Best Ahrefs alternatives: free and paid SEO tools

Short answer: the best Ahrefs alternative depends on the job you use Ahrefs for. Semrush is the closest all-in-one swap, SE Ranking and Moz Pro are full suites that many small teams and agencies find easier to run, Mangools and Ubersuggest are lighter keyword tools, and Majestic is a backlink specialist. If you mainly need data on your own site, Google Search Console and Ahrefs’ own free plan may be all you need.

This guide is for founders, marketers, freelancers and small agencies who use or are evaluating Ahrefs and want to know what else is worth trying. We sort the options by lane first, because the right swap depends on whether you want another full SEO suite, a simpler keyword tool, deeper backlink data or a free tool for your own site. Claims below come from each vendor’s own product, pricing and help pages and are attributed to the vendor. We do not print prices on Unloc, and every tool here changes its plans often, so check each live pricing page before you buy. If you are choosing between the two biggest suites, read our Ahrefs vs Semrush head-to-head first.

Quick answer: pick your lane

Why people look for an Ahrefs alternative

We are not quoting complaint statistics, because we have none. The reasons we see are practical.

• Cost and fit. Ahrefs is a large platform. Some people pay for far more than the one or two reports they use every week.
• A specific job. Some only need keyword ideas, only need backlinks, or only need a site audit.
• Daily rank tracking or local SEO. Teams compare how often rankings update and how well each tool handles local results.
• AI search visibility. Most suites now track how brands appear in AI answers, and teams want to compare those features side by side.
• Team and client work. Agencies look at seats, white-label reports and client access as much as at the data.

Ahrefs’ own plans, limits and add-ons are on its live pricing page. The plan names there are Lite, Standard, Advanced and Enterprise. Read it before you decide whether a switch is about price or about fit.

Before you switch: check Ahrefs Free

If you only care about a site you own, you may not need a paid tool at all. Ahrefs says its old Webmaster Tools is now called Ahrefs Free. According to Ahrefs, it gives verified site owners free access to Web Analytics, Site Audit and Site Explorer for their own sites, and its pricing page describes the access as limited. Ahrefs also says that when a paid subscription ends, the account moves to the free plan. It will not show you competitors in depth, but for auditing and watching your own site it is a strong free starting point.

Lane one: all-in-one SEO suites

Semrush

Semrush is the closest full-suite alternative to Ahrefs and the one most people compare first. Its homepage describes toolkits for SEO, AI visibility, traffic and market research, content, local, advertising, PR and social, and it offers Semrush data inside AI assistants through its MCP server. Its pricing page lists SEO, Starter, Pro+ and Advanced plans, plus a free plan for trying out the platform with a daily report limit.

• Best for: teams that want one platform for SEO, AI search visibility, ads research and content, and do not mind add-ons.
• Not ideal for: people who only need one job done, such as keyword ideas, who may find a lighter tool simpler.
• Plans: free plan, paid SEO and AI search plans, and paid add-ons. Live pricing.
• Read next: Ahrefs vs Semrush

SE Ranking

SE Ranking pitches itself as a full SEO platform that is easier to run day to day. Its homepage lists rank tracking, keyword research, competitor analysis, a backlink checker, website audit, content tools and local marketing tools. It also sells SE Visible, a separate product for tracking how brands appear in AI search, and offers API and MCP access. The subscription page lists Core, Growth and Enterprise plans, a free trial with no credit card required, and an Agency Pack add-on with white-label reporting.

• Best for: small agencies and in-house teams that want daily rank tracking, audits and client reports in one place.
• Not ideal for: people who want the biggest brand name in client decks, or who only need a single report.
• Plans: Core, Growth and Enterprise, with paid add-ons. Live pricing.

Moz Pro

Moz Pro is one of the longest-running SEO suites. Moz’s product page describes Keyword Explorer, competitive research and SERP analysis, an on-page grader, a rank tracker, site crawl audits, custom reports and AI visibility tracking across tracked prompts. Its pricing page lists Standard, Medium and Large plans and a free trial, and says a free Moz Community account gives limited access to some tools. Moz also offers free tools such as the MozBar browser extension, per its free tools page.

• Best for: marketers who want a well-known suite with a clear interface, and people who already use Moz metrics such as Domain Authority.
• Not ideal for: teams that need the deepest competitor and backlink data, who should test it against Ahrefs and Semrush side by side.
• Plans: Standard, Medium and Large, with a free trial. Live pricing.
• Read next: Ahrefs vs Moz

Lane two: simpler keyword research tools

Mangools

Mangools is a bundle of smaller tools rather than one big platform. Its homepage lists KWFinder for keyword research, SERPChecker for search result analysis, SERPWatcher for rank tracking, LinkMiner for backlinks and SiteProfiler for site metrics, plus AI Search Watcher for AI visibility and an MCP server. Mangools says SERPWatcher updates rankings weekly, or daily on its Agency plan. You can create a free account to try it.

