Ahrefs vs Semrush: The ultimate SEO tool comparison (2025)

Semrush and Ahrefs are two of the biggest names in SEO. Both are known today as powerful and reliable platforms packed with diverse feature sets that marketers and SEO pros use every day. But they’ve come a long way since the days when Semrush was mainly known for keyword and PPC tools, and Ahrefs for its backlink analysis.

So, which one is the better choice today?

This article is a side-by-side comparison of Semrush and Ahrefs. It breaks each platform down by its key strengths and weaknesses. Use it to make informed decisions based on real user experiences, key features, and each platform’s capacity to fit today’s complex SEO needs.

Semrush vs Ahrefs at a glance

Let’s start by looking at the core differences between these two industry titans. 

Ahrefs is known for its powerful backlink analysis. It takes a technology-first approach, investing heavily in its industry-leading crawler and backlink database to deliver some of the most accurate and powerful SEO insights available. Ahrefs’ feature set has also expanded over the years, now with keyword research, site auditing, rank tracking, content tools, and more.

Semrush brands itself as a comprehensive marketing suite that goes beyond SEO. It delivers a wide range of tools for PPC, local SEO, content marketing, social media, and more. It covers nearly all digital marketing tasks.

According to G2 user reviews, Semrush offers broader functionality across all marketing tasks, while users prefer Ahrefs for its technical edge in backlink analysis. This is a core difference between the two.

But the discrepancies between each tool don’t end there. Both bring something different to the table. Click on the sections below to jump to the most relevant parts to you.

So, which SEO tool is actually better?

There is no clear winner. Both are powerful, but the right tool for you depends on your goals, personal workflows, and priorities.

We recommend making your decision after reading this side-by-side comparison and reviewing real user feedback. 

Below are some conclusions we’ve drawn from discussions on Reddit:

Semrush is favored for its:

• Comprehensive toolset: “Semrush’s full suite of tools” offers “over 55 tools for everything from SEO and content marketing to social media and competitive research”
• Enterprise capabilities: “In enterprise SEO, you should definitely choose Semrush“
• Detailed analysis: “Some find Semrush gives them access to more detailed info if they dive into its functions“

Ahrefs excels in:

• Backlink analysis: Multiple users noted that “Ahrefs has the most complete backlink data by far” and “Ahrefs is great for Backlinks.” Another user emphasized that “the backlink gap analysis in Ahrefs is much more informative and helpful“.
• Ease of use: Users consistently find “Ahrefs easier to use” with one noting “The navigation is very clear and easy to understand, and it makes keyword research simple and fun“.
• Data quality: Users “prefer Ahrefs for their deeper data” and mentioned “Ahrefs has more data compared to Semrush“

However, users of both platforms complain about steep pricing.

They describe Semrush as “very costly.” One Ahrefs user also noted, “they sure do know how to price it right at the top of what is justifiable.” One long-time user noted, “We used Semrush for a long period of time. It’s still a great tool, however it has become expensive over the years.”

Pricing pressure has driven users to seek alternatives, with SE Ranking recommended as a budget-friendly, feature-rich tool for agencies—without the hefty price tag.

Pricing: Each tool’s value for money

Let’s start with pricing, one of the biggest decision factors for users. Here’s what you get for your money with each tool.

The table below is a general pricing overview of Ahrefs and Semrush.

Ahrefs starts at $129/month for the Lite plan, going up to $449/month for the Advanced plan. It also offers a Starter plan at $29/month, with 100 monthly credits and access to core tools. 

Each regular plan comes with a Power (main) user, with additional users costing extra ($40–$80). While Ahrefs gives you unlimited verified projects, unverified project limits vary by plan. There is no free trial, onboarding (unless you’re on the Enterprise plan), or personal assistant. 

Feature-wise, Ahrefs’ lower plan covers the SEO essentials, including keyword research, backlink analysis, rank tracking, site audits, competitive analysis, SERP history, and more.

As you move up, Ahrefs rewards you with advanced features, like broken backlink reports, SERP comparison, AI suggestions, Web Explorer, and more.

Semrush takes a different approach. It starts at $139.95/month for the Pro plan and scales up to $449.95/month for Business. It includes one user per plan, with each additional seat costing $45–$100. Unlike Ahrefs, Semrush offers a 7-day free trial, which is a big plus if you want to try it out before committing. 

Semrush’s plan upgrades are more conservative feature by feature.

The Pro plan includes the basics: rank tracking, keyword research, site audit, backlink tools, and competitor analysis. The Guru plan adds historical data, content marketing tools, and multi-location and device data, but many features remain locked until you upgrade to the Business plan, which offers API access, Share of Voice, and data migration.

