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| Meta Title | Semrush vs. Ahrefs in 2026: An SEO Expert's Verdict |
| Meta Description | Comparing Semrush to Ahrefs, and sharing my 7+ years of experience using both tools for keyword research, SEO writing, and more. |
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| Boilerpipe Text | I have been doing SEO and content writing since 2019, working with SaaS companies and B2B brands, and later with my own website, Self Made Millennials.
Ahrefs was the very first SEO tool I ever used, back when I was a junior marketer with no training and no one to guide me. I figured it out on my own.
After 7+ years of testing
SEO tools
, I now run my website and my full-time SEO Content Strategist role with
Semrush One.
I recently connected Claude directly to Semrush via MCP, and it has completely changed how I work. SEO tasks that used to take hours now happen in minutes.
This is not a generic comparison article.
You will find real data from my website, side-by-side comparisons from Semrush, Ahrefs, and Google Analytics, and the honest perspective of an SEO professional who has used both tools extensively.
Most articles comparing Semrush or Ahrefs are written by people who have never done SEO for a living.
So whether you are asking Semrush or Ahrefs, or trying to compare Ahrefs and semrush for your business, keep reading. I will help you make the right call.
No fluff, just my honest opinion and actual screenshots from my accounts so you can see how each tool works.
Let’s dive in!
Semrush vs. Ahrefs at a glance
Criteria
Semrush
Ahrefs
Keyword research
27.9B keywords, Keyword Magic Tool, AI personalization
28.7B keywords, Keyword Explorer
Rank tracking
Free for 8 keywords,
500 keywords (daily tracking)
Weekly on the Lite plan, paid only
750 tracked keywords
Backlinks database
43T backlinks, Link Building Tool, toxic link detection
35T backlinks, Broken Backlinks, Linking Authors reports
Number of backlinks
3,200
1,600
AI visibility tracking
213M prompts in the database
ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews,
daily tracking, 50 prompts tracking with Semrush One
271M prompts in the database
You need Brand Radar (a standalone tool) at $199/mo to track AI visibility across AI Overviews, AI Move, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity
AI SEO features
AI-powered site audit, keyword research, AI visibility tracking, sentiment tracking, prompt research
Ahrefs offers standalone tools for AI SEO needs:
Brand Radar
AI Content Helper at $99/mo add-on
Entry price
$139.95/mo for Semrush Pro (SEO toolkit) or $199/mo for Semrush One (SEO + AI Visibility toolkits)
$29/mo for a Starter plan for one domain eith limoted features or $129/mo for the Lite plan.
You need to purchase an add-on to track AI visibility.
Free plan or trial
14-day free trial
Free plan with 10 searches per day.
Webmaster Tools is free but limited.
All-in-one marketing
55+ tools: SEO, PPC, social, content, local
Heavily SEO-focused
Data accuracy
Closer to GSC for traffic estimates compared to Ahrefs, but are rather estimates.
Traffic estimates are often significantly overstated.
My overall verdict:
Semrush wins for most use cases, especially if you need AI visibility tracking.
With Semrush, you get access to their core SEO tools and the new AI Visibility toolkit under one paid plan, Semrush One, for $199 per month.
Ahrefs works differently. If you want access to their SEO tools and AI features, you need to pay for a regular plan and then buy an additional add-on for $199 per month.
Real data: Semrush vs. Ahrefs vs. GA
I’ve already put together a detailed
Semrush review
, where I compared its data with Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and my own website numbers from Google Analytics.
I also did a deep dive into
Semrush vs. Search Atlas
, showing that both tools offer solid insights.
Now, let’s focus on Ahrefs vs. Semrush for my website.
You won’t find a case study like this anywhere else since most blog posts just skim the surface, which isn’t all that useful. I know my readers are already familiar with both tools, but they’re looking for a real breakdown of their strengths and weaknesses.
So, let’s get into it.
First, we’ll compare how Semrush, Ahrefs, and Google Analytics report my site’s metrics. This should give you a better idea of how reliable these numbers are when evaluating other websites.
Here’s a quick overview of my website performance from January 2026:
Category
Semrush
Ahrefs
Google Analytics
Organic traffic
24,295
64,913
7,086
Number of keywords
6,870
1,500
Referring domains
799
574
Number of backlinks
3,200
1,600
Top 3 pages based on organic traffic
Ahrefs alternatives
AI SEO tools
Semrush vs Ahrefs
Ahrefs alternatives
AI SEO tools
Semrush vs Ahrefs
AI SEO tools
AI Marketing tools
Home page
Looking at the comparison table, you can see that
Ahrefs’ organic traffic numbers are way off.
For January 2026, it showed my site’s organic traffic spiking to 64k, but that’s nowhere close to what I actually see in GA and GSC.
I even tried flagging this to Ahrefs’ CMO, Tim Soulo, on Reddit (where he usually asks for feedback), but my comment ended up being removed.
On the other side, both tools correctly identified my best-performing page: my
AI SEO tools
article. But when it comes to the top 3 or even top 10 pages, things get a little messy.
For example, Ahrefs claims my Vocal.media review is my second-best page, but GSC doesn’t even rank it in the top 5. The same goes for my
SEO books
page. So, if you use Semrush or Ahrefs to analyze competitors’ top pages, just know that their rankings might not be 100% accurate.
I was pleasantly surprised that both tools got the number of indexed pages almost spot on. There’s a tiny difference, but that’s likely because each tool uses different crawlers, and some take longer to find new pages. Still, when it comes to site audit metrics for indexed pages, I’d say you can rely on both tools.
One last thing before I dive into my detailed Semrush vs. Ahrefs comparison:
SEO tool metrics are just estimates.
They’re great for spotting trends, whether things are improving or declining, but they’re not perfect.
For the most accurate data,
Google Search Console and Google Analytics will always be your best bet.
Every other tool just helps you understand the bigger picture of how your site (or your competitors’ sites) are performing.
Is Semrush more accurate than Ahrefs?
As I mentioned earlier, both tools provide estimates.
Sometimes, Semrush seems to do a better job than Ahrefs, at least in my experience, especially when it comes to rank tracking (I’ll get into that later). Both tools do a solid job of identifying keyword search intent. When I publish new pages on my site, they quickly pick them up and add them to the performance reports.
But I’ve also noticed quite a few inaccuracies in how both tools report my site’s organic performance. That makes me think their accuracy might be hit or miss for other websites, too.
Now, here is a quick note on where Ahrefs and Semrush get their data.
Semrush
pulls its data
from a mix of machine learning and trusted third-party sources. For rankings and keyword insights, it relies on external providers to collect Google search results for millions of popular keywords. Then, it analyzes the top 100 organic and paid positions to estimate rankings.
Ahrefs, on the other hand, has its own search crawler, AhrefsBot, that runs 24/7. They claim to rely entirely on their own database without pulling data from third parties like Google, Alexa, or Webalta.
For keyword data, Ahrefs
claims to use
information from Google Keywords Planner, Google Trends, Google Search Console, and other third-party data sources to find keywords, estimate their search volumes and click-through rates.
Key features & tools
Alright, let’s dive into how these two tools compare based on their key features.
I’ll be honest, I have a
Semrush One
plan ($199/m). But if you try to decide which one is right for your business, it really depends on your goals.
Ahrefs
could be great if you purely focus on SEO, but it doesn’t have local SEO features.
Semrush, on the other hand, is an all-in-one marketing solution with 55+ tools for SEO, PPC, social media, content marketing, local SEO, site audit tool, market research, and competitor research. That’s a lot! But with all those features, it can feel a bit overwhelming at first.
Semrush offers different pricing depending on your needs:
Semrush SEO Toolkit
— Starts at $139.95 per month for the Semrush Pro plan
AI Visibility Toolkit
— $99 per month
Traffic & Market Toolkit
— Starts at $289 per month
Local SEO Toolkit
— Starts at $30 per month for the Base plan
Content Toolkit (former Contentshake AI)
— $60 per month
Social Media Toolkit
— Starts at $20 per month for the Base plan
Advertising Toolkit
(for PPC data)
— Starts at $99 per month for the Base plan
Semrush One
— Starts at $199/m for an SEO + AI Visibility toolkits
1. Keyword research
Semrush and Ahrefs both offer powerful keyword research tools.
Keyword research is where I spend a lot of my time, and it is where these tools differ in practice.
Ahrefs’ overall keyword database is bigger (as of February 2026), but Semrush provides more keyword variations for the USA, if that’s your target location.
