Ahrefs vs Search Atlas (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Search Atlas grades higher than Ahrefs: 2.2 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Search Atlas grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Ahrefs
SEO toolset for backlinks, keyword research, audits and rank tracking
Search Atlas
SEO platform with an agent that applies site fixes on its own
Which one is for you
Pick Ahrefs if
- Fits if most of your SEO time goes on backlinks and what's ranking for rivals
- Works for site owners who only need data on their own verified site, which Ahrefs Free covers
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want daily rankings, as Rank Tracker updates weekly on every plan
- Pricey if you're a small business, at about $107.50 a month for Lite even paid yearly
- Tight if you research a lot on Lite, where each user gets 1,000 credits a month; Starter gets 200
- Pricey if you add people: each plan has one user, and extras cost $40 to $80 a month, capped at 2, 5 or 10
- Watch out: AI writing tools start at $99 a month on top, and there's no trial of any paid plan
Pick Search Atlas if
- Fits if you want fixes applied to your site, not just listed
- Works for agencies that want SEO, local, ads and reports under one login
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you want AI answer tracking, which starts at Growth for $199; Perplexity, Claude and Copilot need Pro at $399
- Tight if you write a lot, as 50,000 credits is about 50 AI articles or 1,500 rank checks
- Not for you if you want an easy refund: it's 48 hours by live chat with under 10% used
- Tight if you're on Starter, with 1 project, 1 seat and OTTO on 1 site
- Watch out: white-label dashboards start at Pro, and Agency, from $999, is sold through sales
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAAhrefsFair | 2.2GPASearch AtlasFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DLite, the plan Ahrefs aims at small businesses, is $129 a month, or $1,290 a year (about $107.50 a month) with the yearly saving. That's nearly three times this category's middle, for one user. Starter is $29, but it's monthly only with 200 credits. | DStarter is $99 a month, billed monthly, for 1 project, 1 seat and 50,000 credits. That's twice this category's middle, and AI answer tracking, the ad tools and a second project all need Growth at $199. |
| Free plan and trial | CAhrefs Free gives you Site Explorer, Site Audit and Web Analytics for sites you can prove are yours, with 5,000 crawl credits a month. That covers your own site, but there's no keyword research or rank tracking, and no trial of the paid plans. | CNo free plan, but a 7-day trial of Starter or Growth with a free one-to-one onboarding session. Refunds after that are narrow: a live-chat request within 48 hours, with under 10% of the quota used. |
| Features | CIts own link index, Site Explorer for any domain, keyword research, audits for 170+ issues, AI prompt tracking, and API and MCP access from Lite. The gap is rank tracking: the listing says it updates weekly on every plan, and Lite caps reports at 1,000 credits a month. | BOTTO applies fixes on 1 to 10 sites, alongside rank tracking, site audits, AI content published to your CMS, backlinks and link building, Business Profile upkeep and ads. The whole job, though Starter has no AI answer tracking. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Credits, projects and crawl budgets take some learning before you know what each click costs you. | CNo rating on record. One credit pool shared across every tool takes planning, and there's a lot of platform to learn, which is why the trial comes with onboarding. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus a browser toolbar, linked to Search Console, Looker Studio and Google Business Profile, with an API and an MCP server from Lite. No desktop or phone app. | BWeb only, connected to WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Google Business Profile, Google Ads and Meta Ads. No desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | backlink and competitor research | SEO fixes applied by an agent |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Ahrefs and Search Atlas. How we grade
Price against what you get
Ahrefs starts at $29 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Search Atlas starts at $99 a month and scores 2.7.
Search Atlas scores higher, and starts $70 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, 6 score higher than Ahrefs for less, and none scores higher than Search Atlas for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Ahrefs also covers keyword research.
- Search Atlas also covers AI agents, AI search visibility, content optimization and local listings.
At a glance
| Ahrefs | Search Atlas | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $29 per month, billed monthly | $99 per month, billed monthly |
| Free plan | Ahrefs Free: Site Explorer, Site Audit (5,000 crawl credits a month per project) and Web Analytics for verified sites, plus the SEO Toolbar and 1 AI Content Helper doc a month. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial on Starter and Growth, with a free 1-on-1 onboarding session |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Ahrefs Pte. Ltd. | Search Atlas |
| Price read from | ahrefs.com | searchatlas.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Ahrefs
- Rank Tracker updates rankings weekly on every plan the pricing page lists.
- Lite caps each user at 1,000 credits a month for reports; Starter has 200 and cannot add users or add-ons.
- Each plan includes one user; extra users cost $40, $60 or $80 a month and are capped at 2, 5 or 10.
