Looking for a good Ahrefs alternative for your company?
There are plenty of Ahrefs alternatives on review sites, but they don’t make the choice any easier.
The crux of the issue is – to make the right choice, you need to account for your priorities: your different jobs to be done, your budget, and the size of the company. But don’t worry – we’re coming to help!
In this post, we’ll discuss exactly that – which Ahrefs competitor is best depending on the different criteria that different SEO agencies, content agencies, or in-house link-building specialists may have such as link audit tool, backlink monitoring, etc.
Let’s dive in!
TL;DR
- Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool used for backlink analysis, competitive research, monitoring website performance in search rankings, identifying SEO issues, and link-building. It offers various features and tools like Content Explorer, Site Explorer, Broken Link Checker, and Ahrefs Alerts for effective link building, link monitoring, and link audits.
- The platform is ideal for beginners, providing comprehensive educational resources through Ahrefs’ Academy and Blog to enhance SEO and link-building skills.
- For link monitoring, Ahrefs allows users to track backlinks and other metrics, set up alerts for changes in the backlink profile, and export link data for analysis. For link audits, it helps in identifying and disavowing low-quality or toxic backlinks.
- Ahrefs provides four pricing plans – Lite ($99/month), Standard ($179/month), Advanced ($399/month), and Enterprise ($999/month) – to accommodate a variety of needs from small businesses to large corporations. Each plan comes with a plethora of features and data allowances.
- Despite being a comprehensive tool, Ahrefs has a few drawbacks, including expensive subscription plans, limited data for free users, being difficult for beginners, lacking a keyword research tool, and offering no social media analytics.
- SEMrush stands out for features like competitive analysis, keyword gap analysis, link building, domain authority assessment, and position tracking. The pricing ranges from $119.95 to $449.95 per month, fitting various budgets and requirements.
- MOZ offers comprehensive SEO tools, detailed keyword research, robust link-building capabilities, and real-time website monitoring. Its pricing ranges from $99 to $599 per month, with a 20% discount for annual subscriptions.
- Majestic, recognized for extensive link data and unique metrics like Trust Flow, Citation Flow, and Topical Trust Flow, cater to users with different needs through its Lite, Pro, and API pricing plans, starting from $49.99 per month.
- BacklinkManager automates the process of building backlinks, offering detailed backlink performance reports and a variety of backlink sources. It provides free, pro ($49/month), and enterprise ($500/month) plans.
What is Ahrefs?
Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool that helps you analyze your website’s backlinks, research your competitors’ backlinks, and monitor your website’s performance in search engine rankings. It is a web-based tool that can be used to analyze HTML code and identify potential issues with your website’s SEO. It can also be used to identify broken links, analyze keyword performance, and track your website’s performance in search engine rankings.
Ahrefs for Link Building
Link building is a crucial component of a successful SEO strategy, as it helps improve your website’s credibility and search engine rankings. Ahrefs offers numerous features to assist beginners in executing effective link-building campaigns. Here’s how you can use Ahrefs for link building:
- Create an account: Sign up for an Ahrefs subscription to access their wide range of SEO tools and resources.
- Find link prospects: Use the Content Explorer and Link Intersect tools to discover potential link opportunities by identifying relevant websites, articles, and resources in your niche.
- Analyze competitors: Analyze your competitors’ backlink profiles using the Site Explorer tool to uncover their link-building strategies and identify valuable link prospects.
- Broken link building: Use the Broken Link Checker to find broken links on relevant websites, create replacement content, and reach out to site owners with a suggestion to replace the broken link with your content.
- Guest posting: Identify guest posting opportunities by searching for relevant websites in your niche using Content Explorer. Pitch high-quality, unique articles that provide value to their audience.
- Monitor link progress: Keep track of your link-building efforts by monitoring your website’s backlink profile using the Site Explorer tool, and set up Ahrefs Alerts to receive email notifications for new backlinks.
- Outreach: Find contact information for potential link partners using Ahrefs’ email finder feature, and manage your email campaigns with the Outreach tool to track your communication and responses.
- Expand your knowledge: Enhance your link-building skills by leveraging the educational resources available through Ahrefs’ Academy and Blog.
