Profound vs AthenaHQ
Profound and AthenaHQ compared on AI engine coverage, starting price, refresh cadence, citation tracking and who each is built for, using only facts published on each vendor's site.
Profound vs AthenaHQ, with InsightWonder for reference
| Profound | AthenaHQ | InsightWonder | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product type | Built for AI answers | Built for AI answers | Built for AI answers |
| Starting price | From $99/mo | From $295/mo | From $39/mo |
| Pricing model | Per brand / domain plan | Usage / credit based | Per brand / domain plan |
| Free plan or trial | Free trial | Free plan | Free trial |
| Data refresh | Not published | Not published | Monthly by default; rerun on demand |
| Engines tracked | 8 | 10 | 5 |
| AI engines named on the vendor site | |||
| ChatGPT | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Perplexity | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gemini | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google AI Overviews | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Google AI Mode | — | ✓ | — |
| Claude | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microsoft Copilot | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Grok | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Meta AI | — | ✓ | — |
| DeepSeek | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Capabilities | |||
| URL-level citation tracking | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Competitor share of voice | n/p | ✓ | ✓ |
| Content generation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Distribution / publishing | n/p | n/p | ✓ |
| Multi-language / markets | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Agency / multi-brand workspaces | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| API access | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Built for | Enterprise · Mid-market · Agencies | Enterprise · Mid-market · Agencies | SMB · Mid-market |
| Best for | Enterprise marketing teams that need governance, multiple brands and regions, and can budget for the Enterprise tier. | Teams that want the widest model list and agent-style optimization, and are comfortable with credit-based billing. | Brands, DTC stores and content teams that want AI visibility measurement tied directly to what gets published next. |
✓ stated on the vendor site · — not offered or not listed · n/p not published, so we do not guess · Facts verified 2026-09-07
Where Profound is stronger, and where AthenaHQ is
Both lists are written from published product pages. If a limitation here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Profound
- Widest engine list among the tools compared here, including Copilot and Google AI Overviews.
- Enterprise features: API, multi-brand, custom languages and regions, published research reports.
- Best-funded vendor in the category ($58.5M raised by Aug 2025).
- Starter ($99/mo, billed yearly) covers ChatGPT only with 50 prompts; the full engine list needs higher tiers.
- API, multi-brand and custom languages/regions are Enterprise-only; Starter and Growth are one language, one region.
- Refresh cadence is not published on the pricing page.
AthenaHQ
- Ten AI models on the Starter plan, the broadest list in this comparison.
- Free Essential tier with starter credits; GA4, Search Console and Shopify integrations.
- Content optimization agent; Y Combinator-backed team.
- First paid tier is $295/mo; credit-based consumption makes monthly cost harder to predict.
- Free plan is limited to five engines; API is a paid add-on on Starter; multi-region is Enterprise.
- Refresh cadence is described as real-time without a stated interval.
Related comparisons
Profound alternatives
Enterprise marketing teams that need governance, multiple brands and regions, and can budget for the Enterprise tier.
See alternativesAthenaHQ alternatives
Teams that want the widest model list and agent-style optimization, and are comfortable with credit-based billing.
See alternativesInsightWonder vs Profound
Head-to-head on engines, pricing, citations and what happens after measurement.
Open the comparisonInsightWonder vs AthenaHQ
Head-to-head on engines, pricing, citations and what happens after measurement.
Open the comparisonQuestions teams ask before they start
Profound vs AthenaHQ: which is cheaper?
Profound starts lower ($99/mo vs $295/mo). Starting tiers differ in prompt limits and engines, so compare what each tier includes, not only the price.
Which tracks more AI engines, Profound or AthenaHQ?
Profound names 8 engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek); AthenaHQ names 10 (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Grok, Meta AI, DeepSeek). Only engines written on each vendor's own site are counted.
Who is Profound for, and who is AthenaHQ for?
Profound: Enterprise marketing teams that need governance, multiple brands and regions, and can budget for the Enterprise tier. AthenaHQ: Teams that want the widest model list and agent-style optimization, and are comfortable with credit-based billing.
How does InsightWonder differ from Profound and AthenaHQ?
InsightWonder starts at $39/mo and pairs measurement with content generation and draft-first distribution, so a missed question turns into a published fix. It covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok but not Google AI Overviews or Copilot, and runs monthly by default. Teams that need daily data across Google's AI surfaces should look at Profound or AthenaHQ first.
How this page was built
Every cell in the table comes from a page on the vendor's own site, opened on the verification date shown. Third-party sources are labelled. Fields a vendor does not publish are marked "not published" rather than guessed. Prices are list prices in USD per month and change; the vendor's pricing page is always the authority.
- $35M Series B led by Sequoia Capital (Aug 2025); $58.5M raised in total.
- $20M Series A led by Kleiner Perkins (Jun 2025).
- Profound pricing
- Profound Series B announcement
- Founded 2024 in San Francisco; Y Combinator-backed with a $2.2M seed (third-party sources).
- AthenaHQ plans
- Y Combinator (third-party)
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