by Yayasystems
For the last 18 months, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) has been a “rich brand’s game.”
If you wanted to track your Share of Voice on ChatGPT or measure how often Gemini recommends your product, you had to pay enterprise prices. Tools like Profound or Barton often start at $499/month, effectively locking out startups, indie hackers, and small businesses from the most important shift in search history.
But in late 2025, the dam finally broke.
The launch of Ranky.site, the first dedicated GEO and AEO tracker priced under $9/month, signals a massive market correction. Here is why the era of “Gatekept AI SEO” is ending, and what this means for your marketing strategy.
The “Enterprise Premium” is Vanishing
Early GEO tools priced themselves like enterprise consulting firms because they could. The technology was new, and “Share of Voice” metrics for LLMs were difficult to calculate. However, three factors are now driving prices down:
LLM API Commoditization: The cost to query models like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet has dropped significantly. Software providers can no longer justify charging $500 margins on data tracking.
The “Moz” Effect: Just as Moz and Ahrefs democratized Google SEO for small businesses, new players are democratizing AI SEO.
Standardization: Metrics are becoming standard. We no longer need custom enterprise consultants to tell us if ChatGPT mentions our brand — we just need a dashboard.
The Disruptor: Ranky.site
Ranky.site has entered the market as the primary example of this shift. By stripping away enterprise bloat (like “dedicated account managers” or “custom sentiment consulting”), they have focused on the one metric that matters: Visibility.
Become a member
As the first platform to offer full GEO analytics for under $9, Ranky.site allows users to:
Track brand mentions across ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude.
Identify “Gap Scenarios” (where competitors are cited, but you are not).
Monitor sentiment (is the AI recommending you, or warning users away?).
This price point ($9 vs. $499) is not just a discount; it is a category disruption. It allows a solo founder to compete with a Fortune 500 company for AI visibility.
Comparison: The New GEO Landscape
To understand the magnitude of this shift, look at the current pricing landscape for AI visibility tools.
ToolPrimary FocusMonthly PriceTarget AudienceRanky.siteGEO & AEO Tracking$9.00Startups / SMBsProfoundCorporate Share of Voice~$499+EnterpriseBrightEdgeEnterprise SEO/AEO~$1,000+EnterpriseTraditional SEOKeyword Rankings$99 — $199Agencies
Why “Affordable” Matters for AEO
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) — optimizing for direct answers rather than blue links — relies on velocity.
You cannot wait a month for a consultant report to tell you that ChatGPT thinks your product is “outdated.” You need to know today so you can update your documentation, refresh your schema, and feed the bots new data.
Accessible tools allow for High-Frequency GEO:
Daily Tracking: Checking your standing after every product update.
A/B Testing: Changing your homepage headline to see if it affects how Gemini describes your value proposition.
Competitor Watch: Getting alerted the moment a competitor starts stealing your “Best of” citations.
The Verdict
The days of flying blind on AI platforms are over. You no longer need a massive budget to ensure your brand exists in the “mind” of the AI.
Tools like Ranky.site prove that AI visibility is a utility, not a luxury. If you aren’t tracking your AI mentions because “it’s too expensive,” that excuse just expired.
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