Is Ahrefs Free? What You Get for $0 in 2026
Paul VengeonsCo-Founder & SEO ConsultantIn short
Partly. Ahrefs Free (formerly Ahrefs Webmaster Tools) is free forever with no card, but only on sites you verify: 5,000 crawl credits a month per project and 1,000 backlinks and keywords visible at once. There is no free trial: paid plans start at $29 a month (Starter) and $129 (Lite).
Free Ahrefs data shows what is wrong, not where to start. ChatSEO reads your Search Console and tells you which pages to work on first.
Summarize this blog post with:
Which Ahrefs option is for you?
Answer 4 questions: free account, free tools or a paid plan
π¬ How I checked what Ahrefs gives for free
I went through every page where Ahrefs talks about free access: the Ahrefs Free account, the free SEO tools, the pricing page and its FAQ. Every limit and price below was checked on Ahrefs' official pages on October 30, 2026. ChatSEO appears at the end because it is the tool I co-founded: it is paid, with a trial, and I say so.
My take after years of SEO for clients: the free Ahrefs is good for your own site and almost useless for spying on competitors. That is the line most people miss, and it decides whether you should pay.
π Is Ahrefs free? The answer at a glance
Yes for your own website, no for the full tool. Ahrefs has a permanent free account and a set of free tools, but no free trial of its paid plans.
| Option | Price | Works on | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Free account | $0, no card | Sites you verify | Site Explorer, Site Audit, Web Analytics |
| Ahrefs free SEO tools | $0, no account | Any site | A sample: backlinks, keyword ideas, SERP |
| Free trial of paid plans | Does not exist | ||
| Ahrefs Starter | $29/month | Any site | Keyword research and competitor checks |
| Ahrefs Lite | $129/month | Any site | The full suite for one user |
π The 3 ways to use Ahrefs for free
1. Ahrefs Free: the free account for your own site
Ahrefs Free is a permanent free account, with no credit card and no end date. It is the old Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, renamed: Ahrefs says on its own page that they are "the same account". You get six tools, three of which only work on sites you have verified (by importing it from Search Console, or with a DNS record or an HTML file).
- Site Explorer (verified sites): the keywords your site ranks for, your top pages and the sites that link to you.
- Site Audit (verified sites): 170+ technical and on-page checks, with a Health Score over time.
- Web Analytics (verified sites): a privacy-first Google Analytics alternative, up to 1 million events per project.
- Social Media Manager, AI Content Helper and the SEO Toolbar: no verification needed.
The limits are generous for one site: unlimited verified sites, 5,000 crawl credits a month per project in Site Audit, 1,000 backlinks and keywords visible at once in Site Explorer, and 1 free document a month in AI Content Helper. For a blog or a small business site, that covers the backlink check and the technical audit for good.
2. Ahrefs free SEO tools: a sample on any site
Ahrefs' free tools work on any domain, competitors included, with no account, but they only show a sample. The list covers a Backlink Checker, a Keyword Generator, a SERP Checker, a Keyword Difficulty Checker, a Website Authority Checker, a Broken Link Checker and an AI Visibility Checker, among others.
Ahrefs calls its free Backlink Checker "a glimpse into the power of our premium tool", and that is the right way to read it. Use them to answer one quick question about a competitor, not to run a competitor analysis. For the full picture on a site you do not own, you need a paid plan or another tool: our free Ahrefs alternative guide lists the options.
3. Google Search Console: the free data Ahrefs estimates
Search Console is not an Ahrefs product, but it is the free tool that makes Ahrefs Free worth using. Ahrefs estimates your traffic; Search Console gives your real Google clicks, impressions and positions for every query, with 16 months of history.
Read a position only with an exact page and an exact query as filters: the site-wide average mixes thousands of queries. Connect Search Console to Ahrefs Free and you get both views of your own site for $0.
πΈ Is there an Ahrefs free trial?
No. Ahrefs has no free trial and no discount. Its pricing FAQ answers the question in one line: "We never run discounts. But if you're a website owner, you can sign up for Ahrefs Free". The free account is the trial, and it only covers your own site.
The paid plans start at $29 a month. Starter ($29) is Ahrefs' entry plan for keyword research and competitor checks. The full suite starts with Lite at $129 a month (1 user, 5 non-verified projects, 6 months of history, 750 tracked keywords), then Standard at $249, Advanced at $449 and Enterprise at $1,499 a month with an annual commitment. Paying yearly saves up to 17%, and Ahrefs says it "does not issue refunds in general".
