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APIEndpoint 22 of 40AI Optimization / Comparison / Competitive Intelligence

AI Compare API

Used to require manual prompting and tab-switching across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity.

Now it's one call: two domains in, side-by-side breakdown out. Your agent compares your domain against 2-5 competitors on your core keywords across all major LLMs in a single request. See who gets cited more, who appears in more responses, who ranks higher in AI search. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews all supported via first-party DataForSEO execution.

Start Free — 50 CreditsView Docs

POST /v1/ai/compare · 10 credits / call

POST /v1/ai/compareyou 78 · competitor 64
AI visibility · A vs B
78out of 100
Rankings25%82
Reviews30%91
Profile completeness25%67
Citation consistency20%74
▌ Ask your agent

These prompts are the new competitive intelligence workflow.

Connect Local SEO Data as an MCP server once (60 seconds, below). Then your agent monitors your AI competitive position. Replace bracketed values with your own.

Weekly AI competitive audit

Compare [mycompany.com] vs [competitor1.com] and [competitor2.com] for our top 15 commercial keywords across ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Flag any keyword where a competitor gets 50%+ more mentions than us.

Prospect vs client benchmarking

Before the sales call, pull an AI comparison: [prospect.com] vs [mycompany.com] on [industry keyword]. Show the prospect exactly how often they appear in ChatGPT responses vs their current provider. Close the deal with quantified underperformance.

Multi-competitor tracking

Run a monthly comparison: [mycompany.com] vs [competitor1.com], [competitor2.com], [competitor3.com], and [competitor4.com] for [core keyword]. Rank-order by total mentions. Alert me when any competitor's mentions spike.

AI visibility gap analysis

Compare [mycompany.com] across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity vs [main competitor.com]. Which LLM is our biggest weakness? Which is our strongest surface? Allocate SEO effort to the biggest gaps.

▌ Real response

What you get back

Live response from POST /v1/ai/compare comparing three plumbing companies in Austin, TX for plumbing-related queries.

response · application/json~7-10s · 10 credits
{
  "status": "success",
  "credits_used": 10,
  "data": {
    "keywords": ["plumber austin", "emergency plumber austin"],
    "by_domain": [
      {
        "domain": "abcplumbing.com",
        "total_mentions": 12,
        "total_impressions": 4800,
        "ai_search_volume": 2400,
        "platform_breakdown": {
          "chat_gpt": { "mentions": 5, "impressions": 2200 },
          "claude": { "mentions": 4, "impressions": 1800 },
          "gemini": { "mentions": 2, "impressions": 700 },
          "perplexity": { "mentions": 1, "impressions": 100 }
        }
      },
      {
        "domain": "xyzplumbing.com",
        "total_mentions": 8,
        "total_impressions": 3100,
        "ai_search_volume": 2400,
        "platform_breakdown": {
          "chat_gpt": { "mentions": 4, "impressions": 1600 },
          "claude": { "mentions": 2, "impressions": 900 },
          "gemini": { "mentions": 1, "impressions": 400 },
          "perplexity": { "mentions": 1, "impressions": 200 }
        }
      },
      {
        "domain": "bestplumber.com",
        "total_mentions": 3,
        "total_impressions": 900,
        "ai_search_volume": 2400,
        "platform_breakdown": {
          "chat_gpt": { "mentions": 2, "impressions": 500 },
          "claude": { "mentions": 1, "impressions": 300 },
          "gemini": { "mentions": 0, "impressions": 0 },
          "perplexity": { "mentions": 0, "impressions": 100 }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
▌ Returns

Side-by-side competitive visibility at a glance

Total mention differential

Who gets cited more often across LLMs

Compare total mentions, impressions, and raw visibility score for each domain. One number per domain tells you exactly where you stand relative to each competitor on your core keywords.

Per-LLM breakdown

Platform-specific competitive gaps

See how each domain ranks in ChatGPT separately from Claude, Gemini, Perplexity. You may dominate in ChatGPT but fall behind in Claude. This breaks down where to focus SEO effort by LLM surface.

Comparative ranking

Who wins, who ties, who loses per keyword

For each keyword in your comparison, see which domain gets mentioned most. Track whether you or your competitor appears first in the LLM's answer. Understand the winner per query.

Impression share

Your share of AI visibility traffic

Out of total impressions for your query set, what percentage go to your domain vs your competitors. Portfolio view: if you have 40% of impressions and competitor has 35%, you're winning. Track this monthly.

▌ Built for

What AI-native operators ship with this

Agency competitive reporting

Agencies now deliver monthly AI competitive benchmarks alongside traditional SEO reports. Pull a 2-minute comparison, insert into your client dashboard, show the client where they stand in ChatGPT vs their competitors. Justifies the contract.

→ For agencies

Pre-pitch prospect audits

Before a sales call with a prospect, run a quick AI compare: prospect vs their top 3 competitors on their core keywords. Walk in knowing the prospect's AI visibility gap. Quantified problem = closed deal. Costs $0.05. Prospects never see a dashboard.

