Whaily vs Semrush
A focused AI visibility tool next to a toolkit inside a broad SEO suite.
Last reviewed , from Semrush’s own public pages.
Semrush sells AI visibility as a toolkit inside its SEO platform. Its knowledge base describes visibility, competitor, prompt research and brand performance reports, with prompt tracking on platforms like Google AI Mode and ChatGPT. If your team already works in Semrush, that is the natural place to start.
Whaily is narrower by design. It runs OpenAI, Anthropic and Google models through their APIs, scores the sources behind each answer, and turns findings into an action plan. The comparison is a focused specialist next to a broad platform rather than better against worse.
What Whaily does
- Runs your prompts on OpenAI, Anthropic and Google models through their APIs, the same prompts on each, and reports per model and combined. OpenAI makes the models behind ChatGPT.
- Scores the sources behind AI answers with Neural Cluster Influence, so you can see which pages shape your category and where to earn presence.
- Keeps a citation and a mention apart: a page an answer linked to is one number, your name in the answer is another.
- Measures both absolute visibility and share of voice against tracked competitors, not just a single headline number.
- Ships an MCP server so you can query your visibility, sources, and todos from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client in plain English.
- Turns findings into an action plan with recommendations you can assign and track.
- Starts without a sales call: sign up, run a trial with no card, and keep tracking on the free plan after it.
Side by side
Model coverage
Whaily: OpenAI, Anthropic and Google models by default, through each provider’s API, from the same tracked prompts, reported per model and combined. Whaily does not read the ChatGPT app or Google AI Overviews; the models page lists every model it can run.
Semrush: Prompt tracking monitors visibility on platforms like Google AI Mode and ChatGPT, and the brand performance reports run queries through LLMs like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode. (Source: semrush.com, read )
Source and citation analysis
Whaily: Records the citation sources behind each answer and scores their influence with NCI, so you know which pages to target.
Semrush: The Competitor Research report shows the prompts and topics where others are cited and you are not. (Source: semrush.com, read )
Competitor and share of voice
Whaily: Tracks named competitors and computes share of voice among category brand mentions, not just your own presence.
Semrush: Brand Performance reports analyse share of voice, brand sentiment and narratives against competitors. (Source: semrush.com, read )
Workflow and integrations
Whaily: MCP server for AI clients, a REST API, and assignable recommendations in an action plan built from your data.
Semrush: Part of the Semrush platform, with an AI search check in Site Audit, presentation-ready reports and CSV exports. (Source: semrush.com, read )
Plans and how you start
Whaily: Published plans. A new account starts on a trial with no card and moves to the free plan when it ends, without a sales call. See the pricing page for current tiers.
Semrush: Sold as a toolkit with 1 project, 1 domain and 25 tracked prompts, or inside Semrush One plans with 50, 100 or 200 prompts. (Source: semrush.com, read )
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between Whaily and Semrush?
- Both track how brands appear in AI answers. Whaily runs the same prompts on OpenAI, Anthropic and Google models through their APIs, scores the sources behind answers with Neural Cluster Influence, measures share of voice against competitors, and turns findings into an assignable action plan. The table on this page sets Semrush's own published description beside each point, with the page it came from.
- Is Whaily a good Semrush alternative?
- It is worth a look if you want per model results from the providers' APIs, source-level citation analysis, and a workflow that ends in tracked actions, and if you want to start without a sales call. The trial lets you run your own prompts and compare the answers with Semrush's.
- How should I compare AI visibility tools?
- Look at model coverage, whether the tool shows the specific sources AI cites, how it handles competitors and share of voice, how it fits your workflow, and how its plans are sold. Run the same prompts through each tool to compare like for like.
Other comparisons
The fair test is your own brand. Every new account starts with a 7-day trial, no card needed, so you can run the prompts you would test Semrush with on up to 4 models each. When the trial ends the account moves to the free plan, which keeps 3 prompts running daily on up to 3 models.