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Price Snapshot
How much does Ahrefs cost?
Ahrefs starts at $29/mo for a paid plan, with a free plan for smaller teams. That's 42% below median for SEO Software tools. Annual billing saves up to 17%.
Calculate before you commit
SEO Software pricing at your tracked keyword count
Use my pricing calculator to see how Ahrefs compares with other SEO Software software at the tracked keyword count you actually need. Every tool here is priced at the same volume, which is the comparison a vendor’s own pricing page cannot make. Ahrefs gets relatively more expensive as you scale: it is #9 of 13 at 10 and #5 of 5 at 10,000, so the cheapest option at your size may not be the cheapest at your next one.
At 50 tracked keywords, Ahrefs costs $129/mo on Lite, which is #9 of 13 in SEO Software. Semrush, the most-reviewed option here, costs $139/mo at the same volume.
AnswerThePublic$13.33/mo
Keysearch$24/mo
LowFruits$29.90/mo
SpyFu$39/mo
Ranklytics$49/mo
Wincher$49/mo
Morningscore$69/mo
Moz$99/mo
Ahrefs$129/mo
SE Ranking$129/mo
Semrush$139/mo
Advanced Web Ranking$139/mo
AccuRanker$224/mo
Priced in another currency, so listed separately rather than ranked:
Seobility€49.90/mo≈$54
Mangools€61/mo≈$66
Nightwatch€99/mo≈$107
The vendor’s own price is on the left. The dollar figure is my conversion at rates taken on 2026-08-06, shown only to give a sense of scale. These vendors do not set their dollar price by converting, so the approximation is not what you would be charged and is not used for ranking.
Some tools do not publish a price at exactly 50 tracked keywords. Those show the next tier up, which is what you would actually pay: AnswerThePublic at 100, Keysearch at 80, LowFruits at 3,000, SpyFu at 5,000, Ranklytics at 100, Wincher at 500.
Compare all SEO Software pricing by budget →
13 of 16 SEO Software tools publish a price at this volume. Every figure is the vendor’s own published rate for monthly billing, read from their pricing page and last checked 2026-08-06. Nothing is estimated between published tiers.
Plans
Ahrefs plans and pricing
5 paid plans · Monthly billing · Verified Jul 2, 2026
Ahrefs Free provides basic site analysis for verified website owners only. You must verify ownership of your website to access this free tier.
Beyond the base plan
There's more to the pricing
Ahrefs's base plan list above is the starting point. Most agencies stack on add-ons or use separate products from the same vendor.
Add-ons that stack on plans
Content Kit
From $99/moAI Content Helper, AI Content Grader, and (in beta) AI Content Inventory for aligning content with search intent and competitor coverage.
Report Builder
$99/mo50 reports, 500 total widgets, scheduling. Bring data from across Ahrefs into custom dashboards for client reporting.
Project Boost Pro
$20/mo per projectAuto-submit to IndexNow, "Ask AI" in Site Audit, always-on audit at 10 pages/minute, instant recrawl, AI detection in Site Audit (1,000 URLs/crawl).
Project Boost Max
$200/mo per projectPatches, batch AI in Site Audit, unlimited AI URL detection, always-on audit at 30 pages/minute. The full AI-augmented audit treatment.
Separate products from Ahrefs
Letaido
$99/moAI agent that runs marketing work on top of Ahrefs
Runs on frontier AI models with full unrestricted Ahrefs access (broader than the public API/MCP), prebuilt marketing skills and apps, native integrations with Notion, Slack, HubSpot, and Semrush. Ahrefs renamed this product from Agent A to Letaido in 2026.
View product →Brand Radar AI
From $50/mo standaloneTrack your brand across 400M+ AI prompts
Research brand visibility across the Ahrefs prompt database plus custom prompt tracking. You can buy it standalone with custom prompts from $50/mo (Basic, 2,500 checks), $100 (Growth, 7,000) or $250 (Scale, 25,000), and it runs on Ahrefs Free, so no paid Ahrefs plan is required to use it.
