Last Updated on September 4, 2023 by Alex Birkett
Ahrefs is one of my favorite SEO tools. I use it nearly every day.
But it’s not for everyone. It’s expensive, and recent pricing changes have made it infeasible for many teams to adopt.
Luckily the SEO software landscape is vast. There are tools that compete head-to-head with Ahrefs as well as many point solutions that do individual things better than Ahrefs.
This piece will cover 13 of my favorite Ahrefs alternatives.
I’ll cover pricing information, what the product does best, who it’s best for, and how it compares to Ahrefs.
What is Ahrefs (and Why Do People Love It)?
Ahrefs is a toolset designed for SEO. It’s an all-in-one solution that has tools for keyword research, competitor research, content gap analysis, rank tracking, technical audits and more.
While Ahrefs does a lot of things, it’s best known for three features in particular: Content Explorer, Keywords Explorer, and Site Explorer.
The Content Explorer is a tool that allows you to find popular content across the web.
Just enter in a topic or keyword and you’ll get a list of the most popular pieces of content on that topic (along with some key metrics like social shares page value, and backlinks).
Keywords Explorer lets you run pretty advanced keyword research operations, from auditing the dimensions of a single keyword (such as monthly search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, and global search volume), to ideating tons of long tail keyword variations like “people also ask,” keyword ideas, and featured snippets.
The Site Explorer is a tool that allows you to see how any website is performing in Google. Just enter in a domain and you’ll see detailed information about things like their traffic, organic keywords, backlinks, and more.
These three features are just the tip of the iceberg with Ahrefs. But they’re a good indication of what Ahrefs does best: helping you understand what content is already out there and how to improve your SEO.
They also have a keyword rank tracker and site audit feature that are super useful.
Within each of their primary tools, they have dozens of reports.
For example, in the Site Explorer tool, I can create a content gap analysis to see what my competitors are ranking for that I’m not. These keyword analysis tools are super helpful for content research and planning.
Who is Ahrefs Best For?
Ahrefs is best for SEO professionals and digital marketers who are looking for an all-in-one solution.
If you’re just getting started in SEO, Ahrefs may be overkill (and over budget). There are other options that may be better suited for your needs.
Likewise, if you’re looking for a tool that does just one thing (like keyword research, rank tracking, or backlink profile analysis), there are more focused and cheaper options available.
But if you’re looking for an all-in-one SEO solution, Ahrefs is tough to beat. As a content agency, we use this every day and for all of our clients.
What Does Ahrefs Cost?
Ahrefs recently changed their pricing structure and it’s now subscription-based with four tiers: Lite ($99 per month), Standard ($199 per month), Advanced ($399 per month), and Enterprise (custom pricing).
Lite gives you access to most of the features but limits you to 750 tracked keywords, 5 keyword lists in the keywords explorer tool, and 2,500 rows of data per report.
In the standard plan, those limits increase quite dramatically, and you get access to tools like content explorer, batch analysis, and domain comparison (as well as report sharing).
They do have a free version of some of their tools, like their backlink checker. Very limited in its scope though.
Editor’s note: I’m going to use some affiliate links when possible to try to earn some revenue from my content. These don’t change the opinions espoused in the content nor the style in which they are written. If I think a product sucks, I’m not going to say otherwise. This is just a bonus and a way to fund the whole operation. Anyway, enjoy the article!
The 13 Best Ahrefs Alternatives in 2022
- SE Ranking
- Semrush
- Serpstat
- Screaming Frog
- Frase
- Surfer SEO
- GrowthBar
- UberSuggest
- Keywords Everywhere
- KeywordInsights
- Majestic
- AnswerThePublic
- Moz
1. SE Ranking
SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO platform that offers a similar feature set to Ahrefs. It includes tools for keyword research, rank tracking, site auditing, competitor analysis, and more.
I find some of their features even cooler than Ahrefs’ – like the SERP tracker. Instead of simple rank tracking, you get a snapshot in time of the whole search engine results page, complete with metrics like page quality score, number of linking domains, and an organic traffic forecast.
One of the things that sets SERanking apart is its price. It’s significantly cheaper than Ahrefs with plans starting at just $18.72/month.
In addition, they have a set of B2B features focused on agencies, such as a white label license, SEO reporting features, and a lead generation feature (where you can add a site checker widget to your site to collect leads).
They also have a new content marketing tool. This is essentially a Surfer or Clearscope alternative that takes a keyword and gives you a content brief as well as a Google Docs style editor with a bunch of related keyword suggestions. This helps you optimize the on-page SEO aspects of your content.
SE Ranking is also known for its ease of use. The interface is clean and easy to navigate which makes it a good choice for SEO beginners.
This is my go-to Ahrefs alternative.
Price: Starts at just $18.72 per month for weekly rank tracking if you pay annually. Add-ons are needed for tools like the content marketing features
G2 Score: 4.8/5
2. Semrush
Semrush is probably the biggest Ahrefs alternative. It’s an all-in-one SEO platform, but it actually has a ton of extra features compared to Ahrefs, notably for PPC and SEM marketers.
Like Ahrefs, Semrush offers tools for keyword research, rank tracking, competitor analysis, site auditing, and more.
I like that Semrush invests in ‘micro-tools’ like their SEO writing assistant (a Google Docs add-on for content optimization) and their Surround Sound SEO tool (to help you monopolize the SERPs, not just rank your page).
Semrush is a public company with tons of passionate customers, a thriving community, and a team that continues to invest in R&D.
To be honest, even though I use Ahrefs at my agency, we could easily swap it out for Semrush. It’s just a matter of user interface preference mostly, with a few extra features on the margins.
But by and large, you can get the same stuff done with Semrush that you can with Ahrefs.
Price: Pro version starts at $119.95/monthly, and they have a free trial.
G2 Score: 4.6/5
3. Serpstat
Serpstat is a powerful all-in-one SEO platform and Ahrefs alternative with tons of features.
It has more than 40 tools (!!) for SEO and PPC professionals.
These include organic search tools to help you conduct a whole site analysis, analyze competitors, collect semantics, check backlinks, perform a website audit, cluster keywords, and a rank tracker to track your keyword positions.
They also offer a really neat tool called ‘Site Audit’ which will crawl your website and give you a list of SEO issues to fix to boost search results and search traffic.
The one downside is that the interface can be overwhelming and it’s not as user-friendly as some of the other tools on this list.
Still, I love Serpstat, especially for their API access, where you can build custom data reporting and SEO tools.
Price: Starts at $69/mo for the Lite version, which gives you access to some 20 tools. Next plan with all tools starts at $149/mo (this is where the API credits start, a powerful piece of the platform).
G2 Score: 4.6/5
4. Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog is the gold standard for website crawling and site audits. It’s a desktop application that you can use to crawl websites and generate reports on things like broken links, duplicate content, redirects, and more.
While Screaming Frog doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of an all-in-one SEO platform, it’s an essential tool for any SEO professional.
The density of data you get from Screaming Frog is incredible compared to Ahrefs (which is super limited in its site audit features). Things you can do:
- Find broken links, errorts, and redirects
- Analyze page titles and meta data
- Review meta robots and directives
- Audit hreflang attributes
- Discover exact duplicate pages
- Generate XML sitemaps
- Site visualizations and link graphs
- Crawl comparisons
And tons more.
Comparing Screaming Frog vs Ahrefs isn’t really fair, as I don’t even look at it as an Ahrefs alternative; it’s more of a core piece of the SEO tech stack.
Price: There’s a free version, and then the full-featured paid version is $209 per year
G2 Score: 4.6/5
5. Frase
Frase is an AI-powered SEO platform that helps you optimize your content. It includes features like topic research, keyword research, SEO audits, and more.
One of the things that sets Frase apart is its focus on content optimization. If you’re looking for a tool to help you create better content, Frase is definitely worth checking out.
In this vein, they have a few features to help you from the research process to content creation and all the way through to monitoring and optimizing content.
You start out by choosing a new document. Type in your target keyword and then decide whether you want to create new content or optimize existing content.
Then you’ll be dropped into a Google Docs style editor, and on the right-hand sidebar you can choose individual features like:
- Research (where you pull insights from the top 20 pages ranking in the SERPs)
- Outline (that gives you a content brief)
- AI write (an AI copywriting tool)
- Optimize (giving you a target score and suggested long tail keywords to include in the piece)
- Links (which shows you internal links and backlinks)
Frase is a smart solution, and while it may lack some of the keyword research and site audit functionality, it makes up for it in content optimization and artificial intelligence incorporation.
Price: Solo plan starts at just $14.99/mo
G2 Score: 4.8/5
6. Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is also a content analysis and optimization platform that helps you optimize on-page SEO.
They also have keyword research functionality, but their main value is in content research, optimization, and monitoring.
They also integrate directly with Jasper, my favorite AI writing tool. The combination of these two is like trenbolone for content marketers. It skyrockets my productivity, and I’ve also noticed my content ranks much more easily when I use Surfer.
While it can’t fully replace Ahrefs functionality (notably: competitive research, backlink analysis, and keyword research), they do seem to be slowly building out a feature set that competes pretty well with Ahrefs.
And Ahrefs still has no content optimization functionality for on-page SEO, so whether or not you’re trying to replace Ahrefs, Surfer is worth looking into.
I personally use Surfer SEO (and wrote a huge review about it):
Price: While they do have a free plan, it’s limited to “Grow Flow,” which is a project manager of sorts. Paid plans start at $49/month, and that gives you 10 articles / month (that’s the plan I’m on)
G2 Score: 4.8/5
7. GrowthBar
GrowthBar is a newer solution on the SEO market, but it’s a powerful one.
Like Ahrefs, they have keyword research and backlink analysis functionality. And like Frase and Surfer, they have content optimization functionality.
They also have generative AI functionality, allowing you to write content alongside their AI writing assistant.
They seem to add features rapidly compared to other Ahrefs alternatives, so even if it isn’t a full stack replacement, it may be eventually. Keep an eye on this one.
Price: Standard plan starts at $48 / month (with a big discount if you pay annually). They also offer a 7 day free trial
G2 Score: 4.9/5
8. UberSuggest
UberSuggest is probably the most popular free SEO tool and Ahrefs alternative. It specializes in keyword research.
The downside is this tool was bought by Neil Patel, and it seems to be mostly used as lead generation for NP Digital, his agency (you can tell because of the immediate inundation of popups when you land on the website).
That’s not to say it’s not valuable. But I’m sure I’d replace all of my Ahrefs (or any Ahrefs alternatives on this list) solely with UberSuggest unless you’re on a real budget.
I mean, seriously, look at this fake urgency countdown timer. Hate that stuff:
Price: $12 / month for the starter plan
G2 Score: 4.2/5
9. Keywords Everywhere
Keywords Everywhere is a free keyword research tool and it’s amazing.
Truly one of my favorites.
It shows you search volume, CPC, and competition data for keywords right in the SERP. It also integrates with a bunch of popular SEO tools like Moz, SEMrush, and more.
The main downside is that it’s a browser plugin, so it only works on desktop. But given that SEO is still primarily a desktop activity, I think it’s worth using.
Massive fan of this tool. It’s a core part of my “land and expand” keyword research strategy I used to map out comprehensive clusters of long tail keywords (ask me about it).
Price: free! They work on a credits model to download all the data available, and it’s $10 for 100,000 credits (this is super generous)
G2 Score: NA
10. KeywordInsights
KeywordInsights is a newer keyword tool that I just discovered.
I love it.
To be honest, I’m jealous that I didn’t build it. When I was at HubSpot, I always dreamt of building features like keyword clustering, automated intent classification, content briefs, and SERP analysis.
This is a tool for advanced content marketers and SEOs, and it’s probably not a complete replacement for Ahrefs (though it does have incredibly powerful keyword research functionality – in some ways, I like their keyword research tool *better* than Ahrefs’).
But if you’re looking for a more sophisticated content marketing solution, this is the tool for you.
Price: They have multiple payment methods, including a subscription (starts at $49/mo), or pay-as-you-go (more complicated to explain, but works on a credit model).
G2 Score: NA
11. Majestic
Majestic is an Ahrefs alternative that is popular with larger enterprises.
The main difference is that Majestic focuses on backlink data, while Ahrefs focuses on keyword data. So if you’re looking for a tool that’s purely for backlink data analysis and monitoring, Majestic is a good choice.
Gonna be totally honest: I haven’t used Majestic in years. I hear mixed things, but it’s specialized on link building, so if that’s your thing, it’s worth a try.
Price: Starts at $49.99/month for one user seat
G2 Score: 4.3/5
12. AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is one of my favorite free keyword research tools out there. It’s so easy to use.
All you do is enter a head keyword and it gives you hundreds of long tail permutations of that seed phrase. This is amazing for building out comprehensive clusters and topical maps. It’s also great for SEO content ideation.
AnswerThePublic doesn’t give you search volume or CPC data or any other SEO metrics, but it’s still a valuable tool for any SEO’s toolkit.
Also, Neil Patel just bought this one too, so we’ll see how this plays out in the near future. I’m already taking a lot of my long tail clustering over to KeywordInsights just out of precaution.
Price: free and paid plans available. Free to use for a few searches, and then it’s $99/month for unlimited searches and up to three user seats.
G2 Score: 4.5/5
13. Moz
Moz is the O.G. all-in-one SEO software. Unfortunately, they seem to have fallen off in the past several years, and now I know very few content marketers or SEOs who use the tool.
However, Moz is still a relevant tool, especially for their SEO blog and Mozbar (a browser plugin that shows you SEO data for any website).
They also have some unique features like Serviceable Locations and SEO Keyword Difficulty that other SEO tools don’t have.
Moz actually has a few different product lines now:
- Moz Pro (the classic all-in-one SEO platform you know and love)
- Moz Local (local SEO platform)
- Stat (enterprise rank tracking solution)
- Mozscape API (comprehensive link metrics)
Price: Moz Pro starts at $99/mo
G2 Score: 4.4/5
Wrap up on Ahrefs Alternatives
There you have it – the 13 best Ahrefs alternatives. SEO is an ever-changing landscape, and there are new tools popping up all the time. So I’ll be sure to keep this list updated as new SEO software emerges.
Also, I deliberately omitted tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics, assuming everyone is using these already or already knows about the.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for an SEO platform that has all the features of Ahrefs (and more) without Ahrefs prices, I recommend using SE Ranking or Semrush. Both are excellent platforms with feature parity and then some.
Definitely check out Frase and Surfer as well. They’ve got some keyword research functionality, but they also cater towards advanced features for digital marketing and SEO strategy, like content optimization and briefs.
Do you have a favorite SEO tool that didn’t make this list? Let me know in the comments!