The best Profound alternatives are Depra for brands selling in India, Otterly and Peec AI for more engines on a small US dollar budget, AthenaHQ for the most models on a self-serve plan, Scrunch for site audits next to monitoring, and the Semrush, SE Ranking and Ahrefs AI tools for teams already on those SEO suites. The usual reason to switch is cost per engine: Profound's $99 Starter plan tracks ChatGPT only, and tracking 3 engines starts at $399 a month, both billed yearly.
Profound tracks how often AI answers name your brand when people ask buying questions. Each question you track is called a prompt. Google AI Overviews are the AI summaries Google shows above normal search results. Hinglish is Hindi-English typed in English letters, the way most Indians ask. All eight tools below do that core job. They differ on which AI engines they cover, which country the questions are asked from, which languages they support and what they cost. Depra publishes this page and sits on the list, so every competitor price links to the vendor page we read on 15 Sep 2026, and the Depra section lists what Depra does not track.
| Tool | Engines on entry plan | Entry price as published | Engines on top self-serve plan | India location | Hinglish | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profound (baseline) | ChatGPT only | $99/mo Starter, billed yearly | 3 on Growth ($399/mo); up to 9 on Enterprise | 1 region on Starter and Growth; India not named | Not published | "Try for free" on Growth, terms not stated |
| Depra | 4: ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews daily; Perplexity weekly | ₹1,999/mo Starter, excl. GST | 4 on every plan | Yes, asked from inside India | Yes, every plan | 7 days, no card |
| Peec AI | Choose 3 of 6 | $95/mo Starter | Choose 3 of 6; extra models are paid add-ons | 1 country on Starter; India not named | Not published | Free trial, length not stated |
| Otterly | 4: ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot | $29/mo Lite | 4, plus Gemini, AI Mode and Claude as paid add-ons | Yes, in its country list | Not published | Free trial, length not stated |
| Scrunch | 4: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Copilot | $250/mo Core | 4 on Core; 9 on Enterprise | 1 country on Core; India not named | Not published | 7 days |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | 3 for your prompts: ChatGPT Search, AI Mode, Gemini | $99/mo per domain, billed yearly | Same toolkit; more prompts in Semrush One | Yes, India listed | Not published | Pricing page: 7 days free; help page: no toolkit trial |
| SE Ranking | AI Search add-on lists AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, ChatGPT | $129/mo Core + $89/mo AI Search | Same 4 on the add-on | Not published | Not published | 14 days, no card |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | 6: AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot | $199/mo AI Visibility Index | Same 6; Claude available | Not published | Not published | No trial listed |
| AthenaHQ | 5 on the free plan; 11 on Starter | $295/mo Starter | 11 on Starter | Single region on Starter; India not named | Not published | Free plan with 300 credits |
What does Profound's entry plan track?
Profound's Starter plan tracks one AI engine, ChatGPT. It includes 50 prompts, 1,500 responses a month checked daily, 1 language, 1 region and 1 seat, for $99 a month billed yearly (Profound pricing, checked 15 Sep 2026).
Growth adds Perplexity and Google AI Overviews for $399 a month billed yearly. It includes 100 prompts, 9,000 responses a month, 1 language, 1 region and 3 seats. Enterprise is priced on request and tracks up to 9 engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek and Claude. Gemini, AI Mode, Copilot and Claude therefore need an Enterprise contract.
Profound's Answer Engine Insights page says it supports 30+ languages and 150+ regions. The two self-serve plans include 1 language and 1 region each. Neither page names India, Hindi or Hinglish.
Profound also sells things most tools on this page do not list: Agents for content work (100 credits a month on Starter, 400 on Growth), Agent Analytics for AI-sourced traffic across your domains, and Prompt Volumes, its data on what people ask AI. If those matter more to you than engine count, compare Profound Growth or Enterprise directly. For a two-tool view, read Depra vs Profound.
| Plan | Engines | Prompts | Languages, regions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | ChatGPT | 50 | 1, 1 |
| Growth | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews | 100 | 1, 1 |
| Enterprise | Up to 9 | Tailored | Custom |
Which Profound alternative fits your situation?
