Top 7 Ahrefs Alternatives for Tracking Keyword Rankings

Top 7 Ahrefs Alternatives for Tracking Keyword Rankings

Ahrefs is one of the most comprehensive SEO tools on the market since it has more than ten features for SEO enthusiasts. Its overall site analysis and backlink analytics are the reason why many experts have this software as their primary SEO toolkit.

However, it could be more accurate when it comes to keyword research and rank tracking that doesn’t update daily – necessary if you are working in a highly competitive industry.

Plus, the high price and the overwhelmingness of that many features don’t make it a beginner-friendly software.

That’s why I’ve decided to personally test the following seven Ahrefs alternatives and help you make an informed decision.

Table of Contents

Overview of Ahrefs

ahrefs dashboard

Source: G2.com

Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO platform that helps users rank better based on different ranking factors, from keyword research to rank tracking and backlink monitoring. 

It’s popular among experienced professionals due to its wide range of use cases but it may not be the best option for beginners because you won’t need the majority of its advanced features and will end up paying a high-ticket price only to use 2-4 features.

Here are its key features:

  • Rank tracking
  • SERP checker
  • Competitive analysis
  • Keyword research
  • Keyword sorting
  • Historical data
  • Interactive graphs
  • Site audit tool
  • Link building
  • Numerous integrations (Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Slack)

Pros

  • Detailed SERP analysis: You can see how your website ranks for 15 different SERP features.
  • Interactive graphs: They’re a great way to visualize and track changes in your rankings over time.
  • Keyword organization: Ahrefs Keyword Explorer allows you to find keyword ideas and organize dozens of keywords by filtering, grouping and tagging.

Cons

  • High price: The price is high, especially knowing that some of the best SEO features, like exploring competitors’ websites, aren’t available in cheaper plans
  • Not as accurate: Due to inaccurate search volume estimations and weekly ranking updates, it might be hard to stay up to date
  • Tracking limits: Tracking unverified domains is limited, which is not the case with some other tools.

Pricing

  • Lite: $99/month
  • Standard: $199/month
  • Advanced: $399/month
  • Enterprise: $999/month 

ahrefs pricing

User rating

Many users said they like the ability to organize large amounts of keywords and track changes in ranking through Ahref’s interactive graphs. On the con side, some users complained that search volume estimates are imprecise, so they always had to use additional SEO tools to check them.

G2: 4.5

Capterra: 4.8

ahrefs user rankings

Why look for Ahrefs alternatives?

  1. Price: Starting at $99 per month, this tool may not be accessible individuals and small agencies.
  2. No daily updates: Rank tracking is updated every 3 – 7 days, depending on the plan you choose
  3. No whitelabeling: Ahrefs may not be the most professional SEO software for agencies as it’s not possible to whitelabel your reports or add branding.
  4. Accuracy: Its search volume estimates can be off since it measures keyword difficulty based on the number of backlinks you need to get and not based on the actual search volume, like some other tools.

The 7 best Ahrefs alternatives

Serpple

serpple dashboard

Serpple is one of the best keyword rank-tracking software of the latest generation. It provides frequent and super-accurate ranking updates and other SEO metrics – packed in a user-friendly and intuitive interface. 

Beginners and those looking for accurate results will love how easy it is to explore keywords and track search engine rankings with Serpple. With our Keyword Insights feature, apart from the basic information such as global volume and difficulty, you can explore a complete keyword search history, auto-complete predictions and trends.

Therefore, you will have all you need to make sure you are targeting the right keywords.

serpple keyword insights feature

Advanced users relying on Ahrefs for keyword suggestions, competitor analysis, and site audits will find the following features useful:

Our Keyword Opportunities feature helps you get ahead of your competitors and rank for keywords you might have missed by discovering high-impact keywords from your own website or the SERP. 

For a more in-depth review, our AI Competitor Tracking feature gives you a comparison of your website with your competitors in terms of the keywords you both rank for, improved/declined rankings, featured snippets, ads and reviews. Optimizing your content strategy and outranking your competitors will never be easier.

AI competitor tracking

I’ve spent a lot of time using Ahrefs Site Audit and Page Explorer to optimize my content over time, so  SEO Content Audit may be one of my favorite Serpple features. With the Content Audit feature, it is easy to weigh the content on your webpage because you get results from 21 tests, a detailed report and a checklist.

In an intuitive dashboard, everything is sorted out so you can fix issues immediately.

