Best AEO Tools in 2026: 11 Answer Engine Optimization Tools

Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the work of making your content and brand easy for AI answer engines to find, understand and cite: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode. GEO and LLM optimization describe close to the same job.

The tools sold for it do four different things:

• Measure: graders and trackers show whether AI answers name or cite you (HubSpot, Peec, Profound, SEOButler).
• Improve content: optimizers and writers score pages and draft fixes (Frase, Surfer, Writesonic, AirOps).
• Cover the questions: research tools show what people ask next (AlsoAsked).
• Add structure: schema platforms mark up entities (Schema App).

One caution before you spend on structure. Google’s documentation says you don’t need new machine-readable files, AI text files or markup to appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode, and that no special schema.org markup is required. Treat structure tools as housekeeping, not a shortcut. For pure tracking, see the best AI visibility tools. For crawlers, llms.txt and schema, see the best LLM SEO tools.

The tools

1. Pace Generative: best if you want AEO done for you

Pace Generative is a done-for-you generative engine optimization (GEO) service, which covers the same ground as AEO but is delivered by a team rather than software. It tracks your visibility across the major AI engines, then does the work to change it: content written to be cited in AI answers, plus schema markup. Reporting covers citations, share of voice and competitor comparisons.

It’s sold as monthly packages, with pricing on request. It suits businesses that want the content and structure handled rather than a dashboard to interpret.

See Pace Generative’s GEO services →

Disclaimer: we own Pace Generative (which is how we know they’re good).

2. SEOButler AI Visibility Check: best free first measurement

Before paying for optimization, check whether AI answers already name you. SEOButler’s free check takes a brand name, a website and an optional topic, then searches a large index of recorded ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews answers (US, English). It shows where your brand is named, which answers cite your site and which other brands and sources appear for the topic, and you can open the answers behind each number.

No email is needed. Verifying one gives a shareable, unbranded report and three brand checks a month.

What it isn’t: a live tracker. It searches previously recorded answers, so a zero means no matching records, not that AI never mentions you.

Run the free SEOButler AI Visibility Check →

Disclaimer: we own SEOButler (which is how we know it’s good).

3. HubSpot AEO: best free grader and low-cost tracker

HubSpot’s AEO Grader (titled AI Search Grader on its page) is a free, one-time check of how ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini describe your brand, scored out of 100 on sentiment, presence, recognition, share of voice and market position. No account is needed, though you fill in a short form for the full results. HubSpot says it reflects the models’ training data and is a snapshot, not tracking.

For ongoing tracking, HubSpot AEO (marked beta) is $50/month, or $45 paid yearly, for 25 prompts on the same three engines, with citation analysis and prioritized recommendations. No other HubSpot subscription is needed.

Limit: three engines, so no Google AI Overviews or AI Mode.

4. Frase: best for scoring and writing in one tool

Frase scores each page for SEO and GEO, tracks AI visibility and drafts content with an agent. Its free GEO Score checker gives a page a 0 to 100 read on how ready it is to be cited by AI engines.

• Starter: $39/mo billed yearly ($49 monthly). 1 site, 10 articles, AI visibility on ChatGPT and Google AI.
• Professional: $103/mo yearly ($129). 5 sites, 40 articles, adds Perplexity and AI crawler monitoring.
• Scale: $239/mo yearly ($299). Adds Claude and Gemini.

There’s a free 7-day trial with no card. Limit: engine coverage steps up with price.

5. Surfer: best for editor-based optimization with AI tracking beside it

Surfer says its Content Editor optimizes pages for traditional search and AI answers in one workflow, and its tracker flags pages where competitors appear in AI answers and you don’t. Prices below are billed yearly.

• Discovery: $49/mo. Content tools only, no AI prompt tracking.
• Standard: $99/mo. 25 prompts a week, ChatGPT only.
• AI Search Analytics: $82/mo. Tracking only: 50 daily prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Mode, AI Overview and Gemini.
• Pro: $182/mo. Content tools plus that daily tracking.

Limit: the cheapest content plans don’t track Google’s AI features.

6. Writesonic: best for tracking plus AI article production

Writesonic now leads with AI-search visibility and bundles AI articles and site audits. Starter is $79/month billed annually ($99 monthly): 50 prompts tracked daily across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, 15 AI articles and 10 site audits, for one user. Growth ($399 annual) adds sentiment analysis and a trial of the Action Center, which prioritizes fixes. The full Action Center and all eight platforms are Enterprise-only.

Limit: self-serve plans cover three engines.

7. AirOps: best for repeatable content workflows

AirOps combines AI-search insights with content operations: research, publish and refresh pages through agents and workflows. Its pricing page lists Solo (ChatGPT insights only, 35,000 tasks a month, one user) and Pro (insights across 7+ answer engines, 100,000 tasks, unlimited seats), both with “Start for free”. It shows no dollar prices, and Enterprise is by conversation.

Limit: you can’t see the paid price before signing up or talking to AirOps.

8. Peec AI: best for measurement with a to-do list

Peec tracks prompts daily and goes beyond the dashboard. Gap analysis lists sources that often name competitors but not you, and recommended actions are ranked and split into earned and owned. Source analytics classify cited domains as competitor, editorial, reference or user-generated.

Starter is $95/month on monthly billing (15% off annual): 50 prompts, 3 models of your choice, unlimited users, 1 project. Pro is $245 (150 prompts) and Advanced $495 (350 prompts).

Limit: it measures and recommends. It doesn’t write or edit content.

9. Profound: best for enterprises that want agents and deep data

Profound pairs answer-engine tracking with prompt-volume research (what people ask AI engines), agent analytics for AI-sourced traffic, and AI Marketer agents that run on credits. The free trial runs 50 prompts daily for 7 days across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Enterprise is custom: up to nine answer engines, API, SSO and SOC 2.

Limit: the brand side is trial or sales-led, with no public paid price.

10. AlsoAsked: best for follow-up question coverage

AlsoAsked maps the People Also Ask questions around a keyword, so you can see what a page should answer next. It’s a research tool, not an AI tracker. Basic is $12/month billed annually ($144) for 100 credits. Lite is $23 (300 credits) and Pro $47 (1,000), all with unlimited users. Visitors without an account get a few free searches.

Limit: no AI measurement, and no free plan.

11. Schema App: best for enterprise structured data

Schema App builds and manages schema markup across large sites (Editor and Highlighter) and a content knowledge graph, with an Entity Hub add-on and an MCP server that exposes your published schema data to AI tools. Pricing is customized by scope, with a 12-month minimum and a one-time setup fee. The pricing page lists no free trial.

Limit: it’s enterprise-priced, and since Google says no special schema is needed for AI features, the case rests on entity accuracy and governance rather than a Google shortcut.

Quick comparison

How to choose

1. Pick the job first. Decide whether you need to measure, change content, cover questions or add structure. Most teams need the first two.
2. If you publish weekly, start with an optimizer that also tracks. Frase, Surfer and Writesonic bundle both, which can cost less than a tracker plus a separate editor.
3. Don’t overpay for structure. Google’s guidance says no special markup is needed for its AI features. A CMS plugin covers most sites, and enterprise platforms like Schema App suit thousands of pages.
4. Check engines and billing basis. HubSpot and Writesonic’s entry plans cover three engines, Frase’s covers two, and Surfer’s and Frase’s headline prices are billed yearly.
5. Measure, then decide who does the work. Run a free check first. If nobody has time to act on it, a done-for-you service such as Pace Generative may suit better, and the best AI Overview trackers covers Google-specific tracking.