HubSpot Launched a Free AI Search Grader: What It Means for AEO, and 8 Tools That Go Further
Last updated: July 3, 2026
Reading time: 11 minutes
HubSpot's free AI Search Grader is a clear market signal: answer engine optimization is no longer a side conversation for technical SEO teams. It is becoming a brand-marketing workflow.
In its launch announcement, HubSpot framed the shift from SEO to LMO, or language model optimization, around a simple problem: buyers increasingly ask tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini for recommendations before they visit a brand's website. HubSpot cited consumer-trend data showing AI-answer usage rising while traditional search behavior declined, then introduced a free grader to help marketers see how they show up in those answer engines.
That is useful. It is also only the first step.
A free grader can answer: "How does AI describe our brand right now?" A monitoring and optimization platform answers: "How is that changing, which competitors are being recommended instead of us, which sources are shaping the answer, and what should we publish or fix next?"
This guide breaks down what HubSpot's grader does, where a one-time score stops being enough, and which AEO/GEO tools go further after the first report.
What HubSpot's free AI Search Grader actually does
HubSpot's AEO Grader is a free one-time diagnostic for how answer engines represent a brand. The landing page describes the tool as a way to check what ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini say about a brand and return a written interpretation of the result.
The important part is not just the free check. It is the scoring model.
HubSpot's grader evaluates a brand across five dimensions:
- Sentiment
- Presence quality
- Brand recognition
- Share of voice
- Market competition
The result is presented as a score out of 100. The action data for this article specifically flags sentiment as a high-weighted dimension, and that matters because brand managers are not only asking whether AI mentions them. They are asking whether AI describes them accurately, positively, and in the right buying context.
The workflow is simple:
- Enter brand information.
- Run cross-platform AI analysis.
- Calculate a composite score.
- Receive a brand assessment report.
That makes the grader valuable for a first check. It gives non-technical teams a language for discussing AI visibility: score, sentiment, recognition, share of voice, and market position.
Where a free grader stops being enough
A one-time AI visibility score is a starting point, not an operating system.
AI answers change because models update, sources get re-crawled, competitors publish new pages, and AI search products keep changing how they cite, summarize, and rank sources. If a team checks its brand once, it may learn that the current answer is incomplete or negative, but it still needs a way to watch whether the answer improves after content, PR, review, or comparison-page work.
The gap usually appears in four places.
First, a score is not the same as monitoring. A grader can show what a few answer engines say at one moment. A monitoring workflow tracks selected prompts every day or every week, across answer engines, and records movement over time.
Second, a brand score is not competitor intelligence. A marketing team needs to know whether competitors are being recommended above them, which competitor claims AI repeats, and whether market-position language is shifting.
Third, sentiment alone does not explain the source of the problem. If AI calls a brand "limited," "expensive," or "hard to use," the team needs citation tracing to see which pages, reviews, or outdated comparisons shaped that language.
Fourth, a report is not an action plan. The practical question after a grader score is: what should we publish, update, pitch, or correct next?
That is why the next category after free graders is continuous AEO monitoring plus optimization.
Upgrade map after a free grader score
This is not a generic ranking table. Use it as a decision map after you have already checked your brand once and need to decide what comes next.
| If your next problem is… | Start with… | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Daily multi-engine tracking plus concrete optimization actions | MaxAEO | Built around AI visibility monitoring, competitor benchmarking, sentiment, citation tracing, and recommended actions |
| Adding AI visibility to an existing SEO workflow | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit or Ahrefs Brand Radar | Fits teams already using large SEO suites and web-index data |
| Lightweight recurring AI search monitoring | Otterly.AI or ZipTie | Focused monitoring workflows without full enterprise overhead |
| Enterprise AEO operations, integrations, or large teams | Profound or Scrunch | Built for scale, agencies, enterprise reporting, and broader AI presence programs |
| Collaborative AI search analytics with exports | Peec AI | Stronger fit when team seats, exports, and reporting connectors matter |
8 tools that go further than a one-time AI grader
1. MaxAEO
Best for: Marketing teams, founders, brand managers, SEO/AEO operators, and agencies that want daily AI search visibility monitoring plus optimization actions.
