Which is correct on your crew?

In case you’re evaluating HubSpot AEO vs Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit, I examined each for you as a advertising and AEO practitioner myself and can share my detailed assessment.

To run the experiment, I used one of many area of interest web sites in my portfolio (a golf web site) that hasn’t but been optimized for AI search. Under, you’ll get screenshots and knowledge from my private expertise testing each HubSpot AEO and Semrush One (which incorporates Semrush’s AI Visibility options). Then, I’ll stroll you thru the professionals and cons of each AEO instruments and assist you to choose one of the best one based mostly in your crew’s wants.

However first, let me demystify AEO, GEO, and all issues AI visibility so we’re working from the identical definitions.

Desk of Contents

AEO stands for reply engine optimization, and it’s the follow of making and modifying on-line content material in order that it’s extra more likely to be talked about and cited by AI reply engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. You may additionally hear individuals consult with AEO as GEO (generative engine optimization) or AI search engine marketing, however right here at HubSpot, we keep on with the time period AEO.

AEO issues as a result of, as AI turns into extra widespread, persons are turning to reply engines to do their purchaser analysis, along with Google. In 2026, almost half of U.S. adults use AI chatbots, up from one-third in 2024, in keeping with the Pew Analysis Middle. Additional, Pew discovered that 60% of American adults learn the AI-generated summaries on the high of search outcomes, whereas solely 30% say they don’t. Manufacturers that be taught and leverage AEO will achieve a aggressive benefit.

AI visibility is an umbrella time period for the metrics that measure how your model reveals up in AI search, together with share of voice, sentiment, citations, and mentions. It issues as a result of that is how entrepreneurs and SEOs observe their AEO progress.

Professional tip: To get a baseline snapshot of your AI visibility, use the free AI Search Grader software.

Prompts are to AEO what key phrases are to search engine marketing. Prompts are the phrases that customers sort into reply engines to get details about their question. Entrepreneurs use AEO instruments like HubSpot AEO to trace the prompts their manufacturers ought to present up for.

Citations are the web sites that the AI consulted to generate its reply. They could or is probably not linked.

Protection is shorthand for “reply engine protection,” which refers to which LLMs the AEO software tracks. For instance, HubSpot AEO covers ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

First, let me make clear the product naming and tiers, so that you perceive which one it’s essential to purchase. HubSpot AEO is offered to buy by itself, with out one other HubSpot subscription. Moreover, AEO is the title of the CRM-connected product included inside Advertising Hub Skilled and Enterprise.

Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit is offered to buy by itself or as an add-on to an present Semrush subscription. Semrush search engine marketing + AI Search is also referred to as Semrush One, and it’s the bundled product with search engine marketing and AEO options.

This text (and the short comparability desk beneath) primarily compares HubSpot AEO and Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit (the merchandise obtainable for buy on their very own). However I’ll additionally embrace extra details about AEO in Advertising Hub Skilled and Enterprise and Semrush One (the built-in/bundled merchandise).

How do these instruments observe prompts, citations, and model mentions?

How HubSpot AEO Tracks Prompts, Citations, and Model Mentions

Immediate Monitoring

HubSpot AEO makes use of the official APIs of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to run your tracked prompts day by day and present you the precise AI responses.

Customers can manually add prompts to HubSpot AEO or get solutions based mostly on the corporate data they supply throughout onboarding. Or, in the event that they’re utilizing AEO in Advertising Hub Professional+, customers can get AI-powered solutions that draw upon context from the CRM information. The benefit of that is that the solutions get smarter over time because the CRM learns extra about your small business.

Citations

HubSpot AEO’s dashboard reveals an in depth quotation evaluation, together with owned quotation charge versus opponents, citations by content material sort, and citations by channel.

Model Mentions

HubSpot AEO customers can get a way for the way their model mentions are doing by going to the Dashboard tab and viewing the model visibility rating to see how usually their model is talked about for tracked prompts, and model visibility over time to trace progress. For extra granular information, they will go to the Immediate tabs and click on on every particular person immediate to see if their model was talked about in that reply and on which of the three reply engines it was talked about.

How Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit Tracks Prompts, Citations, and Model Mentions

Immediate Monitoring

Semrush differs from HubSpot AEO in the way in which it fetches solutions. As a substitute of sending the prompts dwell to each reply engine each time, it has a pre-existing proprietary database of over 289 million prompts that it pulls from. The immediate database is up to date day by day.