→ For consultants

Market entry intelligence

Planning to enter a new market? Run an AI compare on 3-5 dominant local competitors across your target keywords. See who dominates ChatGPT, who's weak in Perplexity, where the gaps are. Prioritize keywords where leaders are weak.

→ Keyword Opportunities API

Monthly AI market tracking

Set a monthly reminder: pull an AI compare for your top 5 competitors every month for 10 core keywords. Build a time-series: are you gaining or losing ground in ChatGPT? Is a competitor surging in Gemini? Detect trends before they compound.

→ Reputation Audit API
▌ vs. the alternatives

Why not run the comparisons manually?

Comparing domains across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity by hand takes 20+ minutes per keyword and produces unrepeatable results — different samples, different phrasing. Competitors charge $200–$2000 per month. We charge $0.05 per comparison call, unlimited domains, unlimited keywords (within reason). Here's how the options stack up.

ApproachCost per comparisonMax domainsLLMs coveredRepeatabilityAgent-ready
Manual tab-switching (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.)$0 but ~20 min labor1 at a timeWhatever you checkNoneNo
Profound (enterprise comparison feature)$499–$2000/mo (~$16–65 per query)Unlimited10+ platformsHourly+ refreshesDashboard only
AthenaHQ (head-to-head)$300–$1000/mo (~$10–33 per query)2–5ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, PerplexityDaily refreshesDashboard + API
Otterly.ai (benchmarking)$29–$99/mo (~$0.97–3.30 per query)2–34 LLMs + Google AIWeeklyReporting UI
Peec AI (comparison)$99–$299/mo (~$3.30–10 per query)2–54 platformsWeeklyManual export
Local SEO Data AI Compare API$0.05 per call2–5 domainsChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, PerplexityOn-demand or scheduledNative MCP, agent-first
▌ Connect in 60 seconds

Use it from your agent

Two integration surfaces: MCP for clients that speak MCP, REST API for everything else.

Direct MCP integration

Drop-in support in Claude Desktop, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, and any MCP-aware client.

Add to your client's MCP config (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "localseodata": {
      "url": "https://mcp.localseodata.com",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer sk_live_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

REST API

For Perplexity Computer, ChatGPT Custom GPTs, custom agents, and any platform that calls REST endpoints directly.

Base URL:

api.localseodata.com

See the docs for endpoint reference and auth.

▌ Quickstart

Your first call in three lines

Core parameters: `domains` (array of 2-5 domains to compare) and `keywords` (array of up to 10 keywords to compare across). Optional `location` (defaults to United States, accepts format like 'Austin, TX'). One call executes all domain-keyword combinations across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. Result is a direct side-by-side breakdown: which domain ranks highest per keyword, which gets more total impressions, which dominates which LLM.

terminal · curl
POST /v1/ai/compare
curl -X POST https://api.localseodata.com/v1/ai/compare \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "domains": ["abcplumbing.com", "xyzplumbing.com", "bestplumber.com"],
    "keywords": ["plumber austin", "emergency plumber austin"],
    "location": "Austin, Texas"
  }'
Full endpoint reference → · Get an API key →
▌ Pricing for this endpoint

$0.05 per comparison call

Pay-as-you-go starts at $5. No monthly minimums. No per-seat licenses. No subscription required. Funds never expire.

Free tier
50
credits on signup (10 comparisons)
Starter · $5
100
credits, no expiration
Per-call cost
$0.05
per comparison (2-5 domains)
▌ FAQ

