AI visibility checks without a subscription: pay-per-check tools compared

You want to know whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Google's AI Overviews name your brand when a customer asks, once or now and then, without paying for a monthly tracker. Four services sell those answers by the piece: MentionChecker, Sleepwalker AI, DataForSEO, and Convika. Each prices one question answered by one AI, so their prices line up.

Every price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page or docs, read on November 8, 2026 (Japan time), and each page is linked under Sources. To see whether the 4 AIs name and link you for one question before you buy anything, try one question free, with no sign-up; the full answers open with a free account.

The pay-per-check options compared

What one check of 25 questions on 4 AIs costs

25 questions asked once on 4 AIs is 100 answers. Here is what each service charges for that check, bought from nothing:

• MentionChecker: "25 questions on the four AI engines a check asks by default — ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity — asked once is 100 credits." Its 100-credit pack costs $17.
• Sleepwalker AI: "A default run across all four platforms costs 1 + 1 + 3 + 6 = 11 credits (€0.22)", on OpenAI, Perplexity, Gemini, and Grok. 25 questions is 275 credits, €5.50, above the €5 minimum top-up.
• DataForSEO: its LLM Scraper asks only ChatGPT and Gemini, so 25 questions is 50 results, $0.06 in the standard queue, from a $50 minimum top-up.
• Convika: 100 checks, from packs that start at 100 checks for $3. A workspace's first pack adds its base checks once more, so the smallest gives 200.

MentionChecker's smallest pack costs the most per credit here: $9 for 50 is 18 cents. Its larger packs cost far less per credit: 10,000 credits are $109, about 1.1 cents a credit. Convika's packs come down to $0.02 a check, bonus checks counted. DataForSEO is the cheapest per result for anyone who writes code, and its $50 top-up never expires.

MentionChecker

MentionChecker's pricing page says: "MentionChecker is pay-as-you-go. One question on one AI engine, asked once, is one credit." Packs run from 50 credits for $9 to 100,000 credits for $999, and "Credits last 12 months." Google AI Mode and Copilot can be added to the 4 default AIs: on all 6, 25 questions is 150 credits. "The free check is 5 questions on ChatGPT and Gemini, asked once: 10 credits, on every new account, with no card." MentionChecker's pages don't mention MCP or an API.

Sleepwalker AI

Sleepwalker AI says "No monthly subscriptions, pay as you go." One credit is €0.02, and the minimum top-up is €5, 250 credits. Each model has its own price per probe: on its credits page, OpenAI's GPT-6 Luna and Perplexity's Sonar cost 1 credit, Gemini 3.8 Flash 3, and Grok 4.3 6, "as of 16 October 2026". It doesn't list Google AI Overviews. Reading results is free, and Sleepwalker AI works from its console, its API, a CLI, or MCP, which gives "Claude and other MCP-compatible clients direct access". It also scores pages for AI search, at 2-3 credits.

DataForSEO

DataForSEO is an API for developers: "No subscriptions", a "$50 minimum top-up", and "Balance never expires", with a $1 trial credit for new accounts. Its LLM Scraper reads what ChatGPT and Gemini show, sources included: "To date, only ChatGPT and Gemini are supported." A result costs $0.0012 in the standard queue (up to 45 minutes), $0.0024 in the priority queue, and $0.004 live. Its MCP server covers the AI Optimization API, which the LLM Scraper is part of, so Claude Code or another AI client can make the calls instead of your own code. The results come back raw: you or your AI count your brand in them.

Convika's packs, and when a plan beats them

Convika's AI answer check asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews the questions you save, when you or your AI client runs it. One check is one question answered by one AI. A check that gets no answer back, such as a question with no AI Overview, is given back. Packs work on every plan, Free included, are paid once by card, and never expire. A workspace's first pack, of any size, adds its base checks once more.

The results show, per question and AI, how many answers named your brand, whether they linked to your site, and the sites they linked instead. Then Make a page that answers this drafts the page, Fix this page reworks one the answers skip, and Ask ChatGPT again (or Perplexity) appears once that AI's crawler has read the page you published. From Claude Code, the check_ai_answers, make_pages_for_questions, and fix_uncited_pages prompts run the same steps over MCP: how to do AIO with Claude Code.

Which to pick depends on how many checks you'll use in a month:

• Packs on the Free plan: for a check once, or now and then, up to 10 saved questions. One check of all 10 on the 4 AIs uses 4 checks per question.
• Pro, $12 a month: 50 saved questions and 100 checks a month, $0.12 a check if you count the whole price, more than a pack's. Pick it when you also want your pages live without the Convika bar and sent to IndexNow when published; packs top it up.
• MAX, $49 a month: 200 saved questions and 3,500 checks a month, $0.014 a check, below any pack's after the first pack. After the first pack, $49 spent on packs buys at most 1,910 checks, so MAX costs less than packs once you use more than that in a month. Its checks ask all 200 questions on the 4 AIs 4 times a month, and it adds up to 10,000 live pages and 1,000 new pages a day. Pick it when you want the AIs to name you and will publish pages, from Claude Code or the dashboard, for the questions they answer without you, with questions that ask the same thing sharing one page: Convika hosts the pages.

