Ahrefs Free is the best free SEO tool for checking your own website: a real site audit, your keywords and backlinks, and simple web analytics at no cost. It will not show you anything about competitors, so treat it as a health check for your site rather than a full research tool. For a small business that has never looked at its SEO data, it is clearly worth setting up.
What Ahrefs Free is
Ahrefs Free, formerly called Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, is the free tier of Ahrefs, one of the best known paid SEO platforms Ahrefs Free ↗. It gives you parts of the professional tool for websites you can prove you own, with no limit on how many sites you verify Ahrefs Free ↗.
Ahrefs says the tools and data are the same as on paid plans; subscribers get higher allowances, premium tools and the ability to look at any website Ahrefs Free ↗. The free account bundles Site Audit, Site Explorer, privacy focused web analytics, the Ahrefs SEO Toolbar, a beta Social Media Manager and one AI Content Helper document a month Ahrefs Free ↗.
What it does well
Site Audit is the strongest part. It checks your site for more than 170 technical and on page SEO issues and gives it a Health Score you can track over time Ahrefs Free ↗. Our earlier check found it explains how to fix each issue, which matters if you have no SEO person on staff Ahrefs Free ↗. You get 5,000 crawl credits per project each month, and only working HTML pages use them; broken links, redirects and images do not Ahrefs Free ↗. For most small business sites, that is plenty.
Site Explorer shows the keywords your site ranks for, your top pages from search and the sites that link to you, with up to 1,000 backlinks and 1,000 keywords visible at once Ahrefs Free ↗. Ahrefs pitches it as filling gaps in Google Search Console, adding link types, broken links and domain metrics Ahrefs Free ↗.
The web analytics tool is a welcome extra. Ahrefs calls it a privacy focused alternative to Google Analytics with no cookies by default and up to 1 million events per project Ahrefs Free ↗. And because the free account sits inside the paid product, upgrading later is simple Ahrefs Free ↗.
Where it falls short
The big limit is competitor research. You cannot analyze sites you do not own without paying Ahrefs Free ↗, so you cannot see which keywords a rival ranks for or where their links come from.
Keyword research is also missing. Keywords Explorer, the tool for finding new search terms, is not on the free plan Ahrefs Free ↗. You see the keywords you already rank for, not the ones you could target.
The AI help is minimal at one AI Content Helper document a month Ahrefs Free ↗. If you want AI guidance while you write, Surfer does far more Surfer pricing ↗. Finally, you must verify each site, and the page does not list the verification methods Ahrefs Free ↗, so you may need access to your site settings.
Pricing and plans
Ahrefs Free costs nothing and has no time limit. Its limits are 5,000 crawl credits per project per month, 1,000 backlinks and 1,000 keywords visible at once, up to 1 million analytics events per project and one AI Content Helper document a month Ahrefs Free ↗.
Paid plans start with Starter at $29 a month, which extends Site Explorer, Site Audit and Keywords Explorer; the pricing page did not list its exact limits Ahrefs Free ↗ Ahrefs pricing ↗. Lite is $129 a month for one user, 5 projects, 750 tracked keywords and 6 months of history Ahrefs pricing ↗. Standard is $249 with 20 projects, Advanced is $449 with 50 projects, and Enterprise starts at $1,499 a month on an annual commitment Ahrefs pricing ↗. Brand Radar AI, which tracks AI assistant mentions, is an add on from $199 a month Ahrefs pricing ↗.
Billing notes: there is no free trial and Ahrefs says it never runs discounts Ahrefs pricing ↗. Paying yearly saves up to 17 percent Ahrefs pricing ↗. Ahrefs says it does not issue refunds in general, though unused monthly plans can be reviewed, and you can cancel any time and keep access to the end of the period Ahrefs pricing ↗.
Who should (and shouldn't) use it
- Good fit: owners who want to find and fix technical problems on their own site for free.
- Good fit: anyone who wants more keyword and backlink data than Google Search Console shows.
- Skip it if: you need competitor or new keyword research; that takes a paid plan.
- Skip it if: your SEO work is mostly writing content and you want AI help with it.
Alternatives worth a look
- SE Ranking: our top pick for a full SEO toolkit, with a 14 day free trial and a Core plan at $103.20 a month billed yearly SE Ranking pricing ↗.
- Surfer: better if you mainly want AI guidance while writing pages, from $49 a month billed yearly Surfer pricing ↗.
- Semrush: the biggest all in one SEO platform, starting at $139.95 a month per an independent July 2026 report Style Factory ↗.
- Ahrefs Starter or Lite: the natural upgrade if you like the interface and want competitor and keyword research Ahrefs pricing ↗.
Where it appears
Best free optionThe Best AI SEO ToolWhat’s good
- Free
- Unlimited verified sites
- Fix advice in audits
What to know
- No competitor research
- Limited AI content help
Key features
- Site Audit for 170+ issues
- Site Explorer for your keywords and backlinks
- Privacy focused web analytics
- SEO toolbar
- AI Content Helper, 1 doc a month
Questions people ask
Is Ahrefs free?
Ahrefs has a free tier, Ahrefs Free, for websites you verify as your own. It includes Site Audit, Site Explorer, web analytics and one AI Content Helper document a month. Competitor research needs a paid plan Ahrefs Free ↗.
What are the limits of Ahrefs Webmaster Tools?
You get 5,000 crawl credits per project per month, up to 1,000 backlinks and 1,000 keywords visible at once, and up to 1 million analytics events per project, on unlimited verified sites Ahrefs Free ↗.
How much does Ahrefs cost?
Paid plans start at $29 a month for Starter, then $129 for Lite, $249 for Standard and $449 for Advanced. Enterprise starts at $1,499 a month on an annual commitment Ahrefs pricing ↗.
Does Ahrefs have a free trial?
No free trial was listed when we checked, and Ahrefs says it never runs discounts. Ahrefs Free is the way to try it Ahrefs pricing ↗.
Where this comes from
Checked Oct 9, 2026. Vendor pages describe their own products; independent sources add outside views. Hands on testing is in progress.
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