BrightEdge vs Ahrefs

by Gralio Feb 19, 2025

BrightEdge and Ahrefs are both robust SEO platforms with distinct strengths. BrightEdge excels in reporting, data analysis, and enterprise-level support, while Ahrefs stands out with its backlink analysis, keyword research capabilities, and broader third-party integrations. The best choice depends on the specific needs and budget of your business.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 1826 reviews and 60 websites, saving 10 hours, 38 minutes of reading.

BrightEdge

Website LinkedIn Twitter

Ahrefs

Website LinkedIn Twitter

About

BrightEdge is a suite of search engine optimization (SEO) tools designed for large businesses. It helps you understand what potential customers are searching for online and gives you recommendations on how to improve your website to rank higher in search results. This helps attract more visitors to your website, ultimately leading to increased sales and brand visibility. BrightEdge provides data analysis, competitor insights, and reporting to demonstrate the effectiveness of your SEO strategy.

Ahrefs is a suite of online tools designed to improve a website's search engine ranking and visibility. It provides data and insights on competitors, keywords, backlinks, and website content. Businesses use Ahrefs to research competitor strategies, discover relevant keywords, find link-building opportunities, audit their website for SEO issues, and track their ranking progress against competitors. Ahrefs is known for its large database and focus on data accuracy for marketing professionals.

Summary

Main difference

BrightEdge is a powerful enterprise-grade SEO platform ideal for larger businesses with dedicated SEO teams seeking in-depth data analysis and competitor insights. Ahrefs offers a broader range of SEO tools suitable for businesses of all sizes, particularly those focused on backlink analysis and keyword research.

Relative strengths of BrightEdge (compared to Ahrefs)

BrightEdge offers more robust reporting and dashboard customization options, allowing for tailored data visualization and analysis.
BrightEdge's data cube provides deeper keyword research capabilities and competitive analysis.
BrightEdge provides better customer support and training resources for enterprise clients.

Relative weaknesses of BrightEdge (compared to Ahrefs)

Ahrefs offers more comprehensive backlink analysis tools and a larger backlink database.
Ahrefs' pricing is generally more transparent and predictable compared to BrightEdge.
Ahrefs provides a wider range of integrations with third-party SEO tools, such as SurferSEO, enhancing workflow efficiency

Who is using BrightEdge and Ahrefs?

No data

Olesia Krilyshyn

Sales Acceleration Specialist at Reply.io

Gaetano Di Nardi

Growth Advisor for B2B SaaS Companies

Connor Gillivan

SEO expert; 7x Founder (Exit in 2019)

Jake Ward

SEO expert; 150K LinkedIn followers

Andrew Charlton

SEO Consultant, Founder of SEO tool companies

Show all 13 stacks

Who should use BrightEdge VS. Ahrefs

BrightEdge is a robust SEO platform ideal for large enterprises seeking to enhance their organic search visibility. Users praise its comprehensive data analysis, competitor insights, and custom reporting features. However, some have noted inaccuracies in keyword data and limitations in competitor analysis. Despite these drawbacks, BrightEdge remains a popular choice for businesses with substantial marketing budgets.

Ahrefs is a powerful SEO toolsuite ideal for businesses aiming to boost their search engine rankings. Users praise its comprehensive keyword research and in-depth backlink analysis. However, the pricing is a common concern. Ahrefs is best for marketers, SEO professionals, and business owners.

Best for large enterprises (1000+ employees) with dedicated SEO teams.
Ideal for e-commerce, retail, tech, and marketing/advertising companies.

Best for small to enterprise-level businesses seeking improved online visibility.
Ideal for E-commerce, Marketing & Advertising, and Software/IT companies.

BrightEdge and Ahrefs features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

Competitor Playbooks

Partially supported

BrightEdge supports competitor analysis, including SEO strategies, keyword discovery, and backlink analysis, but not product offerings or pricing.

Not supported

Ahrefs does not directly support creating competitor playbooks.
Competitor Listening

Partially supported

BrightEdge offers competitor analysis focusing on SEO, but the extent of social media and content monitoring is unclear.

Supported

Ahrefs supports competitor listening by monitoring content, brand mentions, and reviews.
Competitor Analysis

Supported

BrightEdge provides competitor analysis, focusing on SEO and content performance, including keywords and market share.

Partially supported

Ahrefs provides insights into competitor keywords and content strategies, but not technologies or customer base.
Competitor insights

Supported

BrightEdge offers tools for analyzing competitors’ SEO performance and strategies, including keyword gap analysis.

Supported

Ahrefs allows you to analyze competitor SEO performance and strategies through features like competitor identification, detailed SEO metrics analysis, website structure and content analysis, technical SEO analysis, and long-term monitoring.
Paid Keyword Analysis

Not supported

BrightEdge does not directly support paid keyword competitor analysis.

Supported

Ahrefs supports Paid Keyword Analysis, allowing users to see what paid keywords competitors are using.
Customizable reports

Supported

BrightEdge supports creating custom SEO reports with selected metrics and data.

Supported

Ahrefs supports custom SEO reports with selected metrics and data via its Reports feature.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

-0.09

Neutral sentiment

-0.96

Strongly negative sentiment
Customer Service

+0.83

Strongly positive sentiment

-0.86

Strongly negative sentiment
Ease of Use

+0.3

Rather positive sentiment

+0.44

Rather positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance

+0.41

Rather positive sentiment

+0.24

Neutral sentiment
Ease of Implementation

-0.66

Rather negative sentiment

+0

Neutral sentiment
Scalability

+0.25

Neutral sentiment

-0.6

Rather negative sentiment

BrightEdge and Ahrefs Pricing

No data

User sentiment

Neutral

-0.09

We couldn't find a pricing page for BrightEdge.

