Market report · Oct 2026
Answer Engine Optimization
32 vendors tracked and 321 case studies read: what teams report, who signs off, who is winning switches, and where vendors fall short.
Market leaders
Top Answer Engine Optimization vendors by known customers
- 1.AthenaHQ121 known customers · 10 case studies
- 2.Adthena106 known customers · 42 case studies · 1 documented switch won
- 3.AirOps87 known customers · 55 case studies · 2 documented switches won
- 4.Similarweb62 known customers
- 5.Brandlight50 known customers · 2 case studies
- 6.Profound44 known customers · 21 case studies
- 7.OtterlyAI44 known customers · 8 case studies
- 8.Peec AI43 known customers · 8 case studies
- 9.Scrunch AI40 known customers · 25 case studies
- 10.Gauge30 known customers · 16 case studies · 1 documented switch won
Ranked by publicly known customers · Airframe, Oct 2026
Loss reasons
Why Answer Engine Optimization vendors lose deals
- Tool acts as a monitor, not a strategy engine.
- Modeled data differs from first party data.
- Price exceeds value for small teams.
- AI engine cover is narrow.
- Prompt set is fake and misses real user prompts.
Loss reasons across the category · Airframe, Oct 2026
Buyer questions
What buyers ask Answer Engine Optimization vendors
- How do you test our prompt set each day and show change over time?
- How do you show rank for our brand in AI answers by prompt and date?
- How do you cover ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude in one view?
- How do you show share for our brand across AI answers?
- How do you compare rank for our brand with rank for rivals?
- How do you list cited pages and cited domains for each answer?
- How do you show exact AI replies for audit and proof?
- How do you find gaps where rivals win and we lose?
Most decisive first, from pre-purchase questions and RFPs · Airframe, Oct 2026
Pricing
Answer Engine Optimization pricing published by vendors
- Signum (flat-rate): Pro $49/month; higher tiers by quote source
- The Prompting Company (flat-rate): Basic $99/mo; Pro $299/mo; White glove $2,500/mo; higher tiers by quote source
- OtterlyAI (flat-rate): Lite $29/month; Premium $489/month; higher tiers by quote source
- Goodie AI (flat-rate): Core — brands $399/month; Pro — brands $999/month; Growth — agencies $275/month; higher tiers by quote source
- Ahrefs Brand Radar (flat-rate): Custom Prompts — Basic $50/month; Custom Prompts — Growth $100/month; Custom Prompts — Scale $250/month; Ahrefs Lite $129/month; Ahrefs Standard $249/month; Ahrefs Advanced $449/month; Ahrefs Lite additional users $40/user/month; Ahrefs Standard additional users $60/user/month; Ahrefs Advanced additional users $80/user/month; Ahrefs Enterprise additional users $100/user/month source
As listed on each vendor's own pricing page · Airframe, Oct 2026
For buyers
Buying answer engine optimization?
The market at a glance
- 32 vendors tracked
- 321 case studies read
- 260 buyers mapped
Airframe, Oct 2026
Who signs off
- Marketing: 55
- Operations: 7
- CEO Office: 4
- Product: 4
Of 260 buyers mapped in this market · Airframe, Oct 2026
Ask what matters
- How do you test our prompt set each day and show change over time?
- How do you show rank for our brand in AI answers by prompt and date?
From the market's RFP question bank · Airframe, Oct 2026
For vendors
Who's winning your category?
Who buyers choose
- Writesonic: 125
- AthenaHQ: 121
- Semrush: 120
- Adthena: 106
Known customers per vendor · Airframe, Oct 2026
What buyers ask for most
- Citation source tracking: 61%
- Competitor visibility benchmark: 70%
- Multi engine coverage: 70%
Share of vendors offering each · Airframe, Oct 2026
Know why deals are lost
- Tool acts as a monitor, not a strategy engine.
- Modeled data differs from first party data.
- Price exceeds value for small teams.
Loss reasons across the category · Airframe, Oct 2026