OtterlyAI vs Ahrefs Brand Radar: 2026 Comparison
Published October 30, 2026
OtterlyAI and Ahrefs Brand Radar both sell self-serve AI search tracking, and OtterlyAI's $29 entry plan makes it look like the cheaper of the two. The picture changes with prompt count, since OtterlyAI bills by plan tier with unlimited seats, while Brand Radar bills in checks, one prompt on one engine in one location, with overage rates that fall as packages grow. The cheaper tool depends on whether a team tracks a very short prompt list or a longer one.
Our analysts compared each vendor's pricing pages, help articles, and product pages as of October 30, 2026, then priced three common tracking workloads on each. In the following sections, we compare the two tools on the points buyers weigh most, price the same work on both, and explain which buyer each fits and what changed recently.
| What buyers compare | OtterlyAI | Ahrefs Brand Radar |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price per monthSources 2, 7 | $29 (Lite, 15 prompts)Cheaper entry | $50 (Basic custom prompt package, 2,500 checks) |
| Plans per monthSources 2, 3, 7 | Lite $29, Standard $189, Premium $489. Enterprise: price not published, from 1,000 prompts | Custom prompt packages: Basic $50, Growth $100, Scale $250. Prompt database access from $199. Ahrefs plans with prompts included: Lite $129, Standard $249, Advanced $449 |
| Cost: 1 brand, 15 prompts, 3 enginesSources 1, 2, 7 | $29 per month (Lite)Cheaper | $50 per month (Basic package) |
| Cost: 1 brand, 100 prompts, 3 enginesSources 1, 2, 7 | $189 per month (Standard) | $130 per month (Growth package + overage)Cheaper |
| Cost: 1 brand, 100 prompts, 4 engines incl. GeminiSources 1, 2, 4, 7 | $248 per month (Standard + Gemini add-on) | $175 per month (Growth package + overage)Cheaper |
| Prompt limitsSources 3, 7 | Lite 15, Standard 100, Premium 400. Extra prompts $99 per month per 100 on Standard and Premium | Billed in checks: 2,500, 7,000, and 25,000 per month on the Basic, Growth, and Scale packages. Ahrefs Lite, Standard, and Advanced include 150, 300, and 600 checks |
| How usage is countedSources 3, 7 | Prompts, each tracked daily on every included engine | One prompt on one platform in one location per run is 1 check, so daily tracking is 30 checks per prompt per platform per month. Claude uses 8 checks per update |
| AI engines coveredSources 3, 4, 7 | Included: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot. Google AI Mode, Gemini, and Claude are paid add-ons | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews and AI Mode on every package. Claude is available at 8 checks per updateNo per-engine add-ons |
| Update frequencySources 3, 7 | Daily | Daily, weekly, or monthly tracking |
| Prompt databaseSource 7 | Not published | Database of more than 516 million prompts, from $199 per monthPrompt database |
| Team seatsSources 3, 7 | Unlimited on every planUnlimited | Ahrefs plans include 1 user, with extra users at $40, $60, or $80 per month on Lite, Standard, and Advanced. Seat terms for custom prompt packages: Not published |
| Workspaces and projectsSources 3, 7 | Lite 1 workspace. Standard and Premium: unlimited workspaces. Unlimited brand reports on every plan | Ahrefs Lite: 5 non-verified and unlimited verified projects. Package limits: Not published |
| Reporting and exportsSources 3, 7 | Detailed reports and export on every plan. Looker Studio connector on Standard and Premium. Standard: 2,000 API and 2,000 MCP requests per month. Premium: 5,000 of each | API and MCP access on every Ahrefs plan. Looker Studio integration on Advanced |
| AI traffic and crawler dataSources 3, 8 | Agent Analytics: 200,000 events per month on Standard and 1 million on Premium | AI traffic from Web Analytics is free with installation. Bot Analytics is free while in beta |
| Research, audit, and content toolsSources 3, 8 | GEO URL audits: 1,000 per month on Lite, 5,000 on Standard, 10,000 on Premium. AI prompt research tool and recommendations | AI-generated prompt suggestions, fanout queries, sentiment, and buyer-journey stage. AI Sources searches YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit, free while in beta |
| SEO toolsSources 3, 7 | AI search tracking only. No SEO keyword or backlink tools listed | Part of the Ahrefs suite, with Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Rank Tracker, and Site Audit on Ahrefs plansFull SEO suite |
| Free trialSources 5, 8 | 7 days, 50 prompts, no credit card | Free AI visibility preview for any brand. Trial terms: Not published |
| Best forSource 1 | Very short prompt lists, teams that want unlimited seats and workspaces, and agencies tracking several clients | Teams that track 25 to several hundred prompts on many engines, and brands that already use Ahrefs |
Starting price per month
- OtterlyAI
- $29 (Lite, 15 prompts) Cheaper entry
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- $50 (Basic custom prompt package, 2,500 checks)
Plans per month
- OtterlyAI
- Lite $29, Standard $189, Premium $489. Enterprise: price not published, from 1,000 prompts
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- Custom prompt packages: Basic $50, Growth $100, Scale $250. Prompt database access from $199. Ahrefs plans with prompts included: Lite $129, Standard $249, Advanced $449
Cost: 1 brand, 15 prompts, 3 engines
- OtterlyAI
- $29 per month (Lite) Cheaper
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- $50 per month (Basic package)