Start from where your buyers are and what you already pay for. The short version:
- Buyers in India, rupee budget: Depra, ₹1,999 a month plus GST for all 4 engines in English and Hinglish.
- Lowest US dollar price: Otterly Lite, $29 a month for 4 engines and 15 prompts.
- 3 engines for Profound Starter's price: Peec AI Starter, $95 a month for 50 prompts.
- Most models on a self-serve plan: AthenaHQ Starter, 11 models for $295 a month.
- Site audits next to monitoring: Scrunch Core, $250 a month with 5 site audits a month.
- Already on an SEO suite: the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit ($99), the SE Ranking AI Search add-on ($89) or Ahrefs Brand Radar ($199).
1. Depra: four engines for brands selling in India
Depra asks the questions your buyers type to four AI engines from inside the country you pick, then stores every full answer. For each answer it records whether you were named, in what position, in what tone, and which websites were cited. It captures the answers real people see in ChatGPT (with web search on) and Gemini, plus the Google AI Overview for the same query. Those three run daily. Perplexity (its Sonar model with live web search) runs weekly on every plan.
Against Profound, the entry plan is the difference: Depra Starter includes all four engines, where Profound Starter includes one. Depra Starter is ₹1,999 a month for 20 prompts, 1 project and 3 competitors. Growth is ₹7,499 (100 prompts, 3 projects, 10 competitors), Scale ₹12,499 (180 prompts shared across 25 projects) and Enterprise ₹25,000, invoiced. Prices exclude 18% GST and come with a GST invoice. Every plan starts with 7 days free and no card, and your first scan starts at signup. See Depra pricing.
For India, Depra suggests 5 topics with 8 buying questions each, none containing your brand name, and writes Hinglish versions of them, such as 'sabse accha protein powder kaunsa hai'. Your report shows English and Hinglish visibility side by side. A gap view lists the websites that recommend your competitors but never mention you. Depra covers 40 markets, up to 10 per project, at country level.
What Depra does not track: Google AI Mode, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Hindi in Devanagari script. It has no alerts, team seats, public API, prompt search volumes or AI referral traffic data. More on Hinglish AI visibility tracking.
- Pick it if your buyers are in India, you want Hinglish answers measured next to English ones, and you budget in rupees with a GST invoice.
- Skip it if you need Google AI Mode, Claude or Copilot, several team logins, Perplexity checked daily, or data on how many people ask each question.
Language changes AI answers. In 480 answers asked from inside India, Gemini cited sources in 90.0% of English answers and in 41.3% of Hinglish answers. (Depra Hinglish vs English study, fieldwork 14 Aug 2026)
2. Peec AI: three engines of your choice at a similar price
Peec AI reports visibility, position, sentiment and share of voice in AI answers for marketing teams and agencies. Share of voice is your share of all brand mentions in the answers you track. Every self-serve plan lets you choose 3 of 6 models: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. More models are a paid add-on.
Price: Starter $95 a month for 50 prompts, 1 project and 1 country. Pro is $245 for 150 prompts and Advanced $495 for 350 prompts with multi-country tracking. All three list unlimited users and daily tracking, and annual billing takes 15% off (Peec AI pricing, checked 15 Sep 2026, monthly billing).
Against Profound: for $4 less than Profound Starter, Peec AI Starter tracks 3 engines instead of 1 on the same 50 prompts. Read Depra vs Peec AI or the full list of Peec AI alternatives.
- Pick it if you want Gemini or AI Mode on a small plan, unlimited users, and a choice of which 3 engines to watch.
- Skip it if you need more than 3 engines without add-ons, more than 1 country on Starter, or Hinglish, which the pricing page does not mention.
3. Otterly: the cheapest plan priced in US dollars
Otterly monitors brand mentions and cited links in AI search. Lite includes ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, with daily tracking and unlimited team members. Claude, Google AI Mode and Gemini are paid add-ons. Otterly's country list names 65+ countries, and India is on it with all seven engines available.
Price: Lite $29 a month for 15 prompts, Standard $189 for 100 prompts, Premium $489 for 400 prompts, and Enterprise from $1,000. Annual billing takes 15% off, and the pricing page offers a free trial for new users (Otterly pricing, checked 15 Sep 2026).
