Semrush vs Ahrefs Review: Which SEO Tool Should You Choose?

Search engine optimization can feel like a puzzle. You need to rank higher, find the right keywords, and understand, but how can you figure all that out without the right tools? That’s like running a race with your shoelaces tied together.

Two tools have dominated conversations in SEO circles for years: Semrush and Ahrefs.

Both promise to help you win more search traffic, uncover valuable keywords, and track your rankings.

I’ve used both, tested their features, and seen how they perform in real campaigns.

You need detailed client reports and deep competitor analysis if you run an SEO agency.

If you’re a blogger, you want to know which keywords are worth your time.

If you own a local business, you care about being found in your city or region.

Semrush and Ahrefs can help with all of this — but they do it in different ways.

Why This Comparison Matters

---

Here’s the thing — these tools aren’t cheap.

Semrush starts at around $117.33/month, and Ahrefs begins at $108/month.

When investing that kind of money every month, you want to be sure you’re getting the right tool for your needs.

Some people swear by Semrush for its all-in-one approach. Others love Ahrefs for its backlink data accuracy.

But the truth is, both tools have strengths — and some weak spots.

By the end of this guide, you’ll know:

• Which tool gives you better keyword data for your niche
• Which one has a more accurate backlink index
• How their pricing compares
• Which is easier to use daily
• And most importantly, which is the better fit for your business

Market Share and Reach: Semrush vs Ahrefs

---

Take a quick look at the market share of Semrush and Ahrefs:

• Ahrefs has a higher market share of 18.57% of the SEO tools in 2025.
• Semrush, while still influential, holds around 7.64%.

This highlights that Ahrefs currently reaches a larger segment of users, especially among SEOs and backlink-focused professionals. However, market share is not the whole story.

Semrush generated $108.9 million in Q2 2025, a 20% increase from the Q2 2024. On the other hand, Ahrefs reported $149.1 million revenue for the whole 2024 year. There is no official data yet for Ahrefs’ revenue in 2025. Semrush had reported a full-year revenue of $376.8 million in 2024. It means Semrush earns much more revenue despite its low market share.

Ahref’s customers are mainly based on the United States (58%), followed by the United Kingdom (10.50%) and India (8.46%). Semrush has more customers in the United States (45.48%), followed by India and UK.

Semrush’s primary users are in SEO, digital marketing, and social media industries. Ahrefs is mainly used for backlink analysis and competitor research.

What does that mean?

• Ahrefs is the go-to choice for many SEOs who focus on backlinks and keyword depth.
• Semrush attracts a smaller but higher-paying audience, often agencies and businesses that want an all-in-one marketing suite.

Disclosure: Your support helps keep the site running! We earn a referral fee for some of the services we recommend on this page.

Semrush Overview

---

Semrush is more than just an SEO tool. It’s built as an all-in-one marketing platform that covers SEO, PPC, content marketing, backlink audit, local SEO, AI writing, and competitive analysis.

They have a huge database of 27.2B keywords and 43T backlinks. Semrush crawls 10B URLs every day. It can generate 20B content ideas for a single keyword on 142 geo locations.

From keyword research to position tracking to SEO audit, Semrush is a great tool for all your digital marketing needs. You can also use it for automating social media promotions and sharing your content at peak times. It lets you monitor competitor’s activities to identify their top keywords, backlink strategies, keyword gap, and much more.

Semrush helps you generate SEO-friendly articles easily with low competition keywords, SEO content templates, and built-in AI writer. Read our in-depth Semrush review to analyze all its features in detail.

Key parts of Semrush:

1. Dashboard

Semrush has a clean and easy to navigate dashboard. It gives you a snapshot of everything:

2. Keyword Research

Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool is considered as the most effective among all keyword research tools.

Type in a keyword and instantly get thousands of related terms, grouped by topic.

Semrush will show the following metric for each keyword:

This tool can help you find keywords with low difficulty but enough search volume to bring in real traffic. Change your target location to view data across various countries. Semrush will also display search trends and suggest keyword strategies, so you can locate content ideas quickly.

