Otterly.AI includes four engines on every plan and sells Google AI Mode, Gemini and Claude as add-ons, while Writesonic's self-serve plans track three engines and bundle an AI article writer. Otterly.AI suits teams that want wider engine coverage at a low entry price, and Writesonic suits teams that want writing and publishing in the same plan as tracking. DeepSmith is a strong alternative for teams that want tracking and publish-ready articles on one self-serve plan, with a fixed number of finished articles each month.
If you are comparing Otterly.AI vs Writesonic, the first thing to settle is which AI engines your buyers actually use, because the two tools cover them very differently on self-serve plans. Otterly.AI is a tracker with audits and recommendations built around it. Writesonic started as an AI writer and now tracks AI visibility next to it, with most of its action features held back for Enterprise. This page goes through engines, price, tracking depth and what each tool does once the data comes in. DeepSmith also tracks AI answers and produces the articles that act on them, so it gets its own section.
Otterly.AI vs Writesonic: the short answer
- Choose DeepSmith if you want tracking and finished articles on one self-serve plan: Grow is $199 a month with ChatGPT and Perplexity tracking and 40 articles, and Scale adds Gemini and 90 articles for $399 a month.
- Choose Otterly.AI if engine breadth and price matter most: four engines come with every plan starting at $29 a month, and Google AI Mode, Gemini and Claude can be added for a fee.
- Choose Writesonic if you want an AI writer in the same plan as the tracker: three engines (ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews) plus 15 to 50 articles a month from $79 a month billed annually.
| Criterion | DeepSmith | Otterly.AI | Writesonic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price (monthly) | $99/mo | $29/mo | $99/mo |
| Annual price (per month) | $80/mo | $25/mo | $79/mo |
| Prompts at entry tier | 50 | 15 | 50 |
| Engines at entry tier | 1 (ChatGPT) | 4 (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot) | 3 (ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews) |
| Most engines on any plan | 10 (Enterprise) | 7, with 3 as paid add-ons | 10 (Enterprise) |
| Free trial | 7 days | 7 days, no card | 7 days, no card |
| Citation tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Position tracking | - | Yes | Partial |
| Content generation | Yes | Not listed | Yes |
| CMS publishing | Yes | Not listed | Yes |
| Brand-context grounding | Yes | Not listed | Yes |
| API | Yes, read-only | Yes, Standard and up | Yes |
| Security certifications | SOC 2, GDPR and ISO | Not listed | SOC 2 Type II, claimed |
| G2 rating | 4.8/5 | 4.7/5 | 4.7/5 |
Pricing and features as of September 2026, from each vendor's site and public reviews.
Otterly.AI
Otterly.AI is a self-serve AI search monitoring tool from Austria-based OtterlyAI GmbH, launched in October 2024. It runs your tracked prompts every day and reports mentions, citations, average position, sentiment and share of voice against competitors. Around that it offers prompt research, page audits, ranked recommendations and Agent Analytics for AI crawler traffic.
It is built for small and mid-sized marketing and SEO teams and for agencies. Every plan has unlimited seats and unlimited brand reports, and public plans run from $29 to $489 a month, with Enterprise on a custom quote. The standout is a low published price paired with a lot of data output: Standard and above include a REST API, an MCP server and a Looker Studio connector.
The real limitation is engine count. Only four engines are included, and Google AI Mode, Gemini and Claude each cost extra. Lite is also small at 15 prompts, and the next plan up is $189 a month. Otterly.AI does not document article writing or CMS publishing.
On G2, the OtterlyAI listing sits at 4.7/5 from 54 reviews and a separate Otterly.AI listing at 4.8/5 from 42 reviews, both checked in September 2026. Reviewers like the interface, the quick setup and the support, and they ask for more flexible filters and deeper historical analysis.
Writesonic
Writesonic was founded in 2021, is backed by Y Combinator and began as an AI writing tool. It now describes itself as an AI search growth engine. It tracks prompts daily and reports brand mentions, citations, share of voice and sentiment, and it adds AI crawler analytics and AI ads tracking on every plan. Its Article Writer and Content Agent produce content inside the same plans.
It is built for marketing, SEO and content teams, and for agencies, that want tracking and execution in one tool. Self-serve plans cost $79, $199 and $399 a month billed annually, and the 7-day free trial needs no card. The standout is that article writing, brand kits and one-click export to WordPress and other CMSs sit right next to the tracker.
The real limitation is on the tracking side. Self-serve plans track ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews only, and the ten-engine set, the full Action Center, alerts, page tracking, Looker Studio and GA4 are Enterprise features. Each self-serve plan also covers a single market.
Writesonic's G2 listing shows 4.7/5 from 2,133 reviews, and Capterra shows 4.8/5 from 2,102, both checked in September 2026. Most of those reviews were written about the writing product, and reviewers of the visibility product mention a learning curve and unclear scoring.
