LightSite AI vs Scrunch (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, LightSite AI and Scrunch share a 1.8 GPA, neither has a free plan, and LightSite AI starts cheaper, at $129 a month against $250 a month.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
LightSite AI grades higher on platforms. Scrunch grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features and ease of use.
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
Scrunch
AI search monitoring plus pages served to AI agents
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 Scrunch if
- Fits if you're a large brand weighing Agent Pages, which serve AI agents a cleaned-up copy of your site
- Works for agencies running several client brands and pitch workspaces from one account
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if Gemini, Claude or AI Mode matter, as they're tracked on Enterprise only
- Pricey if you're a small team: Core is $250 a month for one brand and 125 prompts
- Tight if you sell in several countries or watch many rivals: Core allows one country and 5 competitors
- Watch out: the API, SSO and Agent Pages are Enterprise only, and Enterprise prices aren't published
- Watch out: the only trial is 7 days of Core, and Scrunch became a Sitecore company in 2026
How we grade them
| 1.8GPALightSite AIWeak | 1.8GPAScrunchWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | DCore is $250 a month for 125 prompts and 5,000 responses, one brand and 5 users. That's well into this category's dearest tenth, which starts at $129. Agency Core is $500. |
| 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, just a 7-day free trial of Core. A week is enough to see the first answers come in, not to watch a trend. |
| 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. | CPosition, sentiment and cited sources per prompt, with personas, funnel stages, site audits, AI bot traffic and product-level shopping data. The gap is engines: Core watches four, and Gemini, Claude, AI Mode, Grok and Meta AI need Enterprise. |
| 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. You set prompts, competitors, personas and funnel stages before the data says much, and Core caps you at 5 competitors and one country. |
| 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. | CWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. Looker Studio is the one integration on record, and the API and SSO come only with Enterprise. |
| Best for | making a site readable to AI without developer work | brands that want monitoring plus pages for AI agents |
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 Scrunch. 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. Scrunch starts at $250 a month and scores 2.0.
LightSite AI scores higher and starts $121 a month lower. Of the other AI search visibility tools on the chart, 23 score higher than LightSite AI for less, and 98 score higher than Scrunch 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.
- Scrunch also covers site audit and content optimization.
At a glance
| LightSite AI | Scrunch | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $129 per month for 500 prompts, billed annually | $250 per month for 125 prompts |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial that converts to a paid annual subscription unless cancelled | 7-day free trial of the Core plan |
| Web | ||
| Made by | LightSite AI | Scrunch |
| Price read from | lightsite.ai | scrunch.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.
Scrunch
- Core covers four AI platforms; Claude, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Grok and Meta AI are tracked only on Enterprise.
- Core is limited to 1 brand workspace, 5 user licenses, 5 competitors and one country.
- API access, SSO and the Agent Experience Platform are listed for Enterprise only.
- Scrunch became a Sitecore company in 2026; it says it continues to run as a standalone platform.
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.
Scrunch
- Monitoring and citations
- Tracks brand presence, position, sentiment and the sources cited for each prompt, with competitors, personas and funnel stages.
- Insights and recommendations
- Turns monitoring data into suggested changes; Core includes one page optimization a month and basic content generation.
- Agent Experience Platform
- Enterprise plans include Agent Pages, which deliver an optimized version of a site to AI agents that visit it.
- Site audits and bot traffic
- Audits pages for how well AI can read them and reports AI agent and bot visits; Core includes 5 audits a month.
- Shopping and query fan-out
- Product-level AI search performance and the follow-up searches AI tools run behind a prompt; fan-out is limited on Core.
- Agency workspaces
- Agency plans manage several client brands and pitch workspaces from one place, with access controls and white-label output.
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.
Scrunch
Core$250
per month for 125 prompts
For brands: 5,000 responses a month on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Copilot, 5 site audits a month, 1 brand workspace and 5 users.
Agency Core$500
per month for 250 prompts
For agencies: 10,000 responses a month, 3 brand workspaces, 3 pitch workspaces, 5 site audits per brand a month and unlimited users.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom prompts and workspaces, 9 AI platforms, the Agent Experience Platform, full site audits, API access, SSO and a dedicated account team.
Agency EnterpriseCustom
For large agencies: custom brand and pitch workspaces, full site audits, the Agent Experience Platform, SSO and a dedicated account team.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, LightSite AI or Scrunch?
As of Oct 23, 2026, LightSite AI is cheaper to start with: $129 a month, against $250 a month for Scrunch. LightSite AI starts at $129 per month for 500 prompts, billed annually, and Scrunch starts at $250 per month for 125 prompts.
Which has a free plan, LightSite AI or Scrunch?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither LightSite AI nor Scrunch 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.