Key takeaways
- Brand Radar costs $199/month per AI platform index or $699/month for all, as of October 2026.
- Ahrefs’ own pages disagree on whether you need a paid base plan, so confirm in writing.
- Impressions are modelled from Google search volume, so read every score as directional.
- Raw AI answers are visible, but default prompts come from Ahrefs’ database, not your buyers’ wording.
How we checked this: We read Ahrefs’ pricing page, Brand Radar product page, methodology post and help center on October 11, 2026. We did not test Brand Radar hands-on. Where Ahrefs’ own pages disagree (whether a paid base plan is required, and the total prompt count), we say so. We found no independent accuracy test, so accuracy remains unverified. Prices are in USD as of October 2026 and may vary by region.
AnswerMentions sells its own AI visibility audit, which appears in some comparisons on this page. No vendor paid for placement or reviewed this article before publication.
Is Ahrefs Brand Radar worth it? The verdict
Yes, if you already use Ahrefs and want AI mentions and share of voice next to rankings and backlinks. No, if you need audit-grade evidence of what AI told a specific buyer. Brand Radar models visibility from search volume, so it shows potential reach, not measured audience.
We would buy it for an SEO team or agency already working in Ahrefs. Ahrefs rebuilt Brand Radar to work like Site Explorer, and its methodology post lists best uses such as benchmarking AI Share of Voice, comparing competitor coverage, and finding pages the AI retrieved but did not cite.
We would skip it as a first tool for a small brand with little search demand. Ahrefs says the index works best for established brands or topics with real search demand. We found no independent, replicable accuracy test, so nobody, including us, can quote you an error rate.
How much does Ahrefs Brand Radar cost?
As of October 2026, Ahrefs’ help center prices Brand Radar at $199/month per AI platform index or $699/month for all platforms, in USD. Its own pages disagree on a paid base plan: the pricing FAQ says standalone works, while the help center says any paid plan.
Ahrefs’ pricing page shows Brand Radar AI from $199/month, and the help center says the $699 tier includes 2,500 custom-prompt checks a month. One check is one prompt run on one platform in one location, so costs climb with platforms, locations and frequency.
Base plans run from $29/month (Starter) to $449/month (Advanced), plus Enterprise at $1,499/month, per Ahrefs. Ask Ahrefs to confirm the base-plan rule in writing. Our Ahrefs Brand Radar pricing breakdown shows the check math.
| Option | Price (as of October 2026) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| One AI platform index | $199/month | One platform’s prompt index |
| All platforms | $699/month | All indexes plus 2,500 custom-prompt checks a month |
| Custom prompts: Basic | $50/month | +2,500 checks; $0.020 per extra |
| AI Visibility Checker | Free | No signup; top-5 per section |
Where Brand Radar’s AI data comes from
Brand Radar’s data comes from a prebuilt database of search-backed prompts that Ahrefs runs through each AI platform and stores as raw responses. Chatbot data refreshes monthly, AI Overviews every few days. Impressions are modelled from Google search volume, not measured audience reach.
Ahrefs builds the index in three steps: it takes real queries from its keyword database, expands them into natural questions with People Also Ask and fanout, then runs them in the free public interfaces with the default model. Ahrefs quotes prompt totals from 150M+ to 476M+ across its own pages, so do not repeat one number as settled.
You can read the raw answers behind the numbers. The AI responses report lists answers that mention or omit your brand beside the prompts that produced them. Ahrefs says coverage is strongest in English and may miss niche, long-tail prompts.
How to use Ahrefs Brand Radar, step by step
Open Brand Radar, enter your site in Quickstart, read the Overview, mine the AI responses report, then save a report and add custom prompts. First custom-prompt data arrives within 24 hours. The steps below follow Ahrefs’ help center and Academy course, not hands-on testing.
The help center covers setup, and the Academy course walks through each report in nine lessons.
Do not skip step 5. The index covers only prompts Ahrefs already holds, and a saved report is required before you can track your buyers’ exact questions.
- Step 1 — Get access. New users click Sign up for Brand Radar; subscribers add an index under Billing.
- Step 2 — Run Quickstart. Enter your site and click Analyze. Brand Radar detects your brand and common competitors.