If you want the same questions asked every day without starting a check, a daily tracker does that on its own: Otterly.AI's Lite plan is $29 a month for 15 prompts on 4 AIs daily, about 1.6 cents an answer. The AI visibility tools comparison lists 14 tools by price per check, and Otterly vs Peec AI vs Profound compares the three a small business asks about most.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an AI visibility tool without a subscription?

Yes. MentionChecker sells credit packs from $9 for 50, Sleepwalker AI sells credits at €0.02 from a €5 top-up, and DataForSEO's API is pay as you go from a $50 top-up. Convika's packs start at $3 for 100 checks, on any plan, Free included. None of them renews.

How much does it cost to check if ChatGPT mentions my brand?

It costs a few cents a question. One question asked of ChatGPT is 1 credit on MentionChecker ($0.18 in its smallest pack), €0.02 for one probe of Sleepwalker AI's default OpenAI model, and $0.03 in Convika's smallest pack. Try one question free on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews with Convika's checker.

Can I check AI visibility for free?

Yes. Convika's checker asks one question on 4 AIs with no sign-up and shows whether each named and linked you, and MentionChecker's free check asks 5 questions on ChatGPT and Gemini. HubSpot's AEO tool tracks 25 prompts on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini for free, and Mangools' free plan tracks 5 prompts weekly. DataForSEO gives new accounts a $1 trial credit.

Do AI visibility credits expire?

It depends on the service. MentionChecker's credits last 12 months. DataForSEO's balance never expires, and neither do Convika's packs. Sleepwalker AI's pages don't say.

What counts as one check or one credit?

One question answered by one AI, once. MentionChecker says "One question on one AI engine, asked once, is one credit." Convika counts a check the same way, and gives back a check that gets no answer. Sleepwalker AI prices each model on its own, from 1 to 15 credits a probe, and DataForSEO charges per result.

Which pay-per-check tools ask Google AI Overviews?

MentionChecker and Convika. MentionChecker asks Google AI Overviews by default and can add Google AI Mode. Sleepwalker AI lists OpenAI, Perplexity, Gemini, and Grok models, and DataForSEO's LLM Scraper supports only ChatGPT and Gemini. To check AI Overviews by hand or in Search Console instead: how to check if your site is cited in Google AI Overviews.

Can Claude Code run AI visibility checks for me?

Yes, with an MCP server. Of the pay-per-check services, Sleepwalker AI, DataForSEO, and Convika have one; DataForSEO's returns the raw results, so you or Claude count your brand. Among the subscription trackers, Peec AI, Otterly.AI, Profound, Rankscale, Mangools, Ahrefs, and Goodie run one too, most of them to let Claude read what their schedule already asked, and Semrush's serves its SEO data: MCP servers for AI search visibility compares them. On Convika, connect with claude mcp add --transport http convika https://mcp.convika.com, and Claude Code can start a check (run_answer_check), read the results, make pages for the questions the AIs miss, with questions that ask the same thing sharing one page, and publish them.

When is a subscription cheaper than paying per check?

A subscription is cheaper once you use more answers a month than its price buys in credits. Otterly.AI Lite's $29 a month buys 15 prompts on 4 AIs daily, 1,800 answers, about 1.6 cents each. Convika MAX's $49 buys 3,500 checks, $0.014 each, and after the first pack costs less than Convika's packs past 1,910 checks a month. Paying per check suits a one-off look, a check before and after a change, or a monthly check of a few dozen questions.

Is Convika MAX cheaper than buying packs?

Per check, yes, after the first pack: MAX's $49 a month for 3,500 checks is $0.014 a check, and packs cost $0.02 to $0.03. Per month, MAX costs less only when you use more than 1,910 checks, the most its price buys in packs after the first pack; for fewer, packs cost less. MAX also keeps 200 saved questions and hosts up to 10,000 live pages on your own domain.

Sources

Each vendor's page was read on November 8, 2026, between 02:18 and 03:08 Japan time:

• MentionChecker: Pricing, read November 8, 2026
• Sleepwalker AI: Home and pricing and Credits, read November 8, 2026
• DataForSEO: Pricing, LLM Scraper pricing, and MCP, read November 8, 2026
• Otterly.AI: Pricing, read November 8, 2026
• HubSpot: AEO, read November 8, 2026
• Mangools: AI Search Watcher, read November 8, 2026

Convika's packs and plans come from its pricing page.