Best SEO competitor analysis tool, according to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity
We asked four major AI models a single buyer-style question and recorded what they named. This page shows the verbatim brand short lists each model returned, plus where the models agreed and what they cited.
ChatGPT
Gemini
ClaudeThe question we asked
“What's the best SEO competitor analysis tool?”
At a glance
Distinct brands named
8
Across 4 of 4 models
Cited by all four models
2
True cross-model consensus
Named by only one model
1
13% of recommendations are model-specific
Total citations
42
Source URLs returned by all models combined
Brand by model coverage
Every brand named by at least one model, with the position each model gave it. First-place positions matter most: they carry disproportionate weight in how readers remember and quote AI recommendations.
| Brand | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Models |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4/4 |
| Semrush | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4/4 |
| SpyFu | 5 | · | 5 | 4 | 3/4 |
| Similarweb | 3 | · | 6 | · | 2/4 |
| Moz Pro | 4 | 3 | · | · | 2/4 |
| Moz | · | · | 3 | 3 | 2/4 |
| SE Ranking | · | 4 | 4 | · | 2/4 |
| SeroRanking | · | · | · | 5 | 1/4 |
What each AI model named
ChatGPT
Ahrefs is top for deep backlink and organic-competitor research; Semrush provides the most comprehensive competitive suite (SEO, PPC, reporting); Similarweb excels at traffic and market intelligence; Moz Pro is user-friendly for keyword/link benchmarking; SpyFu offers strong PPC/keyword spying at good value. Each choice suits different needs (depth, breadth, market data, ease, or price).
Gemini
Semrush is best for comprehensive, all-in-one SEO and digital marketing competitor analysis. Ahrefs excels in deep backlink and organic search insights. Moz Pro offers a solid, user-friendly SEO suite, while SE Ranking provides a strong, budget-conscious alternative with robust features.
Claude
<cite index="1-20,1-21,1-23">Semrush covers organic SEO, paid search, display advertising, and content analysis, letting you see competitors' keyword universe and traffic estimates side by side with your own.</cite> <cite index="1-30,1-31">Moz Pro is most beginner-friendly with clean interface and reliable data.</cite> <cite index="5-26,5-27">Ahrefs built its reputation on backlink data with widely regarded accurate crawl coverage.</cite> <cite index="1-38,1-39">SE Ranking offers mid-range competitor research with lower pricing than larger platforms.</cite>
Perplexity
Semrush is ranked first due to its all-in-one competitor analysis toolkit covering organic traffic, keywords, and backlinks, preferred by experts. Ahrefs is the gold standard for SEO-specific backlink and keyword gap analysis. Moz, SpyFu, and SeroRanking offer solid specialized tools for competitive research, keyword tracking, and PPC insights respectively.
Where the models agreed
5 brands were named by more than one model. AI models diverge often; cross-model agreement is a stronger signal than a single mention.
| Brand | Models that named it | Best position |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | ChatGPT (#1), Gemini (#2), Claude (#2), Perplexity (#2) | #1 |
| Semrush | ChatGPT (#2), Gemini (#1), Claude (#1), Perplexity (#1) | #1 |
| SpyFu | ChatGPT (#5), Claude (#5), Perplexity (#4) | #4 |
| Similarweb | ChatGPT (#3), Claude (#6) | #3 |
| Moz Pro | ChatGPT (#4), Gemini (#3) | #3 |
What this snapshot suggests
For the question "What's the best SEO competitor analysis tool?", the 4 models reporting collectively named 8 distinct brands on July 9, 2026.
Each model led with a different recommendation in many cases. ChatGPT opened with Ahrefs. Gemini opened with Semrush. Claude opened with Semrush. Perplexity opened with Semrush. The brand a model names first carries disproportionate weight, because first-place recommendations are the most likely to be remembered by readers and quoted by downstream AI agents.
Treat this as a snapshot, not a definitive ranking. AI Overview content changes 70 percent of the time for the same query, and SparkToro found less than a 1-in-100 chance that two identical queries return the same brand list. The pattern across many runs is more informative than any single result. That is why Honeyb runs measurements daily, across a full prompt set rather than a single question, for the brands we monitor.
If your brand appears here, the recommendation work is paying off. If it does not, the gap is measurable and improvable. The pillars of getting recommended by AI are documented in our guide to generative engine optimization.
Source domains AI cited
Most-cited domains across the four models. Stacked segments show which engine drove each citation. Perplexity and Claude expose citations consistently; ChatGPT and Gemini do so inconsistently, so absence does not mean a model used no source.
