Semrush vs Ahrefs: Which One Should You Use In 2024?

Are you confused between Semrush vs Ahrefs? Well, you have landed on the right page to clear your confusion.

Semrush and Ahrefs are the two dominant tools of the SEO industry. Choosing one over the other is the most challenging task because both of them are amazing. When I started my digital agency in 2019, I was also confused between Ahrefs and Semrush. So I looked for a comparison between these tools. 

Note: Ahrefs stop offering a free trial long before but you can still try Semrush for free. You can signup for Semrush’s free trial here.

But then I decided to use both of them, and the result of that is this comprehensive comparison of Semrush and Ahrefs. This comparison is based on similar features and pricing. Stick to the end to find out which tool you should go with.

Let’s get started.

Semrush vs Ahrefs: Detailed Comparison 

If you don’t have time or you are hurry to read the full post to know which tool is best, then check our detailed comparison chart which help you to make a decision. 

Features	Semrush	Ahrefs
Backlink Analysis	Not much good for backlink analysis	Many tools for backlink analysis
Keyword Research	Less accurate data	Best data accuracy
Pricing	$119.95 per month	$99.95 per month
Free Trial	7 days of a free trial	Do not have a free trial
Marketing Feature	Many tools for advertisers and marketers	Not much tool is available
Competitor Analysis	In-depth data on competitors	Know everything about your competitor

Semrush Overview

A handful of IT and SEO experts came together and created a comprehensive research tool in 2008, and they named it Semrush. Since then, this tool has kept on evolving, and today it has become one of the first choices of digital marketing experts. Now it has tools for link building, keyword research, backlink analysis, and so on all in one place.

Back then, in 2019, I needed an SEO tool for my websites and also to do comprehensive SEO for my clients. At the time being, I was trying to find the right tool by signing up for free trials of different tools that are when I landed on Semrush. All the features of this tool amazed me that’s when I decided I should go with this one.

Now I use Semrush to find specific keywords, and data metrics, do competition analysis, etc. The use of this tool has been fruitful for my business.

Note: Well Check our working Semrush Coupon here.

Ahrefs Overview

In 2010, Ahrefs was launched for backlink analysis. Since then, this tool has turned into a fully-fledged SEO tool. Now you can audit your website, do keyword research, and plan content for your website. This tool still outranks every other SEO tool when it comes to backlink analysis.

At first, I tried its one-week trial for $7, and I found a lot of excellent data for my website. I could do keyword research for my website and plan a content strategy as well. The full site audit feature helped me in spying on my competitors. I can check the required metrics for my website and analyze its backlinks as well.

You can also see the rank of your website and the traffic numbers on Ahrefs. Ahrefs is regularly improving by adding new features and improving other features as well.

Comparison Of Semrush and Ahrefs

Now let’s compare Ahrefs and Semrush closely to see which tool offers better features.

1. Keyword Research

Keyword research is the backbone of SEO. Many people use these paid tools to profitable keywords for their search campaigns. Let’s take a look at the keyword research features of these two tools.

Semrush: Keyword Research

Semrush is famous for its keyword research feature. It has a robust keyword research toolkit that includes Keyword magic and topic research tools. You can also get search volume on a keyword that is crucial for PPC and SEO campaigns.

The keyword database of Semrush has over 20 billion keywords. The topic research tool allows you to get content ideas for a particular keyword. All you need to do is enter a keyword and select a country. You can also add a domain to find profitable content ideas, then click on the get content ideas button. Turn on the trending subtopics first option to get the trending topics of that keyword.

With the Keyword Magic Tool, you can get all related keywords of a particular keyword. You will get essential metrics such as search volume, keyword difficulty, and CPC. To get more data metrics, click on a keyword. It will show you global search volume, results on SERP, trend chart, and so on.

Ahrefs: Keyword Research

The keyword research tool of Ahrefs is called Keyword Explorer. It allows you to search keywords for different search engines as well. You will get the option to select among Google, Bing, Yahoo, YouTube, Amazon, Yandex, and more. Enter a parent keyword and select a country and hit the search button, and see the results for yourself.

It will show you the keyword difficulty, search volume in the selected country, clicks, CPC, and Global Search Volume. Based on the search volume, it will also show you related keywords with their search volumes. You will also get the related FAQs of that keyword. In the also rank for section, it will show you more keywords related to that parent keyword.

