Athena HQ vs Scrunch AI in 2026: Free GEO audit + Claude coverage vs $250/mo category citation mapping
Athena HQ has a free Essential tier with content gap analysis. Scrunch AI at $250+/month maps citation patterns at the category level with 1,000 industry prompts and persona-based analysis.
Athena HQ
Scrunch AI- Athena HQ has a free Essential tier with real Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) audit functionality. Scrunch AI has no free tier; Starter begins at $250/month, the highest entry price of any tool in this comparison.
- Scrunch AI maps citation patterns at the category level across 1,000 industry prompts on Starter, with persona-based citation analysis. Athena HQ focuses on content gap analysis tied to citation data for individual brand performance.
- Scrunch AI tracks 5 engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot. Athena HQ covers 4 engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity.
- Scrunch AI's Page Audit feature identifies which existing pages are most citation-ready and which need improvement. Athena HQ's content gap analysis surfaces topic areas to prioritize, without per-page audit.
- Athena HQ unlocks API access at $295/month Starter. Scrunch AI locks API access to Enterprise. For mid-tier API access, Athena HQ is the practical choice.
- Both tools include competitor benchmarking and persona-level filtering through different lenses. Athena HQ surfaces content gaps; Scrunch surfaces citation share across named competitors.
Choosing between Athena HQ and Scrunch AI is a question about whether you want a free starting tier with editorial recommendations or a paid category-first mapping of citation patterns across your niche. Athena HQ is a self-serve Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) platform with a free Essential plan and a $295/month Starter tier that tracks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity with content gap analysis tied to citation data. Scrunch AI is an AI citation intelligence platform starting at $250/month that maps citation patterns at the category level before focusing on individual brand performance, with 1,000 industry prompts on Starter. Athena HQ is the right pick if you want to start with a free audit and run editorial recommendations on a credit card. Scrunch AI is the right pick if you want category-level citation mapping with industry prompt libraries and persona analysis. The right pick depends on whether your priority is free entry plus brand-level content gaps, or paid category-first mapping at $250+/month.
The tools at a glance
Athena HQ
Free-to-start GEO audit platform with citation gap analysis and API access on paid plans
Athena HQ is a generative engine optimization platform built around a free GEO audit, paired with paid plans that unlock deeper analysis. It tracks brand appearances across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity on all tiers, including the free Essential plan. The standout feature is the Essential tier itself: a genuine free plan that runs a real audit of your AI citation performance, surfaces which competitors are winning in your category, and identifies content gaps that may be holding your brand back.
The paid plans focus on depth rather than coverage. Citation source tracking, unlimited competitor benchmarking, and API access unlock at the $295/month Starter tier, with no mid-priced option in between. The content gap analysis is the centerpiece of the platform: Athena HQ compares your site content coverage to the topics AI models are pulling from competitor sites, and flags specific topic areas to prioritize in your content calendar.
The main friction versus Scrunch AI is the absence of category-level citation mapping. Athena HQ focuses on individual brand citation patterns and content gap closure rather than mapping the entire category citation landscape. For teams whose Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) programme primarily needs free entry plus content depth, Athena HQ is the practical choice. For teams whose priority is category-level intelligence with industry prompt libraries, Scrunch AI is the more appropriate fit.
| Feature | Essential Free | Starter $295/mo | Enterprise Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI models tracked | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| GEO audit | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Content gap analysis | Basic | Full | Full |
| Citation source tracking | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Competitor benchmarking | 2 competitors | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| API access | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| White label | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Scrunch AI
Category-level AI citation intelligence for content strategy
Scrunch AI is an AI citation intelligence platform that maps citation patterns at the category level before focusing on individual brand performance. Instead of asking "where does my brand appear in AI answers", it starts with "what prompts are driving citations in my category, and who is getting cited". This shift in framing gives content teams a different kind of insight: a picture of which topics, formats, and sources AI models reliably cite in their niche.
The platform includes a library of 1,000 industry prompts on the Starter plan, which removes the need to build a monitoring question set from scratch. These prompts are drawn from real AI query patterns in a category, and the citation data they generate shows what is actually working in AI answers before investing in brand-level tracking. Persona-based citation analysis lets teams filter prompt sets by user type, which is useful for brands serving multiple buyer segments.