Ahrefs opens more access to data than Semrush—and earlier. It offers longer historical data and higher keyword tracking/crawl limits. 

One downside of Ahrefs is its credit-based system. Every action you take eats away at credits. This includes tasks like checking keywords or running audits. If you’re an agency and manage multiple projects, this can become limiting and may require a plan upgrade.

Keyword research

Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer

Ahrefs makes it into our curated list of the best keyword research tools, offering one of the largest keyword databases—28.7B keywords across 217 countries. Its Keywords Explorer tool gives deep insights into search volume, traffic potential, parent topic, and SERP analysis with backlink data.

Instantly cluster thousands of keyword ideas, analyze keyword difficulty, and use metrics like Traffic Potential and SERP history to identify ranking opportunities. Ahrefs also supports side-by-side SERP comparisons and shows how search intent evolves over time.

Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool

Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool comes with a slightly smaller global database (26.7B keywords) but leads in U.S. coverage (3.6B). Tap into keyword metrics like search volume, keyword search intent, CPC, difficulty, and trend data across locations. 

Semrush’s AI-powered features personalize difficulty scores, identify topical authority, and suggest content strategies. It also includes ad data, local SEO metrics, bulk analysis (up to 100 keywords), and access to historical trends.

In addition, Semrush provides a diverse set of specialty tools. Its Keyword Magic Tool generates extensive keyword lists from your seed keyword and organizes them into topic clusters. Keyword Gap compares your keyword profiles with up to five competitors, and Keyword Strategy Builder organizes your keyword lists.

Rank tracking

Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker

Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker monitors keyword rankings on desktop and mobile across 190+ countries. It tracks keyword performance over time, compares your positions with your competitors’, and helps you see your SEO progress clearly. View your Share of Voice, average positions, and your website’s SERP features.

Ahrefs also provides advanced metrics like clicks, CPC, estimated search volume, ranking progress, and return rate. Organize keywords with tags, pull in historical data from Google Search Console, and receive direct updates to your inbox weekly or monthly.

Semrush’s Position Tracking tool

Semrush’s Position Tracking tool keeps track of both paid and organic keyword rankings. See how your site stacks up against competitors, and measure visibility across different locations. Just like Ahrefs, it also provides Share of Voice data to help you gauge and build brand presence.

Semrush also tracks performance across devices and locations, including mobile, desktop, and tablet. Unlike Ahrefs, Semrush supports keyword tracking on Google, Bing, Baidu, and ChatGPT. 

It also includes cannibalization detection to keep you from competing with your own content. It also lets you tag keywords and analyze the keyword metrics of your competitors’ top landing pages. Also, you can generate custom reports and dashboards and integrate with Google Looker Studio.

Competitor research

Ahrefs’ Site Explorer

Ahrefs’ Site Explorer provides an all-in-one site-view of your site’s organic traffic, its backlink profile, and paid search performance. 

Use Site Explorer to discover domain and URL ratings, referring domains, anchor texts, broken links, outgoing links, and more when researching your competitors’ backlinks. Get insights into top-performing pages, historical keyword rankings, keyword movements over time, and outgoing link patterns. 

For paid search, Site Explorer lets you explore competitor ad copy, keyword bidding strategies, plus ad history and changes over time. 

You can compare this data across two dates to spot trends and performance shifts. The downside is that Ahrefs’ paid data is not as comprehensive as Semrush’s.

Semrush’s Competitive Research tools

Semrush is high up on our list of top competitor research tools for traffic source analysis, competitor SEO and PPC strategies, and site performance trends. Its Traffic Analytics suite provides both organic search and core website traffic insights, including user engagement metrics and cross-domain mobile/desktop ratios. It also uncovers top pages, top-performing content, campaign focus, subdomain activity, and key audience insights, including traffic geo-distribution and journey across channels.

Its Organic Research tool lets you dig into a competitor’s most valuable keywords, track their ranking changes over time, and uncover the top traffic-driving pages and subdomains.

You can also analyze SERP feature presence, discover new rivals based on shared keywords, and identify your site’s SEO gaps.

Semrush’s Advertising Research tool reveals competitor budgets, seasonal trends, and keyword biddings. It also gives access to live ad examples and keyword data in 20+ languages across 100+ countries.

Backlink analysis

Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker

Ahrefs is often considered a top tool for backlink analysis. It’s similar to Semrush in that it provides a complete backlink profile overview for domains. It shows all backlinks and referring domains, anchor texts, and historical data to track and understand how a website’s backlink profile changes over time.

