Ahrefs alternatives
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 75% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Ahrefs alternatives
We compared 13 products and found 7 cheaper options (4 of them cover at least half the compared features) · 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 7 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 3 of them cover at least 75% of the 4 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 technical seo — adjacent | 50% | $16.58/mo how? ⓘ | $149 / year 43% cheaper | |
Sitebulb Lite plan · missing: Rank tracking, Keyword research, Backlink analysis | 25% | $18/mo how? ⓘ | $132 / year 38% cheaper | |
TOP PICK Mangools Basic plan · missing: Site audit | 75% | $18.85/mo how? ⓘ | $121.80 / year 35% cheaper | |
EngineeringScore Starter plan · missing: Rank tracking, Keyword research, Backlink analysis | 25% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $120 / year 34% 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 Forever plan) · covers 75%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider — $16.58/mo (Paid Version (licence) plan) · covers 50%
- Best paid drop-in
- Mangools — $18.85/mo (Basic plan) · covers 75%
- Need rank tracking, backlink analysis or site audit?
- SEO PowerSuite — from $0/mo (Free Forever plan)
- Need keyword research?
- Seobility — from $0/mo (Basic (Free) plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Ahrefs has that the top alternatives lack.
- Rank tracking — Track keyword rankings over time.Missing from Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- Keyword research — Research keywords and their search volume.Missing from SEO PowerSuite, Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- Backlink analysis — Analyze the backlinks pointing to a site.Missing from Seobility.
- Site audit — Scan a site for technical SEO issues.Missing from Semrush.
Feature comparison
Ahrefs vs the top alternatives, on the 4 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Ahrefs | SEO PowerSuite | Seobility | Semrush | Screaming Frog SEO Spider |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank tracking from Starter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Keyword research from Starter | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Backlink analysis from Starter | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Site audit from Starter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $29/mo Starter | $0/mo Free Forever | $0/mo Basic (Free) | $0/mo Free | $16.58/mo Paid Version (licence) |
✓ 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 Starter
- ✓ Keyword research — from Starter
- ✓ Backlink analysis — from Starter
- ✓ Site audit — from Starter
- ↑ Competitor analysis — only from Lite, not compared
- ↑ API access — only from Lite, not compared
- ↑ AI search visibility — only from Lite, not compared
- ↑ Content optimization — only from Lite, not compared
- ↑ Local SEO — only from Lite, not compared
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Who switched
Anonymous: no account, no email, no IP stored. Reports are shown once a switch has 3 or more and never change ranking or order — alternatives are computed from prices and capabilities only.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://ahrefs.com/pricing (official_pricing, checked 2026-10-26)
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 75% of the 4 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 Forever plan).
What is the cheapest Ahrefs alternative with Keyword research?
Seobility covers Keyword research and costs $0/mo (Basic (Free) plan) in our scenario.
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 2026-10-26 and 2026-10-29, on the vendors' official pricing pages.