Is CogNerd a replacement for AthenaHQ?

For most of the loop, yes — both track visibility, sentiment and citations and both turn gaps into content. AthenaHQ covers more engines, including Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and Copilot, which CogNerd does not track. CogNerd starts lower, bills by runs rather than credits, and generates schema, robots.txt and a sitemap as well as llms.txt.

How does AthenaHQ pricing work?

AthenaHQ bills in credits: one credit per AI response. Essential is free with 300 credits; Starter is $295 a month ($245 billed annually) with 3,600 credits a month and every engine; Enterprise is priced on request. Read 24 September 2026.

Does AthenaHQ track ChatGPT and Perplexity citations?

Yes. AthenaHQ tracks mentions and citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity and its other engines, including on the free plan.

Which AI engines does CogNerd track?

Six: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, DeepSeek and Grok, queried through each provider's API. You choose up to three per analysis, with no per-engine fee. CogNerd does not track Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode or Microsoft Copilot.

How quickly do I see something useful?

Onboarding sets up your brand, buyer personas and competitors. Your first analysis then runs from the dashboard and finishes in minutes, with visibility, sentiment, citations and the weak prompts worth fixing first.

What GEO files does CogNerd generate?

llms.txt, robots.txt, sitemap.xml and Schema.org JSON-LD for your site and pages, including FAQ markup. They download as a ZIP for you or your developer to install; CogNerd does not change your site directly.

CogNerd / Compare / AthenaHQ

Platform comparisonCogNerd vs AthenaHQ

AthenaHQ and CogNerd both track how AI answers describe you and both turn the gaps into content. AthenaHQ covers more engines and bills in credits; CogNerd costs less to start, prices by runs, and generates more of the site-side fix.

Short version: pick AthenaHQ if you need Google AI Overviews, AI Mode or Copilot tracked, and unlimited seats. Pick CogNerd if you want a lower entry price with no credit balance, generated schema and robots.txt as well as llms.txt, and social content alongside articles.

Get your visibility report Compare real monthly cost

AthenaHQ figures read from athenahq.ai and its documentation on 24 September 2026.

What an answer engine says about your category

Illustrative example of a generated answer, not live tracking data. CogNerd records the real ones from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, DeepSeek and Grok.

Three differences that decide most of these purchases

Everything else in the table below is detail. These are the ones people change their mind over.

AthenaHQ covers more engines

AthenaHQ Starter tracks 11 engines, including Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Copilot, Meta AI and Mistral. CogNerd tracks six — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, DeepSeek and Grok — up to three per analysis. If Google’s AI surfaces matter to you, that decides it.

Credits vs. runs

AthenaHQ bills one credit per AI response — 3,600 a month on the $295 Starter — so more engines or prompts means fewer runs. CogNerd bills by end-to-end runs: two a month on the $150 Starter, five on the $299 Growth, each covering the scan, audit, weak prompts and briefs.

How much of the fix is generated

Both write content and generate llms.txt. CogNerd also generates Schema.org markup (AthenaHQ validates it), robots.txt and a sitemap, and adds LinkedIn and X posts, carousels and short product videos. AthenaHQ publishes straight to your CMS or Shopify.

What AI engine coverage costs on AthenaHQ

Tick the engines you want watched and pick an AthenaHQ plan. Engine access depends on the plan; usage is then drawn from a monthly credit allowance.

Engines you want tracked

AthenaHQ plan

CogNerd

4 of your 4 picks tracked

No per-engine fee: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, DeepSeek and Grok are all on every plan, up to 3 per analysis. Your 4 run across 2 analyses. Plans from $150 a month.

AthenaHQ

$0 per month

Essential at $0 includes 300 credits and 5 engines.

Claude isn't tracked on this AthenaHQ plan.

AthenaHQ list prices read 24 September 2026: Essential free (300 credits), Starter $295 a month or $245 billed annually (3,600 credits a month), Enterprise priced on request. One credit is one AI response, so 3,600 credits is roughly 30 prompts across 11 engines run weekly. Extra credits and API access are paid add-ons on Starter. CogNerd Starter is $150 a month and Growth $299 (USD, monthly). Check both before you buy.

Feature by feature

Filter by what you care about. Rows where AthenaHQ wins are marked the same way as rows where CogNerd does.

