SpyFu alternative

SpyFu alternative for AEO and AI competitor links

SpyFu keeps a long history of competitor keywords and ads. LinkGecko shows which competitors AI assistants name on your buyers' questions, the sites cited for them, and the outreach to get your product onto those sites.

In short
Price
$29/mo with every feature. SpyFu lists Basic $39, Pro + AI $119 and Team $249 a month, with lower annual rates. Checked August 2026.
SpyFu holds
Years of competitor keyword, ad copy and bidding history, plus organic ranking data.
LinkGecko holds
Which brands AI answers name on each buyer question, the sites cited behind them, and drafted outreach to each site that skips you.
Competitive unit
Share of answers and of cited sites, instead of share of the auction.
Included
Competitor map, cited sites, link desk, Reddit and forum threads, Link Opportunities, weekly Auto-agent, MCP.
The competitive model

Ad auctions and AI answers rank brands differently

SpyFu's data describes a marketplace of bought positions, inferred spend and archived ad copy. For paid search, that history is the reason to buy it.

An AI answer has no auction. The assistant reads a few sources, draws on what it learned in training and names a handful of brands. A brand is either on that list or absent.

Competitive intelligence still works with a different unit. You track how often each rival gets named, on which questions, and which sites the answer leaned on. Those sites become your link targets.

Search intelligence
Answer engine optimization
Search intelligenceKeywords a competitor buys or ranks for
LinkGeckoQuestions where a competitor gets named
Search intelligenceEstimated ad spend and cost per click
LinkGeckoHow many answers name each brand
Search intelligenceAd copy history
LinkGeckoThe sites cited to justify each recommendation
Search intelligenceKeyword gap against a named rival
LinkGeckoCited sites that list a rival and skip you
Search intelligenceRanking position over time
LinkGeckoAnswer share over time, run by run
How position is won

The sources AI answers use to pick a brand

Review sites carry heavy weight. Their pages are structured, current and independent, which makes them easy corroboration when an answer compares vendors.

Reddit and forum threads read as first-hand experience, and answers lean on them when buyers ask what works. A well-answered thread can stay cited for years.

Independent comparison articles complete the set. Your own documentation matters mostly for accuracy on pricing, limits and integrations.

LinkGecko pursues those three kinds of page and skips link farms, private blog networks and directories built to sell links. A profile on a respected review site counts as the first kind, so the plan includes it when the answers cite it.

The product

Competitor data from AI answers

Competitor map

A standing view of which brands AI answers name in your category, on which questions, and where each never appears.

Why the leader gets named

The cited pages behind your top competitor's mentions. Those pages make better link targets than the rival's homepage.

Cited sites

Outreach emails drafted for the cited sites that list a rival and skip you, each quoting the question that page decides.

Link Opportunities

Journalist and podcast requests for an expert source, scored 1 to 10 against your brand, each with a pitch drafted.

Change tracking

Each run shows what moved since the last one, so a rival's new listing surfaces as it starts getting cited.

MCP access

Ask for competitor mentions, cited sites and gaps from your AI assistant app while you build a battlecard.

Sales use

Building a competitor battlecard from AI answers

Buyers often ask an AI assistant for a shortlist before a first call. The answer they read shapes what they expect from you.

The competitor map shows which rivals sit on that shortlist. Cited sites show the claims a prospect has absorbed, and transcripts show how each brand gets described.

Open questions, where no brand holds the answer, make strong ground for discovery calls and the next piece of content.

Diagnosis

Why a strong brand can go unnamed

01

Blocked AI crawlers

A robots.txt copied from an old template can block the crawlers that fetch pages for AI answers. A page that cannot be fetched cannot be quoted.

02

Missing from cited sites

A stale review profile and no voice in category threads leave an answer nothing independent to cite. Ad data shows nothing unusual, since none of this involves ads.

03

Vague positioning

Answers match brands to situations. A brand that never states who it suits loses to rivals with narrower claims.

04

Stale pages

Answers favour current material, so old pricing pages and undated guides lose to fresher sources.

Cost

Pricing compared

SpyFu figures are the listed monthly prices, checked August 2026. Annual billing costs less.

SpyFu planListed priceIncluded
Basic $39/mo 10,000 search results and exports, one tracking project, one user, 5,000 tracked keywords.
Pro + AI $119/mo Unlimited results and exports, 15,000 tracked keywords, API access, branded reports.
Team / Agency $249/mo Five user accounts with collaboration features.
LinkGecko $29/mo Every feature, 50 credits a month, unlimited brands. $290 a year.
Division of labour

Where each tool wins

SpyFu wins paid search research. Its archive of competitor keywords, bids and ad copy took years to build, and its organic data serves classic SEO competitive work.

LinkGecko wins the recommendation and the links behind it. A rival can skip paid search entirely and still be the brand AI assistants name, through reviews, threads and coverage that ad data never records.

SpyFu alternative questions

Can I see which competitors AI recommends instead of me?

Yes. Every answer is parsed for the brands it names, which builds a map of who holds each buyer question and where each rival never appears.

Is there a SpyFu alternative that covers AI search?

LinkGecko tracks competitor presence inside AI answers and the sites cited for it, rather than paid and organic search. The two data sets barely overlap, so a team doing paid search and AEO can run both.

How does LinkGecko pricing compare with SpyFu?

SpyFu lists Basic at $39 a month, Pro + AI at $119 and Team at $249, checked August 2026. LinkGecko is $29 a month with every feature. The plans buy different things: an ad and keyword archive, or link building on the sites AI answers cite.

Does SpyFu track mentions in AI answers?

SpyFu's core data covers Google paid and organic search, with AI-branded features on its Pro + AI tier. Tracking presence inside AI answers means collecting the answers themselves, which LinkGecko does on every run.

What replaces keyword gap analysis in AI search?

Question gap analysis. It lists buyer questions where a rival is named and you are not, plus questions no brand holds yet. The second group tends to move fastest.

How often should competitor tracking run?

Weekly suits most categories. The Auto-agent re-runs every week and emails what moved, and a fixed cadence separates real shifts from normal run-to-run variation.

Can I track brands in more than one market?

Yes. Brands are unlimited on the plan, so an agency can track each client and a team entering a new market can watch the incumbents first.

Can I share the data or use it in other tools?

Reports have shareable links. MCP lets your AI assistant app pull competitor mentions, cited sites and gaps in plain language for a battlecard or board update.

See who AI assistants recommend in your category

Track your competitors inside real AI answers and the sites that cite them. Seven days free, with SpyFu still covering paid search.

Start the free trial

$29/mo after seven days. Card required, nothing charged today.