---
title: "What Is AI Visibility? How to Measure and Raise It (2026 Data)"
url: https://communitymentions.com/ai-visibility
description: "AI visibility is how often ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini name or cite your brand. How to check it free, what tools cost, and our own measured numbers."
updated: "November 7, 2026"
author: "Ryan Doyle"
author_url: https://rpdoyle.com
---

# What Is AI Visibility? How to Measure and Raise It, for Marketers Who Want ChatGPT and Perplexity to Name Their Brand (2026 Data)

By [Ryan Doyle](https://rpdoyle.com), founder of CommunityMentions. Updated November 7, 2026.

AI visibility is how often ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews name your brand or cite your pages when buyers ask about your category. Measure it by running the same buyer prompts on each engine and counting mentions and cited URLs. Raise it by being discussed on the sites those answers cite, Reddit most of all.

- **18.9%**: of sourced AI answers cited reddit.com (our study of 41,592 queries, January to July 2026)
- **17 of 96**: category answers named CommunityMentions in our November 2, 2026 scan of four engines
- **30 of 804**: URLs cited in those 96 answers were our own pages (3.7%)

## Quick picks: what are you doing?

Prices are each vendor's own published numbers, read November 7, 2026.

- You want a free first look in a minute: [Ahrefs' free AI Visibility Checker](https://ahrefs.com/ai-visibility-checker), no signup.
- You want a free report with sentiment and competitor rankings and don't mind a form: [Amplitude's free AI Visibility report](https://amplitude.com/try-ai-visibility).
- You want one score tracked month to month on 25 prompts: [HubSpot AEO](https://www.hubspot.com/products/aeo/ai-visibility), $50 a month once HubSpot's trial ends ($45 a month paid yearly).
- You want tracking with a large prompt database: [Ahrefs Brand Radar](https://ahrefs.com/brand-radar), from $199 a month (its page lists $699 a month for all models).
- You want numbers you control, with no subscription: run your own prompt test, steps below.
- You already know you're missing from the answers and want to show up in the threads they cite: CommunityMentions posts comments on Reddit, YouTube, Medium, LinkedIn and X for $1,000 a month. Start with a [free sample](https://communitymentions.com/features/free-sample-of-reddit-comments).

## Ways to check AI visibility, compared

Read November 7, 2026, from each vendor's own page. Zapier's roundup of AI visibility tools (updated September 2026) lists more paid trackers, from $29 a month for OtterlyAI's Lite plan up to custom pricing from $15,000 a month for Petra Labs.

| Method | Engines covered | What you get | Price as published | Best for |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ahrefs free AI Visibility Checker | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Google AI Overviews | A limited preview: total AI mentions, a split by platform, the topics that trigger mentions, cited domains | Free, no signup. Brand Radar from $199/mo; $699/mo listed for all models | A first look |
| Amplitude free AI Visibility report | "Top AI platforms, including ChatGPT and Google AI Overview" | Visibility score and sentiment, competitor rankings, topics, recommendations | Free report after a form; no paid price on that page | Teams already using Amplitude analytics |
| HubSpot AEO AI visibility tracking (beta) | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini | One visibility score over time for 25 prompts, with recommendations | HubSpot AEO: a HubSpot trial, then $50/mo ($45/mo paid yearly); more prompts cost extra. | Tracking a score month to month |
| Manual prompt test | Any engine you can open | Your own read of 10 to 20 prompts | Free; an hour or two of your time | Small brands and a first baseline |
| Your own API scan (how we measure) | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity through their APIs | Every answer and every cited URL, saved and countable | API fees only: our 226-answer scan on November 2, 2026 cost an estimated $14.70 at list prices, about 6.5 cents an answer | Repeatable numbers you own |

## What is AI visibility?

AI visibility is a share: out of the answers an AI engine gives to questions in your category, how many include your brand. Three numbers make it up, and the tools above weigh them differently.

Named share is the count of answers that mention your brand by name. HubSpot's own example: mentioned in 7 of 10 responses is a 70% score. Citation share is how many of the URLs an answer links to are your pages. Position is your place in the answer's list: first, or fifth.

They move apart. In our November 2, 2026 scan, CommunityMentions was named in 17 of 96 category answers, yet only 30 of the 804 URLs those answers cited were our pages. Engines often name a brand while citing someone else's page about it, such as a review list or a Reddit thread.

