Honest comparison · June 2026
SearchByAI vs Otterly.AI
Otterly.AI is an established AI-search monitoring platform with a $29 → $189 pricing cliff. Here’s how the two actually differ — including where they beat us.
The short version
Otterly is the established pick: Gartner Cool Vendor, a 4.8 G2 badge, solid monitoring. It's also priced like a mid-market tool wearing a small-business mask: the $29 Lite plan caps you at 15 prompts, Gemini and AI Mode cost extra on top of every plan, and the next real tier is $189. SearchByAI lives in that gap — with the action layer Otterly's own reviewers say is missing.
| Otterly.AI | SearchByAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $29/mo Lite (15 prompts) — next tier $189/mo | Flat monthly plans — and the audit is free first |
| Platform add-ons | Gemini and Google AI Mode are paid add-ons ($9–$149/mo extra) | Platforms included per plan — Gemini at Pro, no add-on pricing, ever |
| Action layer | Content audits + recommendations (reviewers call them generic) | Ranked action plan, show-me-how workshops, downloadable finished fix files (llms.txt, robots.txt, schema, sitemap) |
| Proof | Daily tracking charts | Receipts on every score (the actual stored AI answers) + daily re-checks proving movement |
| Free option | 14-day trial; growth engine is their free-tools suite | Free full audit + free any-domain check, no card |
| Built for | Marketing/SEO teams and agencies | Lean teams that need brand visibility fixed |
Where Otterly.AI genuinely wins
- Trust badges: Gartner Cool Vendor 2025, strong G2 presence, enterprise logos. The "safe pick" energy is real.
- Volume content audits (1,000–10,000 URLs/month) for teams auditing big sites.
- A genuinely excellent free-tools funnel — credit where due, it's the best marketing in the category.
Where SearchByAI wins
- No cliff: our plan ladder is gradual. Theirs jumps $29 → $189 the day you outgrow 15 prompts.
- No engine tax: Gemini included at Pro. Two of their six advertised engines cost extra on every plan.
- Fixes, not pointers: their reviewers' most consistent complaint is generic recommendations; we hand over the finished file.
- Honest claims: "Optimize once, get cited everywhere" isn't how AI works — we measure, fix, and prove instead of promising.
What public reviews say
- Independent reviews consistently note limited actionable recommendations and shallow history (tracking starts at signup).
- Prompt-based pricing gets expensive at scale, and the engine add-ons read as nickel-and-diming.
The bottom line
Pick Otterly if you're a marketing team that wants the badge-backed incumbent and volume URL audits. Pick SearchByAI if you want the brand gap found, the fix delivered, and a predictable self-serve bill.
Don’t take our table’s word for it.
Check any brand free in 30 seconds — or run the full free AI visibility audit and see your score, your rivals, the actual AI answers, and your #1 fix. No card, no sales call.
Other comparisons: vs PromptMonitor · vs Rankscale · vs Peec AI · vs Profound · vs Scrunch
Competitor pricing and packaging verified against their public pages on June 12, 2026, and may have changed since. Spot an error? Tell us: hello@searchbyai.co.