Ahrefs vs. Google Search Console

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Ahrefs
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Ahrefs is an SEO tool providers. Ahrefs Site Explorer provides a suite of tools including a component for backlink & on-page SEO analysis, online brand mentions tracking, and domain comparison tool for competitor analysis, etc. They refer to themselves as “the largest index of live backlinks.”
$99
per month
Google Search Console
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Google Search Console is a search engine optimization software solution offered by Google.N/A
Pricing
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Editions & Modules
Lite
$99.00
per month
Standard
$179.00
per month
Advanced
$399.00
per month
Agency
$999.00
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Features
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
7.8
Ratings
1% above category average
Google Search Console
6.2
Ratings
22% below category average
Keyword analysis9.50 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Backlink management8.50 Ratings4.90 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking9.40 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Page grader5.20 Ratings5.10 Ratings
Competitive analysis9.40 Ratings2.00 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics8.00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Site recommendations5.60 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Task management7.00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
7.5
Ratings
1% below category average
Google Search Console
7.3
Ratings
4% below category average
Local SEO8.40 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Social SEO6.10 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Mobile SEO6.00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Global SEO9.60 Ratings8.30 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
8.9
Ratings
5% above category average
Google Search Console
8.2
Ratings
3% below category average
Multi-domain support9.40 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools8.40 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Small Businesses
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Google Search Console
Google Search Console
Score 9.0 out of 10
Conductor
Conductor
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(0 ratings)
6.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Likelihood to Recommend
It gives the best report to us which helps us to find the opportunity to build backlinks. Another main feature that makes Ahrefs a safe and sound approach to SEO is that it provides information about duplicate content, URLs, redirects along with other errors that can be dangerous to the website.
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If you just want to understand how much traffic you're getting from Google organic search results, and study the queries and landing pages that make up this traffic, this is a great tool. If you also want to figure out where you may be missing opportunities or making it hard for people to find your site, this can help with that. However, GSC is not going to give you step by step instructions for how to fix SEO issues, and won't help prioritize anything either. It's essentially like a car dashboard, but doesn't do any driving or tell you how to drive.
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Pros
  • Their backlink database is still one of the most up to date we've seen when compared to similar tools.
  • The user interface is very intuitive and easy to learn.
  • They provide you with a lot of great information and the ability to set a date range can really help you narrow things down.
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  • Provides details on what other sites contain backlinks to your site, along with the page they direct to within your site
  • Displays impressions and click throughs for Google search queries
  • Individual page performance by location and device category as it pertains to generating clicks leading to your site
  • Basic indexing and readability issues within your site
  • The new interface that just rolled out is much easier on the eyes
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Cons
  • Ahrefs Site Explorer provides an overview of domain health and the issues that can be fixed, and sometimes the suggested "critical issues" can be an astronomical number and not accurate.
  • For certain features on Ahrefs Site Explorer, there can a more elaborate description/guide on how to utilize the feature.
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  • I'd like more instructions about how to respond to certain errors I see - it can be difficult to understand when you see a red error message what it really means and how to fix it.
  • I'd appreciate warnings being 'ranked' somehow to understand what's really a big deal, and what might be a minor issue.
  • Search analytics is helpful but not comprehensive - you can only go back so far in the data, and can't see all the search terms that are sending traffic to your site.
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Likelihood to Renew
Their index is too vast to ignore when looking at a complete backlink profile. We find links in Ahrefs that do not appear in any other link detection tool. For this reason, it's a must for our agency to use for the foreseeable future. Plus, it's very affordable considering the data you get
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Usability
Ahrefs is very easy to use - you can jump right in and understand most of the assets. Overall, the dashboard snapshots give a very good picture of inbound link activity. For deeper analysis of historical trends, the system can become cumbersome, making it hard to do full work without exporting and reformatting the data.
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It's easy to use, but some features are lacking a clear explanation. Somethings don't always match up. For example, the Core Web Vitals often doesn't match what you would see in the Chrome Lighthouse report or the Google Page Speed Insights tool. The tool itself is a little too basic and has to be used alongside other SEO tools and other Google properties such as Analytics
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Support Rating
Ahrefs has always been responsive when there's been a technical issue with the site. There are usually very little problems, but if there are, they announce it on their social media accounts which keeps its customers informed. Email support is prompt and the customer service people are very helpful, knowledgable and friendly.
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As with all Google software, your primary source of help is their forums, their knowledge base articles, or whatever tutorials you can find on the web. Often answers on their forums are not straightforward and may not address the actual issue you're experiencing. The KB articles are typically written like instruction manuals - for better or for worse. Tutorials on the web may vary, but the odds are good someone out there had the same questions as you and was kind enough to document their experience.
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Alternatives Considered
It's competitive with Semrush, Moz and other tools of that same ilk. It's great for serious SEO work - not at the Enterprise level - but at the small business, small agency level. I would not consider it competitive with BrightEdge, Conductor, SEOClarity, etc. - but it IS competitive and on par with the tools that are one level below those big enterprise tools.
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We are using Ahrefs and SEMRush along with the search console. Ahrefs helps in creating our backlink strategy while SEMRush for content gaps and opportunities. Search console is more preferred as it is completely free and data comes straight from Google. But you cannot see backlinks and ads in search console.
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Return on Investment
  • Ahrefs has helped save hours of work because it functions as an all-in-one SEO tool. Before Ahrefs, I would have to switch toolsets multiple times, compile the reports, then organize data. Ahrefs as an all in one helped managed the chaos that having too many tools create.
  • Backlink data is crucial to predicting content success. Ahrefs has provided us with better backlink data, allowing our predictions to be more accurate.
  • Ahrefs has helped us cut away from having another rank tracker subscription. Their rank tracking tool is good enough to not warrant a dedicated rank tracker, helping us save on costs.
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  • I have used Search Console for every web project I have worked on. The results have always been outstanding.
  • Surprising insights can be gained from the keyword analysis. I have discovered multiple profitable channels that weren't even on the radar.
  • AMP has been a game changer over the last few years and this tool makes it extremely simple to ensure your pages are mobile friendly.
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ScreenShots

Ahrefs Screenshots

Screenshot of Analyze backlinks and keywords of any website to find opportunities for your organic traffic growthScreenshot of Check your website for 100+ pre-defined SEO issuesScreenshot of Get relevant keyword ideas supported by accurate SEO metricsScreenshot of Find the most shared and linked-to content on any topicScreenshot of Track your and your competitors' search rankings