Pick
Linkup
Pick Linkup if you want the cheaper option ($0/mo vs $500/mo); and you want the better-funded company ($13.2M).
Head-to-head review · Updated June 2026
Linkup vs Searchlight: which one wins in 2026?
Linkup and Searchlight 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. Linkup is the more-funded incumbent; Searchlight is the leaner challenger.
Linkup 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
Searchlight
Pick Searchlight if you want the cheaper option ($500/mo vs $0/mo).
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 Linkup
Linkup has raised $13.2M ($10M Seed (Feb 2026, led by Gradient)). Founded by Philippe Mizrahi, Denis Charrier, Boris Toledano, based in Paris, France. On their site they list 8 named customers including McKinsey & Company, Cohere, KPMG, EY. Pricing starts at $0/mo.
Search API used by AI agents — the data layer for retrieval-augmented LLM apps.
What people praise
- Built specifically as an API for AI agents and LLMs, not retrofitted from a consumer search product
- Licenses content from publishers and pays them on usage, so results are legal and citation-safe
- Sub-second search latency is fast enough for real-time agent tool calls
- Free tier ships 4,000 queries and startups can apply for $5,000 in credits
Where it falls short
- Per-request pricing makes monthly cost hard to forecast for high-volume agents
- Deep Research mode can cost up to $2.50 per call, expensive at scale
- Not a visibility, SEO or content product, it is a raw search API and you build the workflow yourself
- No G2 or Capterra reviews yet, the company only launched its API in late 2024
The case for Searchlight
Founded by Seth Besmertnik, Jeremy Duboys. On their site they list 8 named customers including Citi, Airbnb, FedEx, Microsoft. Pricing starts at $500/mo.
SEO + AI visibility intelligence platform that ranks brands across organic and generative search.
What people praise
- Searchlight (now Conductor) is consistently named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for SEO platforms, lending it strong enterprise credibility.
- Content brief workflow inside Creator is praised on G2 for tying keyword research directly to writer guidance and topical authority maps.
- AI search visibility tracking covers ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and Claude alongside traditional Google rankings in one dashboard.
- 24/7 Conductor Monitoring catches site issues like indexability changes and core web vitals regressions in real time.
Where it falls short
- Pricing is opaque and enterprise-only, with deals starting around $27K/yr making it a non-starter for mid-market budgets.
- Searchmetrics integration is described in recent G2 reviews as a work-in-progress rather than a unified platform.
- Long onboarding period (weeks to months) is needed before the platform pays off, per multiple Gartner Peer Insights reviewers.
- Speed on large datasets is a recurring complaint, with reports taking minutes to load.
Pricing, tier by tier
Tier 1
Linkup
Fetch
$0.001 - $0.005 per request
- URL content extraction
- Sub-2 second latency, synchronous
- 4,000 complimentary queries for new accounts
Searchlight
Annual License
Custom (Median ~$48,950/yr)
- Unlimited user seats
- Custom keyword and page limits
- All 3 product modules: Intelligence, Creator, Monitoring
- 3-week free trial
Tier 2
Linkup
Search
$0.005 - $0.006 per request
- Web search tool calls for AI agents
- Fast, Standard and Deep variants
- 1-3 second synchronous latency
- Sourced, cited answers with full-text snippets
Searchlight
Mid-Market
Custom
- Smaller keyword and page footprints
- Standard analytics integrations
- Email and chat support
Tier 3
Linkup
Research
$0.25 - $2.50 per request
- Asynchronous deep research over the web
- 1-10 minute latency
- Multi-step reasoning with citations
Searchlight
Enterprise
Custom (up to $500K+/yr)
- AgentStack agentic AEO workflows
- LLM integrations and MCP Server
- Multiple sites and brands
- Dedicated CSM and SLAs
Tier 4
Linkup
Enterprise
Custom
- Personalized indexes
- Dedicated index refresh rates
- Private environments and bring-your-own-cloud
- IP whitelisting, ZDR, SOC 2 Type II, SLA
Searchlight
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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 Linkup
- Fetch API. Synchronous URL content extraction in under 2 seconds, returns clean markdown
- Search API. Web search tool calls with sourced, cited answers and full-text snippets in 1-3 seconds
- Research API. Asynchronous deep research that runs multi-step reasoning over the web and returns a cited report
- Tunable index. Filter by source allowlist, freshness window and content type
- Private index. Deploy Linkup over your own proprietary documents
- Bring Your Own Cloud. Run the Linkup runtime inside your own AWS, GCP or Azure account
Only on Searchlight
- Conductor Intelligence. Tracks brand visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude and Google with share-of-voice and rank reporting.
- Conductor Creator. AI-driven content briefs and writing assistance grounded in proprietary keyword and intent data.
- Conductor Monitoring. 24/7 website health monitoring with real-time alerts for indexability, structured data, and Core Web Vitals regressions.
