Ahrefs vs. Semrush

Is Ahrefs better than Semrush?

We think so, and we’ll prove it. Explore the features, data, and automations that make top marketers choose Ahrefs over Semrush.

Marketers at 44% of the Fortune 500 use Ahrefs to stay ahead in search and AI.

Better data than anyone else in the industry

The world's largest index of live backlinks

28.7

Keywords. Filtered from 110B

217

Locations with keyword data

Semrush

Live & dead backlinks

26.7

Keywords

143

Locations with keyword data

Competitive Intelligence

Get deep competitor insights, from market overviews to individual page changes. No surface-level snapshots.

Site Explorer

Compare 10 competitors instantly. Not just 5.

Use the Performance chart to scan up to 10 competitors across Organic Traffic, Referring Domains, Share of Voice (SOV), and more metrics.

Semrush limits you to 5 competitors and restricts SOV to the highest pricing tier.

Only in Ahrefs

See how often your competitors get cited, not just mentioned, in AI search.

See which competing site sections drive the most organic traffic, links, and ads.

Find your competitors’ top pages, track their growth, and spot when they update their content.

Track strategic changes in messaging and see the exact content edits that lead to traffic growth or drops.

AI tools

AI that drives results. Not noise.

Track brand visibility across AI search and LLMs

Learn more →

Optimize for global markets with AI-powered localization.

173+

Explore all of Ahrefs AI →

Content Marketing

Create winning content with deep, actionable insights. Not just keyword lists.

AI Content Helper

Write for topical depth. Forget keyword stuffing.

AI Content Helper optimizes your writing with topical scores, SERP insights, and AI chat to uncover topical gaps fast.

Semrush's optimizer focuses on keyword density, while its AI chat can't analyze competitors in real time.

Only in Ahrefs

Go beyond generic keyword intents to reveal exact SERP content types and traffic share.

Compare SERPs side-by-side. Spot shifts in intent over time–across same or different keywords.

SEO

Access better backlink data and discover valuable links faster. No meaningless toxicity scores.

of SEOs trust DR as their SEO metric of choice

Source: Aira

backlink-related API points

Backlinks report

See backlinks that matter. Cut through the noise.

Ahrefs’ Best Links filter lets you configure the type of links you see across all reports and charts.

Semrush’s Best Filter only shows dofollow links.

Only in Ahrefs

Track backlink spikes in real time as soon as they happen.

Discover top authors for outreach and guest blogging.

Unlike Semrush, we don't offer toxic link scores since Google ignores most bad links. But, you can still filter link spam.

Technical SEO

Find technical issues faster with detailed diagnostics. No surface-level crawls.

Site Audit

Every page detail in one panel. No report hopping.

Page Explorer gives you a complete diagnostic panel—plus instant page recrawl to check if changes worked.

Semrush shows less data, making you hung across multiple reports and wait for the next crawl.

Internal Link Opportunities suggests which pages on your website should link to each other to boost rankings.

Only in Ahrefs

Always-on audits crawl your site 24/7 to find new issues as they happen. No waiting for the next crawl.

IndexNow integration instantly notifies search engines about page changes and helps get them indexed faster.

Patch SEO fixes to your website live—no developers needed.

Automate site audits at scale →

Ahrefs SEO Toolbar gives you on-page insights for any website: wordcount, page titles, outgoing links, structured data, and more—right from your browser.

Learn more →

Ahrefs API

Get access to industry-leading marketing data.

Create an API request at the touch of a button with the most granular API endpoints on the market:

Backlink
data points

Organic traffic
data points

Paid traffic
data points

Keywords
data points

And more...Read our API documentation →

Semrush

API requests

1–10 units
Select the data fields you need

10–100 units/row
No data point flexibility

Historical data

Full history available on most reports

Monthly historical trends

Unit Add-ons

1M units $50/month

Talk to Enterprise

Only in Ahrefs

Connect to Ahrefs MCP

Turn ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot into your personal marketing analyst with real-time Ahrefs data.

Read our MCP Github →

Seen enough? Try out Ahrefs for yourself and start growing your site today!

18788 users joined Ahrefs in the last 7 days