Most China-export teams shortlist GEO tools by comparing feature grids. The grid is the wrong instrument. What decides the purchase is which answer engines your buyers actually open, and every tool publishes a different engine list. Match the engine list to your buyers first, then compare anything else.
- Your first question is not which tool to buy, but in which language your buyer types the question. A Shenzhen brand shipping to Ohio and a Shenzhen brand shipping to Chengdu are buying different things.
- Arenza measures the Western side only. It covers ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity. It does not cover DeepSeek, Doubao, Qwen, Kimi, Yuanbao or Baidu.
- Engine coverage is a per-tier fact, not a per-vendor fact. Published tiers in this category range from one engine to six, so read the engine list at the price you will actually pay.
Quick verdict
What Arenza gives you at each published tier.
| Dimension | Free — $0/month | Starter — $49/month | Pro — $299/month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engines measured | ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Perplexity | Same three | Same three |
| Scan frequency | Weekly | Daily | Daily |
| Markets, from US / UK / DE / JP | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Brands | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| AVS, ACS and verbatim AI answers | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Brand accuracy diagnostics | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Tracked competitors, head to head | — | ✅ Unlimited | ✅ Unlimited |
| Articles you can publish | — | 5/month | 100/month |
| Articles hosted on your own domain | — | — | ✅ |
| On-site technical fixes deployed for you | — | — | ✅ |
| API and MCP | — | ✅ | ✅ |
Free needs no credit card. Starter and Pro cancel anytime.
1. Engine coverage, not the feature grid, is what splits this category
A feature grid assumes every row means the same thing to every vendor. It does not. Some tools watch Chinese-language assistants and Chinese search surfaces. Some watch English, German and Japanese assistants. Some vendors publish coverage of both, and position explicitly for cross-border brands. All of them call the work GEO or AEO.
So treat "Chinese engines" and "Western engines" as a decision heuristic, not a market boundary. The heuristic tells you which engine list to demand. It does not tell you that no vendor can span both, because some do.
What survives the heuristic is a question you can ask any vendor, including this one. Show me your published engine list at the tier I would buy. Then show me my brand's answers on each of those engines, live.
Arenza's answer is short. Arenza measures and improves how ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity describe your brand to your customers. Markets are US, UK, DE and JP, with one market on Free and Starter and three on Pro. Stated plainly: Arenza is not the tool for the China-domestic half. No amount of budget changes that, because those engines are not in the product.
2. Your order data already tells you which side you are on
You do not need a survey to answer the where-do-they-ask question. Split your recent revenue by ship-to country, then read it.
If most of your revenue ships outside mainland China, your buyers are asking Western assistants in their own language. A Western answer-engine tool is what you need.
If most of your revenue ships inside mainland China, a China-domestic monitoring tool is what you need. Comparison tables built around ChatGPT will not help you.
If you are genuinely split, run the two sides as two budgets. That may mean two tools, or one vendor whose published engine list covers both. Ask any vendor to demonstrate each engine live before you sign.
3. Engine lists differ by tier, so read the tier you would actually buy
Exporters usually discover this after the invoice. Answer engines do not agree with each other. A brand can be recommended by Perplexity and invisible in Google AI Mode for the same buying question. A tier that watches one engine reports a reality your other engines do not confirm.
Published tiers in this category differ sharply on that point.
| Tool | Published price | Billing basis | Published engines | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arenza | $0 | Free, no credit card | ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Perplexity | Weekly scan, 1 market, 1 brand |
| Arenza Starter | $49/month | Monthly, cancel anytime | ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Perplexity | Daily scans, 1 market, 1 brand, 5 articles/month |
| Profound | $99/month | Billed yearly | Published as "ChatGPT tracking only" | 50 prompts tracked, 1,500 responses monthly, 1 language, 1 region |
| Profound Growth | $399/month | Billed yearly | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews | Try for free published on this tier |
| Otterly.AI | $29/month | Per plan | Core: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, MS Copilot | 15 search prompts; Claude, Gemini and Google AI Mode are paid add-ons |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | Custom Prompts from $50/month | Add-on on top of an Ahrefs paid plan, Lite and above | AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Copilot, AI Mode | Claude is an add-on; AI Visibility Index is $199/month |
Check each vendor's current pricing page before you budget. Prices and tier contents move.
Arenza's row reads the same at every tier. The three engines are all present at $0, on a weekly scan, in one market. You see the actual sentences ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity write about you before you decide whether the category deserves a purchase order.
4. Being found in an English answer is not the same as being sold in it
Export brands feel this gap before they can name it. The assistant mentions you. The buyer still picks someone else. Presence-only tracking cannot explain that, because it stops counting at the mention.
