# OtterlyAI vs SE Ranking

Compare OtterlyAI vs SE Ranking features, pricing, and alternatives.

- Canonical page: https://himoose.com/versus/otterlyai-vs-se-ranking/
- Researched: August 2026
- Compared across 20 categories
- Hi, Moose is the publisher of this comparison and is included as a third option throughout.

## Overview

OtterlyAI and SE Ranking both help teams track how brands appear in AI search results, including Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. That overlap makes them relevant options for marketers and [agencies](https://himoose.com/for-agencies/) that want to measure [AI visibility](https://himoose.com/monitoring/) alongside established SEO work. The products take different routes to that goal. OtterlyAI centers on AI search, with prompt research, daily monitoring, citation tracking, competitor visibility, and GEO content recommendations. SE Ranking offers AI visibility tracking as part of a wider SEO platform that also covers rank tracking, keyword research, site audits, backlinks, content optimization, reporting, and agency client management. The main differences fall under AI search tracking depth, traditional SEO tools, content recommendations, reporting, agency features, and pricing. Your choice may depend on whether you need a focused platform for AI search visibility or a broader SEO toolkit that includes AI search tracking.

## At a glance

### OtterlyAI

Pick it if you want AI crawler access checked across 19 bots next to the prompt tracking, since API and MCP access starts at $189 rather than the entry price.

- Entry price: $29/mo
- Tracked prompts: 15–400; +100 at $99
- Free trial: 7 days

### SE Ranking

Pick it if you want rank tracking and AI answers on one bill, keeping in mind the AI side runs one check per engine.

- Entry price: $129/mo suite; $99/mo standalone
- Tracked prompts: 100–250 daily; 1 check per engine
- Free trial: 14 days; 10 days standalone

### Hi, Moose (our AEO tool)

Pick it if you want the fix shipped rather than scored: an agent that publishes the change, audio repurposing no other tool here offers at any price, and a built-in model so the AI can cost you nothing.

- Entry price: $39/mo BYOK; $79/mo AI included
- Tracked prompts: No hard limit on any plan
- Free trial: n/a - free plan, no expiry

## Founders have SEO backgrounds?

A tool built by people who have done the work makes different choices.

| Tool | Answer |
| --- | --- |
| OtterlyAI | Partial. Founded in 2024 by Thomas Peham, a former VP of Marketing at Storyblok, with Josef Trauner and Klaus-M. Schremser, the former CEO and head of growth at user-feedback platform Usersnap. |
| SE Ranking | Yes. |
| Hi, Moose | Yes. Founder Sam Morris has 15+ years in SEO and software engineering. |

## Full comparison

Values are quoted as published. Where a vendor does not publish a number, the cell says "Not published".

### Pricing & cost model

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free plan available | No - 7-day trial | No - 14-day trial | Yes - free forever, no card |
| Free daily visibility runs, no cap | No | No - 5 free checks/day on their site | Yes - local runs unlimited on every plan |
| Engines free to run daily | 0 - free web tools are one-off | 5 - free web tool only, no account data | 5 |
| Entry paid price | $29/mo | $129/mo suite; $99/mo standalone | $39/mo BYOK; $79/mo AI included |
| Annual billing discount | Yes - ~15% | Yes - 20% | Yes - BYOK 2 months free; managed plans ~10% |
| Pricing model | Per prompt + per-engine add-ons | Limit tiers + per-check add-on | Flat plan with monthly AI credit balance, or BYOK |
| Bring your own API key | No | No | Yes - OpenRouter |
| Can run with $0 AI cost to vendor | No | No | Yes |
| Usage metered in one transparent unit | No - separate prompt, audit, API, event caps | Partial - 1 check = 1 prompt × 1 engine | Yes - AI credits, published rate card |
| In-app usage dashboard | Not published | Partial - plan limit counters | Yes - % used, reset date, pace warning |
| Agency / reseller tier | Partner status on $189+ plans | Add-on, +$69/mo | Yes - $149 BYOK Agency; $449+ AI included |
| Affiliate program | Yes - referral program | Yes | Yes |
| Annual contract required | No | No - but add-ons are annual only | No |
| Free trial length | 7 days | 14 days; 10 days standalone | n/a - free plan, no expiry |
| Paid plans pricing range | $29–$489/mo + custom from $1,000 | $129–$279/mo + add-ons | $39–$1,999/mo |

