The short answer
The main AirOps alternatives are Jasper (an AI writing platform with agents, for teams that write in house), Profound (AI answer tracking plus agents that write, sold mainly to enterprise teams), AthenaHQ and Scrunch (trackers that show how AI answers describe your brand), Peec AI (a lighter tracker), a traditional SEO agency, and a done-for-you service like RunOctopus, where our AI, Ollie, and our team research, write and publish the pages on your own site so there is no platform for you to run. Which one fits depends less on features than on one question: who on your side is going to do the work every week?
AirOps itself has changed a lot. It started as a workflow builder for content teams. Today it describes itself as a partner for "the strategy that wins AI discovery," with a platform, a strategy team and paid channels under one roof. If you last looked at it in 2024, it is worth a fresh read before you compare anything.
AirOps, Jasper and Profound give a marketing team software to run. Trackers like AthenaHQ and Scrunch tell you where you stand in AI answers. A done-for-you service does the research, writing, linking and publishing for you. Pick by who will do the work, not by the longest feature list.
What AirOps is today
We read AirOps' own site on October 20, 2026. Here is what it says it is, in plain terms.
- Positioning. The headline is "Run the strategy that wins AI discovery." AirOps splits its offer into Systems (the platform), Strategy (expert teams) and Channels (spending across the places that shape AI answers).
- Insights. Tracking of how a brand shows up across AI answers and traditional search in one view: citations, share of voice and competitors.
- Brand Kit and Knowledge Bases. A governed source of brand facts and context that its agents draw on, so output stays on message.
- Owned Content. Building and refreshing content on your own site. AirOps lists publishing integrations with WordPress, Webflow, Contentful and Sanity.
- External Content, AI Ads, Influencer and Social, Community. Work beyond your own site: earning third-party citations, paid placements in AI answers (starting with ChatGPT ads and Google AI Mode), creators and forums such as Reddit.
- AirOps MCP. A way to bring its brand data and insights into tools like Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor.
- AirOps Services. A hands-on team of channel experts that sets and runs strategy with you.
Pricing. The pricing page lists three plans. Solo includes 35,000 tasks a month for a single user and has a "Start for free" button. Pro includes 100,000 tasks and unlimited seats. Enterprise has custom task limits, unlimited brand kits and knowledge bases, custom agent builds and a dedicated account manager. The page did not print a dollar figure for Pro when we checked, so ask for a quote. Extra usage on Solo is $0.025 a task.
Who backs it. AirOps raised a $40 million Series B led by Greylock in November 2025, bringing total funding to about $60 million. It names customers such as Webflow, Ramp, Carta, Chime, HubSpot and Angi. That customer list tells you who the product is built around: marketing teams at funded software and consumer brands.
Side-by-side: AirOps and the main alternatives
Every row below was checked on each vendor's own site on October 20, 2026. Where a vendor does not print a price, we say so.
| Option | What it is | Who does the work | Price shown publicly |
|---|---|---|---|
| AirOps | Platform for AI search strategy: tracking, content workflows, publishing, paid and social channels, plus a services team | Your team runs the platform, or AirOps' strategy team works alongside you | Solo free to start, Pro price not printed, Enterprise custom |
| Jasper | AI writing platform with agents and content pipelines | Your writers and marketers | Pro $69 a seat monthly ($59 yearly), Business custom |
| Profound | AI answer tracking with agents that research and write | Your team, usually at a larger company | Free trial, Enterprise custom |
| AthenaHQ | AI answer tracker across up to 11 engines, with a content agent that drafts | Your team acts on what it finds | Free Essential tier, Starter $295 a month, Enterprise custom |
| Scrunch | AI answer tracker plus an AI-friendly version of your site for bots, now a Sitecore company | Your team acts on what it finds | Starter $300 a month ($250 billed yearly), Growth $500 ($417 yearly) |
| Peec AI | Lighter AI answer tracker for SEO and content managers | Your team | Plans listed, prices not shown on the page we read |
| RunOctopus | Done-for-you service: Ollie and our team research, write, publish and link pages on your own site | We do it. Pages go live without you approving each one first | See your plan after a free scan |
Who does the work, and what gets done
Most "AirOps alternatives" lists line tools up by feature count. That misses the thing that decides whether anything changes on your site. The map below sorts the options by two plain questions: does it mostly measure, or does it produce pages? And is your team running it, or is someone else?
A two by two grid. Your team runs it and it measures: AthenaHQ, Scrunch, Peec AI. Your team runs it and it produces pages: AirOps, Jasper, Profound agents. Someone else runs it and it measures: an audit or consultant. Someone else runs it and it produces pages on your site: RunOctopus, or an agency.
AthenaHQ, Scrunch, Peec AI
You learn where you stand. Someone still has to make the pages.
AirOps, Jasper, Profound agents
Strong engines for a team with a content lead to drive them.
One-off audits, consultants
A report and a to-do list. The doing is still yours.
RunOctopus, or an agency
Pages researched, written, linked and published for you.
Who AirOps suits
AirOps is a serious product, and for the right buyer it is a good one. It fits best when these are true:
- You have a content team, or a "content engineer." AirOps runs a certification for exactly that role. The platform pays off when someone owns it every day, builds the workflows, and tunes the brand kit.
- You publish at volume across a CMS like WordPress, Webflow, Contentful or Sanity and want one system for research, drafting, refreshing old pages and measuring the result.
- You want more than your own site. If you plan to spend on AI ads, creators, Reddit and third-party citations, AirOps puts those channels in one place, which few tools try to do.
