AskedAbout vs HubSpot AI Search Grader: a deeper, independent AI-visibility read

HubSpot AI Search Grader vs AskedAbout, side by side

HubSpot AI Search Grader's structure, features and access above are summarized from hubspot.com and public reviews/roundups as of July 2026 and change frequently — check hubspot.com for current details. We don't claim feature parity, and we're not saying it's paid or that it's bad: it's a free, useful tool. We deliberately do one thing well.

What HubSpot AI Search Grader is great at

If you want a fast, free, brand-level read of how AI describes your company — a share-of-voice number and a sense of sentiment — HubSpot's grader is a genuinely good place to start, and it's free. It sits in the same free-tools tradition as HubSpot's Website Grader: low-friction, marketing-team-friendly, and designed to give you a quick score you can screenshot and share. For a recognizable brand doing a first gut-check, that's often exactly enough — and if you're already in the HubSpot ecosystem, it fits naturally.

Where AskedAbout fits better

A free grade answers "roughly, how does AI see my brand?" Most small and single-vertical businesses have a sharper question: does AI recommend me over my named competitors for the searches my customers actually type — and if not, what do I fix? AskedAbout is built for that:

• A per-business audit, not a brand-level grade. We run the actual buyer-intent questions your customers ask ("best med spa in Scottsdale," "top injury lawyer near me") and report whether you get named — and who takes your slot when you don't.
• Four engines, not mostly one. We check ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude through their official APIs, because your customers don't all use the same assistant — and the answers differ by engine.
• Sampled, so the number is honest. AI answers change every time you ask. We sample each question 3× per engine (300 answers in a full audit) and report how often you show up, instead of a single reading that could flip tomorrow.
• A fix plan, not just a score. A grade tells you where you stand; it doesn't hand you the specific, prioritized actions that move it. AskedAbout ends with exactly that — what to change, in what order.
• Independent, with no signup for the free read. The free 60-second check needs no login and isn't a funnel into a larger platform — it's just your answer. The full audit is a flat $79, one-time.
• Names the competitors taking your place. The most useful thing a quick grade omits is who AI recommends instead of you, and how often. That's the heart of every AskedAbout report.

The number a free grade won't give you: who's beating you, and by how much

Across the 10 local businesses we benchmarked (5 personal-injury law firms + 5 med spas), the average AI-visibility score was 20/100, the business was named in only ~38% of AI answers, 9 of 10 had a competitor named more often than them, and 49 distinct competitors surfaced across the set. (Methodology: 25 buyer-intent questions per business, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, each sampled 3× — 300 answers per business via official APIs; the n=10 set scored 0–100.) A free brand-level grade can tell you your share-of-voice is low. What it usually can't tell you is which specific competitor is taking your slot in which engine, how often, and what to change first — which is the gap this audit is built to close.

Both start free — so what's the difference?

Price isn't the wedge here; both a free grader and AskedAbout's free 60-second check cost nothing. The difference is what the free read is for. A grader's free result is a brand-level score designed, in part, to bring you into a marketing platform. AskedAbout's free check is a straight answer to "does AI name me or my rivals for my category?" — no signup, no upsell into a suite — and the paid step, if you take it, is a one-time $79 audit with the actual fix plan, not a subscription. Use the grader for a quick brand gut-check; use AskedAbout when you want the per-business, multi-engine picture and the list of things to fix.

When HubSpot AI Search Grader is the right choice

We'd rather tell you the truth than win the wrong click. If you want a fast, free, brand-level snapshot — especially if you're a marketing team already living in HubSpot — the AI Search Grader does that job well and costs nothing. AskedAbout is the better call when you want an independent, per-business audit across four engines, sampled so the number holds up, that ends with a prioritized fix plan — and you'd rather not trade your details for a report or get pulled into a larger platform to see where you stand. Plenty of businesses run a free grade first, then come to AskedAbout for the specifics.

What you get for $79

A full audit runs 25 buyer-intent questions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, sampled 3 times each — 300 answers in all — then reports your mention rate per engine, the competitors taking your slot and how often, which sources the engines lean on when they build a shortlist without you, and a prioritized fix plan. Delivered as a web report in minutes. Before you pay anything, a free 60-second check — no login — shows whether the engines name you or your rivals.

See the whole category

Comparing more than just the free grader? See the full AI visibility tools compared — Profound, Otterly.ai, AthenaHQ, Peec AI, Ahrefs Brand Radar and Scrunch AI, side by side with the $79 one-time alternative. Weighing the enterprise platforms instead? See AskedAbout vs Profound or AskedAbout vs AthenaHQ. Looking at monthly monitoring? See AskedAbout vs Otterly.ai or AskedAbout vs Peec AI. Weighing an AI module inside an SEO suite, or a continuous enterprise program? See AskedAbout vs Ahrefs Brand Radar or AskedAbout vs Scrunch AI.

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