### Deployment, privacy & data ownership

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Native desktop app | No | No - iOS/Android apps only | Yes - Windows and macOS |
| Browser-based app | Yes | Yes | No |
| Local-first data storage | No - cloud SaaS | No - cloud SaaS | Yes - local database on the device |
| Works offline | No | No | Partial - local models and stored data; engine checks need the web |
| On-device AI Inference | No | No | Yes |
| Local model sizes offered | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Data export on cancellation | CSV + API anytime | CSV + API anytime | CSV, PDF, DOCX exports plus full local backup |
| SOC 2 certification | No - on roadmap, no date | Not published | Pending |
| ISO certification | No - AWS data centers only | Not published | No |
| Local backup and restore | No - vendor-side daily backups | No | Yes - export and import a backup file |

### Visibility & prompt tracking

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Engines tracked | 7 listed; 4 included, 3 paid add-ons | 5 - all on every plan | 10; 5 of them also collected locally |
| Real consumer-surface capture | Partial - Claude via API; rest not stated | Yes - UI queries, not APIs | Yes - 5 engines read from the device, no API |
| ChatGPT | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Claude | Add-on, $29–$439/mo | No | Yes |
| Gemini | Add-on, $9–$149/mo | Yes | Yes |
| Google AI Mode | Add-on, $9–$149/mo | Yes | Yes |
| Google AI Overviews | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Grok | No | No | Yes |
| Bing Copilot | Yes | No | Yes |
| DeepSeek | No | No | Yes |
| Meta AI | No | No | Yes |
| Tracked prompts included | 15–400; +100 at $99 | 100–250 daily; 1 check per engine | No hard limit on any plan |
| Samples per prompt configurable | No - 1 run/day | No | Yes |
| Run cadence options | Daily only, not adjustable | Daily; weekly in standalone tool | Multiple times a day, weekly, monthly, and on-demand |
| On-demand run now | No | Not published | Yes |
| Instant one-off check | Yes - free web tools | Yes - free web tool, 5/day | Yes |
| Prompt manager | Yes | Yes - groups, CSV import | Yes |
| Branded vs non-branded classification | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Prompt categories and topics | Yes - tags + intent grouping | Yes - groups and topics | Yes |
| Per-prompt model selection | No - set per report | Partial - engines set per prompt set | Yes |
| Brand name variant support | Yes - variations + regex | Partial - aliases in standalone tool | Yes - secondary brand terms |
| Brand multi-domain support | Yes - domain variations | Partial - one site per project | Yes - secondary owned domains |
| Suggested prompts from Google Search Console | Partial - manual import, no connector | No | Yes - real GSC questions |
| Suggested prompts from competitor gaps | Partial - competitor data in prompt research | Partial - topics and untracked AIO keywords | Yes |
| Perplexity | Yes | Yes | Yes |

### Scoring & analysis

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Mention detection | Yes | Yes - linked and unlinked | Yes |
| Citation detection | Yes - domain and URL level | Yes | Yes - domain and page level |
| Sentiment scoring | Yes | Partial - standalone tool only | Yes |
| Average position / rank | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Share of Voice | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Share of Mentions | Yes - brand coverage | Yes | Yes |
| Share of Citations | Yes | Partial - source frequency by domain | Yes |
| Narrative drift detection | Partial - sentiment trend only | No | Yes - scored against a brand truth profile |
| Feature-parity / accuracy scoring | No | No | Yes |
| Untracked brand extraction | Yes - promote any detected brand | Yes | Yes - with sentiment and average rank |
| Cited source categorization | Partial - by domain, source types not published | Yes - media, blogs, forums | Yes - 8 source types |
| Topic-level breakdown | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Engine-level breakdown | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Competitor tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes - or promote any brand seen in results |
| Competitors included | Uncapped | 5–15 domains | 15 |
| Visibility gap analysis | Yes - citation and content gaps | Yes - sources citing rivals, not you | Yes |
| ChatGPT fan-out capture | Yes | No | Yes |
| AI Mode grounding queries capture | Partial - fan-out, not live grounding | No | Yes - the live grounding searches |
| Bing Index probe | No | No | Yes |
| AI crawler access check | Yes - 19 bots, robots + live server | No | Yes - retrieval, live fetch and training |