- AI writing tools (Content Kit) start at $99 a month, and Project Boosts cost $20 or $200 a month per project.
Search Atlas
- Every action draws on one monthly credit pool: Starter's 50,000 credits cover about 50 AI articles or 1,500 rank checks.
- Starter has no AI visibility tracking, and Perplexity, Claude and Copilot need Pro at $399 a month.
- White-label dashboards start at Pro, and the Agency plan, from $999 a month, is sold through sales.
- Refunds need a live-chat request within 48 hours of payment with under 10% of quota used; annual plans get half back within 72 hours.
Key features
Ahrefs
- Site Explorer
- See the backlinks, organic keywords and top pages of any website, with history going back 6 months to 5 years by plan.
- Keywords Explorer
- Find keyword ideas with volume and difficulty; Standard and above add AI suggestions, clusters, search intents and translations.
- Site Audit
- Crawl your sites for 170+ technical and on-page SEO issues, using 100,000 to 1.5 million crawl credits a month by plan.
- Rank Tracker
- Track 750 to 5,000 keywords on the self-serve plans, with rankings updated weekly.
- Brand Radar and AI prompts
- Plans track 5 to 20 of your own prompts in AI chat tools daily. Brand Radar AI, for researching any brand's AI mentions, starts at $199 a month.
- API and MCP server
- Every plan from Lite includes API and MCP access, capped at 100 to 500 rows per request below Enterprise.
Search Atlas
- OTTO SEO
- Applies technical fixes, on-page improvements and content changes to a site straight from live search data, on 1 to 10 sites depending on plan.
- AI content and publishing
- Content Genius writes and edits articles and publishes them to WordPress, Shopify, Webflow or other CMSs, paid for from the credit pool.
- Rank tracking and site audit
- Tracks 2,000 to 50,000 keywords and audits 50,000 pages on Starter up to unlimited on Agency, with on-page audits and a site explorer.
- LLM visibility
- From Growth, tracks your brand in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode; Pro adds Copilot, Perplexity and Claude for six AI platforms.
- Local SEO
- GBP Galactic keeps Google Business Profiles up to date, from 3 profiles on Starter to 100 on Agency, alongside local citation tools.
- Links, PR and ads
- Backlink analysis, link building and press release tools, plus Google and Meta ad builders from the Growth plan.
Plans
Ahrefs
Ahrefs Free$0
Limited Site Explorer and Site Audit for websites you verify as yours. No Keywords Explorer or Rank Tracker.
Starter$29
per month, billed monthly
200 report credits a month, with Keywords Explorer, Rank Tracker and Site Audit. Monthly only; no extra users or add-ons.
Lite$129
per month, billed monthly
1 user, 5 projects, 750 tracked keywords, 6 months of history, 1,000 credits a month, 100,000 crawl credits, API and MCP access.
Standard$249
per month, billed monthly
1 user, 20 projects, 2,000 tracked keywords, 2 years of history, unlimited credits, Content Explorer and keyword clusters.
Advanced$449
per month, billed monthly
1 user, 50 projects, 5,000 tracked keywords, 5 years of history, 1.5 million crawl credits and Looker Studio integration.
Enterprise$1,499
per month, annual commitment required
From 3 users, 100 projects, unlimited history, uncapped API, SSO and audit log. Sold through sales.
Search Atlas
Starter$99
per month, billed monthly
1 project, 1 seat, 50,000 credits a month, 2,000 tracked keywords, 50,000 audit pages, OTTO on 1 site and 3 Business Profiles. No AI visibility.
Growth$199
per month, billed monthly
2 projects, 3 seats, 120,000 credits, 3,500 keywords, OTTO on 2 sites, Google and Meta ad studio, and AI tracking in ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Mode.
Pro$399
per month, billed monthly
4 projects, 5 seats, 400,000 credits, 6,000 keywords, white-label reports, and AI tracking that adds Copilot, Perplexity and Claude.
Agency$999
per month and up, billed monthly
10 projects, 10 seats, 1 million+ credits, 50,000 keywords, client portals, unlimited audit pages and 250 AI queries. Sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
Ahrefs
- Annual discount
Save up to 17% by paying annually
Ahrefs' pricing page offers up to 17% off for annual billing on Lite, Standard and Advanced. Existing monthly customers switch by contacting support.
Search Atlas
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Ahrefs or Search Atlas?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Ahrefs is cheaper to start with: $29 a month, against $99 a month for Search Atlas. Ahrefs starts at $29 per month, billed monthly, and Search Atlas starts at $99 per month, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, Ahrefs or Search Atlas?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Ahrefs has a free plan. Search Atlas does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Ahrefs and Search Atlas run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Ahrefs lists a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.