For developers building AI-visibility tools

MentionsAPI vs Profound: an API or a dashboard?

Profound and MentionsAPI both measure how brands show up in AI answers, and that's roughly where the overlap ends. Profound (tryprofound.com) is an enterprise answer-engine-insights platform: a dashboard-first SaaS that brand and marketing teams log into, sold on custom pricing. MentionsAPI is a self-serve developer API: REST endpoints plus an MCP server that return mentioned/rank/citations as JSON, billed from a credit wallet that starts at $5/mo.

This page is a comparison, not a takedown. The two products sell to different buyers. If you run marketing at an enterprise and want a managed platform with reports, workflows, and a team behind it, Profound is built for you. If you're a developer building your own tool, dashboard, or agent workflow on top of AI-visibility data, MentionsAPI is built for you.

The shortest version: Profound is software you log into. MentionsAPI is an API you build on.

Get your API keyRead the docs

300 free credits · Plans from $5/mo · Calls debit credits

Credit-based·300 free credits · $5/mo → 1,000 credits · $54/yr → 12,000

What Profound is

Profound is an answer-engine-insights platform for enterprise brands. The product is a managed dashboard: brand and marketing teams use it to see how AI engines describe them, track answer-engine presence over time, and analyze agent traffic. Pricing is custom and the buying process runs through a sales conversation, which is normal for the enterprise segment it serves.

That shape is a feature, not a flaw. If your team's deliverable is a report for a CMO, if nobody on the team writes code, and if you want a vendor who handles the collection, storage, and visualization end to end, a managed platform is the right purchase. Plenty of teams should buy Profound and never touch an API.

What MentionsAPI is

MentionsAPI is a developer API. You send one HTTP request with a query and a brand, and you get back structured JSON: whether the brand was mentioned, where it ranked in the answer, and which URLs were cited, per AI surface. There is a REST API and a remote MCP server at api.mentionsapi.com/mcp, so both your code and your agents can call it.

We deliberately don't ship a monitoring dashboard for marketing teams. The product is the data layer: you decide what the UI looks like, where the data lands, and what score your customers see. If you're building a GEO tool, an agency reporting pipeline, or an internal alert bot, that's the shape you want.

Surface coverage compared

MentionsAPI covers two kinds of surfaces. API modes query ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity through their model APIs (a fresh quick check is 130 credits, 5 on cache hits). Live modes check what real UI surfaces actually render: Google AI Overviews (15 credits), Google AI Mode (35), Bing Copilot (15), plus the live ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity UIs (35, 35, and 85 credits). `mode: all_live` runs every live surface in one call for 165 credits.

Profound publishes its own coverage list on its site, and it changes as the platform grows, so check there for the current set. The structural difference isn't which engines each product watches. It's what you receive: Profound renders the data inside its dashboard; MentionsAPI returns it as JSON for you to store, join, and render yourself.

Pricing models compared

Profound is priced like enterprise software: custom quotes, annual contracts, a sales process. If you're an enterprise buyer, that's expected and the price reflects the managed service around the data.

MentionsAPI is priced like a developer tool: you sign up and get 300 free credits one-time, then subscribe at $5/mo for 1,000 credits or $54/yr for 12,000. Top-up packs are $4 per 1,000 credits on monthly plans and $3 per 1,000 on annual. Credits never expire. Every call debits a posted credit cost, so you can price your own product on top of ours with a spreadsheet, not a negotiation.

Which should you pick

Pick Profound if you're a brand or enterprise marketing team that wants a managed platform: dashboards out of the box, a vendor handling the pipeline, and a contract with support attached. That's the product they built and they're good at it.

Pick MentionsAPI if you write code and want the raw signal: developers building GEO or brand-monitoring products, agencies automating client reports, and teams wiring AI-visibility checks into agents via MCP. You get JSON in one call and compose everything above it yourself.

Some organizations use both. Marketing runs Profound as the company dashboard while an engineering team calls MentionsAPI for product features, internal tooling, or data that needs to land in their own warehouse. The products meet different requirements, so they stack without conflict.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Answer-first, dev-to-dev. Each one is also embedded as FAQPage schema for AI engines.

