Ahrefs vs. SE Ranking

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
SE Ranking
Score 9.2 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
An SEO toolset for agency and in-house pros.
$65
per month
Pricing
AhrefsSE Ranking
Editions & Modules
Lite
$99.00
per month
Standard
$179.00
per month
Advanced
$399.00
per month
Agency
$999.00
per month
Essential
$65
per month
Pro
$119
per month
Business
$259
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AhrefsSE Ranking
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsSE Ranking’s subscription plans are available at a 20% discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AhrefsSE Ranking
TrustRadius Insights
AhrefsSE Ranking
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Users of both Ahrefs and SE Ranking have noted their utility for content analysis and competitive research. Reviewers of Ahrefs often mention its ability to provide detailed backlink profiles and keyword tracking, which is helpful for understanding a site’s SEO performance. However, SE Ranking users speak highly of its comprehensive suite of SEO tools that goes beyond backlink analysis to include features like social media management and on-page checker.

 

While both products have proven to be useful for SEO professionals, each caters to different aspects of user needs in the realm of SEO. Ahrefs has been praised for its robust data and ease of use, particularly when managing multiple websites. On the other hand, SE Ranking customers appreciate its flexibility and affordability, making it a popular choice for small businesses and beginners starting out with SEO. They also value its keyword rank tracking feature, which allows for granular analysis of website performance.

 

In terms of technical SEO, reviewers remark on the sophisticated site audit tool that Ahrefs offers, which provides a deep dive into technical issues affecting a website’s SEO. In contrast, users of SE Ranking laud its user-friendly interface and the ability to gauge the overall health of a website through its website audit feature. However, they also appreciate the competitive research capabilities of both tools, with customers of SE Ranking noting its competitive analysis provides insights into a competitors’ SEO strategy.

Features
AhrefsSE Ranking
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
7.8
Ratings
1% above category average
SE Ranking
7.9
Ratings
2% above category average
Keyword analysis9.50 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Backlink management8.50 Ratings7.30 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking9.40 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Page grader5.20 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Competitive analysis9.40 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics7.80 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Site recommendations5.50 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Task management7.00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
7.5
Ratings
1% below category average
SE Ranking
8.1
Ratings
6% above category average
Local SEO8.30 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Social SEO6.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile SEO6.10 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Global SEO9.60 Ratings8.20 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
8.8
Ratings
4% above category average
SE Ranking
8.4
Ratings
1% below category average
Multi-domain support9.30 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools8.40 Ratings8.40 Ratings
User Ratings
AhrefsSE Ranking
Likelihood to Recommend
9.6
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AhrefsSE Ranking
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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SE Ranking is on a good track when it comes to rank tracking. It displays a graph of your average position over time which is helpful and it can also help you when it comes to identifying some basic SEO issues with your website. It boasts as an all-around SEO tool, which it definitely isn't because it lacks a link database to be your go-to tool for everything SEO. Its UI is not optimized for ease of use, thus offering sub-par user experience. It has two different interfaces for different SEO tools which, I hope, they can incorporate into one.
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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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  • Rank racking. It’s really important for us that the ranks are tracked accurately.
  • Monitoring of changes made on the website. We’ve found this feature really useful.
  • Reports. This includes auto reports and manuals. We can easily and quickly create reports to check our SEO progress month by month.
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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 really don't think SE Ranking has many flaws. They are also rolling out an app at the moment - SE Ranking Pro - need to test that one.
  • Some more video tutorials on the site on how to use some tools would be helpful.
  • More in-system popups would be more helpful too.
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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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No answers on this topic
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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They had a huge update recently and the platform is now even better. Although not all the tools are yet in the new design.
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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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The support is great but they don't have 24/7 support. And time zones can also be an issue sometimes. On the other hand there are plenty of guides and videos around to get yourself started. I never really needed support for "big" issues. And the help I got was good enough.
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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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SE Ranking was our choice based on the suite of features it offered compared to competitors as well as the # of projects you could manage. From a cost perspective, we feel it provides the most value for your money. Other SEO tools did not offer the lead generation features that SE Ranking offered as part of their monthly plan.
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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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  • The website "health" report has allowed us to fix things that Google might find strange or cause us to lose rankings, which has been very helpful.
  • It's given us more visibility into what exactly our SEO management company is doing and how they are performing, and if things are changing or not. It's very easy to see right from the dashboard.
  • Being able to see how our competitors stack up against us has helped us know where to improve, what to focus on, and how to be even better.
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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

SE Ranking Screenshots

Screenshot of SE Ranking main dashboardScreenshot of SE Ranking keyword researchScreenshot of SE Ranking website auditScreenshot of SERP CompetitorsScreenshot of Organic SERP HistoryScreenshot of Content tool