Ahrefs
The best SEO data in the business — largest, freshest backlink index, huge keyword database, API and MCP from the first paid plan — undermined only by a credit meter and an AI-visibility add-on priced like a second product.
How we testAhrefs is built on the industry's largest link index (35 trillion links, refreshed every 15–30 minutes) and a 28.7-billion keyword database across 217 locations, with rank tracking from 750 keywords, site audit from 100k crawl credits, and — importantly for a technical buyer — a REST API v3 and a remote MCP server included from the Lite plan up. Pricing is published in GBP for UK visitors: Starter £23 (limited, monthly only), Lite £99, Standard £199, Advanced £359 per month, with annual billing at "pay 10 months, get 12".
Brand Radar, its AI-search visibility layer, has by far the largest prompt index (474 million prompts across Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot) — but it is sold as an add-on at roughly $199 per AI platform per month or ~$699 for all platforms, monthly-only outside Enterprise. That is two to three times the base plan, and the reason we pair Ahrefs with Geogen instead. Trustpilot is 2.1/5 on 319 reviews, dominated by "suspicious activity" lockouts and credit limits that don't feel unlimited.
After extended testing of Semrush, SE Ranking, Ahrefs and Geogen, Ahrefs is the SEO platform we settled on — for pricing, ease of working with, reliability and functionality. The Brand Radar pricing is our own complaint. That is our direct experience.
Pros
- +Largest and freshest backlink index; 28.7bn-keyword database
- +REST API and MCP server included from the Lite plan
- +GBP pricing published for UK buyers
Cons
- −Brand Radar priced like a second product (~$699/mo all platforms — 2–3× the base plan)
- −Credit metering and account lockouts drive a 2.1/5 Trustpilot
- −Claude is not tracked in Brand Radar
Pricing
Minimum commitment: £99 — £99/mo × 1 seat × 1 month — no commitment. The least you can spend before walking away; excludes numbers, minutes and add-ons.
Lite
£99/mo · month-to-month
£82.50/mo on an annual commitment
Month-to-month costs 20% more
- ✓1 user, 500 credits/mo, 750 tracked keywords, API + MCP included
Starter
£23/mo · no commitment
Same price on any term
- ✓Month-to-month only; 1 user; heavily limited
Standard
£199/mo · month-to-month
£166/mo on an annual commitment
Month-to-month costs 20% more
- ✓Unlimited credits, 2,000 keywords
Brand Radar add-on (all platforms)
$699/mo · no commitment
Same price on any term
- ✓USD; ~$199/mo per single AI platform; monthly-only except Enterprise
Specifications
| Rating | 4.4 |
| Month-to-month (entry plan) | £99/mo |
| Annual commit, per month | £82.50/mo |
| Monthly premium | 20% |
| Minimum commitment* | £99 |
| Keywords tracked | 750 |
| Backlink index (T) | 35 |
| Site audit | ✓ |
| AI engines tracked | 6 |
| Prompts included | 150 |
| API included | ✓ |
| MCP server | ✓ |
| Trustpilot (reviews) | 2.1 (319) |
| AI engines (list) | Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT +3 |
| Commitment for annual rate (months) | 0 |
*How we calculate minimum commitment. Headline per-user prices hide the real cost of trying a platform. Total cost of ownership is licence × seats × term, plus usage, add-ons, setup fees and any early-exit charges. Our "minimum commitment" figure is the floor of that: the entry plan's committed rate × the minimum seats the vendor will sell × the months you must commit to (one month at the month-to-month rate where there is no commitment; the licence price where it is sold per year). It deliberately excludes usage, add-ons and prerequisite licences, so your real first bill will be higher — but never lower than this.
Researched and drafted with AI assistance; reviewed and approved by Tim Meredith. How we use AI