Which should I use: MentionsAPI or Profound?
It depends on who's doing the work. If a marketing team wants a managed dashboard with reports and a vendor handling the pipeline, Profound is the better fit. If a developer is building a tool, dashboard, or agent workflow and needs AI-visibility data as JSON, MentionsAPI is the better fit. Same problem space, different buyers.
Is MentionsAPI a cheaper alternative to Profound?
It's cheaper, but it's not a substitute. MentionsAPI starts at $5/mo and Profound sells enterprise contracts, so the price gap is real. What you give up is the managed layer: Profound includes dashboards, storage, and visualization; MentionsAPI gives you the raw structured data and you build the rest. Cheaper input, more assembly.
Can I build a Profound-style dashboard on top of MentionsAPI?
Yes. That's the intended use. Each check returns mentioned/rank/citations per surface as JSON, so a dashboard is a matter of scheduling checks, storing results, and charting them. Most teams get a working internal version up in days. The part MentionsAPI handles (querying every surface and extracting the signal) is the part that takes months to build well yourself.
Does MentionsAPI have a dashboard for marketing teams?
No, and we're not going to bolt one on. MentionsAPI is a developer API: REST plus a remote MCP server. If your team wants a managed dashboard experience without writing code, an enterprise platform like Profound is the honest recommendation. If your team writes code, you'll build a better dashboard for your needs than any vendor default.
What AI surfaces does MentionsAPI cover?
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity via API modes (a quick check across all four is 130 credits fresh, 5 cached), plus live UI surfaces via *_live modes: Google AI Overviews (15 credits), Google AI Mode (35), Bing Copilot (15), and the live ChatGPT (35), Gemini (35), and Perplexity (85) UIs. `mode: all_live` covers every live surface in one 165-credit call.
How do the pricing models differ?
Profound is enterprise SaaS: custom quotes and contracts. MentionsAPI is a credit wallet: 300 free credits one-time on signup, $5/mo for 1,000 credits or $54/yr for 12,000, with top-ups at $4 per 1,000 (monthly) or $3 per 1,000 (annual). Credits never expire and every call has a posted cost, so your unit economics are calculable before you write a line of code.
Can I use both Profound and MentionsAPI?
Yes, and some organizations do. Marketing keeps Profound as the company-wide dashboard while engineering calls MentionsAPI for product features, custom reports, or data that needs to live in their own warehouse. There's no conflict; they answer different requirements with the same underlying question.
How much work is integrating MentionsAPI?
One POST request. Sign up, grab a key, and a curl call returns structured results in minutes. Agents can skip HTTP entirely and use the remote MCP server at api.mentionsapi.com/mcp. There is no onboarding call, no contract, and no minimum commitment beyond the $5/mo plan if you go past the 300 free signup credits.
Code example

One call, structured visibility data

Drop in your API key and you're live. Same response shape across every provider.

 POST /v1/ask
curl https://api.mentionsapi.com/v1/ask \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer lvk_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "providers": ["openai", "anthropic", "gemini", "perplexity"],
    "prompt": "What are the best expense management tools?",
    "track_brands": ["Ramp", "Brex", "Expensify"]
  }'
Compare

Profound vs MentionsAPI at a glance

 The other wayMentionsAPI
ProfoundEnterprise dashboard, sales-ledSelf-serve API, sign up and call
ProfoundCustom / enterprise pricingCredit wallet from $5/mo
ProfoundBuilt for brand and marketing teamsBuilt for developers
ProfoundInsights rendered in their UIJSON you pipe anywhere
Pricing

Start free. Subscribe for $5/mo. Calls debit credits.

No sales call. 300 free credits one-time on signup; $5/mo buys 1,000 credits, $54/yr buys 12,000. Top-ups are $4 per 1,000 credits monthly, $3 per 1,000 annual, and credits never expire. A quick check is 130 credits fresh (5 cached); a Google AI Overviews check is 15.

Get startedSee pricing

Stop wiring up four SDKs.

One API key, four answer engines, structured responses. 300 free credits on signup, plans from $5/mo.

Get your API keyRead the quickstart