You can spot newly gained or restored links to see if your competitors are actively building backlinks, and check why you lost certain links from noindexed pages. Even find broken links that reveal if a website or URL has broken backlinks pointing to it. 

Semrush’s Backlink Analysis tools

Just like Ahrefs, Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tools provides all essential backlink metrics for in-depth link profile analysis, including the number and types of backlinks, authority scores of referring domains, and their geographic locations. Monitor backlink growth, spot new or lost links, and understand the diversity of your link sources, whether text, images, sponsored, or user-generated.

Unlike Ahrefs, Semrush flags potentially toxic backlinks. Use Semrush’s Backlink Audit tool to evaluate link quality via its Toxicity Score and 50+ metrics, letting you identify harmful links, and remove or disavow them.

Both Ahrefs and Semrush help you identify competitor backlink gaps. Semrush’s Backlink Gap tool compares and contrasts up to five competitors to uncover missing links to help you build a strategy around any opportunities found. 

Ahrefs offers a similar feature called Link Intersect, which is part of its competitive analysis toolkit. It compares up to 10 competitors so you can spot any shared backlinks you’re missing.

Also worthy of note is Semrush’s Link Building Tool, a central hub for discovering new prospects, sending outreach emails, and tracking campaign results.

Website audit

Ahrefs’ Site Audit

Ahrefs and Semrush both include SEO audit tools. Each is great at finding and prioritizing website issues. Ahrefs’ Site Audit tool scans over 170 SEO issues. This is similar to Semrush’s tool, which uses 140+ parameters. Ahrefs focuses on things like duplicate content, redirects, Core Web Vitals, structured data, and more. 

Use Ahrefs’ Site Audit to zoom in on specific areas like crawlability, international SEO, markup, site architecture, and robots.txt. It crawls more pages per project than Semrush (e.g. 25K-250K compared to Semrush’s 20K-100K). 

Both Ahrefs and Semrush can run JavaScript for deeper analysis. The only difference is that Semrush restricts this feature to higher-tier plans, while Ahrefs includes it in all plans.

Both tools group issues by severity—errors, warnings, and notices—and help you prioritize fixes. Ahrefs also provides clear charts and graphs and lets you download detailed reports with easy fix instructions.

Ahrefs also provides always-on audits to catch SEO issues early, IndexNow integration for faster website indexing, and live SEO fixes that you can publish without developer help. All of these features come with the Project Boost add-ons for an additional $20-$200/mo per project.

Semrush’s Site Audit

Semrush’s Site Audit tool scans your website for technical SEO and site health issues. It provides a prioritized list of errors, warnings, and notices to help you focus on the most important fixes.

It covers key areas like crawlability, page speed, internal linking, HTTPS implementation, and international SEO. Customize prioritization using advanced filters, access its Site Structure view, and integrate Google Analytics data to focus on top-value pages.

It also supports ongoing website health monitoring with automated weekly crawls, progress tracking, crawl comparison reports, and log file analysis. Receive detailed SEO audit reports to track improvements over time and catch new issues early.

On-page SEO features

Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar

Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of Semrush’s dedicated On-Page SEO Checker, but it does offer a helpful free browser extension: the Ahrefs SEO Toolbar. It’s available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, and provides detailed SEO reports that cover titles, meta descriptions, word count, content headers (H1–H6), canonical tags, indexing directives (from both meta tags and HTTP headers), hreflang tags, and more.

The toolbar also features a redirect tracer to show full redirect chains and HTTP headers, plus a link checker that highlights and filters outbound links (internal, external, nofollow, broken, etc).

Paid Ahrefs users can also see key SEO metrics (like DR, UR, backlinks, traffic estimates, and keyword rankings) for any page they visit and directly in Google SERPs.

Semrush’s On-Page SEO Checker

Semrush’s On Page SEO Checker compares your pages and keywords to the top 10 Google competitors to provide data-driven recommendations. It delivers practical ideas for link building, technical SEO, content quality, semantic relevance, user experience, and SERP feature opportunities.

On Page SEO Checker integrates data from Semrush’s Site Audit, Google Analytics, and Search Console to give you the full picture of your site’s performance. It provides personalized, prioritized task lists and detailed competitor insights to help you track progress and focus on the SEO fixes that matter most.

Content marketing tools

Ahrefs’ Content Marketing Tools

Ahrefs offers two main content tools: Content Explorer and AI Content Helper. Content Explorer finds top-performing content, link building prospects, low-competition topics, and more. Search by keyword and apply filters like organic traffic, backlinks, domain rating, and more. It’s also useful for spotting guest blogging opportunities and tracking how often your competitors publish new content.

