Ahrefs alternatives: top competitors compared
Named alongside Ahrefs
SemrushBest forFreelancers and small businesses through to agencies and enterprises managing multiple brands, regions and teams.96% of Ahrefs answersGoogle Search Console61% of Ahrefs answersSE RankingBest forAgencies and in-house SEO teams52% of Ahrefs answersMoz ProBest forSEO professionals, agencies, in-house marketing teams and individual consultants who want SEO and AI search tracking in one toolkit51% of Ahrefs answers
Data from SlateIndex weekly runs
Ahrefs has a visibility score of 56 in SEO Tools, #2 of 58. AI answers that name Ahrefs most often also name these 4.
What AI answers fault Ahrefs for
High monthly cost, especially for smaller budgets
Raised in 2 collected answers.
Seat-based pricing needs careful evaluation against team size
Raised in 1 collected answer.
Quick reference
| Alternative | Best for | Starting price | Visibility | Key differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush | Freelancers and small businesses through to agencies and enterprises managing multiple brands, regions and teams. | Free; paid from $139 / mo | 64.3% | Built on what the vendor calls the world's most powerful traffic, visibility and market dataset, with 29 billion keywords and 43 trillion backlinks. |
| Google Search Console | — | — | 47.3% | — |
| SE Ranking | Agencies and in-house SEO teams | $129 / mo | 27.6% | A large proprietary dataset: 5.5B keyword database, 2.2B domain profiles and 188 country databases, as stated by the vendor. |
| Moz Pro | SEO professionals, agencies, in-house marketing teams and individual consultants who want SEO and AI search tracking in one toolkit | Free; paid from $49 / mo | 25.9% | Proprietary SEO metrics such as Domain Authority, Page Authority and Brand Authority, which Moz has published since 2004 |
Alternative 1
Semrush vs Ahrefs →Semrush
Semrush suits freelancers and small businesses through to agencies and enterprises managing multiple brands, regions and teams..
Quick facts
- Free; paid from $139 / mo · flat tiers
- Free plan available
- 64.3% visibility score · #1 in SEO Tools
Key features
- Semrush One — Unified SEO and AI search platform that bundles SEO and AI visibility tools.
- SEO Toolkit — Keyword research, backlink analysis, rank tracking and technical site audits.
- AI Visibility — Tracks prompt-level brand visibility in AI answers and AI market share against competitors.
- Traffic and Market — Traffic analysis for any website, market trends and competitor benchmarking.
Semrush vs Ahrefs
| Dimension | Semrush | Ahrefs |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 64.3% | 56% |
| Pricing model | Flat tiers | Flat tiers |
| Entry price | Free; paid from $139 / mo | Free; paid from $29 / mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Trial | Free plan available | Free plan available |
Pros
- Widely recommended as a top-tier all-in-one platform for broad suites
- Strong keyword research, competitor analysis, and site auditing
- Strongest overall all-in-one SEO choice for most businesses
- Good value with discounts on annual billing and free trial
- Useful AI search visibility and rank tracking
Cons
- Pricing is high, with enterprise-style suites costing around $100 or more per month
- Less comprehensive than Ahrefs for backlinks in some comparisons
Google Search Console is ranked #3 in SEO Tools.
Quick facts
- Pricing not available
- 47.3% visibility score · #3 in SEO Tools
Key features
- Google Search Console — Free web-based service for site owners to monitor and troubleshoot their presence in Google Search results, with performance, URL inspection, indexing, and Core Web Vitals reporting.
Google Search Console vs Ahrefs
| Dimension | Google Search Console | Ahrefs |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 47.3% | 56% |
| Pricing model | — | Flat tiers |
| Entry price | — | Free; paid from $29 / mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Trial | — | Free plan available |
Pros
- Free first-party search data
- Essential foundation for indexing and performance diagnostics
- Strong integration with Google Analytics and Google Ads
- Tracks queries, impressions, clicks, and rankings
- Widely used and highly rated
Cons
- Does not show total website traffic
- Not directly comparable to paid SEO suites
Alternative 3
SE Ranking vs Ahrefs →SE Ranking
SE Ranking suits agencies and in-house SEO teams.
Quick facts
- $129 / mo · flat tiers
- 14-day free trial
- 27.6% visibility score · #4 in SEO Tools
Key features
- SE Ranking — SEO platform for keyword research, rank tracking, website audits, backlink research and performance reporting.
- SE Visible — Tracks brand mentions, sentiment and share of voice across AI search engines.
- Planable — Social media management platform for planning, collaboration, publishing and analytics.
- SE Ranking API — Programmatic access to SEO and GEO data, with MCP access for AI assistants.
SE Ranking vs Ahrefs
| Dimension | SE Ranking | Ahrefs |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 27.6% | 56% |
| Pricing model | Flat tiers | Flat tiers |
| Entry price | $129 / mo | Free; paid from $29 / mo |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Trial | 14-day free trial | Free plan available |
Pros
- Strong value for agencies and mid-market teams
- Full-stack suite with rank tracking, audits and competitor analysis
- Transparent, published pricing
- Discounts and 14-day free trial
- Strong user ratings and reviews
Cons
Alternative 4
Moz Pro vs Ahrefs →Moz Pro
Moz Pro suits sEO professionals, agencies, in-house marketing teams and individual consultants who want SEO and AI search tracking in one toolkit.
Quick facts
- Free; paid from $49 / mo · flat tiers
- Free plan available
- 25.9% visibility score · #5 in SEO Tools
Key features
- Moz Pro — All-in-one SEO and AI visibility toolkit with keyword research, rank tracking, site audits, link research and domain metrics.
- Moz Local — Local SEO tool for managing business listings, reviews, social posts and local rank tracking across locations.
- STAT — Large-scale daily rank tracking platform for keyword sets in the thousands or more, with SERP feature and share of voice analytics.
- Moz API — API for Moz metrics such as Domain Authority, Page Authority, Brand Authority and link data, for building custom tools and dashboards.
Moz Pro vs Ahrefs
| Dimension | Moz Pro | Ahrefs |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 25.9% | 56% |
| Pricing model | Flat tiers | Flat tiers |
| Entry price | Free; paid from $49 / mo | Free; paid from $29 / mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Trial | Free plan available | Free plan available |
Pros
- structured educational resources
- industry-standard metrics like Domain Authority
- 30-day free trial, one of the longest
- cost-effective, user-friendly alternative for foundational tracking and local SEO
- simpler, lower-cost all-in-one platform good for beginners and small teams
Cons
How to choose
Match the pricing model to your cost driver: headcount, usage or features.
| Platform | Pricing model | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | Flat tiers | Free; paid from $29 / mo |
| Semrush | Flat tiers | Free; paid from $139 / mo |
| Google Search Console | — | — |
| SE Ranking | Flat tiers | $129 / mo |
| Moz Pro | Flat tiers | Free; paid from $49 / mo |
More alternatives
Ranked by how often AI answers name them alongside Ahrefs in the latest weekly run.