Free Checkers Compared
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Free AI visibility checkers, compared
If you have wondered whether ChatGPT recommends your business, there is a free way to check, and there are several of them. We looked at the free tools owners use to see who ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity name for their trade: GoBIG, Indexed, BaaDigi, Leapd, AI Find My Business, the free checkers inside Semrush and Ahrefs, and our own. Here is what each one actually gives you for free, what sits behind an email or a phone number, and whether you are reading a live answer or an old database.
What "free" usually means
Most of these tools are not built to answer your question. They are built to get your name, email and phone number for a sales call.
A free AI visibility checker sounds simple: type in your business, get an answer. In practice the free part is usually a taste, not the full picture.
GoBIG Systems gives you one live buyer query for free, then asks for your name, email and phone number before it will run the other four. Indexed shows five prompts across four engines, but the email comes first, before you see a single answer. BaaDigi is the exception on the gate: no email required, results across three engines for contractors, though it does not give you a score, you read the raw answers yourself. Leapd asks only for a URL and hands back a spot on a leaderboard. AI Find My Business starts with a form and a snapshot, then the real report becomes a paid product.
None of that is wrong on its own. A free tool that leads to a sales call is a normal way to sell an agency retainer. The point of this page is to tell you, before you hand over an email address, what you actually get for free, and what the next step costs if you want more. For the tools built for marketing teams to track this every month rather than check it once, see our roundup of the best AI visibility tools for local business.
The checkers, side by side
What each one shows you free, what it gates, and what the paid step costs, as of September 2026.
| Checker | Free | Gated behind | Live or stored | Paid step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoBIG Systems | One live buyer query | The other four queries, behind name, email and phone | Live | $3,500 a month SEO package |
| Indexed | Five prompts across four engines | An email address, before you see any answer | Not stated | $2,000 sprint, or $5,000 a month and up |
| BaaDigi | Results across three engines, contractors only | No score, you read the raw text yourself | Not stated | $497 audit, then $297 to $3,997 a month retainers |
| Leapd | A leaderboard spot from a URL | Everything past the leaderboard | Not stated | $19.99 one-time audit, or $39 to $149 a month software |
| AI Find My Business | A snapshot request through a form | The snapshot itself, then a blueprint and ongoing work | Not stated | $300 snapshot, $995 blueprint, $1,600 a month done-with-you, $3,000 a month and up done-for-you |
| Semrush AI toolkit | A look at whether you show up in a stored prompt set | Ongoing, live tracking sits inside the paid plan | Stored | $139 to $455 a month, as of September 2026 |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Same idea, a stored prompt set | Live tracking sits inside the add-on | Stored | About $199 a month for the AI visibility tier, a lighter tier starts near $50, as of September 2026 |
| Conecta Media (ours) | Six buyer questions asked live on ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, no email, no sign-in, a shareable result page | Nothing. An emailed copy is optional | Live | None required. A paid pilot is available if you want it fixed for you, see below |
Two names on this list are not lead-magnet checkers at all. Semrush and Ahrefs sell the free look as a taste of a bigger SEO platform most of these trades never touch otherwise.
Live answer or stored database
This is the difference that matters most, and it is the one most free tools do not spell out.
ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity answer local questions with live web search and cite the pages they read; the pages that get cited are the ones that answer the exact question with the town named. A live check asks the question again right now. A stored check reads a batch of prompts logged earlier.
Semrush and Ahrefs are honest about this if you read closely: their free checkers read a stored database of prompts, not a live answer for your business today. That is a fair way to get a general sense of a market, but it will not show you what changed the moment you fix your schema markup or unblock a crawler.
GoBIG runs its one free query live. So do we, every time. All six of the questions we ask run against ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity with live web search at the moment you click run, which also means the answer can change the next time you run it. No one, us included, can promise what an AI assistant will say, or that it stays the same over time.
