Ahrefs is one of the most popular tools in the market, but how often has Ahrefs pricing confused you?
If you are here to explore Ahref’s pricing, I have got your back! In this article, I’m going to review all the plans by Ahrefs in detail. We’ll take a look at the tools offered with each plan, ultimately helping you decide which one will fit your needs the best.
I will also discuss additional costs and limits so you can easily compare them to make an informed purchasing decision.
With that, let’s get started!
How Much Does Ahrefs Cost: Key Takeaways
- Ahrefs offers 4 paid plans catering to businesses and agencies sized from small to large.
- The basic plan starts at $99/month
- All the plans are available monthly and yearly
- Subscribing annually will get you two additional months for free
- There is no free plan or free trial
- Pay-as-you-go add-ons available
Complete Breakdown Of Ahrefs Pricing Plans
Ahrefs offers four pricing plans to make sure users only pay for what their business needs. Let’s have a look at the complete pricing of this popular SEO software suite.
| Ahrefs Plans | Monthly Price | Annual Price | Credits/month | Tracked Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | $99/month | $83/month | 500/user/month | 750 keywords |
| Standard | $199/month | $166/month | 600/user/month | 2,000 keywords |
| Advanced | $399/month | $333/month | 750/user/month | 5,000 keywords |
| Enterprise | $999/month | $833/month | Custom | 10,000 keywords |
1. Lite
The cheapest plan offered by Semrush is Lite, which costs $99/month or $990/year. The plan includes basic yet essential SEO tools for new digital marketers and freelancers who are just starting out.
With this plan, you will get access to:
- Unlimited verified projects
- 5 unverified projects
- 500 credits per user (monthly)
- Performance trends for backlinks and ranking data
- 6 months of historical data
- 750 keywords to track
- Weekly updates (free)
- Daily updates at $100/month
- 100K crawl credits
2. Standard
The next Ahrefs plan is Standard, priced at $199/month or $1990/year. This plan offers the same features as the Lite plan, but you will also get access to some advanced features such as content explorer, batch analysis, report sharing, and SERP updates.
Suitable for startups, brands, and midsize businesses, the plan includes:
- Everything in the Lite plan
- 20 unverified projects
- 600 credits per user (monthly)
- 2 years of historical data
- 2,000 keywords to track
- Daily updates at $150/month
- 500K crawl credits
- 50K pages per project
3. Advanced
As the name says, the Advanced plan includes all the advanced features that Ahrefs has in its inventory. It costs $399/month or $3,990/year if paid upfront. This plan is suitable for SEO experts and professionals running an in-house marketing team.
The plan includes:
- Everything in the Standard plan
- 50 unverified projects
- 750 credits per user (monthly)
- 5 years of historical data
- 5,000 keywords to track
- Daily updates at $200/month
- 1.5 million crawl credits
- 250K pages per project
- HTTP authentication
- Web Explorer
- Looker Studio Integration
4. Enterprise
If you are handling a large agency or company with a number of SEO analysts and digital marketers, the Enterprise plan is the best plan to pick. The plan costs $999/month or $9,990/year. However, this plan is fully customizable, so you can contact them to get custom pricing for your specific team’s needs.
Apart from that, the Enterprise plan includes:
- Everything in the Advanced plan
- 100 unverified projects
- Historical data of all time
- Custom credits per user
- 10,000 keywords to track
- Daily updates at $250/month
- 5 million crawl credits
- 5 million pages per project
- Pay by Invoice
- Audit log
- API and SSO
Additional Costs And Limitations
Apart from the regular monthly and yearly subscription costs, Ahrefs charges extra for additional user seats and credits (if the limit is exceeded).
- User Seats: Every plan comes with a single-user license. If you want to collaborate with a partner or provide access to your staff, it will cost $50/month per user.
- Credits: Ahrefs’s rank tracking and data report work on credits. Most of the tools consume 1 credit per report or request new data from the specific tools. The credit limit differs according to plan (per user). Once the limit exceeds, Ahrefs will charge $35 for 500 credits that will be shared with all the Power users.
- Daily Reports: Ahrefs provides weekly updates of your ranking with each plan. If you want daily, real-time reports, you will have to pay extra. The pricing (from $100/month to $250/month) depends on your current subscription.
Which Ahrefs Plan Should You Choose?
