The best Ahrefs alternatives depend on which Ahrefs job you are replacing. Semrush matches its depth at similar money. SE Ranking tracks more keywords daily for the same $129. Moz Pro starts lower. Majestic does links only, and Screaming Frog does audits. Prices checked 1 November 2026.
Ahrefs Lite costs $129 a month for one user, 750 tracked keywords updated weekly and 1,000 credits a month, and each extra user adds $40 (Ahrefs pricing, checked 1 November 2026). For most people searching for a replacement, the trigger is not the headline price. It is the second seat, the credit ceiling, or rankings that refresh once a week.
If you want the plan-by-plan cost first, our Ahrefs pricing breakdown covers it. This page answers the next question: what replaces it, job by job, and what each swap gives up.
Key takeaways
- Decide by job, not by brand. Links, keywords, site audits and rank tracking each have a different best replacement, and no cheaper tool does all four as well.
- Semrush is a sideways move on price. You switch to it for daily rank tracking and AI visibility, not to save money.
- SE Ranking Core gives 2,000 keywords tracked daily for the same $129 a month that buys 750 weekly-updated keywords on Ahrefs Lite.
- Single jobs cost far less. Majestic Lite is $49.99 a month for links, and Screaming Frog audits up to 500 URLs free.
- Check the smaller Ahrefs plans first. Ahrefs Free and the $29 Starter plan cover light use, and both are easy to miss.
Video: five Ahrefs alternatives and their trade-offs
Style Factory's 16-minute review is worth your time because it names a weakness for every tool, not only a price.
Three things worth taking from it:
- SE Ranking is the like-for-like suite. The review credits it with more websites and users per plan than Ahrefs, and says its keyword and backlink databases are smaller but were sufficient in most of their tests.
- Semrush wins on features, not on price. Its edges in the video are daily rank tracking on every plan and built-in link outreach tools. Ahrefs keeps one advantage for agencies: unlimited projects for sites you can verify.
- Moz and Ubersuggest are the budget picks, with a shared limit. Ubersuggest's keyword data comes from Moz, and both keyword databases are much smaller than Ahrefs', so you get fewer keyword ideas per search.
Where we differ: the video was recorded in mid 2025 and several prices have moved. SE Ranking's current plans start at Core, not the cheaper entry plan quoted in the video, so use the table below for today's numbers.
Which Ahrefs job are you replacing?
Most teams use Ahrefs for four jobs, and the right replacement changes with each one. Pick the job that costs you the most time every week, then replace that one first.
| Job | What Ahrefs Lite gives you | Strongest cheaper replacement | What you give up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backlink research | Site Explorer, 2,500 rows per report, 6 months of history | Majestic Lite, $49.99 a month | Keyword research and audits |
| Keyword research | Keywords Explorer inside 1,000 credits a user a month | Moz Pro or Mangools | Fewer keyword ideas per search |
| Site audit | 100,000 crawl credits a month, up to 25,000 pages per project | Screaming Frog, free up to 500 URLs | Cloud scheduling; you run it on your machine |
| Rank tracking | 750 keywords, updated weekly | SE Ranking Core, 2,000 keywords daily | Nothing on price: Core is also $129 a month |
The Ahrefs Lite limits come from the comparison table on its pricing page, checked 1 November 2026.
One option most comparisons skip is a smaller Ahrefs plan. Starter is $29 a month with 200 credits, monthly billing only and no add-ons (Ahrefs Starter plan). The catch: Ahrefs does not allow a downgrade from Lite or higher to Starter, so it suits a new account, not a downgrade.
