Updated May 2026
Found by AI vs BrightEdge
If you need an enterprise SEO suite, pick BrightEdge.
BrightEdge is a full enterprise SEO platform - ContentIQ site audits, Autopilot automated execution, Instant real-time trends - with AEO and Generative Search features layered on (AI Hyper Cube, AI Catalyst, AI Agent Insights, Copilot). 18+ years in market, 57 of the Fortune 100 as customers. That's a different shape of company from us. Found by AI does two narrow things: cheap weekly AI visibility monitoring (€14/month) and recurring AI Content production for your site (€199-€799/month).
Stop at the dashboard.
Show the gap. Don't address it with content production. A client looking at a monitoring dashboard with no content production is not a recurring conversation; it's a quarterly question.
Write briefs from keyword tools.
Briefs come from search-volume guesswork. They produce useful articles, but the priorities don't reflect what AI assistants are actually citing for the client's category.
Turn monitoring evidence into the next brief.
Last month's monitoring evidence - competitor appearances, citation gaps, missing facts, weak topics - becomes next month's content brief. Then the monthly proof report shows what changed.
The wedge is the loop, not any single layer of it.
What each product does
BrightEdge is a full enterprise SEO suite. We're a focused AI Content service.
BrightEdge gives an in-house enterprise SEO team the full workbench: ContentIQ for site-wide technical and content audits, Autopilot for automated execution of SEO recommendations, Instant for real-time trend detection across your category. On top of that, the AEO layer - AI Hyper Cube, AI Catalyst, AI Agent Insights, Copilot - adds AI search visibility and content guidance inside the same platform. That's 18+ years of enterprise SEO infrastructure, with AEO features that benefit from sitting on top of an existing audit and execution engine. If you have an enterprise SEO program already, that integration is the point.
Found by AI doesn't do site audits, doesn't run automated SEO execution, doesn't track keyword rankings. We do two things. First, weekly AI visibility monitoring (€14/month annual) - a clear answer to whether AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview are mentioning your business. Second, recurring AI Content production (€199-€799/month) - we plan, write, edit, and help publish content to your site every month, designed to be quoted in AI answers. If you need an enterprise SEO suite, BrightEdge is genuinely the better tool. If you need a focused subscription that produces recurring AI-aware content, that's us.
Where each one sits
What BrightEdge does
- Full enterprise SEO suite - ContentIQ site-wide audits, Autopilot automated execution, Instant real-time trend detection - refined over 18+ years
- AEO and Generative Search features (AI Hyper Cube, AI Catalyst, AI Agent Insights, Copilot) layered on top, so AI visibility data sits next to your existing SEO workflows
- The right pick when you already run an enterprise SEO program and want AI optimization built into the same platform your team uses today
What Found by AI does
- Weekly AI visibility monitoring (€14/month annual on Minimum; €39/month on Growth) - a clear answer to whether AI assistants are mentioning your business
- Recurring AI Content production: we plan, write, edit and help publish content to your site every month, designed to be quoted in AI answers
- AI Content (€199-€799/month) includes AI Monitoring Minimum on every plan - no separate SEO platform underneath required
The operating difference
Monitoring shows the gap. AI Content does the work.
Found by AI pairs low-cost AI Monitoring with recurring content production. The found-by.ai profile is an optional included surface, not a separate product or proof claim.
| Generates content? | Publishes for you? | Publishing surface | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BrightEdge | — | — | — |
| Found by AI | Yes | Yes | Recurring AI Content; optional found-by.ai profile |
BrightEdge
Found by AI
AI Monitoring is the diagnostic. Recurring AI Content is the paid work; the optional profile is included and can be skipped without changing price.
Feature comparison
Two different shapes of product. The price gap is the most honest indicator of that.