3. Site Audit

Semrush’s Site Audit tool scans your website for technical SEO issues like:

Your website will get a performance score from 0 to 100. This helps you understand where your site stands in the optimization part.

4. Competitive Research

One of Semrush’s strongest features is competitor analysis. Analyze your competitor to detect how many traffic they get, what keywords bring traffic to their pages, link building strategies, their most performing ads, and more.

You can enter your website and your competitor’s to see:

5. Backlink Analytics

Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool helps you check and track backlinks for any website. You can see who links to a website, what pages they link to, and the quality of those links.

When analyzing the backlink profile of a wesite, you will see the following details:

The tool shows useful metrics like the total number of backlinks a website or page have, referring domains, and the authority score of those domains. You can filter results to focus on specific types of links, such as follow or nofollow.

6. Position Tracking

Semrush’s Position Tracking tool shows how your website or a competitor’s site performs in search results. Find out which keywords it ranks for and at what positions. Track changes with daily updates. It works for desktop, mobile, and different locations.

Each keyword rank comes with the following metrics:

This tool will also tell you which keywords are improving and which are losing positions. You can set alerts to get updates on significant ranking changes.

7. Advertising Research

Semrush’s Advertising Research tool helps you see how competitors run their paid search campaigns. You can check the keywords they target in Google Ads. It shows ad copies, positions, and how much traffic those ads bring.

The Advertising Research tool also displays historical data to see progress.
You can find competitors’ top-performing ads and landing pages. Utilize these insights to learn what works in your niche and prepare your own a strategies without costly experiments.

8. Social Media Marketing

Semrush offers a separate Toolkit to manage your social media marketing campaigns. Connect to your favorite, leading social networks and schedule content. It will share your content at the best times or at a custom time.

The built-in AI assistant lets you generate engaging social media captions, images, and videos. You can schedule and monitor content, track competitor’s marketing strategies, monitor social media profiles, and much more using Semrush Social.

9. Other Features

Semrush is an alrounder digital marketing platform for businesses and agencies. You will also find the following tools on Semrush:

10. Pricing

Semrush is not cheap. However, you can buy their Toolkits individually. For example, if you want to utilize Semrush for social media management, buy their Social Toolkit. It costs $20 per month. You won’t get any other tools like SEO or Content Marketing in this plan.

Their SEO Toolkit comes with all essential tools to detect keyword ideas, track search rankings, audit backlinks and your site, and Content topic research. It costs $117.33 per month with annual subscription.

Click here to activate a 7-day Semrush free trial and access all its premium features for free

Ahrefs Overview

---

Ahrefs is an online SEO tool that marketers, bloggers, and businesses use to discover opportunities and improve website rankings. It started as a backlink analysis tool but has become a complete SEO platform.

With Ahrefs, you can check any website’s backlinks. This helps you see who links to you and your competitors. It also has a powerful keyword research tool. You can find keywords that get traffic and see how hard they are to rank for.

Their database contains 28.7B filtered keywords from 217 global locations. Ahrefs discovers 10M new pages and update metrics for 300M pages every day. You can also retrieve backlink data from 35T records and 500.4M domains.

The site audit feature checks your website for SEO issues. It points out SEO issues and optimization problems that may hurt your rankings.

Ahrefs’ rank tracker shows where your website appears in search results for each keyword. The content explorer helps you find popular content on any topic. This is useful for content ideas and link-building opportunities.

You can also use it to research competitors. It shows their top pages, top keywords, backlink strategies, and much more.

Key parts of Ahrefs:

1. Dashboard

The main dashboard welcomes you with clear link metrics and a clean layout. It feels efficient and designed for quick insights rather than bulky toolsets.

After signing in, you will get a quick access to the following tools:

So if you prefer a lean, powerful UI that gets straight to the point, Ahrefs hits the mark without unnecessary distractions.

2. Keyword Explorer

Ahrefs’ Keyword Research tool helps you find the best keywords to target for SEO and paid searches.

You can search for a keyword and see how much monthly traffic it gets. It also shows how difficult it might be to rank for that keyword.
The tool gives you thousands of keyword ideas based on your topic. You can filter them by search volume, difficulty, and traffic potential.