MaxAEO is an AI Search Brand Visibility Monitoring platform. It tracks how brands are mentioned, ranked, cited, and described across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, Grok, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overview.
Where this tool shines: MaxAEO focuses on the full loop after the first score: monitor AI answers, benchmark competitors, analyze sentiment, trace citations, and turn visibility gaps into optimization recommendations. That makes it a strong upgrade path for teams that used a free grader and then realized they need a recurring system.
Key features:
- Multi-engine monitoring across major AI answer platforms
- Competitor benchmarking and share-of-voice trends
- Brand sentiment analysis across AI-generated answers
- Citation tracing to identify the sources shaping model answers
- Content optimization recommendations for improving mention rate and recommendation rankings
- Daily monitoring for answer changes and model updates
Pricing: MaxAEO's cached product data lists a self-serve range from $15 to $399 per month, with Enterprise available through sales.
Honest limitation: MaxAEO is strongest when the goal is AI visibility monitoring plus action. If your team mainly wants a broad legacy SEO suite, Semrush or Ahrefs may fit better. If procurement requires a large enterprise platform with custom agents and deep integrations, Profound or Scrunch may also be part of the evaluation.
Try MaxAEO at maxaeo.ai.
2. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
Best for: Teams that already run SEO reporting in Semrush and want AI visibility attached to the same operating environment.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit is an AI visibility product inside the Semrush ecosystem. It is not just an AEO-only startup tool; it sits next to a broader stack for search, competitive research, reporting, and content workflows.
Where this tool shines: Semrush is strongest when the buyer wants AI visibility alongside existing SEO workflows. For teams already paying for Semrush, this can reduce tool sprawl and make AI visibility easier to bring into familiar reporting.
Key features:
- AI visibility and brand presence measurement
- Competitor comparison
- Reporting workflows connected to Semrush's SEO ecosystem
- Educational KB and setup guidance
- Free-checker-to-paid-toolkit path
Pricing: The action brief references Semrush's paid AI toolkit path at around $99/month per domain. Check Semrush's current AI Visibility Toolkit documentation for the latest packaging.
Honest limitation: Semrush is best if the AI visibility workflow should live inside a wider SEO suite. If you only want a focused AI search monitoring and optimization loop, a narrower product may be faster to operate.
3. Otterly.AI
Best for: Teams that want lightweight recurring AI search monitoring without enterprise packaging.
Otterly.AI is an AI search monitoring platform for tracking brand visibility and prompt performance across answer engines. It is a natural next step for teams that have moved past one-time checking but do not need a heavy enterprise suite.
Where this tool shines: Otterly.AI is useful when the main need is recurring tracking: what prompts matter, where the brand appears, and how visibility changes over time.
Key features:
- AI search monitoring
- Prompt planning and tracking
- Subscription-based plans
- FAQ and support flow for prompt volume decisions
- Simple entry point for smaller teams
Pricing: The action brief lists Otterly.AI starting around $29/month. Verify current details on Otterly.AI pricing.
Honest limitation: Lightweight monitoring can be the right first upgrade, but teams that need detailed citation tracing, action planning, or multi-engine optimization operations should compare it with MaxAEO and enterprise tools.
4. Profound
Best for: Enterprise AEO teams, large marketing organizations, and agencies that need advanced workflows, integrations, and reporting.
Profound is an answer engine optimization platform for tracking brand visibility, understanding AI-sourced traffic, and building AEO workflows at scale.
Where this tool shines: Profound is strongest when AEO becomes an enterprise program rather than a single marketing-team dashboard. Its pricing page emphasizes different tiers for small companies, growing companies, large companies, and agencies, plus reporting and integration workflows.
