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Best tool to track Google AI Mode mentions: a surface we do not read, and the two vendors that put it on a plan you can buy from the page

Rankscale carries Google AI Mode on every plan card at the same credit weight as ChatGPT, and reports its local pack, its sponsored ads and its shopping cards by name. Otterly sells it as an add-on on any tier. Scrunch, Profound and Depra all keep it for Enterprise. Our own five surfaces do not include it. Read on each vendor's own page, 20 October 2026.

Published by AI Knows Us · Updated 20 October 2026

If Google AI Mode is the surface you need watched, the shortlist is short and we are not on it. Our own five surfaces are ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews. AI Mode is not one of them, so this page ranks other people's products on a criterion we fail. Rankscale carries AI Mode on every published plan card and prices an AI Mode run at 0.25 credits, the same as ChatGPT. Otterly.AI sells it as an add-on that attaches to any of its three published tiers. Scrunch, Profound and Depra all cover it and all three put it behind a conversation.

Why AI Mode is a different measurement problem from AI Overviews

Google documents the distinction itself. On its AI features page it says "AI Mode and AI Overviews may use different models and techniques", which is the operator stating that the two surfaces can show different links for the same question. It also describes AI Mode as "particularly helpful for queries where further exploration, reasoning, or complex comparisons are needed", while AI Overviews "are only shown when our systems determine that it is additive to classic Search".

So they trigger differently, they are reached differently, and a vendor that folds them into one row called Google is reporting an average of two surfaces. Several vendors split them precisely for this reason. Rankscale's plan cards read "Google AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini" as three entries. Scrunch's Enterprise list reads "Google AI Mode" and "Google AIO" as two of its nine. Otterly prices "Google AI Mode" as a separate add-on from "Google Gemini". When you compare engine counts, check whether the vendor is counting Google once or three times, because that alone moves a headline number by two.

The shortlist, ranked on what is buyable from the page

VendorAI Mode at the cheapest published tier?What the page says
RankscaleYes, and the deepest treatment published anywhere in this set"Google AI Mode" on every plan card's engine list; "AI Mode" at 0.25 credits in the credit calculator; local and map pack tracking in "ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Copilot, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Overviews"; sponsored ad measurement "in ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Copilot"; shopping card analysis "in ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Bing Copilot Shopping"
Otterly.AIAs a paid add-on, attachable to any published tier"Claude, Google AI-Mode, Gemini as extra Add-ons", sold as fixed packages "for up to 1,000 prompts". Its AI Mode and Gemini packages are priced at the same level, below its Claude package
Ahrefs Brand RadarYes, named with the other six platforms"AI Mode" appears in its platform list, metered at "1 check per platform, location and update"
SemrushYes, named in its own FAQ list"What LLMs does Semrush track? ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, SearchGPT, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overviews"
Peec AIOnly if it is one of your three"Choose 3 models" on Starter, Pro and Advanced, with an AI Mode Visibility Tracker page in its navigation
ScrunchNo, Enterprise onlyCore publishes "4 LLMs supported ChatGPT Perplexity Google AIO Copilot". AI Mode appears only in the Enterprise "9 LLMs supported" list
ProfoundNo, Enterprise only"Google AI Mode" sits in the Enterprise capability list of "Up to 9 Answer Engines tracked". The free trial covers ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews
Depra AINo, an Enterprise add-on"Every other model as an add-on: Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Google AI Mode and more (contact us)"
AI Knows UsNoOur engine row reads ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, AI Overviews. AI Mode is not one of our five

The recommendation

  • Rankscale is first and it is not close. It is the only vendor whose published pages treat AI Mode as a surface with its own structure rather than as a name on a list: the local pack, the ads and the shopping cards are each reported for AI Mode specifically, on every plan, and the per-run credit weight is published so you can cost it in advance.
  • Otterly.AI is the cheapest route to AI Mode on something you can buy today, because the add-on attaches to its entry tier rather than requiring a contract. The honest trade is that you buy the product first and the surface second.
  • Semrush is a strong third if you want Google's surfaces covered more widely than anybody else covers them, since its published list is the only one that names SearchGPT alongside both Google AI surfaces.
  • Ahrefs Brand Radar works well if you already own Ahrefs and want AI Mode on the same metering rule as everything else.
  • Scrunch, Profound and Depra all cover AI Mode and all three make it a sales conversation. For a buyer who only wants this one surface that is a poor fit, and for a buyer already signing an enterprise contract it is irrelevant.
  • AI Knows Us does not read AI Mode. On this surface that is the finding, and the page would be worth less if it argued otherwise.

Rankscale publishes the widest reporting surface in this category and that breadth has its own trade-offs, which a longer look at its alternatives works through. It is one of 147 live pages of ours in this category carrying no durable inbound link, counted across 2,050 stored bodies.

One measurement caution about Rankscale's own pricing table

Worth knowing because it affects how you read anybody's comparison grid. Rankscale's side-by-side feature table serves every numeric cell as a zero in the delivered document, including the per-tier engine count, and fills them in after the page loads. The plan cards above it do carry the engine list in the served markup, and the credit calculator does carry the per-engine weights. So the facts quoted here are taken from the blocks that render in the document and not from the grid. When you screenshot a vendor's comparison table for an internal deck, check that the numbers you captured are the ones the vendor serves rather than the ones a script filled in.

Questions about tracking Google AI Mode specifically

Is AI Mode traffic reported separately in Search Console?

No. Google's AI features documentation says sites appearing in AI features "are included in the overall search traffic in Search Console" and are "reported on in the Performance report, within the Web search type". There is no AI Mode line to filter to, which is the main reason a vendor reading the surface directly has something to sell here.

Does appearing in AI Overviews mean I appear in AI Mode?

Not reliably, and Google says why: the two "may use different models and techniques". Treat them as two measurements of two surfaces. If a vendor reports one Google number, ask which surface it came from and whether the other was read at all.

How many engines does a vendor count Google as?

Between one and three, and it changes the headline. Rankscale and Scrunch list Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews and Gemini as three separate entries. Otterly prices AI Mode and Gemini as two separate add-ons on top of a base that already contains Google AI Overviews. Depra counts Google AI Overviews as one of four and offers AI Mode separately. Ask the question directly, because two of those three counting choices make a seven-engine product sound like a nine-engine product.

Can I watch AI Mode without a paid tool?

You can read it yourself, which is worth doing before you spend anything: ask your five real buying questions in AI Mode, with your brand name absent, and write down who it names and which links it shows. Do it on the same day each month. What you will not get that way is the local pack, the ad placements or a competitor column over time, and those are the three things the vendors above are actually selling on this surface.

Why does Google AI Mode carry sponsored placements in a vendor's report?

Because ads appear inside the answer, and whoever is paying for that slot is competing for the same attention as the organic citation. Rankscale publishes ad share of voice and advertiser leaderboards for AI Mode, and that is a genuinely different question from citation tracking. If your category is one where competitors buy, the ad column is worth more than one extra engine on a list.

What to do this week about AI Mode

Open AI Mode, ask the comparison question your buyers ask, and look at what sits in the answer: the names, the links, and whether anything above them is paid. Google's own description of the surface is that it suits questions needing "further exploration, reasoning, or complex comparisons", which is a precise description of a shortlist question, and a shortlist question is the one where being absent costs the most. Then pick from the two vendors that will sell you that surface without a contract, and if a vendor's quote folds Google into a single row, ask it to split the row before you compare anybody's price.

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