Semrush keyword database
: 27.9 billion keywords in 142 locations, 3.8 billion keywords in the USA alone
Ahrefs keyword database
: 28.7 billion keywords in 217 locations, 2.5 billion keywords in the USA alone
What this means for you is that Ahrefs will potentially be able to identify and show you more keyword opportunities. However, Semrush can offer you more keyword opportunities specifically for the USA.
These numbers can change anytime since both tools always update their databases. That’s why I’ll be checking Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer page and Semrush’s stats occasionally to keep my article up to date.
From what I’ve seen, these reports offer similar insights and help with keyword research in pretty much the same way:
Semrush
Keyword Overview:
Breaks down keyword metrics and shows keyword variations.
Keyword Magic Tool
: Pulls up thousands of keyword suggestions based on your topic.
Keyword Gap Analysis:
Helps you compare your keyword strategy with competitors.
Ahrefs
Keyword Explorer:
Provides keyword metrics and suggests variations.
Keyword Gap Analysis:
Lets you see how your keyword game stacks up against competitors.
Semrush’s Keyword Magic tool has an AI-powered functionality to assess topical relevance and keyword difficulty specifically for your domain (see my screenshot below).
Personally, this is my go-to tool for keyword research for my site and clients. I talked more about it in my
Semrush review
.
Ahrefs rolled out an AI tool to help you find keyword ideas. But honestly, it feels more like a general AI tool than a dedicated keyword research tool. That’s why I still prefer Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool for the job.
Here’s a sneak peek at Ahrefs’ AI-powered suggestions inside
Keywords Explorer
:
Semrush rolled out a feature called
personalized AI-powered insights.
Basically, it gives you keyword suggestions tailored to your website by considering things like keyword difficulty, your domain authority, and how relevant the keyword is to your content. It feels like
keyword research
just got a serious upgrade!
Overall, both tools come with powerful keyword research features.
As an SEO specialist and content writer, I’ve extensively used their keyword data to grow my own site and support my clients.
Nowadays, my website has about 120 indexed pages and brings in over 20,000 visitors a month, thanks to the
SEO content strategy
I built with
Claude, powered by Semrush via MCP.
After sharing about my experience connecting Semrush to Claude
on LinkedIn
, I’ve got quite a few comments from other SEO experts sharing their experiences.
Here’s what Matthew Calhoun shared about his experience connecting Semrush to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.
2. Rank tracking
Keeping an eye on keyword rankings is a must for anyone doing SEO. That’s where rank tracking tools come in. They can help you stay on top of your rankings and notify you if any important organic keywords start losing their positions.
Ahrefs Rank Tracker
makes it easy to track your Google rankings, including SERP features, on both desktop and mobile across 190 countries.
But keep in mind that this feature is paid. It’s not included in the Ahrefs Webmaster Tools account, which is available for verified websites for free.
If you run a small site, you can start with Ahrefs’ Starter Plan, which lets you track 40 keywords for $29. If you need more, the Lite Plan offers tracking for up to 750 keywords with weekly updates.
Unlike Ahrefs, Semrush provides you with fresh updates daily, so you can immediately spot ranking changes. On top of that, you can track ranking positions for up to 8 keywords for free, using Semrush’s free plan (I know it because I do it).
With
Semrush Pro
, which is $139.95, you can track up to 500 keywords with daily updates.
3. Backlink analysis
Before we dive into the details, let me give you a quick rundown of the backlink data these tools have:
Semrush backlink database
: 43 trillion backlinks and 390 million referring domains
Ahrefs backlink database:
35 trillion backlinks and 500 million referring domains
These numbers are as of February 2026, but I’ll update them if Semrush or Ahrefs releases new stats.
Alright, now let’s get into the Ahrefs vs. Semrush showdown.
According to
Backlinko
, Ahrefs was first launched in 2011 as a backlink checker and analyzer tool.
Ahrefs’ backlink reports are easy to follow, making it simple to analyze backlinks, referring domains, and anchor texts (the clickable text in a link). It also has two unique reports that I haven’t seen in Semrush:
Broken backlinks
– It shows if a website or URL has broken backlinks pointing to it.
Linking authors
– It reveals which authors frequently link to your and your competitors’ content.
The broken backlinks report is a goldmine for link-building strategies.
Back in the early days of my website, I used it to find broken links and reached out to site owners, asking them to replace those with my links. And those high-quality backlinks are still live today!
The linking authors report can be super useful for startups and brands trying to boost their authority. If reputable authors are linking to your competitors, why not reach out? You could hire them or pitch them a guest post to get on their radar.
In addition to offering a backlink analysis toolkit, Semrush provides a dedicated tool for outreach experts —
Link Building Tool
.
So, if your task is to build backlinks, this tool can save you time by finding link building opportunities for your domain.
I like the way Semrush’s backlink analysis tool works. There are about 16 different reports under
Backlink Analytics
. It gives you a full picture of your backlink profile from different angles.
For example, Semrush flags about 10% of my backlinks as toxic. But at the same time, it says my backlink profile looks natural, which makes sense since I’ve never bought backlinks and never used guest posting.
As a result, my website’s authority score keeps going up over time!
4. AI visibility tracking
With AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity changing how people find information, traditional rank tracking is no longer enough.
You need to know whether your brand appears in AI-generated answers.
Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit
, included in Semrush One at $199 per month, tracks my brand across 213 million organic prompts in 15 regional databases.
You can monitor your brand’s performance in AI search results, including ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Perplexity. Updates are daily, and you can see exactly which of your pages are being cited in AI answers.
Despite the Google SERP volatility in early 2026, I can see a clear uptrend in my AI visibility. More of my pages are being cited, and mentions are growing across AI platforms.
This data is helping me prioritize which content to update to improve AI Overviews inclusion. And because I can connect Semrush directly to Claude via MCP, I can automate site audits, keyword research, and content strategy generation in a single workflow.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
can track brand mentions across 271 million prompts, a larger database than Semrush’s. It covers AI Mode, ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity. It focuses on brand-level share of voice and competitive benchmarking rather than prompt-by-prompt visibility tracking.
Important pricing note:
Ahrefs Brand Radar costs $199 per month as an add-on on top of your regular Ahrefs subscription.
To get a comparable setup to Semrush One, you would pay $129 per month for Ahrefs Lite plus $199 per month for Brand Radar, totaling $328 per month.
The two tools take different angles on AI visibility. Semrush tracks at the prompt and keyword level, closer to traditional rank tracking. On the other hand, Ahrefs Brand Radar focuses on brand perception and competitive share of voice.
5. SEO optimizers
If you are interested in content generation,
Semrush Content Toolkit
(formerly Contentshake AI) automates nearly the entire content process, from content brief creation to content generation and optimization.
I actually wrote a deep-dive
review of ContentShake AI
if you want to check it out. Just a heads-up: you’ll need to pay an extra $60/month to use it.
Ahrefs has also launched its
AI Content Helper
, similar to Semrush’s Content Toolkit, but powered by Ahrefs’ own data. The idea is to help you optimize your content for rankings by considering search intent and related terms.
It also has AI-generated meta titles and descriptions to make your life easier. The tool itself is pretty straightforward, nothing too fancy, but it gets the job done.
Note that it’s an add-on that costs $99/month for 50 documents. Personally, I think that price is a bit high, especially when there are more budget-friendly options out there.
Besides paid AI solutions, Ahrefs offers tons of free AI tools for writing, SEO, content marketing, social media, and business.
Here are a few tasks that you can do with
Ahrefs’ free AI writing tools
:
Generate blog post ideas
Generate meta titles and descriptions
Generate blog post outlines
Rewrite and paraphrase content
Optimize your content
Summarize articles
Expand or shorten the text
Improve grammar and clarity
Generate FAQs
Create social media captions
And more
6. Features worth knowing about
After using both Semrush and Ahrefs extensively, I’ve put together the following breakdown of their unique features and metrics.
This is valid for February 2026, but the tools might implement new solutions at any time. Therefore, I’ll try to keep this list up-to-date.
Only in Semrush:
Semrush MCP:
Connect Semrush data directly to LLMs for automated keyword research, content strategy, site audits, and more.
Total traffic from all channels
– You can see traffic from organic, paid, social, and referral sources.
Traffic Share
– It’s a new metric displayed in the Domain Overview report that helps you find out which websites dominate in your niche.
Toxic Score
– It shows how toxic your backlink profile is. These are backlinks from websites with low authority that could hurt rankings.
SEO Content Template
– You can use this feature to automate the creation of SEO content briefs.
Share of Voice (SoV)
– This metric helps you measure your brand’s visibility against competitors.
