AI visibility tools · Head to head

Ahrefs vs AirOps: which AI visibility tool wins in 2026?

An AI-visibility module inside the SEO suite you may already run versus a content operations platform that tracks AI search on the side. One measures and publishes every price; the other produces and publishes none. Compared on engines, cost and what each does with a gap. Sourced from both companies' live pages.

Javed Khatri Co-founder, Prefer
Updated September 2026 · Facts checked September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
On this page
TL;DR

Ahrefs Brand Radar is the pick for teams that need the data: it tracks seven engines through Custom Prompts, researches any brand across a 455M+ prompt Index and ties AI citations to Ahrefs' backlink index, at published prices, but it does not draft or publish anything; AirOps is the pick for teams that need the pages: it drafts, reviews and publishes content at volume, tracks up to eight engines and runs managed off-page placements, with no published paid price. Prefer, our product, is the lowest published paid entry on this page at $24 a month, tracks five engines and writes 15 AI articles a month on that plan.

The split is measurement inside an SEO suite versus production with measurement attached. Ahrefs includes Brand Radar in every paid plan from Lite ($129/mo), but with 5 to 20 tracked prompts and a check meter; more prompts come as packages from $50/mo, and the AI Visibility Index is $199/mo per platform or $699/mo for all six of its engines. AirOps starts free, lists Quill, Playbooks, Workflows and human review on every tier, and meters usage in tasks, but its free Solo tier reads ChatGPT only and its paid price is a sales conversation. The two are not strict substitutes: one is a research and measurement tool, the other a production system.

Ahrefs vs AirOps at a glance
  • Ahrefs publishes every price: plans from $129/mo include 5 to 20 tracked prompts, packages start at $50/mo and the Index is $199/mo per platform ($699 for all). AirOps publishes no dollar figure (checked 23 September 2026).
  • Ahrefs tracks seven engines through Custom Prompts (Claude only there, at 8 checks per update). AirOps documents eight engines, but its free Solo tier reads ChatGPT only.
  • AirOps produces content on every tier (Quill, Grids, Workflows, human review) and runs managed Offsite placements. Brand Radar is measurement only.
  • Ahrefs brings a 455M+ monthly prompt Index, YouTube, TikTok and Reddit visibility, and backlink-index correlation; AirOps brings Agent Analytics from your CDN logs.
  • On TechRadar's tested AEO roundup (30 July 2026), Ahrefs Brand Radar is fifth and AirOps seventh of seven.

The contenders

Screenshot not captured
Ahrefs AI visibility via Brand Radar, inside the SEO suite
  • PositioningAI module inside the Ahrefs SEO suite
  • Starting price$129/mo plan (5 tracked prompts); Index $199/mo per platform ($699 all)
  • Free tierNo; free AI Visibility Checker tool
  • Engines tracked7 via Custom Prompts (Claude only there); Index 6
  • Prompt corpus455M+ monthly prompts (19 Sep 2026)
  • Acts on findingsNo; measurement only
  • FocusAdd AEO to an existing SEO workflow
Screenshot not captured
AirOps Content operations at volume, with AI visibility attached
  • FoundedAbout 2021, New York and San Francisco
  • Starting priceFree to start; no published paid price
  • Free tierYes (Solo: ChatGPT insights only, 1 user)
  • EnginesChatGPT on Solo; 7+ on Pro; 8 documented
  • Acts on findingsQuill agent, Grids, Workflows, Offsite
  • Third-party ratingG2 4.7/5 (134 reviews, Sep 2026)
  • FocusProducing and updating content at scale
Capability Ahrefs AirOps Prefer
Tracks AI citations across engines
Acts on findings (Prefer off-page on Managed)
Done-for-you Managed service

The Prefer column is shown for reference: it is our product, and this page compares the other two. Website screenshots captured September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep); every claim is referenced in Sources.

Where each tool sits

Feature comparison

Capability
Ahrefs
AirOps
Coverage
Engines at entry[1]
Any of 7 via Custom Prompts; Lite's 150 checks cover 5 prompts daily on 1 platform
ChatGPT only (free Solo)
Engine pool[2]
7 via Custom Prompts (AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Claude); Index 6, no Claude
8 documented (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Claude, Copilot, Grok); Claude plan-dependent
Your own prompts at entry[1]
5 (Lite), 10 (Standard), 20 (Advanced); from 83 (Enterprise)
100 tracked prompts and pages (Solo); 250 (Pro)
Market-wide prompt data[2]
AI Visibility Index, 455M+ monthly prompts, re-tested monthly
Not sold as a separate dataset
Social surfaces[2]
YouTube, TikTok and Reddit (free while in beta)
Onsite and offsite mention tracking, including Reddit threads
Action and features
Metrics[2]
Mentions, citations, AI share of voice, estimated impressions
Mention rate, share of voice, average position, URL-level citations, sentiment
Acts on findings[2]
No; measurement only
Quill agent, Playbooks, Workflows, Campaigns (all tiers)
Bulk content production[2]
Not in Brand Radar (AI content tools are separate suite add-ons)
Grids, metered by tasks (35,000 Solo, 100,000 Pro)
Publishes to CMS[2]
No
WordPress, Notion, Webflow
Off-page[2]
No; gap reports only
Offsite: managed placements, outreach coordinated through your contacts
AI crawler analytics[2]
Not in the Brand Radar material we read
Agent Analytics via Cloudflare, CloudFront, Vercel, Netlify (all tiers)
Backlink correlation[2]
Yes (Ahrefs web-mention and backlink index)
No
Free tool[2]
AI Visibility Checker (no signup)
Free Solo tier
Trust and fit
Third-party rating[3]
G2 4.5/5, 713 reviews (whole Ahrefs suite, not Brand Radar alone)
G2 4.7/5, 134 reviews
TechRadar AEO roundup (30 Jul 2026)[3]
5th of 7
7th of 7
SSO[1]
Not verified from the pages read
Enterprise
Standalone purchase[1]
Yes, Brand Radar sold standalone (comes with an Ahrefs Free account)
Yes, it is its own platform
Built for[2]
SEO teams already in Ahrefs adding AI visibility
Content and growth teams producing at scale
Learning curve[3]
A whole SEO suite around one module
G2 reviewers flag feature overwhelm and a learning curve

