AthenaHQ vs DeepSmith (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, AthenaHQ and DeepSmith 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. DeepSmith 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
DeepSmith
AI search tracking paired with an on-brand article writer
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 DeepSmith if
- Fits if you want AI tracking and a monthly allowance of articles in one tool
- Works for sites on Webflow or a headless CMS like Sanity, Strapi or Contentful
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need more than ChatGPT tracked on the $80 plan; Perplexity needs Grow at $160
- Tight if your team is bigger than 5, the cap on Pro, or you need more than 20 articles a month
- Not for you if you track several regions, which needs Enterprise
- Skip it if Claude or Google AI Overviews matter, as they're Enterprise only
- Watch out: the homepage names Google AI Mode, but no plan on the pricing page lists it
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAthenaHQFair | 2.2GPADeepSmithFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CPro is $80 a month billed yearly ($99 monthly) for 50 prompts and 20 articles, between this category's middle and dearer quarter. But it's ChatGPT only: Perplexity needs Grow at $160, and Gemini Scale at $299. |
| 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 with tracking and first drafts. The site 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. | CMention and citation rates, cited pages, rival sitemaps watched daily, topic gap mapping, idea agents and a content studio that publishes and repurposes. The gaps are in its own listing: Pro tracks ChatGPT only, and every self-serve plan covers one region. |
| 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 Brand Kit, personas and a CMS to set up before the articles sound like you. |
| 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, publishing to WordPress, Webflow, Strapi, Sanity and Contentful, with Search Console data and CSV and API export. |
| Best for | a free start on credit-based AI answer tracking | content teams wanting tracking and articles in one |
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 DeepSmith. 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. DeepSmith starts at $80 a month and scores 2.3.
AthenaHQ scores higher, and starts $165 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 15 score higher than DeepSmith 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.
- DeepSmith also covers long-form writing and internal linking.
At a glance
| AthenaHQ | DeepSmith | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $245 per month, billed annually ($295 billed monthly) | $80 per month for 50 prompts, billed annually ($99 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 with tracking and first drafts; the site does not say whether a card is needed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | AthenaHQ | OneJam Cloudtech Private Limited |
| Price read from | athenahq.ai | deepsmith.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.
DeepSmith
- Engines depend on plan: Pro tracks ChatGPT only, Grow adds Perplexity, Scale adds Gemini; Claude, AI Overviews and the rest need Enterprise.
- The homepage says it tracks five engines, including Google AI Mode, which the pricing page does not list on any plan.
- Self-serve plans track a single region; multi-region tracking is Enterprise only.
- Team seats are capped at 5, 7 or 10 members, and articles at 20, 40 or 90 a month, by plan.
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.
DeepSmith
- AI search analytics
- Mention rate, citation rate and share of voice by engine, with the full answer behind each number. Tracked prompts run daily.
- Cited pages and competitors
- Shows which of your pages AI cites and which it ignores, ranks you against competitors, and watches competitor sitemaps daily for new pages.
- Topic gap mapping
- Sorts your pages and rivals' pages into topics and funnel stages to show what they cover and you do not: 1,500 to 8,000 pages a month by plan.
- Content idea agents
- Unlimited agent runs that turn losing prompts, keyword clusters or a competitor's winning page into article ideas, each with the data behind it.
- Content Studio
- Researches, drafts and optimizes articles with internal and external links and a cover image, grounded in your personas, products and voice.
- CMS publishing and repurposing
- Publishes to WordPress, Webflow, Strapi, Sanity or Contentful, and turns articles into LinkedIn posts, X threads and newsletters.
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.
DeepSmith
Pro$80
per month for 50 prompts, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
ChatGPT tracking only, 20 articles a month, 1,500 pages of gap mapping, 5 team members, CSV and API export, and CMS publishing.
Grow$160
per month for 100 prompts, billed annually ($199 billed monthly)
ChatGPT and Perplexity tracking, 40 articles a month, 3,000 pages of gap mapping, 7 team members and a larger Brand Kit.
Scale$299
per month for 200 prompts, billed annually ($399 billed monthly)
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini tracking, 90 articles a month, 8,000 pages of gap mapping and 10 team members.
EnterpriseCustom
All 9 answer engines, including Claude, Google AI Overviews, Grok, Meta AI, Copilot and DeepSeek, with multi-region tracking and custom limits.
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.
DeepSmith
- Annual discount
Save up to $1,200 a year with annual billing
The pricing page's annual toggle lowers Pro to $80, Grow to $160 and Scale to $299 a month, shown as savings of $228, $468 and $1,200 a year.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AthenaHQ or DeepSmith?
As of Oct 23, 2026, DeepSmith is cheaper to start with: $80 a month, against $245 a month for AthenaHQ. AthenaHQ starts at $245 per month, billed annually ($295 billed monthly), and DeepSmith starts at $80 per month for 50 prompts, billed annually ($99 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, AthenaHQ or DeepSmith?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only AthenaHQ has a free plan. DeepSmith 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.