Ahrefs is an SEO platform for backlink analysis, keyword research, rank tracking and technical site auditing. It runs its own web crawler, which is the source of its reputation: the link index is large, refreshed often, and the interface exposes it with less friction than most competitors.
Ahrefs ranking and coverage
- In SEO
- #5 of 13
- Overall
- #60 of 122 tied
- Terms score
- 5.6 /10
- Referenced here
- 14 pages
Cost position 6.7 · Portability 4 · Subscription flexibility 6 - Ranked on published terms only: entry price against category peers, portability and subscription flexibility, equally weighted. This is not a quality score.How the rank is calculated.
Ahrefs: the short answer
Every line below is drawn from facts verified on 18 August 2026.
- What it is
- SEO toolset built on one of the largest independent backlink and keyword indexes
- Best for
- Link building and backlink analysis
- Starts at
- Free plan available; paid from $29/month (Starter)
- Free option
- Free plan available, no trial
- Biggest strength
- Independent crawler and one of the largest link indexes available
- Biggest drawback
- No free trial - you commit before you can evaluate properly
- Based on
- Primary-source research, not hands-on use
- Closest alternative
- Semrush - Broader toolset including paid search; costs more once seats are added
- True annual cost
- from $348 a year on Starter, the cheapest paid tier ($29 a month)
Ahrefs at a glance
| Best for | Link building and backlink analysis, Keyword research and content gap analysis, SEO consultants and technical SEOs |
|---|---|
| Category | SEO, Marketing |
| Starting price | Free plan available; paid from $29/month (Starter) |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | No trial offered |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Company | Ahrefs Pte. Ltd. |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Headquarters | Singapore |
| Founders | Dmitry Gerasimenko |
| Platforms | Web |
| Public API | Yes |
| Browser extension | Yes |
| Mobile apps | None |
| Self-hosting | No |
| Affiliate programme | No |
| Data source | Vendor pricing page and public records |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
Ahrefs pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 18 August 2026. Pricing model: subscription. No free trial is offered.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Free | $0 | per month | Webmaster Tools, limited to sites you verify ownership of |
| Starter | $29 | per month | Keyword and competitor research, credit metered |
| Lite | $129 | per month | 1 user - Extra users $40/month each |
| Standard | $249 | per month | 1 user - Adds Content Gap and historical data; extra users $60/month each |
| Advanced | $449 | per month | 3 users - Extra users $80/month each |
| Enterprise | $1,499 | per month | API access and directory listings; extra users $100/month each |
| Brand Radar AI | From $199 | per month | Add-on for tracking brand mentions in AI answers, across seven named platforms |
| Custom prompts, Basic | $50 | per month | 2,500 checks a month on top of a plan; the page's own example is 80 prompts daily on one platform. Overage $0.020 per check |
| Custom prompts, Growth | $100 | per month | 7,000 checks a month; the page's example is 100 prompts daily on two platforms. Overage $0.015 per check |
| Custom prompts, Scale | $250 | per month | 25,000 checks a month, overage $0.010 per check |
| Content Kit | From $99 | per month | AI Content Helper, AI Content Grader and AI Content Inventory |
| Report Builder | $99 | per month | 50 reports, 500 widgets and scheduled delivery |
What Ahrefs actually costs over a year
A monthly price is not the same thing as a monthly contract. These are the plans above resolved both ways, per seat or unit where the plan is charged that way. Where a vendor quotes only a yearly figure it is divided by twelve rather than left out, and the Quoted column says which figure the vendor actually publishes.
| Plan | Quoted | Monthly | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | per month | $29 | $348 |
| Lite1 user | per month | $129 | $1,548 |
| Standard1 user | per month | $249 | $2,988 |
| Advanced3 users | per month | $449 | $5,388 |
| Enterprise | per month | $1,499 | $17,988 |
| Brand Radar AI add-on | per month | $199 | $2,388 |
| Custom prompts, Basic add-on | per month | $50 | $600 |
| Custom prompts, Growth add-on | per month | $100 | $1,200 |
| Custom prompts, Scale add-on | per month | $250 | $3,000 |
| Content Kit add-on | per month | $99 | $1,188 |
| Report Builder add-on | per month | $99 | $1,188 |
Which Ahrefs plan should you buy?
| Your situation | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You want to audit a site you own and nothing more | Ahrefs Free | Webmaster Tools covers verified sites at no cost, which is enough for your own technical audit. |
| You need occasional keyword and competitor research | Starter | $29 a month, credit metered. The cheapest route into Ahrefs data without committing to Lite. |
| You are a working SEO consultant | Lite | $129 covers day-to-day research. Budget $40 a month for each extra user before comparing. |
| You need Content Gap and historical data | Standard | $249, and the historical index is the specific reason most agencies move up from Lite. |
| You need API access | Enterprise | $1,499 a month. The API is gated to the top tier, which surprises teams planning to build reporting on it. |
| You mainly research paid search and competitor ads | Do not buy Ahrefs | Semrush covers PPC properly; Ahrefs is organic-first. |
Verdict by who you are
SEO consultant or agencyYes
The backlink index is the best available, and link research is the job Ahrefs wins outright.