Compared on	CogNerd	AthenaHQ
Coverage
AI engines tracked	Six: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, DeepSeek and Grok — pick up to 3 per analysis	11 on Starter: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI, Mistral
Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Copilot	Not tracked	Yes
How usage is billed	2 end-to-end runs a month on Starter, 5 on Growth, unlimited on Partner	Credits — one per AI response, 3,600 a month on Starter
How prompts are built	Persona-driven — three buyer personas per brand, prompts written as each one asks	AI-generated from your site and industry, manual or CSV, plus a Discover feature with volume estimates
Tracking frequency	Weekly scheduled rescans on Growth and up, plus on-demand runs	Scheduled — every 1 to 4 weeks, monthly, or on demand
Competitor benchmarking	Up to 8 per scan, named by you or detected automatically	Unlimited competitors
Multi-country and language	Prompt research localised for 7 countries; answers are not geo-targeted	One region below Enterprise
Optimization
Gaps turned into a task list	Weak prompts ranked by where a competitor is named and you are not	Yes — prompts and content recommendations
Content production	Content Studio: blog articles, LinkedIn and X posts, carousels, short product videos	Content Hub — write, optimize and target competitor pages, with CMS and Shopify publishing
GEO file generation	llms.txt, robots.txt, sitemap and Schema.org JSON-LD including FAQ markup, ready to install	Generates llms.txt and sitemaps; validates schema but does not write it
Technical readiness for AI crawlers	Audited — robots.txt checked against 20 AI crawlers, with fix files to install	Yes — Site Health checks robots.txt per AI crawler and live fetches
Services	Separate agency services: SEO, social media, paid media and web development	GEO specialist on Enterprise; agencies resell through a partner program
Reporting & data
Citation source reporting	Sources each answer cites, extracted and grouped by domain	Yes — source analysis on every plan; Citation Engine on Enterprise
Sentiment and share of voice	Yes — share of voice against your competitors	Yes — sentiment, perception and share of voice by engine
GA4 and Search Console	Google Analytics 4 and Search Console connected in the app	Yes
MCP and API	Yes — connect CogNerd to Claude and ChatGPT over MCP	MCP server included; API is a paid add-on below Enterprise
Exports	Prompt export to CSV; GEO files as a ZIP	CSV and Looker Studio; Tableau, Power BI and Looker on Enterprise
Commercials
Entry price	Starter $150/mo — 1 brand, 2 end-to-end runs a month	Starter $295/mo ($245 billed annually)
Brands	1 brand on Starter, up to 3 on Growth, unlimited on Partner	Per website subscription
Users	Owner, admin, editor and viewer roles on each brand	Unlimited seats on every plan
Try before you commit	Free plan (1 brand, 1 run) and a 15-day demo of paid plans	Free Essential plan with 300 credits
Where they're based	Mohali, India	San Francisco, USA

Where each tool stops

Improving how AI answers about you is a loop. The useful question is not which tool measures better — it is how much of the loop you are still staffing yourself.

Measure

Track mentions, position, sentiment and citation sources across engines.

Diagnose

Work out which prompts you lose, to whom, and which sources are winning them.

Create

Write the pages and assets that answer those prompts properly.

Publish

Ship the markup, llms.txt and FAQ structure engines can actually read.

Re-measure

Check whether citations moved, then start again on what didn't.

Which one fits you

Written honestly, because a tool that fits badly churns in a quarter.

Choose CogNerd if

You want to start at $150 a month without budgeting a credit balance.
You want Schema.org markup, robots.txt and a sitemap generated, not only llms.txt.
You want LinkedIn and X posts, carousels and short product videos as well as articles.
Six engines — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, DeepSeek and Grok — cover your buyers.
You also want SEO, social, paid media or web development from the same company.

Choose AthenaHQ if

You need Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Copilot or Meta AI tracked.
Many people need access — unlimited seats on every plan is real value.
You want to start free before paying.
You want content published straight to your CMS or Shopify catalogue.
You want API access and BI connectors as the platform grows with you.

FAQ

Questions people ask before switching.

More comparisons

Sources. AthenaHQ plans, credits, engines and features read from athenahq.ai/pricing, athenahq.ai/platform and docs.athenahq.ai on 24 September 2026. CogNerd details from cognerd.ai. Prices in this category change often — verify both before purchase.

AthenaHQ is a trademark of its owner. This comparison is published by CogNerd and reflects our reading of publicly available information. Updated 24 September 2026.