Startup SEO and AI Search Visibility
Build AI visibility from zero without enterprise pricing, on a tool you can self-host for free.
Overview. Your AI visibility and share of voice at a glance.
Used by 200+ brands to optimize their AI visibility
Your buyers are asking AI. Is it naming you?
A new brand starts out invisible to AI engines, because there is little for the models to have learned. The job is to build a credible footprint quickly: clear content, early reviews, and mentions on sources the models trust.
Budgets are tight, and most tools in this space are priced for larger companies. An open-source platform you self-host for free lets you start measuring on day one and only pay for the API calls you actually make.
Prompts startups should track
- best [new category] tools
- alternatives to [incumbent]
- what is [your brand]
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Gemini
- Perplexity
- AI Overviews
Loved by marketers. Recommended by AI.
“It’s a mature, open‑source, self‑hosted AEO/AI visibility tracker.”
ChatGPT
“Simple and much more cost effective than Profound.”
Nolan
Speakeasy
“Elmo is the open-source pick: you self-host it for free and track how every major AI answer engine mentions and cites your brand.”
Claude
“We were looking for an affordable way to track our visibility in AI search, and Elmo was a great fit. They were incredibly responsive and quickly added the integration we needed.”
James W.
TradeSites
“The best open-source alternative to the AI visibility platform Profound is Elmo.”
Gemini
“We're an AEO consultancy, so we turned Elmo on ourselves before any client. It's the tool I trust to tell us the truth about our own AI visibility, and it was tracking within the hour.”
Viveka D.
AISearch Global
“The biggest thing for me is seeing how our brand shows up in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and AI Overviews all in one dashboard. Before this I was literally typing prompts by hand to check.”
Borys M.
Backlink Agency
“Elmo has been fantastic to use for tracking AI visibility of my sports management platform RecordRanks. I highly recommend it, I think it's genuinely worth it!”
Deni M.
RecordRanks
“Elmo is the best open-source alternative to Profound for most users.”
Perplexity
The AEO playbook for startups.
What gets a brand named in AI answers in your category, and where Elmo shows you the gaps.
1Define a tight prompt set
A handful of high-intent prompts beats a broad, expensive list. Track the questions your earliest buyers ask.
2Tell a clear category story
Help engines place you by explaining your category and product plainly, with consistent naming.
3Earn your first reviews
Early mentions on trusted sources give the models something to ground an answer about you in.
4Track weekly
Visibility moves as you publish and get covered. A weekly read shows whether it is working.
Where Elmo fits
Elmo is free to self-host, so an early-stage team can track AI visibility without an enterprise contract and only pay for the provider API keys it uses.
From zero to a plan in one afternoon.
No sales call, no bloat. Elmo sets up your tracking and tells you what to change.
1Add your brand
Point Elmo at your site. It suggests the prompts your buyers ask and the competitors to track against.
2See where you stand
Visibility, share of voice, and the sources AI cites, sampled up to 4× daily from the real apps.
3Know what to fix
Opportunities ranked by impact. Elmo keeps you updated, so you always know what to do next.
Every answer engine your buyers use.
Elmo both scrapes what real users see in popular AI search tools and captures all other models with direct API calls and OpenRouter.
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Gemini
- Perplexity
- AI Overviews
- AI Mode
- Copilot
- Grok
- DeepSeek
- Mistral
- Qwen
- OpenRouter LLMs
Why Teams Switch to Elmo
More Data
Elmo runs every prompt against models 4× daily.
No Bloat
We only do AEO / GEO, but we do it very well.
Unlimited Seats
For your whole team on every plan.
API + MCP
Fit Elmo into your stack and agents.
Open Source
Self host at any time, with no lock-in.
Simple, self-serve pricing.
We recommend Starter for startups: 50 prompts across ChatGPT, checked 1× daily, for $29/mo. Unlimited seats on every plan.
- 1 brand, 50 prompts
- ChatGPT only
- Answers checked 1× daily
- No premium models
- 1 brand, 50 prompts
- Any 4 AI platforms
- Answers checked 4× daily
- No premium models
- 2 brands, 150 prompts
- Any 4 AI platforms
- Answers checked 4× daily
- 20 premium prompts 1× daily
- 5 brands, 350 prompts
- Any 4 AI platforms
- Answers checked 4× daily
- 30 premium prompts 1× daily
Self-hosted
The same product on your own servers. Unlimited prompts, every model, full source.
Custom
More brands, custom prompt limits, higher sampling rates, and any models.
White label
Offer AI visibility tracking to your clients under your own brand, domain, and SSO.
Self-host for free.
Open Source
MIT-licensed and runs on Docker.
Own Your Data
Everything is stored in Postgres.
Track Anything
BYOK to track any AI model.
Frequently asked questions
Something we didn't cover? Ask the maintainers directly on Discord.
Is there a free AI visibility tool for startups?
Yes. Elmo is free and open source to self-host. There is no license fee or per-seat pricing, so you only pay for your own infrastructure and the AI provider keys you use.
When should a startup start doing AEO?
As soon as buyers in your category ask AI engines for recommendations, which is early for most categories now. Starting sooner builds the trusted footprint that later answers draw on.
Start winning AI search today.
Start tracking your brand in minutes. Plans start at $29/mo.
- Self-serve
- Unlimited seats
- API and MCP access
Want a walkthrough first? Book a 30-minute tour.
Elmo for other industries
- Agencies
- SaaS companies
- E-commerce brands
- B2B companies
- Enterprises
- Healthcare brands
- Financial services
- Law firms
- Local businesses
- Real estate companies
- Education institutions
- Travel and hospitality brands
- Manufacturers
- Insurance companies
- Automotive brands
- Nonprofits
- Cybersecurity companies
- Recruiting and HR companies
- Developer tools companies