Key features:
- Answer-engine visibility analysis
- Competitor monitoring
- Content generation and optimization workflows
- AI-sourced traffic and attribution
- Enterprise integrations and reporting
Pricing: The action brief references Profound starting around $99/month, with larger tiers and enterprise options. Confirm current plans on Profound pricing.
Honest limitation: Profound can be more platform than a small team needs if the immediate job is simply to monitor a focused set of prompts and create optimization actions quickly.
5. Peec AI
Best for: Teams that want collaborative AI search analytics, exports, and multi-platform tracking with accessible team workflows.
Peec AI is an AI search analytics platform for tracking how brands appear in ChatGPT, Google's AI experiences, and other AI search environments. Its own comparison material emphasizes team access, exports, reporting connectors, and optimization modules.
Where this tool shines: Peec AI is useful when cross-functional teams need to inspect AI visibility data together and export it into reporting systems.
Key features:
- Multi-platform AI search tracking
- Team collaboration
- Data exports
- Looker Studio connector, API, and MCP-style workflow references
- Optimization recommendations
Pricing: Peec's comparison page references a starter plan around EUR89, roughly a little over $100 depending on exchange rates. See Peec AI vs Profound for current comparison framing.
Honest limitation: Peec is a good analytics and collaboration fit, but teams should check whether its action recommendations and citation workflows match the depth they need.
6. Scrunch
Best for: Enterprise teams thinking beyond brand mentions into agent experience, site consumption by AI systems, and large-scale AI presence programs.
Scrunch is an AI presence and agent-experience platform. Its pricing page frames the product around monitoring/citations, AI website traffic, site maps, shopping, insights, and enterprise-scale AI presence.
Where this tool shines: Scrunch is strongest when the buyer wants to understand how AI agents and AI search systems interact with the brand's site, products, and content ecosystem, not just whether the brand appears in a few prompts.
Key features:
- AI monitoring and citation visibility
- Agent Experience Platform positioning
- AI traffic and site-map analysis
- Enterprise workspaces, user licenses, API access, and integrations
- Shopping and AI search trend modules
Pricing: Scrunch uses evaluation and enterprise-style packaging. Check Scrunch pricing for current plan details.
Honest limitation: Scrunch is likely too broad if the immediate need is a practical, lower-cost monitoring-to-optimization workflow for a small team.
7. ZipTie
Best for: Smaller teams looking for a focused AI search optimization and monitoring workflow.
ZipTie is a specialist AI search visibility tool. It fits the buyer who wants to move beyond a free grader but does not want a large enterprise platform.
Where this tool shines: ZipTie belongs in the lightweight specialist lane: practical monitoring, AI search optimization focus, and a lower starting price than broad-suite or enterprise tools.
Key features:
- AI search visibility tracking
- Prompt and brand monitoring workflow
- Optimization-oriented reporting
- Smaller-team packaging
Pricing: The action brief references roughly $69-$149/month. Check ZipTie pricing for current details.
Honest limitation: ZipTie can be a good narrow tool, but teams should compare model coverage, citation tracing, competitor tracking, and action recommendations before choosing it as the core AEO system.
8. Ahrefs Brand Radar
Best for: SEO teams that want AI visibility data inside a large web-index and search-intelligence platform.
Ahrefs Brand Radar is part of Ahrefs' broader AI marketing and SEO platform. Ahrefs' pricing page describes brand visibility in LLMs, custom prompt tracking, and its web-index-driven marketing data ecosystem.
Where this tool shines: Ahrefs is strongest when the team wants AI visibility connected to backlink, search, content, and competitor data from a large SEO platform.
Key features:
- Brand visibility in LLMs
- Custom prompt tracking
- Broad SEO and web-index data
- Standalone Brand Radar availability according to Ahrefs FAQ
- Reporting across search and AI visibility
Pricing: The action brief references Ahrefs Brand Radar as a higher-cost option at $398+. Verify current packaging on Ahrefs pricing.
