Free AI Visibility Checkers Compared

By The Check My AI Search Team, AI search visibility for local businesses · November 2026

The three most-searched free AI visibility checkers — HubSpot AI Search Grader, BrightLocal, and MentionedOn — each ask an AI model a question about your brand and report back what it said. That's useful as a starting point, but a single ask on a single day is not a reliable visibility score. AI answers vary run to run; the only honest measurement is a rate ("named in 7 of 9 asks"), not a screenshot. Each tool has a different audience and a different definition of "visibility," so picking the right one depends on what you're actually trying to learn.

Check My AI Search's take: In our data from thousands of real AI answers to local questions like "best roofer in Tampa," the same prompt asked twice on the same day often returns a different list. A one-time free check is a fine first look, but we've seen businesses celebrate a "mentioned" result from a single ask — then discover they appear in fewer than 3 of 10 answers when tracked weekly. Treat any free snapshot as a smoke detector, not a fire-safety audit.

What does a free AI visibility checker actually test?

A free AI visibility checker submits one or more prompts to an AI model — typically ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity — and shows you whether your business or brand appeared in the response. Most free tools run the prompt once, capture the answer, and score or summarize it. That tells you what the model said at that moment, not how often it names you across many asks or how your visibility compares to local rivals over time.

The key limitation is non-determinism: AI models don't return the same answer every time. A business can appear in one response and be absent from the next identical prompt. This is why repeat-ask rates matter more than any single result. Free tools differ sharply in whether they account for this.

HubSpot AI Search Grader vs BrightLocal vs MentionedOn: side-by-side

All three tools offer a free entry point, but they're built for different use cases. HubSpot is brand-focused, BrightLocal is local-SEO-focused, and MentionedOn is AI-mention-focused. Here's how they compare on the details that matter for a local business owner.

Factor	HubSpot AI Search Grader	BrightLocal	MentionedOn
What it is	Free one-time brand visibility grader	Local SEO platform with AI visibility module	AI-mention monitoring tool for local/service businesses
Best for	Marketers and brand teams wanting a quick AI baseline	Local businesses and agencies already tracking local SEO	Local service businesses, hospitality, professional practices
AI engines checked	ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini	ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode	ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, Copilot, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode
Free offering	Full grader — free, no account required	Free trial; AI visibility is part of a paid platform (starts at $41/month for one location, as of November 2026)	Free scan available; ongoing plan pricing not publicly published
Scoring / output	Five-dimension scored report: sentiment, presence quality, brand recognition, share of voice, market position	Local AI Visibility Tracker within broader local SEO dashboard	Mentions, competitor names, improvement tasks
Ongoing tracking	No — snapshot only	Yes — continuous monitoring as part of paid plan	Appears snapshot-based in free tier; ongoing monitoring unclear without contacting company
Competitor comparison	Share-of-voice dimension included	Yes, within local SEO context	Shows who AI names instead of you
Known limitation	One-time only; no repeat-ask rate; no ongoing alerts	AI visibility is one module in a broader platform; pricing rises with locations	Pricing not transparent; limited public reviews; snapshot-based per available descriptions

Sources: HubSpot AI Search Grader official page; BrightLocal platform page; MentionedOn official site; BrightLocal pricing comparison, November 2026. All details as of November 2026.

HubSpot AI Search Grader: what it does well and where it stops

HubSpot AI Search Grader is a fully free, no-account-required tool that checks how ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini describe your brand and scores the result across five dimensions: sentiment, presence quality, brand recognition, share of voice, and market position. It's the easiest entry point for anyone who has never checked their AI visibility before.

The main trade-off is that it's a one-time diagnostic, not a monitoring tool. It tells you what the models said once, on the day you ran it. There's no scheduled re-check, no trend line, and no alert if your visibility drops next month. For a local plumber or dentist who wants to know whether AI knows they exist, it's a reasonable first step — but it won't tell you whether you're named consistently or only occasionally.

HubSpot does not publish any paid tier for the grader itself; it is positioned as a free front-door tool, with HubSpot's broader marketing platform as the upsell. Independent reviews describe it as a useful baseline, not a replacement for platforms that track prompts and citations over time.

BrightLocal: strong for local SEO, AI visibility is one module

BrightLocal is a local SEO platform — rankings, citations, reviews, Google Business Profile audits — that added an AI visibility module tracking whether businesses appear in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Google AI Mode. If you're already paying for local SEO tracking, the AI visibility layer is a natural addition. If AI visibility is your only concern, BrightLocal is more platform than you need.

Pricing starts at $41/month for one location (as of November 2026, per independent pricing comparisons citing BrightLocal's own page). That covers rankings, listings, reviews, and white-label reports in one login — AI visibility is part of that bundle, not a standalone free tool. A free trial is available, but ongoing AI monitoring requires a paid plan.

BrightLocal is the right fit for agencies and multi-location businesses that want local SEO and AI visibility in one dashboard. It's less suited to a single-location owner who only wants to know whether ChatGPT recommends them for "emergency dentist in Austin."

MentionedOn: AI-mention focus, pricing not publicly listed

MentionedOn is built specifically around the question of whether AI assistants name your business when customers ask for a local provider. It covers a wide range of AI engines — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, Copilot, Google AI Overviews, and Google AI Mode — and runs buyer-intent prompts like "best plumber in [city]" rather than brand-name queries. It also shows who AI names instead of you and produces improvement tasks from the scan results.

