Alternatives · Ahrefs Brand Radar
The best Ahrefs Brand Radar alternative for AI visibility in 2026
By Maya Ellison, content lead · Updated 29 September 2026
In short
MentionChecker is the Ahrefs Brand Radar alternative with no monthly plan: credits from $9, six AI engines on every pack, and your first check free. Brand Radar is Ahrefs' own AI visibility tracker, from 50 dollars a month for your own questions, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page.
Know where you stand in AI search.Which Ahrefs Brand Radar alternative has no subscription?
MentionChecker is a pay-as-you-go AI visibility checker. It asks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot the questions people ask about what you do, and tells you whether your brand is mentioned in the answers. A check is paid for on its own, with credits bought once, so nothing is owed in a month you do not run one. A mention is your brand's name in the words of an answer.
A check asks the questions drafted from your website, or the list you already hold. Four AI engines are ticked by default, ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity, and all six run when you tick the other two. The report opens on three numbers: how often the answers mentioned you, your share of voice among every name they mentioned, and your average rank when the answer is a list. Together they are your AI visibility score, and each number opens to the answers it was counted from.
Why do people look for an Ahrefs Brand Radar alternative?
Because Ahrefs Brand Radar is a subscription, and the smallest thing you can buy is a month of it. The plan renews whether anyone opened it or not, and nothing on its pricing page brings a first purchase below a month, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' plans and pricing page.
Because the AI Visibility Index, the one you can read with nothing set up, is built from what people already search for. Its own FAQ says the index works best for established brands or topics with meaningful search demand and may have limited coverage for a brand with little or no search volume, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. A MentionChecker check asks the questions you give it, so a name nobody searches for yet is asked about anyway.
Because the tracked questions that cost nothing extra come with a paid Ahrefs plan, from Lite upward, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. Without one they are a package of checks bought by the month. A check here is paid for out of credits that last 12 months.
Ahrefs Brand Radar review and pricing
Brand Radar is sold two ways, and Ahrefs' own pages carry a price for each: an index of questions Ahrefs has already asked, and packages of checks behind the questions you write yourself. Tracked questions come with a paid Ahrefs plan as well, and a free AI Visibility Checker sits beside all of it, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page.
| What Ahrefs sells | A month | What it carries | AI engines (its pages say platforms) | The button |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free AI Visibility Checker | Free | A limited preview, in its own words, from a brand name | 5 | Check AI visibility |
| Custom Prompts with a paid Ahrefs plan | £99 on Lite, the cheapest plan carrying them | 5 tracked AI prompts, 150 checks a month, checked daily | 7, Claude included | Get started |
| Custom prompts Basic | $50, or £40 on a United Kingdom visit | 83 prompts a day on one platform, +2,500 checks a month, overage $0.020 a check | 7, Claude included | Start free with Custom Prompts |
| Custom prompts Growth | £80 | +7,000 checks a month, overage £0.0120 a check | 7, Claude included | Get started |
| Custom prompts Scale | £200 | +25,000 checks a month, overage £0.0080 a check | 7, Claude included | Get started |
| AI Visibility Index, one platform | $199, or £159 on a United Kingdom visit | 448 million prompts already asked and answered, no setup | 1 box of 5, and AI Overviews and AI Mode share a box | Sign up for Brand Radar |
| AI Visibility Index, all platforms | $699 | The same index on every platform box at once, nothing to set up | 5 boxes, six AI engines | Sign up for Brand Radar |
Ahrefs' prices as of 29 September 2026, each in the currency its own page served that day. One question on one platform in one location on one day is one check, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' plans and pricing page.
The free AI Visibility Checker is a third thing, and its own page says it is powered by Brand Radar, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' free AI Visibility Checker page.
Ahrefs Brand Radar competitors: what do the AI engines say?
Asked for an AI visibility tool without a subscription from the United States on 13 September 2026, Ahrefs was mentioned in five of the six answers, more often than any other tool on that question: HubSpot in four answers, Semrush in three and SE Ranking, Gauge and Arobis in one each. Across eight questions about AI visibility tools asked on 13 September 2026, Ahrefs was mentioned in 20 of the 46 answers the six AI engines gave, and its own pages were cited as a source under ten of those same 46 answers, more than every vendor but Semrush, whose pages were cited under 12. Eight questions on six AI engines is 48, and two came back with no answer. Counted one page at a time, the page those answers cited most often was Ahrefs' free AI visibility checker, under seven of the 46. Asked for the cheapest AI visibility tool the same day, not one of the six mentioned Ahrefs.
The standings on every report rank every name the answers mentioned, yours among them, next to the websites those answers cited as their sources.