## How do I check my AI visibility?

The free tools above give a quick read. A manual test you can repeat every month usually takes an hour or two the first time:

- 1. Write 10 to 30 buyer questions without your brand name in them: "best X for Y", "how much does X cost", "X alternatives". Keep the exact wording; you will reuse it.
- 2. Ask each question on each engine you care about: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Google with AI Overviews. Ask each one three times if you can, because the same prompt gives different answers run to run.
- 3. For every answer, record whether your brand is named, its position in any list, every brand named, and every URL cited.
- 4. Work out three numbers per engine. Named share is answers naming you over all answers; citation share is your URLs over all cited URLs. Named first is answers that name you first over answers that name any brand.
- 5. Repeat with the same prompts once a month, and compare each engine against itself. Done looks like a sheet with one row per answer and three numbers per engine, with a date on top.

## What a measurement looks like: our own numbers, November 2026

On November 2, 2026 we ran our prompt set through four engines through their APIs: 226 answers in all, 96 of them on category questions that don't name us (24 per engine). CommunityMentions was named in 17 of those 96 (18%): ChatGPT 7 of 24, Claude 5 of 24, Perplexity 3 of 24, Gemini 2 of 24. We were named first in 11 of the 77 answers that named any brand. Here is the citation side, by engine:

| Engine | Category answers | Our URLs / all cited URLs | Citation share |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ChatGPT | 24 | 7 of 80 | 8.8% |
| Perplexity | 24 | 12 of 240 | 5.0% |
| Gemini | 24 | 7 of 158 | 4.4% |
| Claude | 24 | 4 of 326 | 1.2% |
| All four | 96 | 30 of 804 | 3.7% |

## Why the same brand scores differently on each engine

Claude cited 326 URLs across 24 answers, four times as many as ChatGPT's 80, so the same handful of our pages is a far smaller share there. Count each engine on its own before you average.

A second read, run November 1, 2026: 32 questions about Reddit marketing services, one run each on Gemini, ChatGPT and Perplexity, 96 answers. The most-named service appeared in 29 of the 96. CommunityMentions appeared in 13 (7th of the 30 services our index ranked) and our domain was cited in 17. By engine we were named in 9 of 32 ChatGPT answers but only 2 of 32 on Gemini and 2 of 32 on Perplexity. One engine can carry a brand that the others barely mention.

Branded questions tell you little. When the question already had our name in it, the answers named us first 47 times out of 48 and 212 of the 342 URLs they cited were ours. Measure on questions a buyer asks before they know you.

## What is a good AI visibility score?

There is no standard scale. Every tool picks its own prompts, engines and formula, so a 40 from one tool and a 40 from another are not the same thing. A score is only useful against your own past score or a competitor's score on the same prompts.

As reference points only, from our own reads: on category questions with no brand in them, the most-named service in our November 1 read appeared in 29 of 96 answers (30%). We appeared in 17 of 96 (18%) on November 2. On branded questions, being named first in nearly every answer is normal, so a high branded score proves little. Watch the trend on the unbranded set.

## What raises AI visibility

Engines build answers from pages they can cite, and most of those pages are not brand websites. In [our study of 41,592 AI search queries](https://communitymentions.com/blog/ai-search-citation-study-2026) (January 9 to July 14, 2026, published July 20, 2026), reddit.com was cited in 18.9% of the answers that cited any source. YouTube came next at 14.4%, and 32.7% cited at least one community or user-generated platform. Brand-owned blogs rarely made the top of the list. ChatGPT cited Reddit in 29.6% of its sourced answers and Perplexity in 23.5%.

- Be discussed where the answers look. Threads on Reddit, YouTube comments and LinkedIn posts that name you in context are the pages engines cite for "best X" questions. Our [subreddit finder](https://communitymentions.com/subreddit-finder) ranks subreddits by how often AI answers cite their threads.
- Publish the page the engine searches for. Our most-cited page in the November 2 scan was a comparison of Reddit marketing agencies with published prices, cited in 38 of the 226 answers (7 of the 96 category answers). Comparison, price and alternatives pages written in the buyer's words get cited.
- Get onto the lists engines already cite. In the same scan, press releases that call an agency the "best Reddit marketing agency" or "best AI SEO agency", were cited in 18 of the 96 category answers. They went out on PR Newswire and were republished by Morningstar, Yahoo Finance and a local TV station's site. Directories such as Clutch's Reddit category were cited too.
- Keep your facts the same everywhere. In the November 2 scan, 35 of the 294 facts the engines stated about us were wrong, 25 of them an old monthly price. Engines repeat what they find, so fix your profiles and listings, not only your own site.

