AthenaHQ in three lines
- AthenaHQ covers more named engines on its first paid plan than any other tool we reviewed: 11 models, Claude, Copilot and Google AI Mode included.
- It meters one thing only, AI responses: 3,600 credits a month on Starter at $295/mo, with unlimited prompts, topics, competitors and seats.
- A free Essential plan lets you see real data first. The paid plan is a strong fit for a team that will use the content agent; a costly one if you only want a chart.
By Nathan Price, editorial team · facts read on AthenaHQ's official pages on November 14, 2026
Who is AthenaHQ for, and who should skip it?
A good fit for
- In-house teams that want all major engines in one view
- Content teams that will use the optimization agent and on-page actions
- Companies that want to start free and upgrade when the data proves useful
Not for
- Small budgets: $295 is three times the entry price of most rivals
- Teams that need an API without paying extra
- Agencies looking for white label: the plans page does not mention it
How much does AthenaHQ cost?
AthenaHQ lists three plans. Essential is free: 300 credits (a $25 free credit) on ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot, with unlimited users, prompt and response analysis, sources and competitor insights and content recommendations. Starter is $295 a month: 3,600 credits, 11 models, 1-month credit rollover, country-level support, CSV export, integrations and the content optimization agent. Enterprise is custom, with SSO, audit logs, BI dashboards and a 2-hour SLA. Annual billing takes 17% off.
One credit is one AI response. So 3,600 credits is, for example, 40 prompts run daily on 3 models, or 120 prompts run daily on one. Spread over all 11 models, it is about 10 prompts a day. API access and extra credits are paid add-ons on Starter; AthenaHQ does not publish their price.
| Plan | Price per month | What it includes | Engines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | Free | 300 credits ($25 free credit), unlimited users, prompt and response analysis, sources and competitor insights, content recommendations | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot |
| Starter | $295/mo | 3,600 credits a month (1 credit = 1 AI response), 1-month rollover, unlimited topics, prompts and competitors, CSV export, integrations; API and extra credits are paid add-ons | 11 models: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI, Mistral |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom credits, SAML/OIDC SSO, audit log, multi-region, BI dashboards (Tableau, Power BI, Looker), Athena Citation Engine | 11 models and more on request |
Prices and limits read on athenahq.ai/plans on November 14, 2026.
What does AthenaHQ actually do?
Competitor visibility by topic
A heatmap of who shows up for which topic, across models. It is the fastest way to see where a rival owns a subject you thought was yours. Competitor tracking is unlimited, and AthenaHQ also mentions "impersonation": running prompts as a given persona.
Prompt-level responses
Every prompt, every model, one line each, with the brands mentioned. Unlimited prompts and topics means you can load a long list and let credits, not a prompt cap, decide how often each one runs.
Source citation rankings
The domains the engines cite most in your category, ranked, with trends. AthenaHQ calls the layer on top "citation intelligence" and, on Enterprise, the Athena Citation Engine.
Source attribution flows and actions
A flow diagram ties cited domains to the models that use them. From there the Action side takes over: on-page and off-page actions, a base content optimization agent on Starter, and management of AI crawler access through a smart robots.txt and llms.txt.
Which AI engines does AthenaHQ track?
Starter: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral, with additional models on request. The free Essential plan covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot.
| Engine | On the Starter plan |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Listed |
| Perplexity | Listed |
| Gemini | Listed |
| Google AI Overviews | Listed |
| Google AI Mode | Listed |
| Claude | Listed |
| Microsoft Copilot | Listed |
What are the limits of each plan?
The limit is credits: 3,600 a month, with one month of rollover. Starter supports a single language and region; multi-language, multi-region, persona targeting and the Recommendation Engine are Enterprise. AthenaHQ does not state a fixed refresh schedule on the plans page: how often a prompt runs is your call, paid in credits.
What you get on the Starter plan
- Price: $295/mo
- Volume: 3,600 credits a month, 1 credit = 1 AI response
- Engines: Starter covers 11 models, including Claude, Copilot and Google AI Mode. The free Essential plan covers five.
