DA vs DR: What's the Difference?

The short answer

DA (Domain Authority) is Moz's prediction of how well a domain can rank, produced by a machine-learning model trained on real search results. DR (Domain Rating) is Ahrefs' measure of how strong a domain's backlink profile is, based purely on the quantity and strength of the sites linking to it.

Both are logarithmic, both are third-party metrics and neither is used by Google. They often move in the same direction, but the numbers are not interchangeable.

Side-by-side comparison

Why the numbers are different

It is common to see a site with DA 40 and DR 55, or the reverse. Three things cause the gap:

• Different crawlers: Moz and Ahrefs discover different links, so they start from different data.
• Different formulas: DR is a pure link-popularity score; DA blends many signals to predict rankings, including spam patterns.
• Different update cycles: each company refreshes its index and recalculates on its own schedule.

The result: comparing your DA with a competitor's DR tells you nothing. Always compare like with like.

Which one should you use?

• Use DA when you want a ranking-oriented score with spam signals baked in, when you already use Moz tools, or when you need free bulk checks — like our Bulk DA PA Checker.
• Use DR when you live in Ahrefs, care mainly about raw link popularity, or want to pair it with Ahrefs' traffic estimates.
• Use both for important decisions such as buying a website or a large link partnership. If DA and DR disagree sharply, investigate the backlinks manually.

Common mistakes when comparing DA and DR

1. Mixing metrics — comparing your DA with a competitor's DR.
2. Treating either score as a goal instead of a diagnostic.
3. Ignoring relevance: a lower-scored site in your niche often beats a high-scored site outside it.
4. Ignoring spam signals: a high DR with a high Moz Spam Score deserves a closer look.