Is Ahrefs free? What Ahrefs Free gives you and what still needs a paid plan

Is Ahrefs free?

Yes, for websites you verify: Ahrefs Free costs nothing, needs no credit card and does not expire. Ahrefs' free account page describes the tier as originally called Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, which is why many searches still use that name. Ahrefs says the account is not a trial.

What “free” does not mean is a free version of Ahrefs Lite. Ahrefs Free only shows deep data for sites you prove you own. Research on other people's domains, open-ended keyword research and rank tracking in Ahrefs' own databases all need a subscription, starting with Starter at $29 a month on 2 November 2026.

What does Ahrefs Free include for sites you own?

Ahrefs Free gives Site Explorer, Site Audit and Web Analytics for verified sites, plus a handful of tools that work without verification. Ahrefs lists the limits on ahrefs.com/free and its free SEO tools page.

For a single site owner who wants to know who links to them and what is broken technically, that is substantial value at no cost. Our guide to backlinks in Search Console shows how Google's own link report compares.

What needs a paid Ahrefs plan?

Keywords Explorer, competitor Site Explorer, Content Explorer, Rank Tracker and research on domains you do not own need a paid Ahrefs subscription. Ahrefs Free deliberately stops at your verified properties.

The cheapest paid entry is Starter at $29 a month on 2 November 2026, according to Ahrefs' pricing page. Ahrefs' Starter help article lists 200 credits a month with no top-ups, 1 month of history, 50 tracked keywords and 250 rows per report, renewed monthly only. Each report opened, filter applied or extra page of data spends one credit on credit-based plans, per Ahrefs' usage-based pricing help; Site Audit and Rank Tracker do not use credits.

Lite at $129 a month is the plan most freelancers compare: 750 tracked keywords, 1,000 per user and 6 months of history on the pricing page. Our Ahrefs pricing guide breaks down every plan, credits and add-ons from Ahrefs' own pages.

Does Ahrefs offer a free trial?

No paid trial was listed on 2 November 2026: Ahrefs' pricing page FAQ says it never runs discounts and offers no free trial on subscriptions, and points website owners to Ahrefs Free instead. That is different from Semrush's 7-day card trial; our guide to is Semrush free? covers Semrush's free plan and trial separately.

Ahrefs Free is the intended no-cost path: verify a site, use Site Explorer and Site Audit on it, and decide whether paid research is worth $129 a month or more. It does not auto-convert to a subscription because it is not a trial.

What about refunds if you subscribe?

Ahrefs' pricing page FAQ, read on 2 November 2026, says refunds are not offered in general, with unused monthly plans sometimes refunded on request. Treat any subscription as non-refundable unless Ahrefs agrees otherwise in writing. Cancel before renewal if you only wanted one month of competitor research.

Which free tools cover the same jobs as Ahrefs?

For work on your own website, Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Keyword Planner cover much of what people use Ahrefs for, at no cost; none of them replaces Ahrefs' web-wide competitor database.

Can Google Search Console replace Ahrefs for your own site?

For rankings and Google traffic on sites you verify, yes: Search Console is free and reports the clicks, impressions and average position Google measured. Google calls it a free service, with 16 months of performance data. It also covers indexing, sitemaps, Core Web Vitals and links to your site. It does not show a competitor's keywords or a web-wide backlink index.

What does Bing Webmaster Tools add?

Bing Webmaster Tools adds Bing's measured search data, keyword research with Bing volumes and a backlinks report. Microsoft's June 2025 overview lists Search Performance with up to 16 months of data and keyword research. Our Bing Webmaster Tools guide walks through setup.

Is Google Keyword Planner a free substitute for Keywords Explorer?

For search volume, mostly yes: Keyword Planner is free inside Google Ads, but accounts with little ad spend may see volume ranges instead of exact figures. Google's Keyword Planner help says billing information is needed for basic features. It has no organic keyword difficulty score like Ahrefs. Our Keyword Planner without running ads guide covers setup.

What does MrKeyword's Free plan include?

MrKeyword Free covers 1 website with 25 tracked keywords, a 100-page site audit and 10 keyword lookups a month, built on your Search Console and Bing data; it needs no card and does not expire.

• Rank tracking. The free rank tracker records average positions Search Console and Bing report each day.
• Keyword research. The free keyword research tool uses the Google Ads Keyword Planner API; 10 lookups a month on Free.
• Site audit. The free site audit crawls up to 100 pages a month.
• Other domains, roughly. The traffic checker, backlink checker and domain authority checker use MrKeyword's own crawl and web graph, not Ahrefs' index.

Starter costs $10 a month for 1 website and 500 tracked keywords; see pricing. For switching away from Ahrefs entirely, read Ahrefs alternatives and our Ahrefs alternative page.

What MrKeyword does not do: it has no web-wide backlink index like Ahrefs, no Domain Rating, and no measured keyword data for sites you have not verified in Search Console or Bing. Its backlink and traffic figures are samples from its own crawl, far smaller than Ahrefs' database.

Should you use Ahrefs Free or a free alternative?

Use Ahrefs Free when you want Ahrefs' own backlink and keyword view for a site you own; use Search Console, Bing and a free tracker for daily ranking history; pay for Ahrefs when you need competitor research every week.

1. You own the site and want links plus a technical audit

   Verify it in Ahrefs Free and in Search Console. Ahrefs Free shows more backlinks than Google's sample; Search Console shows measured queries and clicks.

2. You want to study a competitor's keywords or links

   Ahrefs Free cannot do that. You need Starter or Lite, or a different suite. MrKeyword's free checkers give a rough sample, not Ahrefs' depth.

3. You need search volumes for content planning

   Keyword Planner or a tool that reads its API is enough for volumes. Ahrefs adds difficulty scores and SERP features on paid plans.

Questions and answers