Ahrefs alternatives compared: price, job and catch
On 1 November 2026, the cheapest all-round alternative we could price was Moz Pro at $49 a month for one website, and the cheapest link-only one was Majestic Lite at $49.99.
| Tool | Entry price, checked 1 Nov 2026 | Replaces | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush | SEO plan €134 a month billed monthly; no dollar price shown to us | All four jobs, with daily tracking | Not cheaper; 5 websites on the entry plans |
| SE Ranking | Core $129 a month, or $103.20 billed annually | All four jobs, strongest on tracking | One manager seat; white label is a paid add-on |
| Moz Pro | $49 a month for one website; $99 for three | Links and audits | 150 keyword queries a month on the $99 plan |
| Majestic | Lite $49.99 a month | Backlinks only | No keyword, tracking or audit tools |
| Mangools | From $37.70 a month | Keywords, light tracking | Per-plan limits not shown to us |
| Ubersuggest | US$29 to US$99 a month | Keywords for one site | 125 tracked keywords per project on the entry tier |
| Screaming Frog | Free to 500 URLs; £199 a year | Site audits | No keyword or backlink database of its own |
| Ahrefs Free plus Search Console | Free | Your own site's links, keywords and audits | Verified sites only, no competitors |
| Pengu Insights (ours) | Free; Starter $39; Pro $69 | Competitor keywords, plus social and AI visibility | No rank tracker or site crawler |
Two prices are not in dollars on purpose. Semrush's pricing page served us euro prices on the day we checked, and Screaming Frog sells its licence in pounds. We did not convert either.
The 9 Ahrefs alternatives, reviewed
Each review covers which Ahrefs job the tool replaces, the price we saw on the official page, and the trade-off that decides it.
1. Semrush: the same depth, with daily rank tracking
Semrush replaces all four Ahrefs jobs at roughly the same depth. On 1 November 2026 its pricing page showed us plan prices in euros only: the SEO plan at €134 a month billed monthly, or €112.52 a month billed annually, with 5 websites and 500 keywords tracked daily. We could not confirm a dollar figure on the official page, so we do not quote one.
The current plans are SEO, Starter, Pro+ and Advanced. Starter adds AI visibility tracking and MCP access, and Pro+ raises the limits to 15 websites and 1,500 tracked keywords.
Pros: daily rank tracking on the entry plan; keyword, link and audit tools at Ahrefs depth; AI visibility from Starter up. Cons: not cheaper than Ahrefs; 5 websites on the two entry plans; additional users start at $45 a month. Best for: teams that want Ahrefs-level data plus daily positions and accept a similar bill.
If you are choosing between the two rather than leaving both, read Semrush vs Ahrefs before you decide.
2. SE Ranking: more rank tracking for the same money
SE Ranking Core costs $129 a month, or $103.20 a month billed annually, checked 1 November 2026. That buys 10 projects, 2,000 keywords tracked daily, 250,000 audited pages a month and unlimited keyword, competitor and backlink research. Ahrefs Lite tracks 750 keywords, updated weekly, for the same monthly price.
Pros: daily tracking of 2,000 keywords; unlimited research reports; a 14-day free trial. Cons: one manager seat on Core, with extra seats from $16; white label sits in the Agency Pack add-on at $69 a month, annual billing only; 6 months of history on Core. Best for: freelancers and agencies whose deliverable is a monthly ranking report.
3. Moz Pro: links and audits from $49
Moz Pro starts at $49 a month for a single website. The next plan is $99 a month, or $79 billed yearly, with 1 user, 3 tracked sites, 300 tracked keywords and 400K pages crawled a month (checked 1 November 2026).
Read the keyword limit before you buy. The $99 plan includes 150 keyword queries a month against 5,000 backlink queries, so it is a links and audit tool first.
Pros: generous link and crawl allowances; 150 tracked AI prompts included on the $99 plan; a free Moz Community account for light Link Explorer use. Cons: 150 keyword queries a month on the $99 plan; extra seats are $49 a month each. Best for: link and technical work on a handful of sites.
4. Majestic: links and nothing else
Majestic Lite is $49.99 a month, or $41.67 a month billed yearly, and Pro is $99.99, checked 1 November 2026 after switching the page to dollars. It replaces Ahrefs' backlink reports and nothing more.
