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Ahrefs review

By Udayan Ambwani, Co-founder & CTO · 29 Sept 2026

The SEO suite known for its backlink index, with Brand Radar AI visibility in every paid plan at small prompt volumes.

Ahrefs homepage
Ahrefs homepage, 29 September 2026
Ahrefs pricing page with its plans and prices
Ahrefs pricing page, 29 September 2026

The verdict

Choose Ahrefs if you are

Teams that live in backlink and keyword data and want AI visibility inside the SEO tool they already use.

Look elsewhere if you are

Teams that need several seats on a small plan, many tracked AI prompts, or drafting without paying for an add-on.

Free plan
Ahrefs Free for sites you verify: 1,000 backlinks and keywords shown
Sites on the entry plan
5 projects on Lite, plus sites you verify
Branded client reports
Not offered: its help centre says reports cannot be white-labelled
Local SEO
Rank tracking by city and ZIP; no listings or reviews

Ahrefs

SEO suite with AI visibility

Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO platform built around Site Explorer, which reports 35 trillion live backlinks and more than ten years of history, and Keywords Explorer, which filters 28.7 billion keywords from 110 billion discovered across 217 locations. Site Audit checks for more than 170 SEO issues, Rank Tracker monitors rankings weekly including AI Overviews, and Content Explorer searches its page index from the Standard plan up. API and MCP access are included from Lite.

Ahrefs for classic SEO

Ahrefs is built around its link index. Site Explorer reports 35 trillion live backlinks with more than ten years of history, and Keywords Explorer filters 28.7 billion keywords from 110 billion discovered across 217 locations. Site Audit checks for more than 170 SEO issues, and API and MCP access start on Lite, whereas Semrush keeps its API for its Advanced plan.

Rank tracking is the weak spot for a team that reports daily: Rank Tracker covers 19 SERP features, AI Overviews among them, but updates weekly on every plan, with 750 tracked keywords on Lite. Writing is an add-on: AI Content Helper grades drafts against top-ranking pages and sits in the Content Kit, from $99 a month.

AI answer tracking

AI answer tracking lives in Brand Radar, which covers seven AI surfaces: AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, AI Mode and Claude. Custom prompts come free with every paid plan and refresh daily, but in small numbers: Lite’s 150 checks a month cover 5 prompts on one platform, rising to 10 on Standard and 20 on Advanced, and tracking more platforms means fewer prompts.

Brand Radar AI, from $199 a month, researches any brand across more than 475 million prompts in Ahrefs’ own index. That suits competitive research more than tracking your own prompts, where a dedicated tracker gives more prompts for the money.

Pros

  • One of the largest backlink indexes any vendor publishes, with 35 trillion live backlinks and a decade of history.
  • AI visibility is included in plans many SEO teams already pay for, refreshed daily, at no extra cost for small prompt sets.
  • API and MCP access from the entry plan, and a free plan for sites you own.

Cons

  • Lite, Standard and Advanced each include one user; extra users cost $40, $60 or $80 a month by tier, and Lite allows only two more.
  • Prompt allowances are small until Enterprise: 5, 10 and 20 prompts on Lite, Standard and Advanced.
  • Each plan’s monthly checks cover its prompts on one platform daily: Lite’s 150 checks are 5 prompts on one platform for 30 days, and a Claude update uses 8 checks. Tracking more platforms means fewer prompts or a prompt package from $50.
  • AI Content Helper is a paid add-on, the Content Kit from $99 a month; it is not in the base plans.
  • There is no free trial and, its pricing page says, generally no refunds; Ahrefs Free covers only sites you verify.

Pricing

  • Lite
    1 user, up to 2 more at $40/mo; 750 tracked keywords; 5 tracked AI prompts
    $129/mo
  • Standard
    1 user, up to 5 more at $60/mo; 2,000 tracked keywords; 10 tracked AI prompts
    $249/mo
  • Advanced
    1 user, up to 10 more at $80/mo; 5,000 tracked keywords; 20 tracked AI prompts
    $449/mo
  • Enterprise
    annual commitment; from 3 users, more at $100/mo; 83+ tracked AI prompts
    $1,499/mo
  • Brand Radar AI
    research any brand across 475M+ prompts
    From $199/mo
  • Content Kit
    add-on: AI Content Helper and AI Content Grader
    From $99/mo

Trial: No trial; Ahrefs Free gives limited Site Explorer and Site Audit access for sites you verify.

Recent changes

  • April 2026: API v3 made available on Lite and higher plans, and a Bot Analytics tool launched.
  • May 2026: Ask Ahrefs, an in-app AI agent free during its beta, and new prompt-based AI Overviews and AI Mode indexes in Brand Radar.
  • December 2025: YouTube, TikTok and Reddit tracking added to Brand Radar in beta for all paid customers, to move into add-ons after beta.

