AI visibility tools · Head to head

AirOps vs Semrush: which AI visibility tool wins in 2026?

A content operations platform that also tracks AI search, versus an SEO suite that sells an AI Visibility toolkit on the side. Compared on engines, what each does with a gap, crawler data and what you can actually budget for. Sourced from both companies' live pricing, product and documentation pages.

Javed Khatri Co-founder, Prefer
Updated September 2026 · Facts checked September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
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TL;DR

AirOps is the pick for teams short of production: it drafts, reviews and publishes content at volume, tracks ChatGPT free and 7+ engines on Pro, reads AI crawler traffic from your CDN logs, and publishes no paid price; Semrush's AI Visibility toolkit is the pick for teams that already run Semrush for SEO and want a published-price monitoring layer: $99 a month per domain for 25 prompts tracked daily on five engines, an AI Visibility Score and an AI Search Site Audit, with content work left to separate suite tools. Prefer, our product, starts at $24 a month, tracks five engines and writes 15 AI articles a month on that plan.

The two come at AI search from opposite ends. AirOps was built around the content engine: Grids, Workflows and the Quill agent produce and update pages, human review signs them off, and the visibility layer tells you where to aim. Semrush was built around the SEO suite: the AI toolkit measures mentions, citations, share of voice and sentiment, and the fix is yours to make with other Semrush tools, verified by hand. Semrush is the one you can price from its website; AirOps is a sales conversation once you outgrow the free tier.

AirOps vs Semrush at a glance
  • AirOps starts free (Solo tracks ChatGPT only, for one user) and publishes no dollar figure on any tier, checked 23 September 2026; Semrush has no free plan and sells its AI toolkit at $99/mo per domain.
  • Semrush bundles AI tracking into Semrush One at $199, $299 and $549 a month (50, 100 and 200 prompts daily); AirOps' Pro tier lists 250 prompts and 7+ engines, price on request.
  • AirOps produces: Quill, Grids, Workflows and human review on every tier, publishing to WordPress, Notion and Webflow. Semrush's toolkit recommends; its content tools are separate products with no publish-to-site.
  • AirOps reads AI crawler traffic from Cloudflare, CloudFront, Vercel or Netlify logs on every tier; Semrush's Log File Analyzer is a separate suite tool that works on uploaded logs.
  • Claude and Copilot: AirOps documents both (Claude depends on the plan); Semrush puts them on its custom Enterprise AI Optimization plan.

The contenders

Screenshot not captured
AirOps Content operations at volume, with AI visibility attached
  • FoundedAbout 2021, New York and San Francisco
  • Starting priceFree to start; no published paid price
  • Free tierYes (Solo: ChatGPT insights only, 1 user)
  • Engines at entryChatGPT on Solo; 7+ on Pro; 8 documented
  • Acts on findingsQuill agent, Grids, Workflows, Offsite
  • Third-party ratingG2 4.7/5 (134 reviews)
  • FocusContent production at scale for AI search
Screenshot not captured
Semrush AI Visibility toolkit inside the SEO suite
  • PositioningAI toolkit inside the Semrush SEO suite
  • OwnerAdobe (acquisition completed April 2026)
  • Starting priceAI toolkit $99/mo per domain; Semrush One from $199/mo
  • Free tierNo; toolkit FAQ says no free trial
  • Engines (plan comparison)ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini
  • Headline metricAI Visibility Score (0 to 100)
  • Third-party ratingG2 4.4/5, 4,039 reviews (whole suite)
Capability AirOps Semrush Prefer
Tracks AI citations across engines
Writes content from AI-search findings
Done-for-you Managed service

The Prefer column is shown for reference: it is our product, and this page compares the other two. Website screenshots captured September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep); every claim is referenced in Sources.

Where each tool sits

Feature comparison

Capability
AirOps
Semrush
Coverage
Engines at entry tier[1]
ChatGPT only (free Solo)
5 per Semrush's plan comparison: ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini ($99 toolkit)
Engine pool[1]
8 documented (Claude plan-dependent); 7+ on Pro
9 on Enterprise AI Optimization (adds Copilot, Grok, Claude, DeepSeek)
Prompts at entry[1]
100 tracked prompts and pages (Solo); 250 on Pro
25 daily ($99 toolkit); 50 to 200 daily in Semrush One
Seats[1]
1 user (Solo); unlimited on Pro
Extra users from $45/mo
Regions[2]
Regions, personas and languages on Enterprise
117 regional databases for analysis reports
Action and features
Metrics[2]
Mention rate, share of voice, average position, URL-level citations, sentiment
AI Visibility Score (0 to 100), mentions, citations, share of voice, sentiment, Top Cited Domains
Content production[2]
Quill agent, Grids, Playbooks and Workflows, human review (all tiers)
Recommendations; Content Toolkit and ContentShake are separate suite tools
Publishes to CMS[2]
WordPress, Notion, Webflow
No publish-to-site documented
Off-page[2]
Offsite: placements coordinated through your contacts
Not documented for the toolkit
AI-readiness checks[2]
Schema inside new content; site-wide fixes not documented
AI Search Site Audit (flags blocked AI crawlers)
AI crawler analytics[2]
Agent Analytics from CDN logs (all tiers)
Log File Analyzer in the suite (separate, uploaded logs)
Checking a change worked[2]
Content updates logged, citation rate tracked afterward
Manual incognito-browser test, per Semrush's KB
Integrations[2]
GSC, GA4, Semrush, MCP, 30+ models; Insights API
Whole Semrush suite; MCP access in Semrush One; API on Advanced
Trust and fit
Third-party rating[3]
G2 4.7/5, 134 reviews
G2 4.4/5, 4,039 reviews (whole Semrush suite)
SSO[1]
Enterprise
Enterprise (with team governance and audit logs)
Company[3]
About $62M to $63M raised; $40M Series B, Nov 2025
Founded 2008, Boston; owned by Adobe since April 2026
Built for[2]
Content and growth teams producing at scale
Teams that already run Semrush for SEO

