Ahrefs: features, pricing and alternatives

Ahrefs is an SEO platform best known for its backlink data. You use it to see who links to any website, which keywords a site ranks for, what is broken on your own site, and, more recently, how often AI assistants mention your brand.

Who is Ahrefs for?

Ahrefs suits people who do SEO as a core part of their job: freelance SEOs, agencies and in-house marketing teams. The plans are priced for regular professional use. Small site owners can start with Ahrefs Free for their own site or the low-cost Starter plan for keyword research.

What are Ahrefs' main features?

Site Explorer

Enter any domain or URL to see its estimated organic traffic, top pages, the keywords it ranks for and its full backlink profile. Each backlink shows the anchor text and the page it comes from. This is how most people use Ahrefs for competitor research and link building. Ahrefs says its index holds 494 billion pages and 35 trillion historical external backlinks. For practical tactics, read our guide to finding competitor backlinks.

Keywords Explorer

Keywords Explorer is Ahrefs' keyword research tool. It gives search volume, keyword difficulty, search intent and the pages that rank today, with their ranking history. Higher plans add keyword clusters, AI suggestions and translations. Ahrefs says its keyword data covers 217 locations. See our guide on how to do keyword research for SEO.

Site Audit and Rank Tracker

Site Audit crawls your site and flags technical issues such as slow pages, broken links, redirects and duplicate or thin content. Rank Tracker follows your keyword positions over time next to your competitors.

Brand Radar and AI visibility

Brand Radar tracks prompts in AI assistants and shows where your brand, and your competitors, appear in AI answers. Each main plan includes a number of prompt checks per month, and Ahrefs sells extra prompt packages and a standalone Brand Radar AI product.

API and MCP

Every main plan now includes API access and an MCP server, so you can pull Ahrefs data into your own dashboards or AI assistants. Row limits per request grow with the plan.

How much does Ahrefs cost?

Prices below were checked on Ahrefs' pricing page on 1 November 2026, as shown to a US visitor.

Plan	Monthly	Paid annually
Starter	$29 per month	–
Lite	$129 per month	$1,290 per year
Standard	$249 per month	$2,490 per year
Advanced	$449 per month	$4,490 per year
Enterprise	–	$1,499 per month, annual commitment

Each main plan includes one user. Extra users and pay-as-you-go credits cost more. Add-ons such as Content Kit, Report Builder and Traffic Analytics are sold separately. There is no free trial, but Ahrefs Free gives website owners limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit.

What do users say about Ahrefs?

On G2, Ahrefs holds 4.5 out of 5 from 723 reviews. Reviewers most often praise its ease of use and keyword research. The most common complaints are about price: "expensive" and "high costs" are the top two negative themes. Its quality of support score (8.4 out of 10) is lower than its scores for meeting requirements (9.0) and ease of setup (9.0).

When should you choose an alternative?

You want one suite with stronger paid search and content tools: compare with Semrush.
You need a lower price for basic keyword and rank data: look at Ubersuggest or KWFinder.
You care most about competitors' paid search history: SpyFu focuses on it.
You want to compare more options: see our list of Ahrefs alternatives and our Ahrefs vs Moz comparison.

Key features

Site Explorer. Shows the organic traffic, top pages, backlinks and referring domains of any website or URL.
Keywords Explorer. Keyword ideas with search volume, keyword difficulty, search intent, keyword clusters and SERP history.
Site Audit. Crawls your site and reports technical SEO issues such as broken links, redirects, slow pages and duplicate content.
Rank Tracker. Tracks your keyword positions against competitors, updated weekly.
Brand Radar. Tracks prompts in AI assistants and shows how often your brand and competitors appear in AI answers.
API and MCP server. Lets you pull Ahrefs data into your own reports or into AI assistants on every main plan.

Ahrefs pricing

Plan	Price	Notes
Ahrefs Free	Free	Limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit for sites you own
Starter	$29 per month	Keyword research and competitor lookups
Lite	$129 per month, or $1,290 per year paid annually	1 user, 6 months of history, 750 tracked keywords, 100,000 crawl credits, API and MCP access
Standard	$249 per month, or $2,490 per year paid annually	2 years of history, 2,000 tracked keywords, adds Content Explorer, Portfolios and Batch Analysis
Advanced	$449 per month, or $4,490 per year paid annually	5 years of history, 5,000 tracked keywords, adds Looker Studio integration
Enterprise	$1,499 per month, annual commitment required	Unlimited history, uncapped API access, SSO and audit log

From the vendor's pricing page on November 1, 2026. Prices can change; check the vendor's site before you buy.

Ahrefs FAQ

Does Ahrefs have a free trial?

No. Ahrefs says it never runs discounts. Website owners can use Ahrefs Free, which gives limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit for their own sites.

How much does Ahrefs cost?

On 1 November 2026 the US pricing page listed Starter at $29 per month and the main plans from $129 per month (Lite) to $449 per month (Advanced), with about 17% off when paid yearly. Enterprise starts at $1,499 per month on an annual commitment.

Can I cancel Ahrefs at any time?

Yes. Ahrefs states there are no contracts or setup fees, and you keep access until the end of the billing period. After that the account moves to Ahrefs Free.

Is Ahrefs better than Semrush?

Both cover keyword research, backlinks, audits and rank tracking. G2 reviewers praise Ahrefs most for keyword research and ease of use, and criticise its cost. See our Ahrefs vs Moz comparison and list of Ahrefs alternatives for other options.