Gauge Pricing Guide 2026: What Happened to the $99 Plan
Gauge quietly removed its $99 Starter tier in mid-2026. Here's what the current $599/mo Growth plan includes and why the cheap tier disappeared.
If you've seen Gauge mentioned with a $99/mo price tag, that information is out of date. The company removed its Starter tier by mid-2026, and the self-serve entry point is now Growth at $599/mo. This guide covers what's actually available today and what changed.
Current tiers
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Trial | Free for 1 week | Full Growth features |
| Growth | $599/mo | 600 prompts/day, 6 engines, 18 articles/mo, 10 seats, 1 location |
| Enterprise | Custom | Claude + Grok, API, BI integrations, multi-location |
What happened to the $99 Starter plan
Gauge originally offered a Starter tier at $99/mo covering ChatGPT only with 100 prompts, aimed at smaller teams testing the category. That tier was removed by July 2026, verified against Gauge's own pricing page at the time. The company hasn't publicly explained the change, but the timing lines up with aggressive growth claims (a reported 40x increase in customers and 70x revenue growth in 2025), which suggests a shift toward larger accounts rather than a low-cost funnel. If you're reading an older review or comparison that cites $99/mo, treat it as stale.
Growth: $599/mo, the only self-serve option
Growth is now the floor for anyone wanting to use Gauge without going through a sales call. For that price, you get 600 prompts run daily across six engines, ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot, working out to roughly 108,000 recorded answers a month. That's paired with a content engine producing 18 publish-ready articles a month and nightly content-health audits, plus citation intelligence, ChatGPT Ads tracking, an MCP server, and integrations with GA4, Search Console, and Slack. Ten seats and unlimited domains and competitors round out the tier.
On a pure answers-per-dollar basis, this is aggressive: nothing else self-serve in the category gets close to 108,000 tracked answers a month at a flat price. The tradeoff is the entry cost itself, which prices out solo operators and small teams who might have used the old $99 tier as a testing ground. It's also over 6x Promptwatch's $95/mo entry price, which covers nine AI engines daily plus citation analytics and its own content generation layer, just without Gauge's raw prompt volume.
Enterprise: custom pricing
Claude and Grok coverage, API access, and BI integrations are all locked to Enterprise, with no published price. Multi-location tracking also requires Enterprise, which matters for any brand operating across multiple markets or storefronts.
The one-week trial is worth using
Growth's price is high enough that you should not sign up blind. Gauge offers a full one-week trial with all Growth features unlocked, which is enough time to run your actual prompt set and cross-check the visibility numbers against your own GA4 or Search Console data. Given the complete absence of third-party reviews for Gauge on G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, or Trustpilot, this trial is effectively your only independent verification available before paying.
How Gauge's pricing compares
| Tool | Entry price | Daily prompts | Engines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gauge Growth | $599/mo | 600/day | 6 |
| AthenaHQ Starter | $295/mo (credit-based) | Variable | 9 |
| Promptwatch Essential | $95/mo | 50 prompts, 6,000 responses | 9+ |
| Profound Growth | $399/mo | 100 total | 3 |
Gauge's per-answer economics look excellent against this table. What the table doesn't show is review footprint or company stability, both of which favor the other three options here by a wide margin.
Should you pay annually?
We'd avoid it. Gauge has raised roughly $500K against rivals sitting on $29 to $58 million, and there's no independent review history to fall back on if the product changes or the company struggles. Pay monthly, keep validating the visibility numbers against your own analytics every billing cycle, and treat any annual discount offer with more skepticism than you would from a better-established competitor.
FAQ
Is the $99 Gauge plan coming back?
There's no indication of that. The removal appears tied to a broader push toward higher-value accounts, and Growth at $599/mo is presented as the standard self-serve entry point going forward.
What's the cheapest way to try Gauge now?
The one-week free trial with full Growth features. There's no paid tier below $599/mo anymore.
Is Gauge's pricing competitive for what it includes?
On raw volume, yes, arguably the best in the category. On trust and verifiability, no other funded competitor in this space has zero third-party reviews the way Gauge does. Weigh both before deciding whether the price is actually a good deal for your situation.
What alternatives should I compare Gauge's pricing against?
Promptwatch (tracking plus built-in content generation) and Peec AI (pure tracking) at a fraction of the cost, and AthenaHQ for a comparable action-oriented workflow with a stronger review history. See our full Gauge alternatives roundup for the detailed comparison.
Is there a cheaper way to get daily six-engine tracking?
Yes. Promptwatch covers nine engines daily for $95/mo, without the volume ceiling, plus its own content generation layer, at roughly a sixth of Gauge's entry price.