Profound vs AthenaHQ
The short answer
Two venture-backed tools with very different on-ramps. Profound ($155M raised) is the category heavyweight but gates engines by tier — ChatGPT only at $99/month, three engines at $399. AthenaHQ (Y Combinator, ~$2.7M raised) has the best free tier in the category — real credits, no card — and puts nine models on its paid entry plan, but that first paid step is $295/month on usage-metered credits. Use AthenaHQ's free tier to look around; choose Profound for enterprise depth. For a flat, predictable $39/month across four engines, Spottlo is the cheaper standing bill.
Pricing for Profound and AthenaHQ verified July 11, 2026. Vendors change pricing; check www.tryprofound.com and www.athenahq.ai before you buy. We make Spottlo, so read the third column with that in mind.
Profound vs AthenaHQ at a glance
| Profound | AthenaHQ | Spottlo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price |
$99/mo Starter (billed yearly) $399/mo Growth for 3 engines |
Free tier ($25 credit) $295/mo first paid tier |
$39/mo |
| AI engines tracked | 9 named — but ChatGPT only on Starter | 8 — on the paid entry tier | 4 — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews |
| Engines gated behind higher tiers? | Yes. 1 engine at $99, 3 at $399, up to 10 on Enterprise | Limited on free; all engines on paid | No. All four on every plan |
| Tracked prompts included | 50 (Starter) | Credit-metered (3,600 credits = 3,600 AI responses) | 25 per brand |
| Brands included | 1 — multi-brand is Enterprise-only | Not published | 1 |
| Each additional brand | Enterprise quote | Not published | +$19/mo |
| Refresh frequency | Not published per tier | Credit-driven | Weekly (daily +$19/mo per brand) |
| Try before you buy | "Try for free" on Growth; length not stated | Yes — free tier with $25 credit, no card | Free report — no signup, no card |
| Public self-serve pricing | Partial — Enterprise is quote-only | Partial — Enterprise is quote-only | Yes |
| Built for | Enterprise | Mid-market and enterprise | Founders, lean marketing teams, small agencies |
Profound
Profound is the category heavyweight: $155M raised across a Sequoia-led Series B and a Lightspeed-led Series C at a $1B valuation, with reported adoption across roughly 10% of the Fortune 500. It tracks up to ten answer engines on Enterprise, adds agent analytics and content actions, and ships SOC 2, SAML SSO and dedicated support. It has recently added self-serve tiers, which is why the "Profound is enterprise-only, contact sales" line on older comparison pages is now out of date.
Strengths
- ↑The broadest engine coverage in the category on Enterprise plans, at up to ten answer engines.
- ↑By far the best-funded player, which matters when you are signing a multi-year contract.
Limitations
- ↓The $99/month Starter plan tracks ChatGPT only. Three engines requires the $399/month Growth plan.
- ↓Multi-brand tracking is an Enterprise feature, and Enterprise pricing is not published.
AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ came out of Y Combinator with roughly $2.7M raised and sells to mid-market and enterprise: SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, SAML/OIDC SSO and audit logs on Enterprise, with customers including Coinbase, SoFi and PagerDuty. It stands out for a genuinely usable free tier with $25 of credit, and for putting nine models — Claude, Grok, Copilot and Google AI Mode among them — on the paid entry plan rather than reserving them for Enterprise.
Strengths
- ↑A genuine free tier with credits, so you can evaluate it without a card.
- ↑All the major engines, including Claude, Grok and Copilot, on the paid entry tier rather than gated to Enterprise.
Limitations
- ↓Paid entry is $295/month, a steep first step up from the free tier for a single brand.
- ↓Credit pricing (one credit = one AI response) makes monthly cost harder to predict than a flat prompt allowance.
Where Spottlo fits
Profound and AthenaHQ are built for teams with the budget and process for an enterprise platform. Spottlo answers a narrower question — do ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews name you when a buyer asks what to use, and who gets recommended instead — for a published $39/month, with all four engines on every plan and no gating. You can see where you stand before choosing between any of these tools.
Run a free report first
Enter your domain and Spottlo scans your brand across all four AI engines in about 30 seconds — no signup, no card. It is the fastest way to find out whether you even have an AI visibility problem before you price Profound or AthenaHQ.
Run a free reportProfound vs AthenaHQ: FAQ
How do Profound and AthenaHQ compare? +
Profound: Starter is $99/month billed yearly but tracks ChatGPT only. Growth is $399/month for three engines. Multi-brand tracking is Enterprise, which is quote-only. AthenaHQ: A free "Essential" tier gives you $25 of credit. The first paid tier, Starter, is $295/month for 3,600 credits, where one credit is one AI response.
Is Profound or AthenaHQ cheaper? +
Profound: Starter is $99/month billed yearly but tracks ChatGPT only. Growth is $399/month for three engines. Multi-brand tracking is Enterprise, which is quote-only. AthenaHQ: A free "Essential" tier gives you $25 of credit. The first paid tier, Starter, is $295/month for 3,600 credits, where one credit is one AI response. For reference, Spottlo is a flat $39/month for one brand with 25 prompts across all four engines, +$19/month per additional brand.
Which AI engines do Profound and AthenaHQ track? +
Profound tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Meta AI, Grok, DeepSeek, Claude. AthenaHQ tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Grok. Spottlo tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews on every plan, with none gated behind a higher tier.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Profound and AthenaHQ? +
Yes. Spottlo is a dedicated AI visibility tracker at $39/month for one brand with 25 tracked prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. It runs a free report on any domain with no signup and no card, so you can see where you stand before choosing between Profound, AthenaHQ or anything else.
Also worth a look: Profound alternatives, AthenaHQ alternatives, or every AI visibility tool compared.