• Best for: bloggers, freelancers and small sites that mainly want keyword ideas and difficulty scores without a steep learning curve.
• Not ideal for: teams that need daily rank tracking on every plan or deep technical audits.
• Plans: free account and paid plans. Live pricing.

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest, from Neil Patel’s NP Digital, covers keyword and content research, site audits, rank tracking and AI search visibility. Its product page says there is a free plan for light research, paid plans for individuals, teams and the full platform, a free trial, and a Lifetime option for people who would rather pay once than subscribe. Ubersuggest says AI search tracking is on its paid plans.

• Best for: solo site owners and small businesses that want a simple tool and like the idea of a one-time payment.
• Not ideal for: agencies that need large data exports, many seats or advanced backlink analysis.
• Plans: free plan, paid plans and a Lifetime option. Live pricing.

Lane three: a backlink specialist

Majestic

Majestic does one job: backlink analysis. Its homepage describes Site Explorer, link context, anchor text, topics and comparison tools, and its own Trust Flow and Citation Flow metrics, which it uses to score link quality and link volume. Its plans page lists a Lite plan built around its Fresh Index and a Pro plan that adds its Historic Index and all of its web tools, plus a higher API tier with full API access. You can run a free search before you sign up.

• Best for: link builders and SEOs who want a second opinion on backlink data next to another tool.
• Not ideal for: anyone who needs keyword research, rank tracking or site audits in the same place.
• Plans: Lite, Pro and API tiers. Live pricing.

Lane four: free and technical tools

Google Search Console

Google describes Search Console as a free service that helps you monitor, maintain and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search. Its overview page lists the queries that bring people to your site, with impressions, clicks and position, plus index coverage, sitemap submission, the URL Inspection tool, Core Web Vitals reports and email alerts when Google finds issues.

• Best for: every site owner. This is Google’s own data on how your site performs in Google Search, and most paid tools can connect to it.
• Not ideal for: competitor research. It only shows sites you have verified.
• Plans: free.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider is a desktop website crawler for Windows, macOS and Linux. The company says it finds broken links, audits redirects, checks page titles and meta descriptions, spots duplicate content, generates XML sitemaps, renders JavaScript sites and connects to Google Analytics, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights. Its pricing page says the tool is free with a crawl limit, and that a yearly paid licence removes the limit and unlocks advanced features.

• Best for: technical SEO audits, site migrations and anyone who wants raw crawl data on their own machine.
• Not ideal for: keyword research, backlink research or rank tracking, which it does not try to do.
• Plans: free version and a paid yearly licence. Live pricing.

How to choose an Ahrefs alternative

1. Write down the reports you use every week. If it is keyword ideas only, a lighter tool may do. If it is competitor, backlink and rank data together, you want a full suite.
2. Start free. Set up Google Search Console and Ahrefs Free for your own site before you pay for anything.
3. Trial two tools on the same task. Run the same competitor domain and the same keyword list through each, and compare what you can act on, not just the size of the numbers.
4. Check rank tracking and AI visibility limits. How often rankings update, how many keywords and prompts you can track, and which AI engines are covered all vary by plan.
5. Count seats and clients. Agencies should check users, projects, white-label reports and API or MCP access before they compare headline prices.

For the wider marketing stack, see our best AI marketing tools guide, or browse marketing and SEO tools on Unloc.

FAQ

What is the best alternative to Ahrefs?

For most teams it is Semrush, because it covers the same ground: keyword research, competitor analysis, backlinks, rank tracking, site audits and AI search visibility. SE Ranking and Moz Pro are full suites worth trialling too, especially for small agencies and in-house teams.

Is there a free alternative to Ahrefs?

Yes, for your own site. Google Search Console is free and shows how your site performs in Google Search. Ahrefs Free gives verified site owners limited free access to Site Explorer and Site Audit, and Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a free version with a crawl limit. None of these give you deep competitor research for free.

Is Semrush better than Ahrefs?

Neither is better for everyone. Semrush covers more marketing channels, such as ads, local, content and social. Ahrefs is known for its backlink and competitor data and offers a free plan for site owners. Our Ahrefs vs Semrush comparison goes through the differences.

What is the cheapest Ahrefs alternative?

We do not quote prices because they change often. Free options include Google Search Console, Ahrefs Free and the free versions of Screaming Frog, Ubersuggest and Mangools. Among paid tools, lighter keyword tools such as Mangools and Ubersuggest are usually aimed at smaller budgets than full suites, but check each live pricing page.

Which Ahrefs alternative is best for backlinks?

Majestic is the specialist, built around backlink data and its Trust Flow and Citation Flow metrics. Semrush, SE Ranking and Moz Pro all include backlink tools inside a wider suite, so pick Majestic if links are your main job and a suite if you need everything in one place.

Bottom line

Pick Semrush if you want the closest all-in-one replacement for Ahrefs. Pick SE Ranking or Moz Pro for a full suite that may suit a smaller team better. Pick Mangools or Ubersuggest if keyword research is the main job, Majestic if backlinks are, and start with Google Search Console, Ahrefs Free and Screaming Frog’s free version if you only need data on your own site. Browse more on Unloc.