Ahrefs vs SEMrush Alternatives SEO Tool Showdown
RankTank often gets asked, what is our favourite SEO tool? Ahrefs vs SEMrush? or what is your favourite Ahrefs alternative? SEMrush alternatives?
The answer is simple, we’ve used every SEO tool out there. Hell, we even make them :), today I’ll try break it down for you by comparing Ahrefs and SEMrush in the RankTank external SEO tool showdown of the century.
Ahrefs vs SEMrush… Round1, Fight!
Let’s start with a simple comparison between Ahrefs and SEMrush. I’ve tried to compare the most relevant SEO tool features of each in the table below:
| SEMrush | Ahrefs | |
| Keyword Research | ||
| Google Keyword Database | 20 Billion | 10.2 Billion |
| Keyword Click Data | Metric based on SERP features | Estimated number of clicks per month |
| Search Engine Support | Google, Bing, Yahoo, Others | |
| Domain Analytics | ||
| Mobile SERP Rank | Yes, Mobile and Desktop | No, Only Desktop |
| PLA Keyword Comparison | Yes, Side by Side | No |
| Comparison Domains (Side by Side) | Up to 5 | Up to 10 |
| Backlinks | ||
| Link Building | Link Building Tool with Outreach | No Separate Tool |
| Link Detox Analysis | Backlink Audit Tool with Outreach | No Separate Tool |
| Google Analytics and GSC | Integrated | No |
| Removed/Lost Links | No | Yes |
| Outgoing Links | No | Yes |
| Competitive Intelligence | ||
| Competitors Traffic | Yes, Traffic Analytics | No |
| Target Audience Understanding | Yes, Market Explorer | No |
| Content | ||
| Content Writing | Yes, SEO Writing Assistant, Topic Research and SEO Content Template | No |
| Technical SEO | ||
| On Page Improvements | Yes, On Page SEO Checker / SEO Content Template | No |
| Website Content Audits | Yes, Content Audit | No |
| External Content Reporting | Yes, Post Tracking | No |
| Brand Mentions | Yes, Brand Monitoring | No |
| Popular Content Finder | No | Yes, Content Explorer |
| JavaScript Rendering | No | Yes |
| Pay Per Click | ||
| PPC Tools | Yes | Partial, Site Explorer |
| SMM Tools | ||
| SMM Tools | Yes | No |
| Additional Tools | ||
| Listing Management | Yes | No |
| Marketing Leads | Yes, Oppty | No |
| Traffic Acquisition | Yes, Traffic Jet | No |
| Traffic Driving Content | Yes, Marketplace | No |
| START FREE TRIAL | START TRIAL ($7) | |
Ahrefs Vs SEMrush Comparison… Round 2, Fight!
When comparing Ahrefs vs SEMrush there are immediately a few apparent differences. SEMrush is more focused on providing SEO tools to assist digital marketers with common SEO related tasks as opposed to Ahrefs which focuses more on providing SEO metrics in a cost effective manner.
Both SEMrush and Ahrefs have their own positives and negatives, but at RankTank we have a clear preference for SEMrush based on the amount of Google keyword data that SEMrush aggregates for each locale and device.
It’s important for us to be able to obtain both desktop and mobile keyword ranking data, just as we do with our own free Google keyword rank checker. SEMrush provides us with the most accurate keyword ranking data, more up to date and relevant than Ahrefs. We would know as we process about 1TB of SERP data per day through our own free SEO tools.
SEMrush Killer Features… Round 3, Fight!
Let’s look at some more Ahrefs vs SEMrush killer features which we believe set them apart from other professional SEO tools out there:
1. Monthly Search Volume (MSV)
At RankTank we make extensive use of SEMrush MSV data in all our keyword position checking SEO tools. You will even find this data in our RankTank Google Sheet Add-on.
Keyword search volume is important for use in SEO and PPC campaigns. It helps you to establish which keywords to bid on as well as what to bid based on volume. This assists with saving time and money while focusing efforts on the correct keywords.
2. Google Keyword Database
When comparing Ahrefs vs SEMrush, it’s clear that SEMrush has the largest Google keyword database on the market. The total number of keywords now exceed 20 billion and is great for giving you more ideas to enrich your SEO and PPC campaigns.
3. Accurate Keyword Position Tracking
Daily keyword position updates for both desktop and mobile keyword rank data makes SEMrush a great rank monitoring tool. Amazingly accurate when compared to our own keyword rank checker which monitors Google keyword rankings in real-time.
4. SEO Reporting
Organizing all your SEO data in one place is incredibly important. You can then easily create reports for yourself, your boss and your customers. SEMrush can create Branded and White Label PDF reports supporting scheduling and integration with third-party tools such as GS, GMB and GSC.
5. Backlink Detox
Just like the ever popular Link Research Tools, When we look at Ahrefs vs SEMrush we note the latter also provides the ability to analyze toxic backlinks with the option to reach out to webmasters to have these links removed.
6. Content Marketing
The bane of many an SEOs existence, SEMrush provides content optimization and creation tools with many unique features that will take your content marketing efforts to the next level. SEO Writing Assistance, On Page SEO Checker/SEO Content Template, Content Audit, Post Tracking and Brand Monitoring to name a few.
SEMrush Wins
We’ve been making use of SEMrush at RankTank for the last decade and in our opinion SEMrush is not only a great Ahrefs alternative, but also our first choice in external SEO tools when it comes to our blogs SEO here at RankTank.
Let me know your thoughts on Ahrefs vs SEMrush as well as any SEO tool alternatives you may want us to review in future?
8 comments
hi there! thanks for sharing this detailed difference between ahref and semrush this article is very informative and helpful.
Yeah great article i just found what i want thanks for sharing these awesome ahrefs alternatives.
I personally use SEMRush pro and its gives lots of features in it.
regards
Ranjit Verma
HI
Im admin of and so far I use AHREF only… Looks like a very professional tool for SEOS
You could’ve call this post “roast ahrefs”…
Thanks for your Ahrefs vs SEMrush comparison Jaco. 🙂
Thanks Tracy.
Quite an insightful comparison between Ahrefs and SEMrush, I would however add that Ahrefs does come in at a lower price point, but if you add all the features and benefits up then SEMrush provides the best value for money to SEOs like myself.
Thanks Boris, we completely agree here at RankTank.