AI Content Helper is part of the Content Kit add-on. It analyzes top-ranking pages, detects search intent, highlights coverage gaps, and grades your writing based on SEO best practices. Generate texts, optimized titles, descriptions, and heading structures, and use AI suggestions to improve your draft. 

For quick content tasks, Ahrefs’ free AI tools, such as the Content Detector, Humanizer, and Rewrite, are great for support.

Semrush’s Content Marketing Tools

Semrush also has a diverse set of content tools under its hood. For example, use Topic Research to create a focused content plan by finding popular and trending content ideas, headlines, and common questions your target audience asks. It also spots content gaps by analyzing what your competitors are doing.

Follow up with the SEO Content Template to get a ready-made brief based on your target keywords and insights from your top 10 competitors. It provides keyword suggestions, recommended content length, and practical SEO tips like where to place keywords and how to optimize your meta tags. As you write, the SEO Writing Assistant offers real-time guidance inside Google Docs, WordPress, or MS Word to help you improve readability, keep your tone consistent, check for originality, and use keywords effectively.

The downside is that these tools are only available with Semrush’s Guru and Business plans, but you can buy the Content Toolkit add-on for an extra $60/month. It includes AI writing tools, content optimization, SEO briefs, and more.

Local SEO features

Ahrefs’ local search capabilities

As of this review, Ahrefs isn’t built for local SEO. It contains no tools for tracking local packs, auditing GBP profiles, or managing reviews. But you can use it to research geo-specific keywords and monitor rankings across countries and devices. This is a barebones alternative meant for those with minimal local SEO needs.

Semrush’s Local SEO toolkit

Semrush is the exact opposite. It gives you the full local SEO package. With Listing Management, you can sync your business information across a wide range of directories, including Google Business Profile, Apple, Bing, Foursquare, etc., and remove duplicates.

Track your rankings on Google Maps with Semrush’s Map Rank Tracker. Customize the grid layout, target keywords, and manage reporting schedules on data pulled from both your business and competitors.

Use Semrush’s Position Tracking tool to monitor daily keyword rankings at the ZIP code level and see how visible you are in local packs and across devices. 

With the Review Management tool, you can monitor, analyze, and respond to GBP reviews using AI-powered suggestions and auto-replies. Track your average star rating and benchmark your performance against competitors.

Business & Agency features

Ahrefs’ Report Builder and Enterprise features

Ahrefs has a track record of focusing modestly on agency-specific features, but that’s beginning to change. With the new Report Builder add-on, users can now create custom SEO reports. These reports use 15+ metrics to evaluate projects, portfolios, and URLs. They also cover keyword rankings, backlink audits, competitor comparisons, brand visibility, and more. Reports can be exported as PDFs for seamless sharing with clients or stakeholders.

This marks a practical step forward for Ahrefs in supporting business and agency workflows, but it’s still an optional paid add-on. These features lack deeper client management, lead generation, and white-labeling. They are also present in other platforms, like SE Ranking’s Agency Pack—available for just $50/month.

Semrush’s Agency tools

Not long ago, Semrush offered the Agency Growth Kit (AGK) as a bundled toolkit for marketing agencies. While AGK has been discontinued, most are available tool-by-tool as paid add-ons.

My Reports lets agencies build custom reports using data from 35+ Semrush tools. Base reports include GA and GSC integrations, PDF export, and sharing. Pro reports expand this with 35+ third-party integrations, branding/white-labeling, scheduled delivery, and AI-powered summaries.

Semrush also offers a Lead Generation add-on—a combination of the Lead Finder and Agency Partners platform. Included is a branded agency profile on Semrush’s directory, a verification badge, and 1,000 outreach credits.

Both Ahrefs and Semrush give higher-tier plan users API access for data extraction and integrations.

LLM optimization tools

Ahrefs’ Brand Radar

SEO is evolving as AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and other LLMs reshape how people search and consume information. Optimizing for AI Overviews and other search engines—or at least understanding if your brand needs to—has become a key focus for many SEO professionals.

Following these shifts, Ahrefs released its Brand Radar. This tool tracks your brand’s presence across major AI-powered search platforms. You can use it to compare your brand to competitors in AI search, and monitor shifts in AI traffic over time. The tool also uncovers gaps in your AI visibility, tracks brand sentiment, and compares AI search traffic with traditional organic search to reveal new AI search opportunities.