Cost: 1 brand, 100 prompts, 3 engines
- OtterlyAI
- $189 per month (Standard)
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- $130 per month (Growth package + overage) Cheaper
Cost: 1 brand, 100 prompts, 4 engines incl. Gemini
- OtterlyAI
- $248 per month (Standard + Gemini add-on)
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- $175 per month (Growth package + overage) Cheaper
Prompt limits
- OtterlyAI
- Lite 15, Standard 100, Premium 400. Extra prompts $99 per month per 100 on Standard and Premium
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- Billed in checks: 2,500, 7,000, and 25,000 per month on the Basic, Growth, and Scale packages. Ahrefs Lite, Standard, and Advanced include 150, 300, and 600 checks
How usage is counted
- OtterlyAI
- Prompts, each tracked daily on every included engine
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- One prompt on one platform in one location per run is 1 check, so daily tracking is 30 checks per prompt per platform per month. Claude uses 8 checks per update
AI engines covered
- OtterlyAI
- Included: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot. Google AI Mode, Gemini, and Claude are paid add-ons
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews and AI Mode on every package. Claude is available at 8 checks per update No per-engine add-ons
Update frequency
- OtterlyAI
- Daily
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- Daily, weekly, or monthly tracking
Prompt database
- OtterlyAI
- Not published
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- Database of more than 516 million prompts, from $199 per month Prompt database
Team seats
- OtterlyAI
- Unlimited on every plan Unlimited
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- Ahrefs plans include 1 user, with extra users at $40, $60, or $80 per month on Lite, Standard, and Advanced. Seat terms for custom prompt packages: Not published
Workspaces and projects
- OtterlyAI
- Lite 1 workspace. Standard and Premium: unlimited workspaces. Unlimited brand reports on every plan
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- Ahrefs Lite: 5 non-verified and unlimited verified projects. Package limits: Not published
Reporting and exports
- OtterlyAI
- Detailed reports and export on every plan. Looker Studio connector on Standard and Premium. Standard: 2,000 API and 2,000 MCP requests per month. Premium: 5,000 of each
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- API and MCP access on every Ahrefs plan. Looker Studio integration on Advanced
AI traffic and crawler data
- OtterlyAI
- Agent Analytics: 200,000 events per month on Standard and 1 million on Premium
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- AI traffic from Web Analytics is free with installation. Bot Analytics is free while in beta
Research, audit, and content tools
- OtterlyAI
- GEO URL audits: 1,000 per month on Lite, 5,000 on Standard, 10,000 on Premium. AI prompt research tool and recommendations
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- AI-generated prompt suggestions, fanout queries, sentiment, and buyer-journey stage. AI Sources searches YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit, free while in beta
SEO tools
- OtterlyAI
- AI search tracking only. No SEO keyword or backlink tools listed
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- Part of the Ahrefs suite, with Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Rank Tracker, and Site Audit on Ahrefs plans Full SEO suite
Free trial
- OtterlyAI
- 7 days, 50 prompts, no credit card
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- Free AI visibility preview for any brand. Trial terms: Not published
Best for
- OtterlyAI
- Very short prompt lists, teams that want unlimited seats and workspaces, and agencies tracking several clients
- Ahrefs Brand Radar
- Teams that track 25 to several hundred prompts on many engines, and brands that already use Ahrefs
List prices in US dollars before tax, billed monthly unless the row says otherwise. Workload costs are the cheapest published plan, or plan plus add-ons, that covers the job with daily tracking.
OtterlyAI vs Ahrefs Brand Radar Cost for the Same Workload
OtterlyAI sells plan tiers and engine add-ons, and Ahrefs bills custom prompts in checks, so the Top GEO Agencies research team priced the same tracking jobs on both. Each workload is tracked daily:
- One brand with 15 prompts on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity, three engines both vendors include without an add-on.
- One brand with 100 prompts on those three engines.
- One brand with 100 prompts on those three engines plus Gemini.
Each cost is the cheapest published plan, or plan plus add-ons, that covers the workload.
| Workload | OtterlyAI | Ahrefs Brand Radar |
|---|---|---|
| 1 brand, 15 prompts, 3 engines | $29 (Lite) | $50 (Basic package) |
| 1 brand, 100 prompts, 3 engines | $189 (Standard) | $130 (Growth package $100 + 2,000 checks at $0.015) |
| 1 brand, 100 prompts, 4 engines incl. Gemini | $248 (Standard $189 + Gemini $59) | $175 (Growth package $100 + 5,000 checks at $0.015) |
- Ahrefs counts 1 check for each prompt on each platform per run. 15 prompts on 3 engines for 30 days are 1,350 checks, inside Basic's 2,500. 100 prompts on 3 engines are 9,000 checks, and on 4 engines are 12,000 checks, which cost $100 plus overage at $0.015 per check on the Growth package, below Scale's $250.
