SE Ranking AI Search alternative: ShownInAI vs SE Ranking

The short answer

Choose SE Ranking if you already run, or want to run, your SEO in one suite and want AI answer tracking next to rank tracking, audits and backlinks. Its Core plan is $129 a month ($103.20 billed yearly) and already tracks 100 prompts a day. If you need more AI prompts, the AI Search add-on starts at $89 a month on top of your plan, and if you only want AI tracking without the SEO suite, SE Visible starts at $99 a month.

Choose ShownInAI if you are a founder or small team that does not want another dashboard to read. For $9 in the first month we check 10 real buyer questions, list the competitors AI names instead of you and the sources it trusts, and write the 3 pages most likely to get you named. After that it is $29 a month, with 3 new pages every month, and if AI answers still do not name you within 60 days, you get everything you paid back.

The two are built for different jobs. SE Ranking gives an SEO team a lot of data across search and AI answers. ShownInAI does a small amount of measuring so that it knows exactly what to write, and then does the writing. The rest of this page goes through SE Ranking's three ways to buy AI tracking, what each costs, and when each product is the better buy.

SE Ranking's three ways to buy AI tracking

Searches for "SE Ranking AI" get confusing because the company sells AI visibility in three places. We read all of them on 25 October 2026.

1. 01Inside an SE Ranking plan. Core ($129 a month, or $103.20 a month billed yearly) includes 100 prompts tracked daily across 5 AI engines, AI source tracking and AI competitor research on 5 domains, next to 2,000 tracked keywords, 10 projects and 1 manager seat. Growth ($279 a month, or $223.20 billed yearly) raises that to 250 prompts daily, 15 research domains, 5,000 keywords, 30 projects and 3 seats. Enterprise is custom.
2. 02The AI Search add-on, bought on top of an SE Ranking plan. It is $89 a month for 200 prompts ($71.20 billed yearly), $179 for 450 prompts ($143.20 yearly) or $345 for 1,000 prompts ($276 yearly). It adds an AI results tracker, unlimited competitor research across AI answers, and access to SE Visible with the same number of prompts.
3. 03SE Visible on its own, with no SEO suite. Basic is $99 a month ($79 billed yearly) for 200 prompts, about 30,000 AI answers analysed a month and 3 projects. Core is $189 a month ($151 yearly) for 450 prompts and 5 projects. Plus is $355 a month ($284 yearly) for 1,000 prompts and 10 projects, sold through a demo. SE Visible says it collects real answers through a browser, refreshes them daily, and lets you invite unlimited users.

What it adds up to

Here is the arithmetic for common setups, using the list prices above. These totals are our sums of SE Ranking's published prices, not bundle prices SE Ranking quotes.

• SE Ranking Core alone, monthly: $129 a month for 100 daily prompts plus the SEO suite.
• SE Ranking Core plus the 200-prompt AI Search add-on, monthly: $129 + $89 = $218 a month. Billed yearly: $103.20 + $71.20 = $174.40 a month, paid upfront for the year.
• SE Visible Basic only: $99 a month, or $79 a month billed yearly, for 200 prompts and no SEO suite.
• Agency on Core with the Agency Pack: the pack is $69 a month for 30 projects, $99 for 50 or $129 for 100, billed yearly only, on top of the plan.
• ShownInAI for one brand: $9 in the first month, then $29 a month, with pages written. Agency: $99 a month for 10 client sites.

What SE Ranking does better

• One login for SEO and AI. Rank tracking, keyword and backlink research, site audits, local SEO and AI answer tracking sit in the same tool, with Looker Studio, GA4 and Search Console integrations. ShownInAI only covers AI visibility.
• Much more tracking. Even Core tracks 100 prompts every day, and the add-on or SE Visible goes to 1,000. ShownInAI checks 10 buyer questions per brand every 14 days.
• Engine-by-engine data. SE Ranking reports per AI engine, including Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, with sources, sentiment and competitor research. ShownInAI reads live answers with web search and reports who is named and which sources are cited, without splitting results by engine.
• Data access. An API with research credits, MCP access, data exports and report builders. ShownInAI keeps its reporting simple and has nothing on that scale.
• A content tool. Core includes 25 AI-generated articles a month (Growth 50), with extra articles available. You still choose the topics, brief them and edit the drafts.
• Free trials. SE Ranking offers 14 days with no card, and SE Visible offers 10 days.

