Five things premium AEO competitors have separately. WriteGarden ships all five in one plan.
Every credible competitor in this category does one or two of the following well — and tier-gates, add-on-charges, or rolls out 'coming soon' for the rest. WriteGarden ships all five in the €49 plan from day one.
Comparison reflects published prices and shipped capability as of 2026-05. Competitor names © their respective owners.
Five attributes. One plan.
These five attributes don't co-exist on a single tier anywhere else in the category. We mapped 16 competitor sites end-to-end before shipping ours; this is the only configuration that came back clean.
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Six AI engines tracked, every one shipped.
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, and Google AI Overviews — all live, all weekly. Surfer tracks 5 (no Claude, no Copilot). Frase tracks 5 (no Copilot, no Grok). HubSpot AEO tracks 3 only. Profound tracks 9 (more than us) but at $99–$5,000/mo opaque pricing. Athena tracks 8 at $95–$295/mo with credit-based metering. We track 6 at €49 with no metering.
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Every engine and every feature, bundled in the entry tier.
No tier-gated AEO. No tier-gated CMSs. No AI-visibility-as-an-add-on. Surfer's €49 Discovery tier gives you 0 AI Tracker prompts. Scalenut tier-gates engine coverage. Frase tier-gates platforms (2 / 3 / 5 / 8). Semrush sells AI Visibility as a $99/mo add-on on top of a $140/mo base. WriteGarden's €49 plan includes all 6 engines, all 5 CMSs, all six product pillars — there is no higher tier on self-serve.
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€49 — the highest-coverage entry tier in the category.
Frase Starter €45 (10 articles, 2 visibility platforms). Surfer Discovery €49 (0 AI Tracker prompts). Scalenut Starter $59 (engine-gated). AthenaHQ Self-Serve $95 annual / $295 monthly. WriteGarden €49 = full coverage. The price-to-included ratio is the largest gap on the table.
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€1 trial, credited back — premium signal, not friction.
Most plans say 'no credit card required.' We say €1, charged for the one-day trial, then credited in full to your first invoice when you continue. RankPill's $1 for 3 days is the closest analogue (not credited back). Athena offers 67% off the first month. Frase / Surfer / Scalenut / Sight AI offer free trials with no credit card — which is fine, but it doesn't signal premium intent. Our trial mechanic filters intent at the door.
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Publishes the fix, not just the diagnosis.
AthenaHQ tracks and recommends. Profound tracks and recommends. Otterly tracks. HubSpot AEO tracks and recommends. WriteGarden tracks, recommends, AND publishes the article that closes the gap — direct to Webflow, WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Framer, or any platform via webhooks. The full closed loop, in one workflow. No second tool to hand off to.
WriteGarden vs the premium category.
Six competitors, five attributes. Yes / partial / no per cell. As of 2026-05; pricing and capability shift quarterly.
| WriteGarden | Frase | Surfer | Scalenut | AthenaHQ | Profound | HubSpot AEO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ≥6 AI engines tracked | ✓ (6 shipped) | 5 only | 5 only | 5 (tier-gated) | 8 shipped | 9 shipped | 3 only |
| All-in entry tier (no upsell ladder) | ✓ | tier-gated | AI Tracker requires Standard €99 | tier-gated | credit-based metering | demo-gated | limited free + $50 paid |
| ≤€49 entry tier | ✓ (€49/mo) | $49 Starter (10 articles) | €49 Discovery (0 AI prompts) | $59 Starter | $95 annual | ~$99 Starter (demo) | $50/mo |
| Credited trial mechanic | ✓ (€1 credited to first invoice) | 7-day free, no card | Start free, no terms | 7-day free | 67% off first month | demo-gated, no trial | 28-day free |
| Publishes the fix (not just diagnoses) | ✓ (5 CMSs + webhooks) | writes only | writes + tracks | writes + tracks | tracks + recommends | tracks + recommends | tracks + recommends |
Comparison reflects shipped capability and published pricing as of 2026-05 for the cheapest publicly-listed plan. Brand names © their respective owners. Comparison reflects category-leading competitors not a comprehensive market scan.
When NOT to pick WriteGarden.
Same discipline as the homepage 'WriteGarden isn't for everyone' block — if two of these read as objections, the trial probably isn't worth the €1.
If you want one-shot AI writing.
Pick Jasper, Copy.ai, or Writesonic. They charge less, ship faster, and don't ask you to plan a cluster first. The output is shallower; for some use cases that's fine.
If you want autopilot AI content at scale.
Pick Byword ($99/mo, 25 articles) or Junia (€17/mo, autopilot). They publish more per dollar; quality and brand-voice control are lower. For affiliate-volume use cases, the trade is correct.
If you only need AEO tracking and nothing else.
Pick Otterly AI (€39/mo) or Peec AI. Cheaper, focused, no content engine attached. If you have an in-house writing team and just want to know where you're cited in AI answers, that's the right tool, not us.
If you have a six-figure content budget already.
Talk to AthenaHQ Enterprise or Profound. They sell to teams with dedicated AEO strategists; we sell to teams that don't have one and need the platform to do that thinking. Different buyer.
See which row you land on.
If the moat reads true for your case, the €1 trial is the cheapest way to verify. If it reads true for someone else's case, the 'When NOT to pick WriteGarden' block points where to look. We'd rather lose well-matched prospects to the right tool than win you and watch you churn.