Peec AI is the better buy when you want many prompts on a few engines at a listed monthly price: its $95 Starter runs 50 prompts every day on three models you choose, with unlimited users and MCP included. AthenaHQ is the better buy when you need Claude, Grok, DeepSeek or Meta AI without an enterprise contract and want the tool to act on what it finds: its $295 Starter covers 11 models and a content optimization agent, but usage is metered in credits and the API costs extra. Peec AI's prices were read on its rendered pricing page on 29 September 2026, and AthenaHQ's on its plans page on 28 September 2026.
If you need Claude and Grok checked every day without either a credit budget or an enterprise contract, Cituna checks seven AI engines daily for your brand, with Search Console built in, and writes the fix for each gap it finds, from $39 a month (checked 29 September 2026). If you are leaving one of the two, the shortlists of Peec AI alternatives compared by engines and price and cheaper AthenaHQ alternatives set each against the rest of the field.
Peec AI and AthenaHQ side by side
| Detail | Peec AI | AthenaHQ |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan | Starter, $95/mo on the rendered page | Starter, $295/mo |
| Free way in | Trial offered; length not published; no free tier | Free Essential tier: 300 credits on five engines |
| How usage is counted | Prompts: 50 on Starter, 150 on Pro ($245), 350 on Advanced ($495) | Credits: 3,600 a month on Starter, one per AI response |
| Engines on the entry plan | Three you choose from ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI | 11: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI, Mistral |
| Claude and Grok | Enterprise only | On Starter |
| Perplexity | An extra model on self-serve plans, or Enterprise | On every plan, the free tier included |
| Extra engines | $35/mo per model on Starter, $85 on Pro, $165 on Advanced | All 11 included; each one draws on the same credits |
| Check frequency | Every prompt once every 24 hours | Not published |
| API and MCP | MCP on every plan; API from Pro | API a paid add-on, price not published; MCP not mentioned |
| Search Console | Not published; Google Analytics listed | Listed with GA4; the plan that includes it could not be read |
| Users | Unlimited on every plan | Unlimited members on the free tier; Starter not stated |
| Annual discount | 15% (Starter about $80/mo) | 17%; the annual figure loads with JavaScript |
The comparison reads each vendor's own pages only. "Not published" means the vendor's pages did not say, not that the feature is missing.
How the pricing models differ
Peec AI sells prompts. Starter's 50 prompts, run daily on three models, come to 4,500 AI answers a month, or about 2 cents an answer at $95. Adding a fourth model on Starter brings the bill to $130 and the total to 6,000 answers. Every prompt runs on every model you picked, so the count is easy to plan.
AthenaHQ sells credits. Starter's 3,600 credits buy 3,600 AI responses, about 8 cents each at $295, and every engine you turn on draws from the same pool as every prompt you add. That makes the plan flexible but harder to size. By our arithmetic, 3,600 credits a month cover about 40 prompts a day on three engines, or about 10 prompts a day on all 11. A team that wants AthenaHQ's full engine list for 50 daily prompts would need roughly 16,500 credits a month, well beyond Starter, and the price of extra credits is not published.
So the cheaper tool depends on what you hold constant. For the same three engines at a daily cadence, Peec AI gives more prompts for less than a third of the price. For Claude, Grok or DeepSeek on a self-serve plan, AthenaHQ is the only one of the two that sells them at all. Before you size either plan, settle the list of questions you care about; how to choose prompts to track walks through it.
Who Peec AI fits
Peec AI is built to be bought without a meeting. Starter, Pro and Advanced are self-serve, every plan has unlimited users, and every prompt runs once a day on each chosen model. Languages and competitors are unlimited, but Starter covers one country and Pro and Advanced cover three.
Its workspace is weighted to reporting and analysis. It ranks recommended actions, runs gap analysis on the sources that name your competitors but not you, and comes with shareable dashboards and CSV exports on every plan. A Looker Studio connector starts on Advanced, and agency plans add white-label reports and free pitch projects. MCP is on every plan, so an assistant can query the data from day one.
