Comparison
CitationDesk vs AthenaHQ.
AI-visibility GEO platform
AthenaHQ and CitationDesk both help you win AI citations, with different jobs: CitationDesk is a free point-in-time readiness audit plus fix generators; AthenaHQ sells continuous monitoring. Here's a side-by-side written by the operator who built CitationDesk — including where AthenaHQ is the better pick.
How do you track citations across models in AthenaHQ?
- Pick a plan. The Free plan ($25 credit, 300 credits) covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini and Copilot. Starter ($295/mo) lists 11 models: those five plus AI Mode, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI and Mistral. One credit is one AI response.
- Add the prompts you want tracked on the Prompts page. In Schedules, pick the AI models and a weekly or monthly cadence. Only the models in your schedule produce responses, so only they can show citations.
- Open Sources in the left sidebar. Domain view shows one row per website and Page view one row per URL, with Citation % and Responses Influenced. Filter by model to compare which sites each model cites. Set Source Type to Owned and switch to Page view to see which of your own pages get cited.
- Open Responses to check a single answer. The Model column shows which AI wrote it and the Cited column whether it cited anything. Click a row to read the full answer and the exact sources it cited.
AthenaHQ’s docs say a response can have no citations, and Sources shows the last 7 days unless you set a date range.
Sources: AthenaHQ: Plans & Pricing · AthenaHQ docs: Sources · AthenaHQ docs: Responses · AthenaHQ docs: Getting Started (read 2026-09-24).
Want a cheaper or free check?
- ChatGPT citations that people click show up free in your analytics (GA4 included) as source chatgpt.com: how to see them.
- CitationDesk's free Citation Readiness Score checks whether a page is ready to be cited. It does not count citations.
- CitationDesk Pro (€29/mo) checks the questions you choose every week in Gemini grounding and OpenAI web search. Perplexity is being added.
Quick read
CitationDesk
Free — optional Pro €29/mo
Free Citation Readiness Score + fix generators · open methodology · readiness scored for 4 LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini) · no signup · NL/EU.
AthenaHQ
Free plan ($25 of credits) · $295/mo Starter · Enterprise custom
AthenaHQ is a well-funded GEO/AEO platform (founded by ex-Google Search + DeepMind engineers, YC-backed $2.2M seed). It tracks brand visibility and citations across 11 AI models on Starter (5 on the Free plan) and adds source intelligence that identifies which pages AI systems reference, plus an in-app GEO content agent. There is a free plan with $25 of credits, Starter is $295/mo (discounted annually); Enterprise is custom with SSO, audit logs, API access, and a dedicated GEO specialist.
Side-by-side
| Feature | CitationDesk | AthenaHQ |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free tools · optional Pro €29/mo | Free plan · $295/mo Starter |
| Free audit tool | ✓ Citation Readiness Score (no signup) | ~ (free plan: $25 of credits) |
| LLM coverage | Readiness scored for 4 (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini) | Tracks 11 on Starter (Free plan: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot) |
| Source / citation intelligence | ✗ (readiness audit only) | ✓ |
| In-app GEO content agent | ✗ (audit + fixes, not generation) | ✓ |
| Self-serve onboarding | ✓ | ✓ ($295/mo) or Enterprise |
| SMB / solo-operator fit | ✓ Built for it | ~ Funded-team-first |
| EU operator + GDPR-native | ✓ Netherlands-based | ~ US-based |
When CitationDesk is the better pick
CitationDesk covers the readiness half free — the Citation Readiness Score audits any URL with no signup, and the fix generators produce the actual files. AthenaHQ’s Free plan is a $25 credit that tracks 5 models. For solo operators, indie publishers, and small content teams who don’t need 11-model monitoring or a full enterprise GEO suite, start with the free audit.
When AthenaHQ is the better pick
If you have budget for $295+/mo and want 11-model coverage, an in-app GEO content agent, competitor + impersonation monitoring, and an enterprise path with SSO + a dedicated GEO specialist, AthenaHQ is the more comprehensive platform.
Who is each best for?
- CitationDesk: Solo operators, indie publishers, content marketers, small SEO teams, AI-native product teams under €5k/mo tooling budget.
- AthenaHQ: Funded marketing / GEO teams that want broad 11-model coverage, an in-app content-optimization agent, competitor + impersonation monitoring, and an enterprise path — and have budget for $295+/mo.
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