HubSpot AI Search Grader vs Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
This is an independent comparison based on publicly available pricing and product documentation as of August 2026, written before hands-on testing of either tool, and is not a paid placement.
HubSpot AI Search Grader is a completely free, one-time AEO snapshot — run it in under two minutes for a shareable baseline score across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, with no dashboard or ongoing tracking. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit is a $99+/mo paid product built for continuous, daily prompt-level monitoring with dashboards, trend history, and deeper competitor and citation reporting. Pick HubSpot's grader if you want a free, on-demand audit or pitch asset; pick Semrush's toolkit if you need ongoing AI-visibility monitoring and already use Semrush's SEO tooling.
At a glance
| HubSpot AI Search Grader | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Marketers wanting a fast, free, shareable AEO baseline or pitch asset | Existing Semrush/SEO-team customers wanting a first pass at AI-visibility monitoring |
| Starting price | Free (no credit card, unlimited use) | $99/mo per domain, billed annually (or from $165.83/mo as part of Semrush One) |
| Free trial | N/A — the grader itself is free and unlimited by design; the paid HubSpot AEO upsell is $50/mo, no credit card required to start | Yes — 7 days free, cancel anytime |
| Key strength | Genuinely no-strings, unlimited-use free tool spanning ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity in under two minutes | Plugs AI-visibility monitoring directly into the SEO, keyword, and competitor data existing Semrush customers already use |
| Standout limitation | One-time snapshot only — no dashboard, trend line, or alerts unless you manually re-run it or upgrade to paid HubSpot AEO | Narrower live engine coverage than claimed per independent review, ~6 supported regions, US-English only, and costs scale quickly with extra domains/seats/prompts |
Feature by feature
AI Engines Tracked
| Capability | HubSpot AI Search Grader | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Engines covered | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini (3 engines; underlying ChatGPT model version cited inconsistently across HubSpot pages) | ChatGPT (ChatGPT Search), Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity per Semrush's own docs — though a rival's review disputes whether Gemini and Perplexity are fully live |
| Microsoft Copilot | Not tracked | Not tracked |
Prompt & Query Tracking
| Capability | HubSpot AI Search Grader | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking mode | One-time snapshot ("under two minutes"), single composite score plus breakdown — no ongoing prompt tracking on the free tier | Daily prompt tracking, ongoing |
| Prompt volume | N/A on the free grader; the paid HubSpot AEO upsell adds 25 tracked prompts (add-on prompts purchasable) | 25 prompts on the Base plan, expandable in roughly 50-prompt increments (~$60/mo) or via higher plans (50-200 prompts per reviewers) |
Competitor Benchmarking & Share of Voice
| Capability | HubSpot AI Search Grader | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor comparison | Yes, even on the free tool — run the grader against competitor brands | Yes — dedicated "Competitor Research" report covering mentions, citations, and topic coverage |
| Share of Voice scoring | "Share of Voice" score (10 of 100 pts) plus "Market Competition" positioning (Leader/Challenger/Niche) | "Brand Performance" tracks Share of Voice across AI platforms and 68,000+ locations |
Sentiment & Citation Analysis
| Capability | HubSpot AI Search Grader | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Sentiment analysis | "Sentiment Results" is the highest-weighted scoring dimension (40 of 100 pts) | Brand Performance shows sentiment (positive/neutral) and which questions trigger mentions |
| Citation tracking | "Presence Quality" (20 of 100 pts) covers source quality/credibility — citation-adjacent, not full citation tracking | Visibility Overview and Competitor Research report citation counts per competitor and top-cited pages |
Content Recommendations & Fix Guidance
| Capability | HubSpot AI Search Grader | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Guidance depth | Limited — a written interpretation of scores plus general strengths/improvement areas | Partial — the toolkit is monitoring/benchmarking focused; actual content-fix drafting lives in Semrush's separate Content Toolkit, not natively here |
| Deeper / ongoing recommendations | Only via the paid HubSpot AEO upsell ($50/mo) — adds AI-generated Prioritized Recommendations, deeper still with Marketing Hub Pro/Enterprise | Not included in this toolkit at any tier — requires pairing with Semrush's separate Content Toolkit product for actual content-fix drafting |
Reporting, Dashboards & Alerts
| Capability | HubSpot AI Search Grader | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Report format | One-time downloadable/shareable report; no dashboard, no alerts | Visibility Overview, Competitor Research, Brand Performance, Prompt Tracking, and AI Search Site Audit dashboards, plus a customizable "My Reports" builder |
| Refresh cadence | Manual re-run only (unlimited, free) | Daily/weekly/monthly refresh; no confirmed native Slack or email alerting specific to this toolkit |
Integrations & API
| Capability | HubSpot AI Search Grader | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| API access | No public API found for the grader or the paid AEO product | No AI-Visibility-Toolkit-specific API confirmed; a general Semrush API and "Semrush MCP" exist at the platform level |
| Data connections | None documented | "My Reports" connects to Google Analytics, Search Console, and other Semrush toolkits |
