By the end of this page you will know which free AI visibility checkers are worth your marketing team's time, what each one can and cannot tell you, what the paid upgrades cost, and which two checks to run first if you are a Hong Kong enterprise.
The question behind all of them is simple. When a prospect asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity for the best provider in your category, does your company appear? Free checkers answer that in seconds. They answer it differently, though, and choosing the wrong one produces a score your board cannot act on.
Every price and feature below was checked against vendor pages or dated third-party reviews on 29 September 2026.
What is a free AI visibility checker, and what can it tell you?
A free AI visibility checker is a no-cost tool that tests whether AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity mention, describe or cite your brand. Some query the AI engines live and grade your brand perception; others audit your website to see whether AI crawlers can read and quote it. Both give a snapshot, not ongoing tracking.
For an enterprise buyer, the useful distinction is between two kinds of free check:
--- Brand perception checks ask AI engines about your company and score what comes back: whether you are mentioned, how you are described, and how you compare with competitors.
--- Website readiness audits inspect your own site: structured data, AI crawler access, content that can be quoted as an answer, and a prioritised fix list.
Perception tells you where you stand. Readiness tells you why, and what to change. Most free tools do only one of the two.
Which free AI visibility checkers are worth running in 2026?
Six free checkers stand out for enterprise teams in 2026: HubSpot's AEO Grader, Semrush's AI Search Visibility Checker, Ahrefs' AI Visibility Checker, Mangools' AI Search Grader, Hong Kong-based Geoneo's free scan, and UD's AEO Auditor. All are free to start, none need a credit card, and each covers a different mix of AI engines.
HubSpot AEO Grader
A one-time brand snapshot across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini with no account required, scored on sentiment, presence, recognition, share of voice and market position, according to Metricus's August 2026 review. You cannot choose the prompts.
Semrush AI Search Visibility Checker
A free, no sign-up check of mentions, citations and competitor comparison across ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews. Best if your team already uses Semrush.
Ahrefs AI Visibility Checker
A free, no-signup mentions preview covering ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Overviews. Quick, but the free view is limited.
Mangools AI Search Grader
A one-time score across eight models, including Claude, DeepSeek and Grok. The widest free engine coverage on this list.
Geoneo free scan
A Hong Kong-focused platform that says it tracks mentions across ten AI engines, including Asian models. The free scan is an entry point to paid monitoring.
UD AEO Auditor
A free website readiness audit built in Hong Kong. It returns a report in about 30 seconds, runs more than 170 AEO structure checks, adds an AI brand-mention scan, and produces an action plan in English or Traditional Chinese.
Is a brand perception check better than a website readiness audit?
Neither is better on its own. A perception check shows how AI describes you today, which is what your CEO will ask about. A readiness audit shows why AI can or cannot cite your website, which is what your web team can fix. Enterprises get the most value by running one of each and comparing the results.
Consider a Hong Kong logistics group. A perception check shows ChatGPT recommends two regional competitors but not them. That is a useful alarm, but it does not say what to do.
A readiness audit on the same site finds the service pages have no structured data, the FAQ is loaded by JavaScript that AI crawlers cannot read, and no page states the company's 20-year track record in a quotable sentence. Those are fixable in a sprint.
Run the perception check first to size the gap, then the readiness audit to build the fix list.
How to run both checks in one afternoon
--- Write down five prompts your buyers would actually type, in English and in Chinese, such as "best freight forwarder in Hong Kong for cold-chain pharma".
--- Run one perception check and screenshot the result, including which competitors appear.
--- Type your five prompts into ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude by hand, because free perception tools do not let you choose prompts.
--- Run one readiness audit on your main service page, not only the homepage.
--- Put the four outputs on a single slide: where you stand, who wins instead, why, and the top three fixes.
That slide is usually enough to decide whether AI visibility deserves budget this quarter, and it costs nothing but two hours of a marketer's time.
How do the free checkers compare for a Hong Kong enterprise?
For Hong Kong enterprises, the deciding factors are engine coverage including Claude, Chinese-language reporting, whether the tool suggests fixes, and sign-up friction. HubSpot and Semrush lead on brand perception, Mangools on engine breadth, and UD's AEO Auditor on site-level fixes with Traditional Chinese reports. No free tool does everything.
--- HubSpot AEO Grader: perception; ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini; no account; no fix list.
--- Semrush checker: perception and competitors; ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews; no sign-up; no fix list.
--- Ahrefs checker: mentions preview; five surfaces including Copilot; no sign-up; no fix list.
--- Mangools grader: perception; eight models including Claude; no card; no fix list.
