Rating Captain alternative for Google Business Profile management
Rating Captain starts at $9 (verified 2026-10-25) a month and runs a large MCP server, but its MCP manual puts MCP on Orbiter at $149 (verified 2026-10-25) or higher. OpenGMB is $10 a month per account, includes MCP on that plan, and sends posts and profile edits through approval.
Last updated 2026-10-25
OpenGMB is our product, so read the Rating Captain facts against their sources.
Rating Captain is a trademark of its owner. OpenGMB is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by it. Facts about other products come from their public pages on the dates shown and may have changed since. If something is wrong or out of date, email info@synectus.com and we will correct it.
What does Rating Captain offer, and what does it cost?
Rating Captain prices its local plans by location count. Voyager is $9 (verified 2026-10-25) a month, Pioneer $69 (verified 2026-10-25) for 10 locations, Orbiter $149 (verified 2026-10-25) for 50 and Supernova $249 (verified 2026-10-25) for 100. No annual price is shown for these plans. Trial: 'Try for free' on each paid plan; no trial length stated (verified 2026-10-25).
Who is Rating Captain for, and who is OpenGMB for?
Rating Captain fits you if
- You want a low entry price for one location: Voyager is $9 (verified 2026-10-25) a month.
- You want Claude or Cursor to run Google Business Profile work through a large MCP server: 108 tools, 4 resources and 5 prompts (verified 2026-10-25).
- You run 10 to 100 profiles and want bulk editing and white-label reports on a published plan.
OpenGMB fits you if
- You want posts and profile edits to go through approval before they reach Google.
- You want MCP included at $10 a month, not on a plan that starts at $149 (verified 2026-10-25).
- You want one flat price per account, however many locations you connect.
How do OpenGMB and Rating Captain compare at a glance?
Facts checked 2026-10-25. Each figure below links to the page it came from.
| What you compare | Rating Captain | OpenGMB |
|---|---|---|
| Price for one location | Voyager: $9 a month ('net/month') for 1 location, 5 keywords. The same page shows Voyager as 1-10 locations in a second table. (verified 2026-10-25) | $10 a month per account. The $10 is usage credit for AI drafts and rank scans. |
| How price scales | Pioneer $69 (10 locations), Orbiter $149 (50), Supernova $249 (100), custom above. Monthly prices; no annual price shown. (verified 2026-10-25) | One price per account, however many locations you connect. Google calls are free, with a fair-use limit. |
| Free trial | 'Try for free' on each paid plan. No trial length is stated. (verified 2026-10-25) | 14-day trial with $0.50 of credit, no card. After the trial the account is read-only until you subscribe. |
| Review monitoring | Review statistics and review alerts for Google Business Profile. Which plans include each item is shown by tick icons that are not in the page text. (verified 2026-10-25) | Google reviews only, synced every 2 hours. |
| Review replies | An AI response generator and bulk review responding. Auto-reply rules can be set (MCP manual). (verified 2026-10-25) | Drafts from you, from Claude over MCP or from built-in AI, with bulk drafting. Rules check each reply. A reply needs approval unless the owner turns on auto-approve for 4- or 5-star reviews. Auto-approve never covers 1 to 3 star replies. |
| Review requests | A separate Reviews product: invitations by SMS, email, QR and more. Starter is $19 a month ($15 annual), 100 invitations. (verified 2026-10-25) | Email campaigns with an optional reminder 1 to 14 days later, links, QR codes and a website widget. No SMS. |
| Geo-grid rank tracking | Keyword rank tracker map with a custom scanning grid and weekly auto-scanning. Rank history is 14 days on Voyager. (verified 2026-10-25) | 3x3 to 13x13, radius 100 m to 50 km. Until DataForSEO is connected, heatmaps are labeled sample data. |
| Citations | Not publicly listed (checked 2026-10-25) | None. OpenGMB does not build or track citations. |
| Audit | A healthcheck audit of profile completeness, run from the MCP. A free Reviews Audit tool is also on the site. (verified 2026-10-25) | 24 health checks per location, graded necessary, important or nice. |
| Scheduled posts | AI post generator, post scheduling and bulk posting, plus a media scheduler. (verified 2026-10-25) | Post calendar and scheduling. A post needs approval before it goes out. |
| API and MCP | MCP server with 108 tools, Orbiter ($149 a month) and above. Tool calls spend AI tokens. A Google Looker Studio sync is on Orbiter and Supernova. (verified 2026-10-25) | Public MCP at https://opengmb.synectus.com/mcp, included on the $10 plan. A read only token cannot change anything. A read and write token acts with its owner's rights. |
| Approval workflow | AI review replies can wait for one-click approval or run automatically. (verified 2026-10-25) | Approvals inbox, rules checked first, and an audit log of who approved. Posts and profile edits need approval. |
How much does Rating Captain cost?
