Last updated: 2026-08-30
Senso is a Toronto AI startup founded in 2024 (Y Combinator W24) that gives enterprises a verified, machine-facing publishing layer so ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity cite approved first-party sources instead of third-party aggregators. It tracks mentions, share of voice and citation accuracy, then routes content gaps to a remediation workspace for republishing.
About Senso
Senso is a Toronto AI infrastructure startup founded in 2024 by Saroop Bharwani and Thomas Nelson, backed by Y Combinator's Winter 2024 batch. The team of 8 originally built an AI knowledge base for credit unions before expanding into a general-purpose context layer that helps any enterprise control what AI agents say about it. Public funding details beyond YC backing were not disclosed as of this listing. The product ingests first-party sources (PDFs, wikis, policy documents, rate sheets) through the @senso-ai/cli npm package or a REST API and compiles them into a version-controlled knowledge base. Senso then tests those same sources by running prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity and converting the results into structured visibility signals, distinguishing an internal verified citation from a third-party aggregator like Reddit or Bankrate. The workflow suits AEO and content teams who need every AI-cited fact traceable to an approved source, plus developers wiring a verified knowledge base into an agentic-commerce or support pipeline. Its published customer base to date centers on regulated financial services, reflecting Senso's origin building AI knowledge tools for credit unions before it expanded into a general-purpose context layer. Pricing runs three tracks: a Brand free trial, an invite-gated Organization tier with mention and citation tracking for one AI model at entry, and a custom-priced Partner tier for building white-label AEO networks. Senso is a web dashboard plus CLI and API, with no dedicated desktop or mobile app. Senso competes in the same AEO and GEO category as CiteLens, Profound, AthenaHQ and Palmata, but frames itself around publishing agent-first domains, machine-facing surfaces separate from a company's human-facing website, rather than only tracking visibility on an existing dashboard.
Pricing
Brand tier starts as a free trial with $100 in credits and no credit card required, enough to compile a knowledge base and generate first verified content via the @senso-ai/cli npm package. Organization tier (1 AI model tracked at entry, mention and citation and share-of-voice tracking, leaderboard access) is invite-gated with no published monthly price, requested via geo.senso.ai/industries. Partner tier for building white-label AEO networks is custom-priced via senso.ai/partners.
Key Features
- Verified Knowledge Base ingestion: Compiles PDFs, wikis, policy docs and rate sheets into one version-controlled, schema-safe JSON knowledge base via the @senso-ai/cli npm package or REST API.
- Cross-model answer evaluation: Tests the same tracked prompt against ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, then scores each generated answer for mentions, share of voice, citation source and sentiment.
- Content remediation workspace: Surfaces which tracked prompts are underperforming and combines the prompt, a template and Knowledge Base content to draft a fix an editor can publish.
- Agent-first domains: Publishes a separate, machine-facing surface optimized for AI retrieval rather than human browsing, so agents can cite structured, verified sources directly.
- Documented enterprise impact: TruStone Financial Credit Union's Generative AI Administrator reports internal document retrieval running 12 times faster after adopting Senso, per the case study on Senso's own site.
Pros
- A rare level of disclosure for an early-stage AEO tool: Senso names a live enterprise customer and cites a measured impact figure directly on its own site, not an anonymized case study.
- A CLI-first onboarding path (@senso-ai/cli) lets a developer start ingesting sources before any sales conversation, unlike invite-only rivals such as DISQO's AI Search Lift, which is enterprise-quote only from the start.
- Built around agent-first domains, a distinct machine-facing publishing surface, rather than bolting citation tracking onto an existing SEO dashboard the way Clearscope or Surfer SEO do.
Cons
- No public dollar pricing past the free trial: the Organization tier is gated behind a Request Invite form with no listed monthly figure, unlike CiteLens's published tiers from $79 to $1,499 a month.
- No SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR or ISO 27001 attestation is published on a trust center or security page as of this listing, a gap for the regulated credit unions and financial institutions it originally targeted.
- Public docs at docs.senso.ai stay thin outside the signed-in console: supported source formats beyond PDFs and wikis, rate limits, and third-party integrations are not documented publicly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Senso's pricing plans in 2026?
Senso runs three tracks: Brand is the free-trial entry point (see the free-tier question below for details), Organization is invite-gated with no published dollar figure once you request access via geo.senso.ai/industries, and Partner is custom-priced for building your own AEO networks. None of the paid tiers list a monthly number publicly as of this listing.
What do you get on Senso's free tier?
The free entry point is a $100-credit trial with no credit card required, enough to compile a knowledge base via the @senso-ai/cli npm package, query it, and generate a first piece of verified content. It is a limited trial rather than an ongoing free plan: once the credits run out, moving to the Organization tier requires a sales invite.
What are the best alternatives to Senso?
CiteLens is the closest self-serve alternative, with published tiers up to $1,499 a month tracking the same ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini citation surface. Palmata, Contentful's AEO platform, fits teams that want a research agent explaining why AI engines characterize a brand a certain way rather than a verified-source publishing layer. Sprinklr LLM Insights suits large enterprises that already run customer-conversation analytics and want brand visibility folded into that same dashboard.
Senso or CiteLens: which should you pick?
CiteLens publishes exact tier pricing and a public API on its Pro plan; Senso discloses no price beyond its free trial and gates its main Organization tier behind a sales invite. Senso's differentiator is the agent-first domain concept, a separate machine-facing publishing surface for verified sources, which CiteLens does not build around, so choose CiteLens for transparent self-serve pricing today and Senso if agent-first publishing matters more.
What does it take to start using Senso?
A developer can run npm install -g @senso-ai/cli, sign in, and use the trial credit to ingest a first batch of sources such as PDFs, wikis or policy docs into a knowledge base. Non-developers can instead request an invite for the Organization tier at geo.senso.ai/industries to get mention, share-of-voice and citation tracking for one AI model out of the gate.
Top Alternatives
- CiteLens: Pick CiteLens if you want a published, self-serve price list; pick Senso if agent-first publishing matters more than transparent pricing.
- AI Search Lift: Pick AI Search Lift if you already buy DISQO's ad-lift suite; pick Senso if you need a standalone verified-source publishing layer.
- Palmata: Pick Palmata if you want a research agent explaining why AI characterizes your brand a certain way; pick Senso if you want to ingest and republish the verified source yourself.
- Sprinklr LLM Insights: Pick Sprinklr if brand visibility should live inside an existing customer-conversation dashboard; pick Senso if a document-first knowledge base is the priority.