AI citation checker for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity

What is an AI citation checker?

An AI citation checker records which websites the AI engines cited when they answered the questions people ask about what you do. MentionChecker gives it as the sources list on every report: every website the check's answers cited, ranked by how many answers cited each, your own site marked wherever its number puts it, and the exact pages on a second view. There is nothing to type in first: a website is on the list because an answer cited it.

MentionChecker is a pay-as-you-go AI visibility checker. It asks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot the questions people ask about what you do, and tells you whether your brand is mentioned in the answers. A citation is a page an AI engine lists under its answer as its source. A mention is an answer with your brand in it. An answer can mention you without citing your site, and cite your site without mentioning you, and the report counts the two apart: mentions in the standings, citations in the sources list.

The What is AI visibility page defines the measure the sources list is part of.

Where do AI citations come from?

AI citations are the pages the AI engines list under their answers, and the report ranks them by website, the most cited first: on the check below, run on 9 September 2026 with 51 answers, rtings.com was cited in 59% of them, whathifi.com in 45%, reddit.com in 37%, youtube.com and soundguys.com in 29% and techradar.com in 24%.

The list differs by AI engine and by question, which is why the check counts every citation over all of the answers. On 18 September 2026 we asked six AI engines for cosy puzzle games with no ads from the United States: the six answers cited 41 different pages on 21 websites, and five of those websites were cited by more than one AI engine.

How are the sources ranked in an AI citation check?

By how many of the check's answers cited each, never by the raw number of links. An AI engine can cite several pages of one website in a single answer, and that counts once for the website on the Domains view.

The URLs view ranks the exact pages the same way, each with its title when the AI engine gave one and its address under it. On the check below two pages were each cited in 10% of the answers, a waterproof speaker review and an outdoor speaker guide, and four in 8%: a top-ten brands page, a forum thread, a soundbar review and a Bluetooth speaker guide shown by its title. A comparison article or a review the answers keep citing is on that list by name, so you can open it and see whether your brand is on it.

Which pages did one answer cite?

Every answer on the report lists the pages it cited under Built from, your own site first, then the rest by how many of their pages the answer cited. ChatGPT's answer below cites rtings.com three times and whathifi.com twice.

The answers to open are the ones that did not mention you. Each shows the names it mentioned instead, and its Built from is the list of websites it was built from, each a link to the cited page.

Which AI engines does an AI citation check cover?

Up to six: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. Every citation from every AI engine in the check is kept under the answer it came with, and the sources list counts all of them together.

The AI engines differ in how much they cite. The six answers to the 18 September question above listed 43 links between them.

• ChatGPT: 8 links in the reading above. ChatGPT citations are the links under an answer that searched the web: OpenAI's help page says a response that used web search may include citations (Searching the web with ChatGPT, read on 20 September 2026). The ChatGPT visibility guide covers a first check on it alone.
• Google AI Overviews: 6 links in the reading above. Google's help page says an AI Overview appears in the results when its systems determine that generative AI can be especially helpful (Find information in faster & easier ways with AI Overviews in Google Search, read on 20 September 2026), so a question with no AI Overview has no citations to count. The Google AI Overviews visibility guide covers a first check on it alone.
• Google AI Mode: 3 links in the reading above. The Google AI Mode visibility guide covers a first check on it alone.
• Gemini: 2 links in the reading above. Google's help page says Gemini shows a Sources button under an answer when sources are available, and that not every answer has them (View related sources from Gemini Apps, read on 20 September 2026), and the report keeps them under the answer. The Gemini visibility guide covers a first check on it alone.
• Perplexity: 19 links in the reading above, the most of the six. Perplexity citations are on every answer: Perplexity's help page says every answer includes citations linking to the original sources (How does Perplexity work?, read on 20 September 2026). The Perplexity visibility guide covers a first check on it alone.
• Copilot: 5 links in the reading above. The Copilot visibility guide covers a first check on it alone.

How do you check competitors' citations?

On the same sources list and under the same answers. A competitor's own website is on the Domains view whenever an answer cited it, ranked by the same share of answers as every other website, so its row and yours read side by side, and the URLs view lists the exact pages of theirs the answers cited. The pages that carry them and not you are under the answers that mentioned them, and on the URLs view by name: open the top-ten brands page or the forum thread on the speaker brand's list above and it shows which brands each carries.

The AI rank tracker page covers the standings, every name the answers mentioned ranked by how many answers mentioned it with your row marked.

Why do the citations change between checks?

Because the answers change, and every citation is part of the answer it came with. ChatGPT citations come with a web search: OpenAI's help page says ChatGPT may search the web when a question would benefit from current information, and that its results and citations can be incomplete, outdated or incorrect (Searching the web with ChatGPT, read on 20 September 2026), so the pages under ChatGPT's answer to the same question can differ from one check to the next. Every check keeps every answer as it was on the day it ran, with its citations under it and its own sources list, so the websites two checks were built from read side by side, and a page you were added to shows on the next check's list if an answer cites it.

The AI visibility tracking page describes the repeat and History, and the AI visibility report page describes the link, the PDF and the exports, which carry the sources list with the report.

How do you start an AI citation check?

With one check, and the sources list is on its report as it opens.

