When searching for SEO tools, you must have come across Ahrefs and Semrush. These are quite popular and offer multiple features. But when it comes to choosing, many people can feel confused.
In this blog, we are discussing Semrush vs Ahrefs and which is the right one for you to choose. The comparison will be on the basis of their features, including keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, pricing, and much more.
30-Second Summary
This blog provides a detailed comparison of Semrush vs. Ahrefs. You will learn about what these tools are and their differences in keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink audit, content marketing, customer support, and rank tracking.
You will also discover their pricing plans, reporting features, historical database, and user interface, along with their pros and cons.
Why does this Comparison matter?
The SEO industry is growing. Now, digital marketers need more than just keyword rankings. They need insights into content performance, PPC campaigns, competitors, and technical SEO issues.
Both Semrush and Ahrefs promise to deliver this; however, they serve different customer needs. When you understand their strong points and weaknesses, you can better judge which tool to invest in and which tool you are just overspending on.
Introducing the Competitors
Before the deep comparison, let’s briefly introduce our two competitors.
What is Ahrefs?
Ahrefs is a tool known for its backlink analysis capabilities. A few years ago, the main focus of this platform was only links. But over time, they have introduced multiple features, becoming a one-in-all SEO tool.
Right now, Ahrefs offers
- Site Explorer: Get insights into your website’s organic traffic, backlinks, and keywords that are ranking.
- Keyword Research: Explore the search volume and difficulty level of keywords and estimated clicks.
- Site Audit: Evaluate any technical SEO issues and get suggestions for improvement.
- Rank Tracker: Monitor the position of your website
- Content Explorer: Get high-quality content in any niche to create ideas and backlinks.
Ahrefs stands out for its clickstream data, which shows real search traffic instead of traditional keyword volume metrics. However, this platform does not have deep PPC insights and advertising research.
What is Semrush?
Semrush is a famous all-in-one digital marketing software suite. The main focus of this platform is SEO, particularly keyword research. They offer multiple tools for businesses to help them manage their online presence across multiple channels.
Semrush offers
- Keyword Research: Offers complete keyword data, including search volume, density, and difficulty for both paid and organic search.
- Domain Analytics: Provides information about a website’s backlinks, traffic, and search rankings.
- Site Audit: Identifies technical and on-page SEO issues and required areas for optimization.
- Backlink Evaluation: Monitors referring domains, new and lost backlinks, and link toxicity.
- Position Monitoring: Tracks keyword rankings and gives updates on SERP movements.
- PPC Research: Provides comprehensive paid campaign insights, including CPC data, keyword bidding, and competitor ad strategies.
- Content Marketing Tools: Offers an SEO content writing assistant, topic research, and content optimization suggestions.
Semrush is a platform with multiple functions and covers both SEO and paid marketing. If you want to integrate content marketing, PPC, and SEO into a single platform, you should go for Semrush.
Semrush vs Ahrefs Comparison
Now, let’s compare the features of both tools.
Keyword Research Capabilities
Keyword research is one of the most important aspects of SEO. Both Semrush and Ahrefs offer superb keyword research capabilities, but with a slightly different approach.
Semrush
Semrush shows all the keywords your rivals are ranking for. It has a more comprehensive keyword research toolkit. The “Keyword Magic Tool” generates keyword ideas by making groups of related terms.
The “Keyword Gap Tool” provides a direct competitor analysis, identifying opportunities to target keywords your competitors rank for.
Moreover, Semrush offers keyword analysis for PPC campaigns, the level of competition, CPC data, and historical trends. All in all, it is ideal if you want to manage both organic and paid marketing strategies.
Ahrefs
The main keyword research features of Ahrefs are Keyword Explorer and organic search. The Keyword Explorer tool provides important insights such as keyword difficulty, estimated clicks, search volume, and return rate.
A huge advantage of using Ahrefs is its clickstream data. It analyzes user behavior and refines traffic estimates, meaning that this platform can predict how much traffic a particular keyword can bring.
However, Ahrefs does not provide insights into PPC campaign keywords, which might be a limitation for businesses that want to run Google Ads.
Verdict: If the main focus of your business is organic search, Ahrefs provides deep insights. However, for a complete SEO and PPC keyword analysis, Semrush is better.
Competitor Analysis
Another essential factor to stay ahead in competition is competitor analysis. Let’s see how Semrush and Ahrefs’ competitor analysis features differ.