Pros: the cheapest dedicated link index we priced; Pro adds the Historic Index for older link history. Cons: Lite covers the Fresh Index only, for one user; no keyword research, rank tracking or site audit. Best for: link builders who opened Ahrefs mostly for backlink checks.
5. Mangools: keyword research made simple
Mangools bundles keyword research, SERP checks, rank tracking and link tools, and its own comparison page lists it from $37.70 a month (checked 1 November 2026). Its plans page did not render plan prices or limits for us, so confirm the tier before you pay.
Pros: the friendliest keyword interface in this list; a low entry price for a full suite. Cons: per-plan limits not visible to us; the comparison page says its rank tracker runs daily on the Agency plan, so check the update frequency on cheaper tiers. Best for: solo bloggers and content writers who mostly need keyword ideas.
6. Ubersuggest: the low-cost option for one site
Ubersuggest shows a price range of US$29 to US$99 a month on its pricing page, without per-plan figures in the version we fetched on 1 November 2026. Monthly plans come with a one-time 7-day free trial. The entry tier allows 150 reports a day, 1 project and 125 tracked keywords per project.
Pros: low entry price; extra users at $5 a month each; built for beginners. Cons: small tracking allowance; per the Style Factory review above, its keyword data comes from Moz's smaller database. Best for: one-site owners who check a few keywords a week.
7. Screaming Frog SEO Spider: the audit job, almost free
Screaming Frog crawls up to 500 URLs free, and an unlimited licence is £199 a year per user, checked 1 November 2026. It replaces Ahrefs Site Audit and nothing else.
Pros: the deepest technical crawl for the money; the free tier covers most small sites. Cons: a desktop app you run yourself; no keyword or backlink database of its own; paid crawl size depends on your machine's memory and storage. Best for: anyone whose Ahrefs bill mostly pays for Site Audit.
8. Ahrefs Free and Google Search Console: your own site for $0
Ahrefs Free gives verified site owners Site Explorer and Site Audit with 5K crawl credits a month per project and 1K backlinks and keywords visible at once, with no card and no trial period.
Pair it with Search Console, which Google describes as a free service (Search Console Help). It shows the real queries, clicks, impressions and positions for your site, which any third-party tool can only estimate.
Pros: first-party data; costs nothing. Cons: only sites you can verify; no competitor research at all. Best for: in-house teams on one domain whose questions are about their own site.
9. Pengu Insights: competitor keywords plus social and AI visibility
Pengu Insights is ours, so weigh the recommendation. The free plan has 80 credits at sign-up. Starter is $39 a month with core SEO (keywords, competitors, traffic) plus Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and the Meta Ad Library. Pro at $69 adds competitor keyword gap and backlink gap, AI visibility in Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT, and content briefs. The API and MCP server (beta) come with every paid plan, from Starter at $39. Agency at $129 adds full white label. Prices are in USD plus VAT, on our pricing page.
Pros: one bill for search competitor research, social research and AI visibility; free tools that need no account. Cons: rank tracking and full site crawls are not part of the plans; the backlink gap starts on Pro; not built for link-led SEO. Best for: marketers who open Ahrefs mostly to see what competitors rank for, and who also report on social.
To test it on a rival before any plan, run their domain through the free competitor keyword finder: three lookups a day, no account.
How we evaluated these Ahrefs alternatives
We checked prices and plan limits on each vendor's official pricing page on 1 November 2026 and mapped them to the four Ahrefs jobs: backlinks, keywords, site audits and rank tracking. Where a page showed another currency or did not render a price, we say so instead of converting or estimating.
We ranked each tool by how completely it replaces one job at a lower total cost, counting extra users and add-ons rather than the headline price. This is a pricing and limits comparison, not a data accuracy benchmark: we did not measure index sizes ourselves, and the video above reports them as its creators found them. SpyFu's pricing page refused our request on the day, so it is not in the table. Pengu Insights is our product, which is why it sits last and lists what it does not do.