Authority Score
– This metric measures the domain’s reputability. It accounts for the number and quality of its backlinks, organic search traffic, and overall authenticity of its profile.
EyeOn competitor monitoring
– This is one of my favorite features. It monitors your competitors’ online marketing activity 24/7 and sends you alerts with updates.
On-page SEO Checker
— It provides you with content ideas based on competitive analysis that can help you improve the organic performance of your website in search engines.
Personalized keyword metrics — Semrush shows you keyword suggestions specifically fo your website by considering things like keyword difficulty, your domain authority, and how relevant the keyword is to your content
Only in Ahrefs
Parent Topic
– This metric shows if you can rank for your keyword while targeting a more general topic instead.
Traffic Potential
– This metric helps you estimate how much traffic a keyword can bring to your website if ranked #1.
Return Rate (RR)
– This metric shows how often people search for this keyword again in a 30-day period.
Clicks Per Search (CPS)
: Not every search turns clicks. This metric shows the average number of clicks per search.
Best by Links’ Growth
–This feature helps you identify pages gaining backlinks the fastest.
WordPress SEO plugin
– This is a helpful feature for websites powered by WordPress. It helps analyze existing content and provides optimization recommendations directly within WordPress.
It may seem like Semrush wins this race because it has more unique features. But I think both tools are powerful and can be helpful depending on your needs.
Semrush is great for an all-around marketing approach, while Ahrefs is great for deep SEO insights and backlink tracking.
It all depends on what you need!
Pricing
Both Semrush and Ahrefs are paid tools that have always been quite expensive.
Semrush pricing starts at $139.95 per month for Semrush Pro. This paid plan lets you manage 5 domains and can be suitable for SEO freelancers managing up to 5 clients and site owners.
For agencies managing 10+ domains, there are the Semrush Guru Plan or Business Plan.
Normally, Semrush provides only a 7-day free trial, but my readers can benefit from an extended
14-day Semrush One trial
since I’m a Semrush partner. Just a small way to get more time to explore and see if it’s a good fit!
Ahrefs pricing starts at $129/month, which gets you access to 5 domains and 500 credits (one credit = one action). Be careful, though, those credits disappear fast! If you run out, you’ll have to buy more to keep using the tool.
According to Ahrefs, credits get consumed when accessing reports and requesting new data from:
“Most core tools: Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Content Explorer, Web Explorer, Competitive Analysis
Standalone tools: Batch Analysis, Looker Studio (Site Explorer only), Page Inspect
Site Audit and Rank Tracker DO NOT consume credits. They have their own limits.”
Personally, I find the credit system annoying, but I still use Ahrefs from time to time because I like their features, and their customer support team is responsive.
If you’re on a budget, Ahrefs offers free Webmaster Tools, which gives verified website owners (verified via Google Search Console) limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit.
My go-to Ahrefs plan is the Starter plan at $29/month. It includes Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, and Site Audit, which makes it perfect for beginners, startups, and solopreneurs looking for an affordable SEO solution.
My take: What’s better, Semrush or Ahrefs?
I use Semrush SEO software for client projects because it’s an all-in-one marketing tool, not just for SEO but for everything from PPC to content marketing. It gives me a full suite of features to work with.
For my own website, though, I occasionally subscribe to the Ahrefs Starter Plan at $29/month. It’s budget-friendly and still gives me the key features I need for keyword research, rank tracking, competitor analysis, and backlink monitoring.
If you decide between Semrush and Ahrefs, start by figuring out your
SEO needs first
and your monthly budget.
I like how
Nick Malekos
, a SaaS growth marketer, breaks down his thought process when choosing between Ahrefs and Semrush. He highlights the pros of both, but ultimately goes with Ahrefs because it fits their needs.
If you’ve been thinking about trying Semrush, here’s a little perk—my partner link gives you a
14-day free trial to Semrush One
instead of the usual 7 days.
Just a small way to get more time to explore and see if it’s a good fit!
About the author:
Victoria Kurichenko is an SEO Content Strategist with 7+ years of experience working with SaaS and B2B companies. She runs Self Made Millennials, a website covering SEO, AI tools, and content strategy, and uses Semrush One as her primary SEO platform. She is a Semrush partner.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to Semrush. Victoria earns a commission if you sign up through her links at no extra cost to you. She recommends Semrush based on her own experience.
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# Semrush vs. Ahrefs in 2026: An SEO Expert’s Verdict
Written by
Victoria Kurichenko
- Updated March 3, 2026
I have been doing SEO and content writing since 2019, working with SaaS companies and B2B brands, and later with my own website, Self Made Millennials.
Ahrefs was the very first SEO tool I ever used, back when I was a junior marketer with no training and no one to guide me. I figured it out on my own.
After 7+ years of testing [SEO tools](https://selfmademillennials.com/best-seo-tools/), I now run my website and my full-time SEO Content Strategist role with [Semrush One.](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs)
I recently connected Claude directly to Semrush via MCP, and it has completely changed how I work. SEO tasks that used to take hours now happen in minutes.
**This is not a generic comparison article.** You will find real data from my website, side-by-side comparisons from Semrush, Ahrefs, and Google Analytics, and the honest perspective of an SEO professional who has used both tools extensively.
Most articles comparing Semrush or Ahrefs are written by people who have never done SEO for a living.
So whether you are asking Semrush or Ahrefs, or trying to compare Ahrefs and semrush for your business, keep reading. I will help you make the right call.
No fluff, just my honest opinion and actual screenshots from my accounts so you can see how each tool works.
Let’s dive in\!
## Semrush vs. Ahrefs at a glance
| Criteria | Semrush | Ahrefs |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword research | 27\.9B keywords, Keyword Magic Tool, AI personalization | 28\.7B keywords, Keyword Explorer |
| Rank tracking | Free for 8 keywords,500 keywords (daily tracking) | Weekly on the Lite plan, paid only750 tracked keywords |
| Backlinks database | 43T backlinks, Link Building Tool, toxic link detection | 35T backlinks, Broken Backlinks, Linking Authors reports |
| Number of backlinks | 3,200 | 1,600 |
| AI visibility tracking | 213M prompts in the databaseChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews,daily tracking, 50 prompts tracking with Semrush One | 271M prompts in the databaseYou need Brand Radar (a standalone tool) at \$199/mo to track AI visibility across AI Overviews, AI Move, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity |
| AI SEO features | AI-powered site audit, keyword research, AI visibility tracking, sentiment tracking, prompt research | Ahrefs offers standalone tools for AI SEO needs:Brand RadarAI Content Helper at \$99/mo add-on |
| Entry price | \$139.95/mo for Semrush Pro (SEO toolkit) or \$199/mo for Semrush One (SEO + AI Visibility toolkits) | \$29/mo for a Starter plan for one domain eith limoted features or \$129/mo for the Lite plan.You need to purchase an add-on to track AI visibility. |
| Free plan or trial | **[14-day free trial](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs)**Free plan with 10 searches per day. | Webmaster Tools is free but limited. |
| All-in-one marketing | 55+ tools: SEO, PPC, social, content, local | Heavily SEO-focused |
| Data accuracy | Closer to GSC for traffic estimates compared to Ahrefs, but are rather estimates. | Traffic estimates are often significantly overstated. |
**My overall verdict:** Semrush wins for most use cases, especially if you need AI visibility tracking.
With Semrush, you get access to their core SEO tools and the new AI Visibility toolkit under one paid plan, Semrush One, for \$199 per month.
Ahrefs works differently. If you want access to their SEO tools and AI features, you need to pay for a regular plan and then buy an additional add-on for \$199 per month.
## Real data: Semrush vs. Ahrefs vs. GA
I’ve already put together a detailed [Semrush review](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-review/), where I compared its data with Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and my own website numbers from Google Analytics.
I also did a deep dive into [Semrush vs. Search Atlas](https://selfmademillennials.com/search-atlas-vs-semrush/), showing that both tools offer solid insights.
Now, let’s focus on Ahrefs vs. Semrush for my website.
You won’t find a case study like this anywhere else since most blog posts just skim the surface, which isn’t all that useful. I know my readers are already familiar with both tools, but they’re looking for a real breakdown of their strengths and weaknesses.
So, let’s get into it.
First, we’ll compare how Semrush, Ahrefs, and Google Analytics report my site’s metrics. This should give you a better idea of how reliable these numbers are when evaluating other websites.