View product →What an agency stack actually costs
Most agencies don't stay on the base plan. The real Ahrefs stack adds three layers: extra users (Lite $40, Standard $60, Advanced $80 per additional seat per month), one or two content/reporting add-ons (Content Kit + Report Builder = +$198/mo), and Project Boost on critical client sites ($20-$200/mo per project). A two-person Standard agency running Content Kit + Report Builder + Project Boost Pro on 5 projects lands at roughly $249 + $60 + $99 + $99 + ($20 × 5) = $607/mo, about 2.4× the headline plan price. Enterprise requires annual commitment at $1,499/mo. Annual billing saves ~17% on plans but not on add-ons. Budget realistically: assume ~1.5× the plan price for solo use, ~2.5× for an active agency stack.
Recommendation
Which plan should you choose?
Ahrefs Free lets you analyze your own verified websites at no cost, covering basic site audits and backlink data. It is limited to sites you can verify ownership of, so you cannot use it for competitor research. For monitoring your own site's SEO health and catching technical issues, it provides genuine value without any subscription. Upgrade to Starter when you need keyword research or want to analyze competitor sites.
The Starter plan at $29/month gives you access to core keyword research, backlink analysis, and basic competitor research tools. The usage limits are tighter than higher tiers, but for individual projects and learning the fundamentals of SEO research, the capacity is sufficient. There is no free trial beyond Ahrefs Free, so the $29 monthly commitment is the minimum entry point for full feature access. Consider Lite once you need to manage multiple projects or track more keywords than Starter allows.
Lite at $129/month provides 5 projects, 750 tracked keywords, and 6 months of historical data, which handles the workload of a small agency managing a handful of client sites. The $100 jump from Starter is steep, but the project and keyword tracking limits on Starter become restrictive quickly when juggling multiple clients. You get full toolset access at this tier, covering site audits, rank tracking, and backlink monitoring. Move to Standard when you need more than 5 simultaneous projects or deeper historical data.
Standard includes 20 projects, 2,000 tracked keywords, and 2 years of historical data, plus Content Explorer access for content research and ideation. The expanded project capacity supports agencies scaling beyond a handful of clients. Historical data going back 2 years gives you better trend analysis for client reporting. Upgrade to Advanced if you need API access or manage more than 20 active client projects.
Enterprise offers unlimited projects, 10,000+ tracked keywords, full historical data, API access, and SSO support. This tier targets large organizations with complex SEO operations spanning many domains and teams. Custom limits can be negotiated based on your specific needs. At $1,499/month, this only makes sense for organizations where SEO drives significant revenue and the data needs exceed what the Advanced plan provides.
Feature Comparison
What's in each plan?
Side-by-side comparison of all Ahrefs plan features.
| Feature | Starter | Lite | Standard | Advanced | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| See what people search and spy on competitors | ✓ | – | – | – | – |
| Projects | – | 5 | 20 | 50 | – |
| Historical data | – | 6 months | 2 years | 5 years | – |
| Tracked keywords | – | 750 | 2,000 | 5,000 | – |
| Tracked prompts | – | 5 | 10 | 20 | – |
| Crawl credits | – | 100,000 | 500,000 | 1,500,000 | – |
| Credits per user | – | 1000 | Unlimited | Unlimited | – |
| Users included | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| Additional users | – | Add 2 more users at $40/mo each | Add 5 more users at $60/mo each | Add 10 more users at $80/mo each | – |
| Dashboard | – | ✓ | – | – | – |
Showing 10 of 58 features.
Scaling Costs
How much as you grow?
Ahrefs uses usage-based pricing. Here's how costs change as your usage grows.
| checks | Brand Radar Custom prompts - Basic | Brand Radar Custom Prompt Packages | Brand Radar Custom prompts - Growth | Brand Radar Custom prompts - Scale | Brand Radar Custom Prompts | Lite | Standard | Advanced | Brand Radar Custom prompt packages - Basic | Brand Radar Custom prompt packages - Growth | Brand Radar Custom prompt packages - Scale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | – | – | – | – | $129 | $249 | $449 | – | – | – |
| 3 | – | – | – | – | – | $119 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5 | – | – | – | – | – | $129 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6 | – | – | – | – | – | – | $229 | – | – | – | – |
| 11 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | $419 | – | – | – |
| 20 | – | – | – | – | – | – | $249 | – | – | – | – |
| 50 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | $449 | – | – | – |
| 80 | – | – | – | – | $50 | – | – | – | $46.7 | – | – |
| 100 | – | – | – | – | $100 | – | – | – | – | $93 | – |
| 200 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | $234 |
| 250 | – | – | – | – | $250 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 750 | – | – | – | – | – | $129 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2,000 | – | – | – | – | – | – | $249 | – | – | – | – |
| 2,500 | $46.7 | $50 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5,000 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | $449 | – | – | – |
| 7,000 | – | $100 | $93 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 25,000 | – | $250 | – | $234 | – | $129 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 50,000 | – | – | – | – | – | – | $249 | – | – | – | – |
| 250,000 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | $449 | – | – | – |
Buddy's Take
Costs scale as your usage grows. Budget for growth.
