AEOCheck vs. Whitespark
Whitespark is where the local SEO industry goes for research and for unbundled tools. AEOCheck is where you go to find out what ChatGPT says when your customers ask it who to hire.
AEOCheck
- Runs eight real buyer-intent searches for your trade and city across ChatGPT/OpenAI, Perplexity, Google Gemini and Google organic
- Tells you whether you were named, who was named instead, and where you rank
- Five prioritised fixes per lens, an on-page audit, and copy-paste starter files
- No subscription. Done-for-you work is a separate, scoped engagement if you want it
Whitespark
- Local Platform ($1/mo per location), Ranking Grids (from $10/mo), Local Rank Tracker ($14–$200/mo), Local Citation Finder ($33–$149/mo), Reputation Builder ($79/mo per location)
- Done-for-you listings packages ($20–$999 one-time), Yext replacement ($399 per location), SEO services ($499–$1,999/mo)
- Everything sold separately — you buy the one tool you need
- No product on their pricing page measures ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or AI Overviews (checked 2026-09-04)
Disclosure: AEOCheck sells a competing product. We write these pages under a published method, we say what the other tool does better than us, and every claim about them is read from their own material and dated.
The honest difference
Whitespark has been doing local SEO longer than most of the field, and their pricing is genuinely unusual in a good way: every tool is sold on its own, so a single-location business can buy a rank tracker for $14 a month or a listings clean-up for $20 without paying for a suite it will never open. Their Local Search Ranking Factors survey is the reference most of the industry cites — and the 2026 edition asked its expert panel to score every factor for its impact on AI search responses as well as Google, which is the most useful published thinking on the subject from anyone in local SEO. Their listings and citation work is real labour done by people, not a services page bolted onto software.
Here is the fact this page rests on, and the reason it carries a verification date: as of 4 September 2026, nothing on Whitespark's pricing page measures AI answer engines. Not ChatGPT, not Perplexity, not Gemini, not Google's AI Overviews or AI Mode. Their centre of gravity is Google as it has been for fifteen years — rankings, the map pack, citations, listings, reviews. If they ship an AI visibility product we will rewrite this page the week it happens; until then the gap is simply there.
That gap matters more than it used to. Forty-five percent of US consumers used AI to get a local business recommendation in the past year, up from six percent the year before (BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey, n=1,002). A business can have clean citations, consistent listings and a solid map-pack presence — everything Whitespark is excellent at — and still never be named when someone asks ChatGPT who to hire, because its site blocks the crawler that ChatGPT search uses, or declares the wrong business type in its schema, or gives an engine nothing quotable to cite. Whitespark's tools cannot see that. They were not built to.
AEOCheck was built for exactly that question. You pay once, we run the real buyer searches for your trade and your town across ChatGPT/OpenAI, Perplexity, Google Gemini and Google organic, and the report says where you stand, why, who gets recommended instead of you, and five specific fixes in order of impact — including the technical ones a citation tool never looks at.
The two are not rivals so much as neighbours. If your Google presence is the problem, Whitespark's à-la-carte tools are some of the best value in the category. If you want the measurement rather than the research — what the engines actually say about you today — that is the $25 report. And if you do both, do ours first: citations compound on top of a site an engine can read, and do nothing for one it cannot.
What each one measures
| AEOCheck | Whitespark | |
|---|---|---|
| AI answer engines measured | ✓ ChatGPT/OpenAI, Perplexity, Google Gemini — plus Google organic | × No product on their pricing page mentions ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews or LLMs (checked 2026-09-04) |
| Local buyer-intent prompts ("best plumber in Tulsa") | ✓ Eight per report, keyed to your trade and city | × Their tools track Google keywords and grids, not AI prompts |
| Names who gets recommended instead of you | ✓ In every report, per engine | – Rank Tracker and Ranking Grids show who outranks you on Google |
| AI crawler access check (GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot) | ✓ Fetched and reported in the on-page audit | ? Not stated on their site |
| Schema / structured data | ✓ Audited in the report; a FAQPage starter is included; implemented in an engagement | ? Not stated on their site |
| Google organic ranking | ✓ Per buyer query, with who ranks above you | ✓ Local Rank Tracker ($14–$200/mo) and Ranking Grids (from $10/mo) |
| Google Business Profile | – Reviewed in the report; optimisation is an engagement add-on | ✓ Local Platform ($1/mo per location) plus GBP-related services |
| Citation building and listings clean-up | × Not offered — we point you at where your reviews and listings already live | ✓ Local Citation Finder ($33–$149/mo); listings packages $20–$999 one-time; Yext replacement $399 per location |
| Review generation | – A reviews quick-win in the report; platform setup in an engagement | ✓ Reputation Builder, $79/mo per location |
| Done-for-you SEO | – Separately scoped AEO engagement, with a 90-day re-measurement | ✓ SEO services $499–$1,999/mo |
| Trend over time | × One-time snapshot; re-run when you want a new one | ✓ Rank tracking is ongoing by design |
| Free option | ✓ Free headline check by email — one finding, no card | ? Trials are per tool; not stated on the pricing page we read |
| Pricing | ✓ $25 one-time per report | ✓ $1/mo per location (Local Platform) to $1,999/mo (SEO services); everything sold separately |
Whitespark's features and pricing as published on their own site, checked 2026-09-04. Their product changes without telling us — verify anything you are deciding on.
