Achtung.app
Achtung.app is a German Generative Engine Optimization platform that measures whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude recommend a brand unprompted. It asks niche questions without naming the brand, then scores daily visibility, competitors and citation gaps.
What is Achtung.app?
Achtung.app is a tracking platform for Generative Engine Optimization, the practice of improving how a brand appears in AI-generated answers. Its premise is that recommendation queries increasingly go to assistants rather than to a search box, so being named in an AI answer matters as much as ranking in Google.
The measurement works by omission. Rather than counting where a brand name already appears, Achtung.app asks AI assistants generic questions from the brand's niche without mentioning the brand at all, then records whether the assistant brings it up on its own. Four platforms are queried: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. All four run search-grounded, meaning a live web search per query instead of recall from training data; when a model answers from training data anyway, the measurement is discarded rather than counted. Sampling is fixed at temperature 0 with two counted runs per keyword per day, and every answer is stored with its model version, timestamp and cited URL, so a figure can still be traced back three months later.
Those answers feed a daily composite score from 0 to 100, called AI Prominence, built from citation frequency, sentiment, recommendation strength and trend momentum. Around it sit competitor intelligence, where any domain cited for a tracked keyword that is not the client is recorded and tiered; keyword performance prioritised with Google Search Console impressions and click-through data; severity-graded alerts; monthly PDF reports; a citation source map scoring outreach opportunities; and weekly content briefs that name the cited domains, the reason for each gap and the structural element to publish.
The vendor is explicit about its boundaries. It is not media monitoring, not a general SEO suite, and it does not judge content quality. It declines to cover Google AI Mode because no official automated interface exists, refusing to substitute SERP scraping. Execution of the recommendations stays with the client.
Achtung.app is built and run single-handedly from Berlin by Martin Kulawik, who also states openly that a substantial part of the code, tests and content is written in collaboration with Anthropic's Claude.
What it does
- Score a brand's presence in AI answers daily on a 0 to 100 AI Prominence scale
- Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude niche questions without naming the brand
- Track every citation with its mention type, position, sentiment and provider
- Discover competitors automatically from AI answers and follow them over time
- Alert on visibility drops and competitor gains, graded by severity
- Turn citation gaps into weekly content briefs naming the sources to beat
- Give each client a branded read-only portal, and pull everything through an API
When to use Achtung.app / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Achtung.app is the right fit.
When to use Achtung.app
- Digital marketing agencies tracking AI visibility for several client brands from one dashboard
- Freelance SEO and GEO consultants who need a defensible measurement rather than an impression
- Brand owners who want to know whether AI assistants name them without being prompted
- In-house communications and PR teams monitoring how AI answers describe their organisation
- European and public-sector buyers who need German hosting and a published Article 28 processing agreement
When not to use Achtung.app
- Teams looking for media monitoring or social listening, which the vendor explicitly says it does not do
- Anyone wanting an all-in-one SEO suite with keyword research, backlinks and classic rankings
- Buyers who need Google AI Mode covered, as the vendor declines to measure it without an official interface
- Organisations expecting the tool to implement its own recommendations, which stays with the client
- Small budgets needing API or multi-brand access, since both start at the 999 EUR per month tier
How to use Achtung.app
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Start with the free visibility check and enter the domain you want scanned
- Confirm with an email address on that same domain, as freemail addresses are refused
- Read the emailed result, covering five queries across ChatGPT and Gemini
- Register an account and pick the tier that matches your cadence and brand count
- Create a brand and add up to twenty tracked keywords
- Optionally connect Google Search Console so keywords are prioritised on real impression data
- Let the daily run proceed, which queries each keyword twice per platform and averages the answers
- Configure alert severities for the email digest and push notifications
- Work through the weekly content briefs and the citation source map
- On the Pro tier, invite clients into the branded portal or pull data through the REST API and MCP server
Pros & Cons
Pros
- The methodology is published in detail, including sampling parameters and the rule that discards non-grounded answers
- Every answer is stored with its model version, timestamp and cited URL, so figures stay auditable for months
- The Article 28 agreement is public and readable before registration, with acceptance logged by version and checksum
- The subprocessor list is complete and nominative, naming the contracting entity and safeguard for each provider
- Data is hosted in Germany with STRATO, backed up encrypted at Hetzner, and analytics run on self-hosted Matomo
- Measurement uses official documented APIs rather than scraping or browser automation
- Prices are public and VAT-inclusive, the whole team is included at no extra cost, and cancellation is possible at any time
Cons
- The publisher is a single natural person trading as a German sole proprietorship, with no registered company behind the product
- The platform launched in 2026 and has no track record and no security certification of any kind
- There is no free trial of the subscription, only a one-off scan limited to five queries on two platforms
- The gap between Starter at 169 EUR and Pro at 999 EUR per month is wide, with nothing in between
- API and MCP access are locked behind the 999 EUR per month tier
- Google AI Mode is not covered, and content quality and classic search rankings are out of scope
- The interface exists in German and English only, with an openly stated focus on German-speaking markets
Pricing & Plans
There is no permanent free plan and no free trial of the subscription. The lowest paid entry point is the Lite tier at 69 EUR per month, or 759 EUR per year, which works out at roughly 63.25 EUR per month. All displayed prices include 19% German VAT, which is worth noting because European software prices are more often quoted net. Annual billing effectively grants one month free on each of the three public tiers. A separate one-off product, a bespoke industry report, starts at 149 EUR including VAT. Prospective buyers can instead run a free one-off visibility scan without creating an account.
