Wellows alternatives (2026): eight platforms compared in one matrix
Leaving Wellows, or checking before you buy? Eight alternatives on one grid: entry price, engines, crawler data, conversions, content and client structure, with the reason to pick each.
Quick verdict
Promptwatch is the first alternative to evaluate, and for most teams leaving Wellows it's the one to end up on. It covers the engines Wellows skips (Claude, Copilot, Grok and more), and it publishes the three layers Wellows doesn't: AI crawler logs, conversion attribution and automated publishing. AthenaHQ is the pick for teams that want an action queue, Scrunch AI for crawler-side page serving, and Cognizo for bought-in content. If price is the only reason you're looking, stay on Wellows. Its cheapest plan is hard to beat.
Why teams look past Wellows
Wellows is a good citation tool. People don't switch away because its citation report is weak. They switch when they need something it doesn't publish:
- Engines. It tracks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity and Gemini, and states that it does not track Claude or Microsoft Copilot.
- Diagnosis. No AI crawler logs and no crawl-to-citation path, so a missing citation can't be traced to a bot that never fetched the page.
- Value. No visitor analytics tying AI referrals to conversions. Wellows' own FAQ notes that rising citations often don't show up as referral traffic.
- Publishing. KIVA drafts and sends to WordPress for editing. No published agent that plans and publishes on a schedule through a review inbox.
- Metering. One balance of AI answers. When it runs out, collection pauses until the billing date, and unused answers don't roll over.
Each alternative below solves some of these. Only one covers the first four, and none of them removes metering: every published plan in this matrix caps prompts, responses or credits in some way.
The matrix
Wellows facts come from wellows.com, read 25 October 2026. Every other row comes from that tool's listing in our directory. "Not published" means the vendor materials we sourced don't document it.
| # | Tool | Entry price | Engines | Crawler data | Traffic and conversions | Content execution | Clients and seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Promptwatch | Free Explore; paid from $95/mo | 11, incl. Claude, Copilot, Grok, on every paid plan | Agent Analytics logs, crawl-to-citation path, errors (Professional up, every agency plan) | Visitor analytics with conversions, from Essential | Content Agent publishes via review inbox (Business, Enterprise) | Agency plans: unlimited projects and prompts, 10 seats |
| 2 | AthenaHQ | Free Essential (300 credits); Starter $295/mo | 11 models on Starter | Not published | GA4, Shopify and Webflow revenue attribution listed | Action Center and content optimization agent | Unlimited users on free tier; Starter is country-level |
| 3 | Scrunch AI | Core $250/mo | 4 on Core; 9 on Enterprise | AI agent and bot traffic reporting | Not published | AXP serves AI-optimized pages to crawlers (Enterprise) | 1 brand workspace, 5 licenses on Core |
| 4 | Cognizo | Platform from $499/mo, demo-led | 8 supported; 5 on Platform | Crawler access and protection (Done-for-You); no log product | AI traffic analytics; lead tracking from $899 | 8 AI articles a month on Platform | Multiple brands on Enterprise |
| 5 | Profound | Free 7-day trial; Enterprise custom | Trial: 3; Enterprise: up to 9 | Agent Analytics named on its page | Not published | Credit-based marketing agents | Enterprise contract |
| 6 | LLM Pulse | From €49/mo | Same five as Wellows; others as add-ons | Not published | AI traffic analytics from Growth | GEO Writer | Unlimited seats; 1 to 5 projects |
| 7 | Am I Cited | From 50 euros/mo, credits | 8, incl. Claude, Copilot, Grok | Not published | Not published | AI Agents and Content Agents; 10 articles on Starter | 1 domain on Starter |
| 8 | Ahrefs Brand Radar | Included with paid Ahrefs plans; Index from $199/mo | 6, plus Claude on Custom Prompts | AI crawler activity reported; no crawl-to-citation path documented | Not published | Pivot to Ahrefs link and content tools | No per-client structure |
| Wellows (baseline) | $29/mo | 5; no Claude or Copilot | Not published | Not published | KIVA drafts to WordPress | Unlimited projects and seats |
The shortlist, briefly
1. Promptwatch. The only row with something in every column. Prompts carry search volumes, difficulty scores and query fan-outs, which Wellows deliberately doesn't publish. Citation analytics go to page, domain, Reddit and YouTube level with trends over time. Agencies should know that the automated Content Agent sits on Business and Enterprise, not the agency tiers.
2. AthenaHQ. A GEO platform built around an Action Center and a content optimization agent, with 3,600 credits on Starter (one credit, one AI response). Our listing flags that personas, multi-region and the Athena Citation Engine are Enterprise features.
3. Scrunch AI. Core tracks four engines and reports AI bot traffic. The distinctive part, AXP, serves AI-optimized versions of pages to crawlers without changing what people see, and it's on Enterprise. Scrunch was acquired by Sitecore in June 2026.
4. Cognizo. For teams that want articles delivered as part of the plan. Platform includes MCP and API access. The price is roughly what Wellows' top plan costs.
5. Profound. Now sold as enterprise marketing agents with AI search as one channel. The public page lists only a trial and a custom Enterprise plan; our earlier entry put Enterprise around $40k a year.
6. LLM Pulse. The closest like-for-like swap: same five engines, unlimited seats, MCP on every plan. It caps projects instead of metering answers, and its daily plans are cheap next to a Wellows balance.
7. Am I Cited. Eight engines on every credit tier, including Claude and Copilot, with content agents included. Starter covers 3,000 AI responses and 200 prompts for one domain.
8. Ahrefs Brand Radar. For Ahrefs teams that want AI mention research beside their link data. Our listing records an independent January 2026 test where it reported 3 ChatGPT mentions against 123 verified manually, so treat its index as directional.
Who should pick which
- You need Claude or Copilot answers: Promptwatch, or Am I Cited on a budget.
- You need to prove AI search drives revenue: Promptwatch for session-level conversions; AthenaHQ if GA4 and Shopify attribution is enough.
- You need to see what AI bots do on your site: Promptwatch. Scrunch reports bot traffic too, but doesn't publish a crawl-to-citation path.
- You want content produced for you: Promptwatch Business, or Cognizo if you want a done-for-you service.
- You want the cheapest like-for-like swap: LLM Pulse.
When to stay on Wellows
If your work is a citation report plus outreach, your clients' buyers don't use Claude or Copilot, and you're running many small projects on a tight budget, Wellows is still a sensible choice. The explicit and implicit split and the outreach list built from cited third-party pages are things most of this matrix doesn't offer.
Our pick
For most teams outgrowing Wellows, the decision comes down to the crawler logs and conversion data, and Promptwatch is the only alternative here that publishes both on self-serve plans. Start on the free Explore plan or an Essential trial at promptwatch.com, or browse the rest of the Wellows alternatives.