Semrush
This platform employs a broader approach when it comes to competitor analysis. The Traffic Analytics tool shows the total website traffic of your competitors, including paid, organic, direct, and referral sources.
The Organic Research tool shows the keywords your rivals rank for and how their rankings have changed over time.
Moreover, you also get PPC competitor analysis, through which you can analyze Google Ads of your rivals, the keywords they bid on, and the ad copy they use.
Ahrefs
On the other hand, Ahrefs offers the Site Explorer tool for a comprehensive competitor analysis. You can analyze backlink profiles, organic traffic, and ranking keywords through it.
As Ahrefs is strong in analyzing backlinks, you can easily explore what sites are linking to your competitors and identify any backlinking opportunities.
Additionally, its Content Explorer tool helps you find top-performing content. You can understand what type of content attracts links in a particular niche. The only drawback is that Ahrefs lacks in providing deep competitor traffic sources and paid advertising methods.
Verdict: If you want to analyze the backlink profile of your competitors, Ahrefs should be your go-to. Semrush is better if you want a complete picture of SEO and paid strategies of your rivals.
Backlink Analysis and Link Gap Features
Have a look at the Ahrefs backlink tool vs the Semrush backlink tool.
Semrush
Semrush allows users to evaluate any link toxicity, track existing links, and identify new link-building opportunities. You can also examine
- Your domain pages with the most links
- What website categories are linking to your website
- Websites that are good to earn backlinks from, based on your rivals.
This Semrush feature is unique as it shows what sites you should do outreach for. Moreover, it reduces the guesswork about what type of content these publishers need.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is known for its backlink analysis. In fact, most of its backlinking tools are somewhat easier to navigate than Semrush. Similar to Semrush, this platform also shows your top-performing pages based on links.
The “best links” feature enables you to identify which pages are attracting the strongest backlinks. You also identify
- Broken links
- Anchor texts of links
- Types of links your website attracts
It also offers the Link Intersect tool that shows the websites that are linking to the competitors but not to your own website. It helps you identify link-building opportunities.
Verdict: If your primary focus is only on backlink analysis, Ahrefs has more extensive and accurate link data. However, if you need a combination of backlink insights and a broader SEO and PPC strategy, Semrush offers an all-in-one marketing suite.
Site Audit and Technical SEO
For strong SEO, optimizing its technical health is important. Ahrefs and Semrush offer site and technical SEO audits in different approaches.
Semrush
Semrush provides an in-depth site audit that tells you how your website is doing in terms of technical SEO. The issues it identifies are
- Server errors
- Broken links
- Core Web Vitals
- Robots.txt issues
Semrush stands out for providing Log File analysis, which Ahrefs does not offer. You get recommendations for on-page SEO and can even run a complete content audit as well.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs offers solid audit tools, but it mainly focuses on the basics. It provides a visual and easy-to-understand report that highlights
- Broken links
- Slow loading pages
- Duplicate content
- Crawl issues
- Missing meta tags
It shows website issues as warnings and notices, so that you can prioritize their fixes. This platform also gives recommendations for resolving issues, but its technical SEO suggestions are not as in-depth as Semrush.
Verdict: If you want a simple and user-intuitive website audit, Ahrefs is good at that. But if you are looking for detailed insights, historical tracking, and automated SEO recommendations, Semrush is a better choice.
Content Marketing Features
Both Semrush and Ahrefs provide content marketing tools that provide different experiences.
Semrush
Semrush offers a wide variety of content marketing tools. The Topic Research tool helps users generate content ideas based on trending topics in a particular niche.
The SEO writing assistant is helpful in knowing real-time recommendations to improve readability, SEO, and keyword usage. Moreover, its Content Audit tool analyzes the existing content and suggests improvements to increase rankings.
This tool is particularly important for bloggers and marketers who need a data-driven approach to content creation.
Ahrefs
Content Explorer is the main content auditing tool offered by Ahrefs. You can search for high-performing content based on shares, links, and organic traffic.
This tool plays an important role in examining the content that works best in a given niche. However, it lacks tools to evaluate SEO structure, keyword usage, and content optimization.
Verdict: If your goal is competitor analysis and content discovery, Ahrefs aligns with your needs. But if you want a complete content marketing toolkit with writing assistance and optimization, Semrush is better.
