DA vs DR: Domain Authority vs Domain Rating Compared

If you have ever stared at a backlink listing and wondered why one tool calls a site a 45 and another calls it a 62, you have run into the DA vs DR problem. Domain Authority comes from Moz and Domain Rating comes from Ahrefs, and they measure overlapping but not identical things. This guide explains domain authority versus domain rating in plain terms, shows you exactly where the two scores diverge, gives you real benchmarks for what a good DA or DR looks like, and explains why neither number should be the thing that decides your next link purchase.

Key takeaways

• DA (Moz) and DR (Ahrefs) are both third-party authority scores on a 0 to 100 logarithmic scale, but they are built from different data and different models.
• DR is purely a measure of backlink profile strength. DA tries to predict ranking ability using more signals, which is why the two rarely match on the same site.
• Scores do not transfer between tools. A DR 60 is not "the same as" a DA 60, so never compare a Moz number to an Ahrefs number.
• Neither metric is a Google ranking factor. Both are correlation proxies that Google does not see or use.
• Use DA and DR as a rough first filter, then let real organic traffic and topical relevance make the actual buying decision.

What Domain Authority (Moz) measures

Domain Authority is a score created by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search results. It runs on a scale from 1 to 100, and a higher number means a stronger predicted ability to rank.

The key word there is "predict." DA is not just counting links. Moz feeds dozens of signals into a machine learning model that is trained against actual Google search results, then tunes the model so its output correlates as closely as possible with who actually ranks. Inputs include linking root domains, the quality of those links, Moz's own MozRank and MozTrust scores, and more.

That training step matters. Because the model is fit to real rankings, DA is meant to answer a slightly bigger question than "how many good links does this site have." It is trying to answer "how well does this site tend to perform in search." Moz also recalculates DA on a regular cadence, so your score can shift even if your links did not change, simply because the model or the broader link index moved.

DA sits on a 100-point logarithmic scale, which means the climb gets steeper as you go up. Moving a site from 20 to 30 is far easier than moving it from 60 to 70, because each higher band requires exponentially more link equity.

What Domain Rating (Ahrefs) measures and how it differs

Domain Rating is Ahrefs' metric, and it answers a narrower question: how strong is this website's backlink profile compared to others. DR runs on a 0 to 100 logarithmic scale too, but it is not trying to predict rankings. It is a backlink strength score, full stop.

Ahrefs calculates DR using a method similar to Google's original PageRank, except it works between websites rather than between individual pages. Here is the short version, based on Ahrefs' own explanation of DR:

• Ahrefs finds every domain with at least one followed link to the target site.
• Each linking domain passes some "DR juice" to the target, roughly equal to its own DR divided by the number of unique domains it links out to.
• That total is then scaled into the 0 to 100 range.

A few quirks fall out of this. Only the first followed link from a domain counts toward your DR, so getting ten links from the same site does not move the needle ten times. Nofollow links do not raise DR. And if a site that links to you starts linking out to many more domains, the juice it sends you thins out, which can quietly drop your DR over time.

The big takeaway: DR is about links and only links. DA blends links with a wider, ranking-trained model. That single difference explains most of the confusion people have when they put the two numbers side by side. For a deeper look at DR alone, including how it gets gamed, see our Domain Rating explained guide.

DA vs DR side by side

Here is the head-to-head so you can see exactly where they line up and where they part ways.

Attribute	Domain Authority (Moz)	Domain Rating (Ahrefs)
What it measures	Predicted ability to rank in Google	Strength of the backlink profile
Built from	40+ signals via a machine learning model trained on rankings	Followed backlinks, PageRank-style calculation
Underlying index	Moz Link Explorer	Ahrefs link index
Scale	1 to 100, logarithmic	0 to 100, logarithmic
Counts nofollow links?	Factored into the broader model	No, only followed links
Update cadence	Recalculated periodically (model and index shift)	Updated continuously as the crawl refreshes
Free to check?	Yes, via Moz tools and free checkers	Free DR via Ahrefs Website Authority Checker

The two metrics share a shape (0 to 100, logarithmic) and a general purpose (rough authority signal), but the data sources, the link graphs, and the underlying questions are different. That is why you should never treat them as interchangeable.

Why a site's DA and DR rarely match

You will almost never see a site where DA and DR are identical, and that is completely normal. A few reasons:

Different crawlers find different links. Moz and Ahrefs each run their own crawler and build their own index of the web. One might have discovered 4,000 referring domains for a site while the other found 3,200. Different inputs, different output.

