Knowatoa vs LLMrefs (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Knowatoa and LLMrefs share a 2.2 GPA, neither has a free plan, and Knowatoa starts cheaper, at $59 a month against $79 a month.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Knowatoa
AI search visibility tracking with an AI crawler console
LLMrefs
Keyword-based AI search visibility tracker with one flat plan
Which one is for you
Pick Knowatoa if
- Fits if you want an alert when AI answers start saying wrong things about your brand
- Works for teams with several sites, since one account tracks unlimited sites on a shared question limit
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if Claude, Gemini, Perplexity or Meta AI matter, as they need Growth at $199 a month
- Not for you if you need the API, MCP or Looker Studio on a budget, since they start at Growth
- Tight if you want to know your question limit before you buy, as the page doesn't say
- Watch out: the trial's length isn't stated, and annual prices are offered but not listed
- Watch out: agencies are priced on a separate calculator by sites, questions, services and refresh rate
Pick LLMrefs if
- Fits if you already track SEO keywords and want the same lists checked in AI answers
- Works for agencies, since projects and seats are unlimited on one plan
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need daily data, as it refreshes about once a week per keyword
- Not for you if you need SSO, white-label reports or an enterprise tier, as none are listed
- Skip it if you need a price you can count on, as $79 is marked limited time only
- Watch out: no integrations are listed beyond the API and CSV export
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAKnowatoaFair | 2.2GPALLMrefsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $59 a month, in this category's usual range between $29 and $95. The page doesn't say how many questions each plan tracks, though, and Claude, Gemini and Perplexity need Growth at $199. | C$79 a month for 500 prompts on every engine, with unlimited projects and seats. That's mid-range for this category, between $29 and $95. But the price is marked limited time only, with no end date or regular price given. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan. There's a free trial of Starter and Growth, but the pricing page doesn't say how long it lasts. | CNo free plan, but a 7-day free trial, and signing up needs no credit card. |
| Features | CAnswer and competitor gaps tracked daily, citation sources, sentiment alerts and an AI Search Console for crawler errors, with AI agents to draft content. The gap the listing names: Starter covers only ChatGPT, AI Overviews and AI Mode. | CFan-out prompts built from your keywords, share of voice and position across ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Grok, Copilot, Meta AI and DeepSeek, and cited sources in 50+ countries. The gap: data refreshes weekly, not daily. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. You set questions per language and location and add your sites before the gaps start to show. | CNo rating on record. Importing an SEO keyword list is a familiar start, but you still set up projects, countries and competitors before the rankings say much. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. It works with WordPress, Payload CMS and GitHub, and Growth adds an API, MCP for Claude and ChatGPT, Looker Studio and NinjaCat. | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app and no integrations on record. The one plan includes an API and CSV export. |
| Best for | spotting the AI answers you're missing from | tracking AI visibility by keyword, not prompt |
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: Knowatoa and LLMrefs. How we grade
Price against what you get
Knowatoa starts at $59 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. LLMrefs starts at $79 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Knowatoa starts $20 a month lower. Of the other AI search visibility tools on the chart, 11 score higher than Knowatoa for less, and 13 score higher than LLMrefs 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
- Knowatoa also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Knowatoa | LLMrefs | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $59 per month | $79 per month for 500 prompts |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | Free trial of Starter and Growth; its length is not stated on the pricing page | 7-day free trial; signing up needs no credit card |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Knowatoa | LLMrefs |
| Price read from | knowatoa.com | llmrefs.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Knowatoa
- Starter covers only ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode; Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Meta AI need Growth.
- The API, MCP server and Looker Studio connector start at Growth ($199 a month).
- The pricing page does not state how many questions each plan tracks; annual pricing is available but not listed.
- Agencies get a separate calculator that prices by client sites, questions per site, services and refresh frequency.
LLMrefs
- There is one plan; the $79 price is labeled limited time only, with no end date or regular price given.
- Dashboard data refreshes at least once a week per keyword, not daily.
- The pricing page lists no enterprise tier, SSO or white-label options.
Key features
Knowatoa
- Answer and competitor gaps
- Shows the AI answers your brand is missing from and where competitors appear in your place, tracked daily.
- Citation sources
- Lists which sites the AI models trust and cite most for the questions you track.
- Sentiment alerts
- Flags when AI answers start saying negative or wrong things about a brand, its products or its people.
- AI Search Console
- Reports how AI bot crawlers reach your site, with status codes such as 403 and 404 and the failures to investigate.
- Languages, locations and many sites
- Questions can be set per language and location, and an account can track unlimited sites sharing one question limit.
- MCP, API and reporting
- Growth connects to Claude, ChatGPT, Codex and other assistants over MCP, and feeds a REST API, Looker Studio and scheduled CSV exports.
LLMrefs
- Keyword-based tracking
- Import SEO keyword lists; LLMrefs generates fan-out prompts for each keyword from real AI conversations and aggregates the answers.
- Share of voice rankings
- Ranks brands against competitors per keyword by share of voice and average position, weighted across every prompt.
- Source and citation lists
- Shows and filters the URLs AI engines cite when answering about your products, to find content and outreach targets.
- Countries and languages
- Geo-targeted tracking in 50+ countries and 20+ languages, filterable by engine and country.
- Agency projects
- Unlimited projects and seats under one subscription, with client dashboards and keywords spread across projects.
- Free AI SEO tools
- An AI crawlability checker, a Reddit threads finder and an llms.txt generator come with the plan.
Plans
Knowatoa
Starter$59
per month; annual billing also offered
ChatGPT, AI Overviews and AI Mode; answer gaps, competitor gaps, citations, sentiment alerts, weekly digest and AI agents.
Growth$199
per month; annual billing also offered
All 7 AI services, higher question volume, API, MCP server, Looker Studio and NinjaCat, and a dedicated account rep.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom volume and scale, custom integrations and priority feature requests.
LLMrefs
All in One$79
per month for 500 prompts
All AI engines, weekly reports, citations, 50+ countries, unlimited projects and users, CSV export and API. Marked limited time only.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Knowatoa or LLMrefs?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Knowatoa is cheaper to start with: $59 a month, against $79 a month for LLMrefs. Knowatoa starts at $59 per month, and LLMrefs starts at $79 per month for 500 prompts.
Which has a free plan, Knowatoa or LLMrefs?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither Knowatoa nor LLMrefs has a free plan. Both have 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.