Scrunch vs AthenaHQ: 2026 Comparison
Published November 4, 2026
Scrunch and AthenaHQ both track how a brand appears in AI answers and recommend fixes, and both publish a self-serve entry price. Scrunch sells a $250 Core plan with 125 prompts, 5,000 responses per month, four engines, and five user licenses, while AthenaHQ sells a free Essential plan and a $295 Starter plan that bills in credits, one per AI response, across 11 models with unlimited seats. Scrunch costs less for the two smaller workloads we priced, and AthenaHQ covers more engines and more people on its paid plan.
Our analysts compared each vendor's pricing pages and product blogs as of November 4, 2026, then priced three common tracking workloads on each. In the following sections, we compare the two tools on the points buyers weigh most, price the same work on both, and explain which buyer each fits and what changed recently.
| What buyers compare | Scrunch | AthenaHQ |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price per monthSources 2, 7 | $250 (Core, 125 prompts, 5,000 responses)Cheaper paid plan | Free (Essential, 300 credits). Paid plans from $295 (Starter, 3,600 credits) |
| Plans per monthSources 2, 7 | Brands: Core $250, Enterprise custom. Agencies: Agency Core $500, Enterprise custom | Essential: free. Starter: $295, or less on annual billing. Enterprise: custom |
| Cost: 1 brand, 25 prompts, 3 enginesSources 1, 2, 7 | $250 per month (Core)Cheaper | $295 per month (Starter) |
| Cost: 1 brand, 40 prompts, 3 enginesSources 1, 2, 7 | $250 per month (Core, 3,600 of 5,000 responses)Cheaper | $295 per month (Starter, 3,600 credits used in full) |
| Cost: 1 brand, 100 prompts, 3 enginesSources 1, 2, 7 | Over Core's 5,000 responses. Larger plan price not published | $295 per month plus 5,400 extra credits, price not published |
| Prompt and response limitsSources 2, 7 | Core: 125 prompts and 5,000 responses per month. Agency Core: 250 prompts and 10,000 responses. If usage keeps exceeding limits, Scrunch helps a team move to a larger plan | Unlimited topics and prompts, limited by credits |
| How usage is countedSources 2, 7 | Unique prompts and responses collected per month | 1 credit equals 1 AI response. Starter includes 3,600 credits per month, and extra credits are a paid add-on at a price AthenaHQ does not publish |
| AI engines coveredSources 2, 7 | Core: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Copilot. Enterprise: 9, adding Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Google AI Mode, and Grok | Starter: 11 models, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI, and Mistral. Essential: 511 models on Starter |
| Countries and languagesSources 2, 7, 8 | Core: 1 country, 1 language, and 1 persona. Enterprise: unlimited countries | Country-level support on Starter. Multi-region and multi-language support on Enterprise. Tracking in 185 markets down to the city level since August 2026City-level tracking |
| Team seatsSources 2, 7 | 5 user licenses on Core, with extra users at $25 per month or 5 more for $75. Unlimited on Agency Core | Unlimited on every plan, with role-based access controlUnlimited seats |
| Site and content toolsSources 2, 3, 7 | Core: 5 site audits and 1 page optimization per month, basic content generation, and AI bot traffic. Agent Pages for AI agents on Enterprise | Athena AI agent on every plan. Content optimization agent and on-page and off-page actions on Starter. AI crawler access managed through robots.txt and llms.txt |
| Reporting and exportsSources 2, 7 | Core: reporting dashboard. Looker Studio and API access on Enterprise | CSV export and integrations on Starter. API access is a paid add-on on Starter. Enterprise adds BI dashboards for Tableau, Power BI, and LookerCSV on Starter |
| SecuritySources 2, 7 | Google single sign-on on Core. SAML and OIDC SSO on Enterprise | Google and Microsoft OAuth listed. SAML and OIDC SSO and audit logs on Enterprise |
| Free trialSources 2, 7 | 7-day free trial on Core and Agency Core | Free Essential plan with a $25 free credit and 300 creditsFree plan |
| Best forSource 1 | Teams tracking up to about 40 prompts on four engines that want site audits and AI bot traffic for the lower price | Teams that want 11 models and unlimited seats on one plan, or to start free |
Starting price per month
- Scrunch
- $250 (Core, 125 prompts, 5,000 responses) Cheaper paid plan
- AthenaHQ
- Free (Essential, 300 credits). Paid plans from $295 (Starter, 3,600 credits)
Plans per month
- Scrunch
- Brands: Core $250, Enterprise custom. Agencies: Agency Core $500, Enterprise custom
- AthenaHQ
- Essential: free. Starter: $295, or less on annual billing. Enterprise: custom
Cost: 1 brand, 25 prompts, 3 engines
- Scrunch
- $250 per month (Core) Cheaper
- AthenaHQ
- $295 per month (Starter)
Cost: 1 brand, 40 prompts, 3 engines
