Erlin vs Profound (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Erlin if

• Fits if you want AI tracking and article writing in one subscription, from Standard
• Works for teams that want visits from AI answers tied to leads through GA4

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want to pay monthly, as every plan is billed yearly
• Skip it if Google AI Overviews matters, since it isn't among the engines listed
• Pricey if you need Claude or an API, which start at Pro for $397 a month
• Too light for writing on Starter, which has no content generation
• Watch out: there's no free trial; each plan opens with a 7-day trial that costs $7

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

Erlin

• Plans are billed yearly; each starts with a 7-day trial that costs $7 rather than a free one.
• Starter tracks only ChatGPT and Perplexity and has no content writing; Gemini starts at Standard and Claude at Pro.
• API access starts at Pro, at $397 a month billed yearly.
• Lead qualification is a beta add-on with pricing on request; a done-for-you service, Erlin Select, is by application.

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.

Erlin

Prompt discovery

Suggests the questions buyers in your industry ask AI, with the intent, buying stage and demand Erlin estimates for each.

Visibility and competitors

Tracks mentions, sentiment and share of voice across the engines on your plan and shows which brands are recommended instead.

Opportunities and citations

Lists the sources AI answers draw on in your industry and ranks fixes by effort and impact so they can be assigned and tracked.

Content in your brand voice

From Standard, researches, outlines and drafts articles or improves existing pages, guided by a Brand Memory of your products, voice and rules.

AI traffic tracking

Connects Google Analytics 4 and Search Console to show visits and leads that trace back to AI answers, on every plan.

Lead qualification add-on

A website chatbot that answers and qualifies visitors, email and Telegram follow-up, and a CRM view; in beta, priced on request.

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.

Erlin

• Starter$47

  per month for 50 prompts, billed annually ($564 a year)

  ChatGPT and Perplexity, 1 workspace, 10 team members and weekly reports. No content generation.

• Standard$197

  per month for 150 prompts, billed annually ($2,364 a year)

  Adds Gemini, 3 workspaces, 50,000 content words a month (about 30 articles) and chat support.

• Pro$397

  per month for 400 prompts, billed annually ($4,764 a year)

  Adds Claude, 5 workspaces, 50 team members, 200,000 words a month, API access and Slack support.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Unlimited workspaces, custom prompt and word limits, a custom LLM or RAG setup, custom integrations and an SLA.

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.