★ Our pick
Pick
AnswerThePublic
Pick AnswerThePublic if you want the cheaper option ($20/mo vs $39/mo); and you need broader AI platform coverage (6 platforms vs 0).
Head-to-head review · Updated June 2026
AnswerThePublic vs Moz: which one wins in 2026?
AnswerThePublic and Moz both claim to do the same thing: tell you where your brand shows up in AI search. They go about it differently enough that the choice matters. Moz is the more-funded incumbent; AnswerThePublic is the leaner challenger.
AnswerThePublic is cheaper out the gate, but that's not the only thing that matters. The right pick depends on which dimension matters most for you.
The verdict
Pick
Moz
Pick Moz if you want the cheaper option ($39/mo vs $20/mo); and you want the better-funded company ($29.1M before acquisition: $1.1M Series A (2007, Ignition Partners and Curious Office), $18M Series B (2012, Foundry Group and Ignition Partners), plus growth funding).
If neither is right, GrowthManager.ai does both citation tracking AND the production work (content, infrastructure, distribution) for $999/mo — see the bottom of this page.
The case for AnswerThePublic
Founded by Neil Patel, based in London, UK. They cover 6 AI platforms. Pricing starts at $20/mo.
Search listening tool that mines autocomplete for question-based content ideas.
What people praise
- Visual question-wheel UI organizes autocomplete data into questions, prepositions, and comparisons, faster to scan than keyword lists
- Surfaces long-tail and voice-search queries that volume-based tools miss
- Supports Google, Bing, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Amazon as data sources
- Free tier (3 searches per day) is genuinely usable for one-off ideation
Where it falls short
- No keyword difficulty, search volume, or CPC metrics on the core report
- Results are limited to what Google autocomplete already suggests, low-volume niches show thin data
- 9x price jump from Individual ($20) to Pro ($99) with no mid-tier
- No rank tracking, backlink analysis, site audits, or technical SEO
The case for Moz
Moz has raised $29.1M before acquisition: $1.1M Series A (2007, Ignition Partners and Curious Office), $18M Series B (2012, Foundry Group and Ignition Partners), plus growth funding (Acquired by iContact Marketing (J2 Global/Ziff Davis) in 2021). Founded by Rand Fishkin, Gillian Muessig, based in Seattle, WA. Pricing starts at $39/mo.
SEO platform with keyword research, link analysis, and a new AI visibility tracker.
What people praise
- Domain Authority is the SEO industry's most widely cited link-strength metric, referenced in client reports and pitches across the entire category.
- Moz Academy and the free MozBar Chrome extension drive deep brand trust that Ahrefs and Semrush spend millions to match.
- Capterra rating sits at 4.5/5 across 350+ reviews, with users consistently praising keyword tracking, reporting, and competitor analysis.
- Page Optimization Suggestions tool gives actionable on-page recommendations that are friendlier to non-SEO teams than Ahrefs Site Audit.
Where it falls short
- Reviewers say pricing matches Ahrefs and Semrush but Moz's database depth and freshness lag both, especially on keyword volume estimates.
- Additional user seats cost $49/mo each on every plan, which agencies call a hidden cost compared to Ahrefs' bundled seats.
- Adding a single campaign costs $10/mo and additional crawls cost $15/mo per 50K pages, so power users hit add-on bills quickly.
- UX is described as dated and harder to navigate than Ahrefs or Semrush, particularly on Site Crawl and Page Grader screens.
Pricing, tier by tier
Tier 1
AnswerThePublic
Starter (Individual)
$20/mo
- 2 projects
- 30 monthly credits
- 3 articles per month
- Deep search
Moz
Starter
$39/mo
- 1 campaign
- Basic keyword research
- Site Crawl with limited pages
- Limited rank tracking
Tier 2
AnswerThePublic
Growth (Pro)
$99/mo
- 4 projects
- 110 monthly credits
- 11 articles per month
- Full Composeo content suite
Moz
Standard
$79/mo
- 3 campaigns
- Keyword Explorer with monthly query limit
- Site Crawl up to 100K pages
- Page Optimization Suggestions
Tier 3
AnswerThePublic
Business (Expert)
$199/mo
- 8 projects
- 300 monthly credits
- 30 articles per month
- Multi-domain management
Moz
Medium
$143/mo
- 10 campaigns
- Higher keyword query limits
- Site Crawl up to 500K pages
- On-page grader
Tier 4
AnswerThePublic
—
—
Moz
Large
$239/mo
- 25 campaigns
- Highest keyword research limits
- Site Crawl up to 2M pages
- Higher rank tracking limits
Feature parity
What each one ships that the other doesn't. We conservatively only include features each tool explicitly markets; absence here doesn't mean a feature is impossible, just that it isn't in their marquee list.