Different models do different math. DR is a clean link calculation. DA layers a ranking-prediction model on top of its link data. So a site with a modest backlink profile but strong, relevant rankings can post a higher DA than DR, while a site that has aggressively built links without much organic traction can post a higher DR than DA.

Update timing differs. If Ahrefs refreshed yesterday and Moz's last index update was three weeks ago, the two scores reflect different snapshots of reality.

So which should you weight? Honestly, neither deserves a heavy weight on its own. If your team standardizes on Ahrefs, use DR consistently and compare DR to DR. If you live in Moz, use DA the same way. The cardinal rule is to compare like with like and never claim a DR 55 site is "weaker" than a DA 58 site, because those numbers come from different rulers.

What counts as a good DA vs a good DR

Benchmarks help, as long as you remember they are loose guidelines, not pass/fail gates. Here is a practical read for SaaS link buyers.

For Domain Authority:

• 0 to 20: new or thin sites. Common for young blogs and most fresh domains.
• 20 to 40: established but mid-tier. Plenty of legitimate niche sites live here.
• 40 to 60: solid, well-linked sites. A healthy target band for SaaS guest posts and insertions.
• 60+: strong authority. Major publications and large brands.

For Domain Rating, the bands run similarly, but DR tends to read a bit higher on link-heavy sites:

• 0 to 30: small or new backlink profiles.
• 30 to 50: decent profile, typical of growing niche publishers.
• 50 to 70: strong profile, a good sweet spot for paid placements.
• 70+: very strong, often big media or sites that have built links at scale.

For most SaaS buyers, a DR in the 50 to 70 range or a DA in the 40 to 60 range is a reasonable starting filter, paired with the traffic and relevance checks below. Just know that both scores can be inflated. A site can buy and build links to lift DR or DA without earning a single real visitor, which is exactly why our guide on spotting fake traffic, PBNs, and link farms matters as much as any authority score.

Neither is a Google ranking factor

This is the part people get wrong most often, so let it land clearly. DA and DR are not used by Google. Google does not see your Moz DA or your Ahrefs DR, and it does not feed either into its ranking systems. Google's John Mueller has said plainly that Google has no concept of "domain authority" as a ranking signal.

Both DA and DR are third-party estimates. They are built by SEO companies trying to model authority from the outside, and they do correlate with rankings to a degree, because better-linked sites do tend to rank better. But correlation is not the signal itself. Treating a vendor's score as if Google reads it is like reading a weather forecaster's confidence rating instead of looking out the window.

What you should use DA and DR for:

• A fast first-pass filter to cut obviously weak sites from a large list.
• A rough, internally consistent way to compare candidate sites within the same tool.
• A trend line to watch your own backlink profile grow over time.

What you should not use them for:

• Believing a higher number guarantees better rankings or more traffic.
• Comparing a Moz score against an Ahrefs score.
• Making the final buy decision on the number alone.

How to combine DA/DR with traffic and relevance

The metric that comes closest to the outcome you actually want (real visitors, real rankings) is organic search traffic, not an authority score. A site can earn a high DR purely by stacking links while pulling in almost no search traffic, and a link from a page nobody visits is worth very little to you.

Here is the simple decision order I use when vetting a site for a SaaS client:

1. Relevance first. Is the site topically close to your SaaS niche? A relevant DR 45 site beats an unrelated DR 75 site almost every time. Relevance is the strongest free signal you have.
2. Organic traffic second. Pull the site's estimated organic traffic and check that it is real, steady, and coming from the right countries. Our walkthrough on checking site traffic for link building covers the free and paid ways to do this.
3. Authority score third. Now glance at DA or DR as a sanity check. If a site has strong relevance and healthy traffic, a moderate DR is fine. If the DR is high but traffic is near zero, that is a red flag, not a green light.
4. Page-level and editorial signals last. Check the linking page itself, the outbound link count, and whether the content reads like something a human wrote for readers.

This is the core reason we tell buyers that organic traffic beats DR and DA when the numbers disagree. Authority scores are a starting filter; traffic and relevance are the decision. For the full vetting checklist, see how to judge a link's quality before you buy.

At Saaslinks, every site in the marketplace is vetted on real organic traffic and topical fit, not just a single third-party score, so the listing already reflects the checks above. If you want to browse vetted inventory and see traffic alongside the metrics, you can start here.

The bottom line

DA and DR are two different rulers measuring loosely related things, so stop trying to convert one into the other and stop treating either as gospel. Use whichever tool your team standardizes on as a quick first filter, then let topical relevance and real organic traffic make the actual call. Get that order right and the authority score becomes a helpful sidekick instead of a misleading headline. When you are ready to buy from sites that already pass those checks, browse the vetted inventory on Saaslinks.