Unsourced vs Gauge
Updated 2026-07-04 · maintained by Unsourced
Gauge and Unsourced both watch whether AI answers name you, but they draw the line in different places. Gauge leads with question intelligence — a large prompt library, daily tracking of which questions prospects ask — and wraps an AI Analyst and in-platform content generation around it. The catch is coverage: which assistants you can see is set by which tier you pay for. Unsourced covers seven assistants on every plan and puts the evidence, not the engine count, at the centre. Here is how they line up.
An estimate from sampled prompts. Cited in which answer? By whom? Did an AI actually read your page? The number can’t say — so when it moves, you’re guessing why.
The actual answer, the verified fetch behind it, and the exact topic where a competitor won instead — open it, check it, act on it.
Coverage by tier, or seven assistants on every plan
Gauge's model is to meter the engines: as published at the time of writing, its entry plan tracks ChatGPT only at $99 a month, multi-engine coverage arrives at $599, and assistants like Claude and Grok are reserved for Enterprise. For a brand that only cares about ChatGPT today, starting narrow is reasonable. But AI answers are not confined to one engine, and a tool that unlocks assistants as you pay more decides in advance how much of the picture you are allowed to see.
Unsourced covers seven assistants on every plan from £39, and spends its depth not on gating engines but on the evidence: the cited answer, the verified crawl, and the competitor named in your place.
Where Unsourced spends its depth
- Every assistant, not a paywalled subset. Seven assistants are checked on the base plan, so coverage isn't rationed by tier.
- Identity, not just appearance. Bot Trust confirms each crawler against published IP ranges and forward-confirmed reverse DNS, catching a spoofed “GPTBot”.
- A measured re-check. Mark a gap actioned and Unsourced re-tests that exact topic about a week later, confirming a citation only on evidence.
Question intelligence and content generation, or focused proof
Gauge wraps its tracking in breadth: an AI Analyst that surfaces recommendations, in-platform content generation, and integrations across GA4, Search Console and Semrush. That is a lot of surface for a team that wants monitoring, advice and drafting in one place. Unsourced is deliberately narrower — it does not write your content or gate your engines — and puts everything into proving the citation and the crawl, on a flat £39-a-month plan with a 10-day free trial and no card. Breadth with metered coverage, or focused evidence with none of it rationed: that is the choice.
Unsourced and Gauge, point by point
| Unsourced | Gauge | |
|---|---|---|
| Assistant coverage | Seven assistants on every plan | Gated by tier — ChatGPT-only entry, multi-engine higher up |
| Starting price | From £39/mo — Studio £89, Agency £199; flat, self-serve, free trial | $99/mo ChatGPT-only; $599/mo multi-engine; Claude/Grok on Enterprise |
| Core output | The cited answer plus the verified crawl behind it | Question-intelligence tracking + content generation |
| Verified crawler identity | Yes — published IP ranges + reverse DNS (Verified / Impostor / Unverifiable) | Not stated |
| Live crawl vs training data | Yes — Origin Signal separates a live fetch from old training data | Not stated |
| Proof a fix worked | Re-checks the exact topic, confirms a citation only on evidence | Not stated |
| Exportable client reports | AI Visibility Audit + Evidence Report PDFs | Dashboard reporting |
The Gauge column is drawn from Gauge’s own published information and was accurate at the time of writing; “not stated” means the company does not publish that detail. Pricing and features change — see the source link below.
The number most visibility tools never check
Gauge meters which AI engines you can see by the tier you buy. Even at full coverage, a mention count can't confirm whether an AI fetched your live page — or whether the crawler behind it was genuinely the assistant it claimed to be.
In a two-week study, Human Security found 5.7% of traffic claiming to be a well-known AI crawler was fake, and DataDome reports the same agents are routinely impersonated. A tool that trusts the user-agent counts those spoofs as real AI interest. Unsourced checks every crawler against the operator’s published IP ranges and forward-confirmed reverse DNS — Verified, Impostor or Unverifiable — so the crawl behind a citation is evidence, not a string anyone can type.
Common questions
Does Gauge cover all the AI assistants on its entry plan?
As published at the time of writing, Gauge gates coverage by tier: the $99-a-month entry tracks ChatGPT only, multi-engine coverage arrives at $599, and Claude and Grok sit on Enterprise. Unsourced covers seven assistants on every plan from £39, so the engines aren't rationed by price. Check Gauge's site for current tiers.
Gauge generates content and has an AI Analyst — does Unsourced?
No, and that is deliberate. Gauge bundles monitoring with content generation and an AI Analyst; Unsourced is a focused evidence layer that does not write your pages. Keeping the scope narrow is what lets it verify the crawler behind each citation, separate a live crawl from training data, and prove a fix moved a real citation. Breadth, or depth on the proof.
If I only care about ChatGPT today, why would seven assistants matter?
Because AI answers rarely stay on one engine, and Unsourced's seven-assistant coverage starts at £39 a month, below Gauge's ChatGPT-only entry — so you are not paying more for breadth. You also get the evidence layer — verified crawls, the competitor gap, measured lift — rather than a single-engine mention count. If ChatGPT is genuinely all that ever matters to you, you still lose nothing by having the rest included.
More comparisons
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What you walk away with
Whichever tool you choose, ask what it hands you. Every Unsourced account generates two reports built from your own live data — open them, check them, hand them to a client or your boss:
Sources & disclosures
This comparison is based on Gauge's own published information, accurate as of 2026-07-04. Pricing and features change — follow the link for Gauge's current details.
All competitor names, logos and brands are the property of their respective owners and are used here solely for nominative, comparative identification; their use does not imply affiliation with or endorsement by them. Each comparison is drawn from the competitor’s own publicly available information and was accurate as of the date shown — pricing and features change, so check the linked source for current details.
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