- Scrunch
- $250 per month (Core, 3,600 of 5,000 responses) Cheaper
- AthenaHQ
- $295 per month (Starter, 3,600 credits used in full)
Cost: 1 brand, 100 prompts, 3 engines
- Scrunch
- Over Core's 5,000 responses. Larger plan price not published
- AthenaHQ
- $295 per month plus 5,400 extra credits, price not published
Prompt and response limits
- Scrunch
- Core: 125 prompts and 5,000 responses per month. Agency Core: 250 prompts and 10,000 responses. If usage keeps exceeding limits, Scrunch helps a team move to a larger plan
- AthenaHQ
- Unlimited topics and prompts, limited by credits
How usage is counted
- Scrunch
- Unique prompts and responses collected per month
- AthenaHQ
- 1 credit equals 1 AI response. Starter includes 3,600 credits per month, and extra credits are a paid add-on at a price AthenaHQ does not publish
AI engines covered
- Scrunch
- Core: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Copilot. Enterprise: 9, adding Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Google AI Mode, and Grok
- AthenaHQ
- Starter: 11 models, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI, and Mistral. Essential: 5 11 models on Starter
Countries and languages
- Scrunch
- Core: 1 country, 1 language, and 1 persona. Enterprise: unlimited countries
- AthenaHQ
- Country-level support on Starter. Multi-region and multi-language support on Enterprise. Tracking in 185 markets down to the city level since August 2026 City-level tracking
Team seats
- Scrunch
- 5 user licenses on Core, with extra users at $25 per month or 5 more for $75. Unlimited on Agency Core
- AthenaHQ
- Unlimited on every plan, with role-based access control Unlimited seats
Site and content tools
- Scrunch
- Core: 5 site audits and 1 page optimization per month, basic content generation, and AI bot traffic. Agent Pages for AI agents on Enterprise
- AthenaHQ
- Athena AI agent on every plan. Content optimization agent and on-page and off-page actions on Starter. AI crawler access managed through robots.txt and llms.txt
Reporting and exports
- Scrunch
- Core: reporting dashboard. Looker Studio and API access on Enterprise
- AthenaHQ
- CSV export and integrations on Starter. API access is a paid add-on on Starter. Enterprise adds BI dashboards for Tableau, Power BI, and Looker CSV on Starter
Security
- Scrunch
- Google single sign-on on Core. SAML and OIDC SSO on Enterprise
- AthenaHQ
- Google and Microsoft OAuth listed. SAML and OIDC SSO and audit logs on Enterprise
Free trial
- Scrunch
- 7-day free trial on Core and Agency Core
- AthenaHQ
- Free Essential plan with a $25 free credit and 300 credits Free plan
Best for
- Scrunch
- Teams tracking up to about 40 prompts on four engines that want site audits and AI bot traffic for the lower price
- AthenaHQ
- Teams that want 11 models and unlimited seats on one plan, or to start free
List prices in US dollars before tax, billed monthly unless the row says otherwise. Workload costs are the cheapest published plan that covers the job with daily tracking. Neither vendor publishes the price of extra volume above its entry plan.
Scrunch vs AthenaHQ Cost for the Same Workload
Scrunch sells plans with prompt and response limits and AthenaHQ bills in credits, one per AI response, so the Top GEO Agencies research team priced the same tracking jobs on both. Each workload is tracked daily for 30 days:
- One brand with 25 prompts on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity, tracked daily, which is 2,250 AI responses per month.
- One brand with 40 prompts on those three engines, which is 3,600 AI responses per month, the full Starter allowance on AthenaHQ.
- One brand with 100 prompts on those three engines, which is 9,000 AI responses per month.
Each cost is the cheapest published plan that covers the workload. Scrunch Core also tracks Microsoft Copilot.
| Workload | Scrunch | AthenaHQ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 brand, 25 prompts, 3 engines | $250 (Core) | $295 (Starter) |
| 1 brand, 40 prompts, 3 engines | $250 (Core) | $295 (Starter, 3,600 credits) |
| 1 brand, 100 prompts, 3 engines | Over Core's 5,000 responses, larger plan quoted | $295 (Starter) plus 5,400 extra credits at an unpublished price |
- Scrunch's response limit sets the plan: Core's 5,000 responses cover 25 or 40 prompts on three engines tracked daily, but 100 prompts need 9,000. Scrunch says it does not cut access when a team goes over, and helps move steady overuse to a larger plan.
- AthenaHQ's Starter includes 3,600 credits, which covers the first two workloads. At full use, that equals about $0.082 per AI response, against $0.050 per response on Scrunch Core at its full 5,000.
Scrunch or AthenaHQ: Which Fits Which Buyer
Scrunch costs less for up to 40 prompts on three engines, and AthenaHQ covers more engines and more people on its $295 plan.
