Compared 19 August 2026
RankX AI vs Ahrefs
RankX AI and Ahrefs both watch AI search and price it very differently: one includes it, the other sells it as a second subscription.
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The short answer
How RankX AI and Ahrefs differ, in one screen.
Ahrefs is an SEO toolset whose Lite plan at £99 a month includes five tracked AI prompts, with Brand Radar AI sold separately from £159 a month. RankX AI is an AI visibility and SEO tool from $49 a month tracking six surfaces. Ahrefs has a far better backlink index.
Choose RankX AI if
AI visibility is a main reason you are buying. Six surfaces, 25 to 100 tracked prompts per project and Google rank tracking are one RankX AI subscription, where reaching comparable AI coverage on Ahrefs means a plan plus Brand Radar AI plus a prompt package.
Choose Ahrefs if
Backlinks or keyword research are central to your work. The Ahrefs link index is the best in the industry and RankX AI ships no backlink data on any brand plan. Ahrefs also tracks 750 to 5,000 keywords against our 100 to 1,000, and offers a free tier and a £23 Starter plan we have no answer to.
The full price
What does Ahrefs cost, and what does RankX AI cost?
RankX AI starts at $49 a month with 3 seats. Ahrefs's published entry tier is £99/month for Lite, including five tracked AI prompts. The tiers below are theirs, in their own words.
| Tier | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | £99 a month | Five projects, 750 tracked keywords, five tracked AI prompts, 100,000 crawl credits and one user; extra users £32 a month, up to two more |
| Standard | £199 a month | 2,000 keywords and ten AI prompts; extra users £48 a month |
| Advanced | £359 a month | 5,000 keywords and twenty AI prompts; extra users £64 a month |
| Enterprise | £1,199 a month, on an annual commitment | The top published tier; sold on an annual commitment only |
A £23 Starter plan and a free tier are also published, and neither has an equivalent on our price list. The AI half is a second subscription rather than a tier feature: Brand Radar AI starts at £159 a month, and custom prompt packages are £40, £80 and £200 for 2,500, 7,000 and 25,000 additional checks.
Ahrefs quotes pounds and RankX AI quotes US dollars; neither figure on this page has been converted.
The head to head
Which product wins on which criterion?
Every figure is read from Ahrefs's own published pages on 19 August 2026. Rows that favour them are marked as such, because a table we win outright would not be worth reading.
| Criterion | RankX AI | Ahrefs | Favours |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI prompts included at the entry tier | 25 per project, checked nightly across five assistants | 5 tracked AI prompts | RankX AI |
| How AI visibility is sold | Included on every plan | Brand Radar AI is a separate product from £159 a month | RankX AI |
| Entry price | $49 a month | £99 a month for Lite, plus a free tier and a £23 Starter plan | Even |
| Cost of a second user | Included. Three seats on Starter, ten on Growth, 25 on Pro | £32 to £64 a month each, capped by tier | RankX AI |
| Backlink index | No backlink data on any brand plan | Among the largest and most respected available | Ahrefs |
| Google keywords tracked | 100 to 1,000 by plan | 750 to 5,000 by plan | Ahrefs |
| Historical data | 30 to 90 days by plan | 6 months to 5 years by plan | Ahrefs |
| Assistants tracked by name | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity, plus Google AI Overviews | Brand Radar AI, researching 271M+ organic prompts | Even |
| Content briefs and WordPress publishing | Included on every plan | Not listed on their pricing page | RankX AI |
What those rows mean in practice
Five tracked AI prompts is not an AI visibility product
Ahrefs Lite includes five tracked AI prompts at £99 a month, Standard ten and Advanced twenty. RankX AI includes 25 per project on the $49 Starter and 100 on Pro, checked nightly across all five assistants. If AI search is a reason you are buying, the allowance is the number to compare and it is not close.
AI visibility is one subscription, not two
Reaching serious AI coverage on Ahrefs means the toolset plus Brand Radar AI from £159 a month plus a prompt package at £40, £80 or £200. RankX AI includes all six surfaces on every plan, so the AI half does not arrive as a second line on the invoice.
Seats are included, and history is the trade
Ahrefs charges £32 to £64 a month per extra user and caps how many you may add. RankX AI includes three, ten or 25 seats by plan. The honest counterweight, stated in the table above: Ahrefs keeps six months to five years of history where we keep 30 to 90 days.
The honest part
Where Ahrefs is the better choice.
No product wins every comparison, and a page claiming otherwise is not worth trusting. These are the cases where we would tell you to buy Ahrefs.
The backlink index, and we do not compete for it
Ahrefs' link data is the reason most people buy Ahrefs, and RankX AI provides no backlink data on Starter, Growth or Pro. It appears only on Agency Pro and Agency Scale. For link building, competitor link analysis or digital PR measurement, use Ahrefs.
More tracked keywords and far more history
Lite tracks 750 keywords with six months of history; Advanced tracks 5,000 with five years. RankX AI tracks 100 to 1,000 keywords and retains 30 to 90 days by plan. Anyone doing year-over-year analysis needs their retention, not ours.
A free tier and a £23 plan, which we do not offer
Ahrefs publishes Ahrefs Free and a £23 a month Starter plan. RankX AI's cheapest paid plan is $49 a month, with a seven day trial and 1,000 credits. For a single site owner testing the water, Ahrefs has an entry point we cannot match.
Compared against Ahrefs’s published pages on 19 August 2026. Products in this category change weekly, so check the source before relying on a figure.
Sources
Questions
Ahrefs, answered
The questions people ask before switching, including the ones whose honest answer is that Ahrefs is the better buy.
How many AI prompts does Ahrefs track?
Five on Lite at £99 a month, ten on Standard at £199 and twenty on Advanced at £359, as published on 19 August 2026. Brand Radar AI is a separate product from £159 a month, with additional prompt packages at £40, £80 and £200 for 2,500, 7,000 and 25,000 checks. RankX AI includes 25 to 100 prompts per project on plans from $49.
Is RankX AI a replacement for Ahrefs?
Not for link building. Ahrefs has one of the largest backlink indexes available and RankX AI ships no backlink data on any brand plan, only on Agency Pro and Agency Scale. RankX AI replaces Ahrefs only if your use is AI visibility, rank tracking, site audits and publishing.
Why does this page not convert pounds to dollars?
Because the converted figure would be one neither company published, and it would be wrong as soon as the rate moved. Ahrefs publishes in pounds and RankX AI publishes in US dollars, so both are quoted as published. Compare what each includes at its own entry tier rather than the headline numbers alone.
Can I use Ahrefs and RankX AI together?
Yes, and for many teams that is the sensible split. Ahrefs covers backlinks, keyword research and long historical trends. RankX AI covers the five assistants and Google AI Overviews by name, with 25 to 100 tracked prompts per project and an MCP server of 66 tools for querying it from your own assistant.
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