Ahrefs shows these keyword metrics:

This tool also shows the top pages that rank for your keyword. You can check how many backlinks they have and how strong those pages are.

You can choose from search engines like Google, YouTube, Amazon, Yahoo, Yandex, and Bing. This helps if you want to target different platforms.
The Keyword Explorer shows “Clicks” data, which tells how many people click on search results for that keyword.

Monitor keyword trends to see if interest is growing or falling.
You can save your keyword lists and track their metrics.

3. Site Explorer

Ahrefs’ Site Explorer tool lets you check any website’s SEO and traffic data. You can see how much organic traffic a site gets and from which countries.

This tool will also show the following details:

Marketers use Site Explorer to study competitors, find content ideas, and spot link-building opportunities.

4. Content Explorer

Ahrefs’ Content Explorer tool helps you find popular content on any topic.
You can search for a keyword and see articles, videos, or pages that get the most traffic.

You can filter results by language, country, domain, or publishing date. This helps you find fresh and relevant ideas.

The Content Explorer leys know the following things for any content:

You can spot trending topics, research competitors, and find link-building opportunities. Content Explorer makes it easy to see what works and creates content that attracts more visitors.

5. Site Audit

Ahrefs’ Site Audit tool checks your website for SEO issues. It scans all pages and finds problems that may affect rankings. These can include broken links, missing tags, or slow loading speed.

The tool gives a health score for your site. It also explains each issue and how to fix it.

Ahrefs’s Site Audit is useful to identify following issues:

Site Audit helps you keep your site healthy, fast, and search-friendly.
It’s a simple way to find and fix SEO problems before they hurt your traffic.

6. Rank Tracker

Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker tool tracks your website’s keyword rankings over time. Enter your keywords and choose the location and device type. The tool then shows your position in search results.

It compares your rankings with competitors. You can see which keywords are going up or down.

These are the main attractions of Ahrefs Rank Tracker:

You can set up automated reports to get updates by email.
Rank Tracker helps you measure SEO progress and spot growth opportunities. It’s a simple way to monitor how well your site is performing in search engines.

7. Other Features

Ahrefs is a multipurpose SEO suite to analyze websites and discover new opportunities. You will also see the following tools on Ahrefs account:

8. Pricing

Ahrefs’s pricing starts at $129 per month for 5 projects. You will get 6 months of historical data and 750 tracked keywords in this plan. To add more website projects and access up to 5 years of historical data, upgrade to higher plans.

Semrush vs Ahrefs for Keyword Research

---

Semrush and Ahrefs are two of the most popular tools for keyword research. Both of them help you find the right keywords to target in your content. But they work a little differently, and each has its strengths.

Semrush uses its Keyword Magic Tool for research. This tool has a vast database of over 27.2 billion keywords from 142 geo locations.

Type one keyword and you will get up to 20M related ideas for a single keyword. The results are grouped into different categories such as keyword variations, questions, matching phrases, etc. So you can explore various keyword angles easier.

Semrush allows you to filter results by search volume, difficulty, CPC, and search intent. You can also include or exclude certain keywords from results. For example, if you are searching for ‘Best SEO tools’ and want to see only ‘free’ tools, add ‘free’ in the included keywords filter. Then, it will display keywords having ‘free’ in them.

Filter keywords by parent topics is another interesting option on Semrush Keyword Magic tool.

On the left side, it will show parent topics for your searched query with search volume and number of keywords in them. Click on a topic to view relevant keywords. For instance, “2025”. Then, it will list all keywords having “2025” in tem.

Advantages of Semrush keyword research,

Ahrefs uses its Keywords Explorer to show you keyword ideas matching your search query.. Along with keyword difficulty and search volume, it gives you “traffic potential.” This tells you how many clicks you might get if you rank for that keyword.

You will also see related keywords, questions, and rankings of top pages. The SERP overview feature lets you see the top results for that keyword and their backlink strength. Many users feel Ahrefs’ data is accurate, especially for backlinks and traffic estimates.