PPC and Advertising Analytics
PPC and ad analytics are essential for businesses that generate revenue from Google Ads. Let’s see which tool helps the most with it.
Semrush
Semrush offers visibility into competitors’ paid search strategies through the Advertising Research tool. You can see how competitors’ ads have evolved over time to reveal their long-term PPC strategies.
Display Advertising insights show the banner ads, publishers, and placements where your competitors are putting ads.
Moreover, its PLA (Product Listing Ads) Research tool is useful for e-commerce businesses competing in Google Shopping.
Ahrefs
This platform provides paid keywords reports, where you can see the keywords your competitors bid on. It offers visibility into the paid landing pages of competitors.
These insights are tied back into organic reports to provide a SEO-centric view of PPC performance.
Keep in mind that Ahrefs lacks dedicated tools for ad copy analysis, spend tracking, and display advertising insights, and is less comprehensive for PPC specialists.
Verdict: For a full PPC analytics suite, consider using Semrush. But if your primary focus is SEO, and you need extra visibility into competitors’ paid keywords and landing pages, Ahrefs is useful.
Rank Tracking
When discussing Semrush features vs Ahrefs features, rank tracking is something you cannot ignore. Both tools offer good monitoring features.
Semrush
Semrush provides an advanced rank tracking system with its Position Tracking tool. It allows users to track daily rankings and local SEO performance. You can analyze different SERP features, such as AI snippets, People Also Ask sections, and knowledge panels.
Semrush stands out in the competition because of its wider support of search engines for keyword tracking. Currently, it is supporting
- Bing
- ChatGPT
- Baidu
If you are working on SEO and PPC simultaneously, Semrush provides you with a comprehensive look at your keyword performance in every area.
Ahrefs
Its Rank Tracker tool is the same as Site Explorer. You can analyze keyword rankings across different devices and locations, see historical data, and SERP visibility trends.
Ahrefs is limited to Google right now. But this platform is always evolving. There is a high chance that it will add other search engines and ChatGPT in the future.
Instead of providing daily rankings, Ahrefs updates rankings every few days. You can update the SERPs manually, but it costs one credit every time and can become costly eventually.
Verdict: Ahrefs is ideal if you need basic yet long-term insights with click potential estimates. Semrush is good for daily updates, SERP analysis, and competitive tracking.
Historical Database
Having historical data access is necessary to see what worked in the past and what changed over time.
Semrush
Semrush offers access to historical data dating back to 2012 (based on the plan you purchase). It is crucial to spot trends and understand how competitors have evolved their strategies.
You can also track your progress against your competitors and revisit data to identify what worked in the previous campaigns.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs also provides historical data, but it is limited to the number of credits you use, unless you are on a higher plan.
However, Ahrefs updates its backlink index at a very high frequency for freshness and accuracy. It enables users to identify new links faster than their competitors.
Verdict: Choose Semrush if you want extensive historical data and global keyword coverage for long-term SEO campaigns. Ahrefs is better for tracking fresh backlinks and quick link building through competitors’ insights.
Reporting Features
Effective reporting has a major role in tracking SEO performance and results.
Semrush
Semrush has a My Reports feature used to create customized reports. It offers drag-and-drop widgets, scheduled email delivery, and white-label branding.
This versatility and flexibility are particularly useful for businesses and agencies that manage multiple clients simultaneously.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs has straightforward reporting capabilities and enables users to export data and create standard reports.
This platform is good for basic reporting but lacks the advanced customization and automation offered by Semrush.
Verdict: If you need to handle basic reporting, Ahrefs gets the job done. But if you want detailed and automated reporting, Semrush is ideal.
User Interface and Ease of Use
The user interface of an SEO can impact your workflow significantly.
Semrush
As Semrush has multiple features, there is a learning curve. If you are new to digital marketing, you can get overwhelmed finding your way around the platform.
But it becomes easy to use it once you get the hang of it. The dashboard is neatly organized and has a good overview of metrics.
Semrush brings everything into one place, offering ease to marketers who are juggling multiple tasks at the same time.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs has a more straightforward interface. Its main focus is SEO, and you easily find what you are looking for. The tools, like Site Explorer or Rank Tracker, are easily accessible from the dashboard.
In short, if you want a simple and easy-to-navigate interface, Ahrefs is the answer.
