COMPARISON
Obsero vs Ahrefs
Ahrefs is one of the best SEO platforms ever built. AI visibility is not what it was built for. Their published plans top out at 20 tracked prompts. Obsero runs well over 1,000.
At a glance
Obsero vs Ahrefs at a glance
How many prompts you can track
Twenty prompts is the ceiling
Ahrefs plans bundle keyword tracking and prompt tracking into one licence, so working out what AI visibility costs you is guesswork. Capacity is the clearer measure.
OBSERO
Over 1,000 prompts
Discovery starts at 50 prompts across three models. Pro tracks 100 per market and Enterprise 300 or more per market, so a brand running five markets is comfortably past 1,000 tracked prompts.
AHREFS
Up to 20 prompts
Lite tracks five prompts, Standard 10 and Advanced 20. Because prompts share a licence with keywords and crawl credits, scaling your AI coverage means buying more SEO capacity you may not need.
Built for AI search
Designed for AI search, not adapted to it
Ahrefs earned its reputation on backlinks and keywords. Brand Radar sits on that foundation.
OBSERO
Built for the zero-click era
We talk prompts, not keywords, and track visibility and prominence, not rankings. The content optimiser rewrites pages for LLM citation, using schema and answer structure rather than keyword density.
AHREFS
An SEO suite with a brand tracker
A world class crawler, 10 years of backlink data and a rank tracker, with Brand Radar layered on top. The content tooling is the Content Kit add-on, and it optimises for search engines rather than LLM answers.
What you pay for
One pricing lever. Everything else included.
PRICED ON
Prompt volume
Choose your prompt volume and the rest scales with it. Prompts are not competing with keywords, crawl credits or seats for room on the same plan.
SEATS
Unlimited
Invite the whole team at no extra cost. Ahrefs includes one user on every tier and charges from £32 a month for each additional seat.
LOCATION
City level
AI answers change by location. Obsero tracks to city and postcode level, so a multi site retailer, clinic or franchise can see where it wins and loses town by town.
An honest caveat
Where Ahrefs may be the better choice
Ahrefs has data and infrastructure we do not attempt to match. Several cases point their way.
You need backlinks and keywords
Their crawler is the second most active on the web and their backlink index is exceptional. We do not compete on any of it, and nor should you expect us to.
Technical site auditing
Site Audit is mature and thorough, with crawl budgets most tools cannot match. If technical health is the priority, that is a strong reason to keep them.
You track a handful of prompts
If 20 prompts genuinely covers your category and you already pay for Ahrefs, Brand Radar is a reasonable way to start without adding a vendor.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the main difference between Obsero and Ahrefs?
Ahrefs is an SEO platform with Brand Radar added for AI brand tracking. Obsero is an AI search platform. The practical difference is capacity: their published plans track up to 20 prompts, ours run well over 1,000, and prompt tracking is not competing with keyword tracking for the same licence.
How many prompts can each platform track?
Ahrefs tracks five prompts on Lite, 10 on Standard and 20 on Advanced. Obsero starts at 50 on Discovery and scales to 300 or more per market on Enterprise, so multi market brands run well over 1,000. Comparing cost directly is difficult because Ahrefs bundles keyword and prompt tracking into a single licence.
Should I replace Ahrefs with Obsero?
Probably not. Keep Ahrefs for backlinks, keywords and technical audits, which it does better than anyone. Add Obsero for the AI layer. The two sit alongside each other and we do not ask you to give up your SEO stack.
Can either tool track AI visibility by city?
Obsero does, down to postcode level. Ahrefs tracks by location within its check model but does not offer city-level AI visibility reporting. If you run multiple sites, branches or franchises, that granularity is usually the deciding factor.
Can I try Obsero before committing?
Yes. There is a 14 day free trial of the platform, and a free demo if you would rather be walked through it by one of our consultants.
See how you actually appear in AI search
Keep the SEO stack you already have. Tell us where you are today and we will show you where you could be. No obligation, just an honest conversation.