| Plan | What you get | Billed monthly | Billed annually |
|---|---|---|---|
| Explorer | 1 location (card hidden in page HTML) | $0 (verified 2026-10-25) | No yearly total listed |
| Voyager | 1 location (the page also shows 1-10) | $9 (verified 2026-10-25) | No yearly total listed |
| Pioneer | 10 locations | $69 (verified 2026-10-25) | No yearly total listed |
| Orbiter | 50 locations | $149 (verified 2026-10-25) | No yearly total listed |
| Supernova | 100 locations | $249 (verified 2026-10-25) | No yearly total listed |
- The pricing page does not agree with itself on Voyager. The desktop table shows Voyager: 1 location, 5 keywords (verified 2026-10-25). The mobile block shows Voyager: 1-10 locations, 50 keywords (verified 2026-10-25). The $9 (verified 2026-10-25) price is the same in both. Check the limits before you buy.
- White-label reports are listed two ways as well. The plan cards say White label reports start at Orbiter (card text) (verified 2026-10-25). The comparison table says White label report ticked from Pioneer (comparison table) (verified 2026-10-25).
- Prices read "net/month" and the page does not say whether net means before tax. As of 2026-10-25.
- MCP tool calls spend AI tokens: tool calls spend AI tokens from the monthly plan quota (verified 2026-10-25). An image costs 500 AI tokens per generated image (verified 2026-10-25).
- Review collection is a separate Rating Captain Reviews product, not part of these plans: Rating Captain Reviews Starter: $19 a month, $15 a month on the annual subscription, 100 invitations (verified 2026-10-25).
How much does OpenGMB cost, with two examples?
OpenGMB is $10 a month per account, and the $10 is usage credit. Google calls are free, with a fair-use limit. AI drafts and rank scans use the credit, both at our cost plus 28%. If the credit runs out, only AI drafts and rank scans pause. A typical reply draft is about $0.0004. That is an estimate, not a price: each draft is charged at its metered cost plus 28%. The usage numbers below are our own assumptions, not averages.
Owner, 1 location
A month with no AI drafts and no rank scans costs the flat $10. A typical month adds 30 AI drafts and 4 rank scans on a 5x5 grid. That uses about $0.09 of the $10, so the bill is $10.
Rating Captain Voyager is $9 (verified 2026-10-25) a month for a single location. Rank tracker history on it is rank tracker history of 14 days on Voyager and 30 days on the next plans (verified 2026-10-25).
Agency, 10 locations
A month with no AI drafts and no rank scans costs the flat $10. A typical month adds 150 AI drafts and 20 rank scans on a 7x7 grid. That uses about $0.81 of the $10, so the bill is $10.
Rating Captain Pioneer is $69 (verified 2026-10-25) a month for 10 locations. Orbiter is $149 (verified 2026-10-25) for 50, and it is the plan MCP needs. OpenGMB is $10 a month per account whatever the count, but the tools differ, so compare the table above.
Why do people look for a Rating Captain alternative?
We only list reasons that Rating Captain's own pages support.
- MCP sits on a higher plan. Rating Captain lists an MCP server at local.ratingcaptain.com/mcp/local, 108 tools, on Orbiter ($149 a month) or higher (verified 2026-10-25).
- The MCP page on the main site is missing: the ratingcaptain.com/mcp page shows Page not found (verified 2026-10-25). The figures come from the MCP manual.
- Limits are hard to read. The pricing page shows Voyager: 1 location, 5 keywords (verified 2026-10-25) in one place and Voyager: 1-10 locations, 50 keywords (verified 2026-10-25) in another.
- Some features are not built yet. On the pricing page, 'Actionable insights' is marked (soon) (verified 2026-10-25).
What is different about OpenGMB?
Approval first
Posts and profile edits need approval, and so do replies unless the owner turns on auto-approve for 4- or 5-star reviews. Rules such as U7.url and PR.description-length check the text first, and the audit log records who approved.
MCP
Connect Claude or any MCP client to https://opengmb.synectus.com/mcp. It is included on the $10 plan. A read only token cannot change anything. A read and write token acts with its owner's rights inside OpenGMB, but a person approves anything that reaches Google, in the app.
One price per account
$10 a month, and the $10 is usage credit for AI drafts and rank scans, both at real cost plus 28%. Ten locations do not cost ten times as much. Google calls are free, with a fair-use limit.
Open-source core
Read the code of the community edition, or self-host it with one owner login and your own keys. The hosted plan adds teams, a client portal and billing. Licence: MIT. Repo: https://github.com/synectus/OpenGMB.