Editorial
My take on Ahrefs pricing
Ahrefs has the most comprehensive backlink database in the industry, and their keyword researchtools are excellent. The Starter plan at $29/month gives you enough data for basic SEO work on a single project, which makes it accessible for freelancers and small teams.
The pricing structure has a major gap between Starter ($29) and Lite ($129). That $100 jump is steep and there is no middle option. If you need more than 500 keyword reports per month or want to track more than 750 keywords, you are forced into the $129 tier. For budget-conscious SEO work, tools like Mangools or SE Ranking offer more generous limits at lower price points.
Ahrefs is worth the investment if backlink analysis and competitive research are core to your SEO strategy. The data quality justifies the price for professionals. For bloggers or small businesses doing basic keyword research, cheaper tools cover 80% of what you need.
Deals
Available discounts
Annual Discount
Save up to 17% when paying annually across all plans
Verdict
Is Ahrefs Worth the Price?
Ahrefs remains one of the best SEO platforms available, but the value depends heavily on which tier you need. The $29 Starter plan is competitive for individual use. The $129+ tiers are harder to justify unless you are running an agency or managing multiple client sites. The lack of a free trial (beyond the limited Ahrefs Free) means you are committing without a full test drive.
For a complete feature analysis, read my full Ahrefs review. If you want to see how it compares on price, check my Ahrefs alternatives.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Ahrefs does not offer a free trial of its paid plans, and there is no 7-day or 30-day free trial (it discontinued its old $7, 7-day trial). To try Ahrefs without paying, use the free Ahrefs Webmaster Tools on a site you own, or start on the $29/month Starter plan. The free SEO tools let you sample the data too.
Ahrefs doesn't offer a money-back guarantee, so you can't get a refund after subscribing.
Annual billing saves up to 17% across all paid plans compared to monthly pricing.
The free plan provides basic site analysis, but only for websites you own and verify. You can't research competitors.
Yes, you can change your plan at any time. Changes take effect at your next billing cycle.
Team member limits vary by plan. Contact Ahrefs directly for specific user limits on each tier.
No long-term contracts required. You can cancel anytime, though annual plans are billed upfront.
API v3 is included from the Lite plan ($129/month) up, which Ahrefs widened from the Advanced tier in early 2026. Enterprise gets uncapped access. You can buy pay-as-you-go API units on top of a plan, and those last three billing months including the current one. There is also a free public Domain Rating endpoint that needs no subscription at all.
Ahrefs has five paid tiers plus a free option: Ahrefs Free (Webmaster Tools), Starter at $29/month (monthly only), Lite at $129/month, Standard at $249/month, Advanced at $449/month, and Enterprise from $1,499/month. Annual billing saves about 17% (roughly two months free) on Lite and up.
No, and it is easy to confuse the two now that both live under Ahrefs. Firehose is a separate product with its own subscription (firehose.com): Free at $0 (1 tap, 200 reviewable matches a month, 5 watched URLs, 3-hour fastest check), Starter $39/mo , Advanced $89/mo and Business $299/mo , each adding taps, matches, watched URLs and faster checks, plus an API-only pay-as-you-go tier at $5 per 1,000 matches . Paid tiers include a monthly API credit ($10, $50 and $200 respectively). None of this is bundled into an Ahrefs Lite, Standard, Advanced or Enterprise plan, so budget for it separately if you want real-time web monitoring.
See the pricing for yourself
Check the official pricing page for current rates.
View Ahrefs PricingMore on Ahrefs
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Ahrefs vs Semrush: $29 Backlink Focus vs $140 All-Round SEO
10 Alternatives to Ahrefs for Every Budget
Joonas Rotko
Author & founder of That Marketing Buddy
I score marketing software for AI-stack fit (MCP, API, agent-readiness), backed by 10+ years in digital marketing. Building the most trustworthy marketing software database so you can trust the pricing data on this site.
This page may contain affiliate links. I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This never influences pricing data.