Where it falls short: three models per self-serve plan, Perplexity only as a paid extra, Claude and Grok held for a custom-priced Enterprise plan that is billed annually, no published Search Console integration, and prices that appear only after JavaScript runs. An AI crawler reading the HTML sees Peec AI's plan names but not its figures, which is one reason engines still quote an older euro price; our crawler test of nine AI visibility pricing pages shows what they see.
Who AthenaHQ fits
AthenaHQ is built to cover the whole engine list and then do something about the results. Starter's 11 models include the five Peec AI keeps for Enterprise in this comparison: Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral.
Its plans lean towards action rather than reporting. Starter includes a content optimization agent, on-page and off-page GEO and SEO actions, and a generated robots.txt and llms.txt. Enterprise, sold to larger brands and agencies, adds a Citation Engine and a Recommendation Engine. Search Console and GA4 integration appear on the plans page, which ties AI answers to site traffic, though which plan includes it could not be read on 28 September 2026.
There is also a free tier. Essential gives 300 credits on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot, with unlimited members, content recommendations and the Athena AI agent. Peec AI has no free tier.
Where it falls short: $295 is three times Peec AI's entry price, credits cap how far 11 engines stretch, the API is an add-on with no published price, MCP is not mentioned, and the check frequency is not published. Naver AI, one of Peec AI's choices, is not on AthenaHQ's list.
Where the two overlap
Both track ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Microsoft Copilot, and both can cover Perplexity, AthenaHQ on every plan and Peec AI as an extra. Both offer agency packaging and unlimited seats at some level. Neither publishes a Search Console integration on a plan you can identify: Peec AI lists Google Analytics instead, and AthenaHQ lists Search Console without naming the plan.
Buyers already hear both names. In our scans of 22 buyer questions on seven AI engines on 28 September 2026, Peec AI was named in 68 of 153 answers and AthenaHQ in 38. Name recognition says nothing about fit, though; the engine list and the counting model above decide that.
Which should you pick?
You want a listed price and many prompts on a few engines: Peec AI, $95 for 50 daily prompts on three models.
You need Claude, Grok, DeepSeek or Meta AI without an enterprise contract: AthenaHQ, whose $295 Starter includes all four. Peec AI lists them only on Enterprise.
You need Perplexity on the entry plan: AthenaHQ includes it; Peec AI sells it as an extra model.
You want MCP or an API from the start: Peec AI includes MCP on every plan and the API from Pro at $245. AthenaHQ sells API access as an add-on and does not mention MCP.
You want the tool to write and change content: AthenaHQ, with its content optimization agent and GEO actions on Starter. Peec AI ranks the actions for your team to take.
You want to try before you pay: AthenaHQ's free Essential tier runs indefinitely on five engines. Peec AI offers a trial but does not publish its length.
You need Claude and Grok every day at a flat price, with Search Console. Neither publishes that. Peec AI keeps Claude and Grok for Enterprise, and AthenaHQ meters them in credits with no published check frequency. Cituna tracks seven AI engines for your brand every day, Claude and Grok included, and writes the fix for each gap, from $39 a month.
If neither fits, compare the next options in Peec AI alternatives or AthenaHQ alternatives, each with prices and engines checked on the vendors' own pages. Profound vs Peec AI sets Peec AI against an enterprise-only rival.
Frequently asked questions
Is AthenaHQ more expensive than Peec AI?
Yes at entry. AthenaHQ's Starter costs $295 a month for 3,600 credits, and Peec AI's Starter costs $95 a month for 50 prompts on three models, which is 4,500 answers a month (checked 28 and 29 September 2026). AthenaHQ's price buys more engines, and its free Essential tier costs nothing.
Does Peec AI track Claude and Grok?
Only on Enterprise, which is custom-priced and billed annually. Its self-serve plans let you pick three models from ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI (checked 29 September 2026). AthenaHQ includes Claude and Grok on its $295 Starter.
How do AthenaHQ credits compare with Peec AI prompts?
One AthenaHQ credit buys one AI response, and every engine draws on the same pool. One Peec AI prompt runs daily on each of your three models, so 50 prompts make 4,500 answers a month. Tracking 10 prompts daily on all 11 AthenaHQ models uses about 3,300 of Starter's 3,600 credits.