LightSite AI vs Profound (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Profound grades higher than LightSite AI: 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 and features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
LightSite AI
AI-readable site layer with AI bot analytics and visibility tracking
Profound
AI search visibility tracking with an AI marketing agent built in
Which one is for you
Pick LightSite AI if
- Fits if you want structured data and an AI sitemap added to your site through one snippet
- Works for large brands tracking AI answers in Japan or other local languages, on Enterprise
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you just want AI answer tracking, as daily checks with competitors and citations start at $299 a month
- Tight if more than one person or domain is involved, as Foundation and Pro cover 1 user and 1 domain
- Skip it if you'd rather pay monthly, as every plan is billed a year upfront
- Watch out: the 7-day trial turns into a paid year unless you cancel it
- Watch out: Search Console, content drafts and implementation support are Enterprise only
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
| 1.8GPALightSite AIWeak | 2.2GPAProfoundFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DFoundation is $129 a month billed yearly, with no monthly option, for 1 user, 1 domain and basic visibility tracking. That's where this category's dearest tenth starts, and competitor, sentiment and citation tracking need Pro at $299. | 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 | DA 7-day free trial, but it turns into a paid year unless you cancel. A pro rata refund is possible in the first 90 days, and there's no free plan. | 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 | CThe AI-readable site layer, AI bot and crawler logs, visibility tracking and AI-referred visits. The gaps: Foundation's tracking is basic, and daily checks with competitors, sentiment and citations need Pro. | 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. The layer goes in with a snippet or Tag Manager and no CMS plugin, but the tracking still needs prompts and competitors set up. | 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. It works with Google Tag Manager, Slack, ChatGPT and Claude, though Search Console is Enterprise only. | 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 | making a site readable to AI without developer work | 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: LightSite AI and Profound. How we grade
Price against what you get
LightSite AI starts at $129 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Profound starts at $99 a month and scores 2.7.
Profound scores higher and starts $30 a month lower. Of the other AI search visibility tools on the chart, 23 score higher than LightSite AI 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
- LightSite AI also covers schema markup.
- Profound also covers AI agents and content optimization.
At a glance
| LightSite AI | Profound | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $129 per month for 500 prompts, billed annually | $99 per month (Agency Growth, the self-serve plan for agencies) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial that converts to a paid annual subscription unless cancelled | 7-day free trial: 50 preset prompts run daily on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, with limited AI Marketer credits |
| Web | ||
| Made by | LightSite AI | Profound |
| Price read from | lightsite.ai | tryprofound.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
LightSite AI
- Plans are billed annually in advance; no monthly option is shown on the pricing page.
- Foundation and Pro cover one user and one domain; more users and domains need Enterprise.
- The trial converts to a paid year unless cancelled; a pro rata refund is possible in the first 90 days.
- Google Search Console, content drafts and implementation support are Enterprise only.
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
LightSite AI
- AI-readable website layer
- A snippet or tag manager install publishes structured endpoints, JSON-LD, an AI sitemap and agent manifests on your domain, with no CMS plugin.
- AI bot and crawler analytics
- Records which AI crawlers and agents request which pages; Pro adds bot journey, page-level and link-level analytics.
- AI search visibility tracking
- Pro tracks prompts daily across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, with competitor, sentiment, position and citation source analysis.
- LLM traffic attribution
- On Pro, counts human visits referred by AI assistants where the referral can be identified.
- Action recommendations
- Pro suggests fixes to improve how the brand appears; Enterprise adds content briefs and drafts, gap scans and outreach preparation.
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
LightSite AI
Foundation$129
per month for 500 prompts a month, billed annually
One user and one domain, the AI-readable website layer, LLM bot and crawler analytics, and basic visibility and brand mention tracking.
Pro$299
per month for 2,700 prompts a month, billed annually
Daily monitoring across major LLMs, competitor, sentiment and citation tracking, LLM traffic attribution, full structured data and onboarding.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited prompts, users and domains, Japan and local-language tracking, Search Console, content drafts, outreach prep and premium 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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, LightSite AI or Profound?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Profound is cheaper to start with: $99 a month, against $129 a month for LightSite AI. LightSite AI starts at $129 per month for 500 prompts, billed annually, and Profound starts at $99 per month (Agency Growth, the self-serve plan for agencies).
Which has a free plan, LightSite AI or Profound?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither LightSite AI nor Profound 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.