AthenaHQ vs Pendium (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, AthenaHQ grades higher than Pendium: 2.2 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
AthenaHQ grades higher on the free plan and features. Pendium grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on 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
Pendium
AI visibility scans plus auto-written content on a hosted site
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 Pendium if
- Fits if you want AI visibility scans and the content written for you in one place
- Works for a single brand that would rather publish on a hosted site than edit its own
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to try it without a card, as both trials ask for one
- Tight if you are on Starter: 1 brand, 2 on-demand scans a month and no Perplexity
- Pricey if you manage several brands, as Pro is $350 a month for up to 10
- Watch out: the 90-day guarantee covers Pro only
- Watch out: Agency and Managed plans have no published price
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAthenaHQFair | 2.0GPAPendiumFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | C$99 a month for Starter, just above the category's $95 dearer quarter, for 1 brand and 100 tracked prompts. |
| 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. | DA 7-day trial on Starter and Pro that needs a card. A free visibility scan needs none, but it is one scan. |
| 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. | CWeekly scans, a hosted site, auto-written posts and an MCP server. Starter covers four engines and leaves out Perplexity, which starts at Pro. |
| 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 store rating on record, and it asks for your domain, Search Console and prompts before it works. |
| 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 app with Google Search Console, Slack, Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor connections, plus an MCP server and API. No desktop or phone apps. |
| Best for | a free start on credit-based AI answer tracking | AI scans plus auto-written content on a hosted site |
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 Pendium. 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. Pendium starts at $99 a month and scores 2.3.
AthenaHQ scores higher, and starts $146 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 20 score higher than Pendium 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.
- Pendium also covers reports.
At a glance
| AthenaHQ | Pendium | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $245 per month, billed annually ($295 billed monthly) | $99 per month for 1 brand and 100 tracked prompts, 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 on Starter and Pro, card required, nothing charged if cancelled before day 8; a free visibility scan needs no card |
| Web | ||
| Made by | AthenaHQ | Pendium |
| Price read from | athenahq.ai | pendium.ai |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Nov 13, 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.
Pendium
- Starter scans four AI engines; Perplexity is listed only from Pro.
- The 90-day guarantee applies to Pro only and gives 3 free months if AI does not name the brand more often.
- Both trials need a card up front.
- Agency and Managed plans have no published price.
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.
Pendium
- Weekly AI scans
- Asks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Overviews (and Perplexity on Pro) customer-style questions, each asked by several personas, and tracks which brands are named.
- Hosted site for AI agents
- Builds and hosts a branded site on your domain so AI agents have a source to cite, with calculators and finders and agent analytics showing what agents read.
- Autopilot content engine
- Writes and publishes posts from the gaps found in scans, in your brand voice, up to a monthly post limit.
- Citations and outreach
- Shows competitors, cited sources and sentiment, plus outreach recommendations for pages AI already trusts, with the pitch drafted.
- MCP server and API
- Pendium can be driven from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor over MCP, and scans and scores are available through a REST API.
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.
Pendium
Starter$99
per month for 1 brand and 100 tracked prompts, billed monthly
Weekly scans plus 2 on demand a month on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, 15 posts a month, and a hosted site on your own domain.
Pro$350
per month for up to 10 brands, billed monthly
160 prompts per brand, 10 on-demand scans a month with Perplexity, 100 posts and pages shared across brands, an account manager in Slack, unbranded sites.
AgencyCustom
For agencies managing 10+ brands: up to 50 brands, 200 prompts per brand and 500 posts and pages a month. Sold through sales.
ManagedCustom
An embedded team does outreach, content and product work, with unlimited brands, prompts and scans. Quoted after a call.
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.
Pendium
- Annual discount
2 months free on yearly billing
The pricing page says paying yearly on Starter and Pro gets 2 months free.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AthenaHQ or Pendium?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Pendium is cheaper to start with: $99 a month, against $245 a month for AthenaHQ. AthenaHQ starts at $245 per month, billed annually ($295 billed monthly), and Pendium starts at $99 per month for 1 brand and 100 tracked prompts, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, AthenaHQ or Pendium?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only AthenaHQ has a free plan. Pendium 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.