## Get mentioned in the threads AI answers cite

This is the part CommunityMentions does. We find the threads in your category and post comments that name your brand on Reddit, YouTube, Medium, LinkedIn and X. We aim for 5 to 10 comments a day across Reddit, YouTube, Medium, LinkedIn and X combined. In the 30 days from October 7 to November 5, 2026, the median of 55 client brands got 49 verified placements across those channels, 9 of them on Reddit. The price is $1,000 a month, month to month: a $1 setup charge today, and monthly billing starts only after you approve the voice in Slack. No service can promise that an engine will cite a given comment.

Before you pay anything, [get a free sample](https://communitymentions.com/features/free-sample-of-reddit-comments) of the comments we would post for your site. For the Reddit side in more depth, see [Reddit marketing for AI search](https://communitymentions.com/reddit-marketing-for-ai-search) and [the agencies that sell it, compared](https://communitymentions.com/best-reddit-marketing-service-for-ai-search-visibility).

## Limits of any AI visibility number

- Answers vary. The same prompt on the same engine can name different brands an hour later, so a single run is a sample, not a measurement. Run each prompt more than once.
- Small sets swing. With 24 answers per engine, one answer moves a share by about 4 points.
- Some citations are hidden. Gemini returns many citations as Google redirect links that mask the real domain; our citation study left those out, so its Gemini figures undercount.
- Tools don't agree. Each one uses its own prompt set, so compare a tool only with itself over time.

## Sources

- [Ahrefs free AI Visibility Checker](https://ahrefs.com/ai-visibility-checker) and [Brand Radar pricing](https://ahrefs.com/brand-radar), read November 7, 2026.
- [Amplitude free AI Visibility report](https://amplitude.com/try-ai-visibility), read November 7, 2026.
- [HubSpot AEO AI visibility tracking](https://www.hubspot.com/products/aeo/ai-visibility), price and score definition, read November 7, 2026.
- [Zapier, the best AI visibility tools](https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-visibility-tool/), updated September 2026, read November 7, 2026.
- CommunityMentions AI-answer scan, November 2, 2026: 226 answers on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, 96 of them on category questions.
- CommunityMentions share-of-voice read, November 1, 2026: 96 answers on Gemini, ChatGPT and Perplexity.
- [CommunityMentions citation study](https://communitymentions.com/blog/ai-search-citation-study-2026), 41,592 queries, published July 20, 2026.
- CommunityMentions delivery database, verified placements October 7 to November 5, 2026, read November 6, 2026.
- Our price and terms: [company facts](https://communitymentions.com/company), read November 7, 2026.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is AI visibility?

AI visibility is how often AI engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews name your brand or cite your pages when people ask about your category. It is usually measured as a share of answers that mention you, a share of cited URLs that are yours, and how often you are named first.

### How do I check my AI visibility for free?

Ahrefs has a free AI Visibility Checker that needs no signup, and Amplitude offers a free report after a form (both read November 7, 2026). For numbers you can repeat, write 10 to 30 buyer questions without your brand name and ask each one on each engine. Then count the answers that name you and the URLs that are yours.

### What is a good AI visibility score?

There is no standard scale, because every tool uses its own prompts and formula. Compare your score with your own last score, or with a competitor's on the same prompts. For reference only: on unbranded category questions, the most-named Reddit marketing service in our November 1, 2026 read appeared in 30% of answers, and we appeared in 18% on November 2.

### What is the difference between being mentioned and being cited?

Mentioned means the answer names your brand in its text. Cited means it links to one of your pages as a source. They often differ: on November 2, 2026 we were named in 17 of 96 category answers, but only 30 of the 804 URLs those answers cited were ours.

### How much do AI visibility tools cost?

Read November 7, 2026: Ahrefs' checker is free and Brand Radar starts at $199 a month. HubSpot AEO is $50 a month for 25 prompts once HubSpot's trial ends. Zapier's roundup lists trackers from $29 a month up to custom plans from $15,000 a month. Running your own API scan cost us about 6.5 cents an answer.

## Keep reading

- [Reddit marketing for AI search](https://communitymentions.com/reddit-marketing-for-ai-search)
- [Reddit marketing services for AI search, compared](https://communitymentions.com/best-reddit-marketing-service-for-ai-search-visibility)
- [Our study: 41,592 AI answers and what they cite](https://communitymentions.com/blog/ai-search-citation-study-2026)
- [Subreddit finder, ranked by AI citations](https://communitymentions.com/subreddit-finder)
- [Free sample of Reddit comments](https://communitymentions.com/features/free-sample-of-reddit-comments)
- [CommunityMentions company facts](https://communitymentions.com/company)
- [LLM SEO: what it is and what moves it](https://communitymentions.com/llm-seo)

## See where your brand would be mentioned

Paste your site and get a free sample of the Reddit comments we'd post this week, the first ones in about 2 minutes. Free sample: https://communitymentions.com/#sample