Looking for the best backlink checker tools to monitor your and your competitors’ backlinks? If so, you’ve landed on the right page.
Backlinks play a vital role in SEO and organic traffic. Search engines count them as votes and place your links in the top results based on the number of votes or backlinks you receive.
Therefore, it’s essential to build high-quality backlinks to enhance your search engine rankings. They will also help you to increase domain authority and grow your business.
However, backlinks will change frequently. You will get new backlinks and may lose some links every day. Bad backlinks will also hurt your site. That makes tracking backlinks a core SEO task.
| Disclosure: Your support helps keep the site running! We earn a referral fee for some of the services we recommend on this page. |
What is a Backlink Checker Tool?
A backlink checker tool scans your target domain and builds a map of links pointing to it. It collects data such as the number of backlinks, referring domains, anchor text, and link attributes.
The right backlink checker tool speeds up your work. It shows who links to you and how strong those links are. You can see the anchor texts they used, link authority, link attributes, and much more. It alerts you when links vanish or when spam links appear.
A good checker also helps you with competitor research. You can see which sites link to your competitive sites. This points you toward sites that may link to you as well.
Bad links are another issue. Some links come from low-quality or spammy sites. A backlink checker helps you spot them early. You should disavow them before they cause damage.
Best Backlink Checker Tools for 2026
Today, we pick the 9 best SEO tools to check the backlinks of any website.
1. Semrush
Semrush is a prominent platform for backlink analysis, keyword research, and SEO. It will examine your competitor’s backlinks and display them with all the information you want to know, such as link attributes, country, anchor text, and more.
Sign in to your Semrush account and enter a domain address in the search box to explore. Now you will see the total organic traffic, backlinks, and ranking keywords for the website.
Click Backlinks from the left pane to uncover the link building practices and outcomes.
Switch between tabs to get a backlinks overview, referring domains, referring IPs, anchors, indexed pages, etc, for the domain you entered. Semrush informs you about the types of backlinks, including those from text, image, or other formats.
Using Semrush, you can also monitor the total dofollow link percentage, link growth, and top countries and TLD zones that send the most backlinks to the site.
Semrush’s capability to identify toxic backlinks makes it a unique platform for removing bad backlinks from your domain profile. It also allows you to disavow those links on Google to avoid penalties from the search engine giant.
Price: $117.33 per month
2. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is the most comprehensive SEO tool for checking websites’ backlinks and performing various other tasks. They have a huge backlink database that provides accurate and up-to-date information on a website’s link profile.
Sign in to your Ahrefs account and enter your competitor’s website address in the top search box. Press the Enter key or click the search icon to begin spying.
Now you will see detailed statistics for the site, including its Ahrefs rank, domain rating, backlinks, referring domains, and more.
Click Backlinks from the left pane of your screen. Ahrefs should retrieve all the backlinks your competitor has, including details such as link type, platform, language, traffic, and others.
Filter results to detect powerful backlinks that can influence search engine rankings and traffic. Contact the referring domains to obtain a link back to your website through relevant content and similar sources.
Ahrefs is a great tool for web publishers to fill the gaps in content creation and link building. It will also help you to generate new keyword ideas and increase traffic from search results.
The clean, user-friendly interface and competitive features make it a perfect option to supercharge your SEO efforts and boost rankings.
Price: $129 per month
3. SE Ranking
SE Ranking is another popular backlink checker that allows you to spy on your competitors’ backlinks. It also works best for keyword research, rank tracking, website audit, and much more.
It helps you analyze the quality of a website and easily detect its internal page backlinks. The backlink growth graph for the last 12 months can be used to get a rough idea of the link-building strategies employed by the searched domain.
Scroll down through the report to find new and lost domains, link attributes, the distribution map, and more.
Pricing: $52 per month
4. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a popular tool for counting the backlinks to your individual page. Whether you are a content marketer or blogger, BuzzSumo is ideal for generating new topic ideas and discovering the subjects that people love to share or engage with.
Enter a website address to locate their most shared posts. Know how many engagements they got from each social network and how many times they shared. It will also display the number of backlinks each page has.
In short, BuzzSumo is a unique option for detecting viral posts on any website, along with information such as the most engaging content type, top referral channels, content length popularity, and most engaged domains.
Price: $199 per month
5. Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a free backlink checker by Neil Patel. Similar to other tools we discussed above, it offers the ability to conduct keyword research, track SERPs, and analyze competitors.
There is no need to create an account on Ubersuggest. Enter a domain address that you want to spy on in the search box. The app will analyze your site and show statistics that contain domain score, backlinks, and referring domains.
Ubersuggest will also display the referring page URL, link type, attribute, and anchor text to get a closer look at your competitor’s link profile.
Price: Free
6. Moz Link Explorer
Link Explorer is a free backlink checker from Moz. It allows you to monitor your competitors in detail and collect all data to fuel your link building as well as content creation methods.
Enter a domain address to get ideas about its authority, backlinks, ranking keywords, and inbound links. Using Link Explorer, you can easily track the link growth and metrics of a website for a certain period.
Moz is a powerful software that helps you boost SEO and digital marketing campaigns through expert tools and analytics. Link Intersect is another notable feature of Link Explorer. It is useful to compare your website with others to detect new link opportunities.