Based on both products' public pages, facts checked September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep). "Not advertised" means we could not verify the capability from public materials. Spot something out of date? Tell us.

Pricing, side by side

Plan
AirOps
Semrush
Free option[1]
Solo, free to start (ChatGPT insights, 100 prompts and pages, 35,000 tasks, 1 user)
No free plan; the toolkit FAQ says no free trial, Semrush One shows 'Try for free'
Entry paid plan[1]
Pro, free to start; no published price
AI Visibility toolkit, $99/mo per domain (25 prompts tracked daily)
Next tier[1]
Pro: 7+ answer engines, 250 prompts, 100,000 tasks, unlimited seats
Semrush One: Starter $199, Pro+ $299, Advanced $549 (50 / 100 / 200 prompts daily)
Enterprise[1]
Custom (regions, personas, SSO, custom agents, own model keys)
AI Optimization, custom (adds Copilot, Grok, Claude, DeepSeek; SSO, audit logs)
Add-ons[1]
Not published
Extra Brand Performance domains $99 each; extra users from $45/mo
Execution included[2]
Yes, on every tier
No; recommendations, with content tools sold as separate suite products

Prices checked September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep) from each product's public pricing page.

AirOps (about 2021, New York and San Francisco) calls itself the growth system for the AI-first buyer journey; it raised a $40M Series B led by Greylock in November 2025, and its pricing page lists Solo, Pro and Enterprise tiers with task meters and engine counts but no dollar figures. Its G2 reviewers (4.7/5 from 134) praise the Quill agent and flag the learning curve. Semrush (founded 2008, Boston) is the established SEO suite, owned by Adobe since April 2026; its AI Visibility toolkit reports an AI Visibility Score, share of voice, sentiment and Top Cited Domains from a database of 317M+ prompts and responses, and is sold at $99/mo per domain or bundled into Semrush One from $199/mo (semrush.com, rendered 19 September 2026). Sources

Which should you choose?

Choose AirOps if…

  • Your bottleneck is producing and updating content, not measuring it
  • You want drafting, review, approval and publishing in one workflow
  • AI crawler analytics from your CDN logs matters to you
  • You are fine with a sales conversation to learn the price above the free tier

Choose Semrush if…

  • You already run Semrush for keywords, backlinks and audits
  • You want a published price you can budget for today ($99/mo per domain)
  • A single AI Visibility Score and an AI Search Site Audit suit your reporting
  • You have a team to act on the findings with other tools
The third option · Our product
One produces at volume. One measures inside an SEO suite. Prefer tracks and writes from $24 a month.

Prefer tracks the same signals across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode, then produces the content and citations that move the number. Free trial, paid from $24/mo. See how it compares to AirOps and Semrush.

Run your free audit No card, no commitment

AirOps vs Semrush, answered

Is AirOps or Semrush better?

They fit different shortages: AirOps is better when you are short of production, drafting, reviewing and publishing content at volume with AI visibility attached, and Semrush is better when you already run its SEO suite and want AI tracking at a published $99/mo per domain, with the content work left to you. Prefer, our product, starts at $24 a month, tracks five engines and writes 15 AI articles a month, with a done-for-you Managed option. Choose AirOps to produce at scale, Semrush to measure inside the suite you already use.

Which is cheaper, AirOps or Semrush?

AirOps is cheaper to start, because its Solo tier is free, but Semrush is the only one of the two with a published paid price: $99/mo per domain for the AI Visibility toolkit, or $199, $299 and $549 a month in Semrush One (checked 19 September 2026). Prefer's Starter is $24 a month for 30 prompts on five engines. AirOps' pricing page showed no dollar figure on any tier at our 23 September 2026 check, so its Pro and Enterprise prices come from sales, and it may cost more or less than Semrush.

Which AI engines do AirOps and Semrush track?