**Here’s a quick overview of my website performance from January 2026:**
| Category | Semrush | Ahrefs | Google Analytics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic traffic | 24,295 | 64,913 | 7,086 |
| Number of keywords | 6,870 | 1,500 | |
| Referring domains | 799 | 574 | |
| Number of backlinks | 3,200 | 1,600 | |
| Top 3 pages based on organic traffic | Ahrefs alternatives AI SEO tools Semrush vs Ahrefs | Ahrefs alternatives AI SEO tools Semrush vs Ahrefs | AI SEO tools AI Marketing tools Home page |
Looking at the comparison table, you can see that **Ahrefs’ organic traffic numbers are way off.**
For January 2026, it showed my site’s organic traffic spiking to 64k, but that’s nowhere close to what I actually see in GA and GSC.
I even tried flagging this to Ahrefs’ CMO, Tim Soulo, on Reddit (where he usually asks for feedback), but my comment ended up being removed.
On the other side, both tools correctly identified my best-performing page: my [AI SEO tools](https://selfmademillennials.com/ai-seo-tools/) article. But when it comes to the top 3 or even top 10 pages, things get a little messy.
For example, Ahrefs claims my Vocal.media review is my second-best page, but GSC doesn’t even rank it in the top 5. The same goes for my [SEO books](https://selfmademillennials.com/seo-books/) page. So, if you use Semrush or Ahrefs to analyze competitors’ top pages, just know that their rankings might not be 100% accurate.
I was pleasantly surprised that both tools got the number of indexed pages almost spot on. There’s a tiny difference, but that’s likely because each tool uses different crawlers, and some take longer to find new pages. Still, when it comes to site audit metrics for indexed pages, I’d say you can rely on both tools.
One last thing before I dive into my detailed Semrush vs. Ahrefs comparison:
**SEO tool metrics are just estimates.** They’re great for spotting trends, whether things are improving or declining, but they’re not perfect.
For the most accurate data, **Google Search Console and Google Analytics will always be your best bet.** Every other tool just helps you understand the bigger picture of how your site (or your competitors’ sites) are performing.
### Is Semrush more accurate than Ahrefs?
As I mentioned earlier, both tools provide estimates.
Sometimes, Semrush seems to do a better job than Ahrefs, at least in my experience, especially when it comes to rank tracking (I’ll get into that later). Both tools do a solid job of identifying keyword search intent. When I publish new pages on my site, they quickly pick them up and add them to the performance reports.
But I’ve also noticed quite a few inaccuracies in how both tools report my site’s organic performance. That makes me think their accuracy might be hit or miss for other websites, too.
Now, here is a quick note on where Ahrefs and Semrush get their data.
Semrush [pulls its data](https://www.semrush.com/kb/998-where-does-semrush-data-come-from) from a mix of machine learning and trusted third-party sources. For rankings and keyword insights, it relies on external providers to collect Google search results for millions of popular keywords. Then, it analyzes the top 100 organic and paid positions to estimate rankings.
Ahrefs, on the other hand, has its own search crawler, AhrefsBot, that runs 24/7. They claim to rely entirely on their own database without pulling data from third parties like Google, Alexa, or Webalta.
For keyword data, Ahrefs [claims to use](https://help.ahrefs.com/en/articles/78119-where-do-you-get-the-data-from) information from Google Keywords Planner, Google Trends, Google Search Console, and other third-party data sources to find keywords, estimate their search volumes and click-through rates.
## Key features & tools
Alright, let’s dive into how these two tools compare based on their key features.
I’ll be honest, I have a [Semrush One](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs) plan (\$199/m). But if you try to decide which one is right for your business, it really depends on your goals.
[Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/) could be great if you purely focus on SEO, but it doesn’t have local SEO features.
Semrush, on the other hand, is an all-in-one marketing solution with 55+ tools for SEO, PPC, social media, content marketing, local SEO, site audit tool, market research, and competitor research. That’s a lot! But with all those features, it can feel a bit overwhelming at first.
**Semrush offers different pricing depending on your needs:**
- **Semrush SEO Toolkit** — Starts at \$139.95 per month for the Semrush Pro plan
- [**AI Visibility Toolkit**](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-ai-seo-toolkit-review/) — \$99 per month
- **Traffic & Market Toolkit** — Starts at \$289 per month
- **Local SEO Toolkit** — Starts at \$30 per month for the Base plan
- **Content Toolkit (former Contentshake AI)** — \$60 per month
- **Social Media Toolkit** — Starts at \$20 per month for the Base plan
- **Advertising Toolkit** **(for PPC data)**— Starts at \$99 per month for the Base plan
- [**Semrush One**](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs) — Starts at \$199/m for an SEO + AI Visibility toolkits
## 1\. Keyword research
Semrush and Ahrefs both offer powerful keyword research tools.
Keyword research is where I spend a lot of my time, and it is where these tools differ in practice.
Ahrefs’ overall keyword database is bigger (as of February 2026), but Semrush provides more keyword variations for the USA, if that’s your target location.
- **Semrush keyword database**: 27.9 billion keywords in 142 locations, 3.8 billion keywords in the USA alone
- **Ahrefs keyword database**: 28.7 billion keywords in 217 locations, 2.5 billion keywords in the USA alone
What this means for you is that Ahrefs will potentially be able to identify and show you more keyword opportunities. However, Semrush can offer you more keyword opportunities specifically for the USA.
These numbers can change anytime since both tools always update their databases. That’s why I’ll be checking Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer page and Semrush’s stats occasionally to keep my article up to date.
From what I’ve seen, these reports offer similar insights and help with keyword research in pretty much the same way:
**Semrush**
- **Keyword Overview:** Breaks down keyword metrics and shows keyword variations.
- **Keyword Magic Tool**: Pulls up thousands of keyword suggestions based on your topic.
- **Keyword Gap Analysis:** Helps you compare your keyword strategy with competitors.
**Ahrefs**
- **Keyword Explorer:** Provides keyword metrics and suggests variations.
- **Keyword Gap Analysis:** Lets you see how your keyword game stacks up against competitors.
Semrush’s Keyword Magic tool has an AI-powered functionality to assess topical relevance and keyword difficulty specifically for your domain (see my screenshot below).
Personally, this is my go-to tool for keyword research for my site and clients. I talked more about it in my [Semrush review](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-review/).
Source: Semrush Keyword Magic Tool
Ahrefs rolled out an AI tool to help you find keyword ideas. But honestly, it feels more like a general AI tool than a dedicated keyword research tool. That’s why I still prefer Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool for the job.
Here’s a sneak peek at Ahrefs’ AI-powered suggestions inside **Keywords Explorer**:
Source: Ahrefs AI SEO page
Semrush rolled out a feature called **personalized AI-powered insights.**
Basically, it gives you keyword suggestions tailored to your website by considering things like keyword difficulty, your domain authority, and how relevant the keyword is to your content. It feels like [keyword research](https://selfmademillennials.com/keyword-research-for-seo/) just got a serious upgrade\!
Source: Semrush Keyword Overview report
Overall, both tools come with powerful keyword research features.
As an SEO specialist and content writer, I’ve extensively used their keyword data to grow my own site and support my clients.
**Nowadays, my website has about 120 indexed pages and brings in over 20,000 visitors a month, thanks to the [SEO content strategy](https://selfmademillennials.com/my-seo-content-strategy/) I built with [Claude, powered by Semrush via MCP.](https://news.selfmademillennials.com/p/i-connected-semrush-to-claude)**
After sharing about my experience connecting Semrush to Claude [on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/victoria-kurichenko_semrushamassador-llm-claude-share-7432624435326570496-avYv), I’ve got quite a few comments from other SEO experts sharing their experiences.
Here’s what Matthew Calhoun shared about his experience connecting Semrush to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.
## 2\. Rank tracking
Keeping an eye on keyword rankings is a must for anyone doing SEO. That’s where rank tracking tools come in. They can help you stay on top of your rankings and notify you if any important organic keywords start losing their positions.
**Ahrefs Rank Tracker** makes it easy to track your Google rankings, including SERP features, on both desktop and mobile across 190 countries.
But keep in mind that this feature is paid. It’s not included in the Ahrefs Webmaster Tools account, which is available for verified websites for free.
If you run a small site, you can start with Ahrefs’ Starter Plan, which lets you track 40 keywords for \$29. If you need more, the Lite Plan offers tracking for up to 750 keywords with weekly updates.
Source: Ahrefs’ Keyword Tracking Tools page.
Unlike Ahrefs, Semrush provides you with fresh updates daily, so you can immediately spot ranking changes. On top of that, you can track ranking positions for up to 8 keywords for free, using Semrush’s free plan (I know it because I do it).
With [Semrush Pro](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-vs-ahrefs), which is \$139.95, you can track up to 500 keywords with daily updates.
