AI visibility trackers (GEO)
As of October 29, 2026, AthenaHQ's cheapest paid plan is Starter at $295/month, per its own pricing page. AthenaHQ is built around tracking and improving AI visibility, while Paperboy writes and fact checks the articles those answers can cite, and the table shows where the two overlap.
| Row | Paperboy | AthenaHQ |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | $49 a month | $295/month |
| Fact checks claims against sources | Yes | Partly |
| Learns from Search Console | Yes | Partly |
| Publishes to your site for you | Partly | Partly |
| MCP, API or CLI for agents | Yes | Yes |
Side by side
Every cell links the page it came from, with the day we read it.
| Feature | Paperboy | AthenaHQ |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | Researches, writes, fact checks and publishes SEO articles to your own site, then learns from Search Console. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | AI visibility tracking (5 models on Essential, 11 on Starter, unlimited prompts on Starter, credit based) plus an action layer: content recommendations, a content optimization agent and CMS publishing. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Cheapest paid plan | Starter is $49 a month per site for 3 articles a week. Growth is $99 and Pro is $179. Yearly billing is two months free. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Cheapest paid plan is Starter at $295 per month with 3,600 credits per month (1 credit = 1 AI response) and 11 AI models. The page toggle offers annual billing at 17% off. API access and extra credits are paid add-ons with no listed price. There is a free Essential plan. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Free plan or trial | Yes The first article is free, no card. Any plan then starts with a 14-day trial (card required). SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Yes Yes. A free Essential plan with a $25 free credit and 300 credits, 5 AI models and unlimited users. The page does not say whether the credits renew or expire. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Publishes to your site for you | Partly Posts directly to WordPress and Ghost. Other sites use a hosted blog, a signed webhook or a prompt that builds a blog in your code. No Shopify, Webflow, Wix or Squarespace connector. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Partly Partial. Content Hub drafts articles from a brief and publishes or updates them in Shopify, WordPress, Webflow, Wix, Framer, Payload CMS, Sanity and Contentful. Docs describe Publish and Schedule publish actions you set up per integration. No fully hands-off mode is described. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Fact checks claims against sources | Yes Every number and cited sentence is compared with the saved text of its source. An article that fails gets one rewrite, then is held for you. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Partly Partial. Enterprise lists knowledge base and claim review. The API changelog describes a fact_review step so drafts use reviewer-approved brand facts. The pages read do not say article claims are checked against the saved text of cited sources. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Learns from Search Console | Yes Optional read-only Search Console connection. It picks topics from your impressions and reports clicks per article. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Partly Partial. The Google Search Console integration feeds prompt discovery by clustering your top search queries, with clicks, impressions and CTR shown beside your content. The docs do not say it automatically picks or refreshes articles. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Open source or self-host | Yes The engine is open source under AGPL-3.0. Self-host it with Docker and your own keys. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Not listed Not stated. AthenaHQ is a hosted product. No product repo found; the public repos in the AthenaHQ GitHub org look unrelated to it. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| MCP, API or CLI for agents | Yes A remote MCP server with eight tools and a REST API with an OpenAPI file. The CLI is built in the open but not on npm yet. Agents pay with credits, $20 for 100. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Yes REST API under /api/v1 with scoped API keys (paid add-on on Starter, included on Enterprise). Hosted MCP server at api.athenahq.ai/api/mcp with 40+ tools, including read tools for metrics and write tools for prompts, content and brand facts; works with Claude and ChatGPT. Looker Studio and Slack reports. No CLI, Zapier or n8n listing found. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
“Not listed” means we found no statement either way on the pages linked in that cell. It does not mean the answer is no. Vendors change their pages, so confirm before you buy.
The honest verdict
Sometimes the other tool is the better fit. Here is how to tell.
Pick AthenaHQ if
What AthenaHQ does well, from its own pages
Pick Paperboy if
Judge it before you pay anyone
Your first article is free with its full fact check, so you can judge it before you pay anyone.
Write my first article freeWhat you get
The four that decide it for most people, each with the source for the other side.
AI visibility tracking (5 models on Essential, 11 on Starter, unlimited prompts on Starter, credit based) plus an action layer: content recommendations, a content optimization agent and CMS publishing (athenahq.ai, read Oct 29, 2026). Paperboy does not report how often AI answers mention your brand. It has a free check that shows whether AI crawlers can read your site, and nothing more on that side.