No data

User sentiment

Strongly negative

-0.96

We couldn't find a pricing page for Ahrefs.

BrightEdge and Ahrefs review insights

1745 reviews analysed from and

Users love

Data Cube for keyword research and competitor analysis.
Content Advisor for content optimization.
Site audit feature for technical SEO.
Customizable dashboards and reporting.
Excellent customer support and training.

In-depth backlink analysis is consistently praised by users.
Keyword research tools offer comprehensive data, including search volume and difficulty.
Site audit tool is very helpful in identifying and fixing technical SEO issues.
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is a valuable free resource.

Users dislike

Inaccurate keyword search volume data.
Keyword ranking data discrepancies.
Limited competitor analysis (only 3 competitors).
Difficult to track local rankings effectively.
Slow platform and occasional glitches.

The pricing is very high and not very transparent.
The "Lite" plan is too limited, many key features are not included.
Users are reporting being moved off legacy plans to more expensive plans with no warning.
Customer support is slow and sometimes unhelpful.

BrightEdge and Ahrefs Ratings

G2

4.4/5

(649)
Capterra

4.2/5

(44)
Glassdoor

3.3/5

(481)

G2

4.5/5

(550)
Capterra

4.7/5

(520)
TrustPilot

1.8/5

(81)
Glassdoor

4.9/5

(11)

Company health

Employee growth

1% increase in the last year

No data

Web traffic

26% decrease in the last quarter

11% increase in the last quarter

Financing

March 2013 - $62M

No data

How accurate is BrightEdge's keyword data compared to Ahrefs?

BrightEdge users frequently report inaccurate keyword search volume and ranking data discrepancies. Conversely, Ahrefs is known for its large database and a focus on data accuracy, suggesting its keyword data is likely more reliable.

Which platform, Ahrefs or BrightEdge, is easier to use for a large team?

BrightEdge is likely easier to use for a large team. While Ahrefs has a slightly higher ease of use rating (0.44 vs 0.3), BrightEdge's better customer support (0.83 vs -0.86) and slightly better scalability (0.25 vs -0.6) are more crucial for larger teams. Ahrefs' negative customer service ratings could significantly impact a large team's productivity and efficiency. Additionally, BrightEdge is specifically designed for large businesses and caters its features and support towards that demographic.

What are the advantages of BrightEdge?

BrightEdge focuses on providing excellent customer support and training, customizable dashboards and reporting, and a dedicated Data Cube for keyword research and competitor analysis. It also offers specific tools like Content Advisor for content optimization and a Site Audit feature for technical SEO improvements. BrightEdge is particularly well-suited for larger businesses in e-commerce, marketing, advertising, or technology with dedicated SEO teams.

What are the disadvantages of BrightEdge?

BrightEdge suffers from reported data inaccuracies, particularly in keyword search volume and ranking data. Users also find its competitor analysis limited, only allowing comparisons with three competitors at a time. Additionally, some users report the platform can be slow and experience occasional glitches. Finally, tracking local rankings effectively is reportedly difficult within BrightEdge.

Alternatives to BrightEdge and Ahrefs

Semrush

Semrush is an online visibility and marketing platform that helps businesses improve their online presence. It offers a wide range of tools for SEO, content marketing, competitor analysis, social media management, and paid advertising. With a massive database, Semrush provides insights into keywords, backlinks, website traffic, and competitor strategies, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions to enhance their online visibility and achieve marketing goals. Many Fortune 500 companies utilize Semrush's comprehensive suite of digital marketing tools.

SE Ranking

SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO software suite designed to help businesses improve their search engine rankings. It offers a wide range of tools, including keyword research, competitor analysis, website audits, backlink monitoring, and rank tracking. SE Ranking is known for its user-friendly interface and comprehensive set of features, making it suitable for both SEO beginners and experienced professionals. It aims to provide actionable insights and data-driven recommendations to optimize website content, improve visibility, and attract more organic traffic.

Allintitle.co

Allintitle.co is a suite of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools designed to improve how visible your company is online. It helps you find the best keywords to attract customers and analyzes your competitors. Allintitle.co also offers tools to track your website's ranking in search results and provides insights to improve your content. Overall, it's a toolkit to make your website more attractive to search engines and gain more customers.

Similarweb

Similarweb is like a giant spyglass for the internet. It helps you understand what people are doing online, so you can make smarter decisions for your own website and marketing. Want to know who your competitors are online? Similarweb shows you. Want to see which websites are sending traffic to your competitors (so you can try to get them to send traffic to you)? Similarweb shows you that too. You can even see what keywords people are using to find your competitors, and which online ads are working best for them. Basically, if you want to know how your website stacks up against the competition and find new opportunities to grow online, Similarweb gives you the information to do it.

cognitiveSEO

cognitiveSEO is a suite of search engine optimization (SEO) tools designed to help businesses improve their website ranking on Google. Its tools analyze your website, your competitors, and keywords to find opportunities to improve your content and attract more visitors. cognitiveSEO offers features like website audits, backlink analysis, rank tracking, and content optimization suggestions. Its focus is on providing actionable insights that can be used to create a data-driven SEO strategy.

Serpstat

Serpstat is an all-in-one SEO toolkit designed to give businesses a competitive edge online. It helps you track your website's performance in search engines, analyze competitors, research valuable keywords, and develop an effective content strategy. Serpstat offers tools to audit your website, identify technical issues, and track your progress over time. Its features include competitor analysis, keyword research, content creation and analysis, and search engine results page (SERP) tracking. Serpstat is used by businesses of all sizes who want to improve their online visibility and attract more customers.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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