Ahrefs Brand Radar vs AthenaHQ for Tracking AI Citations

How do they compare?

As listed by each vendor:

What does "tracking citations" mean in each?

In Brand Radar, it means research. You search a brand, a competitor or a topic, and see which domains and pages AI answers cite, how often, and on which platform. You can do this for companies you have never tracked, and look back months. This is the fastest way to answer "which sites does AI rely on in my category?" and "which pages cite my competitors but not me?". The method is set out in how to use Ahrefs to find pages and domains cited in AI answers.

In AthenaHQ, it means monitoring. You choose prompts and models, and it records which sources each answer cites, every time it runs. Over weeks, that produces a citation rate for your pages and competitors' pages on the questions that matter to you, broken down by model. That is the better measure of whether your own work is paying off.

How far does each budget go?

AthenaHQ counts one credit per AI answer. Brand Radar's custom prompts count one check per prompt, per platform, per update, with Claude counting eight.

At the same volume, AthenaHQ costs more per answer, about 8.2 cents on Starter. Its price covers eleven models, action features and integrations; Ahrefs' check packages can be bought on their own, and paid Ahrefs plans already include some checks each month. More on AthenaHQ's credits is in the AthenaHQ review.

What is the Citation Engine, and should you trust it?

AthenaHQ's Citation Engine, or ACE, is a model that scores content by how likely AI systems are to cite it. AthenaHQ uses the score to generate and revise content before it is published. In its own validation, it scored 1,761 articles that had been live for at least 90 days. The top tenth by score were cited 87% of the time, and the bottom tenth 38.6%, a gap of about 2.25 times.

That is a useful vendor result, but treat it with care. It is AthenaHQ's own study, on its own sample, and the criteria for "cited" and the prompts used shape the result. A fair test on your site is to score ten upcoming pages, publish them, and check their citation rates after 90 days against the scores. ACE is listed on the Enterprise plan.

Which citation numbers should you report?

The two tools produce different kinds of number, and mixing them in one report causes confusion. Keep them apart:

• Market share of citations (Brand Radar): of all answers in the database for your topics, how often each domain is cited. This shows your position against the whole category, including brands you do not track.
• Citation rate on your prompts (AthenaHQ): of the answers to your chosen questions, how often your pages are cited. This shows whether your own work is moving the questions you care about.
• Cited pages over time (either): which of your URLs gained or lost citations this quarter, and why.

A rising citation rate with a flat market share usually means you are winning your chosen questions but not the wider category. The reverse can mean your prompt list has drifted away from what people ask.

Which is better for your situation?

• Agencies and consultants researching many brands: Brand Radar. No setup, any brand, instant history.
• In-house teams improving their own citations: AthenaHQ. Your prompts, eleven models, citation rates over time, and content help.
• Existing Ahrefs users: start with Brand Radar and custom prompts, and add a dedicated tracker only if you need more models or content features.
• Teams on a small budget: AthenaHQ's free Essential plan for a first look, or a single Brand Radar platform.

How can you use both?

1. Map the category in Brand Radar. List the 30 domains cited most for your topics, and the pages that cite competitors but not you.
2. Write prompts from that map. Turn the most valuable topics into 30 to 100 buyer questions.
3. Track them in AthenaHQ on the models your buyers use.
4. Work the gap list: update your own pages, and approach the third-party pages that cite competitors.
5. Check both quarterly: your citation rate in AthenaHQ, and your share of cited pages across the market in Brand Radar.

Related comparisons include Otterly vs Ahrefs Brand Radar, Ahrefs Brand Radar vs Peec AI and Semrush vs AthenaHQ and BrightEdge.

What might this look like in practice?

Consider an illustrative accounting software company, Oxlholt. Its agency used Brand Radar to show that AI answers about "best accounting software for contractors" cited nine review and comparison pages, of which Oxlholt appeared on two. The in-house team tracked 40 related prompts in AthenaHQ on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Overviews. Its own pricing page had a citation rate near zero, while a competitor's comparison page was cited in about a third of answers. The team published a clear comparison page and a contractor guide, and approached four of the review sites. Three months later, AthenaHQ showed its guide cited in about one answer in five.

What do people ask about Brand Radar and AthenaHQ?

Which is cheaper for tracking citations?

For your own prompts on a few platforms, Ahrefs' check packages are usually cheaper if you already pay for Ahrefs. AthenaHQ costs more per answer but covers eleven models.

Can AthenaHQ research competitors' citations?

For your tracked prompts, yes. For brands and topics you do not track, Brand Radar is better.

Does Brand Radar predict which content will be cited?

No. It reports citations. AthenaHQ's Citation Engine scores content in advance, on its Enterprise plan.

Do both track Claude?

Yes. AthenaHQ includes it on Starter; Ahrefs tracks it through custom prompts at eight checks per update.