Profound vs. LLM Pulse: Which AI visibility tracker fits your team in 2026?
Profound vs. LLM Pulse: Which AI visibility tracker fits your team in 2026?
- September 28, 2025
- Esteve Castells
Last updated: July 20, 2026
TL;DR
Profound is the most funded AI visibility platform, with about $154.5M announced across several funding rounds. LLM Pulse is a bootstrapped, all-in-one AI search platform (GEO/AEO) covering tracking, analysis, and optimization, launched in mid-2025 and serving clients across fintech, marketplaces, SaaS, and agencies worldwide. Both platforms analyze how brands appear in AI-generated answers across models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google systems. However, they differ significantly in pricing, model coverage, and positioning. Profound focuses on large enterprise organizations with compliance requirements and high budgets, while LLM Pulse targets teams seeking broader AI model coverage, faster self-serve access, and a more cost-efficient way to monitor brand visibility across AI search environments.
Table of Contents
This comparison examines both platforms across pricing, features, AI model coverage, and real-world value to help you choose the right tool for your team.
Quick comparison
| Category | LLM Pulse | Profound |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | €49/month, 50 prompts, five standard models | $99/month, 50 prompts, ChatGPT |
| Growth plan | €99/month, 150 prompts, five standard models | $399/month, 100 prompts, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews |
| Enterprise | Custom, with paid model add-ons | Custom |
| Trial and access | 14-day trial and self-serve signup | Self-serve Starter and a free-trial path for Growth |
| Compliance | Standard security controls | SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, and SSO |
Company background
LLM Pulse
LLM Pulse launched publicly on July 15, 2025, founded by a team with deep experience in SEO, SaaS, and AI product development. The founders previously led SEO at major marketplace platforms managing 250+ million indexed pages.
The company is bootstrapped: no outside funding, just focus on building a product customers want to pay for. This means pricing reflects actual value delivered, not investor return expectations.
Profound
Profound was founded in 2024 by James Cadwallader (Co-founder and CEO) and Dylan Babbs (Co-founder and CTO), both based in New York. The company has announced about $154.5 million in total funding:
- $3.5M seed (August 2024), led by Khosla Ventures
- $20M Series A (June 2025), led by Kleiner Perkins, with NVIDIA participation
- $35M Series B (August 2025), led by Sequoia Capital
- $96M Series C (February 2026), led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, at $1B valuation
Profound positions itself as the enterprise leader for “marketing to Superintelligence” and targets Fortune 500 brands. They’re SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliant.
Pricing comparison
LLM Pulse pricing
| Plan | Price | Prompts | AI models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | €49/month | 50 | 5 standard models |
| Growth | €99/month | 150 | 5 standard models |
| Scale | €299/month | 450 | 5 standard models |
| Scale+ | €599/month | 1,200 | 5 standard models |
| Scale++ | €1,199/month | 2,400 | 5 standard models |
| Enterprise | Custom | Up to 25,000 | Up to 10 with paid add-ons |
Profound pricing
| Plan | Price | Prompts | AI models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $99/month | 50 | ChatGPT |
| Growth | $399/month | 100 | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom |
AI model coverage
LLM Pulse
- All plans: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overviews.
- Enterprise paid add-ons: Claude, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, and Meta AI, for up to 10 models total.
Profound
- Starter: ChatGPT.
- Growth: ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
- Enterprise: Custom model access.
Key difference: LLM Pulse includes five standard models on every plan. Profound’s current self-serve plans have narrower model coverage, while Enterprise access is custom.