Pricing & Access
| Capability | HubSpot AI Search Grader | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free — no credit card, no usage limits, no account required to run the analysis (email required to unlock the full report) | $99/month per domain, billed annually (Base Plan) |
| Paid upsell / bundle | HubSpot AEO: $50/mo ($45/mo annual), 25 tracked prompts | Semrush One bundle: Starter $165.83/mo annual, Pro+ $248.17/mo annual, Advanced $455.67/mo annual; Enterprise is custom |
| Free trial | N/A — the grader is free and unlimited by design | 7 days free, cancel anytime |
Pricing
HubSpot AI Search Grader ↗
Official pricing page
- AI Search GraderFree
No credit card, no usage limits, no account required to run the analysis; a short lead-capture form (email, optional "contact me") is required to unlock the full detailed report
- HubSpot AEO (upsell)$50/mo ($45/mo billed annually)
25 tracked prompts with add-on prompts purchasable; ongoing dashboard and deeper recommendations, more integrated with Marketing Hub Pro/Enterprise
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit ↗
Official pricing page
- Base Plan$99/month per domain (billed annually)
1 domain, 25 custom prompts tracked daily, mentions tracked from ChatGPT/Google AI/Gemini/Perplexity, competitor analysis, AI-readiness site audit, 300 reports/day cap
- Semrush One (bundled SEO + AI Visibility)Starter $165.83/mo annual ($199/mo month-to-month); Pro+ $248.17/mo annual ($299/mo month-to-month); Advanced $455.67/mo annual
Bundles the AI Visibility Toolkit with Semrush's broader SEO, keyword, and competitor suite
- EnterpriseCustom pricing
Unlimited projects, custom prompt tracking, multi-brand support, forecasting, dedicated account management, access to Semrush's 200M+ prompt database
Which one fits you
Choose HubSpot AI Search Grader if you...
- You want a fast, free, shareable baseline read on how ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity portray your brand versus competitors.
- You need a one-off audit or pitch asset rather than continuous monitoring.
- You want to see competitor Share of Voice and Market Competition positioning without any payment commitment.
- You're comfortable manually re-running the grader whenever you want an updated read, instead of watching a live dashboard.
- You're already a HubSpot customer, or open to becoming one, and want a natural upgrade path into HubSpot AEO or Marketing Hub later.
- You want to try a free tool first before deciding whether to pay for a dedicated ongoing-monitoring product like Semrush's toolkit.
Choose Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit if you...
- You're an existing Semrush or SEO-team customer wanting a first pass at AI-answer-engine visibility without adopting a separate specialist platform.
- You need ongoing, daily prompt-level tracking with dashboards and historical trends rather than a single point-in-time score.
- You want competitor citation counts and Share of Voice tracked across 68,000+ locations.
- You're comfortable starting with a 7-day free trial before committing to $99+/mo.
- You want AI-visibility data connected to Google Analytics, Search Console, and your other Semrush toolkits in one place.
- Your brand is primarily US/English-focused, since Semrush's toolkit currently supports only about 6 regions and US-English language coverage.
Where they differ most
- 1
HubSpot's grader is a one-time snapshot you re-run manually; Semrush's toolkit runs daily prompt tracking with dashboards and trend history — the core distinction is a free point-in-time audit versus a paid continuous-monitoring product.
- 2
HubSpot tracks 3 engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini); Semrush lists up to 5 in its own docs, adding Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, though a rival review disputes whether Gemini and Perplexity are fully live on Semrush yet.
- 3
Neither tool natively drafts content fixes: HubSpot's free grader offers only a written interpretation of scores, and Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit is monitoring-focused, pushing actual content-fix work into its separate Content Toolkit.
- 4
Semrush's pricing scales with usage — extra domains, seats, and prompt capacity each add $45-$99+/mo — while HubSpot's grader stays free and unlimited regardless of usage; HubSpot's own paid AEO upsell ($50/mo) is also a cheaper starting point than Semrush's $99/mo base plan.
- 5
Semrush's value is partly its bundling with existing SEO, keyword, and competitor tooling for current Semrush customers, whereas HubSpot's grader functions as a standalone lead-gen asset funneling into HubSpot's own paid AEO product and Marketing Hub.
HubSpot AI Search Grader, honestly
HubSpot's grader is a one-time snapshot, not a monitoring tool — it has no dashboard, trend line, or alerting, so any shift in visibility or sentiment the next day is invisible unless you manually re-run it or upgrade to the $50/mo HubSpot AEO product. It also tracks only 3 AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini), leaving out Microsoft Copilot and Google AI Overviews, and the full report is gated behind a lead-capture form that feeds HubSpot's sales funnel.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit, honestly
Independent review flags narrower live engine coverage than advertised, with only about 6 supported regions and US-English-only language support — a real constraint for agencies or global, multilingual brands. Pricing also scales quickly: extra domains, users, and prompt capacity each add $45-$99+/mo on top of the $99 base, and there's no priority support on the standalone plan. Adobe's April 2026 acquisition of Semrush also means the toolkit's roadmap, pricing, and packaging may shift as it gets integrated into Adobe's Experience Cloud stack.