Based on both products' public pages, facts checked September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep). "Not advertised" means we could not verify the capability from public materials. Spot something out of date? Tell us.

Pricing, side by side

Plan
Ahrefs
AirOps
Free option[1]
No free plan with Custom Prompts; free AI Visibility Checker
Solo, free to start (ChatGPT insights, 100 prompts and pages, 35,000 tasks, 1 user)
Entry paid plan[1]
Lite $129/mo ($108/mo annual), 5 tracked prompts, 150 checks
Pro, free to start; no published price
More prompts[1]
Packages: Basic $50, Growth $100, Scale $250 a month (2,500 to 25,000 checks)
Pro: 250 prompts, 7+ engines, 100,000 tasks, unlimited seats
Market-wide data[1]
AI Visibility Index $199/mo per platform, $699/mo for all
Not sold separately
Top tier[1]
Enterprise $1,499/mo (annual commitment, from 83 prompts)
Enterprise, custom (regions, SSO, custom agents, own model keys)
Execution included[2]
No; measurement only
Yes, on every tier

Prices checked September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep) from each product's public pricing page.

Ahrefs is a mature all-in-one SEO suite (keyword research, site audits, content, backlinks) that added Brand Radar, an AI-visibility module sold two ways: Custom Prompts, free in every paid plan from Lite but capped at 5 to 20 prompts and metered in checks, and the AI Visibility Index, a 455M+ monthly prompt dataset across six engines at $199/mo per platform or $699/mo for all (ahrefs.com, rendered 19 September 2026). It reports mentions, citations, AI share of voice and estimated impressions, and ties citations to its backlink index. AirOps (about 2021, New York and San Francisco) calls itself the growth system for the AI-first buyer journey; it raised a $40M Series B in November 2025, and its pricing page lists Solo, Pro and Enterprise with task meters and engine counts but no dollar figures. Its G2 reviewers (4.7/5 from 134) praise the Quill agent and flag the learning curve. Sources

Which should you choose?

Choose Ahrefs if…

  • You already run Ahrefs for SEO and want AI visibility in the same tool
  • You want to research any brand's AI visibility across a 455M+ prompt Index
  • Tracking seven engines, including Claude, with published per-check pricing matters
  • Your team will act on the data itself, and backlink correlation helps it decide

Choose AirOps if…

  • Your bottleneck is producing and updating content, not measuring it
  • You want drafting, review, approval and CMS publishing in one workflow
  • AI crawler analytics from your CDN logs matters to you
  • You are fine with a sales conversation to learn the price above the free tier
The third option · Our product
One measures. One produces. Prefer tracks and writes at a published $24 a month.

Prefer tracks the same signals across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode, then produces the content and citations that move the number. Free trial, paid from $24/mo. See how it compares to AirOps.

Run your free audit No card, no commitment

Ahrefs vs AirOps, answered

Is Ahrefs Brand Radar or AirOps better?

They do different jobs: Ahrefs Brand Radar is better for measurement inside an SEO suite, with seven engines on Custom Prompts, a 455M+ prompt Index and published prices, and AirOps is better for production, drafting, reviewing and publishing content at volume with visibility tracking attached and no published paid price. Prefer, our product, is the lowest published paid entry on this page at $24 a month and both tracks five engines and writes 15 AI articles a month, so weigh that we build it. Choose Ahrefs to see the gap, AirOps to produce the pages that fill it.

Which is cheaper, Ahrefs Brand Radar or AirOps?

AirOps is free to start on Solo and Pro, but it publishes no paid price (checked 23 September 2026); Ahrefs publishes everything, with Brand Radar inside plans from $129 a month (5 tracked prompts), prompt packages from $50 a month and the AI Visibility Index at $199 a month per platform or $699 for all (checked 19 September 2026). Prefer's Starter is $24 a month for five engines and 30 prompts, the lowest published paid price on this page. Past the free tier, AirOps may cost more or less than Ahrefs; you cannot tell from its website.

