AthenaHQ vs Brantial (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, AthenaHQ and Brantial share a 2.2 GPA, and only AthenaHQ has a free plan.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
AthenaHQ grades higher on features. Brantial grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
AthenaHQ
Credit-based AI search tracking with content optimization agents
Brantial
Daily AI visibility tracking with an AI page optimizer
Which one is for you
Pick AthenaHQ if
- Fits if you want to look at real AI answers about your brand before paying anything
- Works for shops checking their products in ChatGPT, AI Mode and Gemini shopping results
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you outgrow the free credits, as the next step is $245 a month on yearly billing
- Tight if you track lots of prompts every day, because every answer spends a credit
- Skip it if you need Claude, AI Mode or Grok on the free plan, as they start on Starter
- Watch out: the API and extra credits on Starter are add-ons priced only on request
- Not for you if you need SSO, audit logs or multi-region tracking without an Enterprise contract
Pick Brantial if
- Fits if you want tracking and page rewrites in one tool, with a person checking drafts
- Works for online shops checking how products show in ChatGPT shopping cards
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you pay monthly, as Starter is then $139 a month, in this category's dearest tenth
- Tight if you run three brands on Growth, as its 150 prompts are shared
- Skip it if Google AI Overviews matters, as it isn't among the engines listed
- Too light for exports on Starter, which gives PDF only; CSV, JSON and white-label start at Growth
- Watch out: agentic shopping features on the site are marked planned and aren't in current plans
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAthenaHQFair | 2.2GPABrantialFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DStarter is $245 a month billed annually, $295 monthly, for 3,600 credits. That sits in this category's dearest tenth, which starts at $129, and the API and extra credits are add-ons priced only on request. | CStarter is $119 a month billed yearly ($139 monthly), in this category's dearer quarter, for 50 prompts on 2 of 3 engines and 1 brand. On monthly billing it's in the dearest tenth. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan, Essential, with 300 credits on ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot and unlimited users. But one credit is one AI answer, so 10 prompts on 5 models spend 50 credits a run. You'll hit the wall fast. | CNo free plan, but a 7-day free trial on both paid plans. The page doesn't say whether it needs a card. |
| Features | BUp to 11 models on Starter, Claude, AI Mode and Grok among them, with competitor benchmarks, sentiment and source insights. It adds an optimization agent, AI shopping results and robots.txt and llms.txt controls. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job. | CDaily tracking with rivals, cited domains, a weekly brief, the page optimizer, an AI crawler audit, and local and shopping visibility. The gaps: 2 of 3 engines on Starter, and no Google AI Overviews among the eight engines. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Credits take some working out: there's a whole calculator just for estimating how prompts, locations, models and cadence add up. | CNo rating on record. There's a lot here, from engines to pick to Search Console and GA4 to connect, and optimizer drafts need a person to check them. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. It links to Google Analytics, Search Console, WordPress, Shopify and Webflow, and works inside ChatGPT or Claude over MCP. The API is a paid add-on. | BWeb only, connected to Search Console, GA4, Looker Studio, Slack, Shopify, WordPress, Claude and ChatGPT, with MCP access. The API is Enterprise only. |
| Best for | a free start on credit-based AI answer tracking | daily AI tracking with page rewrites |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: AthenaHQ and Brantial. How we grade
Price against what you get
AthenaHQ starts at $245 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Brantial starts at $119 a month and scores 2.3.
AthenaHQ scores higher, and starts $126 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI search visibility tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than AthenaHQ for less, and 23 score higher than Brantial for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- AthenaHQ also covers AI agents.
- Brantial also covers reports, site audit and local listings.
At a glance
| AthenaHQ | Brantial | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $245 per month, billed annually ($295 billed monthly) | $119 per month for 50 prompts, billed annually ($139 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Essential plan: $25 of credit (300 credits, 1 credit = 1 AI response) across ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot, with unlimited users. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial |
| Web | ||
| Made by | AthenaHQ | Webtures LTD |
| Price read from | athenahq.ai | brantial.ai |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
AthenaHQ
- Everything runs on credits: 3,600 a month on Starter. A free credit calculator helps estimate use by prompts, locations, models and cadence.