- AI Topic Map. Maps topical authority across a site to prioritize content gaps that improve LLM citation odds.
- AgentStack. Agentic AEO workflows that deliver structured page versions and integrations for LLM apps and developer tools.
- Workflow Integrations. Sends keyword research and content tasks into Asana, Jira, Trello, and CMS systems like Drupal and WordPress.
When each one wins
When Linkup wins
- Budget is the constraint. Linkup starts at $0/mo vs Searchlight's $500/mo, so on a per-seat basis it's the cheaper way in.
- You want the better-funded incumbent. Linkup has raised $13.2M, giving it more runway and shipping velocity.
- Built specifically as an API for AI agents and LLMs, not retrofitted from a consumer search product
When Searchlight wins
- Searchlight (now Conductor) is consistently named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for SEO platforms, lending it strong enterprise credibility.
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 Linkup 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 Linkup over Searchlight
- Lower entry price. Linkup starts at $0/mo vs Searchlight's $500/mo.
- More plan flexibility. Linkup offers 4 pricing tiers vs Searchlight's 3, so there's a better chance one fits your team size.
- Better-funded incumbent. Linkup has raised $13.2M, giving it more runway and shipping velocity than Searchlight.
- What users praise most. Built specifically as an API for AI agents and LLMs, not retrofitted from a consumer search product
Reasons to pick Searchlight over Linkup
- More verified reviews. Searchlight has 460 G2 reviews vs Linkup's none on file, so the average rating carries more weight.
- What users praise most. Searchlight (now Conductor) is consistently named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for SEO platforms, lending it strong enterprise credibility.
Switching from one to the other
From Linkup to Searchlight
Export your saved queries and prompt panels from Linkup (most tools support CSV export). Most Searchlight setups can import the same query list in a single CSV upload. Expect 1-2 days of parallel running so you can validate Searchlight's data againstLinkup's; one to two weeks of full reconciliation before you cancel Linkup. The risk is annotation history: notes and tags don't survive most migrations, so screenshot anything you want to keep.
From Searchlight to Linkup
Same flow in reverse. Export from Searchlight, import to Linkup. 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
| Linkup | Searchlight | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at (USD/mo) | $0/mo | $500/mo |
| Founded | 2024 | 2023 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France | — |
| Funding raised | $13.2M | — |
| AI platforms tracked | — | — |
| G2 rating | — | 4.5 / 5 (460 reviews) |
| Named customers | 8 | 8 |
| SOC 2 Type 2 | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| 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.
Linkup — what users praise
- Built specifically as an API for AI agents and LLMs, not retrofitted from a consumer search product
- Licenses content from publishers and pays them on usage, so results are legal and citation-safe
- Sub-second search latency is fast enough for real-time agent tool calls
- Free tier ships 4,000 queries and startups can apply for $5,000 in credits
- SOC 2 Type II and ZDR are included at no additional cost on every plan
Linkup — what users complain about
- Per-request pricing makes monthly cost hard to forecast for high-volume agents
- Deep Research mode can cost up to $2.50 per call, expensive at scale
- Not a visibility, SEO or content product, it is a raw search API and you build the workflow yourself
- No G2 or Capterra reviews yet, the company only launched its API in late 2024
- Index is still smaller than incumbents like Google or Bing, niche queries can return thin results
Searchlight — what users praise
- Searchlight (now Conductor) is consistently named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for SEO platforms, lending it strong enterprise credibility.
- Content brief workflow inside Creator is praised on G2 for tying keyword research directly to writer guidance and topical authority maps.
- AI search visibility tracking covers ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and Claude alongside traditional Google rankings in one dashboard.
- 24/7 Conductor Monitoring catches site issues like indexability changes and core web vitals regressions in real time.
- Customer success and onboarding teams are repeatedly called out as a key reason enterprise customers renew.
Searchlight — what users complain about
- Pricing is opaque and enterprise-only, with deals starting around $27K/yr making it a non-starter for mid-market budgets.
- Searchmetrics integration is described in recent G2 reviews as a work-in-progress rather than a unified platform.
- Long onboarding period (weeks to months) is needed before the platform pays off, per multiple Gartner Peer Insights reviewers.
- Speed on large datasets is a recurring complaint, with reports taking minutes to load.
- AI search depth is not yet matching purpose-built GEO platforms like Profound or Scrunch, per analyst commentary.
A third option
Both Linkup and Searchlightare 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, Linkup or Searchlight?
Honestly: neither one fully solves the problem. Linkup and Searchlight 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 Linkup 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 Linkup and Searchlight cost?
Linkup starts at $0/mo. Searchlight starts at $500/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 Linkup and Searchlight actually improve your AI visibility, or just measure it?
Both Linkup and Searchlight 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 Linkup and Searchlight?
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.