You might have noticed that in January and February 2026, Google experimented with search results, and the SERP volatility was massive.
Even though my website positions seemed to change almost every day, I used Semrush’s daily updates to see what was really happening. It helped me understand whether my content updates were actually improving my website’s visibility in LLMs, AI Overviews, and organic search results.
Source: Semrush Position Tracking tool.
## 3\. Backlink analysis
Before we dive into the details, let me give you a quick rundown of the backlink data these tools have:
- **Semrush backlink database**: 43 trillion backlinks and 390 million referring domains
- **Ahrefs backlink database:** 35 trillion backlinks and 500 million referring domains
These numbers are as of February 2026, but I’ll update them if Semrush or Ahrefs releases new stats.
Alright, now let’s get into the Ahrefs vs. Semrush showdown.
According to [Backlinko](https://backlinko.com/ahrefs-guide), Ahrefs was first launched in 2011 as a backlink checker and analyzer tool.
Ahrefs’ backlink reports are easy to follow, making it simple to analyze backlinks, referring domains, and anchor texts (the clickable text in a link). It also has two unique reports that I haven’t seen in Semrush:
- **Broken backlinks** – It shows if a website or URL has broken backlinks pointing to it.
- **Linking authors** – It reveals which authors frequently link to your and your competitors’ content.
The broken backlinks report is a goldmine for link-building strategies.
Back in the early days of my website, I used it to find broken links and reached out to site owners, asking them to replace those with my links. And those high-quality backlinks are still live today\!
The linking authors report can be super useful for startups and brands trying to boost their authority. If reputable authors are linking to your competitors, why not reach out? You could hire them or pitch them a guest post to get on their radar.
Source: Ahrefs' Referring Domains report.
In addition to offering a backlink analysis toolkit, Semrush provides a dedicated tool for outreach experts — **Link Building Tool**.
So, if your task is to build backlinks, this tool can save you time by finding link building opportunities for your domain.
Source: Semrush Link Building Tool.
I like the way Semrush’s backlink analysis tool works. There are about 16 different reports under **Backlink Analytics**. It gives you a full picture of your backlink profile from different angles.
For example, Semrush flags about 10% of my backlinks as toxic. But at the same time, it says my backlink profile looks natural, which makes sense since I’ve never bought backlinks and never used guest posting.
As a result, my website’s authority score keeps going up over time\!
Source: Semrush Backlink Analytics
## 4\. AI visibility tracking
With AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity changing how people find information, traditional rank tracking is no longer enough. You need to know whether your brand appears in AI-generated answers.
[**Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit**](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-ai-seo-toolkit-review/), included in Semrush One at \$199 per month, tracks my brand across 213 million organic prompts in 15 regional databases.
You can monitor your brand’s performance in AI search results, including ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Perplexity. Updates are daily, and you can see exactly which of your pages are being cited in AI answers.
Despite the Google SERP volatility in early 2026, I can see a clear uptrend in my AI visibility. More of my pages are being cited, and mentions are growing across AI platforms.
This data is helping me prioritize which content to update to improve AI Overviews inclusion. And because I can connect Semrush directly to Claude via MCP, I can automate site audits, keyword research, and content strategy generation in a single workflow.
**Ahrefs Brand Radar** can track brand mentions across 271 million prompts, a larger database than Semrush’s. It covers AI Mode, ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity. It focuses on brand-level share of voice and competitive benchmarking rather than prompt-by-prompt visibility tracking.
**Important pricing note:** Ahrefs Brand Radar costs \$199 per month as an add-on on top of your regular Ahrefs subscription.
To get a comparable setup to Semrush One, you would pay \$129 per month for Ahrefs Lite plus \$199 per month for Brand Radar, totaling \$328 per month.
The two tools take different angles on AI visibility. Semrush tracks at the prompt and keyword level, closer to traditional rank tracking. On the other hand, Ahrefs Brand Radar focuses on brand perception and competitive share of voice.
## 5\. SEO optimizers
If you are interested in content generation, **Semrush Content Toolkit** (formerly Contentshake AI) automates nearly the entire content process, from content brief creation to content generation and optimization.
I actually wrote a deep-dive [review of ContentShake AI](https://selfmademillennials.com/contentshake-ai-review/) if you want to check it out. Just a heads-up: you’ll need to pay an extra \$60/month to use it.
Source: ContentShake AI
Ahrefs has also launched its **AI Content Helper**, similar to Semrush’s Content Toolkit, but powered by Ahrefs’ own data. The idea is to help you optimize your content for rankings by considering search intent and related terms.
It also has AI-generated meta titles and descriptions to make your life easier. The tool itself is pretty straightforward, nothing too fancy, but it gets the job done.
Note that it’s an add-on that costs \$99/month for 50 documents. Personally, I think that price is a bit high, especially when there are more budget-friendly options out there.
Source: Ahrefs AI Content Helper.
Besides paid AI solutions, Ahrefs offers tons of free AI tools for writing, SEO, content marketing, social media, and business.
Here are a few tasks that you can do with [Ahrefs’ free AI writing tools](https://ahrefs.com/writing-tools):
- Generate blog post ideas
- Generate meta titles and descriptions
- Generate blog post outlines
- Rewrite and paraphrase content
- Optimize your content
- Summarize articles
- Expand or shorten the text
- Improve grammar and clarity
- Generate FAQs
- Create social media captions
- And more
## 6\. Features worth knowing about
After using both Semrush and Ahrefs extensively, I’ve put together the following breakdown of their unique features and metrics.
This is valid for February 2026, but the tools might implement new solutions at any time. Therefore, I’ll try to keep this list up-to-date.
**Only in Semrush:**
- **Semrush MCP:** Connect Semrush data directly to LLMs for automated keyword research, content strategy, site audits, and more.
- **Total traffic from all channels** – You can see traffic from organic, paid, social, and referral sources.
- **Traffic Share** – It’s a new metric displayed in the Domain Overview report that helps you find out which websites dominate in your niche.
- **Toxic Score** – It shows how toxic your backlink profile is. These are backlinks from websites with low authority that could hurt rankings.
- **SEO Content Template** – You can use this feature to automate the creation of SEO content briefs.
- **Share of Voice (SoV)** – This metric helps you measure your brand’s visibility against competitors.
- **Authority Score** – This metric measures the domain’s reputability. It accounts for the number and quality of its backlinks, organic search traffic, and overall authenticity of its profile.
- **EyeOn competitor monitoring** – This is one of my favorite features. It monitors your competitors’ online marketing activity 24/7 and sends you alerts with updates.
- **On-page SEO Checker** — It provides you with content ideas based on competitive analysis that can help you improve the organic performance of your website in search engines.
- Personalized keyword metrics — Semrush shows you keyword suggestions specifically fo your website by considering things like keyword difficulty, your domain authority, and how relevant the keyword is to your content
**Only in Ahrefs**
- **Parent Topic** – This metric shows if you can rank for your keyword while targeting a more general topic instead.
- **Traffic Potential** – This metric helps you estimate how much traffic a keyword can bring to your website if ranked \#1.
- **Return Rate (RR)** – This metric shows how often people search for this keyword again in a 30-day period.
- **Clicks Per Search (CPS)**: Not every search turns clicks. This metric shows the average number of clicks per search.
- **Best by Links’ Growth** –This feature helps you identify pages gaining backlinks the fastest.
- **WordPress SEO plugin** – This is a helpful feature for websites powered by WordPress. It helps analyze existing content and provides optimization recommendations directly within WordPress.
It may seem like Semrush wins this race because it has more unique features. But I think both tools are powerful and can be helpful depending on your needs.
Semrush is great for an all-around marketing approach, while Ahrefs is great for deep SEO insights and backlink tracking.
It all depends on what you need\!
## Pricing
Both Semrush and Ahrefs are paid tools that have always been quite expensive.
Semrush pricing starts at \$139.95 per month for Semrush Pro. This paid plan lets you manage 5 domains and can be suitable for SEO freelancers managing up to 5 clients and site owners.
For agencies managing 10+ domains, there are the Semrush Guru Plan or Business Plan.
Normally, Semrush provides only a 7-day free trial, but my readers can benefit from an extended [14-day Semrush One trial](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs) since I’m a Semrush partner. Just a small way to get more time to explore and see if it’s a good fit\!
Semrush pricing.
Ahrefs pricing starts at \$129/month, which gets you access to 5 domains and 500 credits (one credit = one action). Be careful, though, those credits disappear fast! If you run out, you’ll have to buy more to keep using the tool.
