China AI visibility · Tools comparison
AI visibility tools — what each one is best at
Nine tools currently compete for the AI visibility category in 2026, with a tenth that no listicle includes — Eastbound's free China-specific audit. This is an honest comparison: what each tool is best at, what they don't cover, and where Eastbound fits as a complement rather than a competitor. We are not a SaaS measurement platform; we are a consultancy with a free audit. Every tool below has at least one job it does better than us.
Last reviewed 2026-05-10. Vendor data drawn from public funding announcements, vendor sites and 2026 third-party comparisons.
Quick comparison table
| Tool | Focus | Strength | US engines | China engines | Pricing tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profound | Enterprise dashboard | Most-funded specialist; broadest US-engine coverage at scale | ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overview, Copilot | None native | Enterprise |
| AthenaHQ | Mid-market dashboard | Strong US visibility tracking; well-funded | ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini | None native | Mid-market |
| Otterly.AI | SMB-friendly dashboard | More affordable; cleaner self-serve | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini | None native | SMB |
| Peec AI | Small-team dashboard | Light-weight; quick setup | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini | None native | SMB |
| Goodie | Mid-market dashboard | Well-funded ($30M+ Series A); design-forward UI | ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini | None native | Mid-market |
| Semrush AI Visibility | SEO-suite add-on | Built into Semrush — likely already in your stack | ChatGPT, AI Overview, AI Mode, Gemini | None native | Bundled with Semrush |
| SE Ranking AI Search Watcher | SEO-suite add-on | Affordable bundle; SE Ranking 129K-domain study published 2025 | ChatGPT, AI Overview, Perplexity | None native | Bundled with SE Ranking |
| Mangools AI Search Watcher | SEO-suite add-on | Beginner-friendly; SMB-priced | ChatGPT, AI Overview | None native | Bundled with Mangools |
| LLMrefs | Niche measurement | Smaller / boutique; cheaper | ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity | None native | Niche |
| Eastbound (free audit) | China specialty + consultancy | Only tool with native DeepSeek/Qwen/Doubao measurement; free audit; methodology-led | Discussed but not natively measured | DeepSeek, Qwen, Doubao | Free audit + consultancy fees |
Profound
Profound is the most-funded specialist in this category — $96M Series C announced in late 2024, taking total raised past $151M at a roughly $1B valuation. They market primarily on the AI Visibility frame and rank for the head term in most major SERPs (DR ~55, climbing).
Best at: US-engine dashboard measurement at scale. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overview, Bing Copilot — broadest coverage of any specialist. Daily refresh. Strong API for piping data into BI tools. Their AEO and GEO content is among the most-cited in the field.
Doesn't cover: No native DeepSeek / Qwen / Doubao measurement. The Mainland-China surface is out of scope. If your buyer is in China, Profound's dashboard does not see them.
Who it's for: Enterprise marketing teams optimising for Western generative engines. CMOs who want a single number to report to leadership.
AthenaHQ
Well-funded mid-market dashboard. Strong on US-engine visibility tracking with cleaner UI than Profound. Notably, AthenaHQ did not appear in any top-3 SERP across the 30 head-term queries we analysed for the 2026 GEO/AEO landscape — the company is well-resourced but losing the SEO game on its own category. That tells you something about the limits of paid acquisition in a cluttered SaaS space.
Best at: Mid-market dashboard for teams that find Profound's enterprise pricing prohibitive. Comparable engine coverage at lower cost.
Doesn't cover: Same as Profound — no Chinese engines.
Who it's for: Growing brands that want US-engine measurement without enterprise contracts.
Otterly.AI
SMB-friendly dashboard with more affordable pricing than Profound or AthenaHQ. Self-serve onboarding. Good for marketing teams under 50 people who want measurement without an enterprise sales cycle.
Best at: Affordable, fast-setup AI visibility tracking for small teams.
Doesn't cover: Chinese engines. Less enterprise-grade reporting than Profound.
Who it's for: SMB / startup marketing teams.
Peec AI
Small-team dashboard, light-weight setup. Newer entrant. Comparable to Otterly in positioning but smaller catalog of features.
Best at: Quick setup for small teams who want basic AI visibility tracking.
Doesn't cover: Chinese engines, enterprise integrations.
Who it's for: Solo marketers or teams of 1-10.