--- Geoneo: perception with Asian models; free scan; paid tiers for monitoring.
--- UD AEO Auditor: readiness audit plus brand-mention scan; ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini; no card or account, email to unlock the full dashboard; prioritised fixes; English or Traditional Chinese report.
If your buyers search in Chinese, check that the tool you rely on actually tests Chinese prompts. Several global tools are built and tuned for English queries.
What are the limitations of each free AI visibility checker?
Every free checker has a limit. The global perception tools give one-time snapshots with prompts you cannot choose and no fixes. Mangools and Semrush reserve tracking for paid plans. UD's AEO Auditor focuses on your site rather than live prompt tracking, asks for an email to unlock the full dashboard, and does not publish consulting prices.
--- HubSpot: snapshot only; three engines; you cannot test your own buyer prompts on the free tool.
--- Semrush: ongoing tracking needs the paid AI Visibility Toolkit; Claude and Perplexity are not listed on the free checker.
--- Ahrefs: the free view is a limited preview.
--- Mangools: monitoring requires the separate paid AI Search Watcher.
--- Geoneo: paid pricing was not independently verified for this article.
--- UD AEO Auditor: strongest on structure, not daily multi-prompt tracking; email needed for the full dashboard; implementation consulting is quoted, not listed; a newer tool with fewer independent reviews than HubSpot or Semrush. UD's own figure of roughly 80% higher visibility after AEO work is a vendor claim, not an independent benchmark.
Treat any single free score as a directional signal. Scores from different tools are not comparable with each other.
When should you move from a free checker to a paid AI visibility tracker?
Move to paid tracking when you need to test your own buyer prompts every week, across markets and competitors, and report trends to leadership. Entry prices are modest: Mangools monitoring from US$15.60 a month billed annually, HubSpot AEO from US$45 a month, and Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit at US$99 a month per domain.
Published paid prices, as reported in dated 2026 reviews:
--- HubSpot AEO: US$50 a month, or US$45 billed annually, with 25 prompts, per Rankability's 2026 review.
--- Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: US$99 a month per domain.
--- Mangools AI Search Watcher: US$15.60 a month billed annually.
--- Otterly: from US$29 a month. Peec: from US$95 a month.
The paid tools track perception. None of them rewrites your website. If the readiness audit shows structural problems, fixing those comes first, because better tracking of a site AI cannot read will only measure the same gap more precisely.
Which free AI visibility checker should you choose?
Choose based on your immediate question. For a board-ready view of how AI describes you, start with HubSpot or Semrush. For the widest engine coverage, use Mangools. For a site-level fix list in Traditional Chinese that your web team can act on, use UD's AEO Auditor. Most Hong Kong enterprises should run one perception check and one readiness audit.
--- CMO preparing a board slide: HubSpot AEO Grader for a quick perception score, plus Semrush for competitor context.
--- Existing Semrush or Ahrefs customer: use the free checker from the platform you already pay for.
--- Brand selling across Asia: Mangools for engine breadth, and Geoneo if Asian models matter.
--- Head of Digital with a web team and a backlog: UD AEO Auditor for the structural fix list and a Traditional Chinese report.
--- Regulated firm cautious about new vendors: start with checks that need no account, and review each vendor's data terms before entering an email.
Free AI visibility checkers at a glance (verified 29 September 2026)
--- HubSpot AEO Grader: free, no account; ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini; paid HubSpot AEO from US$45 a month.
--- Semrush AI Search Visibility Checker: free, no sign-up; ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews; paid toolkit US$99 a month per domain.
--- Ahrefs AI Visibility Checker: free, no sign-up; limited preview.
--- Mangools AI Search Grader: free one-time; eight models; paid monitoring from US$15.60 a month.
--- UD AEO Auditor: HK$0, no card, no account; about 30 seconds; 170+ checks; English or Traditional Chinese report; email unlocks full dashboard.
--- Typical time to see structural fixes reflected: two to four weeks; authority signals: one to three months, according to UD's AEO Auditor FAQ.
What is the right next step?
Free checkers are good enough to answer the first question, whether AI mentions you at all. Run one perception check to size the gap, run one readiness audit to find the cause, and fix the structural problems before paying for daily tracking. If you are also putting AI agents to work on your own systems, govern them properly first, as our guide to AI agent identity explains.
We understand AI. We understand you. With UD by your side, AI never feels cold.
Reviewed by the UD enterprise AI team. Prices and features were checked on 29 September 2026 against vendor pages and the dated third-party reviews linked above. Vendors change plans often, so confirm before buying.
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