### Reporting & exports

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Executive dashboard | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI-written narrative summary | Not published | Partial - templated insight cards | Yes |
| Data export | Yes - CSV, API, Looker Studio | Yes - CSV, API, Looker Studio | Yes - CSV |
| Branded PDF report | Partial - logo upload only | Yes - +$69/mo add-on | Yes |
| Scheduled email reports | Partial - per-report notifications | Yes | Yes - paid, per-user opt-in |
| Action log with export | Partial - recommendation to-do list | Partial - task manager only | Yes - CSV on paid managed plans |
| Historical data retention | From prompt creation; no cap published | 6 months; all time at $279 | No cap - stored on device,. Paid plans offer 400 day backup on-cloud; audio analytics 180–365 days |

### Taking action (the AEO loop)

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Covers full loop: track → fix → verify → deploy | Partial - no fix or deploy step | Partial - no page-level AI audit step | Yes |
| Page-level AEO audit | Yes - one URL at a time | No - technical SEO audit only | Yes |
| Scored categories | 13 readiness + structured data | 0 for AI readiness | 9 |
| Retrieval-readiness scoring | No | No | Yes - deterministic dense retrieval |
| Evidence tiers on recommendations | No - impact ranking only | No | Yes - proven, directional, best-practice |
| Element-level rewrite suggestions | No - per-category suggestions | No - editor-level guidance | Yes - element, character budget, before and after |
| Second-model QA pass | No - human review | No - human review | Yes - pass, revised or needs human review |
| Static crawler-view snapshot | Partial - static vs rendered compare, no screenshot | No | Yes - full-page screenshot, JavaScript off |
| Audit input sources | Live URL only | n/a - no AI page audit | Live URL, pasted text, file, WordPress, Webflow, Grav |
| Baseline vs verification re-runs | Partial - re-run, no built-in compare | Partial - trend charts only | Yes - compares against the baseline |
| Recommendation status tracking | Yes - to-do and done | Partial - task manager | Yes - planned, staged, completed |
| Visibility data sets page priority | Yes - recommendations built from report data | Partial - page and source reports | Yes - defend, recover, convert, earn |
| Search Console sets page priority | No | Partial - GSC data in platform | Yes - protect, balanced or expand |
| Branded audit PDF | No - PDF download, unbranded | n/a - no AI page audit | Yes |

### CMS integration & publishing

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WordPress | Log plugin only, no publishing | Yes - publishes articles | Yes - official plugin, production and staging |
| Webflow | No | No | Yes - OAuth MCP, pages and collection items |
| Framer | No | No | On roadmap |
| Grav | No | No | Yes - official plugin |
| Shopify | No | No | On roadmap |
| Surgical element-level edits to live page | No | No - whole article only | Yes |
| Preview before applying | No | Partial - set status on export | Yes |
| Staging environment support | No | No | Yes - WordPress, with promote to production |
| One-click rollback | No | No | Yes - WordPress |
| Patch history per site | No | No | Yes - WordPress |
| Visual placement picker | No | No | Yes - pick the spot on the rendered page |
| Push Schema JSON-LD into page | No | No | Yes - FAQPage schema |
| Publish approval gate | n/a - never publishes | Manual export only | Yes - always, including scheduled runs |

### Agentic capability

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Truly agentic (agent chooses its own steps) | No - data exposed to outside agents via MCP | No | Yes - plans and executes against the live web |
| Fixed-workflow automation only | No workflow builder either | Only via Make, n8n, Zapier | No - workflows exist alongside the agent |
| Agents can run on local model at zero cost | No | No | Yes |
| Multi-agent panel | No | No | Yes - two extra agents, paid plans |
| Live browser view | No | No | Yes |
| Take control mid-run | No | No | Yes |
| Steer agent while running | No | No | Yes - talk to any agent mid-job |
| Background execution | No | No | Yes - with notify on completion |
| Approval gate before real-world actions | n/a - takes no actions | n/a - takes no actions | Yes |
| Long-running deep work jobs | No | No | Yes |
| Scheduled agent jobs | No - daily prompt runs only | No - scheduled crawls and reports only | Yes - daily, weekdays, weekly, monthly |
| Agent produces saved artifacts | No | No | Yes - briefs, drafts, FAQs, audits |
| Evidence capture | Partial - raw AI responses stored | Partial - cached answer copies | Yes - screenshots and captured proof |
| Searchable job history | No | No | Yes |

