Ahrefsvs
SEMrush
SEMrush: Comprehensive SEO platform similar to Ahrefs with backlink analysis, keyword research, and site auditing; stronger in paid search and content marketing integrations.
Ahrefs
Backlink and keyword research platform run on its own web crawler, metered by credits since 2024
As of 1 September 2026, Ahrefs has a free plan and paid plans start at $29/month. The SEO toolset with the deepest independently crawled link index, and the one that replaced unlimited usage with a credit system in April 2024. Softwr lists it under Marketing. Ahrefs is made by Ahrefs Pte Ltd, launched in 2011, available on Web.
Overview
What Ahrefs does
Ahrefs runs its own crawler, which it describes as the second most active on the web, and builds its link, keyword and content indexes from it rather than licensing them. That is the basis of the product: Site Explorer for backlink and organic traffic analysis of any domain, Keywords Explorer, Content Explorer, Site Audit, Rank Tracker and, more recently, Brand Radar for tracking brand mentions and prompts in AI answers. It publishes no discounts and offers no free trial of the paid plans. The change buyers complain about is the metering. In April 2024 Ahrefs moved from effectively unlimited report usage to credits, and it now meters report credits, crawl credits and API units separately. On Lite that is 1,000 credits per user per month, and when they run out the data tools lock until the billing cycle resets or you buy pay-as-you-go credits, which are charged automatically once you enable them. Standard is the first tier with unlimited report credits under fair use, which is why a lot of teams that used to run Lite ended up on Standard at nearly twice the price. Purchased credits last three billing months. Buyers are agencies, in-house SEO teams and content operations that need link data they trust. The trade-off is cost structure: one included user on every paid tier, extra seats from 40 to 80 USD a month depending on plan, row limits that bind on Lite at 2,500 rows per report, and add-ons priced separately.
What people use it for
- SEO research
- Competitor analysis
- Content planning
- Backlink analysis
- Rank tracking
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Ahrefs.
- The April 2024 move from unlimited usage to credits was a real downgrade for existing customers: Lite meters 1,000 credits per user per month and the data tools lock when they are gone, so heavy research on the entry plan now forces an upgrade to Standard at 249 USD.
- Pay-as-you-go credits are charged automatically once enabled, so a busy research month can produce an unbudgeted overage bill rather than a hard stop.
- Every paid tier includes exactly one user, and additional seats cost 40, 60 or 80 USD a month by tier, so a three-person team on Standard pays 369 USD a month rather than 249.
- Row caps bind before credit caps for many jobs: Lite returns at most 2,500 rows per report, which is not enough to export a mid-sized site backlink profile in one pass.
- Ahrefs states plainly that it never runs discounts and offers no free trial of the paid plans, so evaluation means paying a full month or working from the ownership-verified free tier.
- Rank Tracker updates weekly on every tier including Enterprise, so teams needing daily positions have to buy a separate tracker such as SE Ranking or Semrush.
- A growing share of capability is sold as add-ons rather than included: Report Builder at 99 USD a month, Content Kit from 99 USD, Project Boost at 20 or 200 USD per project, and Brand Radar from 199 USD.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Ahrefs
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- AhrefsvsMoz
Moz: Pioneer in SEO software with Moz Pro offering keyword research, rank tracking, and site auditing; lower pricing tier than Ahrefs with different data sources.
- AhrefsvsSimilarWeb
SimilarWeb: Competitive intelligence platform focusing on website traffic analysis, benchmarking, and market research; complements Ahrefs for traffic and audience insights.