- one brand
- up to 20 keywords
- weekly measurement with three runs per keyword
- all four search-grounded platforms
- competitor analysis
- smart alerts
- monthly PDF report
- Search Console integration
- the same scope as Lite but measured daily with two runs per keyword per day
- ChatGPT
- Gemini and Perplexity queried daily and Claude weekly
- five brands with 25 keywords each
- everything in Starter
- plus the branded client portal with invitations and access to the REST API and MCP server
- unlimited brands and keywords
- everything in Pro
- plus team roles
- SSO
- a complete audit log
- executive rollup and white-label reporting
- and a guided onboarding session
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Achtung.app handles your data.
GDPR overview
GDPR implementation is unusually concrete for a product this young. The Article 28 processing agreement is public and readable in full before registration, including the technical and organisational measures and the complete subprocessor list, and a signed copy is available on request. Acceptance is logged per team with a version number and a checksum. Ten subprocessors are named with their contracting entity, role and safeguard, and for EEA customers the Irish entities of OpenAI, Google and Anthropic are the contracting parties. Third-country transfers rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the recipient is certified and on standard contractual clauses otherwise. A backup restoration test is documented with its date and duration. The vendor holds no security certification and states plainly that no tool satisfies the GDPR on its own.
Who owns the data?
The customer remains the controller of the content they enter, and Achtung.app acts as processor under a published Article 28 GDPR agreement. That content covers brand name, domain, keywords, competitors, notes and generated reports, plus OAuth tokens and metrics from Google Search Console or Google Analytics 4 when connected. Acceptance of the agreement is logged per team with a version number and a checksum of the accepted text. Three categories fall outside it and under the vendor's own controllership: billing records, server and security logs, and support correspondence. Customers may request account deletion at any time, and the standard GDPR rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and portability apply.
Reuse rights
Customer content is used to run the measurement itself and nothing else. To find out how AI assistants describe a brand, the vendor sends the brand name, domain, keywords, competitor names and any stored free-text details to the AI providers listed in the agreement. Contact details, credentials, IP addresses and payment data are never sent. The vendor states it sets store: false on the OpenAI API so no retrievable application state is kept, and that Google does not use prompts or responses to improve its product. Special categories of data under Article 9 and criminal-offence data under Article 10 must not be entered into the service. Website analytics run on self-hosted Matomo, without cookies and with truncated IP addresses, and no external provider is used for email, file storage or analytics.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
Account and measurement data is stored in Germany, on a virtual server operated by STRATO AG in a German data centre, where both the database and the application run. Daily backups are encrypted and held at Hetzner Online GmbH, also in Germany, physically separate from the production system and deleted after two months. The vendor describes its host as running on green electricity. Storage and transfers are presented separately: the AI queries themselves go to the providers under their own terms, and several of those are established in the United States or move data within their corporate group. Those transfers rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the recipient is certified and on standard contractual clauses otherwise, with per-provider detail in the processing agreement. Email delivery, operational file storage and web analytics all run on the vendor's own infrastructure, with no external provider involved.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Achtung.app.
- The publisher is a natural person trading as a German sole proprietorship, with no legal form, registration number or registering court in the imprint, so operational continuity rests on one individual
- No company constitution date could be established: the only date published anywhere is a bare year, on the site and on LinkedIn alike
- Advertised prices include 19% VAT, unlike most European software pricing, so a net comparison against competitors understates the gap
- An unrelated iOS game shares the brand root at a different domain, which the vendor flags itself but which still invites confusion
- No security certification is held: the compliance pages mention certified parties, but those are subprocessors rather than the vendor
- Several named subprocessors are established in the United States despite the German hosting, so transfers rely on framework and clause safeguards
- The GDPR contact address sits on the founder's personal domain rather than the product domain, which is worth confirming before relying on it contractually
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Very low. There is nothing to install, no code to deploy and no tag to place. Setup amounts to creating a brand, choosing keywords and optionally granting OAuth access to Google Search Console; without that connection the tool still works from an independent search index. The free scan requires only an email address on the domain being checked. Technical skill becomes relevant only at the Pro tier, where the REST API and MCP server need a developer to be exploited, and Enterprise customers receive a guided onboarding session.
Deployment
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind Achtung.app
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Alternatives
Tools that compete with or complement Achtung.app.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI platforms does Achtung.app track?
How often is a brand measured?
Is there a free trial?
Does it require technical setup?
Are the advertised prices net or inclusive of VAT?
Where is the data hosted?
Is a data processing agreement available?
Is there an API?
How many brands can be tracked?
Is this the Achtung, die Kurve game?
Should you pick Achtung.app?
Achtung.app answers a narrow question with unusual rigour: when someone asks an AI assistant for a recommendation in your category, does your brand come up on its own? Everything else in the product follows from that single measurement, and the discipline shows in how it is taken. Fixed sampling, a stated refusal to count answers that come from training data rather than live search, and every response stored with its model version and cited URL together make the numbers arguable months later, which is more than most tools in this young category offer.
The compliance posture is the other surprise. A public Article 28 agreement readable before signup, a nominative subprocessor list with safeguards per provider, German hosting with encrypted backups, self-hosted analytics and a documented restoration test add up to a profile that European and public-sector buyers rarely find in a product this new.
The counterweight is structural rather than technical. The publisher is one person trading as a German sole proprietorship, with no registered company, no track record and no security certification, and the platform itself only launched in 2026. Buyers should weigh continuity accordingly. Commercially, the jump from 169 EUR to 999 EUR per month is steep, and the API and multi-brand features that agencies most want sit entirely above that line.
For a consultant or a brand owner wanting a defensible weekly or daily read on AI visibility, the Lite and Starter tiers are reasonably priced and the free scan makes the decision cheap to test. For agencies needing several brands, a client portal and API access, the entry cost is considerably higher. Anyone expecting the tool to fix what it finds should look elsewhere: it is a measurement instrument, and it says so plainly.
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