Indexed, BaaDigi, Leapd and AI Find My Business do not say, in their own marketing, whether their answer is live or pulled from a stored set. If a checker will not tell you, ask before you pay for the retainer that follows it. If you want the crawler and schema side of this fixed first, our guide on how to get recommended by ChatGPT walks through it.
What to look for in any checker
Before you trust a score, or pay for a retainer, check these four things.
- Live search, not a stored database. Ask straight out whether the check runs right now or reads a set of prompts logged weeks ago.
- The exact buyer question, not a keyword. "Best plumber near me" tells you less than the six or so questions a real buyer types before they pick up the phone, with their own town in it.
- Who got named instead of you. A checker that only scores your own business is half the answer. The competitor named in the same answer is the other half.
- The directories quoted. OpenAI has licensed Yelp's reviews, ratings and business details into ChatGPT's answers since July 2026. A checker that names the directory it quoted tells you exactly which listing to go fix.
Our full pass through this list, section by section, is on the AI search optimization checklist. If robots.txt or a missing llms.txt is part of what you are worried about, that is its own page: llms.txt for local business.
Questions owners ask about free checkers
Short answers, no sales pitch attached.
- Is there really a free way to check if ChatGPT recommends my business? Yes. Several of the tools on this page have a free tier, ours included. Read the gate before you use one, some ask for an email or a phone number before you see anything, ours does not.
- What is the difference between a live check and a stored database check? A live check asks the assistant your question right now, with live web search, and reports what it says today. A stored database check, which is how Semrush and Ahrefs run their free tools, shows results from a batch of prompts logged earlier. It will not reflect a fix you made this week.
- Why does ChatGPT mention Yelp? OpenAI has licensed Yelp's reviews, ratings and business details into ChatGPT's answers since July 2026, so a Yelp listing is one of the directories a checker may see quoted.
- What does the paid step cost after a free checker? It varies widely. Some of the tools here sell a retainer starting at a few hundred dollars a month, others start past a few thousand. Our own paid step is a fixed-price pilot, done once, not a monthly retainer.
- Can I run more than one of these checkers? Yes, nothing stops you from running several and comparing what each one says. Just note whether each one is live or stored before you put the results side by side.
Questions owners ask
Short answers, no promises.
Is there really a free way to check if ChatGPT recommends my business?
Yes. Several of the tools on this page have a free tier, ours included. Read the gate before you use one, some ask for an email or a phone number before you see anything, ours does not.
What is the difference between a live check and a stored database check?
A live check asks the assistant your question right now, with live web search, and reports what it says today. A stored database check, which is how Semrush and Ahrefs run their free tools, shows results from a batch of prompts logged earlier. It will not reflect a fix you made this week.
Why does ChatGPT mention Yelp so often?
OpenAI has licensed Yelp's reviews, ratings and business details into ChatGPT's answers since July 2026. That is one reason a Yelp listing turns up in a lot of local answers now.
What does the paid step cost after a free checker?
It varies widely. Some of the tools here sell a retainer starting at a few hundred dollars a month, others start past a few thousand. Our own paid step is a fixed-price pilot, done once, not a monthly retainer.
Can I run more than one of these checkers?
Yes, nothing stops you from running several and comparing what each one says. Just note whether each one is live or stored before you put the results side by side.
Run the free check
See who ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity name instead of you, live, today.
Our check at /ai-check/ reads your own website first, then asks six buyer questions for your trade and your town, live, on all three assistants, with no email required. It reports who got named, which directories got quoted, and whether your own robots.txt is blocking the crawlers that read your site. If you would rather compare us against the paid dashboards marketing teams use, we wrote those up too: Conecta Media vs Otterly and Conecta Media vs Profound.
If you want it fixed rather than just measured, the AI visibility pilot is $397 once, over 14 days: the missed buyer questions get their own pages, your business data gets schema an assistant can read, crawler access gets fixed, listings get made consistent, and we re-ask the same six questions on day 14 so you see a before and after in writing. Details are on the pricing page.