Ahrefs vs Frase AI: Which tool is right for you?

Choosing the right marketing tools can feel like a full-time job. You're always weighing an all-in-one platform that does a bit of everything against a specialized tool that does one thing really well. That’s pretty much the heart of the Ahrefs vs Frase AI debate. Are you looking for a tool for deep, technical SEO strategy and backlink analysis, or one that helps you produce excellent content that’s ready for both Google and the new wave of AI search?

In one corner, you have Ahrefs, the well-known giant of technical SEO. In the other, you have Frase AI, a focused tool built for content teams who need to create and optimize for what they call Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

But what if your needs go beyond strategy and optimization? While these tools are great for planning and refining, a new type of tool focuses purely on production. For example, the eesel AI blog writer is designed to take you from a single keyword to a finished, publish-ready blog post in minutes. It's a different angle, and we'll get to that later. First, let's break down the two main players.

What is Ahrefs?

Anyone who's spent time in marketing has likely heard of Ahrefs. It's the go-to all-in-one marketing platform for good reason, used by marketers at 44% of the Fortune 500. You can think of it as the SEO professional toolkit.

Its strength lies in having the industry's #1 SEO crawler, which powers a huge suite of tools. You get Site Explorer for digging into competitor strategies, Keywords Explorer for research, Site Audit for keeping your site technically healthy, and Rank Tracker to monitor your progress.

Ahrefs' real claim to fame is its data. With a backlink index of around 35 trillion live backlinks and a keyword database of 28.7 billion keywords, it's a massive resource for anyone serious about link-building, technical audits, and high-level strategic planning. It’s made for SEO pros, agencies, and large teams who need solid data to make decisions across the entire SEO landscape.

What is Frase AI?

Frase AI positions itself as the "Content Intelligence Platform," which is a fitting description. It’s built to help teams create content that not only ranks on Google but also gets cited by AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity. It’s all about succeeding in modern search.

The workflow is all about content. You provide a keyword, and it analyzes the top-ranking search results to help you research your topic, generate an AI-powered outline, write your piece, and optimize it. It does all this using a real-time SEO + GEO score that guides you as you write.

Its biggest selling point is that it's the only platform designed from the ground up to optimize for both traditional search engines (SEO) and AI search platforms (GEO). It handles a lot of the upfront research and helps writers create content that performs wherever people are searching. This makes it a great fit for content marketers and writers who are measured on how quickly they can produce content and how visible it is in both old and new search engines.

Ahrefs vs Frase AI: Technical depth vs. content velocity

Before we jump into a detailed feature comparison, it’s useful to understand the basic difference in their philosophies. The right choice really depends on what your team needs to accomplish.

Ahrefs is all about technical depth. It’s built to help you understand the "why" behind your rankings. It gives you extensive data on backlinks, domain authority, and the technical health of your site. It’s the tool you’d use for planning major link-building campaigns, handling tricky site migrations, or doing some serious competitive intelligence.

Frase AI, on the other hand, is all about content velocity. It’s designed for efficient execution and answers the "how" of creating content that ranks on Google and gets cited by AI. Its value is in streamlining the entire editorial workflow. As one user mentioned, they can now produce three to four competitive posts for clients instead of just one.

So, here’s the trade-off: Ahrefs gives you the data to build a powerful, long-term SEO strategy. Frase gives you the tools to execute a modern content plan that works for both traditional and AI-powered search.

Feature breakdown: Ahrefs vs. Frase AI

Let's dig into the specifics and see how these two platforms compare in the areas that matter most.

Keyword research and analysis

When it comes to finding new keywords and understanding their potential, the two tools have very different methods.

• Ahrefs: This is where Ahrefs really excels. Its Keywords Explorer is powered by that huge 28.7 billion keyword database. You get advanced features like Parent Topic clustering, which shows you the broader topic a keyword fits into, and Traffic Potential, which estimates how much traffic you could get if you ranked for a whole group of related terms. It's built for identifying strategic opportunities and forecasting traffic.
• Frase AI: Frase's research is much more targeted. It's not a standalone keyword discovery tool. Instead, it works by analyzing the SERP you've already picked. It pulls related topics, questions from "People Also Ask" and Reddit, and important semantic terms to help you build a thorough content brief.
• Verdict: Ahrefs excels at broad, database-driven keyword research. Frase is a purpose-built tool for content-level topic modeling and creating effective briefs.

Content optimization and creation

Once you have your keyword, how do these tools help you write and optimize the content?

• Frase AI: This is Frase's sweet spot. It automates content brief generation, saving hours of manual SERP analysis. As you write in its editor, you get a real-time SEO + GEO score to guide you. The entire platform is designed to help you get cited by AI platforms, making it a forward-thinking choice for content teams.
• Ahrefs: Ahrefs has a feature called the "AI Content Helper". It's a paid add-on that uses AI to analyze top-ranking pages and identify key topics you should cover. It scores your content based on how well you've covered these topics, not just keyword density. The goal is to help you match search intent in your content.
• Verdict: Frase is a specialized tool for teams focused on creating and optimizing content for both Google and AI search. Ahrefs offers a solid, integrated feature for its users, but it is an extra cost on top of a premium subscription.