### Chat & assistant

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Agentic chat with mid-answer tool calls | No - MCP server for outside assistants | No - data exposed to outside assistants via MCP | Yes |
| Model picker per conversation | No | No | Yes |
| LLM models available | n/a | n/a | 27 hosted + 3 local; any model on BYOK |
| Chat memory across conversations | No | No | Yes - semantic search over past chats |
| Live web search | No | No | Yes |
| Fetch and read URLs | Partial - audits a URL you enter | No | Yes |
| Semantic search over your own site | No | No | Yes - on-device index |
| Topic coverage check | Partial - citation and content gap reports | Partial - prompt and source gap reports | Yes - covered, partial or not covered |
| File attachments | No | No | Yes - txt, md, doc, docx, pdf, images |
| In-app screenshot capture | No | No | Yes - screen or window, with crop |
| Custom specialists with own tool access | No | No | Yes - plus 6 presets |
| Image generation | No | No | Yes |

### Content generation

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Research-backed briefs | Partial - fix brief from page audit | Yes - SERP-driven | Yes |
| Live SERP / PAA research | No - fan-out queries only | Yes | Yes - plus related searches and AI search snapshots |
| Full draft generation | No | Yes - 25–50 articles/mo | Yes |
| Brand voice grounding | No | Partial - 10 tone presets | Yes |
| Brand truth profile | Partial - names, domains, competitors | No - brand name and aliases only | Yes |
| Internal linking placement | No | No | Yes |
| Featured image generation | No | Not published | Yes |
| FAQ generation with schema export | No | Partial - FAQ text, no schema | Yes - HTML and JSON-LD |
| Key points extraction | No | No | Yes - pushable into the live pag |
| AI-tell removal pass | No | No | Yes - paid, toggleable |
| Artifact library | No | Yes - article list | Yes |
| Export formats | CSV, PDF | WordPress, Google Docs; CSV data | Markdown, HTML, DOCX, PDF, TXT |
| Revise artifacts in place | No | Yes - editor | Yes |
| Deploy directly to CMS | No | Partial - WordPress only | Yes |

### Content repurposing / audio

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Turn any page into audio | No | No | Yes - URL, pasted text or file |
| Two-voice conversation format | No | No | Yes |
| Voices | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| Languages | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Length options | n/a | n/a | Short, standard, deep dive |
| Embeddable audio player | No | No | Yes |
| Player theming and layout | No | No | Yes - theme, layout, accent, title, transcript |
| White-label audio attribution | No | No | Yes - agency plans |
| Attribution backlink to agency | No | No | Yes - real link in page HTML |
| Listening analytics | No | No | Yes - plays, completion, listen time |
| BYOK audio generation | No | No | Yes |

### Site crawl & monitoring

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Automatic site discovery | No | Yes - crawler and sitemap | Yes |
| Scheduled full-site crawl | No - single-URL audits, capped 1k–10k/mo | Yes - 250k–2M pages/mo | Yes - weekly or on demand |
| Monitored page management | Partial - crawled pages from logs, not managed | Yes | Yes |
| Batched change digests | No | Partial - page change alerts, $279 | Yes |
| On-device semantic index | No | No | Yes |
| Page freshness tracking | No | Partial - page change monitoring | Yes |

### Entity & knowledge graph

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Site-wide entity graph | No | No | Yes |
| Inferred relationships | No | No | Yes |
| Salience scoring | No | No | Yes |
| Graph readable by AI agent | No | No | Yes |
| Graph export | No | No | Yes - CSV and PDF |

### Automation & workflows

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Visibility-threshold triggers | No - external tools via API | No - external tools only | Yes - mentions or citations, all or one topic |
| Pre-built recovery recipe | No | No | Yes - detect, locate, audit, stage a fix |
| Conditional branching | No | No - only in Make or n8n | Partial - branches on whether a matching page exists |
| Scheduled content cadence | No | No | Yes - daily to monthly |
| Workflow reports | No | No | Yes - posted to the inbox |

### Alerts & inbox

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Unified project inbox | No | No | Yes |
| Native OS notifications | No | No - mobile app push only | Yes - Windows and macOS |
| Customized notifications with severity thresholds | Partial - on/off per report | No | Yes - per project |
| Email digest | Partial - per-report notifications | Yes - scheduled reports | Yes |

### Teams & workspaces

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Seats included | Unlimited | 1 / 3 | Unlimited on paid managed; 10 BYOK Premium, 25 BYOK Agency |
| Cost per additional seat | $0 | From $16/mo | $0 on paid managed plans, +$7 per seat for BYOK plans |
| Shared allowance across team | Yes - shared prompt pool | Yes | Yes |
| Per-member usage visibility | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Multi-project workspaces | Yes - $189+ | Yes | Yes |
| Projects included | 1 workspace on $29; unlimited above | 10 / 30; 3–10 standalone | 1 free, 3–10 managed, 25–unlimited agency; +$10 each |
| Archive and restore projects | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Per-project API keys | Not published | No - account-level | Yes - rotatable |
| SSO / SAML | Enterprise only | Not published - Enterprise | Roadmap |

