Alternatives · AthenaHQ
The best AthenaHQ alternative for AI visibility in 2026
By Maya Ellison, content lead · Updated 28 September 2026
In short
MentionChecker is the AthenaHQ alternative with no monthly plan: a pay-as-you-go AI visibility checker, credits from $9, six AI engines on every pack, your first check free. AthenaHQ, an AI visibility platform, sells one paid self-serve plan at 295 dollars a month with 3,600 of its credits in it, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page.
Know where you stand in AI search.Which AthenaHQ alternative has no subscription?
MentionChecker is a pay-as-you-go AI visibility checker. It asks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot the questions people ask about what you do, and tells you whether your brand is mentioned in the answers. A check is paid for on its own, with credits bought once, so nothing is owed in a month you do not run one. A mention is your brand's name in the words of an answer.
A check asks the questions drafted from your website, or the list you already hold. Four AI engines are ticked by default, ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity, and all six run when you tick the other two. The report opens on three numbers: how often the answers mentioned you, your share of voice among every name they mentioned, and your average rank when the answer is a list. Together they are your AI visibility score, and each number opens to the answers it was counted from.
Why do people look for an AthenaHQ alternative?
Because a subscription bills every month and the work is not monthly. A brand looks at where it stands after a website change, before a pitch, or once a quarter, and a plan that renews on the 1st charges for the months in between. The free card is Essential, which carries 25 dollars of credit, and its own tooltip puts that at 300 AI responses, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page.
How far a month of Starter goes depends on which AI engines you ask. Its own calculator prices 50 questions on seven of the models it lists, three days a week, at 7,145 of its credits a month, which is more than Starter holds, and the plan it recommends for that is Starter plus add-on credits, whose price is not on the page, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's credit calculator.
Here all six AI engines sit on every pack at the same price, every brand in the account spends one balance, and you monitor AI mentions as often or as rarely as you choose, so a month with no check costs nothing.
AthenaHQ review and pricing
AthenaHQ is an AI visibility platform that tracks a list of questions on up to eleven AI engines and reports where a brand is mentioned, which websites the answers cited and what to change on your own pages. Its plans page has three cards. Essential is free with 25 dollars of credit on five AI engines, Starter is 295 dollars a month, or 245 dollars on the annual toggle, and Enterprise carries no price and a Contact sales button, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. Both the Starter card's tooltip and the calculator count a credit as one AI response, and the calculator prices a response on five of its eleven models at five credits, so the 3,600 on Starter are 3,600 answers a month on the six a check asks here, or 720 if they are spent on the other five.
| Tier | A month | Billed annually | Credits | AI engines (its page says models) | The button |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | Free | Free | 300, as $25 of credit | 5 | Start for Free |
| Starter | $295 | $245 | 3,600 a month | 11 | Choose Starter |
| Enterprise | No price on the page | No price on the page | Custom | 11 and more on request | Contact sales |
AthenaHQ's pricing as of 28 September 2026. The page's own columns compare Starter with Enterprise and not with the free card: both carry unlimited competitor tracking, impersonation and benchmarking, and what they leave outside Starter is extra credits, the API, more than one country and the advanced content agent, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. The eleven models on Starter are ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral, with more on request, and the free card lists five of them.
AthenaHQ competitors: what do the AI engines say?
Asked for the best AI visibility tool from the United States on 13 September 2026, all six of ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot mentioned Profound, five mentioned Peec AI, and four mentioned Ahrefs, Otterly and Semrush. AthenaHQ was mentioned in 4 of the 46 answers those six gave to eight questions about AI visibility tools, and its own website was listed as a source under none of them. Eight questions on six AI engines is 48, and two came back with no answer. AthenaHQ's four were one engine each on the best AI visibility tool, the cheapest AI visibility tool, the best GEO tools of 2026 and Peec AI alternatives.
The standings on every report rank every name the answers mentioned, yours among them, next to the websites those answers cited as their sources.
AthenaHQ vs MentionChecker side by side
AthenaHQ and a MentionChecker check differ on how a check is bought and on what you get to read: a plan that renews with a dashboard over it, or the check you ask for with every answer in it. The AthenaHQ column comes from AthenaHQ's plans page and AthenaHQ's credit calculator, both read on 28 September 2026. The other column comes from the pricing page.