Full citation list
- https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer
- https://www.semrush.com/features/seo-competitor-analysis-tool/
- https://www.similarweb.com/corp/web/competitive-analysis/
- https://moz.com/competitive-research
- https://www.spyfu.com/
- https://backlinko.com/ahrefs-vs-semrush
- https://blog.reviewaitool.com/2026/06/06/ahrefs-vs-alternatives-2026/
- https://ahrefs.com/academy/how-to-use-ahrefs/site-explorer/organic-competitors
- https://www.semrush.com/features/competitor-website-analysis-tools/
- https://www.similarweb.com/blog/marketing/marketing-strategy/best-competitor-analysis-tools/
- https://moz.com/try-competitive-research-suite
- https://www.spyfu.com/seo/competitors
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQHp3hzZFLw0mgUx0qiGSq5oJ2Jk6Yx21qUSYVCZYWKmRVZSHxoM4NlEOpW40mj5ynbTiYPxFAze3m4AkynD7IHHhsZpyOfOSK5RmXMwL4bv_Nbtq-G1iHY7KYdHhwEFy8H0IOSY0PgKTCjxNQid3zcuaM_HFNqvPdeijGuDs6ogwR0=
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQF8vMTYf3TDSxgcztEOpeTX7c0A15Y999YEhFQBz145cn-znrrT_1I7Wjj0_L38ikxbiUJh9FsZSed5jB-mTUg7HhGPNfFeuCQePUOZGFmahH8cwiVMfvWyAfnCrnKxqrfSiK7otqz-0fQBCxZsMyCafKwi
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQEgDJ3mQh4h1H4FvEniXctQm7m69piLHHFpD1zMgg7C2A5WkpMzZDSH3XdSVHAdwKGCx0zGBD7bbi8DSYz8EwjeWGBZCwMhJNCEzIjuSI3IHdwVlYR6H22Yg5FT2THarhyexJCTtBCQIM0xl2w0-zISFo7vY-otYHOvGpq68A==
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQENqZmQJxNbrXbgBRrWbwN3q5P90Tu3ImIjF6bs5UHgXv_huwuZ8UTV1EXsJNiKUwx_OX40xvKkqcIPg7YU6wW10X1B-HJ5Z8nXbmPYj3slHQ-i83XfXJIH4Hiaap3tx-4F-g3Po9njBCtpIrQGZetiPAx2
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQHi3aD2WnExWXadQkSUI8W_P8rA3DGvPUgxuFC5dgWaRr1Wq3AxcSAJspa8U9wnbdoPRHpj_JtaeyDfRRYXjey3E1V4-BwmV0bsjyQwMCcvBH5NJBXs2aSUSsJmDm0VW6iZywFKQwmyHWSmpr9NtepvcHsxVwe-2qbFD4lRGEqK
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQGPsiupU4j9fIbBLx6pVpBN29c_u0mbX-wrlUjbRNvp7fBs4VP8aG6sF8LkMq7ihBNf38xAepsS0m67-fhp88Q31RILGpxlknjCqICQXFg46DO2gDvwDRB2pW5fU69g_FP-MQyIQqY3zP2ckIHQ
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQHydtW4vxSjCUY5Zu2JaSD7im0YvF-6-h_0I5EME7Cyst13SCMIxAXDBgnUGx9mVKmb9-c-ylBh7MtJkwvgENg1eheRq5e-0HcrqUpfohsdjhxfiv55mKgKMcuQC3z2P3oMT1Bp865OxL585BfcExRuahfzyI0jkee5sq4=
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQGLIOoVx1MTMNflTeldqLayLh2eWscqqrposeW-kvF3vvwj98wcLG7eoJppWsbTybkRus4p5NYFcFl_drBhVlEMDSKP82JvLqt006RWtRxHUWGIbdHtB-LCX1gXw-g0zP76nzBP9y6-JaTX_b8Sy9WcEpivDClgCg==
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQEtSQhfocY3n5LVuYdwi6CBuJyXZUSB4mu_0bxAgwI1fIJGjlWwpGxSthNcI6QP54ZT_9GJfZnqD3P8NUP-HB94E-TNyN4liC8PkZPUpl3T1PzF5h1uwXdKPH574I8ITWcYS9xJJ9E5HLJbvY2v3a3Qfz90N4X8PA==
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQGJ7x3_k3W15ejqyw5hsWOjFaNfPuBV2jwZVhoSHrBPQBKbo01UMnUfxR2LCh9qkToriHb6M6pJkKQE5CJ552MlWwFrFNy9YB9matV8Ze1O-3tmrG1KcnNMG1vilqTIztgcY7mKA43hRnU3el7ZsfthtywqlJQn3JTqxihB
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQE4k4V6H5jOmMs_wqCWdC32thO3cH4YMZa1TJp3CUJTbDtojFkxkK9MlvbPzEMsa-gzeojxok0GmtZiO3Kfcx48J5fDoCic1d4o_Ow2WLPtvfUYkLm0K-AsL100iIee2z-70kCEftBicv0VdaMvSTrhN2QCGMwQjl145juhYB6wSU_F94ueDUyssBgMX03V1-UGms5BO-lM4EsYNxbWjRO_aXNJ
- https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQGbbPJs_cpUJq7FSvlOROxwWntg0rplRWetbt7CmBVMo7xL5BZUQPQwv9iyioFxRjtG9gNz9AoV42_7T7PExK65isqU3CM9s8YA7a0MgCHMcluU05FHBA==
- https://optinmonster.com/competitor-research-tools/
- https://thecmo.com/tools/best-competitor-analysis-tools/
- https://www.bishopi.io/blog/7-best-seo-tools-for-competitor-analysis-compared-for-2026
- https://www.contify.com/resources/blog/best-competitor-analysis-tools/
- https://contentpen.ai/blog/seo-competitor-analysis-tools
- https://llmrefs.com/blog/competitor-analysis-tools-for-seo
- https://trafficthinktank.com/competitor-analysis-tools/
- https://onelittleweb.com/top-tools/best-competitor-analysis-tools/
- https://zapier.com/blog/competitor-analysis-tools/
- https://trafficthinktank.com/competitive-intelligence-tools-for-seo/
- https://www.spyfu.com
- https://seranking.com/competitor-traffic-research.html
- https://www.reddit.com/r/DigitalMarketing/comments/1nktoa3/which_tools_are_the_best_for_competitor_analysis/
- https://www.seoreviewtools.com/seo-competitor-research-tool/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQzBCuq5jPY&vl=en-US
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