Comparison

Surfaced vs Ahrefs

Ahrefs has the data. Surfaced has the depth. Here's how they compare for AI visibility.

Ahrefs launched Brand Radar with a massive database of 343M+ real search-backed prompts — impressive for broad discovery. But for custom prompt tracking (the queries YOUR audience asks), they only support 4 AI platforms with just 5-20 tracked prompts on most plans. Surfaced lets you track unlimited custom prompts across 13 AI models with weekly auto-scanning.

Feature
Surfaced
Ahrefs
Custom AI models tracked
13 models
4 models
14-day free trial
Free Brand Radar index only
Starting price (custom tracking)
$0 (free)
$50/mo (Brand Radar) or $129/mo (Ahrefs Lite)
Custom prompts (starter)
5 (free) / 15 (paid)
5 (Lite $129)
Claude tracking
Grok tracking
DeepSeek tracking
Llama/Meta AI tracking
Mistral tracking
Daily automated scanning
AEO Score
AI optimization recommendations
Competitor benchmarking
Sentiment analysis
Share of Voice
Email alerts on changes
Prompt discovery database
Coming soon
343M+ prompts
YouTube brand tracking
Reddit visibility
Traditional SEO tools
CSV export

Why choose Surfaced

  • 13 AI models vs 4 for custom tracking — complete visibility picture
  • Daily automated scanning — Ahrefs custom tracking is on-demand
  • AEO Score gives you one number to track and improve
  • AI-powered optimization recommendations tell you exactly what to fix
  • Sentiment analysis shows HOW AI talks about you, not just IF
  • Email alerts when your visibility changes — never miss a shift
  • 14-day free trial
  • 3-4x cheaper for custom prompt monitoring

Where Ahrefs shines

  • 343M+ real search-backed prompt database — unmatched for discovery
  • YouTube and Reddit brand mention tracking
  • Full SEO suite: backlinks, keywords, rank tracking, site audit
  • Brand Radar index is free to browse for any brand
  • Web visibility tracking (1.8M+ domain citations)
  • World's 2nd most active web crawler backing their data

The Verdict

Ahrefs Brand Radar is excellent for broad AI visibility discovery — searching any brand across their 343M prompt database is powerful and free. But for ongoing monitoring of YOUR specific queries, Surfaced wins: 13 models vs 4, daily automated scanning, AEO scoring, optimization recommendations, and sentiment analysis. Use Ahrefs for discovery, Surfaced for weekly monitoring and optimization.

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