Head-to-head · 2026
Profound vs AthenaHQ
Enterprise-tier vs YC-backed SMB — two paths to the same insight.
Honest verdict
Both are AEO platforms launched 2025, both YC-adjacent, both venture-backed. Profound chose the enterprise path ($30M Series A, $1500+/mo, sales-led, no public free tier). AthenaHQ chose self-serve SMB ($2.2M YC seed, lower entry, polished onboarding). For Fortune 500 brand monitoring → Profound. For 5-to-50-person SMB brand tracking → AthenaHQ.
| Feature | Profound | AthenaHQ |
|---|---|---|
Free public audit | ||
Self-serve signup | ||
Sub-$500/mo tier | ||
Enterprise SSO + custom contracts | partial | |
Multi-LLM tracking | ||
Query fanout decomposition | partial | |
Bulk URL audit | ||
Public API | ||
Funded round size | partial |
• Profound — $30M Series A (Aug 2025), enterprise-leaning, no public free tier.
• AthenaHQ — $2.2M YC seed, self-serve, multi-LLM tracking.
• Sources: tryprofound.com, athenahq.ai.
Want the rubric, not the table?
Run your URL through the same 47-signal scoring framework AI engines use to decide what to cite. 30 seconds, no signup.
Run free audit