- OtterlyAI's Lite plan stops at 15 prompts, so the 100-prompt workloads start at Standard. The Gemini add-on costs $59 per month on Standard.
OtterlyAI or Ahrefs Brand Radar: Which Fits Which Buyer
The cheaper choice changes with the length of a team's prompt list, and the better fit depends on seats, audit tools, and whether a team already uses Ahrefs.
Choose OtterlyAI if
- Your prompt list is very short. Lite costs $29 per month for 15 prompts, and Brand Radar's cheapest package is $50.
- Many people need access. OtterlyAI includes unlimited seats and, from Standard up, unlimited workspaces, while Ahrefs charges $40 to $80 per month for extra users on its plans.
- You want site audits and agent traffic data in the plan. Lite includes 1,000 GEO URL audits per month, and Standard includes 200,000 Agent Analytics events.
- You want a stated API and MCP allowance. Standard includes 2,000 API and 2,000 MCP requests per month, and Premium includes 5,000 of each.
Choose Ahrefs Brand Radar if
- You track 25 or more prompts. 100 prompts on three engines cost $130 per month, against $189 on OtterlyAI Standard.
- You want engines without add-ons. Gemini and Google AI Mode are paid add-ons on OtterlyAI, and 100 prompts with Gemini cost $175 on Brand Radar against $248.
- You already use Ahrefs. Custom prompt tracking is free on every paid plan from Lite up, with 150 to 600 checks included.
- You want a searchable database. Database access starts at $199 per month and covers more than 516 million prompts.
Recent Changes to OtterlyAI and Ahrefs Brand Radar
Both vendors ship often, and the dates show how current any price quote is.
- January 15, 2026: Ahrefs' December 2025 product update introduced custom queries in Brand Radar, billed in checks.
- April 16, 2026: OtterlyAI launched Recommendations on all plans.
- June 22, 2026: OtterlyAI made Claude available as a tracked engine, sold as a paid add-on.
- August 4, 2026: OtterlyAI launched Agent Analytics, which shows the AI agents and crawlers that visit a site and the pages they reach.
- October 21, 2026: OtterlyAI released Brand Profiling, which shows the attributes, objections, and claims that AI engines attach to a brand compared with its competitors.
Where the Two Tools Are Headed in 2027 and Beyond
OtterlyAI: OtterlyAI launched a public API and a Claude skill on May 27, 2026, an MCP server on June 8, and API and MCP creation of brand reports on September 29. On October 5 it added sentiment and average position to the main Brand Reports chart and retired the raw Brand Mention Count from Brand Reports.
Ahrefs Brand Radar: As of October 30, 2026, Ahrefs' pages label Bot Analytics and its YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit search as free while in beta, and show Claude tracking at 8 checks per update. Its Brand Radar page cites more than 516 million prompts, and its pricing page cites 519 million.
Buyers should confirm whether the beta tools stay free, since Ahrefs labels them that way today.
Data Collection and Methodology
Prices and plan details come from each vendor's pricing, help, and product pages as of October 30, 2026, except where a source line shows an earlier capture date. All prices are list prices in US dollars per month before tax, billed monthly unless the row says otherwise. A "prompt" is one question the tool asks the AI engines. Ahrefs bills its own prompts in "checks," where one prompt run once on one platform in one location is one check.
OtterlyAI Enterprise prices are quoted privately, so none appears in the cost table.
We calculated products, differences, and ratios from the published values.
OtterlyAI publishes three self-serve plans and a custom tier above them. Ahrefs publishes three custom prompt packages, database access from $199 per month, and four Ahrefs plans with prompts included.
OtterlyAI's pricing page did not load on October 30, 2026, so its plan prices and add-on prices are from our October 29, 2026 capture. Its help center pages were captured on October 30. Ahrefs' pricing page shows no Brand Radar seat terms, so the matrix lists them as not published.
Sources
- Top GEO Agencies analysis of OtterlyAI and Ahrefs Brand Radar plans, prices, and limits, conducted October 2026. Download the data (CSV)
- OtterlyAI, Pricing, https://otterly.ai/pricing, captured October 29, 2026.
- OtterlyAI Help Center, What are the plans and the pricing of OtterlyAI?, https://help.otterly.ai/pricing-of-otterlyai, captured October 30, 2026.
- OtterlyAI Help Center, How can I purchase Google AI Mode/Gemini/Claude?, https://help.otterly.ai/how-can-i-purchase-extra-engines, captured October 30, 2026.
- OtterlyAI Help Center, Free trial, https://help.otterly.ai/free-trial, captured October 30, 2026.
- OtterlyAI Help Center, Changelog, https://help.otterly.ai/changelog, captured October 30, 2026.
- Ahrefs, Pricing, https://ahrefs.com/pricing, captured October 30, 2026.
- Ahrefs, Brand Radar, https://ahrefs.com/brand-radar, captured October 30, 2026.
- Ahrefs Blog, December 2025 product update, https://ahrefs.com/blog/new-features-dec-2025/, captured October 8, 2026.