Paperboy writes the article, compares every cited claim with the saved text of its source and publishes it. On AthenaHQ's side: Partial. Content Hub drafts articles from a brief and publishes or updates them in Shopify, WordPress, Webflow, Wix, Framer, Payload CMS, Sanity and Contentful. Docs describe Publish and Schedule publish actions you set up per integration. No fully hands-off mode is described (docs.athenahq.ai, read Oct 29, 2026).
Measuring shows the gap. Fixing it takes a page that answers the question and cites sources a model can lean on, which is the part Paperboy writes. AthenaHQ on search data: Partial. The Google Search Console integration feeds prompt discovery by clustering your top search queries, with clicks, impressions and CTR shown beside your content. The docs do not say it automatically picks or refreshes articles (docs.athenahq.ai, read Oct 29, 2026).
AthenaHQ: REST API under /api/v1 with scoped API keys (paid add-on on Starter, included on Enterprise). Hosted MCP server at api.athenahq.ai/api/mcp with 40+ tools, including read tools for metrics and write tools for prompts, content and brand facts; works with Claude and ChatGPT. Looker Studio and Slack reports. No CLI, Zapier or n8n listing found (docs.athenahq.ai, read Oct 29, 2026). Paperboy has a remote MCP server with eight tools and a REST API. Its CLI is not on npm yet.
Try it
You do not have to switch. Run Paperboy on one site, read the fact check, and compare it with what you get from AthenaHQ.
Keep AthenaHQ running. Nothing to cancel to try Paperboy.
Paste your site address. The first article is free, no card.
Read the fact check. Every number and cited sentence is compared with the saved text of its source.
Pick a plan only if you want more. Cancel with one button on the Billing page.
https://paperboyseo.com/start?url=yoursite.comThe engine is open source under AGPL-3.0. Self-hosting for your own sites is free; you pay your own model bill. Self-host docs.
About AthenaHQ
AI search platform that tracks brand visibility across AI models, then helps teams act with content recommendations, a content agent and CMS publishing. (its own description, read Oct 29, 2026)
athenahq.ai/pricing redirects to athenahq.ai/plans. Among this group AthenaHQ overlaps most with Paperboy: it writes and publishes content and uses Search Console. The Starter card also shows a '$300/month free credit' label that is unclear; not interpreted here.
| Plan | Price | What the page says it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Free | Page shows $25 free credit and 300 credits; 5 AI models (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot); unlimited users; prompt and response analysis; content recommendations; Athena AI agent; no API, no multi-country |
| Starter | $295/month (page toggle offers annual billing at 17% off) | 3,600 credits per month (1 credit = 1 AI response); 11 AI models; unlimited topics, prompts and competitors; country-level support; Shopify, Webflow, GA4 and Google Search Console integrations; CSV export; content optimization agent; API access and extra credits are paid add-ons |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom credits; knowledge base and claim review; SAML/OIDC SSO; audit logs; multi-region and multi-language; BI tool support (Tableau, Power BI, Looker); API access included; 2-hour SLA; certified GEO/SEO specialist |
From AthenaHQ's pricing page, read October 29, 2026. Paperboy's own prices are on our pricing page.
FAQ
As of Oct 29, 2026, AthenaHQ lists Starter $295/month. athenahq.ai is the source, so confirm there before you buy.
Partial. Content Hub drafts articles from a brief and publishes or updates them in Shopify, WordPress, Webflow, Wix, Framer, Payload CMS, Sanity and Contentful. Docs describe Publish and Schedule publish actions you set up per integration. No fully hands-off mode is described (docs.athenahq.ai, read Oct 29, 2026).
Partial. The Google Search Console integration feeds prompt discovery by clustering your top search queries, with clicks, impressions and CTR shown beside your content. The docs do not say it automatically picks or refreshes articles (docs.athenahq.ai, read Oct 29, 2026).
The AthenaHQ pages we read do not say (github.com, read Oct 29, 2026).
REST API under /api/v1 with scoped API keys (paid add-on on Starter, included on Enterprise). Hosted MCP server at api.athenahq.ai/api/mcp with 40+ tools, including read tools for metrics and write tools for prompts, content and brand facts; works with Claude and ChatGPT. Looker Studio and Slack reports. No CLI, Zapier or n8n listing found (docs.athenahq.ai, read Oct 29, 2026).
Sources
Every cell above links the page we read, and every date is the day we read it. Facts about AthenaHQ come from AthenaHQ's own pages only. Facts about Paperboy come from pages on this site. If something is wrong or out of date, write to hello@paperboyseo.com and we will fix it and change the date.
Keep going
Paste your address. In under ten minutes you read a finished, fact-checked article written for your site. Free, no card.
Prefer to run it yourself? Self-host it (repo coming soon). Using an agent? Add the MCP server.