Customers can manually add prompts or use the artificial prompts that Semrush suggests based mostly on the person’s submitted area and site. If a person manually provides prompts for monitoring, then Semrush runs it dwell to see what solutions get fetched.

Not like AEO in HubSpot Advertising Hub Professional+, Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit doesn’t have a CRM, so it can’t use your small business context to personalize prompts like HubSpot can.

Citations

I discovered it complicated to attempt to find my model’s citations inside Semrush’s AI Visibility dashboard. As a substitute of a devoted Citations tab, Semrush has just a few locations the place you could find data on how usually AI cites your area. Customers can discover it beneath AI Visibility > Visibility Overview > Citations, which reveals what number of AI solutions a website will get cited in. Scroll right down to Cited Pages, and you may see the precise URLs in your web site which can be getting cited by AI.

Beneath AI Visibility > Competitor Analysis > Sources > Lacking, you may see which third-party web sites are driving your opponents’ AI visibility. These are alternatives for outreach to achieve inclusion on these third-party websites.

Model Mentions

Semrush customers can go to AI Visibility > Visibility Overview and see their AI visibility rating subsequent to how point out counts are trending over time. On the identical web page, model mentions are damaged down by LLM distribution, nation, matter, and immediate.

Each instruments present suggestions tailor-made to your model, based mostly on what reply engines are already saying about it. Nevertheless, they differ of their degree of element. HubSpot AEO gives prescriptive suggestions on weblog posts you must create, offering a short with a instructed title, audience, abstract, and first and secondary key phrases.

Semrush gives extra high-level directional steerage, reminiscent of adjusting your model voice or including sure content material design components. It doesn’t give detailed steerage on precise weblog posts to create — a minimum of, not inside its AI Visibility Toolkit. You may need to buy the Content material Toolkit add-on for that.

Not like HubSpot, Semrush doesn’t have a CMS or a CRM, so it lacks the unified path from perception to motion that HubSpot has. Transferring from suggestion to implementation can be extra of a problem, as you’ll want a separate software for publishing. To get from perception to content material creation with HubSpot, you’ll want Advertising Hub Professional/Enterprise (which incorporates AEO options and a CRM) or HubSpot for Entrepreneurs (which incorporates AEO options, a CRM, and a CMS). To create content material with Semrush, you’ll want the Content material Toolkit add-on.

As for technical optimization, each instruments will warn you to AI-specific technical points, reminiscent of a robots.txt file blocking an AI crawler. Nevertheless, Semrush gives a devoted AI Search Well being rating inside its deeper, conventional Web site Audit software, making it stronger for total technical search engine marketing.

What’s the quickest method to flip visibility gaps into content material updates?

The quickest method to flip visibility gaps into content material updates is to make use of HubSpot for Entrepreneurs, which mixes Advertising Hub, Content material Hub, and AEO that will help you create reply engine-friendly content material quick based mostly in your precise CRM information. Subscribers to HubSpot for Entrepreneurs or Advertising Hub Skilled/Enterprise can use Content material Agent to generate research-backed weblog posts based mostly on AEO suggestions.

When do you have to use AI to speed up AEO duties?

As a author, I’m all the time going to advocate for holding people within the loop, particularly when writing AEO content material. If you’re going to use AI, use AI that has the correct context about your model; in any other case, your outputs can be generic. For instance, subscribers to Advertising Hub Skilled and Enterprise get AEO characteristic entry that attracts upon CRM information to offer extra contextualized immediate solutions based mostly in your precise enterprise.

Listed here are a few one of the best locations AI can pace up AEO duties:

• Immediate analysis and monitoring. HubSpot quickens immediate analysis by connecting to your CRM (by way of Advertising Hub Skilled and Enterprise). Semrush makes use of its large database of AI queries to recommend prompts based mostly in your area and site. Each instruments observe your prompts day by day, providing you with insights into whether or not and the way continuously your model is talked about or cited for these goal prompts.
• Writing help. HubSpot affords Content material Agent, which may conduct analysis based mostly in your CRM information and generate content material drafts in a single click on. Semrush affords Content material Toolkit ($60/mo for the add-on).

