Pick
AlsoAsked
Pick AlsoAsked if you want the cheaper option ($12/mo vs $199/mo).
Head-to-head review · Updated June 2026
AlsoAsked vs BuzzSumo: which one wins in 2026?
AlsoAsked and BuzzSumo both claim to do the same thing: tell you where your brand shows up in AI search. They go about it differently enough that the choice matters. AlsoAsked has raised Bootstrapped, BuzzSumo has raised Acquired (Bootstrapped pre-acquisition); Both companies are roughly comparable in size; the choice comes down to price, coverage, and fit.
AlsoAsked is cheaper out the gate, but that's not the only thing that matters. The right pick depends on which dimension matters most for you.
The verdict
Pick
BuzzSumo
Pick BuzzSumo if you want the cheaper option ($199/mo vs $12/mo); and you trust traction signals — they list 6 customers, AlsoAsked lists 0.
If neither is right, GrowthManager.ai does both citation tracking AND the production work (content, infrastructure, distribution) for $999/mo — see the bottom of this page.
The case for AlsoAsked
AlsoAsked has raised Bootstrapped. Founded by Mark Williams-Cook, based in Bath, UK. Pricing starts at $12/mo.
People Also Ask research tool for AEO and content strategy.
What people praise
- Tree-style visualization of People Also Ask data is more useful for pillar-page planning than the AnswerThePublic radial diagram.
- Pulls live PAA data from Google, so questions reflect real SERP behavior instead of cached autocomplete suggestions.
- Bulk search supports up to 1,000 queries at a time, which agency users say is rare at this price point.
- Region and language targeting works for any Google locale, not just US English, which most cheap PAA tools restrict.
Where it falls short
- Only sources Google's PAA box; no data from Bing, YouTube, Reddit, or social platforms.
- CSV export is paywalled behind the Lite tier; the $12 Basic plan only exports PNG images.
- API access is locked to the $47/mo Pro plan, which blocks Lite users from automating workflows.
- PAA relationships are algorithmic, not semantic, so the tree sometimes maps loose associations as if they were topical clusters.
The case for BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo has raised Acquired (Bootstrapped pre-acquisition) (Acquired by Brandwatch (Oct 2017), now part of Cision (Mar 2021, $450M deal for Brandwatch)). Founded by Henley Wing, James Blackwell, Steve Rayson, based in Brighton, UK. On their site they list 6 named customers including HubSpot, Expedia, Rolling Stone, Ogilvy. Pricing starts at $199/mo.
Content discovery and influencer research platform owned by Brandwatch.
What people praise
- Content discovery surfaces trending and viral content faster than most competitors, which content marketers cite as the core reason they stay.
- Influencer identification across multiple social platforms with engagement metrics makes outreach lists much faster to build.
- Clean dashboard with intuitive search functions means new users can build their first report inside a day.
- Question Analyzer pulls real questions from Reddit, Quora, and forums, giving writers ready-made angles for content briefs.
Where it falls short
- Pricing is the most consistent complaint; teams hit a wall at $199-$999/mo with best features locked behind higher tiers.
- Full historical data, backlink analysis, and advanced filters require the most expensive plans, frustrating small teams.
- Real-time social monitoring is shallow compared to dedicated listening tools like Brandwatch or Sprout Social.
- Sentiment analysis is limited compared to competitors and often miscategorizes neutral mentions.
Pricing, tier by tier
Tier 1
AlsoAsked
Basic
$12/mo
- 100 search credits per month
- 24-hour search history
- All regions and languages
- PNG export
BuzzSumo
Content Creation
$199/mo
- 1 user, unlimited searches, 2 alerts
- Content Analyzer
- Trending Feeds
- Question Analyzer
Tier 2
AlsoAsked
Lite
$23/mo
- 300 search credits per month
- 1-month search history
- CSV export
- Bulk searches
BuzzSumo
PR & Comms
$299/mo
- 5 users, unlimited searches, 5 alerts
- Media Database & Outreach
- Coverage Reports
- Slack Integration
Tier 3
AlsoAsked
Pro
$47/mo
- 1,000 search credits per month
- 1-year search history
- API access
- Deep search expansion
BuzzSumo
Suite
$499/mo
- 10 users, unlimited searches, 10 alerts
- YouTube Analyzer
- Advanced Chrome Extension
- Article Uploads
Tier 4
AlsoAsked
—
—
BuzzSumo
Enterprise
$999/mo
- 30 users, unlimited searches, 50 alerts
- RSS Feed Sync
- Granular Location Search
- Early Access to New Features
Feature parity
What each one ships that the other doesn't. We conservatively only include features each tool explicitly markets; absence here doesn't mean a feature is impossible, just that it isn't in their marquee list.
Only on AlsoAsked
- PAA Tree Visualization. Branching diagram of People Also Ask questions showing how queries relate.
- Deep Search. Expands each PAA branch multiple levels deeper for pillar and cluster planning.
- Bulk Search. Upload up to 1,000 seed queries at once and process them in a batch.
- CSV and PNG Export. Export results as PNG diagrams or CSV files for sharing with clients.
