Ahrefs vs Semrush
as AI assistants see them, week of 2026-09-14
Ahrefs and Semrush run neck and neck. Ahrefs scores 64 overall (70 ChatGPT, 64 Claude, 68 Gemini, 56 Perplexity) and is named in 67 of 76 answers, while Semrush edges it slightly on overall mentions with 68 of 76, and scores 63 overall (65 ChatGPT, 61 Claude, 74 Gemini, 55 Perplexity). Both are named in all 4 answers for keyword research and data accuracy questions. Head-to-head, each tool was named more often in 4 questions, with 12 questions tied. One gap stands out: Ahrefs is never named for the local business/Google Maps question, while Semrush is named in every question asked.
Head to head
| metric | Ahrefs | Semrush |
|---|---|---|
| score | 64 | 63 |
| questions won | 19 | 20 |
By assistant
Ahrefs
| assistant | score | named in, this week | usual spot, this week |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 70 | 95% of answers | #3.4 |
| Claude | 64 | 90% of answers | #3.7 |
| Gemini | 68 | 94% of answers | #3.5 |
| Perplexity | 56 | 75% of answers | #3.2 |
Semrush
| assistant | score | named in, this week | usual spot, this week |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 65 | 95% of answers | #4.0 |
| Claude | 61 | 100% of answers | #5.3 |
| Gemini | 74 | 94% of answers | #2.8 |
| Perplexity | 55 | 70% of answers | #2.8 |
Where they differ
Only Ahrefs gets named for
nothing exclusive
Only Semrush gets named for
- What's the best SEO tool for a local business that wants to rank on Google Maps?
More comparisons
- Ahrefs vs Google Search Console
- Ahrefs vs SE Ranking
- Ahrefs vs Screaming Frog
- Ahrefs vs Google Analytics
- Google Search Console vs Semrush
- SE Ranking vs Semrush
Not sold on either?
Scores count how often each assistant names a product, weighted by position. How the score works · Full SEO tools leaderboard