| What differs | AthenaHQ | A MentionChecker check |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | A plan that renews, from 295 dollars a month | Credits bought once, spent as checks run, and they do not expire on a monthly clock |
| The smallest thing you can buy | A month of Starter, the only paid plan with a price on the page | The $9 pack, 50 credits |
| A month with no check | The plan renews anyway | Nothing |
| Free | Essential, 300 AI responses on five AI engines | Your first check, no card, on your own questions |
| AI engines | Eleven on Starter, five on the free plan, and its five heavier models cost five credits a response | Any of six — ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot — on every paid check, one credit each |
| Questions | As many as the month's credits cover, and a quarter of that with its variations turned on, because each response is counted four times | As many as you add, one credit each per AI engine per run |
| How often | The days a week you choose, one to seven, priced by the run | Once, or on a daily, weekly or monthly repeat, paid per run |
| Countries | One on Starter, more on Enterprise | Any, chosen per check |
| Brands | The plans page does not say how many websites Starter covers, and Enterprise negotiates them | As many as you add, on one balance |
| People | Unlimited members, with role-based access | Anyone you invite, by role, no fee |
| What you read | A dashboard of mentions, sources, competitors and what to change | Every answer word for word, your name marked |
| Sources the answers cite | Sources and competitor insights on both plans | Every website the answers cited, ranked, and each citation kept under its answer |
| History and exports | Data export to CSV on Starter, the API a paid add-on | Every check kept, a link with no login, and a PDF, Markdown or JSON export |
Those 50 credits run 12 questions once on the four AI engines a check ticks by default, or 8 on all six.
What are AthenaHQ's limits?
AthenaHQ sells one paid self-serve plan, and three things about it are worth knowing before you buy a month of it.
- Extra credits and the API are add-ons with no price. The Starter column marks both as a paid add-on billed on top of the subscription, and the card's note asks you to contact the company for what they cost, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. Here every pack's price is on the pricing page, and what a check will cost is on the screen before you start it.
- One country and one language on the plan you can buy. Multiple Countries is marked with a cross in the Starter column and multi-language and multi-region support reads Single there against Multiple under Enterprise, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. Here a brand with people in two countries is checked from both.
- Turning its variations on counts every response four times. Its calculator multiplies the month's total by that number, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's credit calculator. Here a question is asked once on each AI engine you ticked, and nothing is multiplied behind the number you agreed to before the check started.
What does MentionChecker do differently from AthenaHQ?
Nothing is charged by the month. One question on one AI engine is one credit, so a check costs the questions you ask times the AI engines you tick. Starter is 295 dollars a month for 3,600 of its credits, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. That many here is the 5,000-credit pack on the pricing page of the pay as you go AI visibility tracker, $75, bought once and good for 12 months.
| What | Credits |
|---|---|
| 25 questions on the four default AI engines, for example | 100 |
| The same 25 on all six AI engines | 150 |
| Your first check: 5 questions on ChatGPT and Gemini, no card | 10, free |
Run the same check again and you are tracking AI visibility week to week: History puts the two reports side by side, with the movement on each of the three numbers between them.
Which one to pick: AthenaHQ or MentionChecker?
Choose AthenaHQ if you want a dashboard a team opens every morning, with the competitor benchmarking and the recommendations for your own site beside the tracking, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page, on a plan that renews whether or not anyone opened it. Choose a MentionChecker check as the AthenaHQ alternative if you want the answers themselves from six AI engines today, on your own questions, from the country you pick, and again when you decide to, paid one check at a time.
How to move off AthenaHQ
Your list of questions comes out of AthenaHQ first, because the Starter card lists data export to CSV, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page, so nothing has to be retyped.
- Bring the questions across. Paste them one per line or upload the CSV, and the questions drafted from your website sit under them to keep or drop.
- Tick all six AI engines. The free Essential card lists five models without Google AI Mode, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page, and its heavier models are not asked here at all.
- Choose the country and run the check. Choose the country the questions are asked from and start the check.
- Add a repeat only if you want a series. Let the AthenaHQ plan and the checks here run side by side until its renewal date, so History has two points to compare before the month ends.
Questions people ask about AthenaHQ alternatives
What is AthenaHQ?
AthenaHQ tracks a question list on as many as eleven AI engines and shows a team where its brand came up, which websites those answers cited and what to change on its own pages. Its one paid self-serve plan is 295 dollars a month and the free plan carries 25 dollars of credit, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. MentionChecker is the AthenaHQ alternative paid per check: credits bought once, six AI engines, the first check free.
How much does AthenaHQ cost?
Starter is 295 dollars a month, or 245 dollars a month billed annually, and it carries 3,600 of its credits. Essential is free with 25 dollars of credit in it, and Enterprise carries no price and a Contact sales button, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. A MentionChecker check costs one credit per question per AI engine, and the smallest pack is 50 credits for $9, spent only when a check runs.
Is AthenaHQ free?
There is a free plan. Essential costs nothing and carries 25 dollars of credit, which the card's tooltip puts at 300 AI responses on five AI engines, and the next card up is Starter at 295 dollars a month, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. Your first MentionChecker check is free with no card as well: 5 questions on ChatGPT and Gemini, with the report and every answer kept afterwards.