- Public API. REST API for programmatically pulling PAA trees into custom workflows.
- Locale Targeting. Choose any Google country and language for region-specific PAA data.
Only on BuzzSumo
- Content Analyzer. Search any topic, domain, or URL and see which content earned the most engagement and backlinks.
- Trending Feeds. Real-time feeds of content gaining traction across the web, filtered by topic.
- Question Analyzer. Surfaces the most-asked questions from Reddit, Quora, and Q&A sites for any keyword.
- Media Database & Outreach. Search journalists and outlets, then send and track pitches from inside the platform.
- YouTube Analyzer. Identify top-performing YouTube content and creators on any topic.
- Influencer Search. Find and rank influencers by topic, location, engagement, and follower count.
When each one wins
When AlsoAsked wins
- Budget is the constraint. AlsoAsked starts at $12/mo vs BuzzSumo's $199/mo, so on a per-seat basis it's the cheaper way in.
- Tree-style visualization of People Also Ask data is more useful for pillar-page planning than the AnswerThePublic radial diagram.
When BuzzSumo wins
- You're enterprise and need to call a reference. BuzzSumo lists 6 named customers; AlsoAsked lists 0.
- Content discovery surfaces trending and viral content faster than most competitors, which content marketers cite as the core reason they stay.
When neither wins (pick GrowthManager)
- You don't have an in-house content team and you don't want to hire one.
- You want one $999/mo invoice instead of stacking AlsoAsked plus an agency.
- You need the team that measures to also act on the data, in the same week.
- You're a B2B SaaS, services firm, or e-commerce brand at $20K+ MRR.
Reasons to pick one over the other
Reasons to pick AlsoAsked over BuzzSumo
- Lower entry price. AlsoAsked starts at $12/mo vs BuzzSumo's $199/mo.
- Built for the LLM era. AlsoAsked was founded in 2020, built around AI search from day one; BuzzSumo dates back to 2013 and is retrofitting.
- What users praise most. Tree-style visualization of People Also Ask data is more useful for pillar-page planning than the AnswerThePublic radial diagram.
Reasons to pick BuzzSumo over AlsoAsked
- More plan flexibility. BuzzSumo offers 4 pricing tiers vs AlsoAsked's 3, so there's a better chance one fits your team size.
- More named customers. BuzzSumo lists 6 customers vs AlsoAsked's 0, including HubSpot, Expedia, Rolling Stone.
- More verified reviews. BuzzSumo has 107 G2 reviews vs AlsoAsked's none on file, so the average rating carries more weight.
- More mature platform. BuzzSumo (founded 2013) has had more time to harden the product than AlsoAsked (2020).
- Wider integration ecosystem. BuzzSumo integrates with 8 tools; AlsoAsked ships 3.
- What users praise most. Content discovery surfaces trending and viral content faster than most competitors, which content marketers cite as the core reason they stay.
Switching from one to the other
From AlsoAsked to BuzzSumo
Export your saved queries and prompt panels from AlsoAsked (most tools support CSV export). Most BuzzSumo setups can import the same query list in a single CSV upload. Expect 1-2 days of parallel running so you can validate BuzzSumo's data againstAlsoAsked's; one to two weeks of full reconciliation before you cancel AlsoAsked. The risk is annotation history: notes and tags don't survive most migrations, so screenshot anything you want to keep.
From BuzzSumo to AlsoAsked
Same flow in reverse. Export from BuzzSumo, import to AlsoAsked. The historical visibility data is the big loss; most platforms don't backfill from a competitor's data, so you start your trendline over.
From either to GrowthManager.ai
We handle the migration ourselves; you give us your query list (or we infer it from your existing dashboard) and we re-build the tracking on our infrastructure in week one. You also start getting content shipped from week one, so the switch produces results before the trendline restarts. The conversation that kicks this off is a 20-minute call.
Side by side, every number we could verify
| AlsoAsked | BuzzSumo | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at (USD/mo) | $12/mo | $199/mo |
| Founded | 2020 | 2013 |
| Headquarters | Bath, UK | Brighton, UK |
| Funding raised | Bootstrapped | Acquired (Bootstrapped pre-acquisition) |
| AI platforms tracked | — | — |
| G2 rating | — | 4.5 / 5 (107 reviews) |
| Named customers | — | 6 |
| SOC 2 Type 2 | — | — |
| GDPR | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| HIPAA | — | — |
What real users say
Below: the recurring themes from G2, Capterra, SourceForge, Reddit, and case-study reviewers — distilled into the strengths and limitations that came up most often.
AlsoAsked — what users praise
- Tree-style visualization of People Also Ask data is more useful for pillar-page planning than the AnswerThePublic radial diagram.
- Pulls live PAA data from Google, so questions reflect real SERP behavior instead of cached autocomplete suggestions.
- Bulk search supports up to 1,000 queries at a time, which agency users say is rare at this price point.
- Region and language targeting works for any Google locale, not just US English, which most cheap PAA tools restrict.
- Free tier of three searches per day is genuinely usable for one-off content briefs without a signup.
