MentionBird vs Rankscale AI (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick Rankscale AI: it is first in our ranking of AI search visibility tools, and it grades higher too, 3.0 against 2.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 and Oct 24, 2026 by ToolGPA
Rankscale AI grades higher on value for money, the free plan and features. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
MentionBird
Daily AI prompt tracking with a ranked plan for each missed answer
Rankscale AI
Credit-based AI visibility tracker covering 17+ AI engines
Which one is for you
Pick MentionBird if
- Fits if you sell in several countries and need answers per market
- Works for SaaS marketing teams tracking buying questions stage by stage
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to try it first, as there's no free plan or trial, only a free report on 5 ChatGPT questions
- Skip it if you need Perplexity or Claude under $249 a month, or Grok, AI Overviews, Copilot and DeepSeek without a custom plan
- Watch out: a run is one prompt on one platform once a day, unused runs don't roll over, and 50 more cost $49 a month
- Pricey if you lean on the ranking plans, which use 5 agent credits each, with 500 more at $99
Pick Rankscale AI if
- Fits if you want 17+ AI engines on one plan and can do the credit sums
- Works for brands where local results matter, as it shows your place in AI map packs
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you track a lot every day, since monitoring pauses when the credits run out until renewal or a top-up
- Skip it if you want the cheapest plan paid monthly, as Essentials is yearly only and the trial is for Pro
- Pricey if you need the REST API, which starts at Pro+ for $229 a month, or white label at $385
- Watch out: Claude costs 2 credits a run against 0.25 for ChatGPT, so Essentials' 120 credits go fast
- Watch out: extra brand dashboard slots are bought separately in the app
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAMentionBirdFair | 3.0GPARankscale AIVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $66 a month billed yearly, $79 monthly, for 100 runs a day on ChatGPT and Gemini. That's between this category's $49 middle and its dearer quarter at $95. Perplexity and Claude need Growth at $249, in the dearest tenth. | A$17 a month on yearly billing is just under $17.40, the line for an A in this category. But Essentials' 120 credits cover about five prompts a day on ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity at 0.25 a run. Pro, at $99 a month for 1,200 credits, is where daily tracking gets room. |
| Free plan and trial | DNo free plan or trial. A free report checks 5 questions on ChatGPT only, which shows where you stand once. | CNo free plan, just a 7-day trial of Pro with a limited credit allowance. Enough to see how fast credits drain, not much more. |
| Features | CDaily runs per country, visibility and prominence scores, prompt research, sources with authority scores, and an agent that ranks 3 to 6 moves for each missed prompt. The gap the listing names: Starter covers only ChatGPT and Gemini. | AAll 17+ engines on every plan, Claude and DeepSeek included, with visibility, sentiment, citations and query fan-out, plus things few rivals track: your place in AI local and map packs, and the questions ChatGPT asks before it recommends brands. Page audits cover what to fix. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Runs come from one shared daily pool you split across prompts and platforms, and ranking plans spend agent credits, so there are allowances to manage. | CNo rating on record. A run costs 0.25 to 2 credits depending on the engine, and tracking pauses when credits run out, so there are sums to do before you set a schedule. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. Every plan has read-only or read-write API keys, an MCP server for Claude, Claude Code and Cursor, and an OpenAPI spec for ChatGPT and Gemini. | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. Looker Studio, Google Sheets, Cloudflare and an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor, with the REST API from Pro+ at $229. |
| Best for | daily prompts with a plan for each miss | 17+ AI engines from $17 a month |
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: MentionBird and Rankscale AI. How we grade
Price against what you get
MentionBird starts at $66 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Rankscale AI starts at $17 a month and scores 3.0.
Rankscale AI scores higher and starts $49 a month lower. Of the other AI search visibility tools on the chart, 11 score higher than MentionBird for less, and none scores higher than Rankscale AI 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
- MentionBird also covers content optimization.
- Rankscale AI also covers reports and web analytics.
At a glance
| MentionBird | Rankscale AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | $66 per month for 100 runs a day, billed annually ($79 billed monthly) | $17 per month, billed yearly only (Essentials) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial of the Pro plan with a limited credit allowance |
| Web | ||
| Made by | AdNabu Pte. Ltd. | Rankscale GmbH |
| Price read from | mentionbird.ai | rankscale.ai |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
MentionBird
- There is no free plan or free trial; the free report checks five questions on ChatGPT only.
- Starter tracks only ChatGPT and Gemini; Perplexity and Claude need Growth, and Grok, AI Overviews, Copilot and DeepSeek need Custom.
- A run is one prompt on one platform once a day, unused runs do not roll over, and 50 extra runs cost $49 a month.
- Ranking plans spend agent credits, 5 per plan; extra credits cost $99 for 500.
