AthenaHQ vs Promptwatch (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Promptwatch grades higher than AthenaHQ: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Promptwatch grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, 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
Promptwatch
AI visibility tracking with agents that write content to get cited
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 Promptwatch if
- Fits if you want every supported AI model tracked on the cheapest plan, with MCP and the API
- Works for content teams that want articles written from what AI cites, from Professional at $245
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're on Essential, with one project, 50 prompts and 6,000 responses a month
- Pricey if you want the content writer, knowledge base or agent analytics, which start at $245 a month
- Skip it if you need SSO, as it's listed only for Enterprise
- Watch out: Business at $579 has no free trial and starts through a demo
- Tight if you need state or city tracking, shopping insights or Ads Radar, which start on Business
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAthenaHQFair | 2.4GPAPromptwatchFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CEssential is $95 a month for 50 prompts and 6,000 responses, billed monthly, or $950 a year. That's this category's usual range, just under the dearer quarter at $99. Content writing and agent analytics need Professional at $245. |
| 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 Essential and Professional. Business has no trial and starts with a demo. |
| 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. | BAll supported models on every plan, with visibility, citations and sentiment by model, content gap analysis, crawler logs, country tracking, an agent chat, and Ads Radar on Business. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job; the writing tools just sit higher up. |
| 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. You set up a project, prompts and countries, and connect Cloudflare or Vercel for the crawler logs. |
| 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. MCP and the API on every plan, plus WordPress, Webflow, Framer, Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Slack, Cloudflare and Vercel. |
| Best for | a free start on credit-based AI answer tracking | every AI model tracked on every plan |
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 Promptwatch. 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. Promptwatch starts at $95 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Promptwatch starts $150 a month lower. Of the other AI search visibility tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than AthenaHQ for less, and 1 scores higher than Promptwatch 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
- Promptwatch also covers web analytics.
At a glance
| AthenaHQ | Promptwatch | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $245 per month, billed annually ($295 billed monthly) | $95 per month for 50 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 the Essential and Professional plans |
| Web | ||
| Made by | AthenaHQ | Promptwatch B.V. |
| Price read from | athenahq.ai | promptwatch.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.
Promptwatch
- Content writing and refresh, the knowledge base and agent analytics start at Professional ($245 a month).
- Business has no free trial and is started through a demo; SSO is listed only for Enterprise.
- Essential covers a single project with 50 prompts.
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.
Promptwatch
- All-model monitoring
- Every tracked prompt runs across all supported models at once, comparing visibility, citations and sentiment by model on one dashboard.
- Content gap analysis and AEO articles
- Uses the sources AI cites to find missing content, then writes and refreshes articles meant to be cited more often (Professional and up).
- Crawler logs and agent analytics
- Logs AI crawler visits through Cloudflare, Vercel and other connections, with conversion tracking for AI-referred traffic.
- Local and shopping tracking
- Country-level tracking on every plan; Business adds state and city tracking, shopping insights and Ads Radar for ads in AI answers.
- Agent Chat and technical fixes
- An agent answers questions about the data and suggests technical and competitor-driven optimizations.
- MCP, API and CMS connections
- MCP and API access on every plan, Data Studio, and connections to WordPress, Webflow, Framer, Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and Slack.
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.
Promptwatch
Essential$95
per month for 50 prompts, billed monthly
1 project, 6,000 responses a month on all models, daily tracking, agent chat, country-level tracking, MCP and API access.
Professional$245
per month for 150 prompts, billed monthly
2 projects and 18,000 responses, plus content writing and refresh, a knowledge base and agent analytics.
Business$579
per month for 350 prompts, billed monthly
5 projects and 42,000 responses, state and city tracking, shopping insights, Ads Radar and audit logs. Started through a demo.
Kick-off$199
per month, billed monthly
The entry plan on the agency track, with a 7-day free trial; agency Growth is $399 and Scale $799 a month.
EnterpriseCustom
Multiple projects, custom prompt and crawler volume, managed content workflows, SSO, a success manager and priority support.
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.
Promptwatch
- Annual discount
Two months free with annual billing
Promptwatch's annual prices are ten times the monthly ones: Essential is $950 a year instead of $95 a month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AthenaHQ or Promptwatch?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Promptwatch is cheaper to start with: $95 a month, against $245 a month for AthenaHQ. AthenaHQ starts at $245 per month, billed annually ($295 billed monthly), and Promptwatch starts at $95 per month for 50 prompts, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, AthenaHQ or Promptwatch?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only AthenaHQ has a free plan. Promptwatch 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.