In-house content marketerCompare first
Lite at $129 is a lot for keyword research alone. Compare against Semrush and Moz on the features you would genuinely open weekly.
Site owner doing a one-off auditNo
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for sites you verify, so there is no reason to pay.
PPC specialistNo
Paid-search research is not Ahrefs' strength. Semrush is the better tool.
Developer building SEO reportingCompare first
API access requires Enterprise at $1,499 a month, which changes the business case entirely.
Should you buy Ahrefs?
Buy Ahrefs if…
- Link building and backlink analysis
- Keyword research and content gap analysis
- SEO consultants and technical SEOs
Do not buy Ahrefs if…
- Paid-search and PPC competitor research
- Teams wanting unlimited report exports on entry plans
- Anyone expecting a free trial before paying
Key features
- Site Explorer with backlink profile and referring-domain history
- Keywords Explorer with clicks data, not only search volume
- Content Gap analysis against multiple competitors
- Site Audit crawler with JavaScript rendering
- Rank Tracker with share-of-voice reporting
- Brand Radar tracking mentions across AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok
- Free SEO toolbar showing on-page and link metrics in the SERP
Integrations
- Google Search Console
- Google Analytics 4
- Looker Studio
- Slack
- Ahrefs API v3
- Model Context Protocol server for AI assistants
Ahrefs screenshots
Captured by us in August 2026 at 1440px, unedited. Interfaces change, so these show the product as it looked on the date we verified this profile. Pricing pages are captured from a US vantage point, so the currency shown matches the USD figures recorded above.
Our assessment
Ahrefs is the tool most SEO practitioners reach for first, and the reason is data quality rather than feature count. The crawler is its own, the link index is refreshed aggressively, and Keywords Explorer reports estimated clicks alongside volume - a distinction that changes which keywords you choose. The friction is commercial: there is no free trial, entry plans meter credits tightly, and heavy exporting pushes you up a tier faster than you expect.
What works in Ahrefs
- Independent crawler and one of the largest link indexes available
- Clicks data makes keyword selection materially better than volume alone
- Fast, uncluttered interface with very little dead weight
- Bootstrapped and profitable, with no pressure to bundle unrelated tools
What doesn't
- No free trial - you commit before you can evaluate properly
- Credit metering on lower tiers frustrates heavy research days
- No paid-search or advertising data worth using
- No affiliate programme, so independent coverage is thinner than rivals'
EveryAny Decision Score
3 of these 8 dimensions are calculated from verified facts; the rest are our judgement, shown as a band rather than a figure unless something specific sits behind them. How each score works.
- Cost position6.7/10
derivedentry tier at $29 a month against a category median of $49 a month across 12 comparable tools
- Portability4/10
derivedpublic API, documented migration friction averaging 2 of 3
- Subscription flexibility6/10
derivedfree plan, subscription, monthly billing
- Feature depthVery high
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- Ease of learningModerate
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- CollaborationModerate
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- AI capabilityModerate
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- Professional adoptionVery high
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
What leaving Ahrefs would cost
moderate lock-in
Ahrefs scores on public API, documented migration friction averaging 2 of 3. Portability 4/10 , after 1 off for documented migration friction; lock-in is the inverse. How this is calculated.
| What you would move | Friction | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword lists and saved projects | Low | Export as CSV cleanly, so the raw lists move without difficulty. |
| Historical rank tracking data | High | Your accumulated history stays with Ahrefs. A new tool starts from today. |
| Site audit history and crawl comparisons | Moderate | Trend data is lost, so you lose the ability to show progress over past periods. |
| Reporting built on Ahrefs metrics | Moderate | DR and UR have no equivalent elsewhere, so any report quoting them must be reworked. |
The data exports; the history does not. Rank tracking and audit trends are the things you cannot take, which argues for starting your tracking in whichever tool you intend to keep.
Ahrefs competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| Semrush | Broader toolset including paid search; costs more once seats are added. |
| Ahrefs Webmaster Tools | The free tier of Ahrefs itself - enough to audit a site you own. |
| Moz Pro | Cheaper entry point with a gentler learning curve and a smaller index. |
Semrush
SEO
All-in-one SEO, PPC and competitive research platform for marketing teams.
Checked Aug 2026
Moz Pro
SEO
The SEO platform that invented Domain Authority, now the third choice.
Checked Aug 2026
Why the index matters more than the feature list
Every SEO platform sells roughly the same seven modules. The difference is what sits underneath them. Ahrefs operates its own crawler and publishes its crawler IP ranges, which means its link data is not licensed from a third party. In practice this shows up when you compare referring domains for the same site across tools: the ordering and the freshness differ, and Ahrefs tends to surface new links sooner.