AirOps documents eight engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Copilot and Grok, with Claude depending on the plan), but its free Solo tier is ChatGPT only and Pro is listed as 7+ engines. Prefer tracks five (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode) on every plan, with Claude on Enterprise. Semrush's plan comparison lists five for its AI toolkit (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity and Gemini) and puts Copilot, Grok, Claude and DeepSeek on its custom Enterprise AI Optimization plan, checked 19 September 2026.

Does Semrush write content the way AirOps does?

No: AirOps drafts, reviews and publishes content from its visibility data on every tier (Quill, Grids, Workflows, publishing to WordPress, Notion and Webflow), while Semrush's AI toolkit surfaces recommendations and leaves the writing to separate suite tools, Content Toolkit and ContentShake, with no publish-to-site. Prefer, our product, writes 15 AI articles a month from its $24 Starter plan. Semrush's own knowledge base describes checking a change with a manual incognito-browser test; AirOps logs content updates and tracks citation rate afterward.

Which one does off-page work?

AirOps does and Semrush's toolkit does not document any: AirOps' Offsite product identifies the sites, builds the case, coordinates outreach through your contacts and measures the result, while off-page work is not part of Semrush's AI toolkit. Prefer's off-page work (Reddit, PR, placements) is on its Enterprise plan and Prefer Managed only, not its self-serve plans. Neither AirOps nor Semrush publishes a per-placement price.

Which one shows AI crawler traffic?

AirOps does it inside the product: Agent Analytics, on every tier, reads HTTP request logs streamed from Cloudflare, CloudFront, Vercel or Netlify to show which AI engines crawl your site and when AI assistants send visitors. Prefer connects Search Console and GA4 from its $24 Starter plan and shows the sources behind each AI answer. Semrush has a Log File Analyzer that can filter AI crawlers, but it is a separate suite tool that works on uploaded logs, and its AI Search Site Audit flags pages blocked from AI crawlers.

Do AirOps or Semrush have a free plan or trial?

AirOps has a free tier and Semrush does not: AirOps' Solo tier is free to start (ChatGPT insights, 100 prompts and pages, one user), while Semrush's AI toolkit FAQ says there is no free trial for the toolkit, though its Semrush One Starter and Pro+ plans show "Try for free". Prefer, our product, offers a free audit and a free trial on every paid plan. Checked 19 and 23 September 2026.

Who is AirOps best for?

Content and growth teams whose constraint is output: they need drafts written, updated, reviewed and published at volume, with AI visibility data telling them where to aim. Prefer fits teams that want tracking and a steady flow of AI articles at a published price. AirOps' G2 reviewers praise the Quill agent and flag a learning curve and feature overwhelm, which suits teams with someone to own the tool.

Who is Semrush's AI toolkit best for?

Teams that already run Semrush for keywords, backlinks and site audits and want AI visibility in the same place, at a price they can read: $99/mo per domain, or bundled into Semrush One. Prefer suits teams that want a dedicated AI-search tool that also writes the content, from $24 a month. Semrush's toolkit fits less well for a team that needs the fixes produced for it, or needs Claude and Copilot without an Enterprise contract.

What is the best alternative to AirOps and Semrush?

Prefer is the best pick if you want AI-search tracking and the content work in one plan at a price you can see: it tracks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode with 30 prompts, shows the sources behind each answer and your share of voice against named competitors, connects Search Console and GA4, and writes 15 AI articles a month from $24 (free trial on every paid plan, free audit), with a done-for-you Managed option. The category also includes Profound, Peec AI, AthenaHQ and Ahrefs Brand Radar. See our roundup of the best AEO tools.

References

Sources

  1. AirOps pricing page (rendered 5 Sep and 23 Sep 2026) airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  2. Semrush AI Visibility toolkit pricing (rendered 19 Sep 2026) semrush.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  3. Semrush One pricing (rendered 19 Sep 2026) semrush.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  4. Semrush Enterprise plan comparison (rendered 19 Sep 2026) semrush.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  5. AirOps analytics docs (rendered 5 Sep 2026) docs.airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  6. AirOps AI search visibility page (plan limits, read 23 Sep 2026) airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  7. AirOps platform page (read 23 Sep 2026) airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  8. Semrush AI SEO toolkit overview and FAQ (rendered 6 Sep 2026) semrush.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  9. Semrush KB: where the AI Visibility Toolkit data comes from (rendered 19 Sep 2026) semrush.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  10. Semrush KB: getting started with the AI Visibility Toolkit (checked 15 Aug 2026) semrush.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  11. G2 enterprise AEO category (rendered 23 Sep 2026) g2.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)
  12. AirOps reviews on G2 (rendered 5 Sep 2026) g2.com Accessed September 2026 (Semrush pricing 19 Sep, AirOps pricing and G2 23 Sep)

Keep comparing

Head to head Prefer vs AirOps Head to head Prefer vs Semrush Roundup The best AEO tools in 2026, tested and compared Alternatives The best AirOps alternatives Alternatives The best Semrush AI toolkit alternatives Head to head Ahrefs vs Semrush

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