What ShownInAI does better

• It decides what to write and writes it. A tracker shows that a competitor is named instead of you. ShownInAI finds the buyer questions where that happens, reads the sources the answers lean on, and writes 3 publish-ready pages straight after payment, with FAQ schema, then 3 new ones every month. There is no topic research or briefing for you to do.
• No prompt list to build. We choose the unbranded buyer questions for your category, so you do not need to know which prompts matter before you start.
• It costs far less to start. The first month is $9 and can be refunded within 7 days, and the $49 report needs no subscription at all. SE Ranking's AI tracking starts at $99 to $129 a month, or more when the add-on is stacked on a plan.
• It puts money on the result. If AI answers still do not name you within 60 days, we refund everything you have paid. SE Ranking's terms say payments are non-refundable unless the service was not delivered as promised.
• It is cheaper for agencies with many small clients. $99 a month covers 10 client sites with white-label PDF reports, about $10 a client, and each client also gets pages written. There is no annual commitment.
• Nothing to install or connect. We only need the website address, and you publish the pages on your own site like any blog or docs page.

Why the written pages matter

We ran unbranded buyer questions such as "best [category]", "[competitor] alternatives" and "X vs Y" through AI search for 50 software brands. 39 of the 50 were never named in any answer to their own category's buyer questions, and all 30 brands that had launched in the previous month scored 0.

The sources explain why. In 33 of the 50 cases, the most cited source was a competitor's own website: its comparison pages, docs and help centre. Review sites were the top source for only 6 of 50 brands. The pages that decide who gets recommended are mostly pages companies wrote about themselves and their rivals.

That is why tracking more prompts, more often, rarely moves the number on its own. If your mention rate is zero, a daily tracker mostly confirms the zero every day. What changes the answer is a page of your own that answers the same question clearly: a comparison page, an alternatives page, or a plain answer page with real prices. SE Ranking gives an SEO team the data to plan that work. ShownInAI does the work.

Which one fits you

1. 01Solo founder or small SaaS team with no content person: ShownInAI Starter. $9 to start, the pages are written for you, and the 60-day guarantee covers you if it does not work.
2. 02In-house SEO team that wants rankings, audits, backlinks and AI answers in one tool: SE Ranking Core or Growth. Start with the 14-day trial and see whether 100 daily prompts is enough before buying the add-on.
3. 03Marketing team that only wants a large AI tracking dashboard: SE Visible, from $99 a month, or $79 billed yearly.
4. 04SEO agency already on SE Ranking that reports to clients: the AI Search add-on plus the Agency Pack keeps everything white-labelled in one place.
5. 05Agency selling AI visibility to many small clients who want results, not dashboards: ShownInAI Agency at $99 a month for 10 sites, white-labelled, with pages written for each client.
6. 06Not sure yet: buy the $49 ShownInAI report to see how you do on real buyer questions, or start SE Ranking's free trial, before committing to either.

Can you use both?

Yes, and it is a natural pairing. Many teams already pay for SE Ranking for classic SEO. Its included AI prompts can keep watching your wider prompt set, while ShownInAI writes the comparison, alternatives and answer pages for the buyer questions where you are missing. You do not need the AI Search add-on to do that. A team watching costs usually only needs one AI tool, and the deciding question is the same as always: do you need more data, or do you need the pages written?

How to move from SE Ranking's AI tracking to ShownInAI

1. 01Export your prompts and the competitors SE Ranking or SE Visible shows being named instead of you.
2. 02Start ShownInAI for $9 with your website address. The scan runs straight after payment and takes about a minute.
3. 03Compare our list of competitors and cited sources with your SE Ranking data. They usually overlap, since both tools read real AI answers.
4. 04Publish the 3 pages we write on your own site, and link to them from your pricing page, docs or blog so they are easy to find.
5. 05Drop the AI Search add-on or SE Visible if you no longer need the extra prompts. You can keep your SE Ranking plan for classic SEO.

How we checked these facts

SE Ranking's plan prices, prompt limits, add-on prices, trial and refund terms come from SE Ranking's own subscription page, including the add-on price data published in the page, and SE Visible's prices and limits come from SE Visible's own home page and pricing section. We checked both on 25 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars as shown to us, yearly prices are per month and billed upfront, and they may change, so check the source before you buy. The totals in "What it adds up to" are our own sums. ShownInAI's numbers come from our own pricing page. If anything here about SE Ranking is wrong or out of date, email [email protected] and we will correct it.