Review
HubSpot AEO tool review: what it does, what it costs and what it leaves out
The HubSpot AEO tool tracks how often ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity name your brand for the prompts you choose, shows which sources they cite and turns the gaps into a to-do list. On 1 October 2026 it cost $50 a month ($45 billed annually) for 25 prompts, with a 28-day free trial and no HubSpot subscription required. It does not cover Google AI Overviews or AI Mode, and HubSpot still labels it beta.
How this review was made: we read HubSpot's AEO product page and its AI Search Grader page on 1 October 2026. We did not buy or run the tool, so this review describes what HubSpot publishes, not how accurate its data is. Prices may have changed since. Llamat, mentioned below, is our product.
For the wider market — 22 trackers side by side — see the AI visibility tools comparison.
What the HubSpot AEO tool does
AEO stands for answer engine optimization: getting your brand named in AI answers. HubSpot's product page says the tool gives you four things:
- A brand visibility score: how often your brand appears in AI answers across your tracked prompts, as a percentage, plus share of voice against competitors and sentiment on a scale from -100 to +100.
- Prompt tracking: the exact answer each engine returned for each prompt, filterable by engine, buyer's journey phase and product relevance. HubSpot suggests prompts based on your company, competitors and industry.
- Citation analysis: which domains, pages and content types AI answers cite for you and your competitors, split into owned, competitor, third-party, social and affiliate sources.
- Prioritized recommendations: actions such as creating a page, fixing a technical gap, publishing a video or reaching out to third-party sites.
You do not need HubSpot's CMS or any other HubSpot subscription. HubSpot says the tool tracks your brand wherever your site is hosted.
HubSpot AEO tool pricing
- $50 a month, or $45 a month billed annually, for one brand.
- 25 prompts included. More can be bought at any time, with no stated limit; the page does not give the price of extra prompts.
- More brands: one instance per brand, at $50 a month each.
- Free trial: 28 days with 25 prompts on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, no credit card. After it, tracking continues at $50 a month with the same prompts.
- Marketing Hub Pro and Enterprise include AEO with more prompts and recommendations that use your CRM data.
What it does not cover
- Google. The tool tracks ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Google AI Overviews and AI Mode are not listed — if Google matters most, see the AI Overviews tracker comparison.
- Other engines: Claude, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek and Grok are not named.
- Cadence: the product page does not say how often prompts are re-run. HubSpot's Grader page says the AEO tool monitors visibility “week over week”, so ask whether you need daily data.
- Countries and languages: not stated on the product page.
- Scale: 25 prompts is a small set. It covers your core questions, not a full category.
HubSpot AEO tool vs the free AI Search Grader
HubSpot also runs a free AI Search Grader, which its product page calls the AEO Grader. It is a one-time snapshot: you enter a brand name, and it scores how ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini describe the brand out of 100, across five dimensions with sentiment weighted most. You complete a short form to see the full report.
The difference matters. HubSpot's product page says that in the Grader, ChatGPT and Gemini pull from training data and Perplexity from live search, on pre-set queries. The paid tool tracks the prompts you choose over time. Use the Grader to see how AI describes your brand; use the tool to see whether you are named for buyer questions.
Who it suits — and who it suits less
This is our reading of HubSpot's published terms, not a test result.
- Suits: small marketing teams that want a low monthly price, a guided setup with suggested prompts and a to-do list rather than raw data — especially if they already use HubSpot.
- Suits less: teams for whom Google AI Overviews or AI Mode matter, who need several countries or languages, or who track more than a few dozen prompts.
- Suits less: SEO teams who want AI tracking next to keyword rankings. An SEO suite with AI tracking may fit better.
How to test it in the free trial
The trial includes the same 25 prompts as the paid plan, so the test is close to what you would buy:
- Write your own 25 prompts before you accept HubSpot's suggestions, and keep a few suggested ones only if they are questions your buyers really ask.
- Ask five prompts by hand in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, then compare the answers stored in prompt tracking with what you saw.
- Check the visibility score against a simple count: in how many of the 25 prompts are you named at all?
- Read the citation analysis. If the cited sources are mostly third-party sites, the recommendations should point to outreach, not only new blog posts.
- Note how often the data refreshes during the trial, and ask HubSpot about countries and languages if you sell abroad.
Alternatives to the HubSpot AEO tool
If you work in an SEO suite, compare the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit ($99 a month for 25 prompts, with AI Overviews and AI Mode) and the SE Ranking AI visibility tracker (100 daily prompts on its Core plan). For content and technical features on top of tracking, see AEO tools; for every tracker side by side, the AI visibility tools comparison. How AEO differs from classic SEO is covered in AEO vs SEO.
To see where you stand on your own questions first, Llamat (our product) is a free AI visibility checker: a one-off report on up to 20 questions across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, with no account. It is not a tracker. What its numbers mean is explained in our guide to AI visibility.