Zene vs HubSpot AEO
HubSpot launched its AEO tool on April 14, 2026, after buying the AI-visibility startup XFunnel in October 2025. It tracks how ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity talk about your brand, sells standalone for $50 a month with "no HubSpot subscription required", and is bundled into Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise. Its free AI Search Grader leads into it.
In one line: HubSpot AEO is the easy add-on for HubSpot shops, Zene is the focused tracker with fixes. HubSpot gives you prompt tracking and recommendations next to the marketing tools you already use. Zene covers five engines on every paid plan, tracks more than AEO's 25 prompts from its Growth plan (40 questions at $49/month), and drafts the fix for each gap.
Choose Zene if…
- You want Claude and Grok tracked too - Zene Pro covers 5 engines for $19/mo; HubSpot AEO covers 3
- You need more than 25 prompts: Zene Growth covers 5 brands and 40 questions shared across them for $49/mo
- You want drafted fixes (brief, FAQ, schema, llms.txt) and an outreach list, not only recommendations
- You want AI-crawler log drains and a first-party AI-referral snippet on every plan
Choose HubSpot AEO if…
- Your marketing already runs in HubSpot - AEO is bundled in Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise
- You want a longer trial: HubSpot advertises 28 days with 25 prompts, no card
- You like a graded starting point - the free AI Search Grader scores your brand out of 100 with a written read
The comparison, in one table.
| Zene | HubSpot AEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Engines tracked | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity |
| Free plan / trial | Free forever: 1 brand, 10 questions, ChatGPT + Gemini, scans on demand, no card | Free AI Search Grader (a form unlocks the full report); AEO trial, 28 days, no card |
| Entry price | $0; Pro $19/mo (2 brands, 15 questions, all 5 engines) | $50/mo ($45 billed annually): 25 prompts, 3 engines |
| Higher tiers | Growth $49/mo: 5 brands, 40 questions, PDF reports, Slack/Teams/webhook alerts, 3 markets. Agency $99/mo: unlimited brands, 75 questions, white-label reports, REST API, Zapier, Looker Studio, 10 markets | Bundled in Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise; extra brands via an add-on |
| Refresh | Daily on paid plans (Gemini and Grok answers refresh daily, ChatGPT's every 3 days, Claude and Perplexity weekly); Free scans on demand | Not stated on the public pages we checked |
| Fixes | Pro: prioritized action plan, content drafts (brief, FAQ, schema, llms.txt), outreach list | Recommendations |
| Traffic and crawlers | First-party AI-referral snippet and AI-crawler log drains on every plan | No crawler analytics found; AI traffic as an aggregate "Sensor" only (Sep 2026) |
| Integrations | Read-only MCP server from Pro; Slack, Teams and webhook alerts from Growth; the REST API, Zapier, Looker Studio and MCP write tools on Agency | Lives inside HubSpot; API and MCP not confirmed on the public pages we checked |
| Best for | Founders, small teams and agencies tracking several brands | Teams already on HubSpot Marketing Hub |
Facts as of October 4, 2026, from HubSpot AEO's public pages (sources below). Both products ship fast - verify current details at hubspot.com and on our pricing page.
Where HubSpot is stronger
Convenience, if you already use HubSpot. AEO is bundled into Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise, so there may be nothing new to buy, and setup follows a guided path: domain, name variations, business type, competitors, products and ideal customers, then auto-generated prompts. The trial is longer than most in the category (28 days, no card), and the free AI Search Grader is a good first look: it asks for your company, location, products and industry, then returns a 0-100 score across five dimensions for ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, with a written interpretation.
Where Zene is different
More engines, more questions per dollar, and fixes. Zene Pro tracks 15 questions on all five engines for $19 - adding Claude and Grok to the three HubSpot covers - and Growth covers 5 brands and 40 questions shared across them for $49, against AEO's 25 prompts for $50. Every scan ends in a prioritized action plan with drafts: a content brief, FAQ copy, schema JSON-LD and an llms.txt, plus the cited sources where competitors appear. Neither tool tracks Google AI Overviews today, so that isn't a reason to pick one over the other.
Pricing
Zene: Free, Pro $19/month, Growth $49/month, Agency $99/month ($190/$490/$990 yearly), in USD. HubSpot AEO is $50 a month, or $45 billed annually, for 25 prompts on three engines (see the AI Search Grader page, which links to it), and it's included in Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise.
How to choose
If you're on Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise, try the AEO you already have first. If you're not on HubSpot, or 25 prompts on three engines is too tight, Zene gives you five engines from $19, more questions per dollar and drafted fixes.
Sources · facts as of October 4, 2026
Every HubSpot AEO fact on this page comes from these public pages, checked on October 4, 2026. Zene's side comes from our pricing page and methodology. Spot something outdated? Tell us and we'll fix it.
Common questions.
Yes. Both track whether AI engines mention your brand. Zene Pro costs $19/mo for 2 brands and 15 questions shared across them on 5 engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok), and Growth $49/mo for 5 brands and 40 questions shared across them; HubSpot AEO costs $50/mo for 25 prompts on ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, and is bundled in Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise.
No. HubSpot says AEO is available standalone at $50/mo with no HubSpot subscription required. It is also included in Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise.
Per HubSpot's materials checked by 2026-10-04, AEO tracks ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Zene adds Claude and Grok on Pro. Neither tool tracks Google AI Overviews today.
Yes. It needs no account and returns a 0-100 score for ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini; a short form unlocks the full report. Zene's free ChatGPT AI visibility checker shows 3 real ChatGPT answers with no signup.
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Run a free Zene audit on ChatGPT and Gemini (all five engines on Pro) - then make the call with your real data.