Which AI engines do Ahrefs and AirOps track?

Ahrefs tracks seven engines through Custom Prompts (Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Claude, with Claude costing 8 checks per update), and its Index covers the first six; AirOps documents eight (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Copilot and Grok), with Claude depending on the plan. Prefer, our product, tracks five on every plan: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode. The catch on AirOps is the free tier: Solo is ChatGPT only, and multi-engine insights start on Pro.

Does Ahrefs Brand Radar create content like AirOps?

No. Prefer, our product, writes 15 AI articles a month on its Starter plan, and AirOps produces content on every tier, while Brand Radar reports mentions, citations, AI share of voice and gaps and leaves the work to you. AirOps' Quill agent monitors, updates and drafts pages, Grids produce in bulk, and Workflows publish to WordPress, Notion and Webflow after human review. Ahrefs sells AI writing tools as separate suite add-ons, but nothing in Brand Radar turns a gap into a page.

Can I use Ahrefs and AirOps together?

Yes; they solve different problems. Prefer, our product, is the option if you would rather have tracking and content in one plan from $24 a month. Ahrefs covers keyword research, backlinks, site audits and AI-visibility measurement; AirOps covers content production with its own visibility layer and integrates with Search Console, GA4 and Semrush. The AirOps integrations we read name Search Console, GA4 and Semrush, not Ahrefs, so plan to move data between the two yourself.

Which one handles off-page work?

AirOps has a product for it; Ahrefs Brand Radar does not. Prefer, our product, does off-page work (Reddit participation, PR pitches) only on its Enterprise plan and the done-for-you Prefer Managed service, not on its self-serve plans. AirOps' Offsite product identifies the sites, builds the case, coordinates outreach through your contacts and measures the result. Ahrefs shows where competitors are cited and you are not, and its backlink index helps you find the sites, but the outreach is yours.

Does Ahrefs Brand Radar cost extra on top of an Ahrefs plan?

Beyond a handful of prompts, yes. Prefer, our product, includes 30 prompts on five engines in its $24 Starter plan with no check meter. Ahrefs' paid plans include Brand Radar with 5, 10 or 20 tracked prompts; more of your own prompts are sold as check packages from $50 a month, and the AI Visibility Index is $199 a month per platform or $699 for all six engines. Ahrefs' FAQ says Brand Radar can also be bought standalone, with an Ahrefs Free account (checked 19 September 2026).

Who is Ahrefs Brand Radar best for?

SEO teams that already live in Ahrefs and want AI visibility inside the workflow they own, with a search-backed prompt Index and backlink correlation to explain why competitors get cited. Prefer, our product, is the better fit for a team new to AI search that wants the content written too, from $24 a month. A team new to SEO tooling would face the whole Ahrefs suite to use one module.

Who is AirOps best for?

Content and growth teams whose constraint is output: they need drafts written, updated, reviewed and published at volume, with AI visibility data telling them where to aim. Prefer, our product, is the lighter fit for a team that wants tracking plus 15 AI articles a month at a published $24. AirOps' G2 reviewers praise the Quill agent and flag feature overwhelm and a learning curve, which suits teams with someone to own the tool.

What is the best alternative to Ahrefs Brand Radar and AirOps?

Prefer is the best pick if you want measurement and content work in one plan at a price you can see: it tracks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode with 30 prompts and writes 15 AI articles a month from $24 (free trial on every paid plan, free audit), with off-page work on Enterprise and the done-for-you Prefer Managed service. It is our product, so weigh that. The category also includes Profound, Peec AI, AthenaHQ, Scrunch and Semrush's AI toolkit; see our roundup of the best AI visibility tools.

References

Sources

  1. Ahrefs Brand Radar page (rendered 19 Sep 2026) ahrefs.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  2. Ahrefs pricing page (rendered 8 Sep and 19 Sep 2026) ahrefs.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  3. Ahrefs AI Visibility Checker (free tool) ahrefs.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  4. Ahrefs Help: AI visibility metrics (read 23 Sep 2026) help.ahrefs.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  5. Ahrefs reviews on G2 (suite, rendered 8 Sep 2026) g2.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  6. AirOps pricing page (rendered 5 Sep and 23 Sep 2026) airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  7. AirOps analytics docs (rendered 5 Sep 2026) docs.airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  8. AirOps AI search visibility page (plan limits, read 23 Sep 2026) airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  9. AirOps platform page (read 23 Sep 2026) airops.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  10. AirOps reviews on G2 (rendered 5 Sep 2026) g2.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  11. G2: Best Enterprise AEO Tools (read 23 Sep 2026) g2.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)
  12. TechRadar: I tested the 7 best AEO tools (30 Jul 2026) techradar.com Accessed September 2026 (Ahrefs 19 Sep, AirOps 23 Sep)

Keep comparing

Head to head Prefer vs AirOps Roundup The best AI visibility tools in 2026 Alternatives The best Ahrefs Brand Radar alternatives Alternatives The best AirOps alternatives Head to head Ahrefs vs Profound

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