Ahrefs is one of the most powerful SEO tools on the market; in fact, Forbes recently named Ahrefs the best SEO software. However, to determine whether Ahrefs is right for you, you need to consider the pros and cons of using Ahrefs as well as the costs associated with Ahrefs plans.
Ahrefs Pros & Cons
Pros:
- All-in-one SEO tool
- Excellent link-building tools
- Unlimited Rank Tracker reports
- Generous limits for tracked keywords
- Robust Keywords Explorer tool
- Helpful Content Gap tool
- Great for competitive research
- Responsive customer support
- Strong site audit capabilities
- Excellent data filtering tools
- Easy data export
- Reliable Domain Rating (DR) scores
- Free Keyword Generator and Keyword Difficulty Checker
Cons:
- Plans get pricey
- No free trial
- Not beginner-friendly
- Confusing credit allowances
- Only one user included in each plan and an add-on fee for additional users
- The Lite plan is stingy on features and data available
- $100 to $250 add-on fee for daily rankings update frequency
- API only on Enterprise plan
Ahrefs Cost
Ahrefs offers several free SEO tools, including its Keyword Generator, Keyword Difficulty Checker, YouTube Keyword Tool, SERP Checker, Broken Link Checker and Website Authority Checker. These complimentary SEO tools are helpful for those with minimal SEO research needs but don’t offer the depth of data and full scope of features you’ll get with a paid Ahrefs plan.
Ahrefs has four paid plans offered monthly or annually; when you pay annually, you get two months free. Every Ahrefs plan includes one user and powerful SEO tools such as Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Site Audit, Rank Tracker and SERP comparisons.
The entry-level Ahrefs plan is called Lite and is best for new entrepreneurs and small businesses with minimal SEO research needs. The Lite plan costs $99 monthly or $83 per month when paid annually.
The Standard plan includes everything in the Lite plan plus additional Site Explorer features such as tools for analyzing content gaps, link intersects and domain comparisons. Standard plan users can also access Content Explorer, Competitive Analysis, Batch Analysis and reports sharing. These extra features are often worth the higher Standard plan price, which costs $199 monthly or $166 per month when paid annually.
The Advanced plan includes every tool in the Lite and Standard plans, plus some extra tools within Site Explorer, including Site Structure, HTML History, Web Explorer and Looker Studio integration. Ahrefs recommends the Advanced plans for in-house marketing teams. The Advanced plan costs $399 monthly or $333 per month when paid annually.
Ahrefs’ top-tier offering is the Enterprise plan, which is designed for agencies and enterprises. Enterprise plan holders get all the features in other Ahrefs plans plus advanced features including SSO, API, Directory listings, pay by invoice instead of credit card and team management tools that allow you to manage team access. The Advanced plan costs $999 monthly or $833 per month when paid annually.
In addition to gaining access to more features in higher-level Ahrefs plans, you’ll also gain access to extended usage capacity and data. For example, the Lite plan lets you track 750 keywords, while the Enterprise plan lets you track up to 10,000. The Standard plan offers 500,000 crawl credits per month, while the Advanced plan offers 1.5 million.
All Ahrefs plans include only one user. You can add additional users to any plan for $20 per month for casual users and $50 per month for power users. The difference between a casual and a power user is the number of Ahrefs credits consumed each month, based on data pulled.
When To Choose a Competitor Over Ahrefs
Here are the main reasons you would choose a competitor over Ahrefs:
- Ahrefs’ free tools are insufficient for your needs.
- You find Ahrefs is too difficult to use and want a more beginner-friendly option, such as Ubersuggest or Mangools/KWFinder.
- You don’t need all the features Ahrefs offers. For example, maybe you need a simple keyword research tool such as Google Keyword Planner or site crawler software such as Screaming Frog.
- It would help if you had SEO software with more PPC research and analysis tools, such as Semrush.
