| ChatGPT rank trackers | Spain | 6 | Ahrefs 83.3% · Profound 83.3% · Otterly.AI 66.7% |
| LLM rank trackers | US | 5 | Peec AI 100% · Profound 100% · Ahrefs 80% |
| LLM rank trackers | Spain | 6 | Ahrefs 83.3% · Otterly.AI 83.3% · Peec AI 83.3% |
| AEO tools | US | 8 | HubSpot AEO 100% · Semrush 100% · Profound 75% |
| AEO tools | Spain | 9 | Profound 88.9% · Ahrefs 77.8% · Otterly.AI 77.8% |
| GEO tools | US | 8 | Profound 75% · Peec AI 62.5% · Semrush 62.5% |
| GEO tools | Spain | 8 | Profound 87.5% · Ahrefs 75% · Otterly.AI 62.5% |
| AI Overview trackers | US | 9 | Semrush 100% · Ahrefs 88.9% · Google Search Console 55.6% |
| AI Overview trackers | Spain | 8 | Ahrefs 87.5% · Semrush 87.5% · SE Ranking 75% |
| Claude rank trackers | US | 8 | Otterly.AI 62.5% · Peec AI 50% · Profound 50% |
| Claude rank trackers | Spain | 7 | Profound 57.1% · Otterly.AI 42.9% · Peec AI 42.9% |
| White label SEO tools | US | 8 | SE Ranking 62.5% · Semrush 62.5% · AgencyAnalytics 50% |
| White label SEO tools | Spain | 9 | SE Ranking 66.7% · AgencyAnalytics 55.6% · Semrush 44.4% |
| SEO MCP servers | US | 9 | DataForSEO 100% · Google Search Console 88.9% · Ahrefs 77.8% |
| SEO MCP servers | Spain | 8 | Google Search Console 100% · DataForSEO 87.5% · Ahrefs 75% |
| Peec AI vs Profound | US | 6 | Peec AI 100% · Profound 100% · Looker Studio 33.3% |
| Peec AI vs Profound | Spain | 6 | Peec AI 100% · Profound 100% · Semrush 33.3% |
Which alternatives AI names for each tool
Asked for alternatives to a tool, the engines name it in almost every answer, so it is left out of its own row.
| Alternatives to | Market | Answers | Alternatives named most |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profound | US | 8 | Ahrefs 87.5% · Peec AI 87.5% · Otterly.AI 75% |
| Profound | Spain | 9 | Otterly.AI 88.9% · Peec AI 88.9% · Ahrefs 55.6% |
| Peec AI | US | 9 | Otterly.AI 100% · Profound 100% · Ahrefs 77.8% |
| Peec AI | Spain | 8 | Otterly.AI 100% · Profound 100% · Scrunch AI 87.5% |
| Otterly.AI | US | 8 | Peec AI 100% · Profound 87.5% · Scrunch AI 75% |
| Otterly.AI | Spain | 9 | Peec AI 77.8% · Profound 77.8% · Scrunch AI 44.4% |
| AthenaHQ | US | 7 | Peec AI 100% · Profound 100% · Otterly.AI 85.7% |
| AthenaHQ | Spain | 7 | Otterly.AI 85.7% · Peec AI 85.7% · Profound 85.7% |
| Scrunch AI | US | 9 | Profound 100% · Semrush 100% · Otterly.AI 88.9% |
| Scrunch AI | Spain | 9 | Peec AI 100% · Profound 88.9% · AthenaHQ 77.8% |
| Semrush | US | 8 | Peec AI 100% · Ahrefs 87.5% · Profound 87.5% |
| Semrush | Spain | 5 | Peec AI 80% · Profound 80% · Otterly.AI 60% |
| Ahrefs | US | 5 | Otterly.AI 100% · Peec AI 100% · Profound 100% |
| Ahrefs | Spain | 5 | Otterly.AI 80% · Peec AI 80% · Profound 80% |
| SE Ranking | US | 7 | Peec AI 100% · Ahrefs 85.7% · Otterly.AI 71.4% |
| SE Ranking | Spain | 7 | Semrush 100% · Peec AI 71.4% · Profound 71.4% |
| Sistrix | US | 6 | Ahrefs 66.7% · Otterly.AI 66.7% · Profound 66.7% |
| Sistrix | Spain | 7 | Ahrefs 85.7% · Semrush 85.7% · Profound 71.4% |
| Amplitude | US | 8 | Ahrefs 75% · Semrush 75% · Otterly.AI 62.5% |
| Amplitude | Spain | 7 | Semrush 71.4% · Ahrefs 57.1% · Peec AI 57.1% |
Methodology
- Questions: three hand-written versions of each buyer question, in English (asked in the United States) and Spanish (asked in Spain): 120 questions. Three of the English ones are tracked by Mencoro every week, and the study reads their last four weeks; the rest are asked through DataForSEO on the 2nd and the 16th of each month.
- Engines: ChatGPT with web search, Google AI Mode and the AI Overview at the top of Google’s results. Google shows no AI Overview for some questions, so that engine has fewer answers.
- Period: answers collected between September 9, 2026 and October 6, 2026.
- Mentions: an answer names a tool when its text does, from a reviewed list of 86 tools and their spellings. Links that only cite a source and the source labels Google adds at the end of a paragraph are not mentions.
- Mencoro: Mencoro is one of the tools in this market. Its row is measured exactly like the others and shown as it comes.
- Limits: AI answers change from one run to the next, and each question gets a handful of answers per run. Read the shares as a snapshot of who the engines name today, not as market share.
How to cite this study
Mencoro, “Which AI visibility tools does AI recommend?”, October 2026, https://mencoro.com/data-studies/tools-ai-recommends/. You are welcome to use the figures with a link to this page.
FAQ
About this study
What was measured
and how to use it.
Profound: 70.4% of the answers name it, followed by Semrush and Peec AI. The ranking changes by engine and by market, so check the table for the one you care about.
No. Our /best/ and /alternatives/ pages are our own reviews, where Mencoro comes first. This study is what the engines answer, measured, whoever comes out on top.
Twice a month, on the 2nd and the 16th. Every figure on this page and every table on the /best/ and /alternatives/ pages is rewritten from the new answers.
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