DeepSmith: the alternative that tracks and publishes on one self-serve plan
Otterly.AI and Writesonic each cover part of the job on a self-serve plan. Otterly.AI gives you broad tracking and documents no writing or publishing. Writesonic gives you a writer and a tracker, with three engines and most of its action features held for Enterprise. DeepSmith puts tracking and publish-ready production on the same plan, at a published price. The DeepSmith vs Otterly page compares it with the tracker. The DeepSmith vs Writesonic page does the same for the writer.
DeepSmith tracks how AI engines answer the questions you define. It reports mention rate, citation rate and share of voice, shows which of your pages AI cites, and shows who wins the citations for your prompts. Opportunity Agents turn that data into content ideas, and each idea carries the data point that justifies it. The Writer then produces a finished article that is researched, linked internally and externally, and set up with a cover image and publish-ready metadata. It is grounded in Deep IQ, which stores your product, persona and brand voice context, so the output sounds like your company.
Autowrite can write a planned article on its scheduled date with nobody in the app, and Produced Content publishes to WordPress, Webflow, Strapi, Sanity or Contentful. Each finished article also arrives with social posts already written, and the Apps Library makes more channel formats from it.
Plans carry a fixed article allowance. Pro is $99 a month ($80 billed annually) with 20 articles, 50 tracked prompts and ChatGPT. Grow is $199 ($160) with 40 articles, 100 prompts, and ChatGPT and Perplexity. Scale is $399 ($299) with 90 articles, 200 prompts, and ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. Enterprise is custom and covers all ten engines. Scale at $299 a month billed annually and Writesonic's Growth at $399 a month billed annually both have 200 prompts and Gemini, and Scale includes 90 articles against Growth's 50. DeepSmith is SOC 2, GDPR and ISO certified, rated 4.8/5 on G2, and offers a 7-day free trial with no long-term contracts.
Engine coverage
Otterly.AI wins the Otterly.AI vs Writesonic engine coverage comparison on self-serve plans, with Writesonic ahead only on Gemini.
Otterly.AI includes ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot on every plan. Google AI Mode and Gemini each cost $9 a month on Lite, $59 on Standard and $149 on Premium, and Claude costs $29, $109 and $439. Covering all seven engines on Standard adds $227 a month to the $189 plan price. Grok, Meta AI and DeepSeek are not offered.
Writesonic's Starter, Basic and Growth plans list ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and nothing else. Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, Google AI Mode, Grok, Meta AI and DeepSeek arrive with Enterprise, which is custom priced and sold through a demo.
The overlap is ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. Otterly.AI adds Perplexity and Copilot at no extra charge, while Writesonic includes Gemini where Otterly.AI charges for it. If your buyers use Perplexity or Claude, Otterly.AI is the only one of the two that reaches them without an enterprise contract. If your buyers mostly use ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, Writesonic's three engines are enough and Otterly.AI would need a Gemini add-on. It's common for a brand to be cited in one engine and missing in another, so the list you pick should match where your buyers ask.
What DeepSmith does: DeepSmith adds engines by tier at published prices. Pro tracks ChatGPT, Grow adds Perplexity, Scale adds Gemini, and Enterprise covers all ten, including Google AI Overviews. Whatever the engine, the loop is the same: the tracking shows which pages AI cites, and the Writer produces the page that closes the gap for that prompt.
Pricing and value
Otterly.AI is cheaper for tracking alone, and Writesonic is the better value if you would otherwise pay for a writing tool on top.
Otterly.AI's plans are Lite at $29 a month ($25 billed annually) with 15 prompts, Standard at $189 ($160) with 100 prompts, and Premium at $489 ($422) with 400 prompts. An extra 100 prompts costs $99 a month on Standard and Premium, and Standard can add up to 300. Seats are unlimited on every plan.
Writesonic's self-serve plans are Starter at $79 a month billed annually with 50 prompts, Basic at $199 with 100 prompts, and Growth at $399 with 200 prompts. Its pricing page does not show month-to-month prices. Starter is stated as $99 a month on its comparison page, and Basic at $249 and Growth at $499 are implied by the savings badges on the pricing page. Seats are limited: Starter has one user, Basic two and Growth three, and extra users cost $50 a month each up to a cap.
At 100 prompts, Otterly.AI's Standard plan is $160 billed annually against $199 for Writesonic's Basic. Premium has twice the prompts of Growth for a similar annual price. What Writesonic adds is 15, 25 or 50 articles a month, site audits and brand kits in the same plan. Reviewers of Otterly.AI also raise the jump from Lite at $29 to Standard at $189, which is the step most teams hit once 15 prompts stops being enough.