Winner: HubSpot. HubSpot’s benefit is its native integration with its Good CRM in addition to its advertising and content material instruments. Utilizing AEO inside a Advertising Hub Skilled or Enterprise subscription grants you the power to personal the AEO course of end-to-end, from AEO perception to revealed content material. There’s additionally closed-loop reporting as a result of all of it occurs throughout the HubSpot platform.

That CRM connection means you may get customized immediate solutions based mostly on your small business context inside HubSpot. HubSpot additionally has integrations with Google Analytics and Google Search Console, in addition to greater than 1,000 different integrations obtainable within the HubSpot Market.

Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit natively integrates with the Semrush search engine marketing platform, which is helpful when you’re already utilizing it for search engine marketing. It additionally gives integrations with Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Semrush has deeper options for SEO than HubSpot does. Nevertheless, Semrush lacks the CRM immediate grounding and personalization that HubSpot has. Semrush’s third-party integrations embrace WordPress, Trello, Google Docs, and Fb.

HubSpot AEO doesn’t have a free plan, however HubSpot does provide a free software that helps entrepreneurs get a snapshot of their AI readiness. AI Search Grader provides entrepreneurs a free point-in-time report of their model’s AI visibility throughout ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — excellent for getting a baseline. The report relies on the LLMs’ coaching information, so it’s helpful for understanding the place you stand if you first get began on AEO. However to trace your model’s goal prompts and precise progress, you’ll have to improve to HubSpot AEO.

Begin by getting your baseline utilizing the free AI Search Grader. Simply enter your area, and AI Search Grader provides you with a one-time snapshot of your AI visibility based mostly on present coaching information for ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. It’ll rating your model on sentiment, presence high quality, model recognition, share of voice, and market competitors.

Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit doesn’t have a free plan, however the free Semrush plan grants entry to Area Overview to supply a snapshot of your area’s mentions, citations, and AI visibility rating. It additionally grants entry to Web site Audit, permitting you to audit as much as 100 pages for technical points which can be hindering your AI visibility.

Free Trials

Greatest for: Evaluating superior AEO instruments earlier than committing to a paid subscription

For extra superior AI visibility and steady monitoring, HubSpot AEO affords a 28-day free trial. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit ($99/mo/area) does not provide a free trial. Nevertheless, Semrush search engine marketing + AI Search (beginning at $199/mo billed month-to-month) does provide a seven-day free trial.

Establishing on each is extremely simple — all it’s essential to do is enter your area. Then, for HubSpot AEO, it’ll information you thru onboarding, asking for extra particulars about your small business so it may well present customized immediate solutions.

Step 2: Increase to paid tiers to expedite and observe AEO progress.

Entrepreneurs severe about AEO rapidly outgrow free plans and trials. When you’ve taken benefit of free trials for analysis functions, you’re able to decide to a paid subscription for long-term monitoring and expedited AEO progress.

HubSpot AEO could be bought by itself for simply $50/mo, granting you 25 prompts that it tracks day by day. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit could be bought by itself for $99/mo/area, additionally permitting you to trace 25 prompts.

• Your clients are primarily utilizing Google AI Overviews or Google AI Mode. Semrush covers these two reply engines, in addition to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
• You’re advantageous with auto-generated artificial prompts. Word: Semrush does will let you manually add your personal prompts as effectively.
• You prioritize characteristic complexity and amount.
• Your crew is generally SEOs. Word: For search engine marketing performance, it’s essential to buy the search engine marketing base subscription ($139.95/mo) along with the $99/mo/area AI Visibility Toolkit add-on.
• $99/mo is inside your finances. Word: $99/mo is for one area solely and doesn’t embrace search engine marketing performance.

What’s one of the best ways to pilot and show impression?

Personally, I prefer to pilot software program I’m contemplating facet by facet. So, I’d suggest signing up for HubSpot AEO’s free 28-day trial on the similar time that you just join Semrush One’s 7-day free trial. Then, spend the subsequent week utilizing them facet by facet and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses.

Use the identical area to get a real apples-to-apples comparability of how every software approaches the AEO course of.

From there, I’d create just a few items of content material based mostly on HubSpot AEO’s suggestions and Semrush’s suggestions. Consider this as cut up testing. Create a spreadsheet of the content material that was based mostly on HubSpot and a separate tab for the content material that was based mostly on Semrush.

