Head to head
Profound vs AthenaHQ: count the engines before the dollars
Both track whether AI engines mention your brand. One looks three times cheaper until you notice its entry plan watches a single engine.
Quick verdict
- Only care about ChatGPT: Profound Starter at $99 a month does exactly that and nothing more.
- Need coverage across many engines: AthenaHQ Starter at $295 states 10 models. Matching that on Profound means Enterprise pricing.
- Testing the water: AthenaHQ. Its free Essential tier includes $25 of credit and unlimited members. Profound lists no free option.
- Buying for a large organisation: both route you to custom pricing, so the comparison moves to compliance and integrations rather than sticker price.
What we confirmed, and when
Every figure below came off the vendor's own pricing page on 4 September 2026. Software pricing moves, so treat the date as part of the data.
| Profound | AthenaHQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan | Starter, $99/month | Starter, $295/month |
| Free tier | None listed | Essential, free, with $25 credit |
| Engines tracked at entry | ChatGPT only | Visibility across 10 models |
| Next tier up | Growth, $399/month, 3 answer engines | Enterprise, custom credits |
| Prompt allowance | 50 prompts on Starter, 100 on Growth | Credit based, $300/month credit on Starter |
| Top tier extras | Up to 9 engines, SSO/SAML, SOC2, dedicated Slack support | SAML and OIDC SSO, audit log, multi-region, Tableau and Power BI support |
Check them yourself:Profound pricingandAthenaHQ pricing. Tell us if either has moved.
What we could not confirm
Neither vendor publishes how it samples prompts, how often it refreshes, or how a credit converts into a tracked query. Those mechanics decide whether the numbers on your dashboard mean anything, and both treat them as internal detail.
We also cannot compare accuracy. No independent benchmark exists for AI visibility tracking, so any claim that one detects citations better than the other would be invention.
We believe engine count at the entry tier is the only comparison that matters here, and it is the one the pricing pages bury. Paying $99 to watch a single engine is not cheaper than paying $295 to watch ten. It is a different product.
Who should pick which
Pick Profound if
- ChatGPT is genuinely the only engine your buyers use.
- You need SOC2 and SSO, which appear in its Enterprise tier.
- Prompt counts suit how you work better than a credit balance.
Pick AthenaHQ if
- You want breadth of model coverage without reaching Enterprise pricing.
- A free tier matters before you commit budget.
- You report into BI tools like Tableau, Power BI or Looker.
Pick neither yet if
- You are not ranking on Google. AI answers lean heavily on top results, so tracking citations you do not have yet tells you little. Start with the tools in our comparison by use case.
- Budget is under $99 a month. Neither has an option at that level beyond the AthenaHQ free tier.
Questions people ask
Is Profound or AthenaHQ cheaper for tracking AI visibility?
Profound looks cheaper at $99 a month against $295, but its entry tier tracks ChatGPT only. AthenaHQ Starter covers 10 models at $295. Reaching comparable engine coverage on Profound means Growth at $399 for 3 engines, or Enterprise on custom pricing for up to 9.
Can I try either one without paying?
AthenaHQ has a free Essential tier carrying $25 of credit, with unlimited members, prompt and response analysis, and competitor insights. Profound lists no free tier, only a paid Starter plan.
How many AI engines does each one track?
Profound scales engine count by tier: ChatGPT only on Starter, 3 answer engines on Growth, up to 9 on Enterprise. AthenaHQ states visibility across 10 models on its $295 Starter plan. Engine coverage is the clearest difference between the two.
Which is better for a large company?
Both push large buyers to custom pricing. Profound Enterprise adds SSO/SAML, SOC2 compliance, multiple company tracking, and dedicated Slack support. AthenaHQ Enterprise adds SAML and OIDC SSO, audit logs, multi-region support, and BI tool integration for Tableau, Power BI and Looker.
Do these replace an SEO tool like Ahrefs or Semrush?
No. They track whether AI engines mention your brand. They do not do keyword research or backlink analysis. Since AI answers draw heavily on top-ranking pages, most buyers end up paying for one of each rather than choosing between them.
AthenaHQ publishes its own AI SEO tool comparison. Should I trust it?
Read it knowing AthenaHQ ranks itself first in it. That does not make the content wrong, and its pricing detail is accurate. We covered the pattern across six vendor-published comparisons in our audit of who writes the tool lists.
Neither one fits?
Nine business situations, one honest pick each, runners-up named.
See all nineHow this page was made
Both vendor pricing pages were read directly on 4 September 2026 and only figures legible on those pages appear above. Nothing here comes from our own testing, because RankJudge runs none. RankJudge earns no affiliate commission on either of these two tools. AthenaHQ publishes a comparison that ranks itself first, which we covered in our audit of AEO tool lists.Our affiliate disclosure covers how we make money.