What is Ahrefs?
Ahrefs is a web-based SEO platform with Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Site Audit and Rank Tracker, plus a Brand Radar AI add-on for tracking brand mentions and prompts in AI answers. It runs in the browser, with an SEO Toolbar extension and API and MCP access listed on paid plans.
Who it's for
Ahrefs describes Lite as suited to small businesses and personal projects, Standard to freelance SEOs and consultants, and Advanced to lean in-house marketing teams. Starter is aimed at people who want to see what others search and look at competitors, and website owners can use the free account for their own verified sites.
Pros & cons
Strengths
- Ahrefs lists a free account with limited Site Explorer and Site Audit access, unlimited verified projects, and 5,000 crawl credits plus 500 additional credits per verified project; sites are verified via Google Search Console, a DNS record, an HTML file or an HTML tag.
- Starter ($29 a month) lists the SEO Dashboard, Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Site Audit, Rank Tracker and the SEO Toolbar, per its help page.
- The pricing page lists tracked keywords, history and crawl credits rising by tier: Lite 750 keywords, 6 months and 100,000 crawl credits a month; Advanced 5,000 keywords, 5 years and 1.5 million crawl credits.
- The pricing page says all plans include API and MCP access, with integration units of 200,000 (Lite), 800,000 (Standard), 2 million (Advanced) and 4 million (Enterprise) a month.
- Standard and above list unlimited credits per user; Lite lists 1,000 credits per user a month.
- Enterprise lists SSO, an audit log, access management and no training on your data; Ahrefs' Enterprise page also says it is ISO 27001 certified and that customers can opt out of data use for training.
Limitations
- Starter is monthly only and lists 200 credits, no additional users or credit purchases, 50 Rank Tracker keywords, 1 month of history, 250 rows per report and no exports; the help page says limits may change without prior notice.
- The pricing page lists only monthly prices and says 'save up to 17%' for annual billing, while the page's meta description says 20% and its FAQ says 'We never run discounts'; switching to annual billing is done through support.
- Each paid plan includes 1 user; extra users cost $40 (Lite, up to 2), $60 (Standard, up to 5), $80 (Advanced, up to 10) or $100 (Enterprise) a month each, and pay-as-you-go credits and data are charged automatically if enabled.
- Add-ons are priced separately: Brand Radar AI from $199 a month, custom prompt packages from $50 to $250 a month, Report Builder $99 a month, and Project Boost Pro $20 or Max $200 a month per project.
- The pricing page says Ahrefs does not issue refunds in general (monthly subscribers may ask if the account is unused). Ahrefs' help articles disagree with each other on some figures, such as Lite credits (1,000 vs 500) and free-account Rank Tracker keywords, and its Webmaster Tools article says anonymized Search Console data may be used to improve its models unless you verify by DNS or HTML.
Plans and pricing
- Ahrefs Free: $0. Limited Site Explorer and Site Audit for verified sites; unlimited verified projects, 5,000 crawl credits per verified project; no exports or history.
- Starter: $29 a month (monthly billing only). 200 credits, 1 unverified project, 50 tracked keywords, 1 month of history, no extra users.
- Lite: $129 a month. 5 unverified projects, 750 tracked keywords, 6 months of history, 1 user (up to 2 more), 1,000 credits per user.
- Standard: $249 a month. 20 unverified projects, 2,000 tracked keywords, 2 years of history, 1 user (up to 5 more), unlimited credits per user.
- Advanced: $449 a month. 50 unverified projects, 5,000 tracked keywords, 5 years of history, 1 user (up to 10 more), unlimited credits per user.
- Enterprise: $1,499 a month. Annual commitment required; from 10,000 tracked keywords, unlimited history, SSO and audit log, 3 users included per a help article.
Prices and limits were read from the official pricing page and Ahrefs help articles on the Starter plan and plan differences. Annual per-month prices are not listed and the discount figure conflicts (17% vs 20%), so annual cost is unknown; prices are in US dollars as listed. Confirm on the live pricing page.
Details checked October 2026 against the vendor's own pages. Prices and limits change, so confirm before you buy. Official pricing page ↗
Sources
This profile was compiled from these public pages. We have not run hands-on tests.
Ahrefs — at a glance
Ahrefs is a web-based SEO platform with Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Site Audit and Rank Tracker, plus a Brand Radar AI add-on for tracking brand mentions and prompts in AI answers. It runs in the browser, with an SEO Toolbar extension and API and MCP access listed on paid plans.
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