AI True Score and HubSpot’s AEO Grader start in the same place — a free check of how AI sees your business — and then split. HubSpot’s paid path is $50/month ongoing tracking; ours is a $79 one-time report and fix plan. The honest deciding factor isn’t the free tools (both are worth running); it’s which paid path matches what you’ll actually do next.
Disclosure: AI True Score is our product. And we’ll give HubSpot real credit here — their free grader is a good tool.
The short version
| AI True Score | HubSpot AEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Free check | Free AI Readiness Glimpse (site readiness signals) | Free AEO Grader (brand snapshot) |
| Paid path | $79 one-time report (·$129 with a call) | $50/mo ($45 annual), ongoing |
| Paid format | Done-for-you report + fix plan | Self-serve tracking dashboard |
| Coverage | 10 buyer-intent prompts × ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity · 59 signals | 25 prompts × ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini |
| Subscription? | No — one-time | Yes — monthly |
| Best for | Owners who want a plan, not a login | Teams that want ongoing tracking + a known brand |
Prices, prompt counts, and free-versus-paid structure were verified on HubSpot’s own pages in July 2026 and will change — confirm current pricing before you buy.
What HubSpot’s AEO Grader is (and who it’s for)
HubSpot’s AEO Grader is a free, one-time diagnostic. You enter your brand and get a visibility snapshot across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini — a score, sentiment, competitive positioning, and a few sample recommendations. It’s genuinely useful, it’s from a brand you already know, and it costs nothing. If you just want a quick, credible first read on where you stand, it’s a fair place to start, and we’ll happily say so.
The grader is also, like every free checker in this category (ours included), a lead magnet — a no-cost front door to HubSpot’s paid product. That paid product is about $50/month ($45 billed annually), tracking 25 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, with a 28-day free trial. For a team that wants ongoing monitoring backed by a name they trust, that’s a reasonable path.
What AI True Score is (and who it’s for)
AI True Score also starts free — a free AI Readiness Glimpse that checks your site’s visible AI-readiness signals — but the paid path is different. The $79 AI True Score Full Report runs 10 real buyer-intent questions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Grok, checks 59 readiness signals, and hands you a prioritized, plain-English plan of what to fix. A $129 Advanced Report adds a walkthrough call with a real person.
It’s a one-time report, not a subscription. Built for the owner who wants proof and a to-do list, then wants to get back to running the business — not log into a tracking dashboard every week.
The honest trade-off
- The free tools are close — run both. HubSpot’s grader gives you a brand-level snapshot; our Glimpse checks your site’s readiness signals. They look at the problem from slightly different angles, they’re both free, and there’s no reason not to use both before you spend a dollar.
- The paid paths are where they part. HubSpot’s $50/month keeps a chart updated for you — great if you’ll watch it. Our $79 is a one-time plan you execute — great if you’d rather fix things once than monitor them forever. HubSpot’s honest weakness for a busy owner is the recurring bill for a dashboard that’s easy to stop opening; our honest weakness is that we give you a 30-day fresh window, not a live, always-updating tracker.
How to choose in one minute
- Do you want to keep watching, or fix and move on? Ongoing chart → HubSpot’s $50/month. One-time plan → our $79 report. That single question decides most of it.
- Who trusts the brand? If “it’s HubSpot” matters to your team or your boss, that’s a legitimate reason to lean their way. If you just want the work done, brand recognition matters less than the fix list.
- Will anyone log in weekly? If not, a monthly subscription is money you’ll waste. A report you act on once isn’t.
Both are honest about the ceiling: no grader or report can guarantee AI will name you. They show you the truth and improve your odds — full stop. Anyone selling a guaranteed spot in the answer is overselling.
For the wider field, see our honest roundup of the best AI visibility tools for small businesses (HubSpot, Otterly, Semrush, and more with real prices). If you’re new to the topic, start with what AEO actually is or why your business might not be showing up in AI answers.
The fastest way to decide
Run a free AI visibility check on your own site — a couple of minutes, no login, and it shows whether AI has what it needs to find, understand, and name you. Run HubSpot’s free grader too; they’re complementary. If you want the full picture next — 10 buyer questions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Grok, the 59 signals, and a fix plan — the $79 Full Report is there when you’re ready.
Sources & method
HubSpot’s free AEO Grader, the paid product’s $50/month price, and its 25-prompt tracking were verified on HubSpot’s own AEO / AI search pages in July 2026 and will change — confirm current pricing before purchasing. AI True Score details reflect our live pricing and how it works as of July 2026. This compares our own product against a competitor; we’ve tried to make it fair enough to trust even if you choose HubSpot.