Ahrefs vs XOVI (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, XOVI grades higher than Ahrefs: 2.4 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
XOVI grades higher on value for money and features. They get the same grade on 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
XOVI
SEO suite with rank tracking, site audits, disavow and client reports
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 XOVI if
- Fits if you run an agency with lots of client sites, as projects are unlimited
- Works for tracking rankings in many countries on desktop and mobile
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if your team needs logins on Pro, which has one full-access user; extra accounts are $10 a month
- Skip it if AI answer tracking is the point, as Riva is separate, covers ChatGPT, and costs $29 to $49 a month
- Pricey if you need more rank checks, with extra checks an add-on from $20 a month
- Watch out: extra disavow analysis and API credits are add-ons from $39 and $50 a month
- Not for you if you want a free plan, as there's only the 14-day trial
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAAhrefsFair | 2.4GPAXOVIFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CPro is $89.10 a month billed yearly ($99 monthly) for 1 user, unlimited projects and 2,500 keyword checks a week. That's at the edge of this category's dearer quarter. Riva, the AI tracker, is $29 a month more as an add-on, at a launch discount. |
| 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 14-day trial with no credit card required. |
| 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. | BKeyword research, rank tracking in 196+ countries with the OVI score, site audits turned into a task list, backlink and disavow analysis, a text optimizer, an AI writer and white-label reports. The whole job, with AI answers sold apart. |
| 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. The Advisor gives you a task list, but there's a weekly check allowance to plan around and a lot of modules to learn. |
| 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 Google Analytics, Search Console and Matomo, with 500,000 API credits on Pro. No desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | backlink and competitor research | agencies with lots of client sites |
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 XOVI. 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. XOVI starts at $89.10 a month and scores 2.7.
XOVI scores higher, and starts $60.10 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 XOVI 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
- XOVI also covers reports and content optimization.
At a glance
| Ahrefs | XOVI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $29 per month, billed monthly | $89.10 per month, billed annually ($99 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 | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Ahrefs Pte. Ltd. | WebPros Germany GmbH |
| Price read from | ahrefs.com | xovi.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.
XOVI
- AI visibility tracking is a separate product, Riva: $49 per domain a month alone, or a $29 add-on to XOVI at a launch discount. It covers ChatGPT.
- Rank tracking runs on a weekly allowance of keyword checks, 2,500 on Pro; more checks are an add-on from $20 a month.
- Pro has one full-access login and no read-only client accounts; extra accounts cost $10 a month.
- Extra disavow analysis and API credits are add-ons from $39 and $50 a month.
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.
XOVI
- Keyword research
- Search a database XOVI puts at 25 million keywords, find user questions, and group keywords in a planner for new pages or product categories.
- Rank Tracker and OVI
- Tracks chosen keywords on all devices, from local to international, in 196+ countries, with the OVI index summing up visibility for the set.
- Site Audit and Advisor
- Crawls 50,000 to 500,000 URLs per project by plan and turns the problems found into a prioritized task list in the Advisor.
- Links and disavow analysis
- Shows the sources, targets and anchor texts of your backlinks and rivals', updated weekly, and rates link quality to build a disavow list.
- Text optimizer and AI Writer
- Compares a text with the top 10 results on Google or Amazon and lists terms to add or cut; the AI Writer drafts copy from keyword data.
- Reporting and Search Analytics
- White-label reports sent by email on a schedule, with data pulled in from Google Analytics, Search Console and Matomo.
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.
XOVI
XOVI Pro$89.10
per month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
1 full-access user, unlimited projects, 2,500 keyword checks a week, 50,000 URLs crawled per project and 500,000 API credits.
XOVI Business$134.10
per month, billed annually ($149 billed monthly)
3 full-access and 3 read-only accounts, 3,500 keyword checks a week, 100,000 URLs per crawl and 750,000 API credits.
XOVI Enterprise$449.10
per month, billed annually ($499 billed monthly)
10 full-access and 30 read-only accounts, 10,000 keyword checks a week, 500,000 URLs per crawl and 1.5 million API credits.
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.
XOVI
- Annual discount
Save 10% with annual billing
XOVI's pricing page lists annual billing at up to 10% less: Pro is $89.10 a month instead of $99, and Enterprise $449.10 instead of $499.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Ahrefs or XOVI?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Ahrefs is cheaper to start with: $29 a month, against $89.10 a month for XOVI. Ahrefs starts at $29 per month, billed monthly, and XOVI starts at $89.10 per month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Ahrefs or XOVI?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Ahrefs has a free plan. XOVI does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Ahrefs and XOVI 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.