What the numbers say
Across the 212 businesses AEOCheck has scanned so far, 192 — 91% — failed their AI visibility check. Most had the same three problems: AI crawlers blocked, no structured data, and no content for engines to cite. None of those are fixed by automating a Google Business Profile.
That number is read live from our own scan corpus when this page loads, counting the most recent scan per business — not a figure typed in once and left.
Choose Whitespark if
Whitespark is the better purchase when:
- You need citation building or listings clean-up done for you — that is what they are known for, and it is real work by people
- You want a rank tracker or a geo-grid on its own, without buying a platform — $14 a month for the tracker, grids from $10
- You are recovering or fixing a Google Business Profile and want a firm that has handled thousands
- You are leaving Yext and need the listings rebuilt somewhere else ($399 per location)
- Your problem is Google — the map pack, citations, reviews — rather than what AI engines say
Their unbundled pricing is the draw. You buy the piece you actually need, and the entry prices are some of the lowest in local SEO.
Choose AEOCheck if
The $25 report is the better purchase when:
- You have searched for your own business on ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI features and it was not there — or you have never checked
- You want to know whether AI crawlers can even read your site, which no citation tool looks at
- You want the names of who AI recommends instead of you, for the searches your customers actually type
- You want the fixes written down in order before you spend money on anything ongoing
- You want a fixed price and a defined deliverable, not another subscription
The question to ask first
Before choosing either, ask one question: when someone in your city asks ChatGPT or Perplexity who to hire for what you do, does your business get named? Whitespark's tools cannot tell you. The AEOCheck headline check can, for free.
Run the free AEOCheck headline check and find out in minutes. No payment required.
FAQ
Does Whitespark measure AI answer engine visibility?
Not as of 4 September 2026. Their pricing page lists Local Platform, Ranking Grids, Local Rank Tracker, Local Citation Finder, Reputation Builder, listings services, Yext replacement and SEO services, and none of those descriptions mention ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews or LLMs. We re-check this page quarterly and will update it the week that changes.
How much does Whitespark cost?
Everything is sold separately. Software: Local Platform $1 per month per location, Local Ranking Grids from $10 per month, Local Rank Tracker $14 to $200 per month, Local Citation Finder $33 to $149 per month, Reputation Builder $79 per month per location. Services: listings packages $20 to $999 one-time, Yext replacement $399 per location, SEO services $499 to $1,999 per month. Read from their pricing page on 2026-09-04.
Should I do citations or AI visibility first?
AI visibility first, if you have not checked it. If your site blocks the crawler ChatGPT search uses, or has no structured data, citations will not change what an AI engine says about you — nothing can cite a page it cannot read. Fix the foundation, then citation work compounds on top of it. If your foundation is already sound, Whitespark's citation tools are a reasonable next spend.
Can I use both AEOCheck and Whitespark?
Yes, and the order matters. The AEOCheck report finds the technical and content problems that keep AI engines from naming you; Whitespark's tools then build out the Google side — citations, listings, rankings — on a site that engines can actually read. They overlap very little.
Is Whitespark good for a single-location business?
Yes, arguably better than most platforms, because you can buy one tool at its entry price instead of a suite. A single location paying $1 a month for Local Platform or $14 for the rank tracker is getting a fair deal. What you are not getting, at any price, is a measurement of what AI engines say about you.
Is the AEOCheck check free?
The headline check is free: we run the same buyer searches and email you the single most important finding, no card. The full report is $25 and delivers to your inbox, usually within the hour, with the competitor names, the five fixes per lens and the starter files.
Where this came from
- Whitespark pricing (read 2026-09-04) — https://whitespark.ca/pricing/
- Whitespark products and services overview — https://whitespark.ca/
- Whitespark, Local Search Ranking Factors 2026 — the edition that scored factors for AI search visibility (read 2026-09-04) — https://whitespark.ca/local-search-ranking-factors/
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — 45% used AI for a local business recommendation, up from 6% — https://www.brightlocal.com/research/lcrs-ai-trust/
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