Feature comparison
Core tracking features
| Feature | LLM Pulse | Profound |
|---|---|---|
| Brand mention tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| Citation tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| Competitor tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| Share of Voice | ✅ | ✅ |
| Sentiment analysis | ✅ Growth+ | ✅ |
| Historical data | ✅ | ✅ |
Advanced features
| Feature | LLM Pulse | Profound |
|---|---|---|
| Query fan out | ✅ Exposed retrieval subqueries | ✅ |
| Prompt research / volumes | ✅ | ✅ (Prompt Volumes) |
| GEO Writer | ✅ Briefs, drafts, and updates | ✅ (Workflows) |
| ChatGPT Shopping | ✅ Scale+ | ✅ |
| Agent Analytics (crawler tracking) | ✅ (Growth and above) | ✅ |
| ChatGPT Entities | ✅ | ✅ |
| GEO Testing | ✅ Scale+ | – |
| Reputation monitoring | ✅ Scale+ | – |
| Annotations & tags | Annotations Growth+; tags all plans | – |
| CLI | ✅ Scale+ | – |
| Conversation Explorer | – | ✅ |
Integrations and exports
| Feature | LLM Pulse | Profound |
|---|---|---|
| Data exports (CSV/Excel) | ✅ All plans | ✅ |
| API access | ✅ Scale+ | ✅ (MCP server, SDKs) |
| Looker Studio connector | ✅ Scale+ | ❌ |
| Web Analytics integration | ✅ Growth+ | ✅ (GA4, Enterprise) |
| App store tracking | ✅ Growth+ | ❌ |
Agency and enterprise features
| Feature | LLM Pulse | Profound |
|---|---|---|
| White label | Agency arrangement | Agency plan |
| Pitch workspaces | – | ✅ (Agency plan) |
| Team members | Unlimited | Limited by plan |
| SOC 2 Type II | – | ✅ |
| HIPAA compliance | – | ✅ |
| SSO (SAML/OIDC) | – | ✅ |
Where Profound wins
To be fair, Profound has genuine strengths for certain use cases:
1. Enterprise compliance
Profound is SOC 2 Type II certified and HIPAA compliant. If your procurement process requires these certifications, Profound checks those boxes. LLM Pulse doesn’t currently offer enterprise compliance certifications.
2. ChatGPT Shopping visibility
Profound offers dedicated tracking for ChatGPT Shopping tiles: how products appear when users ask purchase-related questions. This is valuable for e-commerce brands monitoring AI-driven product discovery.
3. Agent Analytics
Profound tracks AI crawler activity across site content. LLM Pulse offers Agent Analytics from Growth for teams monitoring AI bot traffic.
4. Conversation Explorer and Prompt Volumes
Profound’s Conversation Explorer shows real-time search volume insights for AI engines, how often topics are discussed in ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.
5. Agency pitch workspaces
Profound’s Agency plan includes pitch workspaces (10/month with 25 custom prompts each) for prospecting. This is purpose-built for agencies selling AEO services.
Where LLM Pulse wins
1. Price-to-value ratio
This is the most significant difference. LLM Pulse delivers more AI models at lower price points:
- Five standard models at €49/month vs Profound’s ChatGPT-only Starter at $99/month
- 150 prompts at €99/month vs 100 prompts at $399/month
2. AI model coverage at accessible tiers
Google AI Mode and Gemini are included on every LLM Pulse plan. Profound’s current self-serve pricing does not list either model.
3. Self-serve access
LLM Pulse offers a 14-day trial, self-serve signup, and published self-serve prices. Profound now offers self-serve Starter access and a free-trial path for Growth, with Enterprise handled through sales.
4. Looker Studio connector
From Scale, LLM Pulse offers a native Looker Studio connector for building custom dashboards and combining AI visibility data with other marketing metrics.
5. App store tracking
LLM Pulse tracks AI citations in iOS App Store and Google Play, important for mobile apps and games. Profound focuses on web-based AI visibility.
6. Unlimited team members
All LLM Pulse plans include unlimited team members. Profound limits seats by plan tier.
7. Plan transparency
LLM Pulse publishes prompt, project, competitor, and model limits for its self-serve plans.
Tracking methodology
Both platforms use similar fundamental approaches:
How both work
- Run tracked prompts against selected AI products
- Capture answers, brand mentions, and citations
- Compare results over time and against competitors
Real-world use cases
Choose LLM Pulse if:
You’re a SaaS company or startup
- Need comprehensive AI visibility without enterprise budgets
- Want Gemini and AI Mode tracking without paying $2,000+/month
- Value fast setup over procurement processes
Choose Profound if:
You’re a Fortune 500 brand
- SOC 2 Type II is a hard procurement requirement
- HIPAA compliance is mandatory (healthcare/pharma)
- Budget is not a constraint
Verdict
For most teams: LLM Pulse
If you don’t have hard compliance requirements (SOC 2, HIPAA, SSO) and budget isn’t unlimited, LLM Pulse delivers better value:
- 5 AI models (including AI Mode and Gemini) at €49/month
- 80% lower cost for comparable coverage
- More transparent, accessible pricing
For enterprise with compliance needs: Profound
If your procurement process requires SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA compliance, or SSO, and budget is not a constraint, Profound is the established choice.
The fundamental question
Both platforms track AI visibility by querying the same AI models. The data is fundamentally similar. The questions are:
- How much should you pay for it?
- Which AI models do you need at accessible tiers?
- Do you need enterprise compliance, or just visibility data?
For most teams, the answer points to LLM Pulse.