AthenaHQ vs CitationIQ (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, AthenaHQ grades higher than CitationIQ: 2.2 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
AthenaHQ grades higher on the free plan and features. They get the same grade on value for money, 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
CitationIQ
AI citation tracking and content alignment reports on one plan
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 CitationIQ if
- Fits if you need evidence of AI visibility to show your boss or clients
- Works for agencies with three or more clients, at $149 per client a month
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're one person with one site, at $167 a month even billed yearly
- Not for you if you want to try it before paying, as there's no trial
- Skip it if Google's AI Overviews or AI Mode are where your buyers see answers
- Watch out: agency accounts must bring their own OpenAI and Anthropic API keys and pay monthly
- Watch out: cancelling forfeits the Founding Member rate for good, and the standard rate is $208
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAthenaHQFair | 1.6GPACitationIQWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | DThe Founding Member rate is $167 a month billed yearly ($1,999 a year), or $179 monthly, for 250 queries and 100 pages. That's in this category's dearest tenth, and the standard rate it replaces is $208. |
| 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. | FNothing free at all. No free plan or trial is listed, so the self-serve plan is paid from day one. |
| 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. | CCited, mentioned, paraphrased or absent on four engines, query expansion, section-level content scores, technical checks and competitor comparisons. The gaps: Google AI Overviews and AI Mode aren't among the engines, and each account stops at 250 queries. |
| 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 are seven report types to learn, and agency accounts have to connect their own OpenAI and Anthropic API keys. |
| 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, with no desktop or phone app. Standard API access is included, reports download as XLSX, and work runs in 36 languages. |
| Best for | a free start on credit-based AI answer tracking | checking page sections against the questions AI gets |
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 CitationIQ. 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. CitationIQ starts at $167 a month and scores 2.3.
AthenaHQ scores higher, and starts $78 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 24 score higher than CitationIQ 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.
- CitationIQ also covers reports and site audit.
At a glance
| AthenaHQ | CitationIQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $245 per month, billed annually ($295 billed monthly) | $167 per month, billed annually ($179 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 | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | AthenaHQ | Nashi Holdings, LLC |
| Price read from | athenahq.ai | citationiq.com |
| 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.
CitationIQ
- No free plan or free trial is listed; the self-serve plan is paid from the start.
- Each account manages up to 250 queries and 100 pages.
- Agency accounts must connect their own OpenAI and Anthropic API keys, and are billed monthly only.
- Cancelling forfeits the Founding Member rate for good.
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.
CitationIQ
- Citation tracking
- Checks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity for your key queries and records whether the brand is cited, mentioned, paraphrased or absent over time.
- Query alignment
- Expands seed topics into the query variations people use and scores your content against each with semantic analysis.
- Chunk performance
- Scores individual sections of your pages against target queries to show which are ready, which need work and where new content would help.
- Technical visibility
- Finds crawl problems, access restrictions and llms.txt issues that keep AI platforms from reading your content.
- Competitive intelligence
- Compares your alignment scores with competitors query by query, showing where you lead or trail.
- Exports in 36 languages
- Queries, URLs and reports can be in 36 languages, and every report downloads as XLSX, white-labeled for agency accounts.
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.
CitationIQ
Founding Member$167
per month, billed annually ($179 billed monthly)
Every report, standard API access, 250 queries and 100 pages. Rate locked for life while the account stays active; offered to early accounts. $1,999 a year.
Standard$208
per month, billed annually ($249 billed monthly)
The same full access at the standard rate, $2,490 a year. The page says all new accounts currently get the Founding Member rate instead.
Agency Getting Started$249
per client / month, billed monthly
Full access for one client account, white-label exports, and your own OpenAI and Anthropic API keys required.
Agency Growth$149
per client / month for 3+ clients, billed monthly
Volume pricing: $199 per client at 2 clients and $149 at 3 or more, applied to every client in the account.
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.
CitationIQ
- Annual discount
Lower monthly rate with annual billing
CitationIQ's pricing page lists the Founding Member rate at $167 a month billed annually ($1,999 a year), against $179 billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AthenaHQ or CitationIQ?
As of Oct 23, 2026, CitationIQ is cheaper to start with: $167 a month, against $245 a month for AthenaHQ. AthenaHQ starts at $245 per month, billed annually ($295 billed monthly), and CitationIQ starts at $167 per month, billed annually ($179 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, AthenaHQ or CitationIQ?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only AthenaHQ has a free plan. CitationIQ does not.
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.