The CrowdReply Alternative for AI Search Visibility
If you are looking for a way to see whether ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity recommend your brand, you have probably found CrowdReply. It is a capable AI search visibility platform, and it does more than track: it has an engagement engine that auto-posts replies for you and a marketplace where you buy editorial backlinks. All of that starts at $79 a month for 20 prompts. If you want to track more queries for less, and keep control of what gets posted in your name, here is the alternative.
Key takeaways
- CrowdReply is priced from $79 a month for 20 AI search prompts, up to $399 a month for 200.
- Shoptank tracks the same engines from a free plan, and paid plans run $0.40 to $0.97 per tracked query against CrowdReply's roughly $2.00 to $3.95.
- CrowdReply auto-posts through community profiles. Shoptank drafts the reply and you post it from your own account.
- CrowdReply is the better pick if you want done-for-you posting and a paid backlinks marketplace in one place.
On this page
- What CrowdReply does
- What it costs per query
- The alternative: Shoptank
- Side by side
- The honest difference: who does the posting
- When CrowdReply is the right pick
What CrowdReply does
CrowdReply calls itself an AI search visibility platform with a built-in engagement engine. It monitors ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude for whether your brand shows up, tracks which prompts trigger a mention, and benchmarks you against competitors. On top of that it adds two things most trackers do not: an engagement engine that writes and posts replies on Reddit, Quora and other communities through trusted profiles, and an AI backlinks marketplace of 40,000-plus publishers where you buy editorial placements. It is a broad, do-it-for-you platform.
What it costs per query
CrowdReply prices by AI search prompts, which is the same thing Shoptank calls tracked queries: each is one buyer question checked across the AI engines. From CrowdReply's public pricing, Starter is $79 a month for 20 prompts, Growth is $239 for 75, and Enterprise starts at $399 for 200. Divide price by prompts and you get the real number: what one tracked query costs you each month.
| Plan | Tracked queries | Monthly | Per query |
|---|---|---|---|
| CrowdReply Starter | 20 | $79 | $3.95 |
| CrowdReply Growth | 75 | $239 | $3.19 |
| CrowdReply Enterprise | 200 | from $399 | $2.00 |
| Shoptank Free | 3 | $0 | $0.00 |
| Shoptank Starter | 30 | $29 | $0.97 |
| Shoptank Growth | 150 | $99 | $0.66 |
| Shoptank Scale | 500 | $299 | $0.60 |
| Shoptank Agency | 2,000 | $799 | $0.40 |
Matched by volume the gap is plain. Around 20 queries, CrowdReply is $79 while Shoptank Starter is $29 and gives you 30. Around 75 queries, CrowdReply is $239 while Shoptank Growth is $99 for 150, twice the coverage. Around 200 queries, CrowdReply starts at $399 while Shoptank Scale is $299 for 500. Set your own volume in the calculator below to see where each tool lands.
How many buyer queries do you want to track?
| Tool | Cheapest plan that fits | Monthly | Queries | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ShoptankShopify | Growth | $99.00 | 150 | $0.66 |
| Visiby | Starter(caps at 100) | $99.00 | 100 | $0.99 |
| MeridianShopify | Standard | $299.00 | 300 | $1.00 |
| SE Ranking | Growth | $279.00 | 250 | $1.12 |
| Otterly.AI | Premium | $489.00 | 400 | $1.22 |
| LLMrefs | Pro(caps at 50) | $79.00 | 50 | $1.58 |
| Rankscale | Growth | $385.00 | 241 | $1.60 |
| Peec AI | Pro | $245.00 | 150 | $1.63 |
| CrowdReply | Enterprise | $399.00 | 200 | $2.00 |
| Honeyb | Starter(caps at 10) | $29.00 | 10 | $2.90 |
| Profound | Growth(caps at 100) | $399.00 | 100 | $3.99 |
| VisiblyShopify | Pro(caps at 20) | $199.00 | 20 | $9.95 |
Cost per run is the plan's monthly price divided by its tracked queries at its published cadence. Each tool is shown on the cheapest paid plan that covers your selected volume. Public pricing, 2026; verify current plans with each vendor.
One caveat, in CrowdReply's favor: its price bundles engagement credits and marketplace access, so you are not paying purely for tracking. That is the trade to weigh, covered below.
The alternative: Shoptank
Shoptank tracks how your brand shows up when people ask ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity for a recommendation. For every answer it records the sources the assistant cited, so you can see who got recommended instead of you and why. Then it does the part that matters: it drafts the fixes and the community replies for you to post. It works for any brand on any website, connects to Claude over MCP so you can ask about your visibility right in the chat, and starts free with 3 tracked queries and no card.
Side by side
| Feature | CrowdReply | Shoptank |
|---|---|---|
| Tracks ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity | Yes | Yes |
| Engines on the entry plan | 2 of 7 | 3, on every plan |
| Free plan | No | Yes, 3 queries |
| Entry price | $79 a month, 20 prompts | Free, then $29 for 30 |
| Cost per tracked query | $2.00 to $3.95 | $0.40 to $0.97 |
| Cited sources per answer | Yes | Yes |
| Community posting | Auto-posts for you | Drafts, you post |
| Backlinks marketplace | Yes, paid | No |
| Connects to Claude over MCP | Yes | Yes |
| Best for | Done-for-you at scale | Affordable, authentic tracking |
For the wider field, our roundup of the best AEO tools compares both alongside Profound, Otterly and others, and the cost per query guide ranks the whole market on price.
The honest difference: who does the posting
This is the real fork in the road. CrowdReply's engagement engine writes replies and posts them for you through community profiles. That is fast, and for some teams that is the whole appeal. The risk is that automated replies from third-party accounts are exactly what Reddit and Quora work to remove, and a removed or flagged post does nothing for your AI visibility. Shoptank takes the other path: it drafts the reply or pitch, shows you why it helps, and you post it from your own account. It is a little more work, and it keeps your presence genuine and durable, which is what the assistants end up citing.
When CrowdReply is the right pick
CrowdReply is not a weak tool. If you want tracking, done-for-you community posting and a marketplace to buy editorial backlinks bundled into one platform, and the per-query price is fine for your budget, it delivers all of that in one place. Shoptank is the better answer when you want to track more queries for less, keep control of what gets published in your name, and start free before you pay for anything.
The fair test is your own brand. See where AI recommends you today, and who it names instead, before you spend a dollar. You can do that free, and you can ask Claude to run it for you once you connect Shoptank over MCP.
