Frequently asked questions

The ten questions we get asked most often. For anything not covered here, email jay@vamfi.org.

What is VistaCite?

VistaCite is a website audit tool built for AI search visibility. It grades any URL on three pillars — classic SEO, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — runs 30 checks in about 20 seconds on the free plan (45-75 seconds on Pro, which also queries Google's live SERP for AI Overview presence), and outputs a downloadable markdown action plan with copy-paste fixes for every failed check.

How is VistaCite different from Ahrefs / Semrush / Screaming Frog?

Traditional SEO tools measure Googlebot visibility — title tags, backlinks, keyword rankings, site structure. VistaCite measures whether AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini) can find and cite your page. The check list is different, the methodology is adapted from Princeton's 2024 GEO paper and Ahrefs' 17M-citation study, and the output is a markdown file, not a dashboard. We're not trying to replace Ahrefs. We measure something they don't.

Is VistaCite free?

Yes. The free plan includes 5 audits per hour and 20 audits per day with full functionality — every scored check, the Crystal Ball feature, Claude-generated copy-paste fixes for failed checks, the downloadable .fix_it_plan.md file, public share links, and email delivery. Nothing is gated behind Pro on the free tier except quantity.

What do I get by upgrading to Pro?

Pro is $19/month and unlocks: 25 audits per hour and 200 per day (5× the free limits), priority queue, and Google AI Overview presence tracking — for each audit we check whether your top keywords trigger an AI Overview and whether your domain is cited, up to 50 keyword checks per day. It's the only feature that requires Pro to access; everything else on Pro is just more volume.

How do I cancel?

Open the VistaCite dashboard at /app and click Manage billing in the usage card at the top. That opens Stripe's hosted Billing Portal where you can cancel your subscription, update your payment method, or download past invoices. You keep Pro access through the end of your current billing period, then drop to Free automatically.

What happens to my audits if I downgrade or cancel?

Nothing. Your audit history stays in your account indefinitely — downgrade or cancel doesn't delete anything. You keep access to your dashboard; you just can't run new Pro-rate audits until you're over the free limit reset window.

How does the audit handle JavaScript-rendered content?

It doesn't. VistaCite crawls raw HTML, same as Googlebot and the major AI search crawlers. If your content only appears after a client-side render, the audit will see an empty page and score poorly. This is actually a realistic simulation of what AI crawlers see — most of them don't execute JavaScript either. If your site is JavaScript-heavy and you want to be indexed by AI engines, you need server-side rendering or static generation regardless of what VistaCite says.

Can I audit a whole site or just one URL?

Right now, one URL per audit. Site-wide crawling is on the roadmap but not in the free or Pro tier yet. For now, run audits on the 5–10 pages that matter most: your homepage, your highest-traffic articles, your pricing page, and your top product pages. Most sites have the same systemic issues across every page, so a small sample usually surfaces the pattern.

Where does my audit data live?

Neon (PostgreSQL serverless) for the structured data, with the actual page HTML stored in-memory only during the audit run (not persisted). The markdown file is stored as a text column on the audit row. Nothing is shared with third parties except: Anthropic (for copy-paste fix generation), DataForSEO (for Pro-tier AI Overview tracking, keyword queries only), Clerk (authentication), Stripe (billing), Resend (email delivery), PostHog (anonymized product analytics), and Sentry (error monitoring). Full details in our Privacy Policy.

How do I delete my account?

Email jay@vamfi.org from the address on your account with "delete my account" in the subject. We honor GDPR deletion within 30 days — all audits, waitlist signups, and Stripe customer records are removed. Clerk's account deletion webhook is wired to cascade-delete audits automatically, so deleting your account in the Clerk UI (via the profile menu) also wipes the associated data.