Verdict: If we talk about keyword research features, then Semrush is the clear winner because it has more options than Ahrefs. However, Ahrefs is also suitable for doing quick research.

2. Domain Analysis

Domain analysis is the most common feature among many SEO tools. It also helps you in doing competitor research. Let’s take a look at how the domain analysis tool works on Semrush and Ahrefs.

Semrush: Domain Analysis

To analyze any domain, you need to click on the competitive research option of Semrush. It allows you to analyze your competitor’s domain. You just need to enter a domain in the search box and hit the search button to use it. The domain overview will look something like this.

On the domain overview page, you will see different data metrics such as authority score, organic search traffic, paid search traffic, backlinks, display advertising, organic traffic chart, organic keyword chart, etc. To get more insights into these data, just click on any of them. You can also see keywords by country, top organic keywords, top paid keywords, and competitors.

Ahrefs: Domain Analysis

To analyze any domain, you need to click on the Site Explorer option on Ahrefs. You need to enter a domain and then click on the search option. It will show you the backlink profile, organic search, pages, and outgoing links options on the left side of the screen for that domain. You will see Ahrefs rank, URL & DR rating, total backlinks, total referring domains, total organic keywords, total organic traffic, and traffic value on the right side of the screen.

From the organic search option, you can see traffic coming from various countries and also the top 10 competitors of that domain. Paid search results option allows you to see how many PPC ads are running on that domain.

Verdict: If you want to use an easy-to-navigate tool for domain analysis, then Ahrefs is the one for you. With Semrush, you can get comprehensive data metrics of a domain.

3. Backlinks Analysis

Link building the backbone of SEO. Backlink analysis allows you to check active backlinks on your domain. You can also see how many backlinks your competitor is getting and check the quality of those backlinks as well with these tools.

Semrush: Backlink Analysis

Semrush has a dedicated backlink analysis tool which is called Backlink Analytics. With this tool, you can check the backlinks of any website. To access this tool, you need to click on the link building option on Semrush. In the search box, just enter a website URL and then click on the check it button. 

You will see different data metrics such as the total number of links, referring IPs, referring domain, authority score, and new & lost backlinks. Click on the backlinks option to see the source of the backlinks. You can also see do follow, and no follow backlinks of your competitor. You can see the top competitors of that website. The toxic score allows you to see bad backlinks for your website.

Ahrefs: Backlink Analysis

The site explorer also allows you to analyze backlinks for any domain. Once you enter a domain on the search box and hit the search button, it will look something like this. 

From there, you need to click on the backlink option on the left side screen. It will show you all the upcoming backlinks on that domain. Check the screenshot below to see how it will look.

Under the backlink profile option, you can see the new, lost, broken backlinks, internal backlinks, anchors, referring IPs, referring domains, and link intersect. You can also use different filters to find out do-follow and no-follow backlinks.

Verdict: Semrush gives more data metrics for backlink analysis and has a dedicated tool for it as well. To do backlink analysis on Ahrefs, you need to go to the site explorer tool. However, both tools are suitable for backlink analysis.

4. Technical SEO Audit

We do technical SEO for our website so that pages can achieve higher rankings on search engines. It includes crawling, rendering, and indexing for your website. Let’s check how technical SEO works on Semrush and Ahrefs.

Semrush: Technical SEO Audit

The site audit feature on Semrush is one of the best in the SEO industry. It shows you a health score for your website. You will also see errors, warnings, notices, number of crawled pages, thematic reports, and so on. It shows you issues of your website if you have any. These issues can be broken links, crawl errors, HTTP status code errors, and issues related to robots.txt.

You can also see the top issues that need your immediate attention. You can see how internal links are distributed throughout your website’s pages in the internal link distribution section. With the help of this, you can link high authority pages to low authority pages within your website.

Ahrefs: Technical SEO Audit

Ahrefs recently introduced a site audit feature in their toolkit. The tool crawls all the crawlable pages of your website and shows you comprehensive data metrics related to SEO issues. To get started with this tool, you need to go to the site audit feature and then add a new project where you need to enter your domain and then click the continue button. The result will look something like this.

It will show you the total number of URLs crawled, content types, depth, health score, and total issues in graphical representation. You can also see the performance issues, HTML tags issues under the issues section. You can also see your site structure as well.

