Prompt Zero vs MaxAEO (2026): which budget AI visibility tracker is worth it?
MaxAEO starts at $19/mo for 10 prompts on 4 of 8 engines; Prompt Zero starts at $29/mo with daily scans on 4 engines and a Search Console to-do list. A buyer's comparison.
Prompt Zero and MaxAEO are both cheap daily trackers for small teams. The one-sentence difference: Prompt Zero tries to connect AI answers to your Google data and hand you a weekly to-do list, while MaxAEO scales further on prompts and history if you're willing to pay for its bigger plans. Both open with 10 prompts, so neither entry plan is a full program.
A sourcing note before the table. Prompt Zero's prices were read on its pricing page and llms.txt on 20 October 2026. MaxAEO's come from our catalog entry, which was last checked against its homepage in August 2026, so confirm them on the live page before you buy. Promptwatch figures come from its llms.txt.
Side by side
| Prompt Zero | MaxAEO | Promptwatch | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | Starter, $29/mo ($23 annual) | Starter, $19/mo ($15 annual) | Explore free; Essential $95/mo |
| Prompts at entry | 10 | 10 | 10 free; 50 on Essential |
| Mid plan | Pro, $99/mo ($79 annual), 50 prompts, 15 brands | Growth, $149/mo ($119 annual), 100 prompts, 1 brand | Professional $245/mo, 150 prompts, 2 projects |
| Engines | 4 on Starter, 6 on Pro | 4 of 8 on self-serve; 8 on Enterprise | 9 LLMs plus Google AI Overviews and AI Mode |
| Refresh | Daily | Daily | Daily |
| History | Not published | 30 days (Starter), 90 days (Growth), 1 year (Pro) | Not published |
| Google data | Search Console and GA4 (homepage) | Not published | Google Search Console integration |
| Crawler logs | Not published | Not published | Agent Analytics from Professional |
| Trial | 7 days of Pro, no card | Free brand scan; prorated refunds | Free plan; 7-day trial on Essential |
How Prompt Zero works
Starter scans ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity every day; Pro adds DeepSeek and Llama. Results roll into a 0 to 100 visibility score, and the blog publishes the weighting: mention rate 35%, ranking position 30%, citations 20%, sentiment 15%. The homepage says it reads Google Search Console, GA4 and your own site to build a weekly action list. A Brand Facts feature flags answers that contradict facts you enter.
The weak spots are scope and age. Claude and Google AI Overviews are still "coming soon". Pro's 50 prompts are shared across up to 15 brands. The Google connection is on the homepage but missing from the pricing comparison. The company's own blog lists "newer platform (launched 2026)" as a con, which is a fair warning.
How MaxAEO works
MaxAEO is a straight mention monitor: mention rate, competitor rank, average recommendation position, sentiment clouds, citation sources and a weekly action list, refreshed daily. Setup is a URL and you get a report the same day.
It names eight platforms: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, Grok, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews. Read the asterisk, though. Every self-serve card says four of the eight, and all eight sit on Enterprise. Our catalog doesn't record which four you get, so ask before you pay. History is also short at the bottom: Starter keeps 30 days, which is barely enough to see a trend. Growth at $149 keeps 90 days and Pro at $399 ($319 annual) keeps a year with 400 prompts across 4 brands. As with Prompt Zero, MaxAEO's own blog ranks MaxAEO first.
Who should pick which
Pick Prompt Zero if:
- you're a founder and want AI visibility next to Search Console in one cheap dashboard
- Gemini and Grok matter more to you than Claude
- you run several small brands and 50 shared prompts on Pro is enough
Pick MaxAEO if:
- you want the lowest possible entry price for a proof of concept
- you have one brand and expect to grow to 100 prompts or more
- you need a year of history (Pro) and can wait for Enterprise for all eight engines
Whichever you pick, ask two questions before paying: which engines are on my plan today, and how long do you keep my history? Prompt Zero doesn't publish its retention, and MaxAEO doesn't say which four engines its self-serve plans include.
The Promptwatch option
Both tools answer "were we mentioned?" Neither publishes crawler logs or conversion tracking, so neither can say why you weren't mentioned or what a mention was worth. That is where Promptwatch earns its higher price.
On Essential at $95 a month you get 50 prompts on every tracked LLM, daily, with search volumes, difficulty scores and query fan-outs on each prompt. Fan-outs show the sub-queries a model runs before it answers, which often explains a missing mention better than any score. Visitor analytics connects AI-referred sessions to conversions. Professional at $245 adds 150 prompts and Agent Analytics, which logs ChatGPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, GoogleOther and the Meta AI crawler and shows the crawl-to-citation path. You don't have to choose four engines out of eight.
Verdict
For a founder on a tight budget, Prompt Zero is the more useful of the two thanks to its Google data and weekly list, as long as you don't need Claude or AI Overviews today. MaxAEO is the cheaper experiment and the better path to a large single-brand prompt set, but its self-serve plans hide half its engines. If the goal is to grow AI traffic rather than watch a score, start with Promptwatch: the free Explore plan costs nothing, and Essential covers every engine.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Prompt Zero or MaxAEO?
MaxAEO, at $19 a month ($15 annual) against Prompt Zero's $29 ($23 annual). Both entry plans track 10 prompts.
Does MaxAEO really cover eight AI platforms?
It names eight, but self-serve plans include four of them. All eight are on Enterprise, per our catalog entry.
Is Promptwatch worth the higher price?
If you need crawler logs, conversions or more than four engines, yes. Try Explore free at promptwatch.com.