Ahrefs has the best backlink index and keyword database in the industry. We have neither — not a smaller one, none at all — and if that’s what you need, buy Ahrefs and stop reading. But it is a data platform you have to know how to interrogate: real competitive analysis starts at $129, AI visibility is a $199–$699/mo add-on, and it doesn’t track Claude. ScoutRival is $29–$149 all-in, and it hands you the work.
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…and the work still arrives as a recommendation.
Open Ahrefs and you are looking at the most complete SEO dataset on earth. Every keyword your rival ranks for, every site linking to them, a crawler that will chew through 250,000 pages. It is genuinely extraordinary, and none of it decides anything.
That’s the deal Ahrefs makes: it gives you the data, and it assumes you have somebody whose job is to know what to do with it. For a marketing team, that’s exactly right. For a plumber, it’s forty tabs and a bad feeling.
ScoutRival reads six of your competitors’ channels overnight and at 7am tells you what moved, what it means, and the three things to do before lunch — with the article already drafted underneath.
A recommendation is a to-do. A draft is done work.
Ahrefs’ AI Content Helper is good at what it does — it scores a draft you’ve already written against the pages that rank, and finds the topics you missed. What it doesn’t do is produce the article. And it’s $99/month for 50 documents on top of your plan.
ScoutRival writes 1,000 to 5,000 words in your brand voice, built from the gap it found in a rival’s content, with the answer block AI engines quote and the FAQ schema Google reads — then publishes to your WordPress in one click.
Ahrefs can’t publish to WordPress at all: their plugin was retired in October 2025.
Ahrefs’ AI-visibility product is serious, and its prompt dataset is search-backed rather than synthetic. It tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Grok, plus Google AI Overviews and AI Mode. Claude is not on the list.
It’s also an add-on: from $199 a month, up to $699 for all platforms — on top of a plan that starts at $29 and reaches $449.
ScoutRival tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini on every plan from $29, included. Checked July 2026 — and worth saying, Ahrefs added Grok recently, so this one could change.
Month-to-month rates from their own pricing page. Competitive Analysis isn’t on the $29 Starter — it begins at Lite. Compared against ScoutRival Pro at $89, everything included.
And nobody has written the article yet. Ahrefs grades drafts; it doesn’t produce them.
Every price read from Ahrefs's own pricing pages in July 2026, and linked so you can check us.
| ScoutRival | Ahrefs | |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | ||
| Entry price | $29 Everything included | $29 200 credits · 1 project · 0 extra users |
| Cheapest tier with competitive analysis | $29 | $129 Lite |
| AI visibility | Included | +$199 Add-on · up to $699 for all platforms |
| Money-back guarantee | 14 days, all paid plans | Their terms: “no obligation to provide refunds in any instance” |
| It watches | ||
| Tracks Claude | On the $29 plan | Not in Brand Radar’s platform list (Jul 2026) |
| A competitor’s blog and social posts | 6 channels + founder LinkedIn | Deep SEO data on their site — not their content feed |
| A daily brief telling you what to do | 7am, every morning | Alerts and dashboards |
| It creates & ships | ||
| Writes the article | 1k–5k words | AI Content Helper grades a draft you wrote |
| Publishes to WordPress | One click | Their WP plugin was retired in Oct 2025 |
| Schedules & posts to social | We write; you post | Social Media Manager — free while in beta |
| Where Ahrefs wins — and it isn’t close | ||
| Backlink index | We have none. None at all. | One of the largest crawlers in the world |
| Keyword database | No volumes, no difficulty, nothing | The reason people buy Ahrefs |
| Site-audit scale | 27 checks, one site | Up to 250,000 pages per project |
| Rank tracking | Up to 10,000 keywords |
Prices read from Ahrefs's own public pricing pages in July 2026 (source). They change — check theirs. Ahrefs is a trademark of its owner. ScoutRival is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by them. Spot something stale or unfair? Tell us and we'll correct it — including if you work there.
You have someone whose job this is.
Their data is the best there is. If that's your situation, it's the better buy — and we'd rather you knew now than after the refund.
Nobody there does marketing full-time.
Almost everything. Ahrefs’ $29 Starter gives you 200 credits, one project, 50 tracked keywords and no extra users — and a credit dies every time you open a report or apply a filter, with no rollover. Competitive Analysis isn’t even on it; that starts at $129. ScoutRival’s $29 includes the competitor monitoring, the daily brief, the article writing, the SEO audit and all four AI engines.
For keyword research and backlinks, no — and not partially, either. We have no keyword database and no backlink index. If those are your job, buy Ahrefs; it’s the best there is. ScoutRival replaces the part of the job Ahrefs was never trying to do: deciding what to write this week, and writing it.
Not as of July 2026. Brand Radar’s platform list is ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Grok, plus Google AI Overviews and AI Mode — Claude isn’t on it. ScoutRival tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini on the $29 plan. Fair warning: Ahrefs added Grok recently, so they may well add Claude. If they do, we’ll say so here.
Not really. AI Content Helper grades a draft you’ve already written against the pages that rank, and suggests topics you missed — it’s $99/month for 50 documents on top of your plan. And Ahrefs can’t publish to WordPress: their plugin was retired in October 2025. ScoutRival writes the article and publishes it in one click.
Ahrefs does — we don’t, and we’re not going to spin that. Their Social Media Manager is in beta and free on all plans, with a calendar, cross-posting and a comment inbox. ScoutRival writes the posts but publishes to WordPress only. Pair us with Buffer ($5/channel) or Publer.
Most people shortlist two or three. Here's what else lands on the list next to Ahrefs — what each one costs, and where each one stops.
The deepest data in the industry, sold as three or four separate toolkits. Matching ScoutRival costs $279–$568/mo — and the work still arrives as a recommendation, not as a finished article.
The closest thing to a head-to-head on price — and its AI visibility is 10 prompts, refreshed once a month, with no Claude and no Perplexity.
A strong rank tracker at $129/mo month-to-month for one seat. It writes articles — but it doesn’t publish them, and it doesn’t track Claude.
Domain Authority and the friendliest on-ramp in SEO. But it checks AI visibility weekly, across three engines — and it stops at a content brief.
The $1B category king of AI-search visibility. Its $99 tier watches ChatGPT and nothing else; Perplexity needs $399, and Claude needs a sales call.
Serious AI-visibility analytics with unlimited seats. They openly refuse to write: “We suggest options. You decide what to build.” Claude isn’t on any self-serve tier.
We've researched all 35 — prices, limits and where each one stops. See every comparison →
Add your website, name a competitor, and go to bed. Your first brief lands tomorrow morning — with the article already written.