Verdict: Semrush has a better technical SEO audit feature because you can see which pages need your immediate option directly. However, Ahrefs also has a good site audit feature but not as effective as Semrush.

5. Ease Of Use

If we talk about ease of use, then Ahrefs is a better platform because all the tools and features are laid out on the dashboard. All the options will be available on your screen; that’s why it is much easier to use than Semrush. You will all the related data metrics on your screen. You don’t need to go deep to find a piece of particular information.

However, Semrush also has an intuitive interface that is not that difficult to use. It shows you more information than Ahrefs; that’s why you need to do more digging on this tool. More complex information can not be seen on the dashboard, but you can find it by clicking around.

To sum it up, all I can say is that if you want to see all the required information on one screen, then Ahrefs is the one for you. But if you want more complex information that helps you make your website more SEO friendly, then Semrush is the one for you.

6. Position Tracking

To see the fruits of the labor you did on your website, you need to track the rankings of your pages. You need to check the SERP rankings for the keyword you’re targeting on your website and that’s where both Ahrefs and Semrush come in. Now let’s compare which tool has the upper hand over the other.

Semrush: Position Tracking

To check the rankings of your pages for the targeted keywords, you need to use the position tracking tool of Semrush. You can select the region in which your target audience is there and check the rankings for that. You can add as many keywords as you want to track the positions of your pages. To start tracking your pages, you need to go to the project then position tracking, and set up.

Now you will be able to choose the location, add keywords, select the devices, select your competitors, and then start tracking. The position tracking tool shows you three important metrics which are average position, visibility, and estimated traffic. If you want an in-depth report on the rankings then you need to click on the overview section.

Ahrefs: Position Tracking

The position tracking tool of Ahrefs is called rank tracker. This tool gives you accurate metrics on the rankings of your pages. It allows you to track your targeted keywords over multiple locations and devices. You can also see the progress of a keyword over time in the history chart. Whenever you add a project on Ahrefs, it gives you the option to add keywords for tracking.

You can also add competitors to compare the rankings of your pages with them for the same keywords. After adding keywords and entering all the required information, it will show you five important metrics which are average position, visibility, traffic, SERP features, and position. To get a detailed report of any metric, you just need to click on it.

Verdict: Both Ahrefs and Semrush offer somewhat similar position tracking tools. So for this category, they are tied.

Pricing Comparison Between Semrush and Ahrefs

We have compared all the features and tools of Semrush and Ahrefs. Now let’s take a look at their pricing plans and what those plans offer.

Semrush Pricing Plans

Semrush offer three pricing plans and these plans are:

Ahrefs Pricing Plans

Ahrefs offer four different pricing plans, and they are:

Verdict: The base plan of Ahrefs is more affordable than Semrush. But Semrush offers a 30-day free trial to their new users. If you want to try out Ahrefs, then you need to pay $7 for a 7-day trial.

Pros and Cons

Here are the pros & cons of Semrush & Ahrefs.

Semrush Pros:

• Get 30 days free trial of the Pro and Guru Plan.
• Massive Keyword Data with accurate search volume.
• Semrush is adding new features and tools regularly.
• You get access to more than 40 SEO tools in one place.
• Tutorials and videos on how to use Semrush effectively.

Semrush Cons:

• If you’re a beginner in the SEO industry, then it will take you a lot of time to understand Semrush completely.

Ahrefs Pros:

• Neat and clean interface
• Amazing options for keyword research
• Responsive Customer Support

Ahrefs Cons:

• You won’t get a lot of tools on Ahrefs to use.
• There is no free trial available.

Related Read:

• Best Semrush Alternatives

Final Verdict: Which One Is The Best?

I have made a complete comparison between Semrush and Ahrefs. Now one question arises- Which tool is the Best?

Both of them are good and effective. It all comes down to your requirements and expectations. If you want a tool for comprehensive keyword research and content planning, then Ahrefs is the go-to tool for you. If you want a tool that can cater to all your SEO needs in one place, then you should choose Semrush.

In the end, all I want to say is that you don’t need a lot of tools for SEO. A tool like Semrush and Ahrefs is enough to make your website SEO-friendly. Let me know what do you think of this comparison between Semrush Vs. Ahrefs in the comment section below. 

FAQs On Semrush vs Ahrefs