A free scan is available, but MentionedOn does not publicly publish its ongoing plan pricing. Buyers need to contact the company to compare options. That's a meaningful friction point if you're evaluating tools side by side. Public review volume is also thin — Trustpilot listed no reviews as of November 2026 — so third-party validation is limited.

The tool appears to be snapshot-based in its free tier, with ongoing monitoring available but not clearly described in public materials. For local service businesses that want to see which AI engines name them and who their AI competitors are, it's worth a free scan — just go in knowing you'll need to ask about pricing before committing.

One-shot graders vs. repeated asks: why the method matters

The single biggest difference between free AI visibility checkers isn't the brand or the interface — it's whether the tool asks once or asks repeatedly. A one-shot grader captures a moment. A repeated-ask tool measures a rate. For local businesses, the rate is what matters, because AI answers are non-deterministic: the same question asked twice can return different businesses.

Here's why this matters in practice:

• A single "yes" can mislead. If a tool asks ChatGPT once and your business appears, you might assume you're visible. But if you're only named in 2 of 10 asks, you're effectively invisible to most customers who search that way.
• A single "no" can also mislead. You might be named frequently but happened to miss the one ask the tool ran.
• Trends require baselines over time. If you improve your reviews or add schema markup, you need before-and-after data to know whether it worked — a one-time check can't show that.
• Competitor comparison needs the same methodology. Comparing your one-ask result to a rival's one-ask result on different days is not a fair comparison.

This is why measuring AI visibility honestly means running each prompt multiple times and reporting a rate, not a screenshot. Our free AI visibility check asks 5 questions, 2 times each, so you get a rate from the start — not a single data point. Paid weekly tracking asks each question 3 times per AI engine every week, so your results are always rates ("named in 7 of 9 answers"), not single screenshots.

When each free checker is the better choice

Each tool has a genuine use case. Here's when to reach for each one:

• Use HubSpot AI Search Grader if you're a marketer or brand team that wants a fast, free, no-account baseline across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. It's the easiest tool to run and the output is clear. Just don't treat the score as a stable metric.
• Use BrightLocal if you're already managing local SEO for one or more locations and want AI visibility folded into the same dashboard as your rankings, citations, and reviews. The AI module makes most sense as part of the broader platform.
• Use MentionedOn if you want to see which AI engines name you across the widest range of models, and you're comfortable contacting them for pricing. The buyer-intent prompt approach is well-suited to local service categories.
• Use Check My AI Search if you want a free check that already uses repeat asks (5 questions, 2 asks each), and you want to move to weekly tracking that reports rates rather than single screenshots — starting at $29/month with a 7-day full refund. See our pricing page for plan details.

What a free check can and can't tell you

A free AI visibility check can tell you whether an AI model named your business in at least one response, what the model said about you, and which competitors appeared in the same answer. That's genuinely useful information — especially if you've never checked before.

What it can't tell you: how consistently you appear across many asks, whether your visibility is trending up or down, which specific sources (websites, review platforms, directories) the AI is drawing on, or whether a fix you made last month actually changed anything. For those questions, you need repeat asks and a time series — which requires ongoing tracking, not a one-time check.

For local businesses — roofers, dentists, med spas, injury lawyers, HVAC companies — the practical question isn't "did AI mention me once?" It's "when a customer in my city asks ChatGPT for a recommendation, how often do I show up?" That's a rate question, and free one-shot tools don't answer it. Use the free check to start; use weekly tracking to manage. Our help center explains what to do with your results once you have them.

Frequently asked questions

Is HubSpot AI Search Grader really free with no account?

Yes. As of November 2026, HubSpot AI Search Grader is free and requires no account or sign-up. It runs a one-time check across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini and produces a scored report across five dimensions. There are no published paid tiers for the grader itself — it is a standalone free tool, not a trial of a paid plan.

Does BrightLocal have a free AI visibility checker?

BrightLocal offers a free trial, but its AI visibility tracking is part of a paid local SEO platform. The entry plan starts at $41/month for one location (as of November 2026). If you only want AI visibility and don't need local rankings, citations, and review management, BrightLocal's pricing may be more than you need for that single use case.

Why do AI visibility results change from one check to the next?

AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini are non-deterministic — they don't return identical answers every time. The same prompt asked twice can produce different business recommendations. This is why a single check is a snapshot, not a score. Reliable visibility measurement requires asking each prompt multiple times and reporting how often you appear, not just whether you appeared once.

What's the difference between a one-time AI visibility check and weekly tracking?

A one-time check tells you what an AI said on one day. Weekly tracking asks the same prompts repeatedly over time — Check My AI Search asks each question 3 times per AI engine every week — so you see a rate ("named in 6 of 9 asks this week") and a trend. Tracking also shows whether changes you make — adding reviews, fixing your website, updating your listings — actually improve how often AI recommends you.

Which free AI visibility checker is best for a local business like a plumber or dentist?

For a single-location local business, the most useful free check is one that uses buyer-intent prompts ("best plumber in [city]") rather than brand-name queries, and that asks each prompt more than once. HubSpot's grader is the easiest to run; MentionedOn uses buyer-intent prompts across many engines; Check My AI Search runs 5 questions twice each and shows rates from the first free check.

Want to know whether ChatGPT and Gemini name your business today? Run the free AI visibility check: no account needed, results in about two minutes. Weekly tracking starts at $29 a month, with a full refund within 7 days.

Last updated: November 2026