Which AI engines does AthenaHQ track?
Eleven on Starter: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral, with more on request. The free card lists five of them and Google AI Mode is not among those five, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. A MentionChecker check asks any of ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot on every paid check, and all six sit on any pack.
What is an AthenaHQ credit?
One AI response on six of its eleven models, and five credits buy one response on the other five. The calculator prices a ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini or Copilot response at one credit and a Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral response at five, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's credit calculator. Starter's 3,600 are 3,600 answers on those six, or 720 on the rest. A MentionChecker credit is one question asked on one AI engine, at the same price on all six.
Is AthenaHQ worth it?
That depends on whether a dashboard a team opens every morning is worth 295 dollars a month, the only price its plans page carries between the free card and Enterprise, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. Asked for the best AI visibility tool on 13 September 2026, one of the six AI engines that answered mentioned AthenaHQ. Here the first check is free with no card, and a check after that costs only the credits it uses.
What are the best AthenaHQ alternatives?
Profound was mentioned by all six AI engines, Peec AI by five, and Ahrefs, Otterly and Semrush by four each, when ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot were asked for the best AI visibility tool from the United States on 13 September 2026. AthenaHQ was mentioned by one of the six, and its own website was cited under none of the 46 answers in that run. A MentionChecker check gives that list for your own market.
Is there a cheaper AthenaHQ alternative?
Yes, at the same volume, and on the smallest amount you can spend as well. Once the free credit is gone the least AthenaHQ costs is a month of Starter at 295 dollars, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. At MentionChecker the first check is free with no card, the smallest pack is 50 credits for $9, and a month with no check costs nothing.
Does AthenaHQ show the full AI answers?
Its plans page does not say. The free card lists that analysis under its own name, prompt and response analysis, and the Starter card lists data export to CSV with API access beside it as a paid add-on, and what the dashboard puts on screen from an answer itself is on neither card, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. A MentionChecker check keeps every answer word for word on every pack, your name marked, each citation under the answer it came with.
Does AthenaHQ track competitors?
Yes. Its plans page lists unlimited competitor tracking, impersonation and benchmarking on both of its columns, and competitor insights on the free card, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. A MentionChecker AI visibility report ranks every competitor mention, most mentioned first, with your brand marked and no limit on how many names a report holds, and a rival's name can be tracked on the History chart.
How many countries does AthenaHQ track?
One on the plan people can buy. The plans page marks Multiple Countries with a cross in the Starter column and a tick under Enterprise, and multi-language and multi-region support reads Single there, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. A MentionChecker check asks from one country, preselected from your web address, and a second country is a second check on the same balance. Nothing about the account has to change to add it.
Can you export data from AthenaHQ?
To CSV, on Starter. Data export to CSV is one of that card's lines, and API access sits beside it as a paid add-on billed on top of the subscription, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page. A MentionChecker AI visibility report goes out as a link that opens with no login, or as a PDF, Markdown or JSON export with every answer, every citation and every question in it.
Does AthenaHQ work for agencies?
It runs an agency program, and you ask for it through a form. Its agencies page offers client management in one place, pitch-ready workspaces and referred client leads under a Book time with our team button and no price, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's agencies page, and the plans page puts agencies under Enterprise. MentionChecker's AI visibility agency tool adds a brand per client on one balance and is paid per check, so a pitch costs one check.
How often does AthenaHQ update its data?
As many days a week as you choose, and the credits follow. Its calculator sets the cadence as the days a week the question set runs, from one to seven, and multiplies the month by that number, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's credit calculator. A MentionChecker check runs when you start it, and a repeat is daily, weekly or monthly if you add one at all, with each run paid from the balance on the day.
Do I lose my AthenaHQ history if I switch?
No. The Starter card lists data export to CSV, read on 28 September 2026 on AthenaHQ's plans page, so the record comes with you. At MentionChecker every check stays in the account with every answer, every citation and every question in it, and nothing ages out, so the comparison you can make gets longer with each check rather than shorter.
Know where you stand in AI search.AthenaHQ is a trademark of its owner. MentionChecker is not affiliated with or endorsed by AthenaHQ. Keep reading: pay as you go AI visibility tracker, what AI visibility is, how to check ChatGPT visibility, and the AI visibility agency tool. The Peec AI alternative, Profound alternative, Otterly alternative, Semrush alternative, Scrunch AI alternative, HubSpot AEO alternative, Ahrefs Brand Radar alternative, Rankscale alternative, Searchable alternative, Writesonic alternative, AskWatch alternative, Promptwatch alternative, Superlines alternative and Gauge alternative pages compare them the same way. The About page says what MentionChecker is.