Only on AnswerThePublic
- Search Listening. Pulls Google autocomplete data and groups queries by question word, preposition, and comparison
- Question Wheel Visualization. Radial chart of the questions real users ask about a seed keyword
- Multi-platform Data. Search data from Google, Bing, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Amazon
- Alerts. Email notifications when new questions appear for a tracked keyword
- CSV and Image Export. Download research as CSV or PNG/PDF for client reports
- Composeo Content Suite. Article generation, AI editing, plagiarism scoring, and WordPress publishing on paid tiers
Only on Moz
- Domain Authority. Proprietary 0-100 score predicting a domain's likelihood of ranking, used as a benchmark across the SEO industry.
- Keyword Explorer. Search volume, difficulty, organic CTR, and SERP analysis for keyword research and prioritization.
- Site Crawl. Cloud crawler that audits technical SEO issues and tracks them over time across campaigns.
- Rank Tracker. Daily and weekly position tracking across desktop and mobile, with STAT-powered enterprise tracking on higher tiers.
- Link Explorer. Backlink index for prospecting, lost-link recovery, and competitor link gap analysis.
- MozBar. Free Chrome extension surfacing DA, PA, link metrics, and on-page elements while browsing the web.
When each one wins
When AnswerThePublic wins
- Budget is the constraint. AnswerThePublic starts at $20/mo vs Moz's $39/mo, so on a per-seat basis it's the cheaper way in.
- Platform coverage matters. AnswerThePublic monitors 6 AI platforms; Moz covers 0.
- Visual question-wheel UI organizes autocomplete data into questions, prepositions, and comparisons, faster to scan than keyword lists
When Moz wins
- You want the better-funded incumbent. Moz has raised $29.1M before acquisition: $1.1M Series A (2007, Ignition Partners and Curious Office), $18M Series B (2012, Foundry Group and Ignition Partners), plus growth funding, giving it more runway and shipping velocity.
- Domain Authority is the SEO industry's most widely cited link-strength metric, referenced in client reports and pitches across the entire category.
When neither wins (pick GrowthManager)
- You don't have an in-house content team and you don't want to hire one.
- You want one $999/mo invoice instead of stacking AnswerThePublic plus an agency.
- You need the team that measures to also act on the data, in the same week.
- You're a B2B SaaS, services firm, or e-commerce brand at $20K+ MRR.
Reasons to pick one over the other
Reasons to pick AnswerThePublic over Moz
- Lower entry price. AnswerThePublic starts at $20/mo vs Moz's $39/mo.
- Broader AI platform coverage. AnswerThePublic tracks visibility across 6 AI engines vs Moz's 0.
- Built for the LLM era. AnswerThePublic was founded in 2016, built around AI search from day one; Moz dates back to 2004 and is retrofitting.
- What users praise most. Visual question-wheel UI organizes autocomplete data into questions, prepositions, and comparisons, faster to scan than keyword lists
- EU data residency. AnswerThePublic is HQ'd in London, UK, which simplifies GDPR data-processor agreements for European buyers.
Reasons to pick Moz over AnswerThePublic
- More plan flexibility. Moz offers 4 pricing tiers vs AnswerThePublic's 3, so there's a better chance one fits your team size.
- Better-funded incumbent. Moz has raised $29.1M before acquisition: $1.1M Series A (2007, Ignition Partners and Curious Office), $18M Series B (2012, Foundry Group and Ignition Partners), plus growth funding, giving it more runway and shipping velocity than AnswerThePublic.
