Free checker, free limited product, and free trial are not the same offer.
RecoProof provides a genuinely free bounded five-question checker with no paid checkout; AthenaHQ documents a free entry plan; Ahrefs offers a limited AI visibility preview; AlsoAsked allows limited question research without sign-in but does not measure brand recommendations; Otterly offers a no-card trial rather than a permanent free monitor. Use free access to establish a first signal, not to claim a stable market share.
RecoProof publishes this comparison and is included in it.
We apply the stated page-specific criteria to RecoProof and identify where another product is a better fit. Vendor capabilities and access terms were checked against publicly available official documentation on August 31, 2026. We reviewed documentation; we did not claim hands-on testing of every product. Pricing and feature availability can change.
Start with the job, not a universal winner.
RecoProof
Five commercial questions, one controlled Sonar Pro pass, recommendations, competitors, citations, and stated limitations.
AthenaHQ
Officially presents a free entry tier for response/source analysis before paid credit capacity.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
Useful for an initial public AI visibility preview without presenting the full paid index workflow as free.
AlsoAsked
A limited number of live People Also Ask searches can be used without sign-in; it supports AEO research, not AI brand monitoring.
What you can actually access for $0.
The table uses strict labels: 'free' means usable without beginning a paid trial; 'limited preview' exposes only part of a paid dataset; 'trial' expires or is intended to evaluate a paid product.
| Tool | Access type | Card required | Limit | AI engines / data | Competitors & citations | Account | Major limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RecoProof | Genuinely free bounded checker | No paid checkout | Five questions, up to ten public pages, one controlled pass | Sonar Pro through Vercel AI Gateway | Recommendations, competitors and citations | Submission/report details required; no paid account | Not ChatGPT, not continuous, and not human reviewed |
| AthenaHQ | Free limited plan | Verify at signup | Credit-limited free entry | Multi-engine coverage documented on current site | Sources, competitors and response analysis | Account required | Credits and features are materially below paid operation |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Limited free preview | No for preview | Preview rather than full index/project access | Public AI visibility data | High-level brand/competitor signal | Depends on preview flow | Not a complete recurring monitor or full dataset |
| AlsoAsked | Genuinely free limited searches | No | Limited searches without sign-in | Google People Also Ask data | No AI brand recommendation or citation tracking | Not required for limited access | Question research only |
| Otterly | Free trial | Official page says no card | Trial terms can change; paid prompt tiers follow | Major AI search engines | Mentions, competitors, sentiment and citations | Trial account required | Not a permanent free monitoring plan |
We evaluated zero-dollar usefulness before paid-product breadth.
The free guide prioritizes access type, payment-card requirement, account friction, query or credit limit, engine/data source, retained output, competitor and citation visibility, exportability, and the exact boundary between a useful first signal and a paid program.
Access honesty
We label permanent free access, a bounded checker, a limited preview, and a time-limited trial separately.
Evidence returned
A useful free check should show the question or dataset, observed answer or metric, competitor/source context, method, and limitation.
Commercial relevance
We favor category and buyer questions over branded vanity queries that merely prove the company name is known.
Upgrade boundary
We identify what remains unavailable at $0: ongoing history, more prompts, more engines, exports, integrations, human review, or implementation support.
What each option is good at—and where it stops.
RecoProof
What it does: Crawls up to ten public pages, prepares five commercial questions, runs one controlled Sonar Pro pass, and retains observed answers, recommendations, competitors, citations, and limitations.
Why it stands out here: The free output is bounded but decision-oriented: it looks for the question where another vendor enters the recommendation set.
Important capabilities
- ✓ Five commercial questions
- ✓ Answer, competitor and citation evidence
- ✓ No paid checkout for the free snapshot
Main limitation: It is one provider pass with conditional retry, not ChatGPT, not continuous monitoring, and not a human-reviewed audit.
Choose it when: you need a credible first signal about commercial AI recommendations.
Skip it when: you need daily history, multiple consumer AI interfaces, an API, or client reporting.
AthenaHQ
What it does: Provides credit-limited entry to multi-engine response, source, competitor and content intelligence before larger paid capacity.
Why it stands out here: It lets a user explore a continuing GEO workspace rather than only receive a one-off score.
Important capabilities
- ✓ Free entry tier
- ✓ Response and source analysis
- ✓ Path to recommendations and integrations on broader plans
Main limitation: Credits and feature boundaries constrain any serious recurring program, and current signup terms should be checked before relying on it.
Choose it when: you want to learn a GEO platform workflow at small scale.
Skip it when: you need a no-account instant check or enough capacity for a reliable portfolio.