Verdict: Semrush is ideal if you are working on multiple tasks and are fine with the learning curve. For a simple interface, Ahrefs is perfect.
AI Traffic Analysis
With the recent rise of AI platforms, like ChatGPT and Perplexity, measuring traffic from these platforms has become a new challenge for SEO tools.
Right now, neither tools provide AI traffic analysis.
Semrush
Although Semrush offers a detailed analysis of organic, paid, and referral traffic, it has not introduced insights into AI-driven traffic. This means that users have no way to measure how their content appears in AI responses.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs focuses on organic search traffic from search engines like Google and Bing. It excels in backlink and keyword research, but it does not tell how AI-powered tools impact a website’s traffic.
In a world where AI is changing search behavior, traditional SEO tools leave users in blind spots in their traffic area.
Verdict: Neither Ahrefs nor Semrush offers this feature as of yet.
Customer Service
| Aspect | Semrush | Ahrefs |
| Support Channels | Email, live chat, and phone for paid users. Knowledge base, webinars, tutorials and a forum. | Email, live chat. Knowledge base, tutorials, blog, and Help Center. |
| Availability | Live chat sometimes 24/7 (varies). Phone during business hours. 24 to 48 hours email reply window | Live chat is available Monday to Friday only. Email during the workweek. |
| Ease of Access | Support information is easy to find. Ticket tracking via dashboard. | Chat and email via the dashboard. No phone support. |
| Responsiveness | Generally fast for simple issues. Billing and complex queries are slower. | Praised for knowledgeable staff, but offer limited hours. |
| Self-Service | Extensive knowledge base, webinars, and academy. | Help Center, guides, video tutorials, and a forum. |
| Limitations | Live chat and phone are not always 24/7; occasional slow billing responses. | No phone support; no 7-day live chat. |
Ahrefs vs Semrush Pricing Comparison
Pricing is a major factor when it comes to investing in an SEO tool. Have a look at Semrush and Ahrefs pricing plans and which of them provides value for money.
Semrush
Pro Plan: $117.33 (billed annually) and $139 (billed monthly)
Guru: $208 (billed annually) and $249 (billed monthly)
Business: $416 (billed annually) and $499 (billed monthly)
Ahrefs
Lite: $129 per user per month
Standard: $249 per user per month
Advanced: $449 per user per month
Enterprise: $1499 per year
Ahrefs has a credit system, meaning it limits how many reports a user can generate on the Lite plan. If you need to generate reports frequently, then it might feel a bit restrictive.
Also, Ahrefs does not have a free plan. Semrush provides better free options.
Semrush vs Ahrefs: Pros and Cons
Both SEO tools have their own limitations and advantages.
Semrush
Pros
- All-in-one SEO, PPC, and content marketing suite.
- Predictable pricing.
- Strong content marketing tools.
- Extensive keyword database.
Cons
- A steep learning curve
- It can be expensive at higher tiers.
Ahrefs
Pros
- Excellent for backlink index.
- Fast and easy-to-navigate user interface.
- Robust keyword traffic potential metrics.
Cons
- The credit system limits usage.
- Weak content creation and PPC tools.
Conclusion: Which is better Semrush or Ahrefs?
The choice between Semrush vs Ahrefs comes down to your needs. If your focus is SEO and backlink analysis, Ahrefs is ideal. However, if you want a complete digital marketing toolkit (SEO, PPC, SEM, and content marketing), Semrush is more useful.
Multi-client teams and agencies can benefit from Semrush more, while Ahrefs is better for solo SEO and link builders.
Stay tuned with us for the latest SaaS news, trends, and updates shaping the future of software.
FAQs
What is the primary Difference between Ahrefs and Semrush?
Semrush is considered an all-in-one digital marketing suite, offering PPC, SEO, content marketing, and SEM. Ahrefs mainly focuses on SEO, backlink analysis, and linkbuilding.
Which is the best tool for Agencies: Semrush or Ahrefs?
An agency that handles multiple clients, Semrush offers an all-in-one suite. Ahrefs is ideal for agencies that specialize in link building, competitor SEO analysis, and backlink audits.
Should I use Ahrefs and Semrush together?
Yes, this is what most advanced marketers and agencies do. Using both tools provides a combination of broad keyword and PPC insights from Semrush and fresh backlink data from Ahrefs. It gives you a complete SEO strategy.
