Spottlo vs AthenaHQ
The short answer
AthenaHQ has the best free tier in the category — real credits, unlimited members, no card — and it puts every major engine including Claude, Grok and Copilot on its paid entry plan rather than gating them to Enterprise. The gap is the step between those two things: $295/month, on credit pricing where one credit equals one AI response, which makes your bill a function of usage rather than a number you can plan around. Spottlo is $39/month flat, with 25 prompts and four engines. Use AthenaHQ's free tier to look around. If you then need continuous tracking and $295/month is not proportionate to one brand, Spottlo is the cheaper standing bill.
AthenaHQ details verified July 11, 2026 from www.athenahq.ai. Vendors change pricing; check theirs before you buy.
Spottlo vs AthenaHQ at a glance
| Spottlo | AthenaHQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $39/mo |
Free tier ($25 credit) $295/mo first paid tier |
| AI engines tracked | 4 — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews | 8 — on the paid entry tier |
| Engines gated behind higher tiers? | No. All four on every plan | Limited on free; all engines on paid |
| Tracked prompts included | 25 per brand | Credit-metered (3,600 credits = 3,600 AI responses) |
| Brands included | 1 | Not published |
| Each additional brand | +$19/mo | Not published |
| Refresh frequency | Weekly (daily +$19/mo per brand) | Credit-driven |
| Try before you buy | Free report — no signup, no card | Yes — free tier with $25 credit, no card |
| Public self-serve pricing | Yes | Partial — Enterprise is quote-only |
| Built for | Founders, lean marketing teams, small agencies | Mid-market and enterprise |
Which one should you actually pick?
Choose Spottlo if…
- You want a predictable flat bill instead of a credit meter.
- You need ongoing weekly tracking and $295/month for one brand is out of proportion.
- You want four engines, 25 prompts and a competitor leaderboard for $39/month.
Choose AthenaHQ if…
- You want to evaluate an AI visibility tool for free, with real credits and no card.
- You need Claude, Copilot or Grok coverage from a SOC 2 Type 2 vendor.
- Your budget supports $295/month and you want depth across nine models.
What AthenaHQ is
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.
Where AthenaHQ is strong
- ↑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.
- ↑SOC 2 Type 2 and GDPR compliance, with SSO and audit logs on Enterprise.
Where it may not fit
- ↓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.
- ↓Enterprise pricing is not published, so small teams choose between free and $295/month.
How Spottlo is different
AthenaHQ prices like an enterprise tool with a generous free sample. Spottlo prices like a utility. The practical question is what happens when the free credits run out. If the answer is "we need this running every week, forever," then $295 versus $39 is the whole conversation, unless you specifically need Claude, Copilot or Grok — which Spottlo does not track.
Not sure what a term means? The AI visibility glossary defines Share of Voice, prompt sets and GEO in plain English. Or read how Spottlo scans.
Spottlo vs AthenaHQ: FAQ
What is the difference between Spottlo and AthenaHQ? +
AthenaHQ has the best free tier in the category — real credits, unlimited members, no card — and it puts every major engine including Claude, Grok and Copilot on its paid entry plan rather than gating them to Enterprise. The gap is the step between those two things: $295/month, on credit pricing where one credit equals one AI response, which makes your bill a function of usage rather than a number you can plan around. Spottlo is $39/month flat, with 25 prompts and four engines. Use AthenaHQ's free tier to look around. If you then need continuous tracking and $295/month is not proportionate to one brand, Spottlo is the cheaper standing bill.
Is Spottlo cheaper than AthenaHQ? +
Spottlo starts at $39/month for one brand with 25 tracked prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, with each additional brand at +$19/month. 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.
Which AI engines does AthenaHQ track? +
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 no engine gated behind a higher tier.
Can I try Spottlo before paying? +
Yes. Spottlo runs a free AI visibility report on any domain with no signup and no credit card. It scans your brand across all four engines and returns a result in about 30 seconds.
Also worth a look: the full list of AthenaHQ alternatives.
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