Against Profound: Lite costs $70 less than Profound Starter and tracks 4 engines instead of 1, with 15 prompts instead of 50. Full comparison: Depra vs Otterly.
- Pick it if you want the lowest US dollar price on this page, Copilot tracked, or India as a location on a small plan.
- Skip it if 15 prompts is too few for your categories, or you need Hinglish, which the pricing page does not mention.
4. Scrunch: monitoring plus site audits
Scrunch pairs AI monitoring with site audits and a view of AI bot traffic. Core lists 4 models: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Copilot. Enterprise lists 9, adding Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Google AI Mode and Grok.
Price: Core is $250 a month for 125 prompts, 1 brand workspace, 5 user licences, 5 competitors and 5 site audits a month, in 1 country and 1 language. Core has a 7-day free trial. Enterprise is priced on request (Scrunch pricing, checked 15 Sep 2026).
Against Profound: Core costs $149 less than Profound Growth, tracks 4 engines to Growth's 3, and includes 125 prompts to Growth's 100. Full comparison: Depra vs Scrunch.
- Pick it if you want Copilot tracked, 5 seats, and site audits in the same tool as your AI visibility numbers.
- Skip it if you need Gemini or Claude without an Enterprise contract, more than 1 country, or Hinglish, which the pricing page does not list.
5. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: for teams already on Semrush
Semrush sells the AI Visibility Toolkit on its own or inside Semrush One plans. The pricing page says it reports mentions from ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity. Its Prompt Tracking guide says your own prompts are checked in ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode and Gemini. The toolkit help page says custom prompts can be tracked across 220+ countries and territories, and its region list for visibility reports includes India. Prompt Research shows topic-level volume, difficulty and intent.
Price: $99 a month per domain, shown as billed annually, with 25 custom prompts tracked daily. 50 more prompts cost $60 a month (Semrush AI pricing, checked 15 Sep 2026). The trial is unclear: the pricing page offers 7 days of Semrush free, and the toolkit help page says the toolkit has no free trial. Semrush One Starter bundles SEO and AI tools with 50 prompts for $199 a month, or $165.17 a month billed annually.
Against Profound: the same $99 entry price, with fewer prompts (25 vs 50) and 3 engines for your own questions instead of 1: ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode and Gemini.
- Pick it if you already pay for Semrush and want AI answers next to keyword rankings, plus data on which AI topics people search.
- Skip it if you need your own questions tracked on Perplexity, or need Hinglish, which the toolkit pages do not mention.
6. SE Ranking: AI answers inside an SEO platform
SE Ranking is an SEO platform with an AI Search add-on. The add-on lists Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity and ChatGPT for tracking and competitor research, starting at 200 prompts.
Price: Core is $129 a month on monthly billing ($103.20 billed annually) with 100 prompts tracked daily. Growth is $279 with 250 prompts. The AI Search add-on costs $89 a month, or $71.20 billed annually. The 14-day free trial needs no credit card and includes 20 AI prompts a day (SE Ranking pricing, checked 15 Sep 2026). The pricing page does not say which engines Core's own prompts run on without the add-on.
Against Profound: Core plus the add-on is $218 a month, $119 more than Profound Starter, for 4 listed engines and a full SEO suite.
- Pick it if you want rank tracking, site audits and AI answers on one bill, and a 14-day trial with no card.
- Skip it if you only need AI visibility, or you need Copilot, which the pricing page does not list.
7. Ahrefs Brand Radar: research any brand without writing prompts
Brand Radar measures how often AI answers mention or cite a brand across 457M+ prompts that Ahrefs runs through Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot. You can look up any brand with no setup, then add custom prompts for questions the database does not cover. Claude is available as an extra.
Price: the AI Visibility Index is $199 a month and lists 83 prompts a day and 2,500 checks a month. One check is one prompt on one platform in one location. Custom prompts are included in Ahrefs paid plans, 5 on the $129 Lite plan, and custom prompt packages start at $50 a month (Brand Radar and Ahrefs pricing, checked 15 Sep 2026). The pricing FAQ says Ahrefs does not run discounts and points site owners to the Ahrefs Free account.
