Key takeaways
- On the published figures in this guide, Promptwatch Essential ($95/mo, 6,000 responses) works out to about $0.016 per response, Scrunch Core to roughly $0.017 (an estimate), Peec Starter to $0.021, and Profound's $99 tier to $0.066.
- The cheapest plan is rarely the cheapest per data point. A $29 plan with 15 prompts can cost more per response than a $95 plan with 50 prompts on nine models.
- Add-ons, per-engine pricing and credit systems change the math. Peec charges extra for models, Scrunch consumes credits per engine, and Profound's entry tier covers one engine.
- A "response" isn't a standard unit. Vendors count differently, and Scrunch's response count is an estimate from a competitor-authored table.
- Profound's pricing is in flux. Sources conflict, so check the live pricing page before you buy.
Why cost per response beats sticker price
Most buyers compare monthly price and prompt count. That tells you very little. A prompt is a question you want to track. A response is one answer collected from one engine, in one location, on one day. A single prompt checked daily on four engines produces roughly 120 responses a month. The same prompt on one engine produces about 30.
So a plan that says "50 prompts" can mean 1,500 responses or 6,000, depending on how many engines and how often it runs. That is a fourfold gap hiding behind identical headline numbers.
I'll be upfront about the sourcing here. The most complete public cost-per-response table comes from Promptwatch, which is also one of the tools compared. That makes it a vendor-authored source, and its response counts for Scrunch and Otterly are estimates, not vendor-disclosed numbers. I cross-checked against third-party roundups where they exist, and I flag the gaps below.
The headline numbers
| Tool | Plan compared | Price / mo | Prompts | Responses / mo | Models | $ / response |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Promptwatch | Essential | $95 | 50 | 6,000 | 9 models, all included | $0.016 |
| Scrunch | Core | $250 | 125 | ~15,000 (estimate) | 4 models | ~$0.017 |
| Peec AI | Starter | $95 | 50 | 4,500 | 3 of 6 models | $0.021 |
| Profound | Entry tier ($99) | $99 | 50 | 1,500 | Trial: 3 engines (see below) | $0.066 |
Numbers come from Promptwatch's 2026 platform comparison, with Profound's tier details cross-checked against Surmado's roundup. Treat Scrunch's ~15,000 as soft.
The ranking is Promptwatch, then Scrunch, then Peec, then Profound. But the gaps between the first three are small enough that engine coverage and features should decide the purchase more than a tenth of a cent.
Promptwatch: lowest cost per response with every model included
Promptwatch Essential is $95 a month for 50 prompts and 6,000 responses across nine models. That works out to $0.016 per response, or 120 data points per prompt. All engines, the API and MCP are included at every paid tier, so you don't pay again to add a model.
The 6,000 figure counts multi-model, multi-location checks, which is the unit I'd want in a fair comparison. Higher tiers scale from there: Professional is $245 for 150 prompts and 18,000 responses, and Business is $579 for 350 prompts and 42,000 responses. Those two give you the same per-response economics at larger volume, and the Business tier adds the Content Agent, local targeting and Shopping Insights.
Promptwatch also monitors the real user interfaces of ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and others, rather than relying only on API outputs. For cost purposes, the more relevant point is that crawler logs, visitor analytics and content tooling sit in the same product, so you are not buying a tracker plus three other tools. Confirm current prices at promptwatch.com/pricing.
Scrunch: cheap per response on paper, expensive up front
Scrunch Core is $250 a month for 125 prompts. Promptwatch's table estimates around 15,000 responses on four models, which puts it near $0.017 per response. That's competitive, but two caveats matter.
First, the response count is an estimate. Scrunch consumes prompt credits per engine, so the real number depends on how many engines you point it at. Second, the entry price is 2.6 times Promptwatch Essential. If you only need 50 prompts' worth of tracking, you are paying for headroom you won't use.
Scrunch is Sitecore-owned and aimed at enterprise content delivery, with an agent experience layer. If that is what you want, the price makes sense. If you want a straightforward tracker, it doesn't.
Peec AI: clean analytics, with extra models costing extra
Peec AI Starter is $95 a month (the table lists $95; IndustryLens reports published euro tiers from EUR 85 with 50 prompts and 3 models, and third-party trackers disagree on dollar amounts, so verify). You get 50 prompts and about 4,500 responses on 3 of 6 models, or roughly $0.021 per response.
The catch is in the add-ons. Extra models run $35 a month each according to Promptwatch's comparison, and API access and SSO are Enterprise-only. Add two models and your Starter plan is $165, which pushes cost per response up materially while still covering only 5 engines.
Peec has real strengths. The product is clean, the company reports $4M+ ARR in ten months and 1,300+ customers, and IndustryLens notes it competes on technical depth, including server-log auditing. For a mid-market team that wants analytics without a heavy platform, it is a reasonable pick. Just price it with the models you actually need.
