Which one should I pick?

Pick by the output you need. If you want a tracked visibility/share-of-voice score over a defined prompt set — plus sentiment on how your brand is discussed — Otterly is built for that. If you want the actual list of queries you’re cited on and the competitors named beside you, so you can defend pages and close gaps, MentionRadar is the better fit. Some teams run both: a monitor for the trend, a reverse-search index for the worklist.

Is this comparison fair to Otterly?

We’ve tried to be. Otterly has real strengths — mature prompt monitoring, a clean share-of-voice metric, and brand-sentiment tracking — and we say so in the table and throughout. We’ve also avoided inventing Otterly pricing, plans or model coverage; where a detail isn’t verified we point you to otterly.ai rather than guessing.

Does MentionRadar name competitors per query?

Yes — that’s a defining difference. For each query you’re cited on, it shows the other domains named in the same AI answer, i.e. the brands the model treats as your substitutes. See competitor query overlap .

Can I try MentionRadar before committing?

Yes. The free Domain Check returns the real query list for any domain across ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok — no card, no prompt setup. Run your domain and a competitor’s side by side to see the difference from a score before you decide.

MentionRadar vs Otterly

What each tool is, without spin

Otterly (otterly.ai) is an AI-search visibility and brand-mention monitoring tool. You define the prompts and brands you care about, and it tracks how — and how often — you appear in AI answers, generally surfaced as a visibility or share-of-voice metric with mention and sentiment tracking layered on. It answers “is my AI visibility trending up or down?” well.

MentionRadar is a reverse AI-search index. A background worker runs a broad range of real buyer questions through ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok, extracts the domains each answer cites or mentions, and stores the question → domain links. You enter a domain and read that index backwards to get the list of queries it’s named on. The full mechanic is in reverse domain lookup for AI citations.

Head-to-head by category

This is the comparison most buyers actually want — attribute by attribute, with Otterly’s legitimate strengths kept in view rather than hand-waved away.

MentionRadar vs Otterly — head-to-head by category

Category	MentionRadar	Otterly
Primary output	A query-level list of what a domain is cited/mentioned on	An AI-search visibility / share-of-voice score, with mention & sentiment tracking
Names competitors per query?	Yes — the rival domains named in the same AI answer	Brand-level tracking; per-query rival lists are not the core view
Query-level list	Core deliverable — every query with intent & model coverage	Prompts you define are tracked; the focus is the rollup, not an exhaustive discovered list
Grok coverage	Yes — ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok are all scanned	AI-search engines covered; confirm current Grok support on otterly.ai
Free check	Free Domain Check returns real queries, intent, models & rivals — no signup, no card	Check otterly.ai for current free-tier terms
Best for	Teams who want an actionable worklist of questions to defend and gaps to close	Teams who want an ongoing, scored monitor of a defined prompt set + brand sentiment

Where a row says “confirm on otterly.ai,” that’s deliberate: we won’t state Otterly pricing, plan structure or exact model coverage we can’t verify. The differences that are structural — score vs query list, per-query competitors, what the free check returns — are what the rest of this page argues.

Where Otterly is the stronger choice

A fair head-to-head names the other tool’s wins plainly:

Ongoing prompt monitoring. If you already know the prompts you want watched and just want them tracked and scored over time, that’s Otterly’s home turf.
Brand sentiment. Tracking how your brand is talked about — not just whether you’re cited — is a distinct, legitimate job MentionRadar doesn’t center.
One number to report. A share-of-voice metric is easy to trend in a slide. For stakeholders who want a single KPI, that’s a real advantage.

Where MentionRadar is the stronger choice

You need the questions, not the temperature. A query list is a worklist; each row is a page to defend or a gap to close. See free AI visibility check that returns queries, not just a score.
You need per-query competitors. Knowing exactly who’s named beside you on a given question is the difference between “we’re losing” and “we’re losing this query to this rival.”
You want discovery, not just a fixed prompt set. The index surfaces queries you didn’t think to track — including your AI keyword gap.
Grok matters to you. It’s the most under-covered of the three models across the category, and it’s scanned here by default.

How to decide in ten minutes

Run the free check. Put your domain through the free Domain Check and read the actual queries you’re cited on.
Run a competitor. Do the same for a rival and compare the two lists — the queries they win and you don’t are your worklist.
Ask which artefact your team acts on. If it’s a tracked number, lean Otterly. If it’s the list of questions and rivals, lean MentionRadar.

Agencies: the criteria shift

For multi-client work the decision tilts toward per-query evidence, auditability and white-label reporting you can put in front of a client. We cover that explicitly in best AI visibility tools for agencies in 2026. For the full neutral landscape — Otterly, Profound, Peec and the rest side by side — start from best AI visibility tools in 2026, or read the deeper output-shape argument across the Reverse AI Search pillar. Prefer a single-product framing? See the Otterly alternative page.