Ahrefs Brand Radar vs MentionChecker side by side
Ahrefs Brand Radar and a MentionChecker check differ on what you are buying: a month of tracking with a database of questions behind it, or the check you ask for, with every answer in it. The Ahrefs Brand Radar column comes from Ahrefs' Brand Radar page and Ahrefs' plans and pricing page, both read on 29 September 2026. The other column comes from the pricing page.
| What differs | Ahrefs Brand Radar | A MentionChecker check |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | A plan that renews, from 50 dollars a month | Credits bought once, spent as checks run, and they do not expire on a monthly clock |
| The smallest thing you can buy | A month, with no trial on its pricing page | The $9 pack, 50 credits |
| A month with no check | The plan renews anyway | Nothing |
| Free | The AI Visibility Checker, from a brand name, with no signup | Your first check, no card, on your own questions |
| AI engines | Six on the index, sold as five platform boxes with AI Overviews and AI Mode in one, and Claude as well on custom prompts | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, any of the six on every paid check, one credit each |
| The questions | 448 million of Ahrefs' own in the index, or the ones you write as custom prompts | The ones drafted from your website or pasted in, and they are yours |
| The unit | A check: one question, one platform, one location, one day | A credit: one question on one AI engine on one run |
| How often | Daily on custom prompts, monthly on the index | Once, or on a daily, weekly or monthly repeat, paid per run |
| A brand nobody searches for | Its FAQ says index coverage may be limited | Asked anyway, since a check does not depend on search volume |
| Where it runs | Inside Ahrefs, and the free prompts come with a paid Ahrefs plan | On any website, with nothing installed and nothing connected |
| Countries | One location per check | Any, chosen per check |
| What you read | Mentions, citations, AI share of voice and estimated impressions | Every answer word for word, your name marked |
| Sources the answers cite | Cited pages, by domain and by page | Every website the answers cited, ranked, and each citation kept under its answer |
| History | Index responses back to 2025, by its own FAQ | Every check kept, and a link to the report with no login |
Those 50 credits run 12 questions once on the four AI engines a check ticks by default, or 8 on all six.
What are Ahrefs Brand Radar's limits?
Ahrefs Brand Radar's limits are the ones its plan sets: how much you can buy in a month, and whose questions get asked. It asks the same six AI engines a check here asks, with Claude as well on its custom prompts, so what differs is the buying, not the engines. Every limit below is from Ahrefs' Brand Radar page and Ahrefs' plans and pricing page, both read on 29 September 2026, and under each one is what a check does instead.
- The index holds Ahrefs' questions, not yours. That is what the 199 dollars card buys. Here every question in the report is one you kept or wrote.
- Every AI engine you tick spends another check a day. On all six, 25 questions are 4,500 checks a month, against the 2,500 the Basic package carries. Here those same questions on all six are 150 credits, once.
- The index reports a three-month average. Its window is 90 days, so what it shows you is the last three months averaged. Here the answers in a report are the ones that came back on the day the check ran.
- Overage is charged after the fact. Anything past the monthly allowance on the Basic package is two cents a check, billed after the month it was spent in. Here a check can never cost more than the credits already on the balance, because they are bought before they are spent.
What does MentionChecker do differently from Ahrefs Brand Radar?
Nothing is charged by the month. One question on one AI engine is one credit, so a check costs the questions you ask times the AI engines you tick. Brand Radar is 50 dollars a month at its cheapest, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page.
| What | Credits |
|---|---|
| 25 questions on the four default AI engines, for example | 100 |
| The same 25 on all six AI engines | 150 |
| Your first check: 5 questions on ChatGPT and Gemini, no card | 10, free |
Run the same check again and you are tracking AI visibility week to week: History puts the two reports side by side, with the movement on each of the three numbers between them.
Which one to pick: Ahrefs Brand Radar or MentionChecker?
Choose Ahrefs Brand Radar if you already pay for Ahrefs and want a daily dashboard sitting beside the keyword and backlink data it is built on, with YouTube, TikTok and Reddit in the same view, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. Choose a MentionChecker check as the Ahrefs Brand Radar alternative if you want the answers themselves from six AI engines today, on your own questions, from the country you pick, and again when you decide to, paid one check at a time.
How to move off Ahrefs Brand Radar
The custom prompts you wrote there are a list, and a check here starts from the same wording.
- Bring the questions across. Paste them one per line or upload a CSV, and the questions drafted from your website sit under them to keep or drop.
- Tick all six AI engines. Each one costs the same one credit a question here, and the report says what each of them answered.
- Choose the country and run the check. The country is set per check, so the same list asked from the United States and from the United Kingdom is two checks and two reports.
- Leave the plan running until it renews. Run the checks here beside it, so History has two points to compare before you decide, and add a repeat, daily, weekly or monthly, paid from the balance on each run, only if you want the series to carry on.
Questions people ask about Ahrefs Brand Radar alternatives
What is Ahrefs Brand Radar?
Ahrefs Brand Radar is the AI visibility tracker inside Ahrefs, and it works two ways: an index of prompts Ahrefs collected from real searches, and custom prompts you write and it checks daily. read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. MentionChecker is the Ahrefs Brand Radar alternative paid per check instead: credits bought once, six AI engines, and the first check free.
How much does Ahrefs Brand Radar cost?
Custom prompts start at 50 dollars a month and the AI Visibility Index at 199, with a badge on the same card reading 699 dollars a month for all models, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. The plans page served both in pounds that day. One credit here buys one question on one AI engine, and MentionChecker's smallest pack is 50 credits for $9, spent only when a check runs.
Does Ahrefs Brand Radar have a free trial?
No. Asked about discounts and free trials, Ahrefs answers that it never runs them and offers a website owner Ahrefs Free, which is limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' plans and pricing page. Your first MentionChecker check is free as well, with no card and no clock on it: 5 questions on ChatGPT and Gemini, with the report and every answer kept afterwards.
Is the Ahrefs AI Visibility Checker free?
Yes, and it is not the same product as Ahrefs Brand Radar. Its page calls it free with no signup and results in seconds, and says it is powered by Brand Radar, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' free AI Visibility Checker page. Run a MentionChecker check instead for the questions people ask about what you do, from the country you choose, and read the answers themselves.
What does the free Ahrefs AI Visibility Checker show?
What its own page calls a limited preview: total AI mentions, mentions by platform, your top five topics and the top five cited domains, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' free AI Visibility Checker page. The questions behind it are Ahrefs' own, and the report is about a brand name. A MentionChecker AI visibility report shows the answers themselves, your name marked, with every website they cited under them.
Which AI engines does Ahrefs Brand Radar track?
Six, under its own names: ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot. The index sells them as five platform boxes, with AI Overviews and AI Mode sharing one, and custom prompts add Claude, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. A MentionChecker check asks the same six on every pack at one credit a question, and the report says what each one answered and which websites it cited.
Do I need an Ahrefs subscription to use Brand Radar?
A MentionChecker check needs a web address and nothing else. On Ahrefs, the index and a package of checks are bought on their own, and the tracked prompts that cost nothing extra are the ones a paid Ahrefs plan includes, five a month on Lite, 10 on Standard and 20 on Advanced, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page, with Lite at 99 pounds a month on Ahrefs' plans and pricing page the same day.
What is a check in Ahrefs Brand Radar?
One question on one platform in one location on one day. That is the unit the packages are sold in, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' plans and pricing page. A MentionChecker credit is one question on one AI engine on one run, and no bill arrives at the end of a month.
What are the best Ahrefs Brand Radar alternatives?
Profound was mentioned by all six AI engines, Peec AI by five, and Otterly and Semrush by four each, when ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot were asked for the best AI visibility tool from the United States on 13 September 2026. Ahrefs was mentioned by four of the six on that question, and by none of them when the same six were asked for the cheapest. A check gives that list for your own market.
Is there a cheaper Ahrefs Brand Radar alternative?
On the smallest amount you can spend, yes. The least Brand Radar costs is a month of it, since its pricing page rules a trial out, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' plans and pricing page. At MentionChecker the first check is free with no card, and what you buy stays on the balance for 12 months, so nothing is owed in a month you do not run one.
Does Ahrefs Brand Radar track competitors?
Yes. Its FAQ counts AI share of voice as the share of responses in your topic set that mention or cite you against competitors, and its product page says it shows how you compare with the brands mentioned beside you, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. A MentionChecker AI visibility report ranks every name the answers mentioned, most mentioned first, with your own row marked.
How many prompts can I track in Ahrefs Brand Radar?
As many as your checks cover. The Basic package is 83 prompts a day on one platform inside 2,500 checks a month, and a question tracked on a second platform spends a second check that day, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. Add as many questions as you want to a MentionChecker check, on any of the six AI engines, and choose how often it runs.
How often does Ahrefs Brand Radar check?
Custom prompts run as often as daily and you set the cadence per platform, while the index refreshes on a rolling window of the last three months, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. A MentionChecker check runs when you start it, and a repeat is daily, weekly or monthly if you add one at all, with each run paid from the balance on the day.
Is Ahrefs Brand Radar worth it?
That depends on whether a daily dashboard is worth 50 dollars a month, which is what the smallest package of checks costs on its own, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page. A MentionChecker check is free the first time, with no card, and after that costs only the credits it spends.
Do I lose my Ahrefs Brand Radar history if I switch?
Your question list moves as a paste or a CSV, and the series here starts at your first check. The index holds responses back to 2025 by its own FAQ, read on 29 September 2026 on Ahrefs' Brand Radar page, and the readings taken on your own prompts stay in the Ahrefs account. From there every MentionChecker check stays in the account with every answer and every citation in it, and the AI visibility tracking chart carries the movement.
Know where you stand in AI search.Ahrefs and Brand Radar are trademarks of Ahrefs Pte. Ltd. MentionChecker is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ahrefs. Keep reading: pay as you go AI visibility tracker, what AI visibility is, how to check ChatGPT visibility, and the AI visibility agency tool. The Peec AI alternative, Profound alternative, Otterly alternative, Semrush alternative, Scrunch AI alternative, AthenaHQ alternative, HubSpot AEO alternative, Rankscale alternative, Searchable alternative, Writesonic alternative, AskWatch alternative, Promptwatch alternative, Superlines alternative and Gauge alternative pages compare them the same way. The About page says what MentionChecker is.