Pricing
What Ahrefs costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Ahrefs Free
Free
- Limited Site Explorer and Site Audit for sites you verify ownership of
- No access to competitor data
- Where paid subscriptions land after cancellation
Starter
$29 /mo
- Search and competitor data with reduced row limits
- No projects tier of the main plan ladder
- Sits below Lite on the published pricing page
Lite
$129 /mo
- 1 user included, up to 2 more at 40 USD each per month
- 1,000 credits per user per month, the only tier with a credit cap
- 5 projects, 750 tracked keywords, 6 months of historical data
- 100,000 crawl credits per month, 25,000 pages per project
- 2,500 maximum rows per report, 500,000 export rows per month
- 5 tracked AI prompts, 150 Brand Radar checks per month
Standard
$249 /mo
- 1 user included, up to 5 more at 60 USD each per month
- Unlimited report credits under fair use
- 20 projects, 2,000 tracked keywords, 2 years of historical data
- 500,000 crawl credits per month, 50,000 pages per project
- 30,000 maximum rows per report, 1.5 million export rows per month
- 10 tracked AI prompts, 300 Brand Radar checks per month
Advanced
$449 /mo
- 1 user included, up to 10 more at 80 USD each per month
- Unlimited report credits under fair use
- 50 projects, 5,000 tracked keywords, 5 years of historical data
- 1.5 million crawl credits per month, 250,000 pages per project
- 75,000 maximum rows per report, 4 million export rows per month
- 20 tracked AI prompts, 600 Brand Radar checks per month
Enterprise
$1,499 /mo
- Annual commitment required
- From 3 users, unlimited additional seats at 100 USD each
- Uncapped API access and unlimited historical data
- 100 projects, from 10,000 tracked keywords, 5 million pages per project
- SSO, access management and audit log
- Personalised higher limits and data exports
Capabilities
Features
Site Explorer
Keywords Explorer
Site Audit
Rank Tracker
Content Explorer
Competitive analysis
Backlink checker
Keyword research
Google Search Console
Integration with Google Search Console
Google Analytics
Integration with Google Analytics
WordPress
Integration with WordPress
API access
Integration with API access
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
How much does Ahrefs cost?
Starter is 29 USD a month, Lite 129, Standard 249, Advanced 449 and Enterprise 1,499 with an annual commitment. Paying annually saves up to 17 percent, which Ahrefs describes as two months free, and it is arranged through support rather than on the site.
What are Ahrefs credits and when did they start?
Ahrefs replaced unlimited report usage with credits in April 2024. It meters report credits, crawl credits and API units. Lite includes 1,000 credits per user per month; Standard and above are unlimited under a fair use policy. Purchased pay-as-you-go credits last three billing months.
Is Ahrefs or Moz better?
Ahrefs has the deeper and fresher link index and stronger competitive research, and it is the default for link work. Moz is cheaper at entry, owns Domain Authority as a reportable metric, and has a real local listings product. If you report DA to clients or manage multi-location listings, Moz earns its place; otherwise Ahrefs wins on data.
Is there a free version or a trial?
There is Ahrefs Free, limited to Site Explorer and Site Audit on sites you verify you own, so it gives you no competitor data. Ahrefs states it never runs discounts and does not offer a trial of the paid plans.
How many users are included?
One, on every paid tier up to Advanced. Extra seats cost 40 USD a month on Lite, 60 on Standard, 80 on Advanced and 100 on Enterprise, and unpaid additional users are billed automatically as pay-as-you-go.
Behind it
Who makes Ahrefs
- Company
- Ahrefs Pte Ltd
- Based in
- Singapore
Timeline
Ahrefs over time
- Founded2010-01-01
Ahrefs founded in Singapore as a backlink analysis tool
Source
Keep looking
Where to go from Ahrefs
- Ahrefs alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Ahrefs pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Ahrefs badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Marketing softwareThe full category
- Best Marketing softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Marketing software for
Compare Ahrefs with
- Moz
- Octoboard
- Buffer
- Hootsuite
- Vimeo
- Google Analytics
- Zoho Marketing Automation
- CallRail
- Optimove
- Roxhill
- Swydo
- Mailgun
- AB Tasty
- Dreamdata
- Triple Whale
- Adobe Analytics
- Google Analytics
- Mailgun
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Ahrefs, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Ahrefs
Ahrefs alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Ahrefs pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Ahrefs
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Ahrefs badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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