Track AI citations without the monthly fee
Enterprise AI-visibility platforms answer one question, “is AI recommending me?”, and charge a recurring subscription for it, with your data living on their cloud. CiteTrack AI answers the same question inside WordPress: bring your own API keys, pay one flat annual price, and keep every byte of data on your own site.
Search moved into the chat box, and most teams can’t see it
When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s AI a question, the model quietly fetches real web pages and decides which sources to cite. Those citations are the new rankings. The problem: AI crawlers don’t run JavaScript and AI referrals often arrive with no referrer, so Google Analytics shows you almost nothing. A whole category of AI visibility tools sprang up to fill the gap: Profound, Scrunch, Peec AI, Otterly, Semrush’s AIO, and they’re genuinely capable. They’re also sold the same way: a recurring monthly subscription, priced for brands and agencies, with your prompts and results stored on the vendor’s platform.
If you run a WordPress site and you simply want to know “do AI engines cite me or my competitors, and is it sending revenue?”, paying an enterprise subscription every month forever is a steep way to find out. CiteTrack AI takes the other path.
Two ways to track AI visibility
Same goal. Very different cost structure and data model.
The SaaS platform way
A standalone dashboard you log into. Powerful, but:
- Recurring monthly subscription, the cost never stops, and scales with seats and tracked prompts.
- Your prompts, answers and analytics live on the vendor’s cloud.
- Priced for brands and agencies; overkill for a single site or a tight budget.
- Separate from where you actually publish, another login, another tool.
The CiteTrack AI way
A plugin that lives inside WordPress, next to your content:
- One flat annual price, no per-seat, no per-prompt metering.
- Bring your own API keys. You pay OpenAI / Perplexity / Google directly, usually cents per run, and you control the spend.
- Tokens and stored analytics remain in your WordPress database. CiteTrack does not operate a separate hosted analytics store; connected AI, Google and other providers receive the requests you authorize.
- It sits where you publish, so insight turns into fixes in the same place.
“Bring your own API keys”, what that actually means for cost
Citation tracking works by asking the AI engines your tracked questions and recording whether your domain shows up in the answer. CiteTrack AI uses your own API keys for that, the same keys you’d create in the OpenAI, Perplexity, Google or Anthropic dashboards. Two things follow:
- You pay the model providers directly, at their published rates. A weekly citation run across a normal set of prompts typically costs a few cents to a couple of dollars in API usage, not a fixed monthly platform fee on top.
- You stay in control. Choose which engines to use, how many prompts to track, and how often runs happen. Track more when it matters, scale back when it doesn’t. Set spend limits in each provider’s own console.
The result: the marginal cost of visibility tracking is the handful of cents the models charge, and the software itself is a single annual line item, not a subscription that compounds month after month.
CiteTrack AI vs. subscription AI-visibility platforms
Comparison is of the model, not a price quote, verify current specifics on each vendor’s site.
| How it’s sold & built | Subscription SaaS (Profound, Scrunch, Peec, Otterly…) | CiteTrack AI |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Recurring monthly subscription | One flat annual plugin license |
| AI query cost | Bundled into the subscription | Bring your own keys, pay providers cents directly |
| Where your data lives | Vendor’s cloud | Your own WordPress database only |
| Lives where you publish | Separate dashboard | Inside WordPress, beside your content |
| Citation tracking (cited vs. competitors) | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI crawler analytics + “answer impressions” | Varies | ✓ built in |
| Query fan-out discovery | Rare | ✓ persona sub-queries |
| On-page AEO fixes (schema, citability, sections) | Usually separate | ✓ in the same plugin |
| AI → revenue attribution | Varies / add-on | ✓ WooCommerce + EDD |
| White-label client reports | Often agency tier | ✓ included |
You’re not trading features for price
CiteTrack AI is a full AI-visibility suite, the budget angle is the pricing model, not a stripped-down product.
AI crawler analytics
See every verified visit from GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended and 50+ others, with “AI answer impressions” when an engine fetches you mid-answer.
Learn more ?Answer-side citation tracking
Run approved buyer questions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Grok, then record whether each usable answer cites you, mentions you, omits you or cites a competitor.
