AthenaHQ
YC-backed AEO platform tracking brand mentions across nine AI answer engines, credit-metered.
Best forsingle brands with budget for a $295+/month multi-platform monitoring tool
Our verdict
Broad AI-platform coverage and a well-liked interface, but credit-based pricing with no free trial and no mid-tier makes it a costly commitment.
Independent reviewers consistently flag the $295/month entry price and credit-consumption model as the main friction point.
The CitedIndex digest
New tools, fresh verdicts, and who's earning the top spots. One short email.
What's great
- Comprehensive monitoring across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and more with sentiment and source identification, described by reviewers as having a minimal learning curve.
- Responsive customer support that reportedly ships fixes and features quickly.
Watch-outs
- No free trial and no mid-tier between the $295/month self-serve plan and custom Enterprise pricing.
- Credit-based pricing penalizes heavier usage, a handful of daily prompts across every model can push a team into weekly-only monitoring within a single $295/month plan.
- Per-brand pricing scales expensively for agencies managing multiple clients.
Also note: Self-Serve plan is single-brand/single-country; multi-market needs custom Enterprise pricing.
How AthenaHQ compares
The other tools buyers weigh against AthenaHQ, and when to pick each.
| Tool | Best when you want… |
|---|---|
| AthenaHQThis page | single brands with budget for a $295+/month multi-platform monitoring tool |
| Profound | Profound's $99/mo Starter is cheaper if you only need ChatGPT tracking to start, or its Growth/Enterprise tiers if you need SSO, benchmarking and dedicated support beyond AthenaHQ's credit-metered plan. |
What is AthenaHQ?
AthenaHQ is a Y Combinator-backed Answer Engine Optimization platform built by engineers with Google and DeepMind backgrounds. It monitors and helps improve how a brand appears in AI-generated answers, competing with Profound and Scrunch for marketing, SEO and PR teams that need visibility into ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and other AI assistants. Pricing runs on a credit system rather than flat seats, paired with a content-optimization agent and a conversational "Ask Athena" copilot.
What does AthenaHQ do?
AthenaHQ runs ongoing prompt checks against up to nine AI models, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot and Grok on higher tiers, and reports mention rate, citation rate, sentiment and share of voice against named competitors. A content-optimization agent analyzes what AI models can't yet answer about the business and drafts recommendations to close those gaps, while Ask Athena answers plain-language questions about the visibility data. Integrations with GA4, Search Console, Shopify and Webflow attempt to connect AI citations to downstream traffic. Usage is metered in credits: the $295/month Starter tier includes 3,600 credits (roughly one per AI response checked), so heavier prompt volume or broader model coverage draws the pool down faster than the flat price suggests.
How AthenaHQ works
- AthenaHQ runs ongoing prompt checks against up to nine AI models — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot and Grok on higher tiers.
- Each run reports mention rate, citation rate, sentiment and share of voice against named competitors.
- A content-optimization agent analyzes what AI models can't yet answer about the business and drafts recommendations to close those gaps.
- Usage draws from a credit pool (the $295/month Starter tier includes 3,600 credits, roughly one per AI response checked), so broader model coverage or heavier prompt volume draws it down faster than the flat price suggests.
Who is AthenaHQ for?
- Single brands with budget for a $295+/month multi-platform monitoring tool who want board-ready visibility reporting against named competitors.
- Marketing/PR teams that want AI-answer sentiment tracking to catch misinformation early, not just a mention count.
- Teams that want monitoring paired with actionable next steps — the content-optimization agent drafts recommendations, and Ask Athena answers plain-language questions about the data.
Key features
- Cross-platform monitoring: Tracks mentions, sentiment and citations across up to 9 AI platforms.
- Citation & source tracking: Shows which sources AI models cite and surfaces content gaps.
- Competitive benchmarking: Share of voice and sentiment against named competitors.
- Content optimization agent: Drafts recommendations aimed at increasing citation likelihood.
- Ask Athena copilot: Conversational answers to plain-language questions about the visibility data.
What are AthenaHQ's use cases?
- Brand visibility baseline: A marketing team gets a board-ready view of AI-answer presence versus competitors.
- Agency/partner client reporting: A partner-tier agency demonstrates AI-visibility performance across client brands.
- PR and reputation monitoring: A PR team catches AI-answer misinformation early via real-time sentiment tracking.
What does AthenaHQ integrate with?
- ChatGPT
- Perplexity
- Google AI Overviews
- Gemini
Why use AthenaHQ?
- Broad 8-9 platform coverage in one dashboard rather than checking each manually.
- Combines monitoring with actionable content recommendations, not just tracking.
- Independent reviewers cite a low learning curve and responsive support.
Pros & cons
Pros
- Comprehensive monitoring across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and more with sentiment and source identification, described by reviewers as having a minimal learning curve.
- Responsive customer support that reportedly ships fixes and features quickly.
Cons
- No free trial and no mid-tier between the $295/month self-serve plan and custom Enterprise pricing.
- Credit-based pricing penalizes heavier usage, a handful of daily prompts across every model can push a team into weekly-only monitoring within a single $295/month plan.
- Per-brand pricing scales expensively for agencies managing multiple clients.
Limitations
- Self-Serve plan is single-brand/single-country; multi-market needs custom Enterprise pricing.
AthenaHQ pricing
From $295/mo (Starter/Self-Serve, 3,600 credits); a standing free "Essential" plan ($25/300 credits across 5 engines) also exists — no mid-tier between Starter and custom Enterprise.
- Essential$0 / month (standing free plan)
- Starter (Self-Serve)$295 / month
- EnterpriseCustom / month
See current pricing on athenahq.ai ↗Compare AthenaHQ alternatives →
AthenaHQ specs
Pricing
- Pricing model
- subscription
Capabilities
- Public API
- ✓ Yes
AthenaHQ review
Broad AI-platform coverage and a well-liked interface, but credit-based pricing with no free trial and no mid-tier makes it a costly commitment.
Independent reviewers consistently flag the $295/month entry price and credit-consumption model as the main friction point.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI platforms does AthenaHQ monitor?
How much does AthenaHQ cost?
Does AthenaHQ have a free plan?
Is there an API?
AthenaHQ alternatives
- Profound
Profound's $99/mo Starter is cheaper if you only need ChatGPT tracking to start, or its Growth/Enterprise tiers if you need SSO, benchmarking and dedicated support beyond AthenaHQ's credit-metered plan.
Get a quote from AthenaHQ
Tell us what you need. We make the introduction to AthenaHQ.