Arenza splits the question into two scores. AVS, the Agentic Visibility Score, asks whether you are found at all. ACS, the Agentic Conversion Score, asks whether the answer that found you actually sells you. ACS is scored only across answers where your business genuinely appeared. It always ships with its coverage on screen, because a score over a small share of answers rests on thin evidence.
When you are absent, AVS is 0 and ACS is not scored at all. A 0 there would falsely claim the assistant discussed you and failed to sell you.
There is a third number underneath both: revenue attributed to AI answers.
Accuracy sits alongside as a diagnostic. Arenza detects outdated specs, false claims, brand-attribution errors and category miscategorization in AI answers. Each one is reported with severity, frequency and the verbatim quote. For an exporter whose product page changed three revisions ago, a stale spec repeated across markets is a live commercial problem.
What continuous measurement costs at monthly list prices
Assume you want continuous measurement of the Western engines.
Arenza Free is $0/month with no credit card. It covers three engines, one market, one brand and weekly scans. Arenza Starter is $49/month, cancel anytime. It adds daily scans across all three AI assistants, unlimited tracked competitors with head-to-head comparison, 5 articles per month, API and MCP, plus Slack and Lark.
Arenza Pro is $299/month, cancel anytime. It adds daily scans on the same three assistants, 3 markets and 3 brands, and 100 articles per month. It also adds articles hosted on your own domain, on-site technical fixes deployed for you, off-site analysis, Arenza Agents and white-label. If you sell into all four of US, UK, DE and JP, note that Pro covers three of them.
For comparison at published list prices, on published billing bases. Profound Starter is $99/month billed yearly, published as ChatGPT tracking only. Profound Growth is $399/month billed yearly for three answer engines. Otterly.AI Lite is $29/month for 15 search prompts. Otterly Standard is $189/month for 100 prompts, Premium is $489/month for 400, and Enterprise is custom from $1,000/month. Ahrefs Brand Radar Custom Prompts start at $50/month on top of an Ahrefs paid plan, with an AI Visibility Index at $199/month. Verify all of these against each vendor's current pricing page.
The practical consequence is straightforward. You can see whether you have a problem across three Western engines for $0. Weekly is how you find out. Daily is how you catch the week a model changes its mind about you, and that is what the $49 tier buys.
Arenza meters tracked prompts too, and the number belongs next to everyone else's. Arenza tracks 10 prompts on Free, 30 on Starter and 120 on Pro. Buyer intents are uncapped on every tier, but tracked prompts are not, so compare prompt counts against prompt counts.
The choice comes down to this
If most of your revenue ships to Chinese addresses, buy a China-domestic monitoring tool. Arenza is not built for that side.
If most of your revenue ships to the US, UK, Germany or Japan, start free with Arenza. Read the actual answers ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity give about your brand before you commit money.
If you are split across both, run two budgets. Use Arenza for the export side and evaluate the domestic side on its own engine list.
If you need daily movement, competitors tracked head to head and articles you can publish, Arenza Starter at $49/month is the step up. If you run up to three brands or three markets, Arenza Pro at $299/month adds hosting on your own domain and white-label. Agencies carrying larger client rosters should ask about Performance, which is outcome-based and sales-led at hello@arenza.ai.
FAQ
How do I decide whether I need a China-domestic tool or a Western answer-engine tool?
Split your recent revenue by ship-to country and read where your buyers are. If most of it leaves mainland China, you need a tool that measures Western assistants such as ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity. If most of it stays inside mainland China, you need a China-domestic monitoring tool instead. Split businesses should run both as separate budgets, and should ask any vendor claiming to span both to demonstrate each engine live.
Does Arenza monitor DeepSeek, Doubao, Qwen, Kimi, Yuanbao or Baidu?
No. Arenza measures ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity only, across the US, UK, Germany and Japan. Chinese engines are outside the product, so Arenza is not the right choice for a brand whose buyers ask there.
Can I test AI visibility for my export markets before paying anything?
Yes. Arenza Free is $0 per month with no credit card. It scans your own brand weekly across three AI assistants in one market, returning AVS and ACS across your buyer intents. It also shows the verbatim AI answers and the brands the assistants cite as evidence.
How many markets does each plan cover?
Arenza measures US, UK, DE and JP, and the number you get depends on the plan. Free and Starter each cover one market. Pro covers three markets. If you sell into all four, choose which three matter most on Pro, or talk to sales about Performance.
Why does one score go to zero and the other show nothing when my brand is missing?
Because absence and poor persuasion are different facts. AVS is 0 when the assistant never mentions you, since that is a visibility fact. ACS is not scored at all, because a 0 would wrongly claim the assistant discussed your brand and failed to sell it. ACS is always displayed with the coverage it was computed over.