Ahrefs vs Moz: DR or DA, and what each plan allows

Ahrefs vs Moz is a choice between depth and a gentler bill. Ahrefs has the much larger keyword database by the two vendors' published figures, link history on every plan, and unlimited research credits from Standard. Moz Pro is cheaper to start, includes two or three users on its bigger plans, and gives you Domain Authority, the number your clients probably already quote.

Moz's catch is its research allowance. The $99 Standard plan includes 150 keyword queries a month, which is about five a day.

Prices below were read from each vendor's own pricing page on 4 October 2026.

Ahrefs vs Moz plans side by side

Extra seats are $49 a month on any Moz plan. On Ahrefs they are $40 (Lite), $60 (Standard), $80 (Advanced) or $100 (Enterprise). Ahrefs also lists a $29 Starter plan without publishing its limits.

Two notes on Moz. Its annual prices are labelled as billed "for your first year", and the renewal price is not stated. And the page carried a "save up to 40%" banner ending on the day we checked, so Moz prices move with promotions. Full detail is on the Moz Pro pricing and Ahrefs pricing pages.

The limits that bite

The two meter usage differently, so read the units carefully.

Moz Standard's keyword cap. 150 queries a month is a plan for checking, not researching. The fix is cheap, though: Moz sells 10,000 more keyword queries for $10 a month. Budget $109, not $99.

Ahrefs Lite's credit cap and seat ceiling. 1,000 credits per user a month, a maximum of three users, and 2,500 rows per report. Heavy users end up on Standard at $249.

Ahrefs rank tracking is weekly on every plan, including Enterprise. Moz's pricing table does not state its update frequency.

DR vs DA

Domain Rating (Ahrefs) and Domain Authority (Moz) both score the strength of a site's link profile. Both are the vendors' own scores, calculated from their own link indexes. Neither is a Google metric.

Ahrefs says Domain Rating, URL Rating and Ahrefs Rank are all calculated from its backlink index. Moz's Link Explorer gives Domain Authority, Page Authority and Spam Score, and a free Moz account can see them.

The practical rules:

• Use the one your audience already uses. If your clients ask about "DA", report DA.
• Never compare across tools. A DA of 40 and a DR of 40 are not the same thing.
• Track the trend, not the number. A rising score over six months says more than any single reading.

Whose index is bigger

Sources: Moz's Link Explorer and Keyword Explorer pages, and Ahrefs' big data page, all read on 4 October 2026.

The link figures are not counted the same way (Ahrefs vets domains before counting them), so they do not settle which link index is better. The keyword gap is different. Even allowing for different definitions, 28.7 billion against 1.25 billion is a large difference, and it is most likely to show when you research long-tail terms or smaller markets.

Free tiers compared

Moz's free account gives limited access to Link Explorer, Keyword Explorer and the MozBar, including DA, Page Authority, Spam Score and link counts for any site. That makes it the better free tool for a quick look at a competitor.

Ahrefs Free gives limited Site Explorer and Site Audit access, but only for sites you can verify as yours. It is the better free tool for auditing your own site.

Pick Ahrefs if

• Keyword research is daily work and you need a large database.
• Link building is a service you sell and you want link history on every plan.
• You are one to three people and can live with weekly rank tracking.

Pick Moz if

• You want the cheapest credible entry, at $49 or $99.
• Your clients speak in DA and you want to report in the same language.
• You are a team of two or three and want seats included (Medium includes 2, Large 3).

Pick neither if you need PPC research or daily rank tracking at volume. Semrush vs Moz and Semrush vs Ahrefs cover the broader suite. Whichever you choose, the competitor backlink analysis guide covers what to do with a rival's link list once you have it. The Moz alternatives and Ahrefs alternatives pages list other options.

If what you actually need is to know what competitors changed each week, rather than to research links, Figo does that for $49 a month: one check per competitor per week across their ads, pages, pricing, rankings and reviews, and a Monday briefing. Ours, so judge accordingly. It has no backlink data or Domain Authority, so it does not replace either tool for SEO work.