VisiScan vs HubSpot AI Search Grader 2026
GEO shopping often starts with a free grade. HubSpot gives three engines. VisiScan gives four and a $49 report. Neither is crawler-log software.
GEO software shopping starts with a free URL box more often than it should. HubSpot AI Search Grader is the famous one. VisiScan is the local-business one. Both spit a 0 to 100. Only one publishes how many questions it asked, and that is the first thing to notice, because a score without a recipe is a number and a score with a recipe is a number you can argue with. Promptwatch is GEO software in the sense this directory uses it. The graders are not, and the grid is what shows that.
HubSpot grades ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. The grade is stochastic, with a disclaimer that results are not guaranteed. Sentiment can be 40 points of the score, which means a single grade can swing by 40 points on a signal that has nothing to do with whether the model mentioned you. The AEO Grader name arrived in 2026. The method behind the grade is not published, so the 40-point sentiment swing is the only part of the recipe you can see.
VisiScan grades those three plus Claude. 5 questions, 2 samples, up to 40 answers, one scan per URL on pricing.md dated 24 August 2026. $49 for 12 by 3, up to 144 answers. $29 a month weekly. Mike Holp. The question counts and the sample counts are on the page, and that is the part that lets you read the score as a score instead of as a marketing number.
Grid
| GEO question | VisiScan | HubSpot grader | Promptwatch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free named-rate | Yes, four engines, counted samples | Yes, three engines, unpublished method | Explore, ChatGPT prompts |
| History | Monitor weekly | No | Prompt trends |
| More engines | No | No | Yes on the sheet |
| Logs | No | No | Professional 25M |
| $50-ish paid | $49 once or $29/mo | AEO ~$50/mo, 25 prompts | Essential $95 |
The free named-rate row is the entry point for both graders. VisiScan gives four engines and counted samples. HubSpot gives three engines and an unpublished method. Promptwatch gives Explore, ChatGPT prompts. A free grade is a mirror, not a tracker, and the mirror is only as useful as the recipe behind it. VisiScan publishes the recipe. HubSpot does not.
The history row is where the two graders split. VisiScan has Monitor weekly. HubSpot has no history. Promptwatch has prompt trends, which is a series of checks over time, not a single point. A grader with no history is a screenshot. A grader with a weekly re-run is a small tracker. A platform with prompt trends is a program. The three sit on different rungs, and the free price hides that.
The more engines row is the one that pulls a buyer toward Promptwatch. Neither grader adds engines beyond its free set. Promptwatch carries a longer list on the sheet. For a buyer who wants a wider net, the two graders are ceilings, and the ceiling is the reason the third column stays in the grid even when the buyer started at a free box.
The logs row is the one that keeps Promptwatch in the grid. VisiScan has no logs. HubSpot has no logs. Promptwatch has Professional, 25M crawler logs. Neither grader sells the receipt that says which bot came and what it fetched. For a buyer who wants to connect a change on the site to a citation in the model, the log is the evidence, and the evidence is the thing the two graders do not have.
The $50-ish paid row is where the two cheap options confuse people. VisiScan is $49 once or $29 a month. HubSpot AEO is about $50 a month for about 25 prompts. Promptwatch is Essential at $95. The $49 and the $50 look like the same decision. They are not. The $49 is a document once. The $50 is a monthly subscription in a closed loop. The $95 is a program with response and event caps behind it.
HubSpot AEO closed-loop testing on our listing showed 0% for a domain that still showed in other tools. Do not staff a program on that upsell. A 0% on a domain that is still visible elsewhere is a measurement error, and a measurement error inside a known brand is still a measurement error. The closed loop sounds like a publish path, but the listing describes a prompt set, not a CMS connection.
VisiScan's paid path is at least a deeper sample of the same four chats, plus files to paste. Still not logs. The $49 report covers 12 questions and 3 samples, up to 144 answers, against 5 questions and 2 samples on the free scan. That is a deeper sample, not a different category. The category is still the scan, and the scan is still a mirror.
Who wins the free box
VisiScan wins Claude and a methodology page. Claude on a free scan is rare for a checker, and for a local business that is the one engine that matters more than the other three. The methodology page is the part that lets you read the score as a score. HubSpot wins friction, with no 1 per URL cap listed, and a name finance already knows. A known brand on a slide is a real thing for a buyer who needs a badge, and the friction of an uncapped free box is a real convenience. Promptwatch wins if you will log in next month, because a grade is a point and a program is a trend with logs behind it.
Run both free if you want. Two mirrors are fine, and for a first look at a page they are enough. Pay VisiScan $49 for a local PDF, because the deeper sample plus the schema to paste is a fair price for a named-rate deliverable on one URL. Do not pay HubSpot $50 expecting a tracker, because a stochastic grade with an unpublished method and no history is not a tracker. Put $95 on Essential when the grade is the argument for a budget line, because the budget line is the thing that turns a free mirror into a program with logs and a publish path.