Dorqa vs Ahrefs
Ahrefs has the better link index, the deeper keyword data and the bigger crawl. Dorqa covers answer engines, trends, audience, local and video in one subscription. They are not really the same product, so here is which one fits which job.
Prices are entry tiers, checked 8 August 2026. Verify on the vendor's own page.
You are a freelancer or small agency covering answer engines, trends, audience, local and video across several clients, and you would rather pay for one subscription than five.
Backlink analysis is the core of your work, or you crawl sites with tens of thousands of pages.
Where each one actually wins
Where Dorqa is the better choice
Same standard as the section below. These are claims about what Dorqa does that this tool does not, not claims about being better overall.
Six layers on one project, not one
Ahrefs Lite covers SEO. It does not cover audience research, trend scoring, local competitive data or video, and freelancers buy those separately. That is the whole argument, and it is about scope rather than quality.
AEO without a prompt allowance
Ahrefs gives you 5 tracked prompts and 150 checks a month on Lite, then sells more in packages. Dorqa queries the engines and prints the collection date on every result, so there is no monthly budget to ration.
Every number shows its working
Source counts on trend rows, the division behind a percentage, and the fields a data source could not verify. Ahrefs is a bigger dataset; this is a different discipline about what gets disclosed.
The price is the tier they recommend to you
Dorqa Pro is $79. Ahrefs Lite is $129, and Ahrefs itself describes Standard at $249 as the plan for freelance SEOs and consultants.
Where Ahrefs is the better tool
If any of the following is the centre of your work, buy Ahrefs. We would rather tell you now than take a month's subscription and have you find out.
The link index, and it is not close
Ahrefs runs its own crawler and has done for over a decade. If backlink analysis is the core of your work, that index is the product and Dorqa does not replace it. Dorqa sources link data from DataForSEO, which is fine for client reporting and is not the same thing.
Keyword depth, history and crawl scale
Lite alone tracks 750 keywords, holds 6 months of history and allows 25,000 pages per project on 100,000 crawl credits a month. Higher tiers go to 5 years and 250,000 pages. For anything that depends on looking backwards or crawling deep, Ahrefs has more of it.
They ship AI visibility too, from the entry plan
Brand Radar is included from Lite, not sold separately. It is a real product with a real index behind it. The honest difference is shape, not presence: Ahrefs gives you a fixed allowance of tracked prompts and sells more checks in packages, where Dorqa queries live and prints the collection date on each result.
A public API, an MCP server, and a decade of ecosystem
Direct API access and an MCP server from Lite upward, plus Looker Studio integration, Ahrefs Academy, and years of people writing about how to use all of it. Dorqa has no public API yet and a small user base. Pretending otherwise on a page like this would be the first thing a reader caught.
Ahrefs says the freelance plan is $249, not $129
Their pricing page describes Lite as being for small businesses and personal projects, and Standard as perfect for freelance SEOs and marketing consultants. We compare against Lite throughout this page because it is the cheaper comparison and the harder one for us to win. If you are the person Ahrefs is describing, the number to compare is $249.
Descriptions are the vendor's own, read from their pricing page.
It is a bundling argument, not a better-than argument
Ahrefs Lite does not cover audience research, trend scoring, local competitive data or video. Most freelancers end up buying those separately. That is the comparison that matters, and it is the one below.
Every one of these is a separate screen in the app, on one project. 23 surfaces, named as they appear in the app.
Straight answers
Not on links. Ahrefs runs its own crawler and its link index is the reason most people pay for it; Dorqa sources backlink data from DataForSEO and does not pretend to match that. Dorqa replaces the situation where you pay for an SEO tool plus three or four smaller ones to cover trends, audience, local and video.
Yes, and it is included from the Lite plan rather than sold as an add-on. Brand Radar gives 5 tracked prompts and 150 checks a month on Lite, 10 and 300 on Standard, 20 and 600 on Advanced. Beyond that, extra checks are a separate purchase starting at $50 a month for 2,500. Anyone telling you the established SEO tools have not moved into AEO is describing last year.
Ahrefs describes Lite at $129 as being for small businesses and personal projects, and Standard at $249 as perfect for freelance SEOs and consultants. If you are a freelancer, Ahrefs' own recommendation for you is the $249 tier. There is also Starter at $29 and a free plan for your own site, both far more limited.
Scope for the money, and disclosure. One subscription covers AEO, trends, audience, local, video and SEO on the same project, and every panel prints where its number came from, when it was collected, and what it could not check. If links are the centre of your work, that argument does not apply to you and you should buy Ahrefs.
They were read directly from ahrefs.com/pricing on 8 August 2026. Both companies change pricing; check the vendor's own page before deciding on it.
Try it on a client you already have.
Free tier, no card. If Ahrefs is the right answer for your work, keep Ahrefs.