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Profound vs Otterly.AI: one sells you a plan off the page, the other sells you a conversation

Both companies publish their limits. On 20 October 2026 one published four buyable tiers and three engines as paid add-ons, and the other published a seven day trial and a custom quote.

Published by AI Knows Us · Updated 20 October 2026

Pick Otterly.AI if you want to start this month without a sales call and you can name the engines your buyers actually use. Pick Profound if the engine list is the point, because its enterprise tier is the only one of the two that publishes nine named answer engines including Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Mode in a single plan. That is the whole decision, and it is readable from the two companies' own pricing pages, which we requested on 20 October 2026. Otterly's pricing page answered HTTP 403 to a Chrome on Windows request and HTTP 200 to a Safari on macOS request minutes later, so the document below is the one Safari received.

First, what our own readings say about these two names

On 16 October 2026 we put 630 buying questions to ChatGPT and Gemini across the United States, the United Kingdom and India, which is 1,260 readings, and saved the answer text. Counting a vendor once per reading when its name appears in the text of the answer, Otterly.AI was named in 265 readings and Profound in 219.

The number that matters more for a buyer typing both names is the overlap. 365 readings named at least one of the two. 119 of those named both in the same answer. 146 named Otterly and not Profound, and 100 named Profound and not Otterly. On ChatGPT the pair appeared together 53 times and on Gemini 66 times.

So a shortlist of these two is not something a buyer invented. In roughly one answer in three where either comes up, the assistant puts them side by side. This is a count of names in answer text, which is a different event from a domain appearing in an answer's source list. The two are counted separately in this programme and never added together.

The criterion this page uses, and why neither of them is being scored

We build a product in the same category, so this page names no winner. We have run no head to head test of either product, and a score we invented would be worth nothing to you. What is readable, repeatable by you in fifteen minutes and dateable is each company's own published plan structure: how many prompts a tier carries, which engines come with it, how often each prompt is re-run, and what has to be bought separately. Those four fields decide what you get, and they are the four that differ most between these two.

What the two pricing documents published on 20 October 2026

FieldOtterly.AIProfound
Published tiers you can buy without a callThree, plus an enterprise tier on applicationNone. A free trial, then Enterprise on application
The unit a tier is measured inSearch prompts: 15, 100 and 400, with enterprise starting from 1,000Unique prompts: 50 on the trial, custom on enterprise
Engines included on a published tierFour: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft CopilotThree on the trial: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews
Engines sold separatelyClaude, Google AI Mode and Gemini, listed as extra add ons on every published tierNone listed. The enterprise tier states up to nine answer engines tracked
Refresh cadenceDaily tracking frequency on every tierDaily for seven days on the trial, daily on enterprise
Exports and APIAPI and MCP access from the middle tier, with request allowances stated per monthExports and API are both listed as none on the trial and present on enterprise
SeatsUnlimited team members on every tierUnlimited seats on both tiers

Neither company's figures are reproduced here. We record what sets a tier and send you to the vendor's own page for the money, because a price restated on somebody else's page goes stale into a false statement about another company.

The difference that actually decides it: Gemini is an add on at one of them

Otterly's features page states its full coverage plainly: "Tracks all 7 major AI search engines", enumerated as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot and Claude, with "Monitors 65+ countries and languages" beside it. That is a strong way to publish the fact, because you can hold the quote up against your quote. The pricing page then shows where the line sits: the four engines in the tier, and Claude, Google AI Mode and Gemini as extras.

That matters because of which engines your buyers use. In our own run, Gemini named Otterly in 153 readings and Profound in 141, more than ChatGPT did for either. If Gemini is a surface your market uses, it is a line item at Otterly and part of the enterprise plan at Profound, and the quote is the only place that resolves it. Profound's own trial covers ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and its enterprise capability list enumerates nine: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Anthropic Claude, Google AI Overviews and Exa Search.

Before either call, write down the surfaces your buyers actually open, because a reading taken on the surface a buyer uses is a different reading from one taken on a model behind an interface, and the engine list is the first thing a quote prices.

Who each one suits

  • A small marketing team with a budget it controls. Otterly publishes three tiers you can sign up for, and the smallest one carries fifteen prompts and daily tracking. You can be measuring this week.
  • A team whose buyers ask Claude and Google AI Mode. Price both routes. At Otterly those two are add ons on top of a published tier. At Profound they sit inside the enterprise list.
  • An organisation with a procurement process. Profound publishes SSO, SAML and SOC 2 against its enterprise tier, plus a dedicated specialist with a 24 hour SLA. Otterly publishes single sign on and enterprise grade compliance at its own top tier.
  • An agency. Ask about workspaces, not prompts. Otterly publishes one workspace on its entry tier and unlimited workspaces above it. Profound publishes shared projects on both tiers.
  • A team that needs the raw answers. Profound lists CSV and JSON exports and an API on enterprise and none on the trial. Otterly lists API and MCP access from its middle tier with monthly request allowances.

What to take into both demos

Ask each company the same four questions and write the answers in the same units. Which engines are in the tier you are quoting, by name. How many prompts, and does a repeat of one prompt on one engine consume one unit. How often is each prompt re-run. And will you hand over the answer text itself, not only the chart. Multiply prompts by engines by cadence and you have the number of saved answers a month you are actually buying, which is the only figure that makes two quotes comparable.

Questions buyers ask when choosing between Profound and Otterly.AI

Which of the two covers more AI engines?

On the documents we read on 20 October 2026, Profound's enterprise tier enumerates nine named answer engines and Otterly's features page enumerates seven. The comparison to make is not between those two counts, because a count on a marketing page and a count on a quote are different things. Put the enumerated list from each quote side by side instead.

Can I buy either one without talking to sales?

Otterly publishes three tiers with a sign up button on each. Profound publishes a free trial and an enterprise tier marked Custom with a demo request. If a self serve start is a requirement, that single fact settles it.

Why does this page not print either company's prices?

This site records prices and sends you to the vendor's own page to read them. A figure copied here is correct on the day and wrong after the next plan change, and we would then be publishing a false statement about another company without knowing it. The limits that set a tier are the durable part, so those are what we publish.

Is a 403 from Otterly's website a sign it blocks crawlers?

Treat it as a question about the request first. otterly.ai answered 403 to a Chrome on Windows request and 200 with the full document to a Safari on macOS request within minutes on 20 October 2026. A refusal counts as a refusal when it repeats across different agents, different header sets and a separate session hours later.

Should both be on the same shortlist?

The assistants put them in the same answer 119 times out of the 365 readings that named either, so yes. The work that separates them is handing both the same prompt list, in writing, and comparing the quotes in saved answers a month rather than in features.

The week after you decide is the difference

One of these two lets you put a card in and start on a Tuesday with fifteen prompts on four engines. The other gives you seven days of fifty prompts and then a conversation about a tailored plan with nine named engines behind it. Nothing about that comparison is a quality judgement, and both routes end with a working measurement. It is a question about your own week: whether you have a budget line you control, or a procurement process you have to feed either way. Answer that first and the two pricing pages stop looking like rivals and start looking like two doors into the same building.

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