Against Profound: $100 more than Profound Starter, for 6 platforms and a ready-made prompt database.
- Pick it if your team works in Ahrefs, or you want to see which brands AI names in a category before you write any prompts.
- Skip it if you need a published country list that includes India, a free trial, or Hinglish. The pages we checked show none of the three.
8. AthenaHQ: the most models on a self-serve plan
AthenaHQ combines AI visibility tracking with on-page and off-page actions and a content optimisation agent. Its free Essential plan includes $25 of credit (300 credits) across ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot. Starter lists 11 models: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral.
Price: Starter is $295 a month on monthly billing, with 3,600 credits a month, where 1 credit is 1 AI response. Annual billing takes 17% off. Starter covers a single region and language; multiple regions need Enterprise. API access and extra credits are paid add-ons (AthenaHQ plans, checked 15 Sep 2026).
Credits are shared across models, so running every prompt on all 11 models spends 11 credits a run. At that rate 3,600 credits cover about 10 prompts a day for 30 days (10 × 11 × 30 = 3,300 credits).
- Pick it if you want Claude, Grok, DeepSeek or Meta AI without an enterprise contract, or a free plan to test with.
- Skip it if you track many prompts daily across all models, need more than one region, or need Hinglish, which the plans page does not mention.
Cost per engine: what you pay to track each AI engine
Divide each plan's published monthly price by the number of AI engines it tracks. Profound Growth works out at $133 per engine and Profound Starter at $99, the two highest on this page. Otterly Lite is $7.25 per engine. Depra Starter is ₹1,999 ÷ 4 = ₹499.75 per engine before GST, about $5.23 at ₹95.56 to the dollar.
Engines are only half the bill, because a cheap plan with few prompts covers fewer questions. Dividing again by prompts gives the monthly price of one question tracked on one engine: Profound Starter $99 ÷ (50 × 1) = $1.98, Otterly Lite $29 ÷ (15 × 4) = $0.48, and Depra Starter ₹1,999 ÷ (20 × 4) = ₹24.99, about $0.26. Depra runs Perplexity weekly, so its Perplexity figure buys fewer answers than its daily engines.
| Plan | Monthly price | Engines | Price per engine | Prompts included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profound Starter | $99, billed yearly | 1 | $99 ÷ 1 = $99.00 | 50 |
| Profound Growth | $399, billed yearly | 3 | $399 ÷ 3 = $133.00 | 100 |
| Depra Starter | ₹1,999 excl. GST (about $20.92) | 4 | ₹1,999 ÷ 4 = ₹499.75 (about $5.23) | 20 |
| Peec AI Starter | $95 | 3 | $95 ÷ 3 = $31.67 | 50 |
| Otterly Lite | $29 | 4 | $29 ÷ 4 = $7.25 | 15 |
| Scrunch Core | $250 | 4 | $250 ÷ 4 = $62.50 | 125 |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | $99, billed yearly | 3 for custom prompts | $99 ÷ 3 = $33.00 | 25 |
| SE Ranking Core + AI Search | $129 + $89 = $218 | 4 listed on the add-on | $218 ÷ 4 = $54.50 | 100 in Core, 200 in add-on |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar AI Visibility Index | $199 | 6 | $199 ÷ 6 = $33.17 | 2,500 checks a month |
| AthenaHQ Starter | $295 | 11 | $295 ÷ 11 = $26.82 | 3,600 responses a month, shared |
How we compared them
We read each vendor's public pricing page, product page or help page on 15 Sep 2026, loaded in a browser so script-rendered prices showed, and linked the page next to each price. Prices are in the currency the vendor publishes, before tax, on monthly billing where the page offers it. Profound and Semrush show yearly billing, so their figures are yearly prices expressed per month. Where a vendor's own pages disagree, as with Semrush's trial, we say so. Where a page did not state a fact, the table says "Not published".
We did not test the competitor tools hands-on, so this page compares published plans and coverage and says nothing about answer quality. Engine counts are what each vendor lists, and vendors capture answers in different ways. Tools are ordered by fit for brands selling in India, which puts Depra first. For a shortlist that does not start from Profound, see the best AI visibility tools, or browse all Depra comparisons.