All the plans on Ahrefs are cleanly structured according to specific users’ needs for SEO, keyword/rank tracking, and competitive analysis. So, choosing a plan depends on your budget, team size, and how much data your company needs.
While beginners can benefit from the Lite plan, the Standard plan includes every tool for basic and advanced SEO needs. The plan has enough credit limits to conduct research and analyze websites. However, the Advanced plan may fit your business the most if you need in-depth content research and backlink analysis.
Ahrefs Refund Policy
Generally, Ahrefs doesn’t issue any refunds for the cancellation of any plans. However, you may request a refund if the account has been purchased for a non-use purpose. They will refund the money if you haven’t used any of their services (only applicable for monthly subscriptions).
If they see any material activity within your account, they have the right to decline your refund request.
Does Ahrefs Offer A Free Trial?
Unfortunately, Ahrefs doesn’t offer any free trial. They used to offer a paid trial on its plan for 7 days. They stopped the offer as people were going for the paid trial more than the complete suite services.
However, you can still use Webmasters tools by signing up on Ahrefs for free (if you have a website). It will provide you with limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit tools.
Additionally, they offer a collection of free keyword research, link-building, SERP, and ranking tools (including third-party tools). These tools are ideal for initial competitor research and rank tracking for those who are just starting out. Check out the free Ahrefs SEO tools to explore all the tools without signing up.
To learn more about the free trial, we recommend exploring our Semrush Free Trial; click here.
Does Ahrefs Offer Discounts?
Ahrefs clearly stated that they never run discounts on any occasion. That means you are out of luck if you are looking for a discount on Ahrefs plans.
The best way to save money on Ahrefs is to sign up for an annual subscription. Paying the annual fee upfront may seem expensive for some, but they can also save up to 20%.
They also claim to offer an additional 2 months on an annual subscription. In case you get confused by the offer validation, here’s an explanation.
That means you will pay for 10 months and get access to the suite for a year, getting access to 2 months for absolutely free.
Is Paying For Ahrefs Worth It?
According to the top digital marketers and SEO experts, Ahrefs is the #1 SEO tool in the world. All the proprietary tools are worth the price if you want to outrank competitors and gain organic traffic.
Here’s why people admit it is worth the price:
“Great tool, I would recommend it especially if you have only a small number of projects to manage, or if you have the resources to pay for it & other tools. I love the technical site auditing tools in Ahrefs. It made it very easy to score, audit, and check fixes to my project websites.”
(Source: GetApp)
However, not everyone agrees with the pricing and refund policy.
“Yes, I admit it’s a good tool, but for the price? No way! I was paying $199 a month for the standard plan, which is already a lot. Then I got a bill to say I had exceeded my 100 reports for the month, and it was another $100. What the hell? So even when you pay $199 a month, you still don’t get unlimited use? at that price? Wow. They don’t even clarify when you sign up that this would be the case.
I asked to cancel with a pro-rata refund 1 day after my payment for the next month. I got a refund of only $126 out of $199 because I had already used 30 additional reports. Weird, considering I barely even used it in one day.”
(Source: Reddit)
Other Ahrefs Alternatives To Try
As you can see, Ahrefs may not be the best fit for everyone’s budget. However, many other alternatives offer a complete SEO suite at cheaper rates and extended accessibility. Here are some of the popular Ahrefs alternatives you can try:
| Features | Ahrefs | Semrush | SE Ranking | Moz Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $99 to $999/month | $129.95 to $499.95 month | $55 to $239/month | $79 to $479/month |
| Free Trial | No | 14 days | 14 days | 30 days |
| Ease of Use | Moderate | Difficult | Easy | Easy |
| Strengths | Backlink analysis, keyword research, and content research | On-page SEO audit, competitive intelligence, keyword research | Rank tracking, competitor analysis, on-page SEO | Local SEO, backlink analysis, DA & PA |
| Best For | Agencies, large businesses | Small and midsize businesses | Small businesses and website owners | Businesses that need to build strong link-building strategies |
Related Read:
Conclusion – Ahrefs is quite expensive because of New Credit based Plans
After comparing the complete Ahrefs pricing, you know which plans to consider for your business and SEO needs, the platform offers a range of advanced tools and an extensive database of keywords and backlinks that is enough to give a competitive advantage to your websites.
The lack of a free trial and proper refund policy is a bummer for new users. But they can still use the free tools to understand how Ahrefs works.
Are you thinking of buying Ahrefs? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