### Agency & white-label

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| White-label PDF reports | No - logo upload only | Yes - +$69/mo add-on | Yes - visibility report and audit |
| Custom logo, color and link | Partial - logo only | Yes - plus custom domain | Yes |
| White-label audio player | No | No | Yes - custom attribution text and link |
| Client-facing backlink | No | No | Yes |
| Dedicated agency tier | No - partner status on $189+ | No - add-on, not a tier | Yes - four tiers |
| Client sub-accounts | Yes - client + pitch workspaces | Yes - 10 client seats | No - clients are projects, no client logins |

### Integrations

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Google Search Console | No - manual query import | Yes | Yes - OAuth, credentials stay on device |
| Google Analytics | No - GA4 setup guide only | Yes - GA4, plus Matomo | Roadmap |
| MCP connector support | Yes - $189+ | Yes - own server, all plans | Partial - Webflow connects over MCP |
| Public API | Yes - $189+ | Yes - credits on all plans | No - project keys for own plugins only |
| Slack | No - via API only | No - only via Make or Zapier | No |
| Zapier | Partial - via API and MCP | Partial - lead capture only | No |
| Custom connection support | Yes - log webhook + request form | Yes - API, n8n, Make | Yes - request a connection, paid plans |

### Platform & support

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| UI languages | 1 (English) | 10 | 6 |
| Troubleshooting and recovery tools | No | No | Yes |
| In-app help agent | No - help center and human chat | Partial - live chat with support | Yes |
| Done-for-you service available | No - partner agency directory | No - partner agency catalog | Yes |

### Team

| Feature | OtterlyAI | SE Ranking | Hi, Moose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Founders have SEO backgrounds | Partial. Founded in 2024 by Thomas Peham, a former VP of Marketing at Storyblok, with Josef Trauner and Klaus-M. Schremser, the former CEO and head of growth at user-feedback platform Usersnap. | Yes. | Yes. Founder Sam Morris has 15+ years in SEO and software engineering. |


## Which one to pick

OtterlyAI and SE Ranking suit different needs. OtterlyAI fits teams that want browser-based AI visibility tracking, API access, or unlimited seats without added seat fees. SE Ranking fits agencies that need a broad SEO suite, including rank tracking, backlink research, Google Analytics integration, client sub-accounts, and API-based connections.

Hi, Moose fits teams that need to track AI search visibility and act on it in one tool. It tracks 10 engines, including Claude, Grok, Bing Copilot, DeepSeek, and Meta AI. It also supports on-demand checks, multiple run schedules, configurable samples, unlimited local visibility runs, and no hard prompt limit. The free plan has no expiry or card requirement, while paid teams can use [OpenRouter](https://himoose.com/pricing/) through BYOK and run with no AI cost paid to Hi, Moose.

The main difference comes after tracking. Hi, Moose connects visibility data to page-level AEO audits, evidence-tiered recommendations, [element-level](https://himoose.com/use-cases/optimize-a-page-for-ai-search/) rewrites, verification reruns, and approval-based publishing. It can stage and publish controlled WordPress changes, including rollback and patch history. It also supports Webflow and Grav, while neither competitor offers the same range of page-level publishing controls.

Its desktop design will not suit teams that need a browser-only platform or client logins. However, it gives users local-first storage, [on-device AI](https://himoose.com/local-ai/) options, local backups, and full access to stored data on their device. For SMBs and agencies that want a practical AEO tool with transparent AI credit use, local control, and a track-to-fix workflow, Hi, Moose covers more of the work than monitoring alone.

## About Hi, Moose

Hi, Moose is a desktop AEO tool for small and mid sized businesses and the agencies that serve them. It tracks how a brand appears across AI answer engines, audits the pages behind those answers, writes the fix and publishes it to WordPress, Webflow or Grav. It runs a local AI model on the user's own machine, so prompts, answers and history stay on disk, and paid managed plans add cloud backup.

- Site: https://himoose.com/
- Pricing: https://himoose.com/pricing/
- All 190 comparisons: https://himoose.com/versus/

## Sources

- https://otterly.ai
- https://help.otterly.ai
- https://seranking.com
- https://help.seranking.com
- https://visible.seranking.com