Otterly vs AirOps: which AI visibility tool wins in 2026?
A cheap, simple monitor that prints every price versus a content operations platform that prints none. One tells you where you stand for $29 a month; the other writes, reviews and publishes the fix at volume. Compared on engines, limits, what each does with a gap, and what you can budget for. Sourced from both companies' live pages.
Otterly is the pick for teams that want a reading they can budget for: it tracks four engines from $29 a month, publishes every plan and add-on price, and leaves the fixing to you; AirOps is the pick for teams that need the fixing done at volume: it drafts, reviews and publishes content with visibility attached, starts free on ChatGPT only, and publishes no paid price. Prefer, our product, starts at $24 a month, below Otterly's entry, tracks five engines and writes 15 AI articles a month on that plan.
These two are not close substitutes. Otterly is a monitor: daily tracking of 15 to 400 prompts, share of voice, citations, sentiment, a few recommendations a week and a stack of free GEO tools, with Claude, Gemini and AI Mode sold as add-ons. AirOps is a production system: Quill, Grids, Playbooks and Workflows write and update pages, a human review inbox signs them off, and Offsite coordinates placements, with the visibility layer telling you where to aim. Otterly is the one you can price to the dollar from its website; AirOps is a sales conversation once you outgrow the free tier.
- Otterly publishes every price: Lite $29, Standard $189, Premium $489, Enterprise from $1,000 a month, plus per-engine add-ons. AirOps publishes no dollar figure on any tier (checked 23 September 2026).
- AirOps has a free tier (Solo, ChatGPT only, one user); Otterly has no free tier, only a free trial with no credit card.
- Otterly tracks the same four engines on every plan and sells Claude, Gemini and AI Mode as add-ons; AirOps documents eight engines, but multi-engine insights start on Pro.
- Only AirOps produces content: Quill, Grids, Workflows and CMS publishing on every tier. Otterly gives recommendations (three a week on Lite) and GEO audits.
- Same G2 score, different depth: Otterly 4.7/5 from 54 reviews, AirOps 4.7/5 from 134.
The contenders
Screenshot not captured - Founded2024, Austria (DACH); bootstrapped
- Starting price$29/mo (Lite, 15 prompts)
- Free tierNo; free trial, no credit card
- Engines at entry4; Claude, Gemini, AI Mode are paid add-ons
- Acts on findingsRecommendations and GEO audits; no content production
- Third-party ratingG2 4.7/5 (54 reviews)
- FocusLow-cost, fast-to-start monitoring
Screenshot not captured - 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
Otterly AirOps 
Prefer The Prefer column is shown for reference: it is our product, and this page compares the other two. Website screenshots captured September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep); every claim is referenced in Sources.
Where each tool sits
OtterlyAirOps
PreferOur productFeature comparison
Otterly AirOpsBased on both products' public pages, facts checked September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 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
Otterly AirOpsPrices checked September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep) from each product's public pricing page.
Otterly (founded 2024, Austria) exited stealth in December 2024 as one of the category's first AI search monitors. It is bootstrapped, publishes the most complete price list in the category, tracks four engines on every plan from $29 a month, and gives away a suite of free GEO tools; its G2 reviewers (4.7/5 from 54) praise the clean dashboard and short learning curve, and flag the jump from $29 to $189 and that it is not always clear what to do with the findings. 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. HubSpot's own ranked list of AEO tools puts AirOps second and Otterly third. Sources
Which should you choose?
Choose Otterly if…
- You want a price you can read on the website, including what each extra engine costs
- ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot cover your market
- Your whole team needs access (unlimited members on every plan)
- You will write and publish the fixes yourself and want a simple, low-cost reading
Choose AirOps if…
- Your bottleneck is producing and updating content, not measuring it
- You want drafting, review, approval and CMS publishing in one workflow
- You want to start free and can live with ChatGPT-only tracking until Pro
- You are fine with a sales conversation to learn the price above the free tier
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 Otterly and AirOps.
Otterly vs AirOps, answered
Is Otterly or AirOps better?
They solve different problems: Otterly is better when you need a cheap, simple reading, four engines tracked daily from a published $29 a month, and AirOps is better when you need content produced at volume, with Quill, Grids and Workflows drafting and publishing and visibility attached, at a price you get from sales. Prefer, our product, starts at $24 a month, below Otterly, and tracks five engines and writes 15 AI articles a month on that plan. Choose Otterly to see where you stand, AirOps to produce the fix at scale.