Advantages of Ahrefs keyword research,

Here’s a quick comparison table for Semrush vs Ahrefs for keyword research,

Feature	Semrush Keyword Magic Tool	Ahrefs Keywords Explorer
Keyword Database Size	Over 27 billion	28 billion
Keyword Grouping	Yes, by topic clusters	Yes (limited)
Filters	Volume, difficulty, CPC, intent, SERP features	Volume, difficulty, traffic potential
Unique Metric	AI-powered personalized suggestions & intent labeling	Traffic potential from real click data
Interface Style	Dense, richly featured	Clean, simplified

In short, Semrush is excellent if you need an extensive list of keyword ideas and want to group them for planning. Ahrefs is better if you want to focus on each keyword’s quality and real traffic value. Many marketers use both Semrush to find ideas and Ahrefs to check if those ideas are worth targeting.

Both tools can help you grow your traffic, but the best choice depends on your SEO style and goals.

Semrush and Ahrefs help you detect keyword ideas in two ways. Either do keyword research or analyze your competitor’s domain to find their top organic keywords. Check Keyword Difficulty and competition levels to target those keywords on your site.

Semrush vs Ahrefs for Backlink Analysis

---

Semrush has one of the most extensive backlink indexes, with over 43 trillion links in its database.

It can show new and lost backlinks, the authority of linking domains, and whether a link might be toxic. The toxic link score helps you decide if you should disavow a link.

Semrush also includes a Backlink Gap tool, which compares your backlinks with competitors to find sites that might link to you.

Advantages of Semrush backlink analysis,

Ahrefs is known for its accuracy in backlink data. Its database includes about 35 trillion external links and 24 trillion internal links. It shows you referring domains, anchor text, and link type.

The Link Intersect tool finds sites linking to your competitors but not to you, making it useful for outreach planning. While Semrush often shows more total links, Ahrefs tends to show fewer low-quality ones, which some SEO professionals prefer.

Advantages of Ahrefs backlink analysis,

Here’s a quick comparison table for Semrush vs Ahrefs in Backlink Analysis:

Feature	Semrush	Ahrefs
Backlink Index Size	43T	35T
Link Database Update Frequency	Daily updates	Frequent updates
Historical Backlink Data	Up to 5 years	Up to 5 years
Lost & New Links Tracking	Yes, with visual trends	Yes, with charts
Anchor Text Analysis	Yes	Yes
Referring Domains Insights	Includes authority score, location, and category	Includes DR (Domain Rating), location, and industry
Toxic Backlink Detection	Built-in toxic score & removal suggestions	No direct toxic score, but can be filtered
Disavow File Creation	Yes	Manual export for Google Disavow Tool
Competitor Backlink Gap Tool	Yes	Yes
Ease of Use	More beginner-friendly	More streamlined for SEO pros

Our verdit: Semrush gives you comprehensive backlink data. It will analyze your target domain’s backlink profile ad tells you if its links are natural or not. You can also view top categories of referring domains, network graph, anchor texts, and top countries from where your target domain gets most backlinks. Historical data is another advantage.

Semrush vs Ahrefs for Site Audit

---

Semrush’s Site Audit tool scans for more than 140 technical SEO issues. It presents results with clear labels such as errors, warnings, and notices.

You can use this tool to detect complex SEO issues and mistakes that prevent search engines from indexing your pages. Semrush will list them with how to fix instructions. So, you can solve things easily and regain search engine rankings.

Advantages of Semrush site audit,

Ahrefs’ Site Audit covers more than 170 SEO issues. It can render JavaScript pages, analyse internal link structure, and check content depth.

The dashboard includes graphs and filters to segment data. This makes it a strong choice for SEO experts who need detailed technical reports.

