Neutral comparison
Athena HQ vs Profound
Short answer
Athena HQ is best for funded startups and mid-market teams; Profound is best for large enterprises and fortune 500 brands. Athena HQ starts at $295/mo and Profound at $99/mo. Below, a neutral side-by-side — plus a cheaper option if you want fixes, not just a dashboard.
| Athena HQ | Profound | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $295/mo | $99/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Engines | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot, Claude | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude, Copilot |
| Best for | Funded startups and mid-market teams | Large enterprises and Fortune 500 brands |
| Target customer | SMB | Enterprise |
| Category | GEO/AEO platform | Enterprise AI visibility platform |
Athena HQ
Athena HQ is a Y Combinator-backed GEO/AEO platform from an ex-Google Search team, with strong logos and high ratings. It offers a free credit tier but its paid entry price is steep, and its fix-oriented Action Center is still developing.
Strengths
- Y Combinator W25 with credible founding team (ex-Google Search, ex-ServiceNow)
- Analyzes 300K+ sites [verify]
- Strong customer logos including Coinbase, SoFi and PagerDuty [verify]
Watch-outs
- Credit burn concerns
- High entry price at $295/mo
Profound
Profound is the best-funded and most widely recognized AI visibility platform, aimed squarely at large enterprises. It monitors the broadest set of engines and is used by major brands, but its dashboard is complex and it has moved away from self-serve pricing.
Strengths
- Broadest engine coverage (8-9 engines including AI Mode, Copilot, DeepSeek)
- Deepest funding and fastest growth in the category
- Trusted by large enterprises including Walmart, Comcast and Estée Lauder [verify]
Watch-outs
- Steep learning curve and overwhelming dashboard
- Removed self-serve tiers mid-Sept 2026, pushing users to custom contracts [verify]
Want a simpler, cheaper option?
DeepLexa tracks the same engines from $19/mo — with a free instant checker and a prioritized fix list. Get your free report.
Free report · no credit card · from just $19/mo when you upgrade.