In short
- In Ahrefs vs Moz, Ahrefs is the deeper research tool: 35 trillion backlinks with fresh data every 15 to 30 minutes, 28.7 billion keywords, and the API and MCP on every paid plan.
- Moz Pro is simpler and includes more in each plan: one to three users, Domain Authority, branded reports from Medium, and 150 to 600 AI prompts tracked weekly.
- For one user Moz starts lower, $99 against $129 a month; for a team of three, Moz Large at $299 costs less than Ahrefs Standard with two extra users at $369.
- Both research the web. Deciding, doing and proving the monthly work on each client site is where Orbit comes in.
The short answer
Ahrefs digs deeper into links and search data; Moz is easier to start, cheaper for a small team, and generous with AI tracking.
Pick Ahrefs if
- Links drive your work. A 35 trillion backlink index, with fresh data every 15 to 30 minutes.
- You look after many verified sites. Projects for sites you verify are unlimited, and Ahrefs Free covers the sites you own.
- You build on the data. API and MCP come with every paid plan.
Pick Moz Pro if
- You want a small team in one plan. Medium includes two users and Large three, with no seat add-ons.
- Clients ask about authority. Domain Authority, Moz’s 1 to 100 score, is in every plan and free in Link Explorer.
- You want AI answers in the plan. 150 to 600 prompts a week on GPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Perplexity.
Either covers research for a small agency. For the work on each client site, see where Orbit fits below.
Side by side
| Ahrefs | Moz Pro | OrbitOurs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The data | |||
| Link index | 35 trillion backlinks; fresh data every 15 to 30 minutes | 45.5 trillion links, 8.7 trillion URLs, 1 billion domains | Every site linking to each client, refreshed every week |
| Keywords | 28.7 billion keywords in 217 locations | Keyword Explorer, 150 to 15,000 queries a month | Up to 100 keywords checked at once, in any country |
| Authority score | Domain Rating, 0 to 100 | Domain Authority, 1 to 100 | Domain rank, 0 to 1,000, with a spam score |
| AI search | 5 to 20 tracked prompts; Brand Radar from $199 a month | 150 to 600 prompts a week on GPT, Gemini, AI Mode and Perplexity | 15 buyer questions a week per site on ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews and AI Mode |
| Tracking and audits | |||
| Rank tracking | 750 to 5,000 keywords, weekly by default | 300 to 3,000 keywords | Every search the site shows up for, history kept past Google’s 16 months |
| Site audit | 100,000 to 1.5 million crawl credits a month | 100,000 to 1.25 million pages crawled a week | A weekly health check: what stops Google, and what AI tools can’t read |
| For agencies | |||
| Users | One; extra users $40 to $80 a month | One on Standard, two on Medium, three on Large | Priced per client site, not per seat |
| Sites | 5 to 50 projects, unlimited for verified sites | 3 to 25 tracked sites | Every client site in one hub, Launchpad free on each |
| API and MCP | Both on every paid plan | Moz API, for Domain Authority in bulk | MCP on every plan |
| The work itself | |||
| Content | Content Kit add-on | 2 to 50 AI content briefs a month | Drafts in the client’s voice, published into their CMS once approved |
| What the work earned | Rankings and traffic over time | Rankings and Domain Authority over time | Each finished task measured against its own starting point, every day |
| Price | |||
| Per month | $129 to $449, one user; Enterprise $1,499 | $99 to $299; $79 to $239 billed yearly | $149 for the agency, then $0, $49 or $199 per client site |
| Cheapest way in | Ahrefs Free for your own sites; Starter $29 | Free Link Explorer, 10 queries a month; $49 for one site | A free Scan of any site; Launchpad free on every client site |
The difference: depth or ease
Ahrefs is built around its crawler: 35 trillion backlinks with fresh data every 15 to 30 minutes, 28.7 billion keywords in 217 locations, and the API and MCP on every paid plan. It charges per user and rewards teams that research all day. Moz Pro is built to be easy to start with. Its plans include up to three users, Domain Authority, branded reports from the Medium plan and 150 to 600 AI prompts a week. If links are what you sell, Ahrefs goes deeper. If a small team needs SEO and AI tracking in one plan, Moz costs less.
Pricing
| Tool | Price |
|---|---|
| Ahrefs | $129 to $449 a month for one user (Enterprise $1,499, yearly), extra user $40 to $100; Starter $29; up to 17% off yearlySource, checked 6 Oct 2026 |
| Moz Pro | $49 for one site; $99 to $299 a monthSource, checked 6 Oct 2026 |
| OrbitOurs | $149 a month for the agency, then $0, $49 or $199 per client siteSee pricing |
For a team of three: Moz Large is $299 a month, or $239 billed yearly, with three users, 25 tracked sites and branded reports. Ahrefs Standard with two extra users is $369 a month ($249 plus 2 × $60), with 20 projects plus unlimited verified ones. Moz takes 20% off for yearly billing, Ahrefs up to 17%.
Where Orbit fits
Ahrefs and Moz are research tools: they tell you about links and keywords across the web. The monthly work on each client site, deciding what to change, changing it and proving the result, is what Orbit does.
Links you can protect
Pages that hold a client’s links are marked, so a redesign never throws them away.
Work from the site’s own data
On Zenith, the Signals board brings the findings worth acting on, twice a week.
Results per task
Clicks, positions and leads measured from the day the work was found.
Moz vs Ahrefs: which suits a small agency?
Moz Pro includes users in its plans: two on Medium, three on Large. For a small team that tracks up to 25 client sites and sends branded reports, that keeps the bill flat. Ahrefs charges for each extra user, $40 to $80 a month depending on the plan, and gives you more data for it.
Pick Ahrefs when link research is the work you sell: its index gets fresh data every 15 to 30 minutes, every paid plan includes the API and MCP, and projects for sites you verify are unlimited. For the wider field, see Ahrefs alternatives and Moz alternatives.
Domain Authority or Domain Rating?
Both are scores out of 100 built from links. Moz’s Domain Authority predicts how likely a site is to rank compared with others; Ahrefs’ Domain Rating measures the strength of a site’s backlinks. Both vendors say Google doesn’t use them, and both are relative: a score only means something next to the sites you compete with.
If a client asks for one, Orbit shows each client’s domain rank on a 0 to 1,000 scale, next to the sites linking in, a spam score and how each has moved since last week, and it marks the pages that hold the links so nobody redirects them by accident. Backlinks in Orbit.
Ahrefs vs Moz for AI search
Moz includes more AI tracking in the plan: 150 to 600 prompts checked weekly on GPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Perplexity, with sentiment and citations, and AI Overviews by keyword. Ahrefs includes 5 to 20 tracked prompts and sells Brand Radar, its database of AI mentions, from $199 a month.
Orbit asks 15 questions a week per client site, drawn from what that client’s buyers ask, on ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews and AI Mode, reading ChatGPT and Gemini the way a person sees them. Next to each answer sit the visitors and leads those assistants sent. Orbit vs Ahrefs compares the rest of the job.
How we checked
Every fact about Ahrefs and Moz Pro comes from the vendor’s own website, read on 6 Oct 2026: its pricing page where it publishes one, otherwise its help pages and announcements. Each price links to the page it came from, in US dollars as the vendor states them.
Orbit is our own product, and the page says so wherever it appears. Its prices come from our pricing page. Prices change; if you spot one that has, tell us and we correct the page.
Written by
Leon Missoul, Founder
I started the web agency Luniq in 2025 and built Orbit from the software we used to keep our clients’ sites growing after launch. I write about search, AI answers and how to prove what website work earns.