Choose Scrunch if
- You track a short list. 40 prompts on three engines cost $250 per month on Core against $295 on AthenaHQ Starter.
- You want site fixes. Core includes 5 site audits and 1 page optimization per month, and Site Optimization gives a page-by-page action plan.
- You want AI bot traffic. Core shows AI agent and bot traffic to your site.
- You run an agency. Agency Core costs $500 per month for 3 brand workspaces, 3 pitch workspaces, and unlimited users.
Choose AthenaHQ if
- You want to start free. Essential includes a $25 free credit and 300 credits across five engines.
- You track many engines on a paid plan. Starter covers 11 models, while Scrunch Core covers 4.
- Many people need access. AthenaHQ includes unlimited seats on every plan, while Scrunch Core includes 5.
- You sell on Shopify. Shopping Pages keeps prices and variants synced with the store.
Recent Changes to Scrunch and AthenaHQ
Both vendors ship often, and the dates show how current any price quote is.
- August 19, 2026: Scrunch began rolling out Site Optimization, a page-by-page action plan for AI search, to all customers for a limited number of pages.
- August 19, 2026: AthenaHQ's August release added Shopping Pages with Shopify catalog sync, ChatGPT Ads reporting on Enterprise and Agency plans, and visibility tracking in 185 markets down to the city level.
- September 22, 2026: Scrunch made Agent Pages generally available, which serves an AI-optimized version of a website to AI agents with no change to what people see.
- October 1, 2026: Scrunch built its AI observability and optimization features into SitecoreAI for customers of both.
- October 27, 2026: Scrunch became a supported Zapier integration, which uses a Scrunch API key to start workflows from AI visibility data.
- October 30, 2026: AthenaHQ began breaking YouTube citations down by channel, video category, length, and the moment in a video that an AI answer links to.
Where the Two Tools Are Headed in 2027 and Beyond
Scrunch: Scrunch's product posts since August 2026 have gone into acting on its data: Site Optimization, Agent Pages, SitecoreAI publishing, and Zapier workflows. Its pricing page lists Agent Pages under its Agent Experience Platform on Enterprise plans.
AthenaHQ: AthenaHQ's pricing page lists the Athena Citation Engine and the Athena Recommendation Engine under Enterprise, and its Starter plan sells API access and extra credits as paid add-ons. Its August 2026 release moved the product toward commerce and local search, with Shopify-synced shopping pages and city-level tracking.
Both vendors are moving from tracking toward fixing pages, with Scrunch working at the site and delivery layer and AthenaHQ building content and commerce tools.
Data Collection and Methodology
Prices and plan details come from each vendor's pricing and blog pages as of November 4, 2026. All prices are list prices in US dollars per month before tax, billed monthly unless the row says otherwise. A "prompt" is one question the tool asks the AI engines. AthenaHQ bills in credits, where one credit is one AI response. Scrunch counts responses collected, and we assumed one response per prompt per engine per daily run.
Enterprise prices are quoted privately on both tools, and neither publishes the price of volume above its entry plan, so the 100-prompt workload has no published price on either. Scrunch does not publish how often Core tracks each prompt.
We calculated products, differences, and ratios from the published values.
Scrunch publishes one self-serve plan for brands, one for agencies, and custom Enterprise tiers. AthenaHQ publishes a free plan, one paid plan, and a custom tier.
We computed AI responses for each workload as prompts times engines times 30 days.
Sources
- Top GEO Agencies analysis of Scrunch and AthenaHQ plans, prices, and limits, conducted November 2026. Download the data (CSV)
- Scrunch, Pricing, https://www.scrunch.com/pricing, captured November 4, 2026.
- Scrunch Blog, Introducing Agent Pages, September 22, 2026, https://scrunch.com/blog/agent-pages-deliver-a-first-class-site-experience-to-ai-agents/, captured November 4, 2026.
- Scrunch Blog, New from Scrunch: Zapier, October 27, 2026, https://scrunch.com/blog/zapier-turn-ai-insights-into-automated-workflows/, captured November 4, 2026.
- Scrunch Blog, Introducing Scrunch in SitecoreAI, October 1, 2026, https://scrunch.com/blog/scrunch-sitecoreai-observe-optimize-ship-in-one-place/, captured November 4, 2026.
- Scrunch Blog, Introducing Site Optimization, August 19, 2026, https://scrunch.com/blog/site-diagnostics-always-on-action-plan-for-winning-ai-search, captured November 4, 2026.
- AthenaHQ, Plans and Pricing, https://www.athenahq.ai/pricing, captured November 4, 2026.
- AthenaHQ, What's new in Athena: August 2026, https://athenahq.ai/blog/athena-august-2026-feature-drop, captured November 4, 2026.
- AthenaHQ, YouTube in AI search, https://athenahq.ai/blog/youtube-citations-in-ai-search, captured November 4, 2026.