AthenaHQ Alternatives for Small and Mid-Size Companies (2026)

By Mehmet, Top Seed AI · Published Nov 1, 2026

In short: AthenaHQ tracks your brand across up to 11 AI models and suggests fixes; its paid Starter plan is $295 a month ($245 billed annually), and a certified specialist comes only with Enterprise. If you want cheaper tracking, Otterly.AI ($29), HubSpot AEO ($50), LLM Pulse ($58, or €49), Peec AI ($95) and Semrush ($99) start lower. If you want more hands-on help, Goodie AI lists strategist support on every plan. If you want the work done for you, an agency is usually a better fit than a tool. We run such an agency, so read our section with that in mind.

What AthenaHQ offers

According to its own site, AthenaHQ "tracks how your brand appears across every major AI platform, shows you exactly where you are winning or losing visibility, and tells you what to fix." All plans include ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Copilot; paid plans add Google AI Mode, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek and Meta AI. It includes content creation features, an AI copilot called Ask Athena, and controls for AI crawler access.

Its plans, as shown on November 1, 2026:

• Essential: free, with 300 credits (one credit is one AI response).
• Starter: $295 a month, or $245 a month billed annually, with 3,600 credits and unlimited topics and prompts. The plan table labels it "Self-Guided SMBs".
• Enterprise: custom pricing, with a certified GEO/SEO specialist, white-glove setup and a dedicated Slack channel.

We found no done-for-you service for brands on its site; its agency program routes qualified leads to agencies after GEO certification.

The alternatives at a glance

Prices are each product's own published price for a US visitor on November 1, 2026. Tools change prices often; check before you buy.

If you want the same thing for less

Otterly.AI is the lowest-priced tracker we found, at $29 a month for 15 prompts, with audits that test AI crawlers against your site. HubSpot AEO costs $50 a month ($45 billed annually) for 25 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, and it offers a 28-day free trial with the same 25 prompts. LLM Pulse includes ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews on every tier from $58 a month (€49). Peec AI ($95) and Semrush ($99 standalone, or bundled with SEO from $199) suit teams that want analytics in a tool they already know.

What you give up compared with AthenaHQ's Starter plan varies: fewer prompts or responses, fewer AI models on the entry plan, or fewer content features. Count how many buyer questions you need to track and which assistants your buyers use before you compare.

If you want more help, not just data

Goodie AI is the only tool we found that lists AEO strategist support on every plan, starting at $295 a month billed annually, with content, outreach and technical agents. Scrunch and Profound offer strategy calls or a dedicated specialist on enterprise plans. AthenaHQ itself offers a certified specialist on Enterprise.

If you would rather not run a tool at all

A tool tells you what to do; someone still has to do it. If no one on your team has a few hours every week to write pages, fix listings and contact the sites AI assistants read, an agency may be the better choice. Among the agencies we checked, published prices start at about $3,000 a month. See Best AEO and GEO Agencies for B2B Companies and AEO Agency vs AI Visibility Software.

Top Seed AI (our service): done-for-you AEO for companies that want the work handled by email: research, pages, outside sources and before-and-after tracking across five AI surfaces. We send the price by email after a free comparison page. Not the best fit if you want a dashboard you run yourself or an agency with many published case studies; we are new.

Questions people ask

Is AthenaHQ free?

It has a free Essential plan with 300 credits, where one credit is one AI response. The paid Starter plan is $295 a month, or $245 a month billed annually, according to its plans page on November 1, 2026.

Is Profound cheaper than AthenaHQ?

Not for most brands. Profound's pricing page shows a free trial and enterprise pricing for brands, with no self-serve paid plan; a pricing tracker reports that it removed its $99 and $399 self-serve plans in September 2026 (PricingSaaS). Its agency plan lists client workspaces as add-ons at $399 a month each.

What is the cheapest AthenaHQ alternative?

Among the tools we checked, Otterly.AI at $29 a month for 15 prompts, then HubSpot AEO at $50 a month for 25 prompts. Free one-time checks from HubSpot, Ahrefs and Semrush cost nothing but do not track over time.

Does AthenaHQ do the work for you?

Not on self-serve plans. It recommends actions and includes content and AI copilot features, and its Enterprise plan adds a certified specialist. We found no done-for-you service for brands on its site; its agency program routes qualified leads to agencies after GEO certification.

Sources

• AthenaHQ: plans, homepage, platform, agency program
• Alternatives (pricing pages, November 1, 2026): Otterly.AI, HubSpot AEO, LLM Pulse, Peec AI, Semrush AI, Ahrefs Brand Radar, Scrunch, Goodie AI, Profound
• Third party: PricingSaaS, Profound pricing change

Disclosure: Top Seed AI sells done-for-you AEO work. We have no affiliate links on this page and receive nothing from the tools listed.

Related guides

• AEO Agency vs AI Visibility Software
• Best AEO and GEO Agencies for B2B Companies
• How to Measure AI Search Traffic and Visibility
• Who Writes the "Best" Lists AI Reads

About this guide. Written by Mehmet, who runs Top Seed AI. We sell AI visibility work, so we have an interest in this topic; the sources above are there so you can check our reading. Published Nov 1, 2026.