Learn more ?Query fan-out discovery
Generate the persona-based sub-queries an AI runs behind the scenes, then track citations across all of them, so you cover the questions buyers actually trigger.
Learn more ?Narrative-control map
See which domains AI cites most across your whole topic, your exact list of where to go earn mentions and reviews.
Learn more ?Citability + Section Index
Per-page citability scores and a section-by-section read of answer-ready passages, plus author signals and reversible improvements for supported checks.
Learn more ?AI → revenue attribution
Tie AI referral sessions to conversions and revenue (WooCommerce + EDD), so you can prove what AI visibility is worth.
Learn more ?Configurable alerts
A real rule engine, get told when citations drop, a competitor overtakes you, or AI crawling spikes.
Learn more ?White-label reports
Branded, client-ready PDF and scheduled email reports, your logo, your colours, no per-client fee.
Learn more ?Your data, your site
Google tokens and all analytics stay in your WordPress database. Connect Search Console & Analytics in one click, no client IDs.
Learn more ?From install to first insight
Add the plugin to WordPress and run the 5-step setup wizard.
One-click connect Google; paste any AI engine API keys you have.
Generate the fan-out of questions buyers ask in your category.
Watch crawls, citations, share of voice and revenue, and fix the gaps.
When an enterprise SaaS suite still makes sense
To be fair: if you’re a large brand tracking thousands of prompts across dozens of markets, need managed onboarding and SLAs, or want a hosted multi-workspace platform for a big team, a dedicated SaaS like Profound or Scrunch is built for that and worth its price. CiteTrack AI is built for the much larger group it leaves behind, WordPress site owners, consultants, e-commerce stores and agencies who want the same core answers without a recurring enterprise bill, and who’d rather keep their data on their own server. If that’s you, the WordPress-native, bring-your-own-key model wins on cost and control.
Frequently asked questions
Can I really track AI citations without a monthly subscription?
Yes. CiteTrack AI is a WordPress plugin sold as a flat annual license. It performs citation checks using your own AI provider API keys, so the only usage cost is the few cents per run those providers charge, there is no recurring platform fee on top.
What does “bring your own API keys” mean, and is it cheaper?
You create API keys in the OpenAI, Perplexity, Google or Anthropic dashboards and paste them into the plugin. CiteTrack AI then queries those engines on your behalf. You pay the providers directly at their published rates (typically cents per query), which for most sites is far cheaper over a year than a fixed monthly SaaS subscription, and you control exactly how much is spent.
Is CiteTrack AI a good Profound, Otterly or Peec AI alternative?
For WordPress site owners and agencies, yes. Those platforms are capable hosted SaaS tools priced as monthly subscriptions. CiteTrack AI covers the same core job, tracking whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI cite you versus competitors, inside WordPress, on a flat annual price, with your data kept on your own site. Large enterprises with very high prompt volumes may still prefer a dedicated platform.
Which AI engines and crawlers does it cover?
Citation tracking supports ChatGPT (OpenAI), Perplexity, Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude. Crawler analytics detect 50+ AI bots including GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, Bytespider, Applebot and more, with verification and spoof detection.
Where is my data stored?
Google OAuth tokens and retrieved Search Console or Analytics data are stored in your WordPress database, not in a separate CiteTrack analytics account. citetrackai.com brokers the Google authorization flow without retaining that analytics dataset. Your site still communicates with the AI, Google and other providers you choose, under their respective terms.
Do I have to be technical to use it?
No. A setup wizard walks you through licensing, connecting Google in one click, adding engine keys, and choosing what to track. Most people are live in a few minutes.
How much does CiteTrack AI cost?
Plans are billed annually: Solo (2 sites), Studio (5 sites) and Agency (unlimited sites). See the pricing page for current figures. Your only other cost is your own AI API usage, which you control.
Can agencies use it across client sites?
Yes. The Agency plan covers unlimited sites, and white-label reporting lets you deliver branded, client-ready PDF and scheduled email reports with your own logo and colours, no per-client fee.
Will it slow down my site?
No. Crawler logging writes a single row only when a recognised AI bot is detected and does no database work for normal human traffic. Citation runs happen on a schedule in the background.
Enterprise AI visibility, without the enterprise bill
Bring your own API keys, pay one flat annual price, and keep your data on your own site.
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