Ahrefs vs Google Search Console
Ahrefs
ahrefs.comGoogle Search Console
search.google.comSide by side
| Figure | Ahrefs | Google Search Console |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $29/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 10 | 1 |
| Spec score · SEO tools | 9.2 (#7) | 8.5 (#28) |
| Spec score · Search Engine Optimization Software | 9.1 (#1) | 8.3 (#11) |
| Spec score · SEO APIs | 9.2 (#1) | 8.3 (#5) |
| Spec score · Website Optimization Tools | 9.1 (#3) | 8.3 (#14) |
| API access | API access is included in paid plans, with uncapped access for Enterprise. | Yes |
| Backlink analysis | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Ahrefs offers native Ahrefs integration, Looker Studio integration, and connections to AI chatbots. | A Search Console property can be associated with Google Analytics, Google Ads, Merchant Center, Android and Play Store apps, Chrome Web Store, Google Assistant Actions, and Vertex AI Agent Builder. |
| Keyword research | Yes | Yes |
| Rank tracking | Rank Tracker monitors search rankings and tracks keywords by plan. | Yes |
| Site audit | Yes | Yes |
Plans
Ahrefs
- Ahrefs FreeFree
- Starter$29 a month
- Lite$129 a month
- Standard$249 a month
- Advanced$449 a month
- Enterprise$1,499 a month
- Basic prompt package$50 a month
- Growth prompt package$100 a month
- Brand Radar$199 a month
- Scale prompt package$250 a month
In their own words
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a web and API platform for SEO research, including keyword research, rank tracking, site audits, backlink analysis and competitor research. It also provides content tools, AI assistants and MCP access. Content Explorer can find web mentions and link prospects, while AI Content Helper supports content improvement. The free plan provides site data and fixes with limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit. Paid plans start with Starter at $29 a month. Lite costs $129 a month and includes five projects, 750 tracked keywords, 100,000 monthly crawl credits and one user; its Site Audit allowance has a 25,000-page project maximum. Annual payment saves up to 17%. Enterprise costs $1,499 a month and requires an annual commitment; it includes SSO, two-factor authentication, ISO27001 certification, access management, audit logs and unlimited additional users. Ahrefs says its web index contains 170 trillion pages, tracks 41.9 billion keywords and filters 28.7 billion keywords; AhrefsBot crawls 8 billion pages daily. Founded in 2010, the company is headquartered in Singapore. Multilingual support is available five days a week.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console helps site owners monitor and troubleshoot how their sites appear in Google Search. It indicates whether Google can find and crawl a site, helps address indexing problems, and supports requests to re-index new or updated content. Its Performance report groups clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and average position by queries, pages, countries, devices, search appearance, or dates. URL Inspection shows crawl, index, and serving information from Google's index. Alerts flag indexing, spam, and other site issues, and the service shows which sites link to a website. Reports also cover AMP, Core Web Vitals, and structured-data rich results. The free web service includes API access for management, testing, performance and sitemap data, filtering, sorting, and aggregation; the API does not support freeform SQL queries. Performance API data is limited to 50K rows per day per type per property, and API use has a quota. A valid Google account and a recent supported browser with cookies and JavaScript enabled are required.