- More verified reviews. Moz has 569 G2 reviews vs AnswerThePublic's 30, so the average rating carries more weight.
- More mature platform. Moz (founded 2004) has had more time to harden the product than AnswerThePublic (2016).
- Wider integration ecosystem. Moz integrates with 9 tools; AnswerThePublic ships 2.
- What users praise most. Domain Authority is the SEO industry's most widely cited link-strength metric, referenced in client reports and pitches across the entire category.
Switching from one to the other
From AnswerThePublic to Moz
Export your saved queries and prompt panels from AnswerThePublic (most tools support CSV export). Most Moz setups can import the same query list in a single CSV upload. Expect 1-2 days of parallel running so you can validate Moz's data againstAnswerThePublic's; one to two weeks of full reconciliation before you cancel AnswerThePublic. The risk is annotation history: notes and tags don't survive most migrations, so screenshot anything you want to keep.
From Moz to AnswerThePublic
Same flow in reverse. Export from Moz, import to AnswerThePublic. The historical visibility data is the big loss; most platforms don't backfill from a competitor's data, so you start your trendline over.
From either to GrowthManager.ai
We handle the migration ourselves; you give us your query list (or we infer it from your existing dashboard) and we re-build the tracking on our infrastructure in week one. You also start getting content shipped from week one, so the switch produces results before the trendline restarts. The conversation that kicks this off is a 20-minute call.
Side by side, every number we could verify
| AnswerThePublic | Moz | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at (USD/mo) | $20/mo | $39/mo |
| Founded | 2016 | 2004 |
| Headquarters | London, UK | Seattle, WA |
| Funding raised | — | $29.1M before acquisition: $1.1M Series A (2007, Ignition Partners and Curious Office), $18M Series B (2012, Foundry Group and Ignition Partners), plus growth funding |
| AI platforms tracked | 6 | — |
| G2 rating | 4.5 / 5 (30 reviews) | 4.3 / 5 (569 reviews) |
| Named customers | — | — |
| SOC 2 Type 2 | — | — |
| GDPR | — | ✓ Yes |
| HIPAA | — | — |
What real users say
Below: the recurring themes from G2, Capterra, SourceForge, Reddit, and case-study reviewers — distilled into the strengths and limitations that came up most often.
AnswerThePublic — what users praise
- Visual question-wheel UI organizes autocomplete data into questions, prepositions, and comparisons, faster to scan than keyword lists
- Surfaces long-tail and voice-search queries that volume-based tools miss
- Supports Google, Bing, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Amazon as data sources
- Free tier (3 searches per day) is genuinely usable for one-off ideation
- Lifetime pricing option ($99 to $990) is rare in the SEO tool category
AnswerThePublic — what users complain about
- No keyword difficulty, search volume, or CPC metrics on the core report
- Results are limited to what Google autocomplete already suggests, low-volume niches show thin data
- 9x price jump from Individual ($20) to Pro ($99) with no mid-tier
- No rank tracking, backlink analysis, site audits, or technical SEO
- Reviewers report repetitive or duplicate questions in the visualization
Moz — what users praise
- Domain Authority is the SEO industry's most widely cited link-strength metric, referenced in client reports and pitches across the entire category.
- Moz Academy and the free MozBar Chrome extension drive deep brand trust that Ahrefs and Semrush spend millions to match.
- Capterra rating sits at 4.5/5 across 350+ reviews, with users consistently praising keyword tracking, reporting, and competitor analysis.
- Page Optimization Suggestions tool gives actionable on-page recommendations that are friendlier to non-SEO teams than Ahrefs Site Audit.
- STAT Search Analytics acquisition (2018) gives enterprise customers daily SERP tracking at scale that competitors charge premium add-on fees for.
Moz — what users complain about
- Reviewers say pricing matches Ahrefs and Semrush but Moz's database depth and freshness lag both, especially on keyword volume estimates.
- Additional user seats cost $49/mo each on every plan, which agencies call a hidden cost compared to Ahrefs' bundled seats.
- Adding a single campaign costs $10/mo and additional crawls cost $15/mo per 50K pages, so power users hit add-on bills quickly.