Semrush’s AI Toolkit

Semrush is now in the LLM train too. Its AI Toolkit shows how your brand shows up on platforms like ChatGPT, SearchGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. It tracks visibility, competitor comparisons, and what your audience wants to know.

You can use this tool to see how often your brand is mentioned in AI discussions, track changes in sentiment and mentions over time, and identify market gaps. It also shows how AI platforms present your products and which features resonate most with users. You’ll also get AI-powered tips to sharpen your marketing, spark product ideas, and strengthen your strategy.

Unique features

Ahrefs and Semrush have very distinct feature offerings, so whichever one you choose depends largely on what you need, not whether one tool is better or worse than the other. 

For example, Ahrefs is often praised more than Semrush for its ability to fix broken internal and external links. It’s also exceptional at managing no-longer existing pages that still attract backlinks.

Ahrefs is also tuned in to its users’ content marketing needs with its growing set of free AI tools, like paragraph rewriters and title generators. On top of that, Ahrefs has a bunch of free social media tools, such as Instagram bio and hook generators. While it doesn’t offer a full set of social media features like Semrush, the tools below fill some of the gaps.

Its WordPress plugin, which focuses on automated content audits, is another nice addition. It flags underperforming pages and suggests clear actions, like update, merge, rewrite, or leave as-is. It also pulls traffic and backlink data straight into your WordPress dashboard from Ahrefs, GA, and GSC.

Semrush is a broader digital marketing platform for PPC campaigns, social media management, and even local marketing—areas where Ahrefs offers little to no coverage.

Unlike Ahrefs, Semrush comes with a full suite of PPC tools, including PPC keyword research, ad tracking, and competitor analysis, to manage and optimize paid campaigns across Google Ads and more.

Semrush’s social media toolkit schedules and manages posts across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Analyze competitor performance, track top-performing content, and use that information to inform and implement new strategies.

Another unique Semrush feature is Copilot AI, an AI-powered assistant that delivers data-based SEO tips. The tool saves you time by prioritizing fixes by urgency and impact. 

Support & Resources

First impressions matter and are a decisive factor in wrapping up research and choosing a tool. Friendly tools that offer step-by-step guidance often come out on top.

Semrush offers multiple ways to get help quickly: a Help Center, live chat, phone support, and even a personal demo request. 

Semrush also provides support to guests. You don’t even have to log in. This is handy if you need a quick answer or have trouble getting into your account.

Semrush Academy is also great for self-paced learning. It offers certifications, regular webinars, and a blog that covers everything from SEO to broader digital marketing topics.

Ahrefs also offers a Help Center, live chat, and email support (accessible via the “Contact Us” button), but it doesn’t have the exact same perks. For one, you must be logged in to contact its support team.

Ahrefs doesn’t offer phone support or live demos like Semrush, but its huge library of resources, including practical SEO guides and webinars, make up for it. The platform’s educational component, Ahrefs Academy, walks you through its core features and helps you achieve more with actionable strategies. Ahrefs also has an SEO podcast, YouTube channel, and an extensive collection of long-form SEO tutorials.

The bottom line? Semrush leans more toward hands-on and multi-format support, while Ahrefs goes all in on detailed, educational content. This could explain why Semrush has an 8.6 out of 10 rating on G2, compared to Ahrefs’ 8.3. 

Consider SE Ranking: A cost-effective, agency-first, and AI-powered alternative

Users praise Ahrefs and Semrush for their depth and power. Both platforms have a 4.5/5 rating on G2, confirming their quality.

But many users also find the pricing frustrating and feel they’re paying for features they don’t need. Small businesses and agencies especially express that the complexity and cost of each tool doesn’t match their actual usage.

While Ahrefs and Semrush set the bar high for SEO tools, some alternatives suit small and medium businesses, agencies, and solo SEO pros better.

SE Ranking understands this gap. It offers a simpler, more focused tool that covers what marketers and SEO pros use every day. Everything is wrapped neatly together in an easy-to-use interface and at a more affordable price.

Still need to do more diving before making a decision? Check out this detailed, side-by-side comparison of SE Ranking and Semrush. And here’s a feature comparison of SE Ranking and Ahrefs. Best of luck finding what works best for your workflow and your wallet!

Written by

Anna Postol

Anna is an SEO and Content Marketing Expert at SE Ranking, where she finds joy in creating content for SEO, digital marketing, and social media. Her focus is on writing accurate, easy-to-digest, informative pieces that turn complex topics into engaging narratives that resonate with readers. Outside of work, she enjoys stretching exercises, workouts, planning her next travel adventure, and spending time with her beloved cat-daughter.