Honest limitation: Ahrefs is powerful if you already want the broader SEO data platform. It may be more expensive or more general than needed for a team whose main goal is AI search monitoring plus optimization actions.
How to choose after the first score
If HubSpot's free grader gives you a weak score, do not jump straight to "publish more blog posts." Diagnose the failure mode first.
If sentiment is the problem, monitor the exact wording AI engines use. A brand that is mentioned often but described with "limited," "expensive," "not ideal for," or "mixed reviews" has a different task from a brand that is simply absent.
If competitors outrank you, track share of voice by prompt cluster. "Best AI brand monitoring tools" and "brand sentiment analysis across AI chatbots" may produce different competitor sets.
If AI repeats outdated facts, trace citations. You need to know whether the answer is shaped by your own site, third-party listicles, review sites, old documentation, or competitor comparison pages.
If leadership wants proof, build a weekly AEO report. Track mention rate, average rank, sentiment, competitor share, cited domains, and completed optimization actions. A grader score is useful for awareness; a recurring report is useful for management.
FAQ
I'm a brand manager and I'm worried about how AI search engines talk about us. What should I use?
Start with a free grader if you have never checked your brand before. It will show whether answer engines recognize you and how they describe you. If you need ongoing tracking, use a monitoring tool such as MaxAEO to watch selected prompts across multiple AI platforms, compare competitors, analyze sentiment, trace citations, and create optimization actions.
Is there a platform that analyzes brand sentiment across different AI chatbots?
Yes. HubSpot's grader includes sentiment in its scoring model, and MaxAEO monitors brand sentiment across AI-generated answers as part of a broader AI visibility workflow. The key distinction is frequency: a grader gives a snapshot, while a monitoring platform tracks how sentiment changes over time.
Is HubSpot's free AI Search Grader enough?
It is enough for a first diagnostic. It is not enough if you need daily monitoring, competitor tracking, citation tracing, or a prioritized plan for improving AI recommendations. HubSpot's own grader page makes this distinction by presenting the free grade as a starting point.
When should I move from a free AEO grader to continuous monitoring?
Move when AI visibility becomes a business KPI rather than a curiosity. Common triggers include competitor recommendations replacing your brand, negative or outdated AI descriptions, leadership asking for proof of improvement, or a content team needing a queue of specific optimization actions.
What is the difference between AEO, GEO, and LMO?
AEO usually means answer engine optimization: improving how answer engines mention and recommend your brand. GEO usually means generative engine optimization: optimizing for generative AI systems more broadly. LMO, or language model optimization, is HubSpot's term in the launch article for adapting brand discovery to LLMs. In practice, all three point to the same operational need: monitor AI answers, understand sources, and improve the information AI systems use.
How is MaxAEO different from HubSpot AEO?
HubSpot's free grader is a useful entry point, especially for teams that want a fast brand perception check. MaxAEO is built as a monitoring-to-optimization workflow across many AI engines: visibility tracking, competitor benchmarking, sentiment analysis, citation tracing, and recommended actions. If the task is "check once," a free grader is enough. If the task is "improve this every week," use a continuous monitoring system.
Turn the first score into a working AEO system
HubSpot's launch is good for the category. It tells mainstream marketing teams that AI visibility is measurable, scoreable, and worth managing.
The next step is making it operational.
Use a free grader to see the baseline. Then use MaxAEO to track the prompts that matter, compare competitors, understand sentiment, trace sources, and turn gaps into content and optimization work.
Start with MaxAEO if you want to move from "how does AI describe us today?" to "what are we doing this week to improve it?"
Author note
Written by the MaxAEO AEO Research Team. MaxAEO monitors AI search brand visibility across major answer engines and turns mention, sentiment, ranking, and citation gaps into optimization actions.