Advantages of Ahrefs site audit,

Here’s a quick comparison table for Semrush vs Ahrefs in Site Audit:

Feature	Semrush	Ahrefs

Crawl Depth

Deep crawling with customizable limits

Deep crawling, but fewer customization options

Audit Frequency

Can schedule daily, weekly, or monthly

Can schedule weekly or monthly

Technical SEO Checks

140+ issues including speed, HTTPS, mobile, schema, and more

120+ issues including speed, HTTPS, mobile, schema

Core Web Vitals Analysis

Yes

Yes

Internal Linking Audit

Detailed suggestions and reports

Reports on internal link distribution

JavaScript Rendering

Yes

Yes

Duplicate Content Detection

Yes

Yes

Prioritized Issue List

Clear categories: Errors, Warnings, Notices

Categories: Errors, Warnings, Notices

Progress Tracking Over Time

Visual graphs for historical performance

Visual graphs for historical performance

Ease of Use

More beginner-friendly with guided recommendations

More suited for users comfortable with SEO terms

Integrations

Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Trello

Google Analytics, Google Search Console

Our verdit: If you a site audit tool that’s beginner-friendly, Semrush is a good choice. If you need deeper technical auditing capabilities, Ahrefs may be the better fit.

Semrush vs Ahrefs for Rank Tracking

---

Semrush’s Position Tracking tool lets you monitor keywords on a daily basis. You can track rankings for desktop, mobile, and tablet separately. It works for any location — from country level to ZIP code. This is very useful for local businesses that need location-specific data.

You can also track competitors’ rankings for the exact keywords. The tool shows estimated traffic, SERP features, and ranking distribution over time.

Another advantage is its integration with Google Data Studio. You can create custom SEO reports and send them to clients automatically. The alerts feature can notify you when rankings change so that you can act quickly.

Advantages of Semrush’s rank tracking tool,

Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker updates rankings less frequently, on weekly basis. You can track keywords for desktop and mobile, and see visibility scores, average positions, and traffic potential. Ahrefs also highlights which SERP features your site has, like featured snippets or “people also ask” boxes.

The Competitors Overview section is helpful for spotting keyword opportunities. It shows you where your competitors rank higher, so you can target those terms. The data is clean and the interface is easy to scan, but it’s less customizable than Semrush’s reporting.

Advantages of Ahrefs’s rank tracking tool,

Here’s a quick comparison table for Semrush vs Ahrefs — Rank Tracking:

Feature	Semrush	Ahrefs
Keyword Positions Tracking	Tracks daily keyword rankings	Tracks weekly keyword rankings
Location Targeting	Country, city, ZIP-level targeting	Country and city-level targeting
Device Tracking	Desktop, mobile, and tablet	Desktop and mobile
SERP Features Tracking	Tracks 20+ SERP features like featured snippets, local pack, site links	Tracks SERP features but with fewer categories
Competitor Tracking	Compare with up to 20 competitors	Compare with up to 10 competitors
Historical Data	Full historical ranking data	Full historical ranking data
Visibility Score	Yes, with trend charts	Yes, with trend charts
Tag & Group Keywords	Yes	Yes
Alerts & Notifications	Email alerts for ranking changes	Email alerts for ranking changes
Ease of Use	User-friendly dashboard with visual graphs	Clean interface but fewer visual breakdowns
Integrations	Google Analytics, Google Search Console	Google Search Console

Our verdit: Semrush offers more frequent updates and stronger reporting tools, making it better for agencies or businesses that need detailed, daily insights. Ahrefs provides a simpler view with strong competitor comparison features, but may not be as fast in updating data.

Semrush vs Ahrefs for Competitor Analysis

---

Semrush has a dedicated Competitive Research (Traffic & Market) toolkit. The Domain Overview report shows traffic estimates of any site, their top keywords, and backlink data. You can compare up to five competitors side by side. This makes it easy to see where you stand.

The Organic Research tool lets you find the keywords your competitors rank for, including their position changes. You can filter by country, device, or keyword type.

Semrush’s Traffic Analytics adds another layer — showing estimated visits, engagement metrics, and top pages. This is useful for spotting which content is bringing in the most traffic.

You can also use the Market Explorer tool to see your industry’s overall trends. It identifies your main competitors and shows audience demographics. This is a big plus for planning targeted campaigns.

