Two abbreviations dominate domain listings, DR from Ahrefs and DA from Moz. They look alike and they are often quoted as if they were interchangeable. A buyer who knows how they differ can read a listing with more confidence and avoid paying for a number that means less than it seems. Both metrics put a website on a scale and both are built from link data. Both are produced by commercial tools, and neither is used by Google. That shared background explains why people treat them as the same thing, and why they are not. The practical difference is the data behind them. Each company crawls the web in its own way, stores a different set of links and applies its own formula, so the same domain can score differently in each. Neither result is wrong. The page for those who buy high DR domains from DomRaider says it uses multiple authority measurement tools beyond Ahrefs DR, including Moz DA and Majestic metrics, and manual backlink assessments, and that it excludes domains with suspicious link patterns or recent authority spikes. It adds a general guide that a DR of 40 or more offers substantial authority for most scenarios, which is the seller's view. Ahrefs describes the metric in its help centre. Its page on what Domain Rating is and how it is calculated says DR shows the strength of a website's backlink profile compared with the others in its database on a 100-point scale, and that it is essentially a less granular version of Ahrefs Rank. The page explains that the final value is obtained by scaling a computed, absolute figure into the 0 to 100 range. It adds a general rule of thumb that a domain's rating is good if it is higher than or comparable to similar sites, which is a reminder that the score is relative. It also explains why a score can fall without any links being lost. When a site at DR 100 gains more backlinks, it cannot become DR 101, so other websites are pushed down the scale instead. Ahrefs also explains the limits of the score in its own writing. It describes DR as purely link-based, so it does not take into account search traffic, domain age or the popularity of a parent brand, and it notes that although DR correlates with search traffic, owners should not focus their efforts on growing the metric itself. That is a useful reminder from the publisher itself, and it applies equally to buyers who use the number to rank candidates. Moz's Domain Authority aims at the same question from a different angle. It predicts how likely a website is to rank in search results, using a model trained on search results and a mix of link signals such as linking root domains and the total number of links, and it is also logarithmic. One practical difference is emphasis. DR is described by Ahrefs as a purely link-based measure of the strength of a backlink profile, and it does not consider search traffic, domain age or brand popularity. DA is built as a ranking prediction, so it attempts to reflect how the links relate to results Google actually shows. Neither is a reading of Google's own opinion. Both are estimates, and both can be gamed by manipulative link building, which is why careful buyers look beyond the headline number. Treat any extreme figure with extra care. Ask why it is extreme. Disagreement is normal. Different indexes mean different links are seen, and some links appear in one tool weeks before the other. Update schedules differ too, so a domain can look strong in one dashboard and ordinary in another on the same day. Scale effects add to the confusion. Because both scores are logarithmic and relative, a small change in the underlying data can move a number by several points at the low end and barely at all near the top. A large gap is a signal to investigate. If DR is high and DA is low, look at the referring domains, since the profile may be broad but shallow. If DA is high and DR is low, check whether links are recent or concentrated. Compare the dates on which links first appeared too, since a burst of new links shortly before a sale can inflate a score that will not last. Neither should guide it alone. Use both as screening tools, then verify with the underlying data. The decision rests on relevance, history, the quality of referring domains and how well the address suits your plan. In practice, pick one tool as a standard for comparing candidates, and use the other as a cross-check. If both agree that the profile is strong, you have more confidence. If they disagree, treat the difference as a question to answer before bidding. Above all, remember what the scores measure. They estimate link strength, and they do not measure value to your project. A modest score on a perfectly relevant domain may serve you better than an impressive one with no connection to your subject. Make a short table for each candidate, listing both scores, the number of referring domains, the share of links from relevant sites and any red flags, so that choices rest on a shared set of facts.
DR vs DA: Which Metric Should Guide a Domain Purchase?
Two scores that look alike
How Ahrefs defines DR
How DA differs
Why they disagree
Which should guide a purchase?