Ahrefs for Link Monitoring
Link monitoring is an essential aspect of any successful SEO strategy. Ahrefs is a powerful tool that can help you effectively monitor your website’s backlinks and improve your search engine rankings. Here’s how a beginner can use Ahrefs for link monitoring:
- Create an account: First, sign up for an Ahrefs subscription to access their comprehensive suite of SEO tools.
- Add your domain: After logging in, navigate to the Projects section and add your domain to start tracking your website’s backlinks and other metrics.
- Access Site Explorer: Use the Site Explorer tool to analyze your domain’s backlink profile, including the number of referring domains, backlinks, and more.
- Monitor new and lost backlinks: In the Site Explorer, navigate to the ‘Backlinks’ and ‘New & Lost’ tabs to keep track of your website’s newly acquired and lost backlinks. Regularly monitoring these links will help you identify and address potential issues, such as broken or toxic links.
- Set up alerts: Configure Ahrefs Alerts to receive email notifications for new backlinks, lost backlinks, and keyword rankings. This will help you stay informed and quickly react to changes in your backlink profile.
- Export data: Export your backlink data to a CSV file by clicking the ‘Export’ button in Site Explorer, making it easier to analyze, share, and archive your link data.
- Learn from resources: Utilize Ahrefs’ Academy and Blog to learn more about link monitoring best practices and enhance your SEO skills.
Ahrefs for Link Audit
Conducting regular link audits is vital for maintaining a healthy backlink profile and ensuring your website’s credibility and search engine rankings. Ahrefs provides a robust set of tools to help beginners perform comprehensive link audits. Here’s how you can use Ahrefs for link audits:
- Create an account: Sign up for an Ahrefs subscription to access their suite of SEO tools designed to help with link audits and more.
- Analyze your backlink profile: Use the Site Explorer tool to gain insights into your domain’s backlink profile, including the number of referring domains, backlinks, and their quality.
- Identify low-quality or toxic links: In the Site Explorer, navigate to the ‘Backlinks’ tab and use filters to find low-quality or toxic backlinks, such as those with low Domain Rating (DR), high Spam Score, or coming from unrelated or spammy websites.
- Export toxic links: Export a list of toxic backlinks by clicking the ‘Export’ button in the Site Explorer. This will provide a CSV file containing the data required for further analysis or disavowal.
- Create a disavow file: Use the exported list of toxic backlinks to create a disavow file, following Google’s disavow guidelines.
- Submit the disavow file to Google: Submit the disavow file to Google Search Console to request Google to ignore the low-quality or toxic backlinks, thereby preventing any potential negative impact on your website’s rankings.
- Monitor your backlink profile: Regularly monitor your backlink profile using the Site Explorer and set up Ahrefs Alerts to receive email notifications about new or lost backlinks, ensuring you stay up to date on any changes.
- Learn more: Enhance your knowledge of link audits by leveraging the educational resources available through Ahrefs’ Academy and Blog.
Ahrefs Pricing
Ahrefs offers a range of plans and pricing options to provide access to their powerful SEO tools and data. These plans cater to various needs, from small businesses to large enterprises:
- Lite: Starts at £79 ($99)/month – Essential data for small businesses and hobby projects.
- Standard: Starts at £159($199)/month – Perfect for freelance SEOs and marketing consultants.
- Advanced: Starts at £319($399)/month – More tools and data for lean in-house marketing teams.
- Enterprise: Starts at £799($999)/month – Ideal for agencies and enterprises.
Each plan comes with a variety of features and data allowances, such as SEO Dashboard, Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Site Audit, Rank Tracker, and more. You can choose to pay monthly or pay annually and get 2 months free. To learn more about each plan and get started, visit Ahrefs’ pricing page.
Pros of Ahrefs
- Comprehensive backlink analysis
- Competitive research tools
- Keyword research and analysis
- Content gap analysis
- Robust reporting capabilities
- Integration with other SEO tools
- Easy-to-use interface
- Affordable pricing plans
Cons of Ahrefs
- Expensive subscription plans
- Limited data for free users
- Difficult to use for beginners
- No keyword research tool
- No social media analytics
Ahrefs Alternatives and Competitors
There are many tools that might be a good alternative to Ahrefs:
- SEMrush
- MOZ
- Majestic
- BacklinkManager
In the next few paragraphs, we’ll look at how these tools can replace Ahrefs better for specific use cases.
