Ahrefs Free: pricing, free plan and alternatives

A free version of Ahrefs for sites you own: site audits, backlinks and the keywords you rank for.

Prices checked on the official pricing pages on . Prices are in US dollars and can change at any time.

Ahrefs Free and its alternatives at a glance

ToolFree planPaid plansBest for
Ahrefs Free (formerly Ahrefs Webmaster Tools)YesSee vendorBloggers who want backlink and keyword data on their own site without paying for Ahrefs.
Google Search ConsoleYesFreeEvery site owner. Set it up before any other SEO tool.
Screaming Frog SEO SpiderYesFrom $16.58/moSmall sites (under 500 URLs) that want a full technical check on the desktop.
Bing Webmaster ToolsYesFreeSite owners who already use Search Console: you can import your sites from it in a few clicks.

Ahrefs Free: what you get

A free version of Ahrefs for sites you own: site audits, backlinks and the keywords you rank for.

Price
Free for verified sites. Researching competitors' sites needs a paid Ahrefs subscription (see Ahrefs' pricing page).
Free plan
Free for an unlimited number of sites you verify: Site Audit with 5,000 crawl credits per project a month, up to 1,000 backlinks and keywords visible at once, and web analytics up to 1M events per project.
Best for
Bloggers who want backlink and keyword data on their own site without paying for Ahrefs.
Works on
Web browser

Pros

  • Backlink and keyword data most free tools don't have
  • No limit on the number of your own sites

Cons

  • Only works on sites you can verify
  • Shows up to 1,000 backlinks and keywords at a time

Key features

  • Site Audit (5,000 crawl credits a month per project)
  • Backlinks and organic keywords for your site
  • Web analytics
  • Unlimited verified sites

Ahrefs Free website · Official pricing

The alternatives

1. Google Search Console

Google's own free dashboard showing which searches bring people to your site and whether your pages are indexed.

Price
Free. Google describes it as "a free service offered by Google".
Free plan
Completely free. You verify that you own the site, then get search queries, clicks, rankings, indexing reports, sitemap submission and URL inspection.
Best for
Every site owner. Set it up before any other SEO tool.
Works on
Web browser

Pros

  • The only first-hand data on how Google sees your site
  • No limits and no upsell

Cons

  • Covers Google only, and your own sites only
  • Data starts only after you verify the site

Key features

  • Search queries, clicks and average position
  • Indexing and page experience reports
  • Sitemap and URL submission
  • Email alerts about site problems

Google Search Console website · Official pricing

Google Search Console alternatives · Compare with Ahrefs Free

2. Screaming Frog SEO Spider

A desktop crawler that finds broken links, redirects, missing titles and duplicate pages across a site.

Price
Licence £199 a year (about £16.58 a month); £169 per licence for 20 or more. The page showed pounds; a dollar price is available by switching currency.
Free plan
Free download that crawls up to 500 URLs per crawl. A licence removes the limit and unlocks saving crawls and advanced features.
Best for
Small sites (under 500 URLs) that want a full technical check on the desktop.
Works on
Windows, Mac, Linux

Pros

  • Free version covers most small blogs completely
  • Runs on Windows, Mac and Linux

Cons

  • Free version stops at 500 URLs
  • Desktop software with a technical interface

Key features

  • Broken links and redirect chains
  • Page titles, meta descriptions and headings
  • Duplicate content checks
  • XML sitemap generation

Screaming Frog SEO Spider website · Official pricing

Screaming Frog SEO Spider alternatives · Compare with Ahrefs Free

3. Bing Webmaster Tools

Microsoft's free equivalent of Search Console for Bing, which also feeds results to other search and AI tools.

Price
Free with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account.
Free plan
Free. Import verified sites and sitemaps from Google Search Console (up to 100 at a time), then see Bing search performance, site scans and backlinks.
Best for
Site owners who already use Search Console: you can import your sites from it in a few clicks.
Works on
Web browser

Pros

  • Two-minute setup if you already use Search Console
  • Includes a free site scan and backlink report

Cons

  • Bing's share of searches is far smaller than Google's
  • Imported sites can take up to 48 hours to show data

Key features

  • Import sites from Google Search Console
  • Bing search performance reports
  • Site scan for technical SEO problems
  • IndexNow and URL submission

Bing Webmaster Tools website · Official pricing

Bing Webmaster Tools alternatives · Compare with Ahrefs Free

Sources

Official pages we checked for the prices, plans and limits on this page:

How we choose and check these tools

See every seo tools tool in the finder