# Elmo — Open-source AI visibility tracker; self-host the Docker stack or subscribe to the managed cloud. > Source: CitedIndex — https://citedindex.com/elmo (structured, researched, re-verified) > Facts last verified: 2026-09-11 Elmo is an open-source answer engine optimization platform that monitors how AI assistants describe a brand, keeping every model answer, the sources cited and rival mentions. The same codebase runs self-hosted on Docker or as the vendor's managed cloud. | Fact | Value | | --- | --- | | Website | https://elmohq.com | | Price | from $29/month billed monthly, $24.17/month billed annually | | Free tier | Yes | Self-hosting is free forever under an MIT-licensed repo: unlimited prompts, all AI models supported, citation analysis, competitor tracking, full source code and community support. You supply the infrastructure and your own scraper/LLM provider API keys, which are billed by those providers. Elmo Cloud itself has no free tier or trial — plans start at $29/mo, with a read-only live demo instead. ## What it does **Monitors AI answers** · Yes — Watching what AI engines say about a brand is the whole product: prompts are re-run on a schedule and every answer, mention and citation is stored. > Elmo is an open source Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) platform. It monitors how AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI Overviews mention your brand in their responses. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs · Introduction, 'What is Elmo?' section **Optimises your content** · Partly — An Opportunities view ranks recommendations by impact, including pages to refresh, but nothing in the docs analyses the content of your existing pages or audits a site. > Get AI-generated recommendations ranked by impact: content to create, pages to refresh, third-party sources to pitch. > — https://www.elmohq.com/features · Features, block 06 'OPPORTUNITIES' **Generates content** · Partly — The tracking software writes nothing; drafting happens only inside the separately priced Off-Site AEO retainer, where the vendor's team drafts guest posts with AI and then rewrites them. > After we come up with a plan, we create drafts of the guest posts using the best AI models. > — https://www.elmohq.com/off-site-aeo · Why it works, 'Drafted with AI, and humanized' **Publishes to your site** · Partly — Publishing is a managed placement service onto third-party high-authority sites; there is no CMS integration that pushes content to your own site from the app. > We publish humanized guest articles (listicles, guides, and comparisons) on high-authority sites that AI answer engines read and cite. > — https://www.elmohq.com/off-site-aeo · Hero section, first paragraph **Technical AEO** · No — Elmo is described throughout as a monitoring platform; no page or doc offers schema markup, llms.txt generation, crawler directives or a site audit, and its own comparison pages list AI Site Audits as a rival-only feature. > Once running, it periodically queries AI models with your configured prompts and tracks how they mention your brand, competitors, and cited sources over time. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs · Introduction, 'How It Works' section **Done-for-you service** · Yes — Beyond the software there is a managed monthly retainer where the vendor's people plan, write and place articles, plus white-label deployments sold to agencies. > Every plan is a managed monthly subscription: planning, writing, humanization, placement, and reporting included. All plans are non-refundable. > — https://www.elmohq.com/off-site-aeo · Plans section, intro line above the three plan cards ## Answer engines **ChatGPT** · Yes — ChatGPT is the one engine present on every cloud tier, scraped from the consumer surface rather than the API, once a day on Starter and four times a day above it. > See what ChatGPT users see, via web scraping. Track LLM responses through their APIs or OpenRouter. Bring your own keys. > — https://www.elmohq.com/ · Model coverage section, intro paragraph **Perplexity** · Partly — Perplexity is a supported scrape surface, but the entry Starter plan is ChatGPT only and higher cloud plans make you choose any four platforms, so it competes with the other engines for a slot. > Cloro key — alternative scraper for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overview. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/developer-guide/configuration · AI Provider Keys table, CLORO_API_KEY row **Gemini** · Partly — Gemini is scraped through the supported providers, but it is absent from the ChatGPT-only Starter plan and counts against the four-platform pick on Basic, Pro and Business. > Cloro key — alternative scraper for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overview. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/developer-guide/configuration · AI Provider Keys table, CLORO_API_KEY row **Google AI Overviews** · Partly — Google AI Overview is one of the six scraped platforms, reachable from Basic upward and only if you spend one of your four platform choices on it; Starter tracks ChatGPT alone. > Cloro key — alternative scraper for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overview. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/developer-guide/configuration · AI Provider Keys table, CLORO_API_KEY row **Google AI Mode** · Partly — Google AI Mode is treated as a primary surface alongside ChatGPT in the docs, yet on cloud it starts at the Basic plan and consumes one of the four platform slots. > Cloro key — alternative scraper for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overview. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/developer-guide/configuration · AI Provider Keys table, CLORO_API_KEY row **Claude** · Partly — Claude is tracked through Anthropic's API rather than the consumer app, sits in the LLM APIs group from the Basic plan up, and a grounded Claude web model is reserved for Pro and Business. > Anthropic API key — enables Claude tracking > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/developer-guide/configuration · AI Provider Keys table, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY row **Microsoft Copilot** · Partly — Copilot is scraped by three of the five documented providers, but it is unavailable on Starter and has to be picked as one of the four platforms on the plans above. > Cloro key — alternative scraper for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overview. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/developer-guide/configuration · AI Provider Keys table, CLORO_API_KEY row **Grok** · Partly — Grok is a supported surface when self-hosting through OpenRouter, but on the cloud it appears only as a premium grounded model on the Pro and Business plans, sampled once a day. > model — the AI surface being tracked (chatgpt, claude, google-ai-mode, google-ai-overview, gemini, perplexity, copilot, grok, kimi). > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/user-guide/providers · SCRAPE_TARGETS format section, field descriptions **DeepSeek** · Partly — DeepSeek is answered through a model API rather than a consumer surface and appears in the LLM APIs group from the Basic plan upward, so the entry Starter plan does not reach it. > DeepSeek > — https://www.elmohq.com/pricing · Cloud Plans, Basic card, 'LLM APIs 4×/day' list **Meta AI** · No — Meta AI is absent from the documented list of trackable surfaces. > model — the AI surface being tracked (chatgpt, claude, google-ai-mode, google-ai-overview, gemini, perplexity, copilot, grok, kimi). > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/user-guide/providers · SCRAPE_TARGETS format section, bullet defining the model segment **Coverage in the vendor’s words** · Yes — Coverage is stated per tier and is tightly capped: ChatGPT only on Starter, any four scraped platforms above it, with model-API engines and premium grounded models layered on higher plans. > Track ChatGPT on Starter; more platforms on higher plans > — https://www.elmohq.com/pricing · Cloud plan card, feature bullet list ## What it reports **Names the cited sources** · Yes — A dedicated Citations page reports cited domains and URLs, classifies them as brand, competitor, social, Google or institutional, and tracks new and dropped sources. > See which domains and URLs AI models cite most, track new and dropped sources over time, and break down citations by category — brand, competitor, social, and more. > — https://www.elmohq.com/features · Features, block 05 'CITATIONS' **Competitor tracking** · Yes — Named competitors are tracked in the same prompts and views as your own brand, with share of voice, a leaderboard and per-prompt trend lines, and it is included in the free self-hosted build. > Compare your brand's mention share against every competitor. A live leaderboard ranks who AI engines name most, and where you're missing. > — https://www.elmohq.com/features · Features, block 03 'SHARE OF VOICE' **Brand sentiment** · No — Sentiment is published as an upcoming feature rather than a shipped one, and the vendor's own tool comparisons list Sentiment Analysis as something rivals have and Elmo does not. > Detect whether mentions of your brand in AI responses skew positive, neutral, or negative. > — https://www.elmohq.com/roadmap · On Deck / Upcoming Features, 'Citation sentiment tracking' **Recommendations** · Yes — It goes past reporting: generated opportunities name what to do next and are retrievable from the REST API and the MCP server, not just the dashboard. > Opportunities — retrieve the latest generated brand opportunities > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/api · Overview, Endpoints list **AI crawler analytics** · No — Nothing is installed on your site and no server logs are ingested; the documented mechanism is scheduled prompt runs against AI surfaces, and the vendor's comparison pages credit AI Crawler Analytics to rivals only. > Once running, it periodically queries AI models with your configured prompts and tracks how they mention your brand, competitors, and cited sources over time. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs · Introduction, 'How It Works' section **Wrong answers about you** · No — Responses are inspectable per prompt, but no accuracy or false-claim flagging is offered. > Drill into any prompt to see exactly what each AI model said, which brands were mentioned, what sources were cited, and how the response was constructed. > — https://www.elmohq.com/features · Feature 08/DEEP DIVE, body text ## Plans and signing up **Prompt or credit allowance** · Yes — Cloud plans meter tracked prompts — 50 on Starter and Basic, 150 on Pro, 350 on Business — while grounded premium runs are a separate pool billed per extra pairing; self-hosting is uncapped. > Grounded and cited. 