FERMÀT vs. Profound: Tool and Full Commerce Infrastructure

Enterprise brands evaluating AI search solutions are often presented with a simple question: How visible is our brand in AI-generated responses? Platforms like Profound have built sophisticated analytics to answer that question with precision. They track where your brand appears, which prompts trigger mentions, and how you rank against competitors. For many organizations, this visibility intelligence is essential.

But for commerce-focused teams, visibility is only the starting point. The more critical question is: What happens after your brand gets recommended? The fundamental difference between Profound and FERMÀT is clear. Profound operates as a point solution for AI search visibility and content generation. FERMÀT, by contrast, is a full commerce infrastructure platform, with AI search integrated as one component of a broader, end-to-end growth stack.

"Most competitors today can generate blocks of text that might help you get mentioned in LLM services. But when our funnels are cited, that’s an extremely high-intent moment. The Customer is already deeply informed and close to a purchase decision, and when they land, conversion rates are significantly higher." –– Ansuman Mohanty, FERMAT Senior Engineer, AI Search

What Profound Delivers: AI Search Visibility and Content Automation

Profound tracks brand mentions across all AI models. The platform provides visibility scoring, sentiment analysis, citation tracking, and competitive benchmarking. Profound Workflows automates content operations. Users can generate content briefs and articles, audit content for AEO alignment, and produce reports. Templates are available for listicles, how-to guides, and comparisons. The platform integrates with CDNs like Cloudflare, AWS, and Akamai. Profound's scope covers the AI search layer. Post-discovery experience, conversion optimization, and revenue measurement require separate tools.

Where FERMÀT Differs: AI Search Included in a Commerce Infrastructure Solution

FERMÀT didn't start as an AI search tool. It began with a vision to help commerce teams compete across the entire customer journey, from the moment a consumer discovers your brand to the moment they complete a purchase.

After realizing the immense opportunity for brands to win in AI Search, we knew we had to repurpose our existing infrastructure and content capabilities for this new channel. FERMÀT created an approach to bridge the gap between discovery and checkout through prompt-driven content optimized for AI models to find.

• Generate AI-Optimized Commerce Content 
  Create shoppable content tied to consumer prompts & products to deliver nuanced responses to consumer queries.

• Route AI-Driven Traffic Intelligently 
  Guide users from AI search into optimized funnels and experiences built to convert.

• Connect AI Search to Real Business Impact 
  Move beyond visibility metrics by measuring how AI-optimized content drives more citations and impressions to own the narrative. Discovery in AI Search through first-party content can drive conversion rate, average order value, and attributable revenue.

• Continuously Iterate and Improve 
  Use ongoing AI search performance insights to refresh content and capitalize on new opportunities over time.

• Unlock Deeper, Actionable Insights 
  Integrate AI search with your commerce platform to gain a comprehensive view of performance and customer behavior.

When your brand appears in AI search, FERMÀT engineers the entire shopping experience optimized for conversion

The Infrastructure Advantage

Both platforms help you better understand your AI search presence. The critical difference is what happens next. Profound generates content optimized for AI citations. When users arrive, they land on your existing site experience. If your pages and checkout flows aren't optimized for conversion, that's outside Profound's scope.

FERMÀT builds the complete path from discovery to revenue. We’ve created an integrated system where insights are transferable across platforms, allowing learnings from search to be applied everywhere, while insights from other channels enhance search performance. Users land on experiences that adapt to convert, with content, landing pages, funnels, and measurement working as one.

Full infrastructure platforms unlock different possibilities than point solutions. Profound specializes in AI search visibility. FERMÀT treats AI search as one channel within a complete revenue engine, where experiences adapt, conversions optimize, and measurement connects to business outcomes. You're deploying infrastructure that works as a system.

For commerce teams running paid traffic, this changes the equation. Infrastructure that converts AI search traffic also lifts performance across paid campaigns, organic search, and every other channel. You're building capability that compounds.

Two Different Starting Points with Different Outcomes

Profound started as an AI search analytics platform and added content generation. It is a powerful tool for understanding and improving AI search presence. FERMÀT started as infrastructure to help commerce teams win across every channel. AI search is one component of that capability. For teams focused on understanding AI search visibility, Profound delivers. For teams focused on building a revenue engine that scales across channels, FERMÀT provides the infrastructure to do it.

The Bottom Line

AI search is rewriting how consumers discover products. FERMÀT gives you infrastructure to compete where it matters, across the entire customer journey. When a consumer discovers your brand through any channel, they enter an experience built to convert. Content drives action. Pages adapt to intent. Funnels accelerate decisions. Measurement connects every touchpoint to revenue.

The difference is strategic. One platform helps you monitor a new channel. The other helps you dominate it.