Serpple's feature SEO content audit

Features

Pros

  • Daily ranking updates: Unlike Ahrefs, Serpple provides daily Google ranking updates with a 99.9% accuracy rate.
  • White-label reports: Serpple is an excellent choice for SEO agencies that want to create professional branded reports for their clients.
  • Value for money: Serpple has the advanced features of all the major SEO tools combined for only $19 per month.

Cons

Pricing

  • Side Hustler: $19 per month (up to 100 keywords, ideal SEO tool for freelancers and solopreneurs)
  • Entrepreneur: $29 per month (up to 500 keywords, great for small and medium agencies)
  • Agency: $99 per month (up to 3,000 keywords, suitable for enterprises)

*If you purchase an annual subscription, you’ll get two months for free.

serpple pricing

UI/UX

Serpple has a unique combination of advanced professional features and a user-friendly interface that everyone can navigate, even if you don’t have a strong analytical background. Its comprehensive dashboard and dynamic graphs allow you to visually track changes in ranking.

serpple UI UX

User Ratings

Serpple has received many positive reviews on user rating platforms, mostly for its excellent user interface, supreme accuracy, frequent ranking updates and great value for money.

Capterra: 5

G2: 4.5

serpple user rating

serpple cta

Ubbersuggestubbersuggest dashboard

Source: Capterra.com

Ubbersuggest is an affordable and modern tool with some pretty diverse features, like tracking your SEO mistakes and providing content ideas for a particular keyword.

To be honest, as a keyword rank tracker, it’s less accurate than most other tools on this list, but it is a good option if you’re looking to get some quick SEO insights.

Features

  • Local rank tracking
  • Keyword research
  • Technical SEO
  • Content ideas
  • Custom reports

Pros

  • SEO errors: This unique section keeps track of your common SEO mistakes with tips on how to improve your rankings.
  • Content ideas: Ubersuggest combines keyword tracking and content strategy to offer content ideas for target keywords through competitor research and AI insights.
  • Lifetime access: Unlimited access to the tool and its continuous updates for a single payment. 

Cons

  • Limited database: Ubbersuggest relies solely on Google Analytics as a data source, therefore, its results may be limited compared to some other Ahrefs alternatives.
  • Not up-to-date: Some results are not up-to-date, or at least for some niches, it’s giving very different results than all the tools I’ve tried.
  • Overwhelming options: They’re constantly adding new features, not only for SEO but also for content marketing, and it can be overwhelming for beginners.

Pricing

  • Individual: $12/month
  • Business: $20/month
  • Enterprise: $40/month 
  • ubbersuggest pricing

What’s more, you can also purchase lifetime access for the following prices:

  • Individual: $120/lifetime
  • Business: $200/lifetime
  • Enterprise: $400/lifetime
  • ubbersuggest lifetime pricing

UI/UX

Ubersuggest has a modern and clean design, but its user interface can sometimes be overwhelming due to numerous different features and options.

ubersuggest UI UX

Source: Capterra.com

User ratings

Users are generally satisfied with this tool. They know it might not be the most accurate SEO software, but they think it’s a good value for money.

G2: 4.2

Capterra: 4.4

ubbersuggest user ratings

Rank Tracker

Rank Tracker dashboard

Source: G2.com

Rank Tracker is an affordable SEO tool with some common features like keyword research and SERP analysis. However, it’s significantly slower than its alternatives, and its interface has room for improvement.

Features

  • White label reports
  • Local rank tracking
  • SERP analysis
  • The SEO/PPC diagram
  • Daily alerts

Pros

  • Daily updates: It tracks changes in your ranking daily and sends email alerts
  • White-labeling: Rank Tracker provides white labeling for SEO agencies, and, unlike Ahrefs, it allows you to add your branding and logo to reports.
  • The SEO/PPC diagram: With this advanced traffic analytics feature, you can see how much money your SEO strategy saves compared to the cost of getting the same traffic through paid ads.

Cons

  • Unintuitive design: The interface could be more user-friendly, and there’s room for improvement when it comes to design.
  • Unresponsive interface: Some features, like the SEO/PPC diagram, take too long to load, so you have to refresh the app multiple times.
  • Slow customer support: Solving even minor issues can take days due to unresponsive customer support.

Pricing

  • Starter: $24/month
  • Double data: $59/month
  • Quad data: $109/month
  • Hex data: $209/month 
  • rank tracker pricing

UI/UX

I found its UX a bit outdated and unresponsive compared to other SEO tools on this list.

rank tracker UI UX

Source: G2.com

User ratings

Users are overall satisfied with Rank Tracker’s accuracy and features, but they mention constant bugs and unresponsiveness. Some users also mentioned subscription issues, like hidden costs and difficulty in canceling subscriptions.

