Ahrefs
SEO · ahrefs.com
Ahrefs is an SEO and marketing platform offering tools for site analysis, keyword research, rank tracking, site audits, content research, brand/AI visibility tracking, and reporting, built on its own web crawler and index.
Switching to SEO PowerSuite saves $348 / year and covers 58% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Ahrefs alternatives
We compared 9 products and found 4 cheaper alternatives · vs Ahrefs Starter at $29/mo · scenario: single user, monthly billing, USD.
Ahrefs’s own free plan covers this scenario. If you’re paying for features you don’t use, downgrading beats switching. The paid comparison below is for when you’ve outgrown free tiers — the “Free plans” view shows alternatives if you want free with different limits.
Ahrefs costs $29/mo on the Starter plan at single user, monthly billing. We found 4 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 0 of them cover at least 75% of the 12 compared capabilities. Ahrefs's own free plan covers this scenario, so downgrading may beat switching.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Paid Version (licence) plan · missing: Rank tracking, Keyword research, Competitor analysis, API access, AI search visibility, Content optimization, Local SEO, Pageview analytics, Data export, Analytics API technical seo — adjacent | 17% | $16.58/mo how? ⓘ | $149 / year 43% cheaper | |
TOP PICK Mangools Basic plan · missing: Site audit, Pageview analytics, Data export, Analytics API | 67% | $18.85/mo how? ⓘ | $121.80 / year 35% cheaper |
Which Ahrefs alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best free plan
- SEO PowerSuite — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 58%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider — $0/mo (Free Version plan) · covers 17%
- Best paid drop-in
- Mangools — $18.85/mo (Basic plan) · covers 67%
- Need rank tracking, keyword research, backlink analysis, site audit, competitor analysis, content optimization or local SEO?
- SEO PowerSuite — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need API access?
- Semrush — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need AI search visibility?
- Mangools — from $18.85/mo (Basic plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Ahrefs has that the top alternatives lack.
- Rank tracking — Track keyword rankings over time.Missing from Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- Keyword research — Research keywords and their search volume.Missing from Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- Site audit — Scan a site for technical SEO issues.Missing from Mangools.
- Competitor analysis — Compare your site's SEO performance against competitors.Missing from Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- API access — Pull SEO data programmatically via an API.Missing from SEO PowerSuite, Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- AI search visibility — Track how a site appears in AI-generated search answers.Missing from SEO PowerSuite, Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- Content optimization — Get suggestions to improve a page's content for search rankings.Missing from Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- Local SEO — Track and optimize rankings for local search results.Missing from Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- Pageview analytics — Track how many times each page is viewed.Missing from SEO PowerSuite, Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Mangools.
- Data export — Export raw analytics data for use in other tools.Missing from SEO PowerSuite, Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Mangools.
- Analytics API — Pull analytics data programmatically via an API.Missing from SEO PowerSuite, Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Mangools.
Feature comparison
Ahrefs vs the top alternatives, on the 12 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Ahrefs | SEO PowerSuite | Semrush | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Mangools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank tracking from Lite | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Keyword research from Lite | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Backlink analysis from Lite | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Site audit from Lite | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Competitor analysis from Lite | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| API access from Lite | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| AI search visibility from Lite | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Content optimization from Lite | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Local SEO from Lite | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Pageview analytics from Lite | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Data export from Lite | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Analytics API from Lite | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $29/mo Starter | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free Version | $18.85/mo Basic |
✓ means the product offers the capability — possibly only on a higher tier than the plan priced below it. The price row shows the cheapest plan that qualifies for our comparison scenario, with its plan name; a $0 free plan may not include every checked capability.
What Ahrefs covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ Rank tracking — from Lite
- ✓ Keyword research — from Lite
- ✓ Backlink analysis — from Lite
- ✓ Site audit — from Lite
- ✓ Competitor analysis — from Lite
- ✓ API access — from Lite
- ✓ AI search visibility — from Lite
- ✓ Content optimization — from Lite
- ✓ Local SEO — from Lite
- ✓ Pageview analytics — from Lite
- ✓ Data export — from Lite
- ✓ Analytics API — from Lite
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://ahrefs.com/pricing (official_pricing, checked 2026-08-26)
Frequently asked
How much does Ahrefs cost?
Ahrefs's Starter plan costs $29/mo in our scenario (single user, monthly billing). A free plan exists.
Is there a free Ahrefs alternative?
Yes. SEO PowerSuite has a free plan that covers 58% of the 12 capabilities we compared against Ahrefs.
What is the cheapest Ahrefs alternative?
In our scenario (single user, monthly billing), SEO PowerSuite is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
Does Ahrefs have a free plan?
Yes. Ahrefs's free plan exists; its limits are not stated on the pricing page.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-08-26 and 2026-09-12, on the vendors' official pricing pages.