See how approvals work on the guardrails page or read about the Google Business Profile MCP.
How does Rating Captain's MCP server compare with OpenGMB's?
Rating Captain MCP
Rating Captain lists an MCP server at local.ratingcaptain.com/mcp/local, 108 tools, on Orbiter ($149 a month) or higher (verified 2026-10-25). Note that the ratingcaptain.com/mcp page shows Page not found (verified 2026-10-25), so the MCP manual is the source for these figures. Its replies can wait for approval: AI review replies can wait for one-click approval or run automatically. (verified 2026-10-25).
OpenGMB MCP
Connect Claude or any MCP client to https://opengmb.synectus.com/mcp, with tools such as reviews_list_unreplied and reviewReplies_createDraft. It is included on the $10 plan. A read only token cannot change anything. A read and write token acts with its owner's rights inside OpenGMB, but a person approves anything that reaches Google, in the app.
Where is Rating Captain stronger?
Honestly, in several places. If any of these matter to you, Rating Captain is the better pick.
- Entry price. Voyager is $9 (verified 2026-10-25) a month for a single location, a dollar under OpenGMB's $10.
- A large MCP server. Rating Captain's manual lists 108 tools, 4 resources and 5 prompts (verified 2026-10-25), including a tool to configure auto-reply rules for reviews (verified 2026-10-25).
- Image generation from MCP. Rating Captain charges 500 AI tokens per generated image (verified 2026-10-25).
- Review collection. The separate Reviews product covers invitations: Rating Captain Reviews Starter: $19 a month, $15 a month on the annual subscription, 100 invitations (verified 2026-10-25). OpenGMB sends review requests by email and offers links, QR codes and a website widget.
- Protection. The comparison table shows 24/7 protection: all four plans (verified 2026-10-25).
Keep Rating Captain if
Staying put is the right call in these cases.
- You want the biggest MCP surface. Rating Captain's manual lists 108 tools, 4 resources and 5 prompts (verified 2026-10-25).
- You collect reviews by invitation and want it as its own product: Reviews Growth: $49 monthly, $39 annual, 1,500 invitations (verified 2026-10-25).
- You run up to 100 locations and want a published price for that: Supernova is $249 (verified 2026-10-25) a month.
How do you switch from Rating Captain to OpenGMB?
- List what you use in Rating Captain. If it is the Reviews product or image generation over MCP, keep that part.
- Start with the $0.50 of free credit. No card needed.
- Connect Google with the official Business Profile API and import your locations. The 24 health checks run on each one.
- Connect Claude over MCP, or use the built-in AI drafts. Start on a read only token and approve the first replies by hand.
- Cancel Rating Captain after OpenGMB covers the work you still need.
OpenGMB's core is open source (MIT). If the hosted version stopped being worth $10 a month, you could run the community edition yourself. See how the community edition works.
Questions about Rating Captain alternatives
Which Rating Captain alternative should I choose?
It depends on the job. Rating Captain has a large MCP server, a $9 (verified 2026-10-25) entry plan and a separate review collection product. If you want one flat $10 price per account, MCP included, and approval on posts and profile edits, choose OpenGMB.
How much does Rating Captain cost?
Voyager is $9 (verified 2026-10-25) a month, Pioneer $69 (verified 2026-10-25), Orbiter $149 (verified 2026-10-25) and Supernova $249 (verified 2026-10-25). As of 2026-10-25. Its Voyager limits differ between two tables on the same page.
Does Rating Captain have MCP?
Yes. Rating Captain lists an MCP server at local.ratingcaptain.com/mcp/local, 108 tools, on Orbiter ($149 a month) or higher (verified 2026-10-25). OpenGMB has a public MCP server at https://opengmb.synectus.com/mcp, included on the $10 plan.
Is OpenGMB cheaper than Rating Captain?
For one location, no: Voyager is $9 (verified 2026-10-25) a month against OpenGMB's $10. With MCP in the picture, Rating Captain needs Orbiter at $149 (verified 2026-10-25). OpenGMB's $10 plan includes MCP, and rank scans and AI drafts are paid from the $10 usage credit.
Is there a free trial?
OpenGMB gives a 14-day trial with $0.50 of credit and no card. After it ends the account is read-only until you subscribe. Rating Captain offers 'Try for free' on each paid plan; no trial length stated (verified 2026-10-25).
Can OpenGMB reply to reviews without my approval?
Only if you turn it on. Replies need approval by default. An optional rule auto-approves replies to 4- or 5-star reviews, and the owner has to turn it on. Auto-approve never covers replies to 1 to 3 star reviews.
Try it on one profile first.
$0.50 free credit, no card. Posts and profile edits go through approval before they go live.