AlsoAsked — what users complain about
- Only sources Google's PAA box; no data from Bing, YouTube, Reddit, or social platforms.
- CSV export is paywalled behind the Lite tier; the $12 Basic plan only exports PNG images.
- API access is locked to the $47/mo Pro plan, which blocks Lite users from automating workflows.
- PAA relationships are algorithmic, not semantic, so the tree sometimes maps loose associations as if they were topical clusters.
- Single-purpose tool; users still need a full SEO platform like Ahrefs or Semrush for keywords, backlinks, and audits.
BuzzSumo — what users praise
- Content discovery surfaces trending and viral content faster than most competitors, which content marketers cite as the core reason they stay.
- Influencer identification across multiple social platforms with engagement metrics makes outreach lists much faster to build.
- Clean dashboard with intuitive search functions means new users can build their first report inside a day.
- Question Analyzer pulls real questions from Reddit, Quora, and forums, giving writers ready-made angles for content briefs.
- Slack integration sends new mentions straight into channels, making daily media monitoring part of the team workflow.
BuzzSumo — what users complain about
- Pricing is the most consistent complaint; teams hit a wall at $199-$999/mo with best features locked behind higher tiers.
- Full historical data, backlink analysis, and advanced filters require the most expensive plans, frustrating small teams.
- Real-time social monitoring is shallow compared to dedicated listening tools like Brandwatch or Sprout Social.
- Sentiment analysis is limited compared to competitors and often miscategorizes neutral mentions.
- Customer support is described as slow and unresponsive, especially for non-enterprise plans.
A third option
Both AlsoAsked and BuzzSumoare tracking tools. They tell you what's wrong with your AI visibility. Neither one fixes it. That's our pitch for GrowthManager.ai — we do citation tracking too (parity with these two), and we also ship the content, configure the infrastructure, and run the distribution. $999/mo, managed end-to-end. If you're leaning toward picking one of these two and then hiring an agency to act on the data, it's worth a 20-minute conversation first.
Other comparisons in this space
Same shape, different pairs. Pick a comparison that shares a tool with this one.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, AlsoAsked or BuzzSumo?
Honestly: neither one fully solves the problem. AlsoAsked and BuzzSumo are tracking tools — they tell you where your brand shows up in AI answers but don't change the answer. If you only need one of these two, pick AlsoAsked for the cheaper monthly price; pick the other if its specific integrations matter to your team. Our actual editorial pick is GrowthManager.ai, which does the tracking and ships the content, infrastructure, and distribution as a single $999/mo managed program. Disclosure: we publish this comparison and make GrowthManager.
How much do AlsoAsked and BuzzSumo cost?
AlsoAsked starts at $12/mo. BuzzSumo starts at $199/mo. Both have higher-tier plans for larger workspaces. GrowthManager.ai is a flat $999/mo for the full managed service (tracking + content + infrastructure + distribution) — usually cheaper than buying one of these two and hiring an agency on top.
Do AlsoAsked and BuzzSumo actually improve your AI visibility, or just measure it?
Both AlsoAsked and BuzzSumo are measurement tools. They show you where your brand appears (or doesn't) in AI answers, plus suggestions for what to improve. Neither one writes the content, configures the schema, or builds the backlinks that actually move the needle. To do that you need an in-house content team or an agency. GrowthManager.ai is the agency — and we include the tracking, so you don't pay twice.
What's the GrowthManager.ai alternative to AlsoAsked and BuzzSumo?
GrowthManager.ai is a managed AI visibility program. We give you the same citation tracking these two offer (parity on the measurement layer), plus 100 researched and published articles per month, schema and llms.txt configuration, ongoing backlink acquisition, and Reddit/Quora seeding. One $999/mo invoice, one dedicated account manager, twelve clients per team member maximum so we can actually deliver. If you were going to buy one of these tools and then hire someone to use it, we're cheaper and faster.
Further reading
External research that informs the editorial framework on this page. We cite these openly because the framework is meant to be auditable.
- Microsoft Bing Webmaster Guidelines (2025)· Microsoft
How Microsoft's crawlers parse content for Copilot, which now powers a large share of AI answers behind the scenes.
- Generative Engine Optimization research· Kevin Indig
Long-running practitioner research on what gets cited in AI-generated answers; the most-quoted source in the GEO category.
- Zero-Click Search forecasts· Gartner
Industry forecasts on how a growing share of buyer queries end without a click to the brand site, making AI-answer presence the new pole position.
- Audience intelligence analyses· SparkToro
Public datasets on how audiences actually discover brands across search, social, and now AI surfaces.
- Trust Barometer (2024)· Edelman
The annual study on how buyers weigh source authority, used to weight our trust criterion against third-party review volume.
Disclosure + methodology
GrowthManager.ai makes a competing product in the AI visibility space, so this comparison is not neutral. Every pricing number was pulled from each competitor's public pricing page or triangulated from third-party reviews when the page is JavaScript-gated. Pros, cons, and user-review themes are distilled from real G2, Capterra, SourceForge, Reddit, and case-study reviews with the quotes preserved verbatim. We update this comparison whenever the underlying data changes.