- API access and extra credits on Starter are paid add-ons whose prices are given only on request.
- The free Essential plan covers 5 models; Claude, AI Mode, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral need Starter.
- SSO, audit logs, multi-region tracking and BI dashboards come only with Enterprise.
Brantial
- Engines are chosen per plan: 2 of 3 on Starter, 3 of 6 on Growth; all eight (adding Grok, Mistral, Meta AI and DeepSeek) need Enterprise.
- Growth's 150 prompts are shared across its three brands, not 150 each.
- White-label reports and CSV or JSON exports start at Growth; Starter exports PDF only.
- Agentic shopping features shown on the site are marked as planned and not included in current plans.
Key features
AthenaHQ
- AI answer monitoring
- Analyzes prompts and responses for brand mentions, competitor benchmarking and real-time sentiment across up to 11 models on Starter.
- Sources and citation intelligence
- Shows which sources AI answers draw on and where competitors are cited instead of you.
- Content optimization agent
- Recommends on-page and off-page actions and rewrites content against brand guidelines; drafts can be published to WordPress, Shopify and other CMSs.
- Shopping insights
- Shows how a site's products appear in AI shopping results in ChatGPT, AI Mode and Gemini carousels, with position and competitor pricing.
- AI crawler controls
- Manages AI crawler access through a generated robots.txt and llms.txt.
- MCP and analytics connections
- Connects Google Analytics and Search Console to tie AI visibility to traffic, and works inside ChatGPT or Claude through MCP.
Brantial
- Daily visibility tracking
- Visibility, rank, position and sentiment per prompt and engine, side by side with competitors, with new rivals flagged automatically.
- Citations and weekly brief
- Ranks the domains behind AI answers by share and sends a plain-language weekly summary of what moved and which questions you won.
- AI Page Optimizer
- Rewrites a page around a target question, checks its facts against your source and adds structured data; drafts need human review.
- Site Health & AI Readiness
- Audits pages the way AI crawlers read them, including schema and metadata: 5,000 URLs a month on Starter, 25,000 on Growth.
- Local and shopping visibility
- Shows where branches appear in ChatGPT's near-me answers and how products show in ChatGPT shopping cards, with price and rating.
- Traffic and reporting connections
- Puts Search Console and GA4 data beside AI visibility, with Slack alerts, a Looker Studio report, MCP access and Shopify and WordPress links.
Plans
AthenaHQ
Essential$0
300 credits on 5 models, unlimited users, prompt and source analysis, content recommendations and the Athena AI agent.
Starter$245
per month for 3,600 credits, billed annually ($295 monthly)
11 models including Claude, AI Mode, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral; unlimited topics, prompts and competitors, CSV export and the optimization agent.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom credits and websites, API access, knowledge base and claim review, multi-region tracking, BI dashboards, SAML SSO, audit logs and a 2-hour SLA.
Brantial
Starter$119
per month for 50 prompts, billed annually ($139 billed monthly)
1 brand, 2 of 3 engines, daily checks, 10 competitors, 20 AI Page Optimizer runs, 2 editors. $1,428 a year.
Growth$449
per month for 150 prompts, billed annually ($529 billed monthly)
3 brands, 3 of 6 engines, 50 competitors, 45 optimizer runs, 10 editors and white-label reports. $5,388 a year.
EnterpriseCustom
All eight engines, scope agreed per proposal, API and custom reporting, SSO/SAML and onboarding.
Ways to pay less
AthenaHQ
- Annual discount
17% off with annual billing
AthenaHQ's plans page takes 17% off for annual billing, described as two months free: Starter is $245 a month instead of $295.
Brantial
- Annual discount
Save up to $960 a year with annual billing
Annual billing costs $1,428 for Starter instead of $139 a month, saving $240, and $5,388 for Growth, saving $960.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AthenaHQ or Brantial?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Brantial is cheaper to start with: $119 a month, against $245 a month for AthenaHQ. AthenaHQ starts at $245 per month, billed annually ($295 billed monthly), and Brantial starts at $119 per month for 50 prompts, billed annually ($139 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, AthenaHQ or Brantial?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only AthenaHQ has a free plan. Brantial does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.