1. Run a check. Enter your website, approve or edit the questions the check proposes, pick the AI engines and the country, and run it.
2. Read the sources list. Your site is marked wherever an answer cited it. Then open the answers that left you out.
3. Repeat it. Daily, weekly or monthly, for one, three, six or twelve months.

What do I do when my site is not cited?

Read the websites at the top of the sources list and open the pages on the URLs view: a comparison article, a review, a directory page, a forum thread. If your brand is not on those pages, that is where the answers that leave you out were built from, and the report lists them by name. If your own site is on the list, its place says how often the answers were built from your own pages.

For ChatGPT, OpenAI's help page says a website must let its search crawler, OAI-Searchbot, in to be eligible for ChatGPT's search results, and that placement is not guaranteed (Searching the web with ChatGPT, read on 20 September 2026). Change something on your site or get onto the pages the answers cited, then run the check again: the next report shows whether an answer now cites you, and the AI visibility score page covers the three numbers that move with it.

How much does an AI citation checker cost?

An AI citation checker costs nothing on top of the check: both views of the sources list and the citations under every answer are on every report. One question on one AI engine, asked once, is one credit, 25 questions on the four AI engines a check asks by default is 100 credits, and the smallest pack is 50 credits for $9. There is no plan: the credits come from a pack bought once and last 12 months, the way a pay as you go AI visibility tracker is paid.

Prices as of 20 September 2026, read from the pricing page.

How does an AI citation checker compare with reading the links yourself?

Reading the links under one answer tells you what that one answer, in that one chat, was built from, and a MentionChecker check ranks every website and every page its answers cited, over every question and every AI engine you picked, with your site marked.

If you want to know where one answer you have just read came from, the links under it say so. Otherwise a check: every line on the right is one report, from $9 on the pricing page read on 20 September 2026.

What do people ask about citations in AI answers?

Is a citation the same as a mention?

No. A mention is an answer with your brand in it. A citation is a page an AI engine lists under its answer as its source. An answer can mention you without citing your site, and cite your site without mentioning you. MentionChecker counts mentions in the standings and citations in the sources list, and under every answer it shows both: who the answer mentioned, and the pages it was built from.

What is an AI citation?

An AI citation is a page an AI engine lists under its answer as the source it was built from. On a MentionChecker report every citation is a link under the answer it came with, and the sources list ranks every cited website and every cited page over the whole check by how many answers cited it, with your own site marked. A website is counted once per answer, however many of its pages that one answer cited.

How do I track Perplexity citations?

Run a check with Perplexity in it, which it is unless you change the pick. Perplexity's help page says every answer includes citations linking to the original sources (How does Perplexity work?, read on 20 September 2026), and a MentionChecker report keeps them under each Perplexity answer, the websites and the exact pages counted in the sources list beside the other AI engines' citations. A repeat runs the same check daily, weekly or monthly, and every check keeps its own list.

Does an AI citation checker show the exact pages cited?

Yes. The sources list on a MentionChecker report has two views. Domains ranks the websites, and URLs ranks the exact pages the answers cited, each with its title when the AI engine gave one and its address under it, so a comparison article or a review the answers keep citing is on the list by name.

Which websites do AI engines cite?

On a speaker brand's check of 51 answers, run on 9 September 2026: rtings.com in 59% of the answers, whathifi.com in 45%, reddit.com in 37%. On 18 September 2026 the six AI engines answering one question about cosy puzzle games with no ads, asked from the United States, cited 41 different pages on 21 websites, and five of those websites were cited by more than one AI engine. A MentionChecker check ranks every website its answers cited, with your own site marked.

Can I see the citations for one AI engine only?

Under each answer, yes: open a question and every AI engine's answer carries its own Built from, so ChatGPT's pages and Perplexity's pages sit under their own answers. The sources list at the top counts every AI engine's answers together, and a MentionChecker check on one AI engine alone gives a list built from that engine's answers only.

How do I get cited by ChatGPT?

OpenAI's help page says a website must let its search crawler, OAI-Searchbot, in to be eligible for ChatGPT's search results, and that placement is not guaranteed (Searching the web with ChatGPT, read on 20 September 2026). A MentionChecker report shows which pages ChatGPT's answers to the questions people ask about what you do were built from, your site marked if an answer cited it. Run the check again and the report shows whether an answer now cites you.

Do ChatGPT citations change by country?

Yes. On 18 September 2026 ChatGPT, asked for cosy puzzle games with no ads from the United States and again from the United Kingdom, cited eight pages in one answer and six in the other, and not one page was in both. A MentionChecker check asks from one country, the one you pick when you set it up, preselected from your web address, and the AI citations on its sources list are counted from that country's answers. Pick the country the people you serve are in.

Can I track citations over time?

Yes, one report at a time. Every check keeps its own sources list, and a repeat runs the same check daily, weekly or monthly from your balance, so the websites two checks were built from are read side by side by opening each check from MentionChecker's History as it was on the day it ran, with every citation under every answer. History's chart counts mentions, share of voice, average rank and the names you track, not citations. The AI visibility tracking page describes the repeat.

Is an AI citation checker free?

Your first MentionChecker check is free, with no card: 5 questions on ChatGPT and Gemini, with the sources list and every citation on the report. After that one question on one AI engine is one credit, and the smallest pack is 50 credits for $9 on the pricing page, read on 20 September 2026. Credits last 12 months, and there is no plan and no card charged on a schedule.