**According to Ahrefs, credits get consumed when accessing reports and requesting new data from:**
*“Most core tools: Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Content Explorer, Web Explorer, Competitive Analysis*
*Standalone tools: Batch Analysis, Looker Studio (Site Explorer only), Page Inspect*
*Site Audit and Rank Tracker DO NOT consume credits. They have their own limits.”*
Personally, I find the credit system annoying, but I still use Ahrefs from time to time because I like their features, and their customer support team is responsive.
If you’re on a budget, Ahrefs offers free Webmaster Tools, which gives verified website owners (verified via Google Search Console) limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit.
My go-to Ahrefs plan is the Starter plan at \$29/month. It includes Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, and Site Audit, which makes it perfect for beginners, startups, and solopreneurs looking for an affordable SEO solution.
Ahrefs pricing.
## My take: What’s better, Semrush or Ahrefs?
I use Semrush SEO software for client projects because it’s an all-in-one marketing tool, not just for SEO but for everything from PPC to content marketing. It gives me a full suite of features to work with.
For my own website, though, I occasionally subscribe to the Ahrefs Starter Plan at \$29/month. It’s budget-friendly and still gives me the key features I need for keyword research, rank tracking, competitor analysis, and backlink monitoring.
**If you decide between Semrush and Ahrefs, start by figuring out your** **SEO needs first** **and your monthly budget.**
I like how [Nick Malekos](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nickmalekos_moving-back-to-ahrefs-for-a-few-months-activity-7285938010901147648-xCug?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACLSZ70BlrVpIBhQTJaiYJo1mYzIfqB0_0g), a SaaS growth marketer, breaks down his thought process when choosing between Ahrefs and Semrush. He highlights the pros of both, but ultimately goes with Ahrefs because it fits their needs.
If you’ve been thinking about trying Semrush, here’s a little perk—my partner link gives you a [14-day free trial to Semrush One](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs) instead of the usual 7 days.
Just a small way to get more time to explore and see if it’s a good fit! 
***About the author:** Victoria Kurichenko is an SEO Content Strategist with 7+ years of experience working with SaaS and B2B companies. She runs Self Made Millennials, a website covering SEO, AI tools, and content strategy, and uses Semrush One as her primary SEO platform. She is a Semrush partner.*
*Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to Semrush. Victoria earns a commission if you sign up through her links at no extra cost to you. She recommends Semrush based on her own experience.*
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## One Response
1.  **Mandy** says:
[December 16, 2025 at 11:29 am](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-vs-ahrefs/#comment-2274)
Hi,
Many people use Ubersuggest because it is cheap.
Is it worth compared to Semrush and Ahrefs?
If I am paying for a tool at least I want to use one that is in a way accurate.
Is it possible that ahrefs tracks Bing as well as organic search or just Google?
[Reply](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-vs-ahrefs/#comment-2274)
## Leave a Reply [Cancel reply](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-vs-ahrefs/#respond)
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| Readable Markdown | I have been doing SEO and content writing since 2019, working with SaaS companies and B2B brands, and later with my own website, Self Made Millennials.
Ahrefs was the very first SEO tool I ever used, back when I was a junior marketer with no training and no one to guide me. I figured it out on my own.
After 7+ years of testing [SEO tools](https://selfmademillennials.com/best-seo-tools/), I now run my website and my full-time SEO Content Strategist role with [Semrush One.](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs)
I recently connected Claude directly to Semrush via MCP, and it has completely changed how I work. SEO tasks that used to take hours now happen in minutes.
**This is not a generic comparison article.** You will find real data from my website, side-by-side comparisons from Semrush, Ahrefs, and Google Analytics, and the honest perspective of an SEO professional who has used both tools extensively.
Most articles comparing Semrush or Ahrefs are written by people who have never done SEO for a living.
So whether you are asking Semrush or Ahrefs, or trying to compare Ahrefs and semrush for your business, keep reading. I will help you make the right call.
No fluff, just my honest opinion and actual screenshots from my accounts so you can see how each tool works.
Let’s dive in\!
Semrush vs. Ahrefs at a glance
| Criteria | Semrush | Ahrefs |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword research | 27\.9B keywords, Keyword Magic Tool, AI personalization | 28\.7B keywords, Keyword Explorer |
| Rank tracking | Free for 8 keywords,500 keywords (daily tracking) | Weekly on the Lite plan, paid only750 tracked keywords |
| Backlinks database | 43T backlinks, Link Building Tool, toxic link detection | 35T backlinks, Broken Backlinks, Linking Authors reports |
| Number of backlinks | 3,200 | 1,600 |
| AI visibility tracking | 213M prompts in the databaseChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews,daily tracking, 50 prompts tracking with Semrush One | 271M prompts in the databaseYou need Brand Radar (a standalone tool) at \$199/mo to track AI visibility across AI Overviews, AI Move, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity |
| AI SEO features | AI-powered site audit, keyword research, AI visibility tracking, sentiment tracking, prompt research | Ahrefs offers standalone tools for AI SEO needs:Brand RadarAI Content Helper at \$99/mo add-on |
| Entry price | \$139.95/mo for Semrush Pro (SEO toolkit) or \$199/mo for Semrush One (SEO + AI Visibility toolkits) | \$29/mo for a Starter plan for one domain eith limoted features or \$129/mo for the Lite plan.You need to purchase an add-on to track AI visibility. |
| Free plan or trial | **[14-day free trial](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs)**Free plan with 10 searches per day. | Webmaster Tools is free but limited. |
| All-in-one marketing | 55+ tools: SEO, PPC, social, content, local | Heavily SEO-focused |
| Data accuracy | Closer to GSC for traffic estimates compared to Ahrefs, but are rather estimates. | Traffic estimates are often significantly overstated. |
**My overall verdict:** Semrush wins for most use cases, especially if you need AI visibility tracking.
With Semrush, you get access to their core SEO tools and the new AI Visibility toolkit under one paid plan, Semrush One, for \$199 per month.
Ahrefs works differently. If you want access to their SEO tools and AI features, you need to pay for a regular plan and then buy an additional add-on for \$199 per month.
Real data: Semrush vs. Ahrefs vs. GA
I’ve already put together a detailed [Semrush review](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-review/), where I compared its data with Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and my own website numbers from Google Analytics.
I also did a deep dive into [Semrush vs. Search Atlas](https://selfmademillennials.com/search-atlas-vs-semrush/), showing that both tools offer solid insights.
Now, let’s focus on Ahrefs vs. Semrush for my website.
You won’t find a case study like this anywhere else since most blog posts just skim the surface, which isn’t all that useful. I know my readers are already familiar with both tools, but they’re looking for a real breakdown of their strengths and weaknesses.
So, let’s get into it.
First, we’ll compare how Semrush, Ahrefs, and Google Analytics report my site’s metrics. This should give you a better idea of how reliable these numbers are when evaluating other websites.
**Here’s a quick overview of my website performance from January 2026:**
| Category | Semrush | Ahrefs | Google Analytics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic traffic | 24,295 | 64,913 | 7,086 |
| Number of keywords | 6,870 | 1,500 | |
| Referring domains | 799 | 574 | |
| Number of backlinks | 3,200 | 1,600 | |
| Top 3 pages based on organic traffic | Ahrefs alternatives AI SEO tools Semrush vs Ahrefs | Ahrefs alternatives AI SEO tools Semrush vs Ahrefs | AI SEO tools AI Marketing tools Home page |
Looking at the comparison table, you can see that **Ahrefs’ organic traffic numbers are way off.**
For January 2026, it showed my site’s organic traffic spiking to 64k, but that’s nowhere close to what I actually see in GA and GSC.
I even tried flagging this to Ahrefs’ CMO, Tim Soulo, on Reddit (where he usually asks for feedback), but my comment ended up being removed.
On the other side, both tools correctly identified my best-performing page: my [AI SEO tools](https://selfmademillennials.com/ai-seo-tools/) article. But when it comes to the top 3 or even top 10 pages, things get a little messy.
For example, Ahrefs claims my Vocal.media review is my second-best page, but GSC doesn’t even rank it in the top 5. The same goes for my [SEO books](https://selfmademillennials.com/seo-books/) page. So, if you use Semrush or Ahrefs to analyze competitors’ top pages, just know that their rankings might not be 100% accurate.
I was pleasantly surprised that both tools got the number of indexed pages almost spot on. There’s a tiny difference, but that’s likely because each tool uses different crawlers, and some take longer to find new pages. Still, when it comes to site audit metrics for indexed pages, I’d say you can rely on both tools.
One last thing before I dive into my detailed Semrush vs. Ahrefs comparison:
**SEO tool metrics are just estimates.** They’re great for spotting trends, whether things are improving or declining, but they’re not perfect.
