Head-to-head · AI visibility
Semrush vs Ahrefs for AI visibility: what each tracks and costs
Short answer
The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit is $99 a month for one domain and 25 tracked prompts, tracked daily. Ahrefs Brand Radar comes in two parts: custom prompts included from the Lite plan ($129 a month), and a large AI index from $199 a month per platform, with all platforms at $699. Ahrefs covers more engines, including Copilot, and Semrush is simpler to start. Both measure mentions and citations in AI answers, not clicks, and neither replaces Google Search Console.
This is a documented comparison, not a test. Every figure comes from the vendors' own pricing, help and documentation pages, read in October 2026. Both vendors show prices in your local currency; the dollar figures here are the US ones. CheaperStack has not run prompts in either tool, so nothing here says which one is more accurate.
Side by side
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Ahrefs Brand Radar | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $99 a month, 1 domain | Custom prompts in Lite from $129; AI index from $199 per platform |
| Prompts you track | 25 on the toolkit; +50 for $60 a month | Checks, not prompts: 150 on Lite, 300 on Standard, 600 on Advanced |
| Engines | ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for prompt tracking; AI Overviews, Perplexity and Gemini in other reports | AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot |
| Claude, Grok | Not listed | Claude for custom prompts only, 8 checks each; Grok collection paused |
| How often | Prompt tracking daily; Brand Performance weekly | AI Overviews every few days; chatbots about monthly in the index; custom prompts daily to monthly |
| Data method | Tracks the prompts you choose | Runs questions from its keyword index on each chatbot's web version, default model, no personalization |
| Competitors | Up to four at once | No cap on brands or domains |
| Free trial | None, per its toolkit page | Free AI visibility checker (limited, AI Overviews only) |
From each vendor's own pages, October 2026. Semrush One bundles raise the prompt limit to 50, 100 or 200 daily prompts at $199, $299 and $549 a month. Ahrefs' plan prices are monthly; it advertises about 17% off annual billing. The vendors' own pages give different totals for Ahrefs' prompt database, so we do not quote one.
What they actually measure
Both tools answer the same question: when someone asks an AI assistant about your topic, is your brand mentioned and is your site cited? They do it differently.
- Semrush tracks the prompts you pick. Prompt tracking runs daily, Brand Performance (share of voice, sentiment) updates weekly, and Visibility Overview gives an AI visibility score. The base toolkit covers one domain and 25 prompts.
- Ahrefs starts from its keyword database. It takes "People Also Ask" questions, enters them into the web versions of each chatbot using the default model, and stores every response. That gives you any brand's visibility with no setup, but chatbot data refreshes about monthly. For daily data you add your own custom prompts, each counted as one check per platform, location and update.
Neither is a count of what real users saw. Answers differ by account, location and wording, so treat both as trend lines for a fixed set of questions.
What the price really buys
- Semrush starts cheaper for a single brand. $99 covers one domain and 25 prompts. A second domain is another $99, and 50 more prompts are $60. The bundles that add the classic SEO suite start at $199 a month.
- Ahrefs is cheaper if you already pay for it. Custom prompt tracking is included with Lite and above, so existing users start with no extra bill. Beyond the quota, custom-prompt packages are $50 a month for 2,500 checks, $100 for 7,000 and $250 for 25,000, with overage per check.
- Checks are not prompts. One prompt on one platform in one location is one check, so ten prompts on five platforms is fifty checks per run. The tracked-prompt count you can afford depends on how many engines you watch.
What neither tool tells you: clicks
AI visibility numbers say whether you are mentioned, not how many visits it brings. Ahrefs published a study of 300,000 keywords (December 2025 against December 2023) estimating that when an AI Overview appears, the first result's click-through rate was 58% lower than a forecast without it. It is Ahrefs' own estimate and a modeled comparison, not your data. For your own site, Search Console and Bing's AI reports and your server logs are the evidence; our crawler log data shows what a new site actually receives.
Who should stay where they are
- Current Ahrefs users. Lite and above already include custom prompts, so test a short list before buying the index.
- Current Semrush users. AI Overviews tracking and an AI-readiness site audit are on every plan, free included; add the toolkit only when you need ChatGPT and AI Mode prompts.
- Anyone with one small site. A free route is often enough to start: see free ways to check your AI visibility, then compare cheaper trackers in best AI visibility tools.
When the gap is content, not tracking
A tracker shows where you are missing; it does not write the pages that could be cited. GrowGanic is an autonomous SEO engine: add a domain and it researches the keywords, writes and scores the articles, publishes them to your site or a hosted blog, and tracks the rankings. It is not a dedicated AI visibility tracker and has no backlink index, so it sits next to a tracker rather than replacing one.
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The verdict, by situation
| If you… | Look at first |
|---|---|
| Track one brand and a few dozen prompts | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit |
| Already pay for Ahrefs | Ahrefs custom prompts, included |
| Need Copilot or any brand's visibility with no setup | Ahrefs Brand Radar index |
| Need ChatGPT and AI Mode prompts tracked daily | Semrush |
| Want to try before paying | Ahrefs' free checker, or the free routes |
| Want the cheapest start | A dedicated tracker; see best AI visibility tools |
Frequently asked questions
Is Ahrefs Brand Radar or the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit cheaper?
Per the vendors' pages, the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit is $99 a month for one domain and 25 tracked prompts. Ahrefs includes custom prompt tracking in its Lite plan and above (from $129 a month, with a quota of 150 checks), and sells its large AI index from $199 a month per platform. They price different things, so compare the prompts and platforms you need.
Which AI engines do they track?
Ahrefs Brand Radar covers Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, with Claude available for custom prompts only and Grok collection paused. Semrush's documentation names ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for prompt tracking, and lists AI Overviews, Perplexity and Gemini in other reports.
Do they show how much traffic I lose to AI answers?
No. Both measure mentions, citations and share of voice in AI answers, not clicks. For clicks, use Google Search Console and your own analytics. Ahrefs' own 2026 study estimated a 58% lower click-through rate for the first result when an AI Overview appears, but that is a modeled comparison, not your site's data.
Are the numbers accurate?
Treat them as samples. Ahrefs says its chatbot index is refreshed about once a month and runs questions on the default model of each chatbot, without personalization. Semrush tracks the prompts you choose daily. Real users' answers vary by account, location and wording, so a tracker shows trends, not a count of what people saw.
Is there a free way to check before paying?
Yes. Ahrefs offers a free AI visibility checker with a limited preview of Google AI Overviews. Semrush includes an AI-readiness site audit and AI Overviews tracking in its free and paid plans, and its toolkit page states there is no free trial.
Sources
Read in October 2026: Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit and AI visibility features help pages, and Ahrefs' Brand Radar, Brand Radar help, AI Overviews click study and pricing pages. Both vendors change plans and limits often, so confirm the figures for your region at checkout.
Related
Best AI visibility tools
GEO and AEO tracking, on real self-serve pricing.
Ahrefs vs Semrush
The classic suite comparison.
Search Console and Bing AI reports
What the free reports show, and what they leave out.
AI crawlers in server logs
What a new site saw in 18 days.
Last reviewed . Plans, credits and promotions change often, so this page is re-checked monthly. Spotted one out of date? Tell me.