Choosing a category
- The best AI visibility tools. Compares eight trackers; the cheapest is $29 a month and the dearest sell by quote.
- The best PR software for B2B teams. Sorted by job, because a suite and a reporting tool are different purchases.
Alternatives to the tool you use now
- Meltwater alternatives. Worth reading if the 12-month contract is what bothers you.
- Muck Rack alternatives. Weighs the database against a quote that rises with every seat.
- Cision alternatives. Covers the like-for-like suites and the tools that publish a price.
- Peec AI alternatives. Trackers that cost less, and ones that check the answers for accuracy.
Costs and basics
- What PR software costs in 2026. Published prices, plus spend data for the suites that won't publish one.
- What AI visibility is. Explains what the trackers measure.
Agentcy is ours, so take its row as a claim and the rest as what each vendor publishes.
Questions
How do you choose which tools to include?
Agentcy's comparison pages cover the tools named most often in current best-of lists and on the first page of search, plus the ones buyers ask us about. For AI visibility trackers we took the eight tools named most often across seven current "best AI visibility tools" lists, including those from Zapier and Backlinko. The PR software page covers the tools that rank for "PR software" in the UK, with the database specialists buyers mention to us. We read each vendor's own pricing and product pages on 13 October 2026.
Where do prices for quote-only tools come from?
Cision, Meltwater and Muck Rack don't publish prices, so these pages use spend data from SpendHound and Vendr, labelled as estimates with the date each site shows. Vendr's medians (February 2026) are $13,000 a year for Muck Rack, $12,625 for Cision and $25,800 for Meltwater. SpendHound's small-business averages (1 October 2026) are $14,492, $10,618 and $14,269 in the same order. Vendr reports a median across its buyers and SpendHound an average for small businesses, which is why the two disagree, most of all on Meltwater.
Are any of these tools free?
A few PR and AI visibility tools have a free tier, and most of the rest offer a trial. Agentcy has a free plan for one brand with no time limit, and Athena HQ has a free Essential tier with $25 of credit. CoverageBook gives a 30-day trial with no card, Prezly and Brand24 give 14 days, and Otterly and Profound give seven. Meltwater has no self-serve trial and starts with a guided demo. Free PR software goes through what each free option covers.
How often are the pages updated?
Each comparison page shows the date its prices were read, and the current set was read on 13 October 2026. We re-check prices within 30 days of publishing and change the date when we do. Every table lists its sources underneath, linking to the vendor pages we read, so you can check a figure yourself. If you spot something out of date, tell us.
Try it on one brand, free
You can set up one brand in an afternoon and see what it finds. Paid plans are monthly, and you can stop whenever you like.