Ahrefs Brand Radar preview
What it does: Exposes a limited preview of AI visibility signals drawn from Ahrefs' broader Brand Radar indexes.
Why it stands out here: It offers a quick market-level look that differs from a five-prompt diagnostic checker.
Important capabilities
- ✓ Broad index-based signal
- ✓ Brand and competitor context
- ✓ Upgrade path to full discovery and custom prompts
Main limitation: A preview is not the full dataset, a controlled prompt sample, or continuous custom monitoring.
Choose it when: you want a quick high-level discovery signal.
Skip it when: you need transparent query-level audit evidence for a defined buyer set.
AlsoAsked
What it does: Returns a limited number of live Google People Also Ask maps without requiring sign-in.
Why it stands out here: It helps users discover questions and follow-ups for AEO content planning while being honest that it does not measure AI brand visibility.
Important capabilities
- ✓ Limited no-sign-in searches
- ✓ Connected question maps
- ✓ Location and language research
Main limitation: It does not track ChatGPT, brand mentions, recommendations, competitors, or AI citations.
Choose it when: the zero-dollar task is question discovery.
Skip it when: the task is measuring whether AI recommends a company.
Otterly free trial
What it does: Provides trial access to a platform for prompt research, daily AI visibility, competitors, sentiment, citations, audits, and recommendations.
Why it stands out here: The official page states the trial requires no credit card, reducing evaluation friction.
Important capabilities
- ✓ Trial of a real recurring monitor
- ✓ Multi-engine prompt and citation tracking
- ✓ Competitor and recommendation workflow
Main limitation: A free trial is not a genuinely free long-term tool; the measurement and history require a paid plan after evaluation.
Choose it when: you are actively evaluating a recurring subscription.
Skip it when: your budget will remain $0 or you need a permanent free baseline.
What can you realistically measure for $0?
Free access is useful for learning the measurement unit, finding one gap, and deciding whether a deeper program deserves budget. It is weak evidence for trend claims or executive share-of-voice reporting.
One bounded snapshot
You can inspect a handful of commercial questions, a limited index preview, or a credit-limited project and see whether the output is decision-useful.
A first competitor signal
You may see who appears instead of you, but small samples cannot establish durable market leadership.
Citation examples
A free output can reveal source URLs worth reviewing. It cannot prove those sources caused a recommendation or represent the whole source landscape.
Question discovery
Free PAA research can improve answer planning, but it should not be relabeled as ChatGPT visibility data.
Method evaluation
Check whether the product preserves prompts, answers, dates, engines, locations, citations, competitors, and limitations before paying.
Not a time series
Reliable monitoring needs comparable repeated conditions, history, capacity, governance, anomaly review, and an owner—usually beyond free access.
Use free tools to qualify the measurement, not exaggerate certainty.
Choose the smallest free path that returns inspectable evidence, then write down what the sample cannot support before sharing it.
- 01
Define one buyer question
Start with a commercially important unbranded category, comparison, alternative, or integration question.
- 02
Keep the observed evidence
Record the exact question, response, competitors, citations, engine/data source, date, market, and access limit.
- 03
Label the access model
Tell stakeholders whether the result came from a free checker, limited plan, preview, or trial.
- 04
Set an upgrade trigger
Pay only when more engines, history, prompts, exports, human review, or implementation support will change a real decision.
When a first signal justifies broader evaluation, compare full paid-platform categories →
For five commercial questions now, run RecoProof's bounded free checker →
Questions buyers ask before choosing.
Are free AI visibility tools accurate?
They can accurately report the bounded observation they made, but small samples, changing systems, interface differences, personalization, and limited history restrict what can be generalized. Inspect the method and evidence.
Is a free trial a free tool?
Not for this guide's labeling. A trial evaluates a paid product for a limited period. A genuinely free checker or plan remains usable without starting a paid-product evaluation, although it can still have strict limits.
Does RecoProof's free checker require a credit card?
No paid checkout is part of the free snapshot. It covers up to ten public pages, five questions, and one controlled Sonar Pro pass. It is not a free ChatGPT monitor.
Official vendor sources reviewed August 31, 2026.
Product claims are paraphrased from official vendor pages and documentation. RecoProof facts come from the production offer and checker implementation in this codebase. Absence from a table means the capability was not central to this comparison or was not sufficiently confirmed—not necessarily that the product can never support it.
Start with five commercial questions for $0.
Review the observed answers, competitor recommendations, citations, and limitations before deciding whether a paid audit or ongoing monitor is warranted.
Bounded first step
The free RecoProof checker covers five commercial questions and one controlled Sonar Pro pass. It is a diagnostic baseline, not an always-on monitor or a reproduction of a personal ChatGPT session.
Review the methodology