Price: Free with limited features, $49 per month for Moz Pro
7. SEO SpyGlass by SEO PowerSuite
SEO SpyGlass is a popular SEO tool that allows you to check backlinks of any website for free. It will detail everything you need to know, from your competitor’s backlinks, referring domains, and anchor texts to the authority score of the source pages.
By being able to understand the past six months’ history of live backlinks, linking domains, and lost backlinks, you can quickly identify if there has been any change in your target domain’s link-building strategy.
SpyGlass generates an SEO score called InLink rank, similar to Ahrefs’ DR and MOZ’s DA, by analyzing the inbound links pointing to a website and page. It helps you to understand the importance and potential of a page in search results.
Price: Free
8. Majestic SEO
MajesticSEO helps you get all the information about a website’s backlinks. It can also track external inbound links, referring domains, and referring IP addresses, as well as deleted and duplicate links.
Noise reduction is a key feature of Majestic’s backlink analysis. I.e, it automatically removes low-quality backlinks from a link profile, so you can quickly know how strong their portfolio is.
Link density calculation is another unique feature of Majestic SEO. If there is only one link in a paragraph, it is a low-density link, and if there are many links, then they are high-density links. Majestic analyzes the texts surrounding a link and tells you how dense they are.
Being able to filter backlinks based on various factors, such as language, link type, link attributes, and anchor texts, gives you a clear understanding of your target domain.
Majestic SEO also developed SEO scores, called Trust Flow and Citation Flow, for each domain, on a scale of 0 to 100. Trust Flow measures the number of backlinks a website has, while Citation Flow measures their quality. Both of them are critical factors in competitor analysis.
Pricing: $49.99 per month
9. LinkMiner by Mangools
LinkMiner is another tool for analyzing backlinks. It is packed with a number of features like keyword research, SERP analysis, and rank tracking tools.
Enter your competitor’s website address to gain insights into its online credibility and backlinks. LinkMiner will audit the site and furnish all the details that you want to know.
The report should include the domain’s citation and trust flow, total backlinks, link type, attributes, and other relevant details.
The link strength metric is a unique benefit of the LinkMiner scan. Know the strength of a backlink, which can influence your search engine rankings as well. It indicates your link power after considering various factors, such as citation flow, trust flow, and attributes etc. The higher the power, the more likely your pages will appear in the top search engine results.
Price: $19.43 per month
10. Google Search Console
Google Search Console (GSC) shows you a list of backlinks that point to your site — ones that Google knows about. You get access to data straight from Google’s index. That makes it valuable as a baseline reference.
With Search Console, you can download your backlink data in a spreadsheet. If a link disappears — perhaps because a page has been removed or changed — you can still spot it. That helps you catch lost links early.
However, Search Console has certain limits. It only displays links that Google has identified and may overlook recent links or those from obscure pages.
For a full backlink audit or deep competitor analysis, you’ll need a dedicated backlink tool. Even so, GSC remains a powerful and free starting point for tracking your own site’s backlinks.
11. Monitor Backlinks by SEOptimer
Monitor Backlinks specializes in tracking new and lost backlinks over time. It provides a dashboard that displays changes to your link profile. That helps you spot new and lost backlinks. You get alerted to both good and potentially bad changes.
Because it focuses on monitoring over time, the tool works well for ongoing link-building campaigns or maintenance. You don’t just get a snapshot. You get history. This helps you determine whether your backlink profile is growing naturally or being negatively impacted by spam or toxic links.
Price: $39/mo
12. Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools includes a free backlink analysis feature. It provides a clear view of the links that Bing has identified for your site.
The interface is simple and shows total backlinks, referring domains, anchor text, and link types. This makes it a helpful source of extra backlink data, especially when you want to compare what different search engines see.
You can check new, lost, and existing backlinks with date filters. Bing also lets you download backlink data. You can export this data and combine it with Google Search Console reports. When you examine both, you gain a broader view of your backlink footprint.
The anchor text report in Bing Webmaster Tools is a helpful resource. It shows which phrases appear most often in backlinks to your site. This helps you check whether your anchor text spread looks natural. If you see repeating anchors that seem odd or risky, you can take action before they cause trouble.
Final thoughts
Backlink checker tools vary in depth and reporting quality. After comparing all major options, one tool stands out as the most suitable for most users.
Semrush is the best choice for readers who want comprehensive backlink data, in-depth competitor insights, and reliable link-building features. Its backlink index is extensive and refreshed very frequently.
Ahrefs is the next strong choice. Its backlink index is vast and fast. Many SEO professionals use it because it detects links early and reveals intricate link patterns. It costs more, but the data quality makes it a trusted option for agencies and advanced users.
Ubersuggest is a good budget-friendly choice. It gives a decent view of backlinks without a heavy subscription cost. This tool is well-suited for small sites and new SEOs who need backlink data but cannot afford a high-priced tool yet.
Google Search Console is a great starting point for beginners. The backlink report comes directly from Google’s index. This helps you see what Google notices on your site. It does not offer deep analysis, yet it remains an essential reference.
Bing Webmaster Tools is another helpful free option. It shows backlinks from Bing’s index, along with anchor text and new-versus-lost links. You can use it in conjunction with Google Search Console to build a more comprehensive picture of their link profile.
Semrush provides the most comprehensive results for readers who require a single all-rounder tool. Ahrefs and Ubersuggest are strong alternatives. For those just starting out, Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools offer a cost-free and straightforward way to track backlink growth.
Read 9 Best Web Analytics Tools to Improve Your Strategies
