# Ahrefs

> SEO toolset for backlinks, keyword research, audits and rank tracking

Ahrefs is a web-based SEO toolset built on its own crawler's index of pages and links. Site Explorer shows any site's backlinks, ranking keywords and top pages, alongside keyword research, site audits, rank tracking and tracking of how brands appear in AI answers. A free account covers sites you can prove you own.

- **Category:** SEO Tools
- **Made by:** Ahrefs Pte. Ltd.
- **Website:** https://ahrefs.com
- **Runs on:** Web, Browser extension
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026

## Pricing

Ahrefs has a free plan. Paid plans start at $29 per month, billed monthly.

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **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.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. |

Read from https://ahrefs.com/pricing on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Ahrefs before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Save up to 17% by paying annually** (Annual discount): Ahrefs' pricing page offers up to 17% off for annual billing on Lite, Standard and Advanced. Existing monthly customers switch by contacting support. Source: https://ahrefs.com/pricing

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

- SEOs who spend most of their time on backlinks and competitor research
- Site owners who want free audits and ranking data for their own sites
- Freelancers and consultants who can work within one included user

## Worth knowing

- 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.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.0 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. Ahrefs is the one SEO people reach for when they want to see a rival's links and best pages, because it runs its own crawler and index. Lite is $129 a month, or about $107.50 on yearly billing, for one user. But rankings update weekly on every plan, and Lite caps each user at 1,000 report credits a month.

- **Value for money: D.** Lite, 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.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** Ahrefs Free gives you Site Explorer, Site Audit and Web Analytics for sites you can prove are yours, with 5,000 crawl credits a month. Handy for your own site, but there's no keyword research or rank tracking, and no trial of the paid plans.
- **Features: C.** Its 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.
- **Ease of use: C.** No rating on record. The reports are clean, but credits, projects and crawl budgets take some learning before you know what each click costs you.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web 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.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Ahrefs's own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among SEO tools

- Ahrefs's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 1 of the 21 other SEO tools we grade, and level with 4.
- It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 6 of 21) and worst on value for money (D, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $29 a month, against a middle price of $34.45 for the category: 8 of the 21 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 4 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/seo

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace Ahrefs you would be making search volumes for millions of keywords, gathered and kept up to date. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 16 of the 21 other SEO tools grade higher. It costs $348 a year.

- You could not: Search volumes for millions of keywords, gathered and kept up to date.
- You could not: An index of the links between billions of web pages.
- You could not: Daily checks of where your pages rank in search results.
- You could not: A crawler that checks every page of a site.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Google Search Console, Looker Studio and Google Business Profile among them, and has an API.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Google Search Console, Looker Studio, Google Business Profile

**Tags:** Keyword research, Backlink analysis, Rank tracking, Site audit, AI features, Public API

## Alternatives

- [Semrush](https://toolgpa.com/tools/semrush): SEO suite for keyword research, rank tracking and AI search visibility. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ahrefs-vs-semrush)
- [SE Ranking](https://toolgpa.com/tools/se-ranking): SEO platform for rank tracking, audits, research and AI visibility. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ahrefs-vs-se-ranking)
- [Moz Pro](https://toolgpa.com/tools/moz-pro): SEO toolkit for keyword and link research, site crawls and rankings. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ahrefs-vs-moz-pro)
- [Serpstat](https://toolgpa.com/tools/serpstat): All-in-one SEO platform for research, rank tracking and site audits. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ahrefs-vs-serpstat)
- [Mangools](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mangools): Bundle of five SEO tools led by the KWFinder keyword research app. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ahrefs-vs-mangools)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026:

- https://ahrefs.com/pricing
- https://ahrefs.com/free
- https://ahrefs.com/blog/starter-plan/
- https://ahrefs.com/about

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/ahrefs
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).