- You are a funded brand with a budget for platform plus strategy. The customer list and the Enterprise tier make the target clear.
If that is you, the honest advice is to trial AirOps against Jasper and Profound and pick the one your team will actually open every morning. All three are built for that kind of team.
Where AirOps is a harder fit
The same things that make AirOps strong for a content team make it a heavy lift for a business without one.
- A platform is a job. Workflows, knowledge bases, brand kits and task budgets are powerful, and every one of them needs someone to set it up and keep it right. A shop owner or a local service company rarely has that person.
- Task-based pricing takes planning. Usage is counted in tasks, and the Pro price is not printed, so you need a quote and a sense of your volume before you know the bill.
- The output is only as good as the inputs. A tool can draft pages fast. Knowing which questions your buyers actually ask, which of your products or services answers each one, and where each page should link inside your site is judgment. Someone has to bring it.
The alternatives, one by one
Jasper
Jasper is the closest like-for-like swap if what you mainly used AirOps for was writing. It is an AI writing platform with agents for marketing work, content pipelines for repeatable output, and on the Business plan a no-code builder for custom agents and Jasper Grid for scaled content. Pro is $69 a seat billed monthly or $59 billed yearly. Jasper is a tool your writers use. It does not decide your topics or put pages live for you. We compare it in detail in our Jasper comparison.
Profound
Profound started as an AI answer tracker and now also has agents that, in its own words, help with "researching a new market and shaping a campaign to writing content and building workflows for recurring tasks." Its pricing page shows a free trial and an Enterprise plan, plus an Agency Growth plan for agencies. It is the pick for a large brand that wants tracking and writing agents under one contract and has a team to run both.
AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ is the most accessible tracker here. There is a free Essential tier, and Starter is $295 a month with 11 AI engines, from ChatGPT and Perplexity to Claude, Grok and Meta AI. It connects to Google Analytics, Search Console and Shopify, and its content agent turns gaps into on-brand drafts that move through review. If your real need is "show me where AI mentions us and suggest fixes," it is a strong, cheaper start than a full platform. We put it head to head with Scrunch in Scrunch vs AthenaHQ.
Scrunch
Scrunch monitors how AI answers describe your brand across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, and adds the Agent Experience Platform, a machine-readable version of your site served to AI agents. Sitecore announced it had acquired Scrunch on June 3, 2026, so it is now part of a larger content platform. Starter is $300 a month ($250 billed yearly). It suits brands that care about enterprise controls such as SOC 2 and role-based access.
Peec AI
Peec AI is a tracker for SEO and content managers, with Starter, Pro, Advanced and Enterprise plans. It focuses on reporting and diagnostics rather than writing. Choose it if you want visibility numbers and already have the people to act on them.
A traditional SEO agency
An agency gives you people, which is what most small businesses lack. The catch is that "AI search" means different things to different agencies, and many still sell monthly reports more than new pages. Before you sign, read our guide to what a real AI SEO agency should do, and ask how many pages will go live on your site each month and who writes them.
RunOctopus, the done-for-you option
RunOctopus is for businesses that want to be found, from online stores to local service companies, and do not want to run a tool. Ollie, our AI, and our team research what your buyers ask, write the pages, link them into your products, collections or service pages, and publish them on your own site. It works with Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce and Wix. It publishes on its own: you do not have to approve each page first, though you can read anything that went live and ask for changes. There is no platform to learn and no task budget to manage.
How to choose in five questions
- Who will do the work every week? If you have a content lead, a platform like AirOps or Jasper can multiply them. If you do not, a platform will sit unused.
- Do you need to measure, or to change what AI says about you? A tracker answers the first. Only new and better pages on your site, and mentions elsewhere, change the second. Our guide to AI visibility tools covers the trackers in more depth.
- Is your site the main thing to fix? For most small businesses, the gap is pages that answer real buyer questions and link to what you sell. That is where we focus.
- How much do you know about where you stand? Before you buy anything, run a free AI visibility check to see whether AI answers name you today.
- Are you chasing AI search or Google? You need both. The overlap is bigger than the hype suggests, and GEO vs SEO explains what really differs.
Our verdict
AirOps is a strong platform for funded marketing teams with someone to run it, and Jasper and Profound are its real peers. If you need tracking only, AthenaHQ is the easiest start and Scrunch suits enterprise controls. We would point a well-staffed content team at those tools without hesitation.
If you are a business that wants to be found and named in AI answers, and you do not want to run a tool, RunOctopus is the better choice than AirOps or any platform on this page. Four reasons.
1. We do the work and publish on our own. A platform gives you the means to do the work. Ollie and our team research, write, publish and link the pages on your own site, on Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce or Wix, with no plugin or workflow for you to run. Nothing waits on you to approve it.
2. We know your catalog and services. Every page is built from what you really sell, your products, collections or services, and linked into the pages that make the sale. A general platform drafts from whatever brief you give it.
3. Fully automated, and built on real inputs. Ollie does the work automatically from start to finish, and our team keeps watch. Every page is built from real inputs, not generic AI text: your own catalog or services, your own search data, the real questions buyers ask AI assistants, and facts checked before anything publishes. A platform writes what its workflow is told to.
4. Proven on real clients. A Los Angeles apartment broker went from about 40 Google clicks a month to a peak of 283, and ChatGPT named the firm on four of eight buyer questions (the Sterman study). On a reptile-feeder site, the company was the most-cited domain in every AI answer set we checked (the All Angles Creatures study). Every study, misses included, is on our case studies page.