For the most accurate data, **Google Search Console and Google Analytics will always be your best bet.** Every other tool just helps you understand the bigger picture of how your site (or your competitors’ sites) are performing.
Is Semrush more accurate than Ahrefs?
As I mentioned earlier, both tools provide estimates.
Sometimes, Semrush seems to do a better job than Ahrefs, at least in my experience, especially when it comes to rank tracking (I’ll get into that later). Both tools do a solid job of identifying keyword search intent. When I publish new pages on my site, they quickly pick them up and add them to the performance reports.
But I’ve also noticed quite a few inaccuracies in how both tools report my site’s organic performance. That makes me think their accuracy might be hit or miss for other websites, too.
Now, here is a quick note on where Ahrefs and Semrush get their data.
Semrush [pulls its data](https://www.semrush.com/kb/998-where-does-semrush-data-come-from) from a mix of machine learning and trusted third-party sources. For rankings and keyword insights, it relies on external providers to collect Google search results for millions of popular keywords. Then, it analyzes the top 100 organic and paid positions to estimate rankings.
Ahrefs, on the other hand, has its own search crawler, AhrefsBot, that runs 24/7. They claim to rely entirely on their own database without pulling data from third parties like Google, Alexa, or Webalta.
For keyword data, Ahrefs [claims to use](https://help.ahrefs.com/en/articles/78119-where-do-you-get-the-data-from) information from Google Keywords Planner, Google Trends, Google Search Console, and other third-party data sources to find keywords, estimate their search volumes and click-through rates.
Key features & tools
Alright, let’s dive into how these two tools compare based on their key features.
I’ll be honest, I have a [Semrush One](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs) plan (\$199/m). But if you try to decide which one is right for your business, it really depends on your goals.
[Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/) could be great if you purely focus on SEO, but it doesn’t have local SEO features.
Semrush, on the other hand, is an all-in-one marketing solution with 55+ tools for SEO, PPC, social media, content marketing, local SEO, site audit tool, market research, and competitor research. That’s a lot! But with all those features, it can feel a bit overwhelming at first.
**Semrush offers different pricing depending on your needs:**
- **Semrush SEO Toolkit** — Starts at \$139.95 per month for the Semrush Pro plan
- [**AI Visibility Toolkit**](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-ai-seo-toolkit-review/) — \$99 per month
- **Traffic & Market Toolkit** — Starts at \$289 per month
- **Local SEO Toolkit** — Starts at \$30 per month for the Base plan
- **Content Toolkit (former Contentshake AI)** — \$60 per month
- **Social Media Toolkit** — Starts at \$20 per month for the Base plan
- **Advertising Toolkit** **(for PPC data)**— Starts at \$99 per month for the Base plan
- [**Semrush One**](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs) — Starts at \$199/m for an SEO + AI Visibility toolkits
1\. Keyword research
Semrush and Ahrefs both offer powerful keyword research tools.
Keyword research is where I spend a lot of my time, and it is where these tools differ in practice.
Ahrefs’ overall keyword database is bigger (as of February 2026), but Semrush provides more keyword variations for the USA, if that’s your target location.
- **Semrush keyword database**: 27.9 billion keywords in 142 locations, 3.8 billion keywords in the USA alone
- **Ahrefs keyword database**: 28.7 billion keywords in 217 locations, 2.5 billion keywords in the USA alone
What this means for you is that Ahrefs will potentially be able to identify and show you more keyword opportunities. However, Semrush can offer you more keyword opportunities specifically for the USA.
These numbers can change anytime since both tools always update their databases. That’s why I’ll be checking Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer page and Semrush’s stats occasionally to keep my article up to date.
From what I’ve seen, these reports offer similar insights and help with keyword research in pretty much the same way:
**Semrush**
- **Keyword Overview:** Breaks down keyword metrics and shows keyword variations.
- **Keyword Magic Tool**: Pulls up thousands of keyword suggestions based on your topic.
- **Keyword Gap Analysis:** Helps you compare your keyword strategy with competitors.
**Ahrefs**
- **Keyword Explorer:** Provides keyword metrics and suggests variations.
- **Keyword Gap Analysis:** Lets you see how your keyword game stacks up against competitors.
Semrush’s Keyword Magic tool has an AI-powered functionality to assess topical relevance and keyword difficulty specifically for your domain (see my screenshot below).
Personally, this is my go-to tool for keyword research for my site and clients. I talked more about it in my [Semrush review](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-review/).
Ahrefs rolled out an AI tool to help you find keyword ideas. But honestly, it feels more like a general AI tool than a dedicated keyword research tool. That’s why I still prefer Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool for the job.
Here’s a sneak peek at Ahrefs’ AI-powered suggestions inside **Keywords Explorer**:
Semrush rolled out a feature called **personalized AI-powered insights.**
Basically, it gives you keyword suggestions tailored to your website by considering things like keyword difficulty, your domain authority, and how relevant the keyword is to your content. It feels like [keyword research](https://selfmademillennials.com/keyword-research-for-seo/) just got a serious upgrade\!
Overall, both tools come with powerful keyword research features.
As an SEO specialist and content writer, I’ve extensively used their keyword data to grow my own site and support my clients.
**Nowadays, my website has about 120 indexed pages and brings in over 20,000 visitors a month, thanks to the [SEO content strategy](https://selfmademillennials.com/my-seo-content-strategy/) I built with [Claude, powered by Semrush via MCP.](https://news.selfmademillennials.com/p/i-connected-semrush-to-claude)**
After sharing about my experience connecting Semrush to Claude [on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/victoria-kurichenko_semrushamassador-llm-claude-share-7432624435326570496-avYv), I’ve got quite a few comments from other SEO experts sharing their experiences.
Here’s what Matthew Calhoun shared about his experience connecting Semrush to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.
2\. Rank tracking
Keeping an eye on keyword rankings is a must for anyone doing SEO. That’s where rank tracking tools come in. They can help you stay on top of your rankings and notify you if any important organic keywords start losing their positions.
**Ahrefs Rank Tracker** makes it easy to track your Google rankings, including SERP features, on both desktop and mobile across 190 countries.
But keep in mind that this feature is paid. It’s not included in the Ahrefs Webmaster Tools account, which is available for verified websites for free.
If you run a small site, you can start with Ahrefs’ Starter Plan, which lets you track 40 keywords for \$29. If you need more, the Lite Plan offers tracking for up to 750 keywords with weekly updates.
Unlike Ahrefs, Semrush provides you with fresh updates daily, so you can immediately spot ranking changes. On top of that, you can track ranking positions for up to 8 keywords for free, using Semrush’s free plan (I know it because I do it).
With [Semrush Pro](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-vs-ahrefs), which is \$139.95, you can track up to 500 keywords with daily updates.
3\. Backlink analysis
Before we dive into the details, let me give you a quick rundown of the backlink data these tools have:
- **Semrush backlink database**: 43 trillion backlinks and 390 million referring domains
- **Ahrefs backlink database:** 35 trillion backlinks and 500 million referring domains
These numbers are as of February 2026, but I’ll update them if Semrush or Ahrefs releases new stats.
Alright, now let’s get into the Ahrefs vs. Semrush showdown.
According to [Backlinko](https://backlinko.com/ahrefs-guide), Ahrefs was first launched in 2011 as a backlink checker and analyzer tool.
Ahrefs’ backlink reports are easy to follow, making it simple to analyze backlinks, referring domains, and anchor texts (the clickable text in a link). It also has two unique reports that I haven’t seen in Semrush:
- **Broken backlinks** – It shows if a website or URL has broken backlinks pointing to it.
- **Linking authors** – It reveals which authors frequently link to your and your competitors’ content.
The broken backlinks report is a goldmine for link-building strategies.
Back in the early days of my website, I used it to find broken links and reached out to site owners, asking them to replace those with my links. And those high-quality backlinks are still live today\!
The linking authors report can be super useful for startups and brands trying to boost their authority. If reputable authors are linking to your competitors, why not reach out? You could hire them or pitch them a guest post to get on their radar.
In addition to offering a backlink analysis toolkit, Semrush provides a dedicated tool for outreach experts — **Link Building Tool**.
So, if your task is to build backlinks, this tool can save you time by finding link building opportunities for your domain.
I like the way Semrush’s backlink analysis tool works. There are about 16 different reports under **Backlink Analytics**. It gives you a full picture of your backlink profile from different angles.
For example, Semrush flags about 10% of my backlinks as toxic. But at the same time, it says my backlink profile looks natural, which makes sense since I’ve never bought backlinks and never used guest posting.