Profound: the hardest one to price
Profound is the category's best-funded player: $155M raised and a reported $1B valuation after a February 2026 Series C, with Fortune 500 customers. It is also the hardest to put a number on, because its pricing moved.
Here is what the sources say:
- Surmado: the $99 Starter covers ChatGPT only, with 50 prompts and 1,500 responses. Multi-engine monitoring starts at Growth, $399 a month, with 100 prompts and 9,000 responses.
- ReachLLM: Starter $99 and Growth $399, both billed yearly, Enterprise custom.
- IndustryLens (October 12, 2026): Profound removed the $99 Starter from its public pricing page, leaving a free trial and custom Enterprise.
- Promptwatch: Brand plans were removed in September 2026, with an Agency Growth plan at $99 and $399 per client workspace.
Those accounts don't reconcile, so I wouldn't quote a single price. What holds across them is the unit economics. At $99 for 1,500 responses you pay $0.066 each. At $399 for 9,000 responses (the Growth figure from Surmado) it falls to about $0.044. Even the better number is nearly three times Promptwatch Essential.
Profound
Profound earns its price in a different way: enterprise integrations, an action layer with agents and a big-brand customer list. A Reddit thread on r/seogrowth had a user say they didn't love Profound's UX or price and preferred Promptwatch for analytics. That's one opinion, not a verdict, but it matches the cost data.
What the table doesn't show
Responses aren't equal
Promptwatch's own data shows citation counts differ by engine. ChatGPT cites about 5 sources per web-search answer, while Google AI Overviews and Perplexity cite about 10 each (see Average Sources Per Response). A Perplexity response carries roughly twice the citation data of a ChatGPT one, so cost per response and cost per citation will rank tools differently. If your goal is citation analysis, weight the engines accordingly.
Counting rules vary
Promptwatch counts one data point per prompt, per model, per location, per day. Other vendors may count one prompt on one engine as one response. Credit systems complicate it further: Qwairy bills 2 to 20 credits for premium models, and AthenaHQ ties credits to responses. Before comparing, ask each vendor what exactly one response is.
Cheap plans can be expensive
Otterly Lite at $29 for 15 prompts on 4 models comes to roughly $0.016 per response on an estimated 1,800 responses, about the same as Promptwatch. But it lacks the API, MCP and crawler analytics below $189. Cost per response is only one axis, and you can hit a feature wall on the cheapest plan.
Beyond monitoring: what you get for the money
A fair cost comparison should include what the response data lets you do. A tracker tells you that you were mentioned. A platform tells you why and helps fix it.
| Capability | Promptwatch | Scrunch | Peec AI | Profound |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prompt tracking on real UIs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI crawler logs | Yes (Professional and up) | Limited | Server-log auditing | Enterprise-oriented |
| Visitor and conversion analytics | Yes | Limited | Limited | Enterprise-oriented |
| Content generation and CMS publishing | Yes (Business and up) | Agent experience layer | Limited | Agents |
| Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn citation tracking | Yes | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| API and MCP on lowest tier | Yes | Not confirmed | Enterprise-only | Enterprise contract |
I marked cells "not confirmed" where the research didn't verify the claim against vendor pages. Promptwatch's own comparison says Profound locks models, API and MCP behind an Enterprise contract. That is a vendor claim, so check it.
How to pick based on your situation
- Under 50 prompts, one brand, want every model: Promptwatch Essential is the lowest cost per response in this set, and the API and MCP are included.
- Large enterprise with a content-delivery angle: Scrunch Core, if 125 prompts is the volume you need.
- Analytics-first mid-market team: Peec Starter, budgeting for the model add-ons you'll actually use.
- Fortune 500 with procurement requirements: Profound. Expect a sales conversation, and expect the price to be a custom quote.
- Agencies: the per-client math changes. Promptwatch's Agency plans start at $199 a month for unlimited projects, and ReachLLM's $999 Scale plan covers 10 projects. Compare per client, not per seat.
If you want to see more options, the GEO software directory at bestgeosoftware.com lists the wider field.
A short checklist before you buy
- Ask what one response is: one engine, one location, one day?
- Count the engines you need, then price any add-ons.
- Check whether API, MCP and crawler logs are on the plan you're buying.
- Annualise it. Several vendors discount heavily on annual billing, and Promptwatch gives 12 months for the price of 10.
- Check the live pricing page. Profound's tiers changed in the last two months, and the others move too.
Bottom line
On published figures, Promptwatch Essential is the cheapest per response of the four, at about $0.016, with all nine models included. Scrunch lands close on paper but costs $250 to start and rests on an estimate. Peec is competitive until you add models. Profound is the most expensive per response, and the least settled on price. Use the table as a starting point, then verify each number against the vendor's pricing page before signing.
The free AI visibility scans some vendors offer, including Promptwatch's no-login report, are a cheap way to see what these tools show you before you spend anything.