Advantages of Semrush competitor analysis,

Ahrefs’ Site Explorer is the core of its competitor analysis. You can enter any URL and see its organic keywords, backlinks, and top-performing pages. The “Content Gap” feature shows keywords that your competitors rank for but you don’t. This is great for finding quick-win opportunities.

The Top Pages report in Ahrefs is very detailed. It shows traffic estimates, backlink counts, and keyword rankings for each page. You can quickly see which pages bring in the most visitors for your competitors. Ahrefs also has strong backlink analysis, which helps you find linking opportunities.

Advantages of Ahrefs competitor analysis,

Here’s the quick comparison table for Semrush vs Ahrefs in Competitor Analysis:

Feature	Semrush	Ahrefs
Competitor Identification	Finds competitors based on shared keywords	Finds competitors based on shared keywords
Traffic Analytics	Detailed traffic sources, visits, engagement metrics	Estimates traffic mainly from organic keywords
Keyword Gap Analysis	Compare up to 10 domains for keyword overlaps	Compare up to 10 domains for keyword overlaps
Backlink Gap Analysis	Shows backlink opportunities by comparing competitor links	Similar feature with a simpler interface
Top Pages Report	Lists competitor’s top traffic-driving pages	Lists competitor’s top organic pages
PPC Competitor Data	Strong data on competitor ad spend, keywords, and creatives	No PPC competitor analysis
Content Gap Tool	Yes, integrated with keyword research	Yes, integrated with keyword research
SERP Analysis	Deep SERP feature tracking for competitors	SERP overview for keywords competitors rank for
Historical Data	Full history of competitor rankings and backlinks	Historical data available for rankings and backlinks
Ease of Use	More detailed, may feel heavier for beginners	Faster and simpler for quick checks

Our verdict: Semrush gives a broader business view with traffic estimates, audience insights, and market trends. Ahrefs focuses more on backlinks, top pages, and content gaps. If you want a complete marketing view, Semrush is stronger. If you wish to deep backlink and keyword gap analysis, Ahrefs is hard to beat.

Semrush vs Ahrefs for Content Marketing

---

Semrush has a complete Content Marketing Platform. The Topic Research tool helps you find trending topics and subtopics. You can see headlines, questions, and related searches. This makes it easier to create content that matches people’s needs.

The SEO Content Template suggests keywords, word count, and backlink ideas for a topic. With the SEO Writing Assistant, you can optimise content as you write. It also checks your readability and keyword placement in real-time.

Semrush also has a Content Audit tool. It scans your site, finds old or underperforming content, and gives suggestions for updates. This helps keep your site fresh.

Advantages of Semrush content marketing,

Ahrefs does not have a dedicated content marketing platform like Semrush. Instead, it uses strong keywords and backlink data to guide your content strategy. The Content Explorer tool is its primary weapon.

With Content Explorer, you can search for any topic and see the most shared and linked-to pages. You can filter by language, domain rating, backlinks, and publish date. This helps you find proven content ideas.

Ahrefs also lets you check competitors’ top-performing pages. You can see which topics bring them traffic and backlinks. This is a good way to find gaps in your content.

Here’s the quick comparison table for Semrush vs Ahrefs in Content Marketing:

Feature	Semrush	Ahrefs
Content Ideas Tool	Yes – “Topic Research” tool for blog and article ideas	No dedicated tool, uses keyword research instead
SEO Content Template	Suggests keyword usage, backlinks, and readability tips	Not available
Content Audit	Yes – analyzes site content for optimization opportunities	Limited to analyzing content with backlinks and traffic
Content Calendar	Yes – built-in editorial calendar for planning	Not available
Content Analyzer	Tracks performance of published content	Can track performance via Site Explorer but less focused
SEO Writing Assistant	AI-driven suggestions for better SEO content	Not available
Content Gap	Yes – integrated with keyword and topic research	Yes – through keyword and SERP analysis
AI Writer	Yes	No
Integration with Google Docs & WordPress	Yes	No
Content Marketing Toolkit	Full suite of tools for planning, writing, and tracking	Relies on SEO tools for indirect content insights
Best For	Content marketers needing a full workflow	SEOs focusing more on keyword-driven content ideas

Our verdict: Semrush is better if you want a complete content marketing suite with planning, writing, and auditing tools. Ahrefs is better if you wish to do data-driven topic research based on backlinks and shares.