| Found by AI | BrightEdge | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | €14/mo annual (Monitoring Minimum: 15 prompts, 3 engines) | Quote-based annual contract; third-party reviews cite ~$12K/yr on the smallest configuration, scaling past $150K/yr for global deployments |
| Buying motion | Self-serve; monthly or annual; 30-day Minimum trial (CC required) | Sales-led; annual contract through procurement; implementation/onboarding fees on top |
| Target buyer | SMBs and mid-market - businesses that want a clean monthly answer to "are we showing up in AI?" | Large enterprise SEO teams; established Fortune 500 customer base (57 of the Fortune 100) |
| Time in market | Newer focused product | Founded 2007; 18+ years of enterprise SEO platform refinement, AEO features added recently on top |
| Product surface | Monitoring + recurring AI Content production with optional profile inclusion | Full enterprise SEO suite (ContentIQ, Autopilot, Instant) with AEO layer (AI Hyper Cube, AI Catalyst, AI Agent Insights, Copilot) |
| Optional found-by.ai profile | Yes - recurring AI Content with publishing support and optional profile inclusion when useful | — |
| Monitoring inclusion | AI Content includes AI Monitoring Minimum on every plan | — |
Key Differences
BrightEdge doesn't publish prices. The $12K-$150K+/yr range is from third-party reviews (Capterra, Costbench, SalesHive and others, 2026); the only authoritative number comes from a quote.
BrightEdge pricing is quote-based and not published on a self-serve page. The $12K-$150K+/year range, plus $10K-$50K implementation/onboarding fees, is from independent 2026 reviews (Capterra, Costbench, SalesHive); treat it as a data point, not an official BrightEdge number.
Choose BrightEdge if...
- You need a full enterprise SEO suite - site-wide audits, automated SEO execution, real-time trend detection - and you want AEO features inside the same workspace
- You already have an in-house SEO team that will operate the platform and act on the recommendations it surfaces
- SOC 2-type compliance, dedicated CSMs, and integration with your broader enterprise marketing stack are real requirements
Choose Found by AI if...
- You don't need an enterprise SEO suite - you want a clear weekly answer on whether AI assistants are mentioning your business
- You need someone to actually write and publish AI-aware content for your site every month, not a platform that tells your team to do it
- You're an SMB or mid-market team without an in-house enterprise SEO function, and a focused subscription fits you better than a platform
- You want monitoring and content in one purchase: AI Content (€199-€799/mo) includes AI Monitoring Minimum on every plan
Frequently asked questions
What does BrightEdge actually do?
BrightEdge is a full enterprise SEO suite that's been in market since 2007. The core platform - ContentIQ for large-scale site audits, Autopilot for automated SEO execution, Instant for real-time trend detection - was built for in-house enterprise SEO teams. Their AEO and Generative Search features (AI Hyper Cube, AI Catalyst, AI Agent Insights, Copilot) add AI search visibility on top of that foundation, so AI optimization data sits next to the rest of your enterprise SEO work. 57 of the Fortune 100 are customers. Pricing is quote-based; third-party reviews cite contracts from roughly $12K/year up past $150K/year, plus implementation fees.
Is Found by AI a replacement for BrightEdge?
No, and we'd be misleading you if we said otherwise. BrightEdge is a real enterprise SEO platform with 18+ years of refinement. If you need site audits at scale, automated SEO execution, real-time trend detection, and AI optimization features inside the same workspace your SEO team already uses, BrightEdge is the right answer. Found by AI is not a SEO suite. We do two things: weekly AI visibility monitoring (€14/month) so you know if AI is mentioning you, and recurring AI Content production (€199-€799/month) where we plan, write, and help publish content to your site.
When is BrightEdge the right choice and when are we?
Pick BrightEdge if you have a real enterprise SEO program - large site, large content footprint, in-house team operating the platform - and you want AEO and Generative Search features built into that same workflow. Pick Found by AI if you don't need an enterprise SEO suite at all, you want a clear weekly read on AI visibility, and you'd rather have someone producing recurring AI-aware content for your site than another enterprise platform to operate.
Can the two work together?
Rarely. A BrightEdge buyer already has enterprise SEO infrastructure and usually internal content production at scale. Found by AI fits a different buyer: SMBs and mid-market companies that don't run on an enterprise SEO platform and don't plan to. If you're running BrightEdge today, you're not also the buyer for a small monthly AI Content subscription.
Bottom line
If you need an enterprise SEO suite - site audits at scale, automated SEO execution, real-time trend detection - and you want AEO and Generative Search features layered into the same platform your team already uses, BrightEdge is the right tool and we won't pretend to compete with 18+ years of enterprise SEO infrastructure. Found by AI does something narrower for a different buyer: weekly AI visibility monitoring (€14/month) so you know whether AI is mentioning you, and recurring AI Content production (€199-€799/month, AI Monitoring Minimum included on every plan) where we plan, write, and help publish the content. If you don't run an enterprise SEO program and you'd rather have someone producing AI-aware content for your site every month, that's us.
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