Otterly and Depra both answer the same question: when someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews about your category, does your brand show up? The difference is how you get there. Otterly is transparent-priced self-serve software from $29 a month, with a strong library of free tools and studies (Otterly, verified July 2026). Depra is service-led: a free human-delivered audit, SKU-level tracking for D2C catalogues, and done-with-you execution.
Pick Otterly if you want cheap monitoring you run yourself and you have the team to act on it. Pick Depra if you want a done-with-you service focused on product-level visibility, with the first audit delivered by humans before you pay anything. This page lays out both honestly so you can choose on fit, not on marketing.
| Dimension | Depra | Otterly |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Consumer and D2C brands wanting product-level AI visibility with hands-on help | Marketing teams and SMBs wanting affordable self-serve AI search monitoring |
| Model | Platform plus expert team. Free audit in, ranked plan, monthly re-runs, self-serve dashboard once onboarded | Self-serve SaaS subscription you operate yourself |
| Engines | 7 engines: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, DeepSeek | Up to 7 (ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, Claude); core plans cover four, Gemini and AI Mode are paid add-ons |
| Product / SKU tracking | Yes, SKU-level tracking built for D2C catalogues | Brand and topic-level visibility, not SKU-level catalogue tracking |
| How prompts are chosen | Prompt mining from real buyer chatter on Reddit, X, Quora and marketplace reviews | You configure your own tracked prompts, plus keyword and query fan-out tools |
| Delivery | Self-serve dashboard after onboarding, plus email, WhatsApp, live Looker and CSV | In-app dashboard, with API and MCP on higher tiers |
| Pricing | Priced by scope, not public yet. Free audit to start | Public and transparent: Lite $29/mo, Standard $189/mo, Premium $489/mo, plus add-ons (Otterly, July 2026) |
| Entry point | Free audit across all 7 engines, report in 5 days, no card | 7-day free trial, no credit card required |
What does Otterly do well?
Otterly is a genuinely strong self-serve product for AI search monitoring. It is transparent-priced from $29 a month, which is rare in this category, and it backs that with 30,000+ marketing users, a Gartner Cool Vendor in AI in Marketing award (2025) and a 4.8 G2 rating (Otterly, verified July 2026). For teams who want to buy today and start tracking without a sales call, that accessibility is a real advantage.
- Transparent pricing Published tiers from Lite at $29/mo to Premium at $489/mo, so you can budget without a sales conversation.
- Broad engine coverage Tracks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini and Claude, though core plans cover four with Gemini and AI Mode as add-ons.
- Free tools and studies AI keyword research, a query fan-out tool, a GEO content checker and an AI crawler simulator, plus published GEO experiments that model good content practice.
- Self-serve and proven 30,000+ users, Gartner Cool Vendor 2025 and G2 4.8 mean it is a mature, well-reviewed platform you can trust to run yourself.
Structured, well-cited pages earn up to 40% more AI citations, which is exactly the kind of content optimisation Otterly's free tools help teams check.(Princeton GEO study, KDD 2024)
Where is Depra different from Otterly?
Depra pairs the platform with the team, where Otterly gives you software to run yourself. Depra starts with a free audit its experts deliver, then a ranked action plan they can execute with you month over month, and once onboarded your team gets self-serve dashboard access as well. It is also built for consumer and D2C brands specifically, with SKU-level product tracking and a prompt set mined from real buyer conversations rather than prompts you write yourself.
- A free, human-delivered audit Depra runs your category buying prompts across all 7 engines and delivers a report in 5 days with no card, so you see value before any commitment.
- SKU-level tracking for D2C Depra tracks how engines recommend individual products in your catalogue, not only brand-level mentions, which matters for retail and D2C.
- Prompt mining from real buyers The prompt set comes from actual chatter on Reddit, X, Quora and marketplace reviews, so you track questions buyers really ask.
- Done-with-you execution Depra can ship the plan with your team or for you, delivered over email and WhatsApp alongside a live Looker dashboard and CSV.
- Self-serve once onboarded Onboarded brands get self-serve dashboard access to visibility, competitors and sources any time, so choosing the service does not mean giving up the software.
Which should you choose, Depra or Otterly?
Choose Otterly if monitoring alone is what you need and your marketing team has the hours to interpret the data and do every fix itself. Its transparent pricing and free resources make it an easy product to adopt for that job.
Choose Depra if you want the visibility problem solved end to end. The audit is free and expert-delivered, the plan is ranked and shipped with you, SKU-level tracking covers the product answers that decide purchases, and your team gets self-serve dashboard access once onboarded. Otterly measures. Depra measures and moves the number.
- Pick Otterly if you want low-cost self-serve monitoring, and your team will handle all the interpretation and execution itself.
- Pick Depra if you want SKU-level tracking, a free expert audit to start, execution handled with you, and self-serve dashboard access once onboarded.