Rankscale AI
- Tracking is limited by credits, not prompts: each engine run costs 0.25 to 2 credits, and monitoring pauses when credits run out until renewal or a top-up.
- Essentials is sold on yearly billing only; the 7-day trial is for Pro.
- The REST API starts at Pro+ ($229 a month); white-label dashboards start at Growth.
- Extra brand dashboard slots are bought separately in the app.
Key features
MentionBird
- Daily prompt runs
- Asks each prompt every day on the platforms you pick for it, from one shared daily pool of runs, and can target each prompt to a country.
- Visibility and prominence scores
- How often you are named, how high in the answer, average position, share of voice and rank among the brands named, with up to 365 days of history.
- Prompt research
- Suggests prompts across five kinds of buying question, from problem to head-to-head, and scores each from 1 to 10 for volume and difficulty.
- Sources and citations
- Lists the sites and pages each answer is built from, with an authority score, source and format breakdowns, and the keywords AI platforms search with.
- Ranking advice agent
- For a prompt you are missing from, suggests 3 to 6 moves ranked by effort and impact, at 5 agent credits per plan. It also summarizes cited YouTube videos.
- MCP server and API
- Connects to Claude, Claude Code and Cursor over MCP, and to ChatGPT and Gemini through an OpenAPI spec, with read-only or read-write keys on every plan.
Rankscale AI
- Wide engine coverage
- All plans can query 17+ engines, from ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity at 0.25 credits a run to Claude at 2 credits, on schedules from hourly to monthly.
- Visibility, sentiment and citations
- Tracks a visibility score over time, benchmarks competitors, analyzes sentiment and shows which sources AI engines cite.
- Query fan-out and ChatGPT follow-ups
- Shows the internal searches AI engines run while answering, and the clarifying questions ChatGPT asks before recommending brands.
- Shopping, ads and local results
- Analyzes shopping cards and sponsored ads in ChatGPT, AI Mode and Copilot, and brand placement in AI local and map packs.
- AI visits from Cloudflare
- A read-only Cloudflare connection reports AI crawler and assistant visits, top pages and the 404 errors AI bots hit.
- Sharing, API and MCP
- Shareable dashboard links, CSV and Google Sheets exports, Data Studio, an MCP server for AI assistants and, from Pro+, a REST API.
Plans
MentionBird
Starter$66
per month for 100 runs a day, billed annually ($79 billed monthly)
ChatGPT and Gemini, 1 brand and 5 competitors, 10 team members and 100 agent credits a month. $790 billed yearly.
Growth$249
per month for 400 runs a day, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)
Adds Perplexity and Claude, 3 brands with 10 competitors each and 500 agent credits a month. $2,990 billed yearly.
CustomCustom
All 8 platforms including Grok, AI Overviews, Copilot and DeepSeek, as many runs, brands and seats as needed, and an account manager.
Rankscale AI
Essentials$17
per month for 120 credits, billed yearly only
For individuals and startups: 2 brand dashboards and 10 page audits a month. Shown as $20 crossed out.
Pro$99
per month for 1,200 credits, billed monthly
Up to 4,800 AI answers a month, 10 brand dashboards, 50 page audits, Looker Studio and MCP. Unused credits roll over up to 2x.
Pro+$229
per month for 3,000 credits, billed monthly
Up to 12,000 answers, 25 brand dashboards, 100 page audits, REST API access and 5 prompt researches a month.
Growth$385
per month for 5,500 credits, billed monthly
For agencies: up to 22,000 answers, 50 brand dashboards, 200 page audits, white-label dashboards and the agency program.
Enterprise$780
per month for 12,000 credits, billed monthly
Up to 48,000 answers, 100 brand dashboards, REST API access, a dedicated partner, and credit rollover up to 3x.
Custom PlanCustom
Built around credit volume and team size, with options such as SSO, custom API work, SLA guarantees and a success manager.
Ways to pay less
MentionBird
- Annual discount
Two months free with annual billing
MentionBird's pricing page prices annual plans at 10 months instead of 12: Starter is $790 a year and Growth $2,990.
Rankscale AI
- Annual discount
15% off with yearly billing
Rankscale's pricing FAQ says yearly billing is 15% cheaper than monthly, paid 12 months upfront, with credits still renewing each month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, MentionBird or Rankscale AI?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Rankscale AI is cheaper to start with: $17 a month, against $66 a month for MentionBird. MentionBird starts at $66 per month for 100 runs a day, billed annually ($79 billed monthly), and Rankscale AI starts at $17 per month, billed yearly only (Essentials).
Which has a free plan, MentionBird or Rankscale AI?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither MentionBird nor Rankscale AI has a free plan. Rankscale AI has 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.