The best free tools for an AI visibility audit

By CoreTxt · Updated October 31, 2026

No single free tool audits AI visibility end to end. The best free setup combines a website readiness scan, the free versions of the AI assistants for prompt testing, Bing Webmaster Tools for citation data, a structured data validator and a simple spreadsheet. Together they take about 30 minutes to run.

The free toolkit, at a glance

Many “AI visibility” dashboards are paid and change often, so this guide sticks to free tools you can open today. Each one answers a different question.

1. Website readiness scan

Question it answers: can AI systems read and understand my site?

A readiness scan checks crawler access, structured data, llms.txt and whether your pages are readable. The free CoreTxt AI Visibility Snapshot does this and returns a score out of 100 with your biggest blocker. It is a technical check and does not query the assistants.

2. The AI assistants themselves

Question it answers: does an assistant name my business when a customer asks?

The free versions of ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude are your testing lab. Ask each one the same set of customer questions and record the results. Three habits make the test more useful:

• Use the words a customer would use, not your own marketing terms.
• Run each question in a new chat so earlier answers do not influence the result.
• Ask each question more than once, because answers vary from run to run.

Perplexity shows its sources with every answer, which makes it handy for seeing which sites an assistant leans on in your market. Follow the steps in how to test if AI recommends your business.

3. Bing Webmaster Tools

Question it answers: is Microsoft’s AI citing my pages?

The AI Performance report, in beta at the time of writing, shows how often your site is cited in Copilot and Bing AI answers, which pages are cited and the phrases the AI searched for when it found them. It covers Microsoft’s AI only and does not show clicks or competitors. The phrases it lists are a good source of questions to test in the other assistants.

4. Google Search Console

Question it answers: is my site being found and indexed at all?

Search Console does not tell you whether ChatGPT names you, but it shows whether Google has indexed your pages and which queries bring people to them. A page that is not indexed is much harder for any system to surface. Submit your sitemap and check the Pages report.

5. A structured data validator

Question it answers: is my business markup valid?

Google’s Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator are free. Paste a page address and they show whether your LocalBusiness or Organization markup parses and where it has errors. Valid markup that matches what is visible on the page helps systems identify who you are.

6. A plain spreadsheet

Question it answers: am I improving?

One row per question, one column per assistant, plus the date. Mark whether you were named, in what position and who else appeared. This turns one-off tests into a trend, and the trend is what tells you whether your fixes are working.

A 30-minute free audit

1. 5 minutes: run the free Snapshot on your website and note the main blocker.
2. 15 minutes: ask ten customer questions in two or three assistants and record the results.
3. 5 minutes: check Bing Webmaster Tools and Search Console for indexing and citations.
4. 5 minutes: validate your structured data on your home page and top service page.

Fix the main blocker first, then repeat the test in a month.

What free tools will not do

Free tools do not explain why a competitor is chosen over you, run hundreds of questions, or build a prioritized plan. That is what a full audit is for. Read where to find a free AI visibility audit tool for when to move up, or see the AI visibility checklist for the basics you can fix yourself.

No tool, free or paid, can guarantee that an assistant will mention your business.