LLMrefs vs Rankshift (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Rankshift grades higher than LLMrefs: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Rankshift grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
LLMrefs
Keyword-based AI search visibility tracker with one flat plan
Rankshift
Credit-based AI visibility tracker with unlimited projects and seats
Which one is for you
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
Pick Rankshift if
- Fits if you run an agency and want every client and teammate on one plan
- Works for teams that report AI visibility in their own BI dashboards, through the PostgreSQL connector
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you want daily checks on Claude and Copilot, at 5 credits a run against 2 on most engines
- Skip it if you need SSO or an SLA, which only come with the custom-priced Enterprise plan
- Pricey if you're one person with one site, at $82 a month even billed yearly
- Watch out: there's no free plan once the 30-day trial ends
- Tight if you track over 150 prompts a day, as more means Professional at $189 a month
How we grade them
| 2.2GPALLMrefsFair | 2.4GPARankshiftFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CStarter is $82 a month billed yearly, or $92 monthly, for 9,500 credits. That's above this category's middle of $49 and under its dearer quarter of $95. Projects and seats are unlimited. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but a 7-day free trial, and signing up needs no credit card. | CA 30-day trial with no card needed. After that there's no free plan at all. |
| Features | 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. | BPrompt tracking on nine engines, from ChatGPT and AI Overviews to Claude, Copilot, Meta AI and Mistral, plus sentiment, citation shares, content briefs, a fix list and AI crawler logs. It covers the whole job. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo rating on record. You pick prompts, engines and how often each one runs, and then work out what that costs in credits. There's a calculator for that, which tells you something. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app and no integrations on record. The one plan includes an API and CSV export. | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. It does connect to Looker Studio, BigQuery, Tableau and Power BI, and has an MCP server and a REST API on every plan. |
| Best for | tracking AI visibility by keyword, not prompt | agencies tracking lots of clients in AI answers |
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: LLMrefs and Rankshift. How we grade
Price against what you get
LLMrefs starts at $79 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Rankshift starts at $82 a month and scores 2.7.
Rankshift scores higher, and starts $3 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI search visibility tools on the chart, 13 score higher than LLMrefs for less, and 1 scores higher than Rankshift 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
- Rankshift also covers content optimization.
At a glance
| LLMrefs | Rankshift | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $79 per month for 500 prompts | $82 per month for 9,500 credits, billed annually ($92 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial; signing up needs no credit card | 30-day free trial, no credit card needed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | LLMrefs | Rankshift BV |
| Price read from | llmrefs.com | rankshift.ai |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Rankshift
- Each prompt run uses credits: 2 on ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews and most engines, 5 on Claude and Copilot, so daily tracking on many engines adds up.
- There is no free plan after the 30-day trial.
- SSO and an SLA come only with the custom-priced Enterprise plan.
Key features
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.
Rankshift
- Prompt tracking on nine AI engines
- ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Perplexity, Meta AI and Mistral, run daily or on chosen weekdays, with personas.
- Visibility, sentiment and citations
- A visibility score and leaderboard against competitors, sentiment toward your brand, and the share of citations each source gets.
- Content opportunities and briefs
- Finds pages that cite competitors but not you, and generates content briefs and drafts aimed at the prompts you track.
- Action Center
- One list of recommended fixes, such as schema, comparison pages or author bios, ranked by expected effect on visibility.
- Agent analytics
- Shows in real time when crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot read your pages, with the status codes they got.
- MCP, API and BI connectors
- An MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT, a REST API, and a PostgreSQL connector for Looker Studio, BigQuery, Tableau, Power BI and others.
Plans
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.
Rankshift
Starter$82
per month for 9,500 credits, billed annually ($92 billed monthly)
Up to 150 prompts a day, every AI engine, unlimited projects and seats, content briefs and writer, crawler analytics, Looker Studio, MCP and API.
Professional$189
per month for 22,000 credits, billed annually ($210 billed monthly)
Everything in Starter with up to 350 prompts a day.
Business$425
per month for 53,000 credits, billed annually ($473 billed monthly)
Everything in Starter with up to 850 prompts a day, for teams running several projects.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom credits and prompt tracking, SSO, an SLA, training sessions and a dedicated account manager.
Ways to pay less
LLMrefs
No public discounts listed.
Rankshift
- Annual discount
Save 10% with annual billing
Rankshift's pricing page lists annual billing at about 10% less, for example Starter at $82 a month instead of $92.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, LLMrefs or Rankshift?
As of Oct 23, 2026, LLMrefs is cheaper to start with: $79 a month, against $82 a month for Rankshift. LLMrefs starts at $79 per month for 500 prompts, and Rankshift starts at $82 per month for 9,500 credits, billed annually ($92 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, LLMrefs or Rankshift?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither LLMrefs nor Rankshift 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.