- Refresh: Set by your credits: each AI response uses one
- Seats: Unlimited seats with role-based access
- Free trial: Free plan
Integrations, API and export
CSV export is included on Starter, along with Shopify and Webflow integrations and GA4 and Search Console connections that tie AI visibility to site traffic. The API is a paid add-on. Executive dashboards for Tableau, Power BI and Looker are Enterprise. AthenaHQ has an agency program; white label is not stated on the plans page.
How do you get started?
Start on the free Essential plan: 300 credits is enough to run a first prompt set on five engines and judge the reports. AthenaHQ also has a credit calculator on its site, worth using before choosing between Starter and a custom plan.
Which costs are easy to miss?
- API access: paid add-on, price on request.
- Extra credits: paid add-on, price on request.
- A second language or region: Enterprise.
Questions to ask AthenaHQ before you sign
- What do 1,000 extra credits cost on Starter?
- What does the API add-on cost?
- Is there a plan between Starter and Enterprise for two regions?
Strengths and the catch
What we like
- 11 models on the first paid plan, the widest named coverage at that level
- A free plan lets you look at real data before paying
- Unlimited prompts, topics, competitors and seats: only AI responses are metered
- Content optimization agent plus on-page and off-page actions
The catch
- $295 a month buys 3,600 AI responses, and the API is a paid add-on on top.
- Not for: small budgets: 3,600 responses spread over 11 models go fast
Why 8.9 out of 10?
The score comes from one published formula, applied to the Starter plan as AthenaHQ describes it. AthenaHQ ranks No. 6 of 14.
| Criterion | Weight | Points out of 10 | What we read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engines covered | 20% | 10.0 | 11 engines |
| Entry price | 15% | 5.1 | $295/mo |
| Price per 1,000 answers | 15% | 4.4 | $81.94 per 1,000 answers |
| Refresh schedule | 10% | 7.0 | Set by your credits: each AI response uses one |
| Insight depth | 15% | 10.0 | citations, sentiment, competitors, recommendations |
| Data access | 10% | 8.0 | CSV export and GA4, Search Console, Shopify and Webflow integrations on Starter; API is a paid add-on |
| Try before you pay | 10% | 10.0 | Free plan |
| Seats | 5% | 10.0 | Unlimited |
Which alternatives should you compare with AthenaHQ?
Its closest rivals, plus the top of our ranking. Same formula, same date.
| Tool | Score | Entry price | Engines on that plan | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.5/10 | $99/mo (Pro), Nov 14 | 17+ engines | Everything runs on credits and engines burn them at different rates, so the real prompt count depends on your mix. | |
| 8.9/10 | $295/mo (Starter), Nov 14 | 11 engines | $295 a month buys 3,600 AI responses, and the API is a paid add-on on top. | |
| 8.6/10 | Price on request, Nov 14 | 7 engines | No public price. After the 7-day trial the only paid plan is Enterprise, quoted by sales. | |
| 8.2/10 | $250/mo (Core), Nov 14 | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot | $250 a month covers one brand and four engines; Gemini and Claude need the Enterprise plan. |
- Profound vs Peec AI: two of its rivals side by side.
- Profound vs Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: two of its rivals side by side.
- Answer engine optimization tools, ranked by what they help you fix: AthenaHQ is No. 4 of 10.
- LLM SEO tools: the best LLM tracking tools by engine coverage: AthenaHQ is No. 8 of 10.
- Profound alternatives: 7 tools with a price on the page.
- Open AthenaHQ in the comparison tool with Scrunch and Profound.
AthenaHQ: frequently asked questions
What is AthenaHQ?
AthenaHQ is an AI search visibility platform that monitors a brand across up to 11 AI models and adds actions: content optimization, citation intelligence and AI crawler management.
How much does AthenaHQ cost?
Essential is free with 300 credits, Starter is $295 a month with 3,600 credits and Enterprise is custom. Read on AthenaHQ's plans page on November 14, 2026; annual billing is 17% cheaper.
Is AthenaHQ free?
It has a free Essential plan with 300 credits on five engines and unlimited users.
Is AthenaHQ worth it compared with cheaper trackers?
If you need Claude, Copilot and Google AI Mode together and will use the content agent, yes. If you need a daily chart on three engines, Peec AI or Rankscale cost a third of the price.
Sources
Official pages read on November 14, 2026: athenahq.ai/plans, athenahq.ai/platform, athenahq.ai/agency. Vendors change plans often; the vendor's pricing page is the reference.