G2: 3.2

Capterra: 4

Rank tracker user ratings

Mangools

Mangools dashboard

Source: G2.com

Mangools is a user-friendly SEO tool that can be used for rank tracking and SERP monitoring. It may be among the best keyword rank tracking tools for beginners due to its ease of use and clear interface, but as an SEO professional with over 20 years of experience, I find its keyword database limited compared to Ahrefs.

Features

  • SERP watcher
  • Local SERP simulator
  • SEO browser extension
  • Email alerts
  • Backlink analysis

Pros

  • Daily rank updates: Rank tracking updates every day, and you can get daily alerts via email.
  • Local SERP simulator: You can check SERP previews for over 52.000 locations, which is more than most other tools offer.
  • Sharable reports: You can export and share interactive reports that allow you to browse and sort data in different ways (by keyword, by time frame etc), making this tool excellent for collaboration.

Cons

  • Limited keyword database: Unlike Ahrefs, Mangools is limited only to Google, and its keyword database is not as extensive, especially for long-tail keyword research.
  • No paid keywords: Mangools can’t replace Ahrefs regarding Google ads and tracking keywords that your competitors are bidding for.
  • Limited SEO features: Some features like search intent, crawl analysis and technical audit are currently missing

Pricing 

  • Entry: $29/month
  • Basic: $49/month
  • Premium: $69/month
  • Agency: $129/month

*You can get a 35% discount by purchasing annual plans.

mangools pricing

UI/UX

The interface is very modern and well-organized, making it easy to distinguish among features as each one has a different vibrant color. 

mangools UI UX

Source: G2.com

User Ratings

Users are overall satisfied with the UX, design, speed and ease of use of this tool. The only downsides they mention are limited keyword databases and analytics that could be improved.

G2: 4.6

Capterra: 4.7

mangools user ratings

SE Ranking

SE Ranking dashboard

Source: Capterra.com

SE Ranking is a comprehensive SEO toolkit with different features, ranging from rank tracking to content marketing. It’s popular due to its user-friendly interface, but it may not be the best solution for SEO professionals working in specific industries or regions due to its limited keyword database.

Features

  • Multi-engine rank tracking
  • AI-powered insights
  • Ranking predictions
  • Keyword segmentation
  • Competitor analysis

Pros

  • AI-based predictions: You can get accurate predictions for future rankings and organic traffic.
  • Keyword segmentation: advanced keyword grouping and tagging making is a good option for SEO agencies with numerous projects.
  • Competitor analysis: SE Ranking provides a comprehensive analysis of all competitors’ ranking and historical performance for a particular keyword

Cons

  • Limited keyword database: SE Ranking lacks keywords for some specific niches.
  • Some countries not available: Not all countries and locations are available for local rankings
  • Hidden costs: Additional payment is required to unlock some features.

Pricing

  • Essential: $44/month
  • Pro: starting at $87.20/month
  • Business: starting at $191.20/month 

*You can get a 20% discount by purchasing annual plans.

se ranking pricing

UI/UX

The user interface is intuitive and user-friendly. The only thing that’s missing is a comprehensive dashboard where you can see all rankings and keywords in one place.

se ranking UI UX

Source: Capterra.com

User Ratings

Comments are overall positive – the only downside is a limited keyword database, especially for some countries.

G2: 4.8

Capterra: 4.8

se ranking user ratings

Semrush

semrush dashboard

Source: G2.com

While Ahrefs focuses mostly on organic keywords, Semrush can also be used for search engine marketing, PPC keyword research and tracking paid keywords.

Thanks to its advanced features, it’s undoubtedly one of the most popular SEO tools, but it has a steep learning curve and may not be accessible to everyone.

Features

  • Paid keywords tracking
  • Keyword gap analysis
  • SEM
  • Detailed keyword research
  • Competitor analysis

Pros

  • Detailed keyword research: Semrush beats Ahrefs when it comes to keyword research, being more versatile and detailed and providing you with a comprehensive list of keyword ideas through its Keyword Magic tool.
  • Keyword gap analysis: This feature helps you discover keywords that your competitors are ranking for and you aren’t.
  • Great for PPC: Track paid rankings and access the ad history of your competitors.

