Kollavo vs Profound
Profound is one of the best-known answer-engine optimization platforms, built for large brands that need deep analytics on how AI assistants describe them. Kollavo covers the same tracking ground at a much lower entry price and adds the part most tools leave out: actually earning the citations.
Written by the Kollavo team. Vendor features and pricing change often — verify current details on each vendor's site before deciding.
The short answer
- Choose Profound if…
- Enterprise marketing teams with in-house content and PR resources who need deep analytics and can execute on the findings themselves.
- Choose Kollavo if…
- Founders, SaaS teams and agencies who want to know where they stand and have the placements handled for them without an enterprise contract.
What Profound does well
Profound is a genuinely strong analytics product. If you need enterprise-grade dashboards, large prompt volumes, agent-traffic analytics and a team that can act on the output internally, it is a serious choice — and its research has done a lot to define the category.
Feature comparison
| Capability | Kollavo | Profound |
|---|---|---|
| Tracks brand citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini & Google AI | Yes — scored 0–100 across your buyer prompts | Yes — deep, enterprise-grade analytics |
| Competitor share-of-voice | Yes, per prompt and per source | Yes |
| Shows which sources the AI actually cited | Yes — mapped to buyable placements | Yes — extensive source and agent analytics |
| Earns new citations for you (placements on cited publications) | Yes — managed marketplace of 700+ vetted sites | No — you act on the data yourself |
| Outreach, negotiation and publishing handled for you | Yes on the Managed plan | Not included |
| Free tools before you pay | 8 free tools incl. LLM Visibility Score & Citation Gap Audit | Demo-led |
| Entry price | $49/mo Track · $99/mo Managed | Quote-based / enterprise tier |
Profound is positioned at the enterprise end and typically sold via a quote. Kollavo is self-serve: $49/month to track, $99/month for managed placements. Always check each vendor's current pricing page — this moves fast.
Profound: strengths
- Deep, mature analytics across many models and prompt volumes
- Strong agent- and crawler-traffic visibility
- Well-suited to large brands with dedicated AI-search owners
Profound: trade-offs
- Enterprise pricing and sales cycle put it out of reach for smaller teams
- Reporting-first: closing a citation gap is still your job
- More product to learn than a small team usually needs
Our verdict
If you have an enterprise budget and a team ready to act on the data, Profound is a strong analytics platform. If your bottleneck is execution rather than dashboards — you already know you're invisible in AI answers and need placements — Kollavo gets you further per dollar.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kollavo a direct replacement for Profound?
Partly. Both track how often AI assistants cite your brand. The difference is what happens next: Profound hands you the report, while Kollavo also runs the placements that change the numbers. Some teams run both — a dedicated analytics suite alongside Kollavo for execution.
How long does it take to see a change in AI citations?
Tracking data is available immediately. Newly published placements typically start appearing in AI answers within 2–8 weeks, depending on how often each model re-crawls the publication and how competitive the prompt is.
Can I try Kollavo before subscribing?
Yes. The LLM Visibility Score, Citation Gap Audit and Competitor Citation Map are free and require no card — they show your current standing before you decide.
Does Kollavo track the same AI engines as Profound?
Kollavo tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Mode across your buyer prompts. Enterprise suites typically cover more engines and far higher prompt volumes; if breadth of engines is your main requirement, compare current coverage on both sites.
See where you stand first — free
Run your LLM Visibility Score to see how often ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI cite you across your buyer prompts. No card, no demo call.