What DeepSmith does: DeepSmith prices tracking and production together. Grow is $199 a month with 100 prompts and 40 articles, and Scale is $399 a month with 200 prompts and 90 articles, or $160 and $299 billed annually. You don't need a separate writing subscription to act on what the tracking finds, and there are no long-term contracts.
Tracking depth and data access
Otterly.AI has the deeper tracking on self-serve plans, and Writesonic puts crawler and ad tracking on every plan.
Otterly.AI reports mentions, coverage, average position, sentiment and share of voice daily, and website citation tracking shows which of your own pages AI links to on every plan. Standard and above add the API, the MCP server, a Looker Studio connector and Agent Analytics, which separates AI bot fetches from AI-referred human visits. Its GEO Audit checks whether 19 AI crawlers can reach your pages. One caution is that, per its changelog, ChatGPT Ads reporting has been paused since September 16, 2026, even though the pricing page still lists it.
Writesonic's visibility reports cover mentions, citations, share of voice and full answer text, and its AI Agent Analytics and AI Ads Tracker are on every plan. It also tracks query fan-outs, the sub-queries a model runs. The gating is where it narrows: sentiment starts on Growth, the Page Tracker that shows which of your pages earn citations is Enterprise only, and so are alerts, GA4 and Looker Studio. Self-serve plans get five one-time runs of its AI Search Volume tool, and full access is Enterprise.
Both say they collect answers from the consumer-facing AI interfaces and not from model APIs, with Otterly.AI noting Claude as an exception. Neither publishes how long answer history is kept, so ask before you rely on long trend lines.
What DeepSmith does: DeepSmith reports mention rate, citation rate, share of voice and sentiment, keeps full answer history for every tracked prompt, and shows the pages of yours that AI cites and the competitor pages that win citations instead. Its REST API, 23-tool MCP server and webhooks make the same data available to your own tools.
From insight to action
Writesonic wins this axis, because Otterly.AI documents no content writing or CMS publishing.
On Writesonic, the Article Writer produces long-form articles that the vendor says are publish-ready, with citations, FAQs, schema, internal links and images. Starter, Basic and Growth include 15, 25 and 50 articles a month, with one, five or ten saved writing styles, and export goes to WordPress on every plan, plus Sanity, Contentful, Webflow and Ghost. Its Action Center ranks on-page, off-page and technical fixes, but Growth gets only five on-page and five off-page actions a month, Starter and Basic get none, and the full version is Enterprise. Review themes are worth reading here: reviewers mention generated content that needs editing, though most of that feedback is about the writing product and not the tracker.
Otterly.AI stops at the recommendation. It ranks actions across ten types, with three a week on Lite and unlimited on Standard and above, and its Content Audit grades a page and lists improvements. Content briefs are named on its site without a description of what one contains. WordPress appears only as a log source for Agent Analytics. The work of turning tracking data into fixes happens somewhere else.
So the bundled writer is worth fewer engines if you have no writing process today. If you already have writers or another tool producing articles, the extra engines on Otterly.AI are the better use of the money.
What DeepSmith does: DeepSmith closes the same loop and adds scheduling. Opportunity Agents turn tracked gaps into evidence-backed ideas, the Writer produces a finished article grounded in Deep IQ, Autowrite writes planned articles on their scheduled dates, and Produced Content publishes to WordPress, Webflow, Strapi, Sanity or Contentful. The output is a publish-ready article and not a first draft to rescue, and Repurpose turns each one into social posts.
Reviews and security
This one is close on ratings, with Writesonic ahead on documented security.
On G2, Writesonic shows 4.7/5 from 2,133 reviews and Otterly.AI shows 4.7/5 from 54 and 4.8/5 from 42 across two listings, so the ratings match but the review volume does not. Most of Writesonic's reviews describe the older writing product, and its visibility product has few reviews of its own. Otterly.AI's volume is modest, and its listings are mostly positive on setup and support.
On security, Writesonic claims SOC 2 Type II, though the report itself was not viewed. Otterly.AI's security page cites SOC 2 and ISO 27001 for its AWS data centers and does not claim a certification for the company itself. Both keep SAML SSO for Enterprise.
Which should you choose
- DeepSmith fits marketing teams that want to see where they show up in AI answers and publish the articles that respond, without leaving one plan: a published price from $99 a month, a fixed number of finished articles each month, and brand context stored once in Deep IQ.
- Otterly.AI fits teams and agencies that already have a way to produce content and want the widest engine coverage at the lowest entry price, with unlimited seats and API, MCP and Looker Studio access from Standard.
- Writesonic fits teams with no writing process who want a tracker and an article writer in one subscription and are fine with ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews on self-serve plans.
If you are still deciding between Otterly.AI or Writesonic, the Otterly review goes deeper on one side. The Writesonic alternatives roundup covers the other.
Start a DeepSmith free trial to see tracking and publish-ready articles working on your own prompts.
