Ahrefs Brand Radar tracks more engines, and Ahrefs Lite, at $129 a month, includes five tracked AI prompts plus API and MCP access. Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit is the simpler purchase: one Base plan at $99 a month per domain, billed annually, for 25 custom prompts tracked daily, with mentions from four engines.
For most teams the deciding factor is which suite they already pay for. Semrush's knowledge base says its plans "combine features for SEO and AI visibility in a single subscription", and every paid Ahrefs plan includes a daily quota of Brand Radar prompts. The figures below come from each vendor's own pages, read on 23 September 2026.
Semrush and Ahrefs side by side
| Detail | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Ahrefs Brand Radar |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Base, $99/mo per domain, billed annually | Custom prompt packages from $50/mo; Ahrefs Lite $129/mo includes Brand Radar; Brand Radar AI from $199/mo |
| Prompts at entry | 25 custom prompts | Lite: five prompts (150 checks a month); $50 package: 2,500 checks a month |
| Engines | "ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, and Perplexity" | AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, plus Claude on custom prompts |
| Grok | Not listed | Not listed |
| Search Console | Through the Base Report add-on, $10/mo | Through GSC Insights, a separate Ahrefs tool |
| API and MCP | Not listed on Base; MCP comes with Semrush One and SEO Classic plans and for API users | "API and MCP access" on Lite and above |
| Cadence | Prompts tracked daily; "Daily, weekly, and monthly data updates" | Custom prompts daily, weekly or monthly per platform; the index is re-tested monthly |
| Trial | "Try Semrush free for seven days"; toolkit access not stated | None listed; the pricing FAQ points site owners to Ahrefs Free, and a free AI Visibility Checker exists |
How the allowances compare
Semrush counts prompts. Base tracks 25 custom prompts with daily AI rankings, for one domain in Brand Performance analysis, and adds AI visibility reports for any domain.
Ahrefs counts checks. Tracking one prompt on one platform in one location uses one check, and Claude uses eight checks per update. Lite's 150 checks a month cover five prompts on one platform, daily. The $50 package adds 2,500 checks, which Ahrefs illustrates as 80 prompts daily on one platform; larger packages cost $100 (7,000 checks) and $250 (25,000 checks).
So the two are hard to compare prompt for prompt. On Ahrefs, every extra platform and every extra refresh spends checks; on Semrush Base, the limit is the 25 prompts.
Who Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit fits
It fits Semrush customers who want AI visibility beside their SEO data at a fixed price. Base lists AI visibility reports for any domain, 25 custom prompts with daily AI rankings, AI competitor analysis and prompt research, a site audit for AI readiness, and 300 AI analysis reports a day.
The limits: four engines, and the pricing page's label "Google AI" does not say whether that means AI Overviews, AI Mode or both. It lists no Claude, Microsoft Copilot or Grok. MCP is not listed on Base, and billing is annual. Search Console comes through the $10 Base Report add-on, which also adds scheduling and PDF export.
Who Ahrefs Brand Radar fits
It fits Ahrefs customers, and teams that want an API or MCP without an enterprise contract. Every paid Ahrefs plan includes a daily custom prompt quota (Lite five, Standard 10, Advanced 20), and Lite includes API and MCP access at $129 a month. Custom prompts cover seven engines, Claude included, and you choose the cadence per platform.
Brand Radar also sells an AI Visibility Index, built from more than 451 million prompts, that shows any brand's AI visibility without setup, from $199 a month. Ahrefs says the index works best for brands with meaningful search demand, and that custom prompts suit brands that are not well known.
The limits: check-based pricing takes arithmetic, Lite's included quota is five prompts on one platform, Grok is not listed, and no trial is listed; the pricing FAQ answers the free-trial question by pointing site owners to Ahrefs Free. Search Console lives in GSC Insights, which Ahrefs describes as "an intelligence layer on top of your Google Search Console data".
What else comes with each
Ahrefs' Brand Radar page lists extras around the prompt tracking: pages that AI search sends traffic to, through Ahrefs Web Analytics (free), AI crawler visits through Bot Analytics (free while in beta), and YouTube, TikTok and Reddit visibility (free while in beta). On the pricing page, Ahrefs Advanced ($449 a month) adds a Looker Studio integration.
Semrush sells reporting as add-ons. Base Report ($10 a month) brings Google Analytics and Search Console integrations, scheduling and PDF export; Pro Report ($20 a month) adds 20+ external integrations, branding and white-labeling, and AI-generated summaries. For large teams, Semrush for Enterprise lists custom large-scale AI prompt tracking, daily or weekly tracking, and custom integrations and API, at custom pricing.
Verdict by situation
- You already pay for Semrush: start with the AI Visibility Toolkit's Base plan, and add Base Report ($10) if you want Search Console data in the same reports.
- You already pay for Ahrefs: your plan already includes Brand Radar custom prompts (five on Lite, 10 on Standard, 20 on Advanced); buy a check package when you need more.
- You need API or MCP at the lower price: Ahrefs Lite, $129, includes both. Semrush does not list either on Base.
- You need Claude or Microsoft Copilot: Ahrefs. Semrush does not list either.
- You need Grok: neither lists it.
- You want to benchmark competitors without building a prompt list: Ahrefs' AI Visibility Index, from $199, or the AI visibility reports for any domain on Semrush Base.
- You pay for neither suite: standalone trackers start lower. The cheapest AI visibility tools compares 13 by entry price, starting with Otterly.AI at $29 and Cituna at $39.
Before you set up either tool, it helps to know what prompt tracking measures and how to choose the prompts to track. For Search Console's side of the picture, see how to use Google Search Console for AI search. The wider field is in AI visibility tools compared, the nine-tool table and Ahrefs Brand Radar alternatives.