SpyFu ChatGPT Mention Tracking Review
SpyFu's ChatGPT mention tracking, called SpyGPT, is a reverse search rather than a prompt tracker. SpyFu says it asked ChatGPT some 250 million questions, and you can search the answers for your brand or your competitors to see which questions mention them. That includes questions where rivals appear and you do not. It covers ChatGPT only. SpyFu's pricing page includes AI Brand Monitoring from the Pro + AI plan ($119 a month, or $89 billed annually); the $39 Basic plan does not include it. It is a cheap way to discover which ChatGPT questions matter in your market, and how ChatGPT describes you. It is not a daily tracker of your own prompts across several engines, so pair it with manual checks or a tracker if you need that.
What does SpyGPT do?
According to SpyFu's own description:
- A large question database. SpyFu asked ChatGPT about 250 million questions, built around frequently asked questions, and stores the answers.
- Reverse search. Search your brand, a competitor or a domain, and see the questions whose answers mention it, and what ChatGPT said.
- Search operators. Use + and − to combine names. For example, one or two competitors minus your brand shows the questions where they are recommended and you are not.
- Discovery. It surfaces questions you might never have thought to ask, in the same way SpyFu's original tool reverse-searched Google results for competitors' keywords.
The idea mirrors SpyFu's heritage: find what others rank or appear for, then close the gap.
What does it cost?
SpyFu's plans, as listed on its pricing page:
| Plan | Monthly | Billed annually | Notable limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 | $29/mo | 5,000 weekly tracked keywords, 1 site tracking project, 1 user; no AI Brand Monitoring |
| Pro + AI | $59 first month, then $119 | $89/mo | 15,000 weekly tracked keywords, 10 projects, API, white-label reports, AI Brand Monitoring |
| Team / Agency | $249 | $187/mo | 50,000 weekly tracked keywords, unlimited projects, 5 users |
SpyFu lists AI Brand Monitoring and a ChatGPT integration, which brings SpyFu data into ChatGPT, among the AI tools in its plans. Check which AI features are included in the plan you choose.
How does a database differ from prompt tracking?
This is the key thing to understand before relying on SpyGPT:
| SpyGPT's database | Prompt tracking tools | |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | SpyFu's large set of common questions | Your own chosen questions |
| Engines | ChatGPT | Several, depending on the tool |
| Best for | Discovering which questions mention you or rivals | Measuring change on specific questions over time |
| Frequency | Refresh schedule set by SpyFu | Daily or weekly, set by you |
| Cost | Included from Pro + AI: $119 a month ($89 billed annually) | Typically from about $29 to several hundred dollars a month |
A database answers "where in ChatGPT do we and our rivals appear?" across a wide range of questions. A tracker answers "are we appearing more often for these 50 questions this month?" Both are useful, for different jobs. Similar database approaches include DataForSEO's LLM Mentions API, covered in the DataForSEO LLM Mentions API review.
What can it tell you about how ChatGPT describes you?
Because SpyGPT stores the answers, not just whether you appear, you can read how ChatGPT talks about your brand across many questions. Look for patterns:
- Labels: is your brand called "budget", "premium", "for beginners" or "enterprise"? Do those match your positioning?
- Outdated facts: old prices, discontinued products or former names repeated across answers.
- Company you keep: which competitors appear alongside you, and in what order.
- Reasons given: the features or qualities ChatGPT cites when it recommends you or a rival.
Those patterns are often more useful than a mention count, because they show what to correct on your site and on the sources ChatGPT relies on.
How does it compare with other research databases?
SpyGPT is one of several databases of AI answers:
- Ahrefs Brand Radar covers several engines, including Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, from $199 a month per platform, with cited domains and pages.
- Semrush Prompt Research draws on a database of more than 317 million prompts, with topic volumes and cited domains, in its $99-a-month toolkit.
- DataForSEO's LLM Mentions API offers similar data for developers, priced per request.
SpyGPT's advantage is simplicity for ChatGPT-focused research inside a tool many SEO and PPC teams already pay for. Its main gap is engine coverage.
What should you ask SpyFu before relying on it?
- How often is the question database refreshed, and when was it last updated?
- Are answers collected from ChatGPT's app, or through the developer API?
- Which countries and languages do the questions cover?
- Which plans include AI Brand Monitoring, and are there search limits?
What are the limits?
- ChatGPT only. Google's AI features, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude are not covered.
- Database questions, not your buyers'. The questions are chosen by SpyFu, so niche or specialist buyer questions may be missing.
- Collection method and freshness. Ask how answers are gathered and how often the database is refreshed. Answers from ChatGPT's developer API can differ from what users see in the app, which is covered in why ChatGPT API answers differ from the web app.
- Single answers. A stored answer is one response at one time. ChatGPT's answers vary, so treat any single result as a sample.
How should you use it?
- Search your brand and list the questions where you appear, and how ChatGPT describes you.
- Search competitors minus your brand to find questions where rivals are recommended and you are not.
- Group those questions by theme, such as pricing, alternatives, integrations or use cases.
- Check the most valuable questions manually in ChatGPT, several times each, to confirm the pattern still holds.
- Build or improve pages that answer those questions, and pursue the third-party sources ChatGPT cites for competitors.
- Track a short list of the resulting questions over time, by hand or with a tracker.
Who is it for?
- Good fit: existing SpyFu users, PPC and SEO specialists who already use SpyFu for competitor research, and small businesses wanting cheap ChatGPT insight.
- Reasonable fit: agencies using it for prospecting, to show a client which ChatGPT questions name their rivals.
- Poor fit: teams needing multi-engine tracking, daily data, or reporting on specific prompts over time. Tools such as SE Visible and Gauge are built for that.
What might this look like in practice?
Consider an illustrative online plant shop, Fernhollow. A SpyGPT search for two competitors minus Fernhollow returned dozens of questions, such as "where to buy rare houseplants online" and "best online plant shop with guaranteed delivery". ChatGPT's answers named the competitors and cited two gardening sites and a review platform. Manual checks confirmed the pattern for most of them. Fernhollow added a delivery guarantee page, pitched both gardening sites and began asking every customer for an honest review in their own words on platforms that allow requests (never Yelp), then tracked ten of the questions by hand each month.
What do people ask about SpyFu's ChatGPT tracking?
What is SpyGPT?
SpyFu's reverse search over a database of ChatGPT answers, which shows which questions mention a brand or its competitors.
Does SpyFu track Gemini or Perplexity?
Its ChatGPT mention search covers ChatGPT. Other engines need another tool.
How much does it cost?
It is included from SpyFu's Pro + AI plan, $119 a month or $89 billed annually; the Basic plan does not include it.
Can I track my own prompts daily with SpyFu?
Not in the way dedicated trackers do. SpyGPT searches SpyFu's question database; for daily tracking of your own questions, use a tracker or manual checks.
Published by The Kovmere Team · updated Sep 29, 2026 · More resources