Ahrefs vs SEMrush
There are many ways in which SEMrush is different from Ahrefs. Let’s explore the features of SEMrush, how it’s better than Ahrefs, and how it may fall short too.
Pros of SEMrush
SEMrush is a valuable tool for finding and managing link partnerships, allowing you to identify potential partners, assess their value, and track the success of your collaborations. To leverage SEMrush for link partnerships, follow these actionable steps:
- Competitive Analysis: Use the Domain Analytics tool to research your competitors’ backlink profiles. Identify websites that link to your competitors, as they may also be interested in linking to your site.
- Keyword Gap Analysis: Perform a Keyword Gap Analysis to discover keywords your competitors are ranking for that your website is not. Target these keywords to create valuable content that potential link partners may be interested in linking to.
- Link Building Tool: Utilize the Link Building Tool to find high-quality link prospects based on your target keywords and competitors. SEMrush will generate a list of websites and their corresponding contact information for outreach purposes.
- Assess Domain Authority: Evaluate the domain authority of potential link partners using the Authority Score metric in SEMrush. Prioritize partnerships with high-authority websites to maximize the value of your backlinks.
- Outreach: Reach out to potential link partners with a personalized email, offering a valuable reason for them to link to your content. Track your outreach efforts and follow up as needed to build and maintain relationships.
- Monitor Link Performance: Use the Position Tracking tool to monitor your keyword rankings and the performance of your link partnerships. Continuously optimize your content and partnerships to improve your search engine rankings.
SEMrush Pricing
Semrush offers three pricing plans tailored to meet the needs of different users, from newbies to large enterprises:
- Pro: At $119.95 per month, this plan is suitable for newbies and small teams. It includes 5 projects, 500 keywords to track, 10,000 results per report, and a range of SEO, social, and PPC tools, such as competitor analysis, keyword research, website audit, advertising, and social media tools.
- Guru: Priced at $229.95 per month, the Guru plan is designed for agencies and mid-size businesses. It offers 15 projects, 1,500 keywords to track, 30,000 results per report, and all the features included in the Pro plan. Additionally, it includes the Content Marketing Toolkit, historical data, multi-location and device tracking, Looker Studio integration, and more.
- Business: For $449.95 per month, the Business plan is tailored for large agencies and enterprises. It provides 40 projects, 5,000 keywords to track, 50,000 results per report, and all the features available in the Guru plan. Furthermore, it includes Share of Voice, extended limits, API access, PLA analytics, and free migration from third-party tools.
Additional users can be added to each plan at an extra cost, allowing for secure and efficient teamwork within the platform.
MOZ as a Ahrefs Alternative
There are many ways in which MOZ is different from Ahrefs. Let’s explore the features of MOZ, how it’s better than Ahrefs, and how it may fall short too.
Pros of MOZ
- Easy to use
- Comprehensive SEO tools
- Detailed keyword research
- Robust link-building capabilities
- Competitive analysis
- Content optimization
- Real-time website monitoring
MOZ Pricing
If you’re considering Moz Pro as your SEO tool of choice, it’s essential to understand the different pricing plans available to you. All Moz Pro plans include 24-hour online support, and you can choose between monthly or yearly payment options, with a 20% discount for annual subscriptions:
- Standard: $99/month ($79/month when billed yearly) – Perfect for beginners or those requiring basic SEO features.
- Medium: $179/month ($143/month when billed yearly) – Most popular plan, with ample limits and full access to keyword research tools.
- Large: $299/month ($239/month when billed yearly) – Ideal for businesses and agencies serious about search, offering more extensive limits and tools.
- Premium: $599/month ($479/month when billed yearly) – Designed for large SEO-focused agencies and in-house marketing teams, providing the most comprehensive features.
Each plan offers different access levels to features such as campaigns, keyword rankings, mobile rankings, pages crawled per week, performance metrics, keyword queries, backlink queries, link tracking lists, and more. By selecting the plan that best fits your needs and budget, you can optimize your SEO efforts and make the most of Moz Pro’s powerful tools.
Majestic as Ahrefs Alternative
There are many ways how Majestic is different from Ahrefs. Let’s explore the features of Majestic, where it may be more suitable than Ahrefs, and how it may fall short too.