Which is cheaper, Otterly or AirOps?
AirOps is free to start and Otterly is not, but Otterly's paid entry ($29 a month, or $25 billed annually) is published and AirOps' is not: its pricing page showed no dollar figure on any tier at our 23 September 2026 check. Prefer's Starter is $24 a month, below Otterly's Lite, with 30 prompts and five engines. AirOps' free Solo tier tracks ChatGPT only for one user; to compare real costs you need a Pro quote.
Which AI engines do Otterly and AirOps track?
Otterly tracks four engines on every plan (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot) and sells Claude, Gemini and Google AI Mode as paid add-ons, checked 19 September 2026. Prefer, our product, tracks five on every plan (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode) with no add-ons. 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 multi-engine tracking starts on Pro.
What do Otterly's engine add-ons cost?
Otterly prices each extra engine by plan: Gemini and Google AI Mode are $9 a month each on Lite, $59 on Standard and $149 on Premium; Claude is $29, $109 and $439. Prefer, our product, includes Gemini and AI Mode in every plan from $24 a month, with Claude on Enterprise. Otterly Lite with Gemini and AI Mode added comes to $47 a month. AirOps does not sell engines as add-ons; its engine count rises with the tier.
Does Otterly write content like AirOps?
No: Otterly gives recommendations (three a week on Lite, unlimited on Standard and up), GEO URL audits and a set of free GEO tools, and leaves the writing to you; AirOps writes and publishes, with Quill, Grids, Playbooks, Workflows and a human review inbox on every tier. Prefer, our product, writes 15 AI articles a month on its $24 Starter plan. Otterly's G2 reviewers flag this gap themselves: it is not always clear what actions to take from the findings.
Which one handles off-page work?
AirOps does and Otterly does not: AirOps' Offsite product identifies target sites, builds the case, coordinates outreach and measures the result, while Otterly's pricing page lists tracking, recommendations and audits with no off-page work. Prefer, our product, does off-page work (Reddit participation, PR pitches) on its Enterprise plan and in Prefer Managed, not on its self-serve plans.
Who is Otterly best for?
Solo marketers and small teams on a tight budget who want a simple AI search monitor they can set up fast, with unlimited team members and a price they can read on the website, and who will do the optimization themselves. Prefer fits the same budget, from $24 a month, and adds 15 AI articles. Teams that need Gemini, AI Mode or Claude should add Otterly's engine add-ons to the budget.
Who is AirOps best for?
Content and growth teams whose constraint is output: they need pages written, updated, reviewed and published at volume, with AI visibility data telling them where to aim. Prefer, our product, is the lighter option when you want tracking plus a set number of AI articles a month 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.
What is the best alternative to Otterly and AirOps?
Prefer is the best pick if you want the reading and the content 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 writes 15 AI articles a month from $24 (free trial on every paid plan, free audit), with Search Console and GA4 from Starter and a done-for-you Managed option. It is our product, so weigh that. The category also includes Profound, Peec AI, AthenaHQ, Scrunch and HubSpot AEO; see our roundup of the best AI visibility tools.
Sources
- Otterly pricing page (rendered 19 Sep 2026, re-read 23 Sep 2026) otterly.ai Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)
- AirOps pricing page (rendered 5 Sep and 23 Sep 2026) airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)
- Otterly features page (read 23 Sep 2026) otterly.ai Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)
- Otterly help: white-label option (read 23 Sep 2026) help.otterly.ai Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)
- AirOps analytics docs (rendered 5 Sep 2026) docs.airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)
- AirOps AI search visibility page (plan limits, read 23 Sep 2026) airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)
- AirOps platform page (read 23 Sep 2026) airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)
- Otterly on G2 (rendered 5 Sep 2026) g2.com Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)
- AirOps reviews on G2 (rendered 5 Sep 2026) g2.com Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)
- G2: Best Enterprise AEO Tools (read 23 Sep 2026) g2.com Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)
- TechCrunch: Otterly.AI exits stealth (Dec 2024) techcrunch.com Accessed September 2026 (Otterly pricing 19 and 23 Sep, AirOps pricing 23 Sep)