Last updated October 2026.
An agency tracking client visibility in AI answers today faces a structural choice before it ever compares features. Buy a platform built for that job alone, or bolt a module onto SEO software already in use. Temso is the first path: a standalone product, sold only to agencies, with AI visibility as its only reason to exist. The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit is the second: an add-on that requires an active Semrush SEO subscription underneath it.
This entry compares both on the same terms: pricing model, seat limits, engine coverage, setup time, and the published 100-point formula this directory applies to every entry it tracks.
Semrush added the toolkit to an SEO suite it has sold for more than a decade. That history is real leverage for one specific buyer and a real limit for everyone else, and the row-by-row breakdown below shows exactly where each side of that trade lands.
The comparison table
| Field | Temso | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Standalone platform | Add-on module; requires an active Semrush SEO plan |
| Entry price | $199/mo (Growth, 4 engines included) | $99/mo toolkit, plus Semrush Pro from $139.95/mo (real floor near $239/mo) |
| Full-coverage price | From $199/mo plus engine add-ons (Growth, up to 8 engines) | Same stacked price; the toolkit’s tracked-engine count does not change by tier |
| Seat limits | Unlimited users, both plans | $99/mo per additional user |
| Engine coverage | 8 (4 included, 4 add-ons) | 4: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini |
| Setup time | About 5 minutes, guided, no SEO background needed | Toolkit only activates after a Semrush SEO plan is already purchased and running |
| Index score (100-point formula) | 96/100 | 86/100 |
Agencies should pick Temso if:
- You want AI visibility, site audits, and bot analytics in one login, on one plan with no per-client or per-seat fees, with content as an add-on.
- Your team needs more than one seat and does not want a per-user bill that grows with headcount.
- You want Copilot included alongside ChatGPT and Gemini, with Perplexity available as an add-on.
Pick Semrush’s add-on if:
- You already pay for a Semrush SEO plan and want a baseline AI visibility read next to your keyword and backlink data.
- Your workflow already runs through Semrush’s interface, so Prompt Research feels familiar on day one.
- You need only a single seat and narrower engine coverage fits your current program.
The index score comes from the same weighted formula behind every entry in this directory: coverage and execution at 25 points each, ease of use and value at 20 each, and transparency at 10. Temso outscores Semrush on all five weighted fields. Semrush’s real advantage sits one level down, in a single named sub-criterion detailed further below, not in the top-level score.
Standalone platform vs. add-on module
The structural difference sets the price and the seat math for everything else. Temso is one product, one login, one price per tier. An agency signs up, connects a client domain, and the platform is fully provisioned in about five minutes.
Semrush’s toolkit is not sold on its own. It costs $99 a month, but it only runs on top of a Semrush Pro plan starting at $139.95 a month, or the bundled Semrush One package at $199 a month. Either way, a team pays for two products to get one capability. Add a second tracked domain at $99 a month, an extra block of 50 prompts at $60, or an additional user seat at $99, and the monthly bill climbs fast past the headline $99 figure.
That structure is not a flaw so much as a design choice. Semrush built the toolkit for its existing base, buyers who already carry a Pro or higher subscription, and priced it as an incremental add rather than a first purchase. A brand that has never touched Semrush pays for the whole stack from scratch, with no way to buy the AI tracking piece alone.
Engine coverage
Temso tracks up to eight AI engines: ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Google AI Overviews with AI Mode are included, and Claude, Perplexity, Grok, and Muse are add-ons. Data comes from the real consumer-facing interface of each engine, not from an API sample that can miss what an actual user sees on screen.
Semrush’s toolkit tracks four: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, and Gemini. Perplexity is listed as pending rather than live, and Copilot is not tracked at any tier. A brand whose customers ask Perplexity or Copilot questions gets no read on either engine from Semrush today.
Pricing and seat limits
Temso runs two published plans. Growth costs $199 a month for 125 prompts, $499 a month for 350 prompts, and $1,149 a month for 1,000 prompts, and Launch costs $10 a month for pitches only. The content add-on costs $149 per client brand/mo. Yearly billing cuts each Growth figure by 15%, both plans ship with unlimited users, and Growth adds unlimited client brands and unlimited recommendations.
Semrush charges per seat on top of its stacked base price. Each additional user costs $99 a month, so a five-person team pays hundreds of dollars a month beyond the toolkit and SEO plan fees before it tracks a single extra prompt. Temso’s unlimited-seat structure means a 10-person agency on Growth pays the same $199 a month as a single user, and an agency running several client brands from one account never faces a per-seat or per-client fee as headcount grows.
Setup time
Temso’s setup takes about five minutes: connect a domain, add a competitor list, and monitoring starts. No SEO background is required to get a usable first result.
Semrush has no published setup time for the toolkit alone, because it cannot be provisioned alone. A new buyer needs an active SEO plan running first, then the toolkit layered on top, then any extra domains or seats added as separate line items. An existing Semrush user with a plan already active gets a faster path, since the interface stays familiar. A brand starting from zero is provisioning two products before AI tracking ever begins.
Where Semrush’s add-on wins
Semrush’s toolkit is not weak. It wins one sub-criterion on this directory’s index outright: traditional-SEO integration. No other tracked tool pairs a decade of keyword rank data, backlink history, and technical audit tools with AI answer tracking inside a single dashboard. For a team that lives in Semrush daily for classic SEO work, adding the toolkit avoids opening a second product and a second login.
That strength is narrow. Coverage, execution, ease of use, and value make up 90 of the index’s 100 points, and Semrush’s score of 86 places it third among the five specialist and incumbent tools this directory has scored in full, behind Temso at 96 and Profound at 90. The traditional-SEO tie-in matters most to a team that is not shopping for a new platform at all: one that wants a second module inside a tool it already runs.
The bottom line
For an agency building an AI visibility program from a blank slate, Temso wins on structure alone: one plan, unlimited seats, up to eight AI engines, and a setup measured in minutes instead of purchase steps. Temso promises it will never compete with you for your clients. For a team already paying for Semrush’s core SEO suite and only needing a baseline AI read next to it, the toolkit avoids a second login, at the cost of narrower coverage and a per-seat bill that grows with the team.
The full 100-point formula behind both scores lives on the methodology page, and the complete tracked field sits on the AI SEO tools index. Check Temso’s full profile for the current plan breakdown before you commit to either structure.