The Best And Most Affordable Ahrefs Alternative
By Dan Published Updated 5 min read
Quick answer
KeySearch is a cheaper Ahrefs alternative for bloggers and small businesses. It covers keyword research, difficulty scores, backlinks, competitor gaps, rank tracking, site audits, YouTube research and an AI writer, from $24 a month versus $129 for Ahrefs Lite.
Key takeaways
- KeySearch Starter costs $24 a month. Ahrefs Lite costs $129 a month.
- KeySearch pulls keyword ideas from several sources, not one database.
- Ahrefs has the bigger, fresher backlink index.
- KeySearch adds YouTube keyword research and an AI Content Assistant.
- You can try KeySearch free for 7 days.
When we set out to create KeySearch our initial vision was to give everyday bloggers and small businesses a cheaper more affordable alternative to ahrefs.
As many of you know ahrefs is considered the gold standard of SEO tools. Their backlink database is second to none and it has driven their entire toolset to become the SEO software industry leader.
Here at KeySearch our goal wasn’t to compete with ahrefs but to offer an ahrefs alternative. Giving users a great set of SEO tools that meet the needs of 99% of customers looking to improve their search engine optimization at a fraction of the cost. Let’s take a look at how we stack up:
Keyword Research Tool
The heart and soul of KeySearch is our keyword research tool. To be honest this is an area where we feel we beat ahrefs hands down. Unlike ahrefs we pull our keyword data from various sources and are not confined by a single database. This gives you more keywords and very little chance of your keyword not returning keyword ideas or data (which can happen often with ahrefs).
Our keyword difficulty algorithm and analysis tool is also much more precise than ahrefs which only factors in 1 metric when it comes to keyword difficulty (linking domains). We have over a dozen different data points we factor into our difficulty algorithm. This includes backlinks, on-page factors, google results count, and much more. We also keep our algorithm up to date with Google’s latest changes.
You can choose to get search suggestions from Google Keyword Planner, our own keyword database, or other suggestion sources such as Google Suggest, Amazon Suggest and YouTube Suggest. This gives you many more suggestion options than ahrefs, allowing you to find even more keywords with included search volume and CPC data.
Our bulk keyword difficulty checker runs real-time difficulty checks in bulk, rather than relying on cached data.
KeySearch Explorer
Our Explorer tool allows you to dive into backlink data, organic search, and traffic data for any website or webpage. We also incorporate this data into our keyword research section. So, similar to ahrefs, you can see traffic estimates and ranking keyword counts right from our keyword research and keyword difficulty tools.
Backlink Checker
Now we don’t boast to have a backlink database nearly as big or as fresh as ahrefs (who does?). But our backlink data is more than enough for most sites. It gives you the ability to view your backlinks and also find great link building opportunities by researching competitor’s websites.
Organic Keywords
We show you things like your top ranking keywords, competitors, top referring domains, anchor text, and ranking distribution. In addition, we let you know what difficulty score we feel your site should be targeting when looking for keywords.
Our organic search features allow you to see which keywords you are ranking for as well as what keywords your competitors are ranking for. This way you can easily steal their keywords right from under them!
Competitor Gap Tool
You can also use our Competitor Gap feature which is similar to ahrefs Content Gap tool. This is where you can type in one, or multiple competitor’s websites and see which keywords they are ranking for and you are not. Allowing you to find great keyword ideas you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.
Rank Tracking
Our rank tracker is not nearly as complicated or as sophisticated as ahrefs. Once again we set out to create a toolset that caters to what most everyday bloggers and small businesses need. A simple tool that tracks your rankings and does it well.
Track your progress in a simple-to-use interface that doesn’t take weeks to learn. After adding a domain to track we also show you keywords we’ve found that you are already ranking for, letting you decide whether you’d like to add those to the rank tracker as well.
KeySearch: The Affordable Ahrefs Alternative
We won’t claim to be better than ahrefs. Personally, we are big fans of their tools. Their big data capabilities are unmatched. For large SEO agencies, there really is nothing that compares to the data they can provide.
With that said though, that is not our goal. We want to provide useful tools for everyone. This is why unlike ahrefs we also have an entire section dedicated to YouTube Research and YouTube SEO. It helps you get your videos ranked on YouTube with the same kind of keyword difficulty scores we offer in our regular keyword research. How cool is that?
Also, our Content Assistant tool (click the link to read more about it) will be an incredible addition to your SEO toolbox. Here we analyze the first page Google results and show you exactly what you need to compete with the top 10 pages (topic ideas, keywords to include, word count, etc..). It can also write a first draft for you with AI. This tool can help bring rankings back to life for new or old pieces of content on your site.
KeySearch also includes a Site Audit that crawls your site and lists the technical SEO issues to fix.
Try Us
If you’d like to see if KeySearch is for you, take us for a spin with a 7-day free trial. Just sign up for an account here. Our Starter plan is $24 per month, compared to $129 per month for Ahrefs Lite. New customers can also use the discount code KSDISC for 20% off their first three months. You can’t really beat that!
Want the full side-by-side? Read KeySearch vs. Ahrefs.