As a result, my website’s authority score keeps going up over time\!
4\. AI visibility tracking
With AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity changing how people find information, traditional rank tracking is no longer enough. You need to know whether your brand appears in AI-generated answers.
[**Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit**](https://selfmademillennials.com/semrush-ai-seo-toolkit-review/), included in Semrush One at \$199 per month, tracks my brand across 213 million organic prompts in 15 regional databases.
You can monitor your brand’s performance in AI search results, including ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Perplexity. Updates are daily, and you can see exactly which of your pages are being cited in AI answers.
Despite the Google SERP volatility in early 2026, I can see a clear uptrend in my AI visibility. More of my pages are being cited, and mentions are growing across AI platforms.
This data is helping me prioritize which content to update to improve AI Overviews inclusion. And because I can connect Semrush directly to Claude via MCP, I can automate site audits, keyword research, and content strategy generation in a single workflow.
**Ahrefs Brand Radar** can track brand mentions across 271 million prompts, a larger database than Semrush’s. It covers AI Mode, ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity. It focuses on brand-level share of voice and competitive benchmarking rather than prompt-by-prompt visibility tracking.
**Important pricing note:** Ahrefs Brand Radar costs \$199 per month as an add-on on top of your regular Ahrefs subscription.
To get a comparable setup to Semrush One, you would pay \$129 per month for Ahrefs Lite plus \$199 per month for Brand Radar, totaling \$328 per month.
The two tools take different angles on AI visibility. Semrush tracks at the prompt and keyword level, closer to traditional rank tracking. On the other hand, Ahrefs Brand Radar focuses on brand perception and competitive share of voice.
5\. SEO optimizers
If you are interested in content generation, **Semrush Content Toolkit** (formerly Contentshake AI) automates nearly the entire content process, from content brief creation to content generation and optimization.
I actually wrote a deep-dive [review of ContentShake AI](https://selfmademillennials.com/contentshake-ai-review/) if you want to check it out. Just a heads-up: you’ll need to pay an extra \$60/month to use it.
Ahrefs has also launched its **AI Content Helper**, similar to Semrush’s Content Toolkit, but powered by Ahrefs’ own data. The idea is to help you optimize your content for rankings by considering search intent and related terms.
It also has AI-generated meta titles and descriptions to make your life easier. The tool itself is pretty straightforward, nothing too fancy, but it gets the job done.
Note that it’s an add-on that costs \$99/month for 50 documents. Personally, I think that price is a bit high, especially when there are more budget-friendly options out there.
Besides paid AI solutions, Ahrefs offers tons of free AI tools for writing, SEO, content marketing, social media, and business.
Here are a few tasks that you can do with [Ahrefs’ free AI writing tools](https://ahrefs.com/writing-tools):
- Generate blog post ideas
- Generate meta titles and descriptions
- Generate blog post outlines
- Rewrite and paraphrase content
- Optimize your content
- Summarize articles
- Expand or shorten the text
- Improve grammar and clarity
- Generate FAQs
- Create social media captions
- And more
6\. Features worth knowing about
After using both Semrush and Ahrefs extensively, I’ve put together the following breakdown of their unique features and metrics.
This is valid for February 2026, but the tools might implement new solutions at any time. Therefore, I’ll try to keep this list up-to-date.
**Only in Semrush:**
- **Semrush MCP:** Connect Semrush data directly to LLMs for automated keyword research, content strategy, site audits, and more.
- **Total traffic from all channels** – You can see traffic from organic, paid, social, and referral sources.
- **Traffic Share** – It’s a new metric displayed in the Domain Overview report that helps you find out which websites dominate in your niche.
- **Toxic Score** – It shows how toxic your backlink profile is. These are backlinks from websites with low authority that could hurt rankings.
- **SEO Content Template** – You can use this feature to automate the creation of SEO content briefs.
- **Share of Voice (SoV)** – This metric helps you measure your brand’s visibility against competitors.
- **Authority Score** – This metric measures the domain’s reputability. It accounts for the number and quality of its backlinks, organic search traffic, and overall authenticity of its profile.
- **EyeOn competitor monitoring** – This is one of my favorite features. It monitors your competitors’ online marketing activity 24/7 and sends you alerts with updates.
- **On-page SEO Checker** — It provides you with content ideas based on competitive analysis that can help you improve the organic performance of your website in search engines.
- Personalized keyword metrics — Semrush shows you keyword suggestions specifically fo your website by considering things like keyword difficulty, your domain authority, and how relevant the keyword is to your content
**Only in Ahrefs**
- **Parent Topic** – This metric shows if you can rank for your keyword while targeting a more general topic instead.
- **Traffic Potential** – This metric helps you estimate how much traffic a keyword can bring to your website if ranked \#1.
- **Return Rate (RR)** – This metric shows how often people search for this keyword again in a 30-day period.
- **Clicks Per Search (CPS)**: Not every search turns clicks. This metric shows the average number of clicks per search.
- **Best by Links’ Growth** –This feature helps you identify pages gaining backlinks the fastest.
- **WordPress SEO plugin** – This is a helpful feature for websites powered by WordPress. It helps analyze existing content and provides optimization recommendations directly within WordPress.
It may seem like Semrush wins this race because it has more unique features. But I think both tools are powerful and can be helpful depending on your needs.
Semrush is great for an all-around marketing approach, while Ahrefs is great for deep SEO insights and backlink tracking.
It all depends on what you need\!
Pricing
Both Semrush and Ahrefs are paid tools that have always been quite expensive.
Semrush pricing starts at \$139.95 per month for Semrush Pro. This paid plan lets you manage 5 domains and can be suitable for SEO freelancers managing up to 5 clients and site owners.
For agencies managing 10+ domains, there are the Semrush Guru Plan or Business Plan.
Normally, Semrush provides only a 7-day free trial, but my readers can benefit from an extended [14-day Semrush One trial](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs) since I’m a Semrush partner. Just a small way to get more time to explore and see if it’s a good fit\!
Ahrefs pricing starts at \$129/month, which gets you access to 5 domains and 500 credits (one credit = one action). Be careful, though, those credits disappear fast! If you run out, you’ll have to buy more to keep using the tool.
**According to Ahrefs, credits get consumed when accessing reports and requesting new data from:**
*“Most core tools: Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Content Explorer, Web Explorer, Competitive Analysis*
*Standalone tools: Batch Analysis, Looker Studio (Site Explorer only), Page Inspect*
*Site Audit and Rank Tracker DO NOT consume credits. They have their own limits.”*
Personally, I find the credit system annoying, but I still use Ahrefs from time to time because I like their features, and their customer support team is responsive.
If you’re on a budget, Ahrefs offers free Webmaster Tools, which gives verified website owners (verified via Google Search Console) limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit.
My go-to Ahrefs plan is the Starter plan at \$29/month. It includes Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, and Site Audit, which makes it perfect for beginners, startups, and solopreneurs looking for an affordable SEO solution.
My take: What’s better, Semrush or Ahrefs?
I use Semrush SEO software for client projects because it’s an all-in-one marketing tool, not just for SEO but for everything from PPC to content marketing. It gives me a full suite of features to work with.
For my own website, though, I occasionally subscribe to the Ahrefs Starter Plan at \$29/month. It’s budget-friendly and still gives me the key features I need for keyword research, rank tracking, competitor analysis, and backlink monitoring.
**If you decide between Semrush and Ahrefs, start by figuring out your** **SEO needs first** **and your monthly budget.**
I like how [Nick Malekos](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nickmalekos_moving-back-to-ahrefs-for-a-few-months-activity-7285938010901147648-xCug?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACLSZ70BlrVpIBhQTJaiYJo1mYzIfqB0_0g), a SaaS growth marketer, breaks down his thought process when choosing between Ahrefs and Semrush. He highlights the pros of both, but ultimately goes with Ahrefs because it fits their needs.
If you’ve been thinking about trying Semrush, here’s a little perk—my partner link gives you a [14-day free trial to Semrush One](https://selfmademillennials.com/recommend/semrush-one-vs-ahrefs) instead of the usual 7 days.
Just a small way to get more time to explore and see if it’s a good fit! 
***About the author:** Victoria Kurichenko is an SEO Content Strategist with 7+ years of experience working with SaaS and B2B companies. She runs Self Made Millennials, a website covering SEO, AI tools, and content strategy, and uses Semrush One as her primary SEO platform. She is a Semrush partner.*
*Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to Semrush. Victoria earns a commission if you sign up through her links at no extra cost to you. She recommends Semrush based on her own experience.*
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