20 prompt/model pairings included, each answered daily. $5/mo for each extra pairing. > — https://www.elmohq.com/pricing · Cloud Plans, Pro card, premium pairing note **Projects or brands** · Partly — Brands are a plan limit rather than a free dimension: one brand on Starter and Basic, two on Pro, five on Business, and more only on the quoted Custom contract. > 1 brand > — https://www.elmohq.com/pricing · Cloud Plans, Starter card, plan limits **Countries** · No — The docs state plainly that country localization is not exposed in the scrape-target configuration yet, and no plan, setting or provider section offers picking a market or language. > Country localization is intentionally not exposed in SCRAPE_TARGETS yet because support differs by DataForSEO surface and underlying model. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/user-guide/providers · DataForSEO section, closing paragraph **How often it checks** · Yes — Cadence is a plan lever: scraped engines run once daily on Starter and four times daily above it, premium grounded models once daily, and self-hosting defaults to every 24 hours with five samples per run. > We scrape AI answers up to 4× daily > — https://www.elmohq.com/pricing · Cloud plan card, feature bullet list **Card required to start** · No — The free route is self-hosting, which needs neither an account nor a card; the cloud has no free tier or trial, only a read-only live demo, so paying starts at signup. > No. Self-hosting Elmo does not require an account or a credit card. Clone the open-source repository, deploy with the CLI, and start tracking your AI visibility. > — https://www.elmohq.com/pricing · FAQ, 'Do I need a credit card to get started?' **Self-serve signup** · Yes — The four cloud tiers are bought by signing up, and the self-hosted build needs no contact at all; only white-label and Custom contracts route through a call. > Self-serve cloud, billed monthly or annually. > — https://www.elmohq.com/pricing · Cloud Plans section heading ## Access and integrations **API** · Yes — A documented REST API ships on every plan and in the self-hosted build, with organization keys that carry explicit scopes, can be limited to chosen brands and can be given an expiry. > Elmo provides a REST API for managing organizations and retrieving analytics programmatically. All endpoints require Bearer token authentication. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/api · Overview, opening paragraph **MCP server** · Yes — An MCP endpoint is served by both the cloud app and every self-hosted instance with nothing to enable, authenticating with the same scoped API keys so a client can be granted less than your own access. > Elmo serves a Model Context Protocol endpoint at /api/mcp, so an AI client can read your visibility data and manage prompts without you copying numbers between windows. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/mcp · MCP page, opening paragraph **BI export** · Partly — There is no packaged Looker or Power BI connector — the vendor's own comparisons mark BI Connectors as absent — but the REST API is open and a self-hosted instance can be pointed at a Postgres database you own. > To use an existing database instead, choose "Use existing Postgres" during elmo init and provide your connection string when prompted. > — https://www.elmohq.com/docs/developer-guide/configuration · Using an External Database section ## Platform record (as of 2026-08-30) Reported by the code-hosting platform, not by the vendor. | Fact | Value | | --- | --- | | Licence | MIT | | Stars | 280 | | Forks | 64 | | Last push | 2026-08-30 | ## Answer-engine source observations 0 of 4 collected answers have source URL/title annotations naming CitedIndex. These are the latest stored observations per engine, not current consumer-UI results. They do not measure product mentions or establish that a source supports a claim. | Engine | Model | Collected on | Query | CitedIndex in source annotations | Source annotations | Other source hosts (up to 6) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ChatGPT | gpt-4o-mini | 2026-09-04 | Elmo alternatives | Not assessable — no source annotations | 0 | — | | Claude | claude-haiku-4-5 | 2026-09-04 | Elmo alternatives | Not assessable — no source annotations | 0 | — | | Gemini | gemini-2.5-flash | 2026-09-04 | Elmo alternatives | Directory domain not found in observed annotations | 26 | etsy.com, walmart.com, target.com, momsandcrafters.com, reddit.com, ranker.com | | Perplexity | sonar | 2026-09-04 | Elmo alternatives | Directory domain not found in observed annotations | 20 | g2.com, reddit.com, getapp.com, capterra.co.nz, capterra.com, sentrient.com.au | ## Provenance 1 of 11 sources behind the facts above are independent of the vendor. ## Coverage elsewhere None recorded. Every fact above comes from the vendor and is not independently corroborated yet. ## What changed - 2026-09-11 — Capabilities · Free tier - 2026-09-01 — Capabilities · Free tier - 2026-08-31 — Capabilities · Free tier · Price - 2026-08-23 — Documentation link · One-liner · Repository · Summary - 2026-08-20 — One-liner · Summary ## Correcting this record Anything marked "Not established" is a question we have not answered — it is not a No. If you represent Elmo, or anything here is wrong or out of date, you can supply it with a source: the operations this site accepts from an agent are listed at https://citedindex.com/.well-known/agents.json — that catalogue needs no key to read, and each entry states its own auth. Supplying evidence is free. Nothing that can be bought here changes what a field says, whether a gap is closed, or how this record is scored.