- Step 3 — Read the Overview. Compare Share of Voice, mentions, citations and impressions against competitors.
- Step 4 — Mine AI responses. Use Others only to see answers that name rivals and not you.
- Step 5 — Save a report, then add custom prompts. Enter one per line, pick locations and set daily, weekly or monthly runs.
- Step 6 — Report out. Use Report Builder, the API, MCP or Looker Studio.
How to work out an AI visibility score from Brand Radar mentions
Divide your mentions by your mentions plus your competitors’ mentions, then multiply by 100. The result is your share of voice for that prompt set, a simple visibility score you can track monthly. Ahrefs’ own version weights by modelled impressions, so treat every Brand Radar score as directional.
Use this formula: share of voice = your mentions ÷ (your mentions + competitors’ mentions) × 100. Take illustrative numbers: 40 mentions for you and 140 across three competitors. Then 40 ÷ (40 + 140) × 100 = 22%. Ahrefs counts one mention per AI response.
Test your own numbers in our AI share of voice calculator. Our AI visibility score methodology explains how we weight and label scores.
Ahrefs’ version differs. Impressions are the summed search volumes of every prompt whose answer includes your brand. Under AI-adjusted volume, each prompt’s volume is its parent keyword’s Google volume times a platform ratio, such as 0.115 for ChatGPT and 0.01 for Perplexity.
Ahrefs calls this weighting “a modeling choice, not a measured relationship”. Count mentions to compare brands, use impressions only to rank prompts by potential, and keep your method fixed. To read the real answers behind a number, AnswerMentions offers a free AI visibility audit that asks AI the questions your buyers ask and shows which brands get named instead of you.
What Brand Radar does well, and where it falls short
Brand Radar does scale and workflow well: a very large search-backed prompt database, openable raw answers, no cap on brands, and reports that sit inside Ahrefs. It falls short on niche prompts, monthly chatbot refreshes, native sentiment and cost at scale.
Does well: there is no cap on the brands or domains you analyze, plus API, MCP and Looker Studio integrations. The free AI Visibility Checker needs no signup and covers six AI surfaces.
Falls short: chatbot indexes refresh only monthly, Claude covers custom prompts only, and Grok collection is paused. The docs we read describe no native sentiment metric, and a Claude check costs 8 checks per update.
Who should buy Brand Radar
SEO teams and agencies already inside Ahrefs, and established brands with real search demand, should buy Brand Radar. Small brands with no Ahrefs account, and anyone who needs evidence of what AI told one specific buyer, should compare other options first.
Compare it with Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit, which adds sentiment and narrative reports and starts at $99/month per domain, billed annually, as of October 2026. Specialists such as Profound are built for AI visibility alone, and our Ahrefs Brand Radar alternatives guide compares your options.
Skip Brand Radar when you want a fix list rather than a dashboard, because the docs we read describe reports and filters, not recommendations. AnswerMentions also sells a one-time report with a prioritized fix plan for non-SEO stakeholders.
Reader questions
Frequently asked questions
How often is Brand Radar updated?
It depends on the index, per Ahrefs’ help center. AI chatbots refresh once a month, AI Overviews and Search Demand every few days, and Web Visibility every few minutes. Custom prompts run daily, weekly or monthly on your schedule, with first data within 24 hours.
Can you see the raw AI answers behind Brand Radar’s numbers?
Yes. The AI responses report lists the answers that mention or omit your brand next to the prompts behind them, and a prompt-details panel lists cited pages. Default prompts are Ahrefs’ own, so add custom prompts for your buyers’ wording.
Does Brand Radar track ChatGPT and Perplexity?
Yes. The AI Visibility Index covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, AI Overviews and AI Mode, and custom prompts add Claude. Ahrefs added Grok in April 2026, but its help docs say new Grok collection is paused. Indexes cost $199/month each, or $699/month for all.
Is Brand Radar included in Ahrefs plans?
Only in part. The AI platform indexes are a paid add-on: $199/month each or $699/month for all, as of October 2026. Lite, Standard and Advanced plans include 150, 300 and 600 custom-prompt checks a month; Starter includes none. Ahrefs’ pages disagree on whether a paid base plan is required, so confirm first.