Profound vs Rankscale AI (2026): which should you pick?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Profound

No public discounts listed.

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.