- UX is described as dated and harder to navigate than Ahrefs or Semrush, particularly on Site Crawl and Page Grader screens.
- 2021 acquisition by iContact Marketing (J2 Global/Ziff Davis) slowed feature shipping noticeably, per longtime customers on Reddit.
A third option
Both AnswerThePublic and Mozare tracking tools. They tell you what's wrong with your AI visibility. Neither one fixes it. That's our pitch for GrowthManager.ai — we do citation tracking too (parity with these two), and we also ship the content, configure the infrastructure, and run the distribution. $999/mo, managed end-to-end. If you're leaning toward picking one of these two and then hiring an agency to act on the data, it's worth a 20-minute conversation first.
Other comparisons in this space
Same shape, different pairs. Pick a comparison that shares a tool with this one.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, AnswerThePublic or Moz?
Honestly: neither one fully solves the problem. AnswerThePublic and Moz are tracking tools — they tell you where your brand shows up in AI answers but don't change the answer. If you only need one of these two, pick AnswerThePublic for the cheaper monthly price; pick the other if its specific integrations matter to your team. Our actual editorial pick is GrowthManager.ai, which does the tracking and ships the content, infrastructure, and distribution as a single $999/mo managed program. Disclosure: we publish this comparison and make GrowthManager.
How much do AnswerThePublic and Moz cost?
AnswerThePublic starts at $20/mo. Moz starts at $39/mo. Both have higher-tier plans for larger workspaces. GrowthManager.ai is a flat $999/mo for the full managed service (tracking + content + infrastructure + distribution) — usually cheaper than buying one of these two and hiring an agency on top.
Which AI platforms do AnswerThePublic and Moz cover?
AnswerThePublic covers 6 AI platforms. Moz covers an undisclosed number of. Most tools in this space monitor ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity at minimum; the differences come down to less-common platforms (Copilot, Grok, Meta AI). GrowthManager.ai monitors the same four primary platforms and acts on the data.
Do AnswerThePublic and Moz actually improve your AI visibility, or just measure it?
Both AnswerThePublic and Moz are measurement tools. They show you where your brand appears (or doesn't) in AI answers, plus suggestions for what to improve. Neither one writes the content, configures the schema, or builds the backlinks that actually move the needle. To do that you need an in-house content team or an agency. GrowthManager.ai is the agency — and we include the tracking, so you don't pay twice.
What's the GrowthManager.ai alternative to AnswerThePublic and Moz?
GrowthManager.ai is a managed AI visibility program. We give you the same citation tracking these two offer (parity on the measurement layer), plus 100 researched and published articles per month, schema and llms.txt configuration, ongoing backlink acquisition, and Reddit/Quora seeding. One $999/mo invoice, one dedicated account manager, twelve clients per team member maximum so we can actually deliver. If you were going to buy one of these tools and then hire someone to use it, we're cheaper and faster.
Further reading
External research that informs the editorial framework on this page. We cite these openly because the framework is meant to be auditable.
- Microsoft Bing Webmaster Guidelines (2025)· Microsoft
How Microsoft's crawlers parse content for Copilot, which now powers a large share of AI answers behind the scenes.
- Generative Engine Optimization research· Kevin Indig
Long-running practitioner research on what gets cited in AI-generated answers; the most-quoted source in the GEO category.
- Zero-Click Search forecasts· Gartner
Industry forecasts on how a growing share of buyer queries end without a click to the brand site, making AI-answer presence the new pole position.
- Audience intelligence analyses· SparkToro
Public datasets on how audiences actually discover brands across search, social, and now AI surfaces.
- Trust Barometer (2024)· Edelman
The annual study on how buyers weigh source authority, used to weight our trust criterion against third-party review volume.
Disclosure + methodology
GrowthManager.ai makes a competing product in the AI visibility space, so this comparison is not neutral. Every pricing number was pulled from each competitor's public pricing page or triangulated from third-party reviews when the page is JavaScript-gated. Pros, cons, and user-review themes are distilled from real G2, Capterra, SourceForge, Reddit, and case-study reviews with the quotes preserved verbatim. We update this comparison whenever the underlying data changes.