A unified matrix of the four AEO-native platforms in 2026 held against NordicPulse AI — the only one combining AEO with a full SEO stack. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the discipline of getting recommended in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Google AI Overviews.
Data verified: May 2026
All entries below are sourced exclusively from each vendor's official pricing and feature pages as of May 2026. NordicPulse data is verified directly against the source code. No independent benchmarking has been performed. Always verify current pricing and availability directly with each vendor before purchasing.
Entry: NordicPulse Scout free (50 credits), AthenaHQ $295/mo Starter, Profound $99/mo Starter (ChatGPT only, 50 prompts), Peec AI Starter (pricing not published), Otterly $29/mo Lite (15 prompts). Mid: NordicPulse Freelancer 990 NOK/mo or Growth 2,490 NOK/mo, AthenaHQ Enterprise (custom), Profound Growth $399/mo, Peec Pro/Advanced (not published), Otterly Standard $189/mo. Top: NordicPulse Agency 4,999 NOK/mo incl. white-label, or Enterprise custom; competitors have Enterprise from $295–$5,000+/mo. NordicPulse pricing is in NOK; competitor prices are the USD list prices published by each vendor.
NordicPulse AI measures the major AI search engines; which engines are used varies between tools. Under the hood we use internal AI infrastructure built on Anthropic Claude for premium AI tasks. AthenaHQ lists 8+ engines on Starter including Grok. Profound Starter only tracks ChatGPT. Peec lets you choose 3 models. Otterly Lite tracks 4. Grok/DeepSeek/Meta AI are not standard monitoring in NordicPulse — available on enterprise request.
NordicPulse delivers Workflow Builder + Pipelines + Agent Chains as no-code automation, a built-in Issue Tracker substrate (records + state machine + ownership), and a workspace audit logger. AthenaHQ has Action Center and enterprise self-improving workflows. Profound, Peec, and Otterly have no comparable workflow infrastructure. Team seats: AthenaHQ unlimited on all plans (with RBAC), NordicPulse has org seats on Team/Agency/Enterprise.
NordicPulse Enterprise includes SSO via SAML 2.0, OIDC, Azure AD, Google Workspace, Okta, and OneLogin. We have workspace-level audit logging, role-based access control, and GDPR compliance (Norway-based). SOC 2 Type II is on roadmap. AthenaHQ Enterprise has NIST Tier 3 + EU/UK GDPR. Profound Enterprise has SOC 2 Type II. White-label is included on the NordicPulse Agency plan (4,999 NOK/mo) — competitors require Enterprise.
Only NordicPulse AI includes complete SEO functionality (keyword research, backlinks, technical audit, competitor analysis) in the same subscription as AEO. AthenaHQ offers on-page guidance but not full SEO. Profound, Peec, and Otterly are pure AEO/GEO trackers.
AthenaHQ and Profound are the best pure AEO trackers — but they stop at analysis. They show you that your competitor is getting cited in Perplexity. They don't tell you what to do about it, and they don't help you rank in Google in the meantime. Peec AI and Otterly AI are cheaper but share the same limitation. NordicPulse AI is built for the team that has to do both: monitor AI visibility and actually improve it. Workflow Builder, Issue Tracker, and the SEO tools aren't add-on products — they're the same subscription. The matrix below covers the details; cost and plan choice live on the pricing page.
| Feature | NordicPulse | AthenaHQ | Profound | Peec AI | Otterly AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price / mo | 0 NOK (Scout) | $295 (Starter) | $99 (Starter, ChatGPT only) | Not published | $29 (Lite) |
| ChatGPT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Perplexity | Yes | Yes | Growth+ ($399) | Model choice | Yes |
| Claude (Anthropic) | Yes | Yes | Enterprise | Model choice | Yes |
| Google AI Overviews | Yes | Yes | Growth+ | Model choice | Yes |
| Full SEO stack included | Yes | Limited on-page | No | No | No |
| Workflow Builder | Yes | Action Center | No | No | No |
| Team seats | Org seats (Team/Agency) | Unlimited (RBAC) | Enterprise | Limited | Limited |
| SSO (SAML/OIDC) | Enterprise | Enterprise (NIST Tier 3) | Enterprise (SOC 2 II) | Enterprise | Enterprise |
| Audit logging | Yes (workspace-level) | Yes | Yes (Enterprise) | Limited | Limited |
| Nordic language native | Yes | Limited | Limited | Limited | Limited |
| White-label | Agency 4,999 NOK/mo | Enterprise | Enterprise | Enterprise | Enterprise |
| SOC 2 Type II | On roadmap | EU/UK GDPR | Yes (Enterprise) | Not published | Not published |