Cons

  • Steep learning curve: Semrush interface is more complex than Ahrefs’s there are too many features and it’s often difficult to find what you’re looking for.
  • High price: Semrush is one of the most expensive SEO tools on the market, starting at $129.95 per month.
  • Backlink analysis: Although Semrush has its own backlink checker, it may not provide the same quality in-depth backlink profile as you’re used to with Ahrefs.

Pricing

  • Pro: $129.95/month
  • Guru: $249.95/month
  • Business: $499.95/month 

*You can save up to 17% by purchasing annual plans.

semrush pricing

UI/UX

The user interface is not bad, but there are simply too many features, and it’s easy to get lost. It took me a while to figure out where some features are, and that’s why I wouldn’t recommend this tool to beginners, as it can be frustrating.

semrush UI UX

Source: G2.com

User ratings

Many professionals swear by Semrush as the best SEO tool, but on the other hand, many users find its learning curve difficult and its price exaggerated.

G2: 4.5

Capterra: 4.7

se ranking user ratings

AccuRanker

AccuRanker dashboard

Source: Capterra.com

AccuRanker is a very fast, accurate and reliable position-tracking tool, although it’s still pretty hard to justify its high price, especially now after doing a detailed AccuRanker review and seeing that some features are lacking or incomplete.

Features

  • Real-time tracking
  • In-depth SERP analysis
  • Ranking predictions
  • Granular insights
  • Daily reports

Pros

  • Real-time data: This is one of the fastest rank-tracking tools on the market, providing you with real-time tracking.
  • Supreme accuracy: Its data is very precise, although not available for all geo-locations.
  • CTR estimates: AccuRanker’s algorithm can pretty accurately estimate how much traffic your web pages will get in the future.

Cons

  • High price: With its cheapest plan starting at €116, this tool may not be accessible to everyone
  • Confusing reports: The reports combine a lot of data and metrics without proper explanation, making them difficult to understand.
  • Missing features: AccuRanker lacks some features Ahrefs and similar tools have, for example, keyword filtering and easy data exporting, making me question the validity of its price.

Pricing

The pricing is flexible based on the number of keywords you want to track.It starts at €116 per month for up to 1,000 keywords and can go up to €2,492 per month for up to 50,000 keywords. 

accuranker pricing

UI/UX

accuranker UI UX

Source: Capterra.com

The interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate, with an excellent page loading speed. However, I think the design could be more modern, especially due to its high-tier price.

User Ratings

Users are generally satisfied with these tools, they only complain about confusing reports and a high price, which made some of them look for alternatives.

G2: 4.8

Capterra: 4.8

accuranker user ratings

Comparison table

Tool

Serpple

Ubersuggest

Rank Tracker

Mangools

SE Ranking

Semrush

AccuRanker

Instant daily refresh

Not mentioned

Not mentioned

Not mentioned

Real-time reporting

Feature updates

Periodically

Periodically

Not often

If needed

If needed

If needed

Periodically

Data accuracy

Supreme

Average

Good

Average

Average

Good

Excellent

User-friendliness

Supreme

Good

Not great

Excellent

Good

Good

Not great

Starting price/month

$19

$12

$24

$29

$44

$129.95

€129

User ratings

4.75

4.65

4.1

4.65

4.8

4.6

4.8

Best for

Digital marketing specialists, small and mid-sized SEO agencies, copyriters, website owners, CEOs.

Small businesses with a limited budget

Small businesses with a limited budget

SEO beginners and individuals

Marketing agencies

Agencies with bigger budgets

Agencies with bigger budgets

 

Conclusion

I know that looking for alternatives to your current SEO software can be time-consuming and I hope that my review helped you streamline the process and get some ideas about which Ahrefs alternative may be the right one for you.

If you’re looking for a tool that provides daily ranking updates, white-label reports, and other features Ahrefs is missing for just a fraction of the price, Serpple has everything you need.

Try out for free and see why I am so confident when I say it’s the best alternative to Ahrefs you can find.

serpple cta

No, Ahrefs doesn’t have a free version, but it’s possible to use some of its features for free, for example, its keyword research tool and basic keyword rank checker.

It depends on the features you have in mind, but Semrush is generally considered more accurate when it comes to backlink and keyword data because it has a larger database.

Semrush is a more detailed keyword tool and it may be better than Ahrefs when it comes to paid ads thanks to its detailed PPC keyword analysis.

Ahrefs has a more extensive keyword database and more detailed backlink data, while Ubersuggest has some other useful content marketing and SEM features.

Serpple SEO Email Course