AEO efforts, much like search engine marketing work, take time to indicate impression. Observe each items of content material over the subsequent three months. Observe these metrics: citations, mentions, prompts. Word: As a result of the free trial for HubSpot AEO ends after 28 days and Semrush One after seven days, you’ll should improve to the paid model of HubSpot AEO ($50/mo) after which the paid model of the standalone Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit ($99/mo/area).

On the finish of your three-month pilot, see which software ended up providing you with content material suggestions that moved the needle on your AI visibility. Along with that, pay attention to which software was genuinely most useful and straightforward to make use of on your crew.

Profound

Greatest for: Enterprise groups eager to automate the AEO content material creation course of (whereas sustaining human-in-the-loop approval)

Key Options

• Broadest engine protection (10): ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Meta AI, Grok, DeepSeek, Claude
• Pre-built content material brokers: Select from a library of agent templates, together with one that allows you to generate AEO-friendly articles based mostly on a subject immediate. Necessary word from the Profound web site: “Each Agent run consists of an approval step earlier than something publishes, so you may keep in command of what goes dwell.”
• Immediate Volumes: A standout characteristic that estimates quantity on the key phrase or phrase degree, drawn from actual ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude person information

Pricing: Begins at $99/mo for ChatGPT monitoring solely

Scrunch

Greatest for: Mid-market to enterprise groups needing technical optimizations and AI visitors attribution

Key Options

• Engine protection (9): ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Meta AI, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Grok
• Agent Expertise Platform (AXP): A standout characteristic that basically creates a second model of each webpage that’s served solely to AI crawlers (not search engine crawlers or people) to assist together with your AEO
• AI referrals: Connect with GA4, and also you’ll see who visited from AI, in addition to buy income and conversion charge tied to AI referrals.

Pricing: Begins at $250/mo for 4 reply engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Microsoft Copilot)

Ahrefs Model Radar

Greatest for: Groups already utilizing Ahrefs for search engine marketing, or these targeted on AI visibility on social media

Key Options

• AI protection on LLMs and social media (6+3): Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini + YouTube, TikTok, Reddit
• Largest immediate database: 406M+ month-to-month prompts
• Unified search engine marketing/AEO dashboard: For present Ahrefs search engine marketing customers, AEO information will sit in the identical dashboard as their search engine marketing information.

Pricing: Begins at $199/mo for one platform

In case you’re already utilizing Profound, Scrunch, or Ahrefs, you may nonetheless add HubSpot AEO by buying it by itself. This may grant you entry to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity information, in addition to HubSpot’s immediate solutions and content material suggestions. To get CRM-powered solutions which can be customized based mostly on your small business context, improve to Advertising Hub Professional+ or HubSpot for Entrepreneurs.

Subscribers of HubSpot for Entrepreneurs (Advertising Hub Professional+ and Content material Hub Professional+ bundled) can personal the AEO content material creation course of end-to-end by getting the AEO suggestion, clicking a button to create content material with Content material Agent, after which monitoring that content material’s URL to see its impression on AEO — multi function place. This avoids stack sprawl and governance gaps, enabling a centralized dashboard for AEO insights and actions.

AEO success in the end will depend on whether or not your AEO efforts are constructing your pipeline. So, past visibility scores, it’s essential to join your AEO content material to enterprise impression. For this, I like to recommend HubSpot Advertising Hub Enterprise as a result of then you definately’ll get AEO options and multi-touch attribution that may let you know how your AEO efforts are tied to precise offers in your pipeline.

What’s one of the best ways to get cited in AI solutions?

The easiest way to get cited in AI solutions is to be taught reply engine optimization (AEO), which incorporates ways reminiscent of creating answer-first content material, enhancing your off-site fame, making certain your website has no technical points, and utilizing a devoted AEO software. For extra particulars, try HubSpot’s AEO information.

When do you have to prioritize AEO over conventional search engine marketing work?

First, a caveat: Good AEO depends on a stable search engine marketing basis. So, when you’ve bought a stable search engine marketing basis in place, prioritize AEO over conventional search engine marketing when you have not but optimized your website for reply engines. I like to recommend this as a result of AI search habits is rising quick, and it takes time for AEO content material to compound. So beginning on AEO now will repay sooner or later.