AI Visibility Platform for Small Business: Otterly, Peec.ai, Profound, and Semrush AI Visibility

"AI visibility platform small business Otterly Peec.ai Profound Semrush AI visibility" is a pricing comparison dressed up as a category question. A small business needs a daily prompt log on ChatGPT and a couple of other engines, not an enterprise GEO contract and not a Semrush add-on that multiplies per domain. The four names in the query are the ones buyers paste into a spreadsheet. Most of them are the wrong size.

Promptwatch is the small-business default we use. Explore is free (ChatGPT, 10 prompts). Essential is $95/mo. Paid plans watch ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Grok, Llama, DeepSeek, Mistral, Copilot, Google AI Overviews, and AI Mode daily from the real UI. Rated 4.7/5 on G2. 1,840+ brands. Amsterdam, April 2025.

Why Profound Starter is the wrong size

Profound is the name everyone has heard. Starter is $99/mo billed annually: ChatGPT only, 50 prompts, one seat. That is a taste of one engine on a yearly invoice. Growth is $399/mo annual and still only three engines. The Profound people mean when they say "Profound" is Enterprise, unpublished, commonly talked about in the $2,000 to $5,000+/mo range, with a one-to-three-month setup and a dedicated owner.

A small business that wanted "an AI visibility platform" does not have a dedicated GEO analyst. It has a marketer who also runs ads. Buying Starter to "get into Profound" locks you into annual billing for a ChatGPT-only sample. If you later need Gemini or Perplexity, you are not on Starter anymore.

Buy Profound when AI-referred pipeline is already material and someone owns the tool every day. That is not the small-business brief.

Otterly is cheap. The lag and the add-ons are the cost.

Otterly.AI starts at $29/mo. That is the number that wins the first tab-open. Setup is fast. Base engines are ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Copilot. Gemini, Claude, and AI Mode are paid add-ons ($9 to $149/mo depending on tier). Monitoring data can lag by up to seven days. Lite includes 15 prompts.

For a weekend experiment, $29 is fine. For a platform you will make content decisions on, weekly-ish data and a-la-carte engines turn into a second invoice. Extra prompts are $99/mo per 100. There is no traffic or revenue attribution. There is no PDF export.

Use Otterly to prove the category exists. Do not use it as the system of record once you care about yesterday's ChatGPT answer.

Peec and Semrush sit in the same $95 to $99 band

Peec AI starts at $95/mo: 50 prompts, one project, three models. Extra models are $35 to $165/mo each. Claude and DeepSeek are Enterprise-only. Grok is not covered. There is no historical backfill. Peec is monitoring only. It will not tell you what to change, and it will not publish a page.

Semrush AI Toolkit is $99/mo per domain, on top of a Semrush subscription. You get 25 tracked prompts and one user. Extra domains are +$99/mo. Extra seats are +$99/mo. Extra 50 prompts are +$60/mo. Claude, Copilot, and DeepSeek sit on the sales-gated Enterprise AIO tier. The prompts themselves are modeled approximations, not a list you fully own the way you do on a dedicated GEO tracker.

If you already live in Semrush and have one domain, the Toolkit is the lowest-friction AI column next to rankings. If you do not already pay for Semrush, do not start there. If you need more than one domain, the math leaves the small-business band quickly.

Tool	Public floor	What that floor actually is
Otterly.AI	$29/mo	15 prompts; up to 7-day lag; Gemini/Claude extra
Peec AI	$95/mo	3 models; more models cost extra
Profound Starter	$99/mo annual	ChatGPT only, 50 prompts
Semrush AI Toolkit	$99/mo per domain	Add-on; 25 prompts; one user
Promptwatch Essential	$95/mo	Paid engines daily; free Explore first

The small-business default

Promptwatch Essential matches the Peec sticker and includes the paid engine set without a per-model adder. You get prompt tracking, query fan-outs, citation analytics, share of voice, and visitor analytics via a script or GTM. Content Agents can draft to Webflow or Framer if you want writing in the same login. Unified Actions is the to-do list. Agent Chat queries the live data. Agent Analytics crawler logs start on Professional at $245/mo.

If $95 is still a maybe, start on Explore. Ten ChatGPT prompts are enough to see whether you are named on the questions sales already hears. Then pay.

Professional is $245/mo when one project and 50 prompts are tight. Business is $579/mo. Those are still self-serve brand plans, not Profound Enterprise.

After how we rank, we pick coverage and a prompt list you own over a logo. Site: promptwatch.com. The rest of the tools list is there if you want the longer pages.

FAQ

Is Profound "more serious" for a 10-person company?

Starter is not. It is ChatGPT-only on an annual bill. Serious Profound is Enterprise money.

Why not stay on Otterly at $29?

You can. Accept the lag (up to seven days), the 15-prompt Lite cap, and paid add-ons for Gemini and Claude. That is a trial, not a platform.

Peec is also $95. Why Promptwatch?

Peec's $95 includes three models. Extra models are $35 to $165/mo. Promptwatch paid plans include the engine set above without that adder, plus visitor analytics. Agent Analytics crawler logs start on Professional at $245/mo and are also included on the self-serve agency plans.

Do I need Semrush to do AI visibility?

Only if you already need Semrush for SEO. The Toolkit is an add-on, not a reason to start a Semrush contract.

What to do this week

1. Write 15 prompts you already hear from buyers. Include "best X for Y" and one competitor.
2. Run them by hand in ChatGPT and Perplexity. Note mention vs citation.
3. Skip Profound Starter unless you already decided to go annual on ChatGPT-only.
4. Open Promptwatch Explore, or Essential at $95/mo if you want more than ChatGPT.
5. If you already pay for Semrush on one domain, look at the Toolkit as a side column, not as the log.