What you pay for is competitor data at scale. Every paid plan unlocks Site Explorer and Keywords Explorer on any site, plus history and tracked keywords. If you only work on your own site, the free account already covers the audit and the backlinks. Our Semrush vs Ahrefs comparison shows what each paid suite does better.
Save β¬100+/month on your SEO tool
ChatSEO covers the essentials from β¬29/month. 7-day money-back guarantee.
ChatSEO: best for knowing what to do next
ChatSEO is the tool I co-founded, and it is not free: you get a 7-day trial with 30 credits, then plans start at β¬29 a month, or β¬23 a month billed annually. The card is asked at signup and charged on day 7 unless you cancel, with a reminder 3 days before.
It answers the question free Ahrefs data leaves open: which page to work on first. It reads your Search Console, compares your site with your competitors on live keyword and backlink data, and returns a prioritized list. Do not pick it for a full crawl of a large site or for years of backlink history: Ahrefs does that, and ChatSEO checks pages one by one.
Results from a ChatSEO customer
From 10 to 100 Google clicks a day
βFrom a few clicks a day to more than 3,000 clicks a month.β
A client site of an SEO consultant
β οΈ The limits that catch people out
Ahrefs Free only shows full data for sites you verify. You cannot verify a competitor's site, so Site Explorer stays closed on it.
- 1,000 rows at a time in Site Explorer: enough for a small site, short for a site with thousands of keywords.
- 5,000 crawl credits a month per project: a site of a few thousand pages gets roughly one full audit a month.
- One AI Content Helper document a month: a taste, not a writing workflow.
- No Keywords Explorer: keyword research on Ahrefs is paid, the free Keyword Generator gives a sample.
β Scorecard
| Option | Price | Your own site | Competitors | Tells you what to fix first |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Free account | β β β β β | β β β β β | βββββ | β β βββ |
| Ahrefs free SEO tools | β β β β β | β β βββ | β β βββ | β ββββ |
| Google Search Console | β β β β β | β β β β β | βββββ | β β βββ |
| Ahrefs Lite | β β βββ | β β β β β | β β β β β | β β βββ |
| ChatSEO | β β β β β | β β β β β | β β β β β | β β β β β |
βοΈ Should you pay for Ahrefs?
Stay on the free account if you work on one site you own. Pay when competitor research becomes a weekly job.
- β You audit your own site and its backlinks β Ahrefs Free
- β You need one number on a competitor β Ahrefs free SEO tools
- β You track your real Google rankings β Google Search Console
- β You research keywords and competitors every week β Ahrefs Starter or Lite
- β You want to know which page to work on next β ChatSEO trial
- β You need a backlink index on any site for $0 β it does not exist at Ahrefs
Who should not pay for Ahrefs: a solo site owner who checks SEO once a month. $129 a month buys competitor data you will not use. Our best Ahrefs alternatives guide covers cheaper paid tools if you need more than the free account.
β Frequently asked questions
Is Ahrefs free?
Partly. Ahrefs Free is a permanent free account with no card: Site Explorer, Site Audit and Web Analytics on the sites you verify, plus the SEO Toolbar, AI Content Helper and Social Media Manager. Full data on competitors needs a paid plan, from $29 a month.
Does Ahrefs have a free trial?
No. Ahrefs offers no free trial and no discount on its paid plans. Its own pricing FAQ points website owners to the Ahrefs Free account instead.
Is Ahrefs Webmaster Tools still free?
Yes. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools was renamed Ahrefs Free. It is the same free account, with more tools added: content, social media and web analytics.
Can I check a competitor's backlinks with Ahrefs for free?
Only a sample. The free Backlink Checker works on any domain with no account, but shows a limited preview. Site Explorer, the full backlink report, only works for free on sites you have verified.
How much does Ahrefs cost?
Starter costs $29 a month, Lite $129, Standard $249 and Advanced $449. Enterprise is $1,499 a month with an annual commitment. Paying yearly saves up to 17%.
Is ChatSEO free?
No. ChatSEO offers a 7-day trial with 30 credits, then plans start at β¬29 a month, or β¬23 a month billed annually.
- Ahrefs Free: what the free account includes and its limits (Ahrefs, checked October 30, 2026)
- Ahrefs plans and pricing, with the FAQ on trials (Ahrefs)
- Ahrefs free SEO tools (Ahrefs)
- Google Search Console (Google)
