Cognizo vs Profound (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Profound grades higher than Cognizo: 2.2 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Profound grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Cognizo
AI search visibility tracking with a content agent that auto-publishes
Profound
AI search visibility tracking with an AI marketing agent built in
Which one is for you
Pick Cognizo if
- Fits if you want articles written and published from the gaps, not just a list
- Works for teams watching which rivals advertise inside ChatGPT answers
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're a small team, at $499 a month with nothing cheaper
- Not for you if you want to try before you buy, since there's no trial and entry is by demo
- Skip it if Claude or Grok matter, as they're Enterprise only
- Tight if you run several sites, as AI traffic analytics covers one domain
- Watch out: prices are monthly only, with no yearly option
Pick Profound if
- Fits if you're a large brand that wants answers tracked on up to 9 engines and can sign a custom contract
- Works for agencies running pitch audits for prospects, at $99 a month for 10 short workspaces
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to sign up and pay without a sales call, as brands can't
- Pricey if you're an agency with several clients, at $399 a month per client workspace on top of $99
- Tight if you want to test your own questions, since the trial's prompts are fixed
- Watch out: custom prompts, the API, exports and SSO all come only with Enterprise
- Watch out: agents spend credits, and extra credits need an Enterprise package with overage billing or a pause
How we grade them
| 1.8GPACognizoWeak | 2.2GPAProfoundFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DGrowth is $499 a month for 150 prompts and 8 articles, monthly only. That's about ten times this category's middle of $49 and deep in its dearest tenth. Seats and competitors are unlimited, but there's no cheaper way in. | DBrands get no published price: past the trial it's a custom Enterprise quote, given only on a sales call. Agency Growth is $99 a month, but that buys 10 short pitch audits, and each real client workspace is $399 a month on top. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing free to use: no free plan and no self-serve trial. Plans start with a demo, and the free AEO report is a one-off, not a trial. | CNo free plan, but a 7-day trial runs 50 preset prompts daily on ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews. You can't edit those prompts, so you see the questions Profound picks, not your own. |
| Features | BDaily mentions, citation share, sentiment and share of voice with Reddit and YouTube sources, a content agent that writes and auto-publishes, Prompt Volumes, AI traffic analytics and a ChatGPT ads library. Growth tracks five engines; Claude and Grok need Enterprise. | BDaily answers with citations, sentiment and competitor ranking on up to 9 engines, Claude, Copilot and DeepSeek among them, plus an AI Marketer, reusable agents, Prompt Volumes and crawler analytics across unlimited domains. It covers the whole job; the agents run on credits. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. It starts with a demo and a success partner, and auto-publishing means connecting your site before the agent can post. | CNo rating on record. Brands are onboarded through sales, and custom prompts, exports and the API only arrive with Enterprise, so there's set-up before it's really yours. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app and no named integrations. MCP and the API come on every plan. | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. It connects to Google Analytics, Search Console, Cloudflare, Vercel, WordPress, Webflow, Slack and G2, and the API comes with Enterprise. |
| Best for | AEO content written and published for you | big brands tracking AI answers on many engines |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Cognizo and Profound. How we grade
Price against what you get
Cognizo starts at $499 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Profound starts at $99 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Profound starts $400 a month lower. Of the other AI search visibility tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than Cognizo for less, and 1 scores higher than Profound for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Cognizo also covers long-form writing.
- Profound also covers AI agents and web analytics.
At a glance
| Cognizo | Profound | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | $499 per month for 150 prompts on 5 AI platforms | $99 per month (Agency Growth, the self-serve plan for agencies) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial: 50 preset prompts run daily on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, with limited AI Marketer credits |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cognizo, Inc. | Profound |
| Price read from | cognizo.ai | tryprofound.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Cognizo
- There is no free plan or self-serve trial; plans start with a demo, though a free AEO report is offered.
- Growth and Pro track 5 platforms; Claude, Meta AI, Grok and DeepSeek need Enterprise.
- AI traffic analytics covers one domain on Growth and Pro.
- The pricing page shows monthly prices only, with no annual option.
Profound
- Brands have no self-serve paid plan: after the 7-day trial, ongoing tracking needs a custom-priced Enterprise contract.
- Trial users get a recommended prompt set and cannot edit it; custom prompts, API access, exports and SSO come with Enterprise.
- On Agency Growth, each full client workspace is a $399-a-month add-on and 5 more trial workspaces cost $199 a month.
- Agent runs use credits; extra credits beyond the plan need an Enterprise package, with overage billing or a pause set by the account team.
Key features
Cognizo
- Answer Engine Insights
- Tracks prompts daily for mentions, citation share, sentiment and share of voice, with Reddit and YouTube source breakdowns and ChatGPT Shopping.
- Content agent
- Writes briefs and articles from visibility gaps, publishes them automatically and refreshes them as AI answers change: 8 a month on Growth, 20 on Pro.
- Prompt Volumes
- Estimates how often buyers ask AI about a topic, with prompt exploration, keyword research and competitive gap analysis.
- AI Traffic Analytics
- Shows how AI crawlers visit one tracked domain and how much human traffic arrives from AI referrals.
- ChatGPT ads
- An ad library shows which competitors advertise in ChatGPT answers in the category, with targeting opportunities.
- MCP, API and agents
- Data can be pulled through MCP or the API on every plan, and agents automate marketing workflows.
Profound
- Answer Engine Insights
- Runs set prompts daily and reports where a brand appears in the answers, which sources are cited, sentiment and how it ranks against competitors.
- Wide engine coverage
- Enterprise can track ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Claude, Google AI Overviews and Exa Search.
- AI Marketer and agents
- An assistant that finds gaps in AI answers and drafts or rewrites pages, plus reusable agents for recurring work. Agents run on credits.
- Agent Analytics
- Tracks AI crawler visits and AI-referred traffic across unlimited domains by connecting to CDNs and hosts such as Cloudflare, Fastly, AWS and Vercel.
- Prompt Volumes
- Estimates what people ask AI answer engines about a topic; the trial allows 5 searches.
- Agency workspaces
- Agency plans manage short pitch workspaces for prospects and full client workspaces from one dashboard with consolidated billing.
Plans
Cognizo
Growth$499
per month for 150 prompts on 5 AI platforms
8 AI-optimized articles a month with auto-publishing, daily tracking, unlimited seats and competitors, MCP and API, quarterly strategy review.
Pro$999
per month for 350 prompts on 5 AI platforms
20 articles a month and 52,500 responses analyzed, with a monthly strategy review.
EnterpriseCustom
All platforms including Claude, Meta AI, Grok and DeepSeek, custom prompts and content, multiple brands, SSO, an SLA and managed services.
Profound
Agency Growth$99
per month for up to 10 pitch workspaces a month
For agencies: 10 seven-day pitch audits a month on ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews, 5 agency seats. Each full client workspace is $399 a month extra.
EnterpriseCustom
For brands: tailored prompt tracking on up to 9 answer engines, AI Marketer credits, all-time history, CSV and JSON exports, API, SSO and dedicated support.
Agency EnterpriseCustom
For large agencies and networks: tailored client and trial workspaces, a dedicated agency partner, go-to-market help and Slack support.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cognizo or Profound?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Profound is cheaper to start with: $99 a month, against $499 a month for Cognizo. Cognizo starts at $499 per month for 150 prompts on 5 AI platforms, and Profound starts at $99 per month (Agency Growth, the self-serve plan for agencies).
Which has a free plan, Cognizo or Profound?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither Cognizo nor Profound has a free plan. Profound has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.