Common questions

What is the AI Compare API?+
A REST endpoint that compares 2-5 domains' AI visibility side by side across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. You pass a list of domains and keywords; the API returns mention count, impression estimates, and platform-specific breakdown for each domain. One call tells you which domain gets cited more often, which appears in more LLM responses, which ranks higher per keyword. Cost: 10 credits (~$0.05). This is competitive intelligence for the LLM era.
How is this different from the AI Visibility API?+
AI Visibility (POST /v1/ai/visibility) measures a single domain's visibility: one domain, get back its total mentions, impressions, and composite score. AI Compare is the comparative sibling: multiple domains, side-by-side metrics, see who wins. AI Visibility answers 'How visible is my domain overall'. AI Compare answers 'Who's winning the AI search battle for this keyword — me or my competitor.' Most teams use both: Visibility for single-domain tracking and trend analysis, Compare for competitive benchmarking and prospect audits.
Can I compare any domains (mine and competitors)?+
Yes, no ownership verification. Pass your domain alongside 2-4 competitor domains and the API ranks them side by side. This is what makes competitive intelligence work. You can compare your own domain against your top competitors, a prospect against incumbents, or a market landscape. The API doesn't care about ownership — you provide the domains, you get the comparison.
Which LLMs are included in the comparison?+
ChatGPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), Perplexity (Perplexity AI), and Google AI Overviews. These are the major LLM surfaces driving real traffic in 2026. Each has distinct ranking behavior — the same keyword may rank domain A higher in ChatGPT but domain B higher in Claude. The API returns total metrics and a per-platform breakdown so you see the landscape across all five.
How many domains can I compare at once?+
2-5 domains per call. Minimum is 2 (you and one competitor); maximum is 5 (yourself plus four competitors). If you need to compare more, make multiple calls — 5 domains, then another 5 — and aggregate the results in your agent logic.
How many keywords can I compare across?+
Up to 10 keywords per call. The API executes all domain-keyword combinations in parallel, so comparing 5 domains across 10 keywords runs as one call (50 domain-keyword pairs internally), not 50 separate calls. The cost is fixed at 10 credits per call regardless of domain or keyword count.
Where does the comparison data come from?+
We operate first-party collection infrastructure — our agents run your keywords directly against ChatGPT API, Claude API, Gemini API, Perplexity API, and Google AI Overviews (via web scraping). We execute each query for each domain, capture whether and how it's mentioned, count mentions and impressions, and return the structured breakdown. We don't rely on cached or third-party data — each call executes fresh. Data is current at call time, not hours old.
How fresh is the comparison data?+
On-demand. Each API call executes your keywords live across all five LLM platforms for each domain in your comparison set. LLM responses can vary between calls, so we execute multiple times per keyword-domain pair to stabilize the signal. Full results are available within 7-10 seconds of the API call. If you set up a scheduled agent, you can run monthly or weekly comparisons to build a time-series.
How does this compare to Profound, AthenaHQ, Peec AI, and Otterly?+
Profound ($499–$2000/mo), AthenaHQ ($300–$1000/mo), Peec AI ($99–$299/mo), and Otterly ($29–$99/mo) all offer dashboards that compare domains on AI visibility. Profound is enterprise-grade with high pricing; AthenaHQ is mid-market; Otterly and Peec are budget options. All are designed for humans logging in and reading reports. Our API is agent-first — your Claude prompt calls this endpoint, gets JSON, and acts on it. Pricing: Profound costs $16–65 per query when annualized; AthenaHQ costs $10–33; Otterly costs ~$1–3.30; we cost $0.05 per call. If you're comparing 100+ times per month (monthly reports for 10 clients, monthly audits, ongoing tracking), API pricing wins. If you want a dashboard your CEO logs into weekly, those tools are better suited.
Can my AI agent use this directly?+
Yes, that's exactly what we built this for. Two integration paths: MCP: add Local SEO Data to your claude_desktop_config.json and your Claude agent calls this endpoint from any prompt. REST: any agent that can make HTTPS calls (ChatGPT Custom GPTs, Perplexity Computer, custom Python/Node agents) hits the API directly with your Bearer token. The agent receives structured JSON with the by_domain array and can filter, rank, alert, or report on it. No integration code needed — just write the prompt.
What does it cost compared to competitors?+
We charge $0.05 per comparison call (2-5 domains, up to 10 keywords). Profound costs $499–$2000/mo (~$16–65 per query when annualized over 30-100 queries). AthenaHQ costs $300–$1000/mo (~$10–33 per query). Otterly costs $29–$99/mo (~$0.97–3.30 per query). Peec AI costs $99–$299/mo. If you run 100 comparisons per month, we cost $5 total; Profound costs $500+. If you run 10 comparisons per month, we cost $0.50; Profound still costs $500. Pay-per-call eliminates the monthly minimum.
What changed in 2026 that made AI competitive comparison necessary?+
Three things: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are no longer experimental — they're part of how people search in 2026. Second, traditional SEO visibility metrics (Google rankings, blue link position) don't translate to LLM surfaces. You don't 'rank position 3' in ChatGPT; you either get mentioned or cited or not. Understanding competitive positioning in LLM eyes requires a new kind of data. Third, MCP (Model Context Protocol) became standard, making it practical for agents to call specialized APIs without custom integration code. The dashboard era built side-by-side comparison tools for SEO (Ahrefs rank tracking, Semrush competitor analysis). The agent era needs APIs that return that competitive data as structured JSON. AI Compare is a 2026 native category because LLM visibility is now a real traffic surface and competitive benchmarking is now a real business need.
▌ Related endpoints

Often used in the same agent prompt

POST /v1/ai/visibility
AI Visibility

Single-domain score: mentions, impressions, and sentiment across LLMs.

POST /v1/ai/mentions
AI Mentions

Granular: every mention, question, answer, and citation for a keyword.

POST /v1/ai/overview
AI Overview

Does Google's AI Overview cite your domain for specific queries.

POST /v1/competitor-gap
Competitor Gap

Find link-building opportunities: sites linking to competitors but not you.

Compare your AI visibility in the same moment you check it.

50 free credits on signup. Your first comparison happens through your agent, not a dashboard.

Start FreeRead the docs
▌ MADE FOR THE NEW LOCAL SEO STACK