Semrush vs Ahrefs: Pricing

---

Semrush’s pricing starts at $117.33 per month for the Pro plan. This plan is suitable for freelancers, bloggers, and small businesses. It includes most SEO tools but has limits on reports and tracked keywords.

The Guru plan costs about $208.33 per month. It adds more reports, content marketing tools, and historical data. This plan works well for growing businesses.

The Business plan is $416.66 per month. It’s for big companies and agencies with high data needs.

Their tools span across different tool kits such as SEO, Traffic & Market, Social, AI, Local, Content, and Advertising. You can subscribe to them individually. Read this Semrush plan guide to analyze tools and pricing for each of them.

Semrush also offers add-ons, like adding additiona users or generate detailed reports. These add to the cost.

Ahrefs pricing starts at $108 per month for the Lite plan. It’s suitable for small websites or solo marketers. You will get site audit, rank tracking, and keyword tools in this plan, but with lower limits.

The Standard plan is $208 per month. It increases limits, adds more tools, and 2 years of historical data.

The Advanced plan is $374 per month. It’s for larger teams and allows more user seats.

Ahrefs has separate add-ons to track brand performance, optimize content, and generate more reports.

Here’s the quick comparison table for Semrush vs Ahrefs in pricing:

Plan	Semrush (Monthly)	Ahrefs (Monthly)	Main Differences
Entry-Level	$117.33 (Pro)	$108 (Lite)	Ahrefs is cheaper but has fewer tools and features.
Mid-Tier	$208.33 (Guru)	$208 (Standard)	Semrush adds content marketing toolkit; Ahrefs focuses on larger data limits.
High-Tier	$416.66 (Business)	$374 (Advanced)	Semrush has extended limits; Ahrefs gives higher crawl credits.
Enterprise	Custom Pricing	$1499 (Enterprise)	Semrush is custom-quoted; Ahrefs offers fixed high-capacity plan.
Free Trial	7 days (credit card required)	No free trial	Semrush allows testing; Ahrefs doesn’t have a free trial.

Our verdict: Semrush costs more, but it gives a broader set of tools. On the other hand, Ahrefs costs less, but it has limited tools. So, Semrush is a good option for businesses, eCommerc stores, and agencies.

Final thoughts

Semrush and Ahrefs are powerful SEO tools that work best in different areas.

Semrush is a great choice if you want an all-in-one marketing platform. It’s like having SEO, rank tracking, backlink analytics, site audit, and content marketing in one place.

Ahrefs focuses on SEO and does it very well. Its backlink index is huge, keyword data is accurate, and the interface is clean.

Here’s a quick comparison of features for Semrush vs Ahrefs:

Feature	Winner	Why
Keyword Research	Semrush	Semrush offers broader keyword variations; Ahrefs is good for traffic estimates and clicks data.
Backlink Analysis	Ahrefs	Larger live backlink index and faster updates.
Site Audit	Semrush	More technical SEO checks and on-page recommendations.
Rank Tracking	Semrush	Semrush has more tracking options and daily updates. Ahrefs updates weekly.
Competitor Analysis	Semrush	Offers traffic analytics, PPC data, and social insights.
Content Marketing Tools	Semrush	Built-in topic research, content templates, AI writer, and SEO writing assistant.
User Interface	Ahrefs	Cleaner and faster to navigate.
Pricing Value	Depends on Needs	Ahrefs is cheaper for backlink-focused users; Semrush is worth it for all-in-one marketing.

If your main goal is to improve rankings and build strong backlinks, Ahrefs might suit you better. It focuses mainly on SEO and backlink data, without having any dedicated tools for content marketing, backlink audit, social media management, and advertising research. Their competitor analysis tool is also not detailed compared to Semrush.

If you need a complete SEO suite to identify opportunities and get full data about competitors, Semrush is the best choice. It is perfect for all business and website types.

FAQ