Goodie
Mid-market with a $30M+ Series A. Design-forward UI; some of the best dashboard visualisations in the category. Like AthenaHQ, has not converted funding into top-3 SERP rankings on head terms — but the product itself is well-regarded by users.
Best at: Mid-market teams who care about reporting aesthetics and exec-friendly visualisation.
Doesn't cover: Chinese engines.
Who it's for: Brands where the AI visibility report has to look good in front of the CMO every week.
Semrush AI Visibility
Built into the Semrush platform as the AI Visibility panel — covers ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, AI Mode, and Gemini. If you already pay for Semrush, this is the no-additional-cost option. Tracking is integrated with the rest of Semrush's keyword and competitive tooling, which makes cross-referencing AI mentions with traditional rankings straightforward.
Best at: Marketers already using Semrush who want AI visibility data alongside SEO data in one workspace.
Doesn't cover: Chinese engines. Less depth than dedicated specialist tools (Profound) on US engines.
Who it's for: SEO-led marketing teams who want AI visibility as one of many panels, not as the primary tool.
SE Ranking AI Search Watcher
Bundled with SE Ranking's SEO suite. SE Ranking is also the firm behind the 2025 129,000-domain × 216,524-page study (covered in Search Engine Journal) that found FAQ-schema pages averaged 3.6 ChatGPT citations versus 4.2 without — the canonical published evidence against FAQPage schema as a citation tactic. The vendor has measurement credibility from that work alone.
Best at: Affordable AI Search Watcher panel bundled with broader SEO tooling; published research credibility.
Doesn't cover: Chinese engines.
Who it's for: SE Ranking subscribers who want AI visibility added to their existing stack.
Mangools AI Search Watcher
Beginner-friendly tool bundled with Mangools' SEO suite. Mangools AI Search Watcher covers ChatGPT and AI Overview specifically. Lighter coverage than SE Ranking or Semrush but cheaper.
Best at: Solo marketers and small teams already using Mangools.
Doesn't cover: Chinese engines, full suite of Western engines.
Who it's for: Beginners and SMBs.
LLMrefs
Boutique measurement service — LLMrefs tracks brand citations across ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity. Smaller and cheaper than the dashboard category. Less brand recognition.
Best at: Indie creators / very small teams who want basic citation tracking at low cost.
Doesn't cover: Chinese engines, full enterprise reporting.
Eastbound — free audit + China specialty
Eastbound is not a SaaS measurement platform. We are a consultancy + free audit, with a single specialty: China AI visibility on DeepSeek, Qwen and Doubao. The audit runs your URL against a stratified zh-CN consumer prompt panel and reports per-engine selection, absorption and brand-mention scores. No login required.
Best at: The single thing none of the tools above does — Mainland Chinese engine measurement. In our 540-call panel (May 2026), top-15 cited-source overlap (Jaccard) between any two Chinese engines was 0.20–0.30 — a different optimisation problem from Western engines, with different platforms (百度百科, 知乎, 小红书, SMZDM) and different language. Methodology-led, with published research at DeepSeek vs Qwen vs Doubao and luxury AI sources.
Doesn't cover: US engines as a continuous dashboard. We discuss ChatGPT/Claude/Perplexity/Gemini visibility in consulting engagements but we are not a Western-engine SaaS replacement. If you only need US engines, pick from the list above.
Who it's for: Brands operating in or expanding to Mainland China. Brands whose competitors are mentioned more often than them in Chinese AI answers. Brands with already-strong Western AI visibility who need to expand.
How to choose
- Do you need Chinese engine coverage? If yes — start with Eastbound's free audit, then optionally pair with one of the Western dashboards. None of the Western tools cover China natively.
- Are you already paying for Semrush or SE Ranking? If yes — use their bundled AI Visibility panel before paying for a separate tool. The marginal cost is zero.
- Do you need enterprise-grade dashboards + API? Profound is the leader. Goodie and AthenaHQ are mid-market alternatives.
- SMB / small team budget? Otterly.AI, Peec AI or Mangools.
- Want measurement credibility from published research? SE Ranking (129K-domain study) and Eastbound (5 published studies) are the most evidence-led.
Run the China-specific piece for free
The free Eastbound audit covers what the nine US-focused tools above don't — DeepSeek, Qwen and Doubao on a Mainland-CN consumer prompt panel. Pair it with any of the Western dashboards above for full coverage.