Ahrefs is one of the most powerful SEO tools. It’s the default tool for many digital marketers. But after they recently launched their new pricing plans, the tool can turn outrageously expensive for many users. For enterprise companies with a team of content writers and SEOs, Ahrefs is still the best choice in most cases. But the same is not true for many small and medium businesses.
In this article, I want to share six specific Ahrefs alternatives on the market that are relatively affordable and still get the job done. Here’s the first tool:
Best for: A comprehensive SEO toolkit that can serve as the number one Ahrefs alternative for most marketers
If there’s one tool closest to Ahrefs in terms of SEO capabilities, it is SEMRush. It has a keyword research tool, a site audit tool, a backlink checker, and even the competence to handle on page SEO. The product is generous regarding the number of reports you can pull in a day and is a relatively affordable choice over Ahrefs.
Among SEMRush’s distinguishing features include the ability to create link building campaigns by integrating your domain. And its keyword intent tool to identify keywords relevant to your business.
Pros:
It has a 30-day free trial to test the tool’s features, and the entry-level plan is a value for money option for SEO.
Beyond SEO, SEMRush can help you with PPC, content creation, distribution, optimization, analytics, social media management, etc.
Cons:
In its quest to become a “comprehensive online marketing platform”, SEMRush can be harder to navigate and relatively less user-friendly.
The quality and depth of its keyword and traffic analytics tool are probably not the best in the market (of course, Ahrefs beats it!)
Its add-on tools can become quite expensive and SEMRush only has data on Google ̉— insights on other search engines are not available.
Best for: Local SEO marketers and digital marketing agencies that want to track multiple campaigns
TrackRight is our homegrown SEO suite based on our decade of working with clients. Once you add a domain to the tool, it shows the top organic and maps keyword rankings for your business. And the leads they generated for you — in terms of phone calls, form submissions, and live chat interactions.
Our SEO clients get access to this proprietary platform’s reports (at their intended frequency). What’s more? Our data source is Ahrefs, so you get the highest grade data in the SEO industry — paying a fraction of the cost.
If you’re an agency, you’ll relish the tool’s ability to add multiple domains and track their keyword rankings.
Pros:
Our estimates are based on Ahrefs traffic metrics and additionally you get access to your Maps rankings. It’s great value for money!
You get generous data limits: tracking of 25 domains and addition of up to 1000 keywords.
Cons:
We’re still developing the tool, so you may need to stay patient for some of our features
Best for: Beginners SEO marketers who are strapped for cash
If you’re a beginner looking for a free alternative to Ahrefs, it doesn’t get better than Ubersuggest. Originally purchased and integrated on his website by Neil Patel to improve his brand awareness, it soon became a respectable SEO software.
Its organic traffic estimates are pretty accurate, so you can use them for competitor analysis. The quality of its keyword data is commendable, though you can’t say the same for its backlink data. It has a free daily allowance analysis for three queries (without logging in). And its trial is also pretty generous.
Pros:
It has lifetime pricing plans which offer great value for money for rank tracking, keyword analysis, and other popular SEO features.
Cons:
While the tool is quickly improving and provides access to the most important SEO metrics, it has a lot of bugs.
SEO professionals will find it difficult to create a holistic SEO strategy with Ubersuggest alone as the tool is not reliable enough for backlink analysis or as a keyword tool.
Best for: Beginner SEO looking for a value for money SEO suite with robust data
If you’re dipping your feet wet in SEO but don’t want to compromise on features, then you can’t go wrong with Mangools.
It has a user-friendly interface and a host of tools that make for an SEO powersuite. Its KWFinder is among the best keyword research tools on the market. The SERP Watcher is a decent keyword rank tracker, the Linkminer works well for backlink analysis, and it has mini tools for SERP analysis and site audits as well.
When it comes to SEO data, it does lack depth. But it has all the core Ahrefs features.
Pros:
At about $37 per month, it’s an affordable SEO tool with all the key features a new marketer might need.
While lacking advanced features, its user interface is straightforward and perfect for someone starting SEO on a new website.
Cons
For growing websites with lots of web pages (and that need access to large amounts of data), it may not be the best fit.
Best for: Content discovery, research, and content marketing
If you want a tool to replace Ahrefs content explorer, then Buzzsumo is a great fit. It can find mentions of your website and content, influencers in your niche to share your content, and the top-performing content in your industry.
You can benchmark your content against the competition, leverage it for digital PR campaigns, and lots more. While this isn’t a one-to-one Ahrefs alternative, it could suffice for certain marketers heavily relying on social platforms. Or want to work on their social media traffic until the SEO traffic kicks in.
Pros
A great addition to a content marketer’s toolset for monitoring brand mentions.
It can also help brands foray into video marketing because it finds top-performing videos on YouTube as well.
Best for: China marketers or those who want to focus on Baidu SEO
While not a one-to-one Ahrers alternative, AdChina is a useful tool for marketers who want to advertise in China. Or if you want to pursue Baidu SEO. It comes with a Baidu keyword research tool that can help you identify long tail keywords and share data on their cost per click, competition for the keyword, etc.
Among other features, the tool can estimate how much advertising on 10+ Chinese top advertising channels will cost. Its audience research tool can also help you research the China market.
Pros
Get instant Baidu keyword research results in a simple English platform.
Understand the historical search volume, competition level, and bidding price for a keyword in China.
Cons
This will only be helpful for marketers who want to advertise in China.
Final Thoughts
Even Google Search Console can work as a great position tracking tool for your important phrases, providing you with new keyword ideas and a basic backlink profile analysis. If you can top it with Google Analytics, it will provide important traffic insights with the keywords you rank for.
However, the best SEO tool that can work as the number alternative to Ahrefs — despite its flaws — is SEMRush. Given that the company had an IPO of 1.9 billion USD, you can expect its SEO tool to upgrade features further.
Author: Shreya Dalela was a senior content marketer at AdChina.io and the founder of The Creatives Hour. She plans and executes content campaigns across blogs and social media for Ecommerce and SaaS brands.