The Page Audit feature audits existing pages against citation patterns to identify which pages are most likely to be cited by AI models and which need improvement. The trade-off versus Athena HQ is the absence of a free tier and the higher entry price ($250/month). Scrunch AI is priced for teams with budget: $250/month for Starter is the highest entry point among the tools in this comparison.
| Feature | Starter $250/mo | Growth $417/mo | Enterprise Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| User licenses | 3 | 5 | Custom |
| Custom prompts | 350 | 700 | Custom |
| Industry prompts | 1,000 | 2,500 | Custom |
| Personas | 3 | 5 | Custom |
| Page audits | 5 | 10 | Custom |
| Enterprise Data API | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| SAML / OIDC security | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Dedicated GTM team | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Head-to-head feature comparison
| Feature | Athena HQ | Scrunch AI |
|---|---|---|
| AI engines tracked | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity | 5 (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot) |
| Competitive share-of-voice | Yes | Yes |
| Prompt-level citation data | Yes | Yes |
| Answer / content gap analysis | Yes (content gap analysis) | Limited (category-level citation patterns) |
| Category intelligence | No | Yes (category intelligence) |
| AEO content generation | No | No |
| Crawler / AI bot log access | No | No |
| Page content audits | No | Yes (Page Audit) |
| API access | Paid plans only (Starter $295/mo+) | Enterprise only |
| Looker Studio / BI connector | No | No |
| White-label delivery | No | No |
| Pay-per-prompt pricing | No | No |
| Agency multi-brand support | Limited | Limited |
| Starting price | Free (Essential) | $250/mo |
Considering AI Peekaboo alongside Athena HQ and Scrunch AI?
Athena HQ locks API access to $295/month paid plans, and Scrunch AI reserves API access for enterprise contracts. Neither includes white-label delivery. AI Peekaboo is the best AI visibility tool for agencies with read and write API plus white-label reports with guest access links on every plan from $50/month Starter. For marketing teams that need multi-brand support with self-serve signup, AI Peekaboo covers what neither tool delivers at standard pricing, with 5 AI surfaces included.
Read the AI Peekaboo review →Which should you choose?
Athena HQScrunch AIAthena HQScrunch AIAthena HQScrunch AIAthena HQAthena HQ and Scrunch AI are positioned at very different parts of the Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) workflow. Athena HQ is the focused brand-level editor: free audit plus content gap depth for the four major engines. Scrunch AI is the category-level intelligence tool: industry prompt libraries, persona analysis, and page audits starting at $250/month. Tools address different needs; pick by whether your priority is free brand-level depth or paid category-level mapping.
Bottom line
If your priority is starting with a free Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) audit plus content recommendations for editorial planning, Athena HQ at free or $295/month is the practical choice. If your priority is category-level citation mapping with industry prompt libraries and page audits at $250+/month, Scrunch AI is the more appropriate fit. Decide between brand-level editing and category-level mapping before committing budget.
Frequently asked questions
How does Athena HQ compare to Scrunch AI for AI visibility?
Athena HQ is a self-serve Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) platform with a free Essential plan and a $295/month Starter tier covering 4 engines with content gap analysis tied to citation data. Scrunch AI is a category-level AI citation intelligence platform starting at $250/month covering 5 engines with 1,000 industry prompts and persona-based analysis. Athena HQ fits teams that want free entry plus content depth. Scrunch AI fits content strategy teams that need category mapping.
Which tool is cheaper to start?
Athena HQ is free to start on the Essential plan; the paid Starter is $295/month. Scrunch AI starts at $250/month on Starter with no free tier. For teams with $0 starting budgets, Athena HQ is the practical choice. For teams with $250+/month for category mapping, Scrunch AI is the more appropriate fit.
Does Scrunch AI include content gap analysis?
Scrunch AI focuses on category citation patterns and Page Audit recommendations rather than brand-level content gap analysis tied to citation data. Athena HQ includes content gap analysis as its core feature. For editorial recommendations at free, Athena HQ is the appropriate choice; for category intelligence and page audits, Scrunch AI is the better fit.
Which tool is better for editorial teams?
Athena HQ is the practical choice for editorial teams because content gap analysis is its core feature, surfacing topic areas to prioritize in the content calendar. Scrunch AI's category-level mapping is more useful for strategy teams planning what content areas to enter, while Page Audit helps optimize existing pages.
Does Scrunch AI include API access?
Scrunch AI locks API access to the Enterprise tier. Athena HQ unlocks API access at the $295/month Starter tier. For engineering teams on sub-$500/month budgets that need programmatic access, Athena HQ is the practical choice.
Which tool should I pick if I have a $300+/month budget for an AI visibility tool?
Both tools fit this budget. Athena HQ on Starter at $295/month is the practical choice if editorial recommendations are the priority. Scrunch AI on Growth at $417/month is the appropriate fit if category mapping and persona analysis are the priorities. Pick by which workflow matches your team's day-to-day work.