Majestic Pros
- Extensive link data: Majestic boasts one of the largest link databases in the industry, providing a wealth of information for backlink analysis and competitor research.
- Trust Flow and Citation Flow metrics: Majestic’s proprietary metrics, Trust Flow and Citation Flow, help users evaluate the quality and authority of backlinks, making it easier to identify valuable link opportunities.
- Topical Trust Flow: This unique feature allows users to analyze the topical relevance of backlinks, ensuring that they build a natural and diverse link profile.
- Historical backlink data: Majestic offers access to historical backlink data, enabling users to analyze link profiles over time and monitor changes in their competitors’ strategies.
- Link visualization tools: Majestic’s link visualization tools, such as Link Graph and Link Map, help users understand the structure of their link profile and identify patterns or anomalies.
- Custom reports: Users can create custom reports tailored to their specific needs, making it easy to share insights and data with clients or team members.
- Bulk backlink analysis: Majestic’s Bulk Backlink Checker tool allows users to analyze up to 400 URLs at once, saving time and effort when working on large-scale link analysis projects.
- API access: For users with advanced needs, Majestic offers API access to their data, allowing for seamless integration with other tools and custom applications.
- Competitive pricing: Compared to other industry-leading SEO tools, Majestic offers a variety of pricing plans that cater to different budgets and needs, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes.
Majestic Pricing
Please note that the pricing information can change frequently and is only valid as of the publishing date. For the most up-to-date pricing, please visit the Majestic Pricing Plans page.
- Lite Plan: Designed for individual users or small businesses, the Lite Plan is priced at $49.99 per month. This plan includes 1 million analysis units, 60 detailed reports per month, and access to Fresh Index data.
- Pro Plan: Targeted at professionals and agencies, the Pro Plan costs $99.99 per month. It includes 5 million analysis units, 300 detailed reports per month, and access to both Fresh Index and Historic Index data, along with additional features like Raw Data Exports and API access.
- API Plan: For users with advanced data needs, the API Plan starts at $399.99 per month. This plan includes 100 million analysis units, 950 detailed reports per month, access to Fresh Index and Historic Index data, and extensive API access for custom applications.
- Custom Plans: Majestic also offers custom plans tailored to specific business requirements. To inquire about custom plans, users can contact the Majestic sales team for a personalized quote.
Ahrefs vs BacklinkManager – is BacklinkManager a Better Alternative to Ahrefs?
There are many ways in which BacklinkManager is different (and in a lot of ways better!) from Ahrefs. Let’s explore the features of BacklinkManager, how it’s better than Ahrefs, and how it may fall short too.
Pros of BacklinkManager
- Automates the process of building backlinks
- Helps improve website’s search engine rankings
- Provides detailed reports on backlink performance
- Offers a variety of backlink sources to choose from
- Allows for customization of backlink-building strategies
- Saves time and effort compared to manual backlink building
- Can be used for multiple websites or clients
- Provides ongoing support and updates
BacklinkManager Pricing
BacklinkManager offers three pricing plans to help you streamline your backlink-building operations. You can start for free without a credit card, and each plan comes with different features and limits:
- Free: Monitor and manage up to 250 backlinks, 50 targets, and invite 3 team members. Start for free.
- Pro: $49/month billed annually – Monitor and manage up to 2,500 backlinks, 100 targets, invite 15 team members, and receive priority support. Start for free.
- Enterprise: $500/month billed annually – Monitor and manage up to 50,000 backlinks, 10,000 targets, invite 30 team members, white label reporting, and priority support. Start for free.
Choose the plan that best fits your needs to effectively monitor and manage your backlink-building operations. To learn more about each plan and get started, visit BacklinkManager’s pricing page.
Conclusion – which of the Ahrefs alternatives is the best?
As you can see, there are many different competitors and alternatives to Ahrefs. We’ve discussed a few above – but which one is the best?
The answer is “it depends” – but we strongly believe that if you’re a mid-market SaaS company looking for a great user onboarding and product analytics tool, SEMrush is the best option for you. Hopefully, you found this post helpful. Let us know if you know any other good Ahrefs alternatives – and if you need any help with how is different, book a demo with us – we are always happy to talk! Or start for FREE – you can use the tool for free up to 250 backlinks