Not the right fit for: Teams that need several seats on a small plan, many tracked AI prompts, or drafting without paying for an add-on.

ahrefs.com
Engine by engine, and what tracking costs a yearWhich engines Ahrefs covers on its tracking plan, and the yearly cost for four team sizes

Which AI engines Ahrefs tracks

On the cheapest plan that tracks AI answers. Most vendors list more engines than that plan includes, so this is what you get at the price shown, not the brochure maximum.

Tool and planChatGPTClaudeGeminiPerplexityAI OverviewsAI ModeCopilot
Ahrefs
Lite
you chooseyou chooseyou chooseyou chooseyou chooseyou chooseyou choose

A tick is included. Add-on means an extra monthly fee. You choose means the plan lets you pick a limited number of platforms from this list. Unclear means the vendor’s wording does not say.

What each plan includesThe plan behind each row, and what changes on higher plans
  • Ahrefs, Lite. Lite includes 150 checks a month, and one prompt on one platform uses one check. That covers the 5 included prompts on one platform daily; more platforms means fewer prompts.

What a year costs

The cheapest published plan that fits each team, over twelve months, with seat fees and required add-ons. Where no published plan fits, the note says why instead of guessing.

ToolGetting started1 seat, 10 tracked prompts, 1 brandOne marketer, one brand1 seat, 50 tracked prompts, 1 brandTeam of five, one brand5 seats, 100 tracked prompts, 1 brandAgency, three brands10 seats, 300 tracked prompts, 3 brands
Ahrefs$2,988$17,988No published fit1No published fit1
  1. 1No published plan tracks the prompts this setup needs; larger volumes are arranged with the vendor.
How each figure was worked outPlan, seats and add-ons behind every number

Getting started

  • Ahrefs: Standard at $249 a month, over twelve months

One marketer, one brand

  • Ahrefs: Enterprise at $1,499 a month, over twelve months

Team of five, one brand

  • Ahrefs: No published plan tracks 100 prompts; larger volumes are arranged with the vendor.

Agency, three brands

  • Ahrefs: No published plan tracks 300 prompts; larger volumes are arranged with the vendor.

Standard monthly rates, without annual discounts unless a vendor publishes only a yearly price. Taxes, overage and negotiated terms are excluded.

Ahrefs, compared

Every page where we set Ahrefs against other tools, each written for that decision.

Questions people ask about Ahrefs

Is Ahrefs good for agencies?

Sites: 5 projects on Lite, plus sites you verify. Extra users: $40/mo on Lite, up to 2; $60 on Standard; $80 on Advanced. Branded client reports: Not offered: its help centre says reports cannot be white-labelled. For three users, ten client sites and branded reports there is no published cost, because no plan includes white-label reports.

What are the alternatives to Ahrefs?

Our Ahrefs alternatives page compares Veritas, Semrush, SE Ranking, Frase, Otterly.AI, each against Ahrefs on price, features and fit.

Does Ahrefs have a free trial?

No trial; Ahrefs Free gives limited Site Explorer and Site Audit access for sites you verify.

How we researched this reviewMethod, what the vendor does not publish, and the update log

What each vendor does not publish

Where a figure below is missing, the charts say so rather than estimate it.

Ahrefs
  • Ahrefs sells prompt packages in checks, from 2,500 extra checks for $50 a month, not in prompts, so the packages are not in the yearly costs.
  • Ahrefs’ trust centre lists SOC 2 without saying whether the report is Type I or Type II.
  • Drafting is in AI Content Helper, sold as the Content Kit add-on from $99 a month, which the yearly costs do not include.
  • Ahrefs publishes different index sizes on different pages; each figure here is quoted from the page it appears on.

How we researched this page

Every fact about another tool comes from that vendor’s own pages, or from a press report where we say so, listed under Sources with the date we read them. Where a vendor does not describe something, we say so rather than guess.

The cost figures on this page are calculated, not assigned. Our full methodology sets out every rule, what each criterion is worth, and where our evidence runs out.

Disclosure. Veritas is our product. It appears on this page because it competes in this category, and we have tried to state its limits as plainly as anyone else’s. If anything here is wrong or out of date, write to support@getveritas.io and we will correct it and note the change in the log.

Update log

  1. 29 September 2026Published.

Sources

The pages behind this comparison, most recently read 29 September 2026. Each tool’s review dates its own sources.

How this page was made. Veritas is our product. Every fact about another tool is checked against that vendor’s own pages, and scores and costs are calculated by our published rules.

Compare it with a tool that cites its sources.

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