HubSpot AEO vs Profound: which AI visibility tool should you pick?

What is the difference between HubSpot AEO and Profound?

HubSpot AEO is a low-cost prompt tracker that plugs into HubSpot, while Profound is an enterprise AI visibility platform sold through a trial and a sales conversation.

Both tools ask AI assistants a set of buyer prompts and report whether your brand appears, how often competitors appear, and which sources the answers cite. The difference is scope and buying model.

HubSpot AEO is labelled beta on HubSpot's site as of November 2026. It covers ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, gives you a visibility score, share of voice, sentiment, citation analysis, suggested prompts and prioritized recommendations. HubSpot says no HubSpot subscription is required, but recommendations get more specific when your CRM data in Marketing Hub Pro or Enterprise is connected.

Profound, as of November 2026, sells a free trial and a custom Enterprise package for brands, plus a separate agency offering. Beyond prompt tracking, it bundles prompt volume research, AI traffic analytics for your domains, and an agent product it calls AI Marketer that runs on credits.

How much do HubSpot AEO and Profound cost?

As of November 2026, HubSpot AEO costs $50 a month, and Profound publishes no dollar price beyond its free trial.

HubSpot lists AEO at $50 a month, or $45 a month billed annually, with 25 prompts included and more available to buy. Its free trial tracks the same 25 prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini without a credit card.

Profound's pricing page shows a free trial with 50 prompts run daily for 7 days. Trial prompts are a recommended set you cannot edit, and the trial has no history, exports or API. Enterprise is listed as custom, with daily tracking, editable prompts, full history, CSV and JSON exports, API access, SSO/SAML and SOC 2 compliance. Its FAQ also mentions a self-serve Agency Growth plan with 400 credits per month per client workspace.

MarketHQ publishes every price: Lite $29, Startup $99 and Growth $199 a month. Lite and Startup start with a 4-day trial charged on day 4; Growth is charged at signup. A card is required on every plan.

Which AI engines does each tool track?

HubSpot AEO tracks three engines, Profound's Enterprise tier covers up to nine, and MarketHQ checks six on every paid plan.

HubSpot AEO covers ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. It does not list Claude, Grok or DeepSeek.

Profound's trial covers ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Its Enterprise column lists ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Claude, Google AI Overviews and Exa Search, for up to nine engines.

MarketHQ asks your tracked questions in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok and DeepSeek every week. If your buyers are developers who lean on Claude, a tracker without it misses part of the picture.

Which is better for tracking your own brand versus client brands?

For your own brand, the choice is mostly price and engine coverage; for client work, look at how each tool separates brands and bills per client.

The first question is whether you are tracking your own company's brand or many client brands. A single in-house team usually wants a fixed monthly price, enough engines and a clear next step. An agency needs separate client setups, per-client billing and reports it can hand over.

HubSpot sells one AEO instance per brand at $50 a month, which suits a single brand already living in HubSpot. Profound offers an agency program and a credit-based Agency Growth plan per client workspace. MarketHQ has no multi-client dashboard: an agency runs a separate account and published plan for each client, Lite, Startup or Growth depending on how many competitors and questions that client needs.

Why does tracking AI answers alone leave gaps?

AI assistants build answers from Reddit threads, reviews, news and blogs, so you need to see that conversation to change what they say.

A visibility score tells you that a competitor is named more often. It does not show the Reddit thread or comparison article that keeps getting cited. HubSpot AEO and Profound both offer citation analysis, which helps. Neither lists monitoring of the wider conversation on its product or pricing page.

MarketHQ tracks Reddit, news, blogs and social mentions of you and your competitors in the same workspace as the weekly AI answers. Gap analysis then shows where competitors are present and you are not, and the action plan turns that into the next pages, posts and replies to make.

What does choosing between them look like in practice?

Illustrative example: a 20-person API company compares the three tools on engines, price and next steps.

Illustrative example: a 20-person API company wants to know whether AI assistants recommend it over two rivals. It trials HubSpot AEO and likes the recommendations, but its developer buyers use Claude, which the tool does not track. Profound covers more engines, but the team cannot get a price without a demo. It starts MarketHQ on Startup, tracks its questions in six assistants weekly, and finds a Reddit comparison thread that keeps shaping the answers. It replies in that thread and publishes a comparison page, then watches the weekly answers to see whether its share changes.

Where do HubSpot AEO and Profound win?

Choose HubSpot AEO if you live in HubSpot and only need three engines; choose Profound if you need nine engines and enterprise procurement.

MarketHQ does not track Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode or Microsoft Copilot, and it checks answers weekly rather than daily. Plan limits cap tracked questions at 10 on Lite, 60 on Startup and 120 on Growth.

MarketHQ wins when you want six assistants, the Reddit, news, blog and social conversation behind the answers, and a gap analysis with an action plan, all at a published price from $29 a month.

• Choose HubSpot AEO if your team already runs on HubSpot and three engines are enough.
• Choose Profound if you need up to nine engines, daily tracking, SSO and SOC 2, and can go through a sales process.