The clicks-versus-volume distinction
Keywords Explorer reports an estimated clicks figure next to search volume. Many high-volume queries are answered directly in the SERP and send almost no traffic anywhere. Choosing keywords on volume alone leads to publishing pages that rank and earn nothing. This one column is a reasonable argument for the subscription on its own.
What it will not do
Ahrefs has no meaningful paid-search product. If you need competitors’ ad copy, budgets or bidding history, you need Semrush or a dedicated ad-intelligence tool.
Credits, in plain terms
Lower tiers meter how many rows and reports you pull per month. A single deep competitor audit can consume a noticeable share of a Lite allowance. If your work is bursty - audits for new clients, then quiet weeks - model your heaviest month, not your average one.
AI prompt tracking is priced separately, and that is the catch
Every plan includes a token allowance of AI prompts - five on Lite, ten on Standard, twenty on Advanced - which is enough to confirm the feature exists and not enough to run a programme. Real tracking is bought two ways, both read from the pricing page on 18 August 2026:
- Brand Radar AI, from $199 a month, which covers seven named platforms: AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok, against a database of 474 million organic prompts.
- Custom prompt packages, if you only want your own prompts tracked: $50 a month for 2,500 checks (the page’s example is 80 prompts daily on one platform), $100 for 7,000, $250 for 25,000. A check is one prompt on one platform in one location, and overage runs from $0.020 down to $0.010 per check.
So the cheapest Ahrefs configuration that tracks your own prompts properly is Lite plus Basic, $179 a month for one platform. That is worth comparing with the dedicated trackers before assuming the platform you already pay for is the cheaper route - our AI SEO tools guide does exactly that comparison.
Ahrefs questions, answered
- Is Ahrefs worth it?
- Ahrefs is the tool most SEO practitioners reach for first, and the reason is data quality rather than feature count.
- How much does Ahrefs cost?
- Free plan available; paid from $29/month (Starter). The cheapest paid tier we recorded is Starter, published at $29 a month, which works out at $29 a month or $348 over a year. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
- Does Ahrefs have a free plan or free trial?
- Ahrefs has a free plan. No free trial is offered.
- What is the best Ahrefs alternative?
- It depends on the job. Semrush: Broader toolset including paid search; costs more once seats are added. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools: The free tier of Ahrefs itself - enough to audit a site you own. Moz Pro: Cheaper entry point with a gentler learning curve and a smaller index.
- Can I self-host Ahrefs?
- No. Ahrefs is a hosted service only, so your data lives on the vendor's infrastructure.
What this profile is based on
Every claim below is about our work, not about Ahrefs. A "no" is recorded rather than omitted, because the difference between a tested review and careful desk research is the reader's to weigh. How we research a profile.
-
Prices read from the vendor : yes
Read from Ahrefs's own pricing page on 18 August 2026
-
Plans and terms recorded : yes
12 rows, each with its billing period
-
Original screenshots : yes
2 captured by us: homepage, pricing page
-
Sources cited and dated : yes
3 primary sources, each with the date it was read
-
Product used first-hand : no
Not tested. This profile is desk research from primary sources
-
Alternatives used first-hand : no
None, so comparisons here rest on published facts rather than use
-
Vendor contacted : no
Not contacted for this profile
Where Ahrefs appears on this site
14 other pages here reference Ahrefs. Every one is listed below, so the figure can be checked rather than taken.
- Buyer guide Best AI SEO tools in 2026, priced by the job you need doing ranked #6
- Article When to Use a SaaS Free Trial vs a Free Plan listed as related
- Deal record Black Friday 2026 deal tracker tracked as no deal
- Another profile Clearscope names it as a competitor
- Another profile Frase picks it for keyword, backlink and technical research
- Another profile Google Search Console names it as a competitor
- Another profile Moz Pro names it as a competitor
- Another profile Otterly.ai names it as a competitor
- Another profile Peec AI names it as a competitor
- Another profile Profound names it as a competitor
- Another profile Screaming Frog SEO Spider names it as a competitor
- Another profile Scrunch names it as a competitor
- Another profile Semrush names it as a competitor
- Another profile Surfer names it as a competitor
Counts pages on this site that name the product by choice - buyer guides, articles, deal records and other profiles. Category and directory indexes list everything automatically and are not counted.
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Provenance and freshness
When each fact was last checked
- Pricing ·
- Plans ·
- Free trial
- Features ·
- Platforms
- Integrations
- Affiliate programme
- Company details
What has changed
-
August 2026
- Prices re-read for the AI SEO tools guide; every plan rate unchanged
- Recorded the custom prompt packages, Content Kit and Report Builder add-ons
- Named the seven platforms Brand Radar tracks
-
August 2026
- Pricing re-verified, including per-seat costs above the included user counts
- Added plan picker, verdicts and switching-cost breakdown
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- Ahrefs pricing page - checked 18 August 2026
- Ahrefs Brand Radar - checked 18 August 2026
- Ahrefs API v3 documentation - checked 9 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.