Common mistakes when leaving Ahrefs
- Comparing headline prices. Seats and add-ons decide the bill. Ahrefs charges $40 a month per extra Lite user, Moz $49 per seat, and Semrush from $45.
- Ignoring rank update frequency. Ahrefs updates tracked keywords weekly on every plan, per its pricing page. If clients expect daily positions, that is a better reason to move than price.
- Cancelling before exporting. When a paid Ahrefs plan ends, the account falls back to Ahrefs Free with limited Site Explorer and Site Audit access. Export rank history, audit baselines and link lists first.
- Buying a suite for one job. If you only audit, Screaming Frog's free tier may be enough. If you only check links, Majestic Lite costs less than half of Ahrefs Lite.
- Treating metrics as portable. Difficulty scores and traffic estimates are modelled differently by every vendor. Recalibrate on keywords you already rank for before you trust the new numbers.
How to switch from Ahrefs in five steps
- List what you opened last month (15 minutes). Write down the five Ahrefs reports you used most. That list is your shopping list.
- Export what you cannot rebuild (30 minutes). Rank history, audit baselines and link lists go to CSV before the renewal date.
- Trial the replacement on one real competitor (1 hour). SE Ranking offers a 14-day trial, Ubersuggest a 7-day trial on monthly plans, and Pengu Insights a free plan.
- Recalibrate on keywords you already rank for (20 minutes). Compare positions in the new tool against Search Console, which is the ground truth for your own site.
- Cancel at the end of the billing period (5 minutes). Ahrefs applies downgrades and cancellations at the end of the current period, so time it to the renewal.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Ahrefs?
It depends on the job. Semrush is the closest match for keyword and link depth at similar cost. SE Ranking Core tracks 2,000 keywords daily for $129 a month, against 750 keywords updated weekly on Ahrefs Lite. Moz Pro starts at $49 a month for one website, and Majestic Lite is the cheapest dedicated backlink tool we priced at $49.99.
Is there a free version of Ahrefs?
Yes. Ahrefs Free gives verified site owners limited Site Explorer and Site Audit access, with 5K crawl credits a month per project and up to 1K backlinks and keywords visible at once. It only covers sites you can verify. The cheapest paid plan, Starter, is $29 a month with 200 credits and renews monthly only.
Is Semrush better than Ahrefs?
Neither wins across the board. Semrush tracks 500 keywords daily on its entry SEO plan and adds AI visibility tracking from Starter. Ahrefs updates tracked keywords weekly on every plan but allows unlimited verified projects. The prices are close, so the choice comes down to which features you use every week.
How much does Ahrefs cost per month?
On 1 November 2026 the Ahrefs pricing page listed Starter at $29, Lite at $129, Standard at $249, Advanced at $449 and Enterprise at $1,499 a month with an annual commitment. Extra users cost $40, $60 or $80 a month each on Lite, Standard and Advanced.
Is Ubersuggest as good as Ahrefs?
Not for depth. Ubersuggest's pricing page shows a range of US$29 to US$99 a month, and its entry tier tracks 125 keywords on one project. That suits a single small site. For research across many competitor domains or serious link analysis, Ahrefs, Semrush or SE Ranking return far more data.
What to do next
In short: write down the one Ahrefs job you actually pay for, then price only the tools that replace that job. Most of the savings come from that one decision, not from the cheapest logo in the table.
If the job is seeing what competitors rank for, start free in Pengu Insights with 80 credits at sign-up and run your top three rivals through it this afternoon.
If you are keeping a full suite and want the cheaper end of the market instead, our guide to cheap SEO tools prices the stack for $0, $50 and $100 a month.
Written by
Founder of Pengu Insights. Competitive intelligence practitioner for DTC brands and marketing agencies.