AI search visibility tracking

It's one thing to optimize for AI search, but how do you know if it's actually working?

• Frase AI: Frase has built-in AI Search Tracking that monitors your brand mentions across up to 5 major AI platforms: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI. This useful feature is included in its top-tier Scale plan, making it an accessible way to start tracking your GEO performance.
• Ahrefs: Ahrefs offers "Brand Radar", a more powerful, standalone add-on. It tracks your brand's visibility across 6 AI platforms and uses a database of over 290 million monthly prompts. It's a very robust tool.
• Verdict: Frase gives content teams an integrated and budget-friendly solution to start tracking their AI visibility. Ahrefs provides a more powerful, enterprise-grade tool for brand specialists, but it comes at a premium price.

Pricing comparison: Ahrefs vs. Frase AI

Of course, price is a big part of the decision, and it's important to look at the total cost of what you need, including any add-ons.

Let's look at the numbers.

• Ahrefs Pricing:

  • Starter: Starts at a very limited $29/mo for personal projects.
  • Lite: Jumps to $129/mo for 1 user and the core features.
  • Standard: The most popular plan is $249/mo, also for 1 user, with higher limits.
  • The key thing to know is that important features are paid add-ons. The "AI Content Helper" starts at an additional $99/mo, and "Brand Radar" starts at $199/mo. Adding a teammate costs extra, too.

• Frase AI Pricing (with annual billing):

  • Starter: Begins at $39/mo for 1 user and 10 articles per month.
  • Professional: A great value at $103/mo, which includes 3 users and lets you optimize 40 articles.
  • Scale: The top plan is $239/mo and comes with 5 users, 100 articles, and includes the AI Search Tracking feature.
  • It's clear that Frase's plans are more team-friendly and all-inclusive at much lower prices.

When it comes to value, Ahrefs is a premium investment for deep SEO data, and its total cost can climb quickly once you add users and the features you need. Frase offers a more predictable and accessible price for teams focused purely on content production and dual SEO/GEO optimization.

Here's a quick table to visualize how a comparable setup might look:

An alternative for content generation: eesel AI blog writer

Ahrefs is great for strategy and Frase is built for optimization. But what if your main problem is just getting the content written in the first place? What if you need to scale the actual writing?

That’s where the eesel AI blog writer comes in. It’s a different kind of tool, designed to take you from a single keyword to a complete, publish-ready blog post. It shifts the focus from analysis and optimization to pure production.

Here’s what makes it different:

• From keyword to complete article: Unlike tools that just give you a rough draft, eesel generates a fully structured post with an intro, headings, conclusion, and FAQs. It’s not just a writing assistant; it’s more of a writing engine.
• Automatic assets: This saves a ton of time. It automatically includes AI-generated images, infographics, charts, and tables right in the draft, things that usually require manual work and multiple tools.
• Rich media integration: To make content more engaging and trustworthy, it has the unique ability to pull in relevant Reddit quotes and YouTube videos. This adds a layer of human proof that most AI-generated content lacks.
• Context-aware research: It actually understands the type of blog post you’re creating. If you’re writing a comparison post, it will find pricing data. If it’s a product review, it will look for technical specs.

This isn't just theory. It’s the exact tool we used at eesel to grow our own impressions from 700 to 750,000 per day in just three months by publishing over 1,000 optimized blogs.

The best part? You can try it for free and generate your first high-quality blog post in a few minutes. See for yourself how much time it can save.

To see these tools in action and understand their workflows better, here's a helpful video review that breaks down some of the top SEO tools on the market, including both Ahrefs and Frase.

A video reviewing top SEO tools, relevant to the Ahrefs vs Frase AI comparison, to help users rank higher on Google.

Choosing the right tool: Ahrefs vs. Frase AI

Ultimately, there isn't one "best" tool, just the right one for your specific job.

• Choose Ahrefs if: You're an SEO professional or an agency that needs top-tier data for technical audits, backlink analysis, and deep competitor research. Your job is mainly about strategy and analysis, and you need the most powerful dataset available.
• Choose Frase AI if: You're a content manager or writer focused on speeding up your editorial workflow. You need to create data-driven briefs quickly and optimize your content for both Google and AI search platforms, all in one streamlined interface.
• Consider the eesel AI blog writer if: Your main goal is to dramatically scale your content production. You want to go from a keyword to a complete, SEO-optimized, and media-rich article in minutes, freeing up your team to focus on promotion and strategy.

SERP research & briefs: Frase, Surfer pull top-page headings, questions, entities, and gaps to build a brief fast.

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Choosing the right